PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

J O Larsson

Publications and source records attributed to J O Larsson.

18 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2003

Urinary peptide levels in women with eating disorders. A pilot study.

The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the urinary excretion of low molecular weight peptides is increased in women with a history of anorexia nervosa/self starvation. The study group consisted of 12 women aged 20-38 years who were treated in a specialised day care unit for eating disorders in Stockholm between January and December 1998; the controls were eight women with primary bulimia treated in the same unit (A) and ten healthy women without any eating disorder (B). The chromatographically measured urinary peptide levels in the study group were significantly higher than those in control group A (and B when one highly influential individual with very low peptide excretion in the study group was excluded from the analyses). These findings offer some support to the speculative hypothesis that eating disorder symptoms may be linked to increased levels of neuroactive peptides, although it is necessary to define the peptides further before any definite conclusion can be drawn. Furthermore, the study group was characterised by many interpersonal differences in eating behaviour that could explain the increased urinary peptide levels.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

"Maturational lag" hypothesis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: an update.

UNLABELLED: This article discusses the relationship of maturation to ADHD and hyperkinetic disorder (HKD), with an emphasis on current research in ADHD and HKD, persistence and remission of ADHD symptoms over time and brain maturational trajectories. CONCLUSION: ADHD is a broad, heterogeneous syndrome and only a subgroup of subjects has a diagnosis of HKD, which is a subset of individuals with severe ADHD combined subtype. Children showing symptoms above the threshold for a diagnosis of ADHD are at risk of developing comorbid conditions and increasing stress in both parents and teachers. In some subjects, ADHD symptoms can improve over time during maturation and development. These children with a diagnosis of ADHD could be viewed as showing variants of normal childhood behaviour with maturational trajectories that are lagging behind but will catch up. ADHD could therefore represent a continuum from normality at one extreme to a severe disorder, HKD according to ICD-10, at the other extreme.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

Parents' perception of mental development and behavioural problems in 8 to 9-year-old children.

UNLABELLED: A slow maturational rate may be an underlying antecedent of a psychiatric disorder. If this is correct, differences in behavioural problems could be related to the maturity level in children of the same chronological age. The aim of the study was to compare the parents' perceptions and assessments of their children's maturational status and behavioural problems. A population based on a nationwide sample from the Swedish twin-register of 8 to 9-y-old children (n = 1079) was used. The parents completed a questionnaire including their views on their child's maturity level, the Swedish version of the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) and an Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) checklist based on the DSM-III-R criteria. Multivariate analyses showed a statistically significant relationship between immaturity reported by the parents and several behavioural problems reported on the CBCL: somatic complaints, anxious and depressed, social problems, thought problems, attention problems, behaviour problems and aggressive behaviour. There was also a statistically significant relationship between the maturity factor and the CBCL grouping of syndromes (internalizing, externalizing, total behaviour problems score) as well as between the maturity factor and ADHD. CONCLUSION: We conclude that at least from the parents' point of view the behaviour problems in their children may be related to maturity.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Measurements of attention deficits and impulsivity: a Swedish study of the Gordon Diagnostic System.

The Gordon Diagnostic System (GDS) is a portable easily operated computerized tool developed to measure impulse control, attention and vigilance. In 1988, it was standardized for use among American children. The aim of this study was to evaluate the GDS for use among Swedish children. A clinical sample of 71 Swedish children, mean age 10.5 y, fulfilling the ADHD criteria according to the DSM-IV was compared with a control sample of 88 children, mean age 10.2-y, with no known psychiatric diagnosis. The clinical sample showed lower GDS scores in all age groups, with some exceptions. The GDS scores were not associated with gender, but strongly associated with age, especially in the control sample. The accuracy of the GDS referring a specific child to either of the samples was, as expected, not impressive. With respect to the practical usefulness, the GDS was well accepted by the children and parents in both samples. The findings in age variation and when comparing children with ADHD and controls are in agreement with results from other studies.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Home visiting the newborn baby as a basis for developmental surveillance at child welfare centres.

Home visiting is a part of the Swedish child health surveillance programme. In the present study, part of a longitudinal prospective project, the predictive power of observations at home visits to 338 newborn babies was evaluated. The regular home visit was made by the nurse at a Child Welfare Centre also using a check-list developed for this project. Her check-list assessments seemed valid in identifying families with stressful psychosocial conditions. When the general home situation was judged as "poor" or "dubious", the boys showed signs of a delayed mental development at 4-5 years of age. Assessments of "feeding problems" among boys were associated with behavioural problems at 4-5 years of age. The results underline the importance of an early home visit as a base for the developmental surveillance at Child Welfare Centres. However, the results of the home visit observations were not followed by any extra interventions at CWC. It seems the nurse should feel confident in her check-list judgement and initiate interventions where appropriate.

Child Development↗
PubMed1996

Accidents in childhood: relation to psychosocial conditions and mental development.

In a longitudinal cohort study we investigated if children experiencing psychosocial stress and exhibiting certain psychopathological symptoms run a higher risk of having accidents than other children. In 366 children the number of hospital-treated casualties during the first 10 years of their lives was related to the physical and mental characteristics of the children and to the social conditions in their families. Boys had a higher number of accidents when one or both of the parents were known to have alcohol problems. Girls exhibiting symptoms of depression, anxiety and problems in social relationships at 4-5 years of age had more accidents than girls without such symptoms. However, the differences in accident rates were small, perhaps due to the physical environment in the housing areas and the general attitude, both aiming towards reducing childhood accidents.

Accidents↗
PubMed1995

Screening for minimal brain dysfunction (MBD/DAMP) at six years of age: results of motor test in relation to perinatal conditions, development and family situation.

The aim of this study was to investigate if children aged 6 years of age, classified as having minimal brain dysfunction (MBD) or deficit in attention, motor control and perception (DAMP), exhibit special medical problems, specific developmental features or if special psychosocial conditions exist in the family. The screening program, using the psychoneurological part of the method developed by Gillberg et al., included 234 children who were followed-up prospectively from pregnancy and birth. The results were related to the physical and mental development of the children, to the psychosocial and socioeconomic conditions of the families, to pre- and postnatal conditions and to "reduced optimality score", as defined by Prechtl. Mental development was assessed by the use of Griffiths' test at 10-14 months and at 4-5 years of age. At the second Griffiths' test, the mother was also interviewed about the presence of aggressiveness and other symptoms of childhood psychopathology in her child, as defined by the DSM-III criteria, and a psychological observation was also made. In addition to screening for MBD/DAMP, at 6 years of age the parents were asked to complete a questionnaire aimed at identifying attention deficit disorder (ADD). No medical or psychological intervention was made before this stage. Fourteen children (9M, 5F) (6%) were identified as having a positive MBD/DAMP screening result. The results of the screening procedure showed a weak correlation with those obtained using the questionnaire based on the DSM-III criteria for ADD.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity↗
PubMed1994

Developmental screening at four years of age. Relation to home situation, perinatal stress, development and behaviour.

A developmental screening programme constructed for the use of Swedish child welfare centres on four-year-old children has been tested on a cohort of 471 children who have been followed up from the stage of early pregnancy. The results of the screening test were compared with data in the project using a multidisciplinary, longitudinal and prospective design. The test, which can be performed by a child welfare centre nurse and which is not time-consuming, includes four items summed up in a four-years-of-age score: the child is asked to name three easily recognizable objects, to draw a cross (according to a model), and to draw a man; in addition, an evaluation is made of speech development. On average, boys were found to have a lower score than girls. The results of the screening test were related to data available in the ongoing project; to the psychosocial conditions of the families, to foetal and perinatal factors (reduced optimality score according to Prechtl), to the presence of psychopathology, and to the results of Griffiths' developmental scales. The developmental screening score, which in most instances was associated with the Griffiths' scales, was found to be related to psychosocial problems in the family and to abnormal behaviour and psychiatric symptoms in the child, but not to reduced optimality scores. The results indicate that a relatively simple screening method is of value for the identification of children who are at risk of abnormal mental and behavioural development, and who may thus be in need of special care and attention.

Child Development↗
PubMed1987

Kinetics of intra operative pH of the canine corpus fundal mucosa before and after truncal vagotomy.

The intra-operative surface pH of the corpus fundic mucosa in anaesthetized dogs was studied with a glass electrode during stimulation with graded doses of pentagastrin. The mucosal pH could be related to the dose of pentagastrin by a hyperbolic curve. With intact vagus ED50 averaged 0.67 micrograms kg-1 h-1 of pentagastrin and maximum effect corresponded to an average pH of 1.9. Immediately after truncal vagotomy there was a significant shift of the curve to the right corresponding to an average ED50 of 3.77 micrograms kg-1 h-1, an effect that could be described as that of a competitive inhibitor. Two weeks after vagotomy the value of ED50 had returned to the prevagotomy level. The high ED50 immediately after vagotomy is ascribed to the sudden fall in the subthreshold release of acetylcholine previously supplied by the intact vagus. The return to the low ED50 2 weeks later could be explained by denervation supersensitivity. The relation between the curves before and immediately after vagotomy suggests that the dose of the agonist be as low as possible, when testing the completeness of a vagotomy intra-operatively.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

Acid secretion and mucosal blood flow in the distal and proximal parts of the canine parietal cell mass in response to cholinergic stimulation.

Dogs provided with one denervated gastric pouch in the distal part of the corpus fundus and another of equal size in the proximal part were studied during stimulation with bethanechol chloride. Dose-response curves were determined for acid output and for mucosal blood flow, which was measured with the neutral red technique. ED50 for acid output was almost identical for the two pouches, giving a value of 1.13 (median) for the ratio of ED50 proximal pouch to ED50 distal pouch, which is between the ratios of 3.54 and 0.65 noted for pentagastrin and histamine, respectively in earlier investigations. The ED50 for blood flow was significantly lower than that for the simultaneous acid output, with a value of 0.28 for the ratio of ED50 blood flow to ED50 acid output, which gives an intermediate position between the ratios for pentagastrin (0.13 and 0.21 for the distal and proximal pouch, respectively) and histamine (0.61 and 0.73) obtained in earlier investigations. It could be hypothesized that the above differences in ratio between these three agonists reflect a difference at the receptor level of the parietal cells and the arterioles.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Intraoperative pH of the gastric mucosa before and after truncal vagotomy in the dog. The Grassi test.

The intraoperative surface pH of the corpus fundus mucosa in anaesthetized dogs was studied with a glass electrode before and after vagotomy during stimulation with 2.0 micrograms kg-1 h-1 of pentagastrin. Before vagotomy an average pH of 1.9 was noted. A significant rise of pH to an average of 5.9 occurred immediately after vagotomy. Twenty-four hours and 14 days after vagotomy pH was at the initial low level. The immediate high pH after vagotomy could be lowered to the same level as before by addition of a threshold dose of bethanechol chloride. The high pH immediately after vagotomy must be ascribed to the sudden fall in the subthreshold release of acetylcholine previously supplied by the intact vagus. The return of low pH 1 day after vagotomy can be explained by development of denervation supersensitivity caused by the diminished background release of acetylcholine. Acid spots were registered in the distal part of the corpus immediately after vagotomy because that area is more sensitive to pentagastrin than the proximal. It is therefore suggested that histamine, which has a reverse action, is a more suitable stimulant when pH measurements are performed to assess the completeness of a selective proximal vagotomy.

Animals↗
PubMed1983

Difference in kinetics between the distal and proximal parts of the canine parietal cell mass in response to histamine.

Dogs provided with one denervated gastric pouch in the distal part of the corpus fundus and another of equal size in the proximal part, were studied during histamine stimulation. Dose-response curves were determined for acid output and mucosal blood flow, which was measured with the Neutral Red technique. Maximum acid output was significantly higher for the distal (mean 234.0 mumol min-1) than for the proximal pouch (120.0 mumol min-1). ED50 for acid output was significantly higher for the distal (105.0 micrograms kg-1 h-1 of histamine) than for the proximal pouch (57.0 micrograms kg-1 h-1). ED50 for blood flow did not differ significantly between the distal (40.5 micrograms kg-1 h-1) and the proximal pouch (29.0 micrograms kg-1 h-1). For both pouches ED50 for blood flow was significantly lower than that for simultaneous acid output. This indicated that the rise in blood flow precedes that in acid output. Regression analysis showed a significantly higher ratio between maximum mucosal blood flow and maximum acid output for the distal (0.30 ml mumol-1) than for the proximal pouch (0.15 ml mumol-1). The finding that ED50 for acid output in response to histamine was lower for the proximal pouch is contrary to earlier results obtained with pentagastrin, which showed that ED50 was lower for the distal pouch. There is no valid explanation for these differences in ED50 between the pouches, but a difference at receptor level could be hypothesized. The difference in maximum acid output between the two pouches is explained by the known difference between distal and proximal parts in volume fraction of the parietal cells. The possibility that these differences in acid production depend on dissimilarities in mucosal blood flow can be excluded.

Animals↗
PubMed1982

Difference in kinetics between the distal and proximal parts of the canine parietal cell mass in response to pentagastrin.

1. Dogs were provided with one denervated gastric pouch in the distal and another of equal size in the proximal part of the corpus fundus. Dose-response curves for pentagastrin were determined for acid output and mucosal blood flow, which was measured with the Neutral Red technique. 2. Maximum acid output was significantly higher for the distal (mean 165.4 mumol min-1) than for the proximal pouch (53.8 mumol). ED50 for acid output was significantly higher for the proximal (5.10 micrograms kg-1 h-1 of pentagastrin) than for the distal pouch (1.98 micrograms). 3. ED50 for blood flow did not differ significantly between the distal (0.48 microgram) and the proximal pouch (1.23 micrograms). For both pouches ED50 for blood flow was significantly lower than that for simultaneous acid output. This indicated that the rise in blood flow precedes that of acid output. 4. Regression analysis indicated similar ratios between maximum mucosal blood flow and maximum acid output for the distal (0.17 ml mumol-1) and the proximal (0.14 ml mumol-1)pouch. 5. The difference in maximum acid output between the two pouches correlates well with the known difference between distal and proximal parts in volume fraction of the parietal cells, while there is no valid explanation for the difference in ED50 for acid output. It can be excluded that these differences in acid production depend on dissimilarities in mucosal blood flow.

Animals↗