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Biomedical subjects

J F Heiser

Publications and source records attributed to J F Heiser.

18 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Predictors of placebo response: a retrospective analysis.

This retrospective evaluation involved 197 patients from independent clinical investigations of four antidepressant medications. Six variables were analyzed for their discriminative utility in predicting placebo response rates: gender; marital status; age; education; duration of illness; and severity of depressive symptomatology, as measured by Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D or HDRS) scores. Men were slightly more responsive to placebo than were women (29.8%, n = 94 vs. 24.3%, n = 103). Married patients demonstrated the highest probability of a positive placebo response (38.15%, n = 76), as compared with widowed/separated/divorced (21.9%, n = 73) or single (16.7%, n = 48) patients. A trend toward an increased probability of placebo response was detected for patients aged 60 and above (35.7%, n = 14). Educational level achieved and duration of illness were not predictive. Severity of illness proved most noteworthy, with the placebo response rate higher in the more mild patients (40.8%, n = 27 vs. 23.4%, n = 77).

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

A review of psychoactive drug-involved deaths in nine major United States cities.

Detailed psychosocial and biomedical data were collected in 2,000 psychoactive drug-involved deaths occurring from 1972 through 1974 in nine large cities in the United States. The cases were selected representatively by the medical examiners or coroners in each city. Also, proficiency studies were carried out of the toxicological laboratories associated with these nine cooperating data collection centers. There were striking intercity psychosocial and biomedical differences in these psychoactive drug-involved deaths. These differences were based not simply in demographic regional population differences but also on the kinds of psychoactive drugs used as well as the role of the drug in contributing to death and whether the death was a result of an accident, suicide, homicide, or unknown intent. Also, a lack of uniformity was demonstrated in the quality control of the toxicological laboratories associated with the offices of these nine medical examiners or coroners, which suggests varying degrees of accuracy in resulting medicolegal diagnoses. Hence national programs of drug abuse deterrence or prevention and treatment should deal specifically with the variety of psychoactive drug-involved deaths occurring in different urban areas rather than approaching these problems globally as if they were uniform and homogeneous, and our toxicological proficiency studies accentuate the importance of mandatory quality control studies for all toxicological laboratories in the United States.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Self-mutilation of the eye.

While the act of self-enucleation is rare, other self-inflicted eye injuries may be more common. Six patients are reported who have documented histories of ocular self-mutilation. Several common factors are observed in these patients and in other cases reported in the literature: (1) the patient was judged to be psychotic; (2) the patient had a tyrannical conscience; (3) a source of guilt was present; (4) this guilt was displaced to the eye; and (5) an attempt at self-inflicted eye injury was followed by relief from anxiety when completed or by frustration when injury was prevented.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

The tricyclic antidepressants.

Because only 9.4% of depressions are recognized at initial evaluation by primary physicians, the diagnosis of depression is important. Forty percent of a group of mixed depressions will resolve in a month without treatment, and 70% will resolve with the use of tricyclic antidepressants. Research on plasma levels of tricyclic antidepressants suggest new clinical strategies for adjusting dosages; neurochemical studies may provide an appropriate selection process for choosing a tricyclic antidepressant.

Antidepressive Agents, Tricyclic↗
PubMed1978

A bitter pill?

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Bipolar Disorder↗
PubMed1976

The treatment of pathological panic states with propranolol.

The authors report on the effects of propranolol, a beta-adrenergic blocking agent, on 10 patients with pathological panic states. Propranolol was effective in treating acute pathological panic, but modest doses of the drug administered for brief periods of time did not alleviate chronic panic attacks associated with agoraphobia. The drug suppressed panic associated with depressive syndromes but did not affect the depression and had no clear effect on anticipatory anxiety. The authors suggest that further study of these findings may clarify other clinical problems.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1976

A comparison of suicide and non-suicide deaths involving psychotropic drugs in four major U.S. cities.

By use of a standard reporting form, extensive data were gathered on 651 deaths involving psychotropic drugs and recorded with the Coroner's or Medical Examiner's Office in each of four major U.S. cities. Thirty-six per cent of these deaths were listed as "Definitely Suicide" and 44% were listed as "Non-Suicide." A comparison was made of the age, sex, race, occupational category, and type of drug involved for each of these two groups, by city. In general, the Suicide group tended to be older, from higher occupational levels, and more often female. Blacks were under-represented among the Suicides but over-represented among the Non-Suicides. Suicide deaths tended to be associated with barbiturates, analgesics, and/or sedatives, while the Non-Suicides usually died from an accidental abuse of narcotics, usually heroin. These findings tended to be similar for each city, although some inter-city differences were noted.

Adult↗
PubMed1976

Analysis of results of toxicological examinations performed by coroners' or medical examiners' laboratories in 2000 drug-involved deaths in nine major U. S. cities.

Data were collected on 2000 deaths in which psychoactive drugs were involved. The data were submitted by medical examiners or coroners in nine U. S. cities from their case files. The 2000 cases comprise a representative sample from each of these cities of deaths from psychoactive drugs between 1972 through 1974. This report details inter-city differences in methods and practices of the toxicological examination as well as the type and numbers of drugs reported. Even when the same analytical method was used in various cities, there were differences in extraction solvent and extraction pH. Of the 3909 drugs detected, 2945 were quantitated; the number of drugs quantitatively measured per case studied ranged from a low of 0.82 for New York to a high of 2.20 for Washington, D.C. The number of different drugs quantitatively measured varied from 16 for New York to 30 for San Francisco; however, New York qualitatively assayed for the presence of a total of 25 drugs. The number and type of drugs found per case varied. Methadone, for example, was found in 60% of the cases reported by New York and in 49% of the cases from Washington, D.C., but in only about 10% of cases reported by Philadelphia, Dallas, Miami, and San Francisco, and in less than 1% of Los Angeles and Cleveland cases; it was not reported by Chicago. Phenmetrazine-caused deaths were reported only by Dallas (one case) and Washington, D.C. (29 cases). From the data as a whole, information is presented for 33 drugs as to the concentration in physiological tissues and fluids. Analysis of single psychoactive drug cases and single-drug-plus-ethanol cases shows that, in the presence of ethanol, the toxic blood concentration of imipramine, amytriptyline, meprobamate, thioridazine, morphine, propoxyphene, methaqualone, and all barbiturates was decreased by an average of 50%.

Forensic Medicine↗