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Biomedical subjects

J Ballenger

Publications and source records attributed to J Ballenger.

12 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2003

Personality and symptom sensitivity predictors of alprazolam withdrawal in panic disorder.

BACKGROUND: Discontinuation of benzodiazepine (BZ) treatment results in a well-characterized withdrawal syndrome in 40-50% of anxious patients. While numerous studies have established the role of BZ dose, treatment duration, half-life, potency, rate of withdrawal and severity of underling anxiety disorder in predicting severity of withdrawal symptoms, fewer studies have examined the role of psychological and personality factors. METHOD: In 123 panic disorder patients undergoing gradual tapered discontinuation of alprazolam in conjunction with pre-treatment with carbamazepine or placebo, the relationship between measures of 'symptom sensitivity' and 'harm avoidance', and severity of withdrawal symptoms measured as peak severity of symptoms, time before taper needed to be slowed due to symptoms, and ability to complete taper, was examined. RESULTS: After controlling for the less substantial effects of dose, treatment duration, pre-taper anxiety and panic attack frequency, measures of symptom sensitivity and harm avoidance accounted for an additional 3-6% of withdrawal variance. CONCLUSIONS: These results show an effect of symptom sensitivity and harm avoidance on BZ withdrawal symptoms, comparable to prior findings linking dependent personality characteristics to withdrawal severity. Failure to show the expected effect on ability to complete taper may be due to either the more symptomatic nature of the patients in this study.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Central ossifying fibroma of the anterior maxilla: report of case.

Central ossifying fibromas are well-documented, benign lesions usually found on the mandible and posterior maxilla. These lesions are differentiated from other fibro-osseous proliferations by specific clinical, radiographic, and histopathological criteria. An unusual case involving the anterior maxilla is described, including a review of the diagnostic features of the lesion as well as a discussion of its relationship to other fibro-osseous lesions.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

The effect of lithium on the osmoregulation of arginine vasopressin secretion.

The effect of lithium on the plasma arginine vasopressin (AVP) response to the iv infusion of 5% saline was determined in six patients with primary effective disorder. Lithium did not significantly affect baseline weight, plasma osmolality, sodium, or AVP levels. However, lithium significantly increased the mean rate of change or the sensitivity of the plasma AVP response to the osmotic stimulus (from 0.42 +/- 0.17 to 1.08 to 0.24 pg/ml/mosmol/kg; P less than 0.025, by paired t test). This change was associated with a slight but significant increase in the precision of the response, as reflected in the correlation coefficient, but there was no difference in the calculated intercept or osmotic threshold for AVP secretion. This study indicates that patients on lithium do not, as previously suggested, show partial central diabetes insipidus. Rather, AVP secretion seems to be enhanced. Moreover, the mechanism of this enhancement is a specific increase in the sensitivity of the osmoreceptor rather than a lowering of the osmotic threshold for AVP secretion. The effect of lithium cannot be clearly accounted for by any of the physiological variables known to influence the sensitivity of the system and is probably due to an effect of the drug on the level or activity of neuromodulators which influence the function of hypothalamic osmoreceptors.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

Cerebrospinal fluid hydroxylase cofactor in schizophrenia.

Cerebrospinal fluid levels of pterin cofactor were measured in off-medication schizophrenic patients and normal control subjects as one aspect of monoamine physiology in schizophrenia. Pterin cofactor is essential for the hydroxylation of several substances including tyrosine, the rate-limiting step in the synthesis of dopamine and norepinephrine. No significant differences were found. Platelet monoamine oxidase activity correlated significantly with pterin levels in male schizophrenic and in female control subjects.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

Treatment of endogenous anxiety with phobic, hysterical, and hypochondriacal symptoms.

Endogenous anxiety (anxiety hysteria, agoraphobia with panic attacks) is characterized by sudden, spontaneous panic attacks accompanied by multiple autonomic symptoms, overwhelming fear, a flight response, and polyphobic behavior. Psychotherapy, behavior therapy, and tranquillizers have been of limited success in treating this syndrome. Fifty-seven patients severely disabled by the syndrome for a mean period of 13 years completed the three-month study. Randomly assigned in a double-blind, placebo-controlled design to imipramine hydrochloride, pheneizine sulfate, or placebo, they were seen in supportive group therapy every two weeks. Patients in the pheneizine and imipramine cells showed significant improvement ovehe persistent trend for pheneizine to be superior to imipramine achieved significance only on the Work and Social Disability Scale and the Sympton Severity and Phobic Avoidance Scale. The implications for classification and theory are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

Aging and CSF hydroxylase cofactor.

The level of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) hydroxylase cofactor activity was measured in 34 neurologically normal patients and analyzed according to age. Levels declined by approximately one-third over a 40-year span, probably reflecting loss of aminergic neurons. Fourteen patients with Parkinson disease all tended to have lower values than age-matched controls. Among Parkinson patients with the same order of disability, younger cases had higher CSF concentratons of hydroxylase cofactor than older patients.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Infrequent panic attacks: psychiatric comorbidity, personality characteristics and functional disability.

Primary care patients with infrequent panic attacks were found to have similar levels of disability in their social, family and vocational functioning to patients who met DSM-III-R criteria for panic disorder. Both panic subgroups had significantly more functional disability than controls. Patients with panic and infrequent panic had significantly more Axis I psychiatric comorbidity than primary care controls but similar levels of medical comorbidity. Patients with panic disorder had a significantly higher prevalence of one or more other lifetime psychiatric diagnoses, current major depression, and current DSM-III-R depressive symptoms compared to patients with infrequent panic. Patients with infrequent panic scored as high on the NEO personality measure of neuroticism as patients with panic disorder, and both panic subgroups had significantly higher neuroticism levels than controls.

Adult↗