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K Räder

Publications and source records attributed to K Räder.

16 recordsLinked to original sources

[Are there predictors for impulsive, homicidal-suicidal acts of violence].

Patient's statements or fears that they may "go crazy" and harm themselves or persons around them are rare, but extremely difficult for all participants to deal with. On the basis of the existing, unsatisfactory literature as well as an analysis of 196 incidents of homicidal-suicidal violence designated by German media as "running amok" and fulfilling defined criteria, we examined whether or not there are predictors for the degree of potential danger inherent in such threats. Impulsive, homicidal-suicidal acts of violence among patients with psychiatric disorders often occur in environments characterised by chronic psychosocial estrangement and isolation. Extremely distressing situations may trigger the course of violence, but the actual act is often planned during a seemingly peaceful interval. Personalities with a high affinity to weapons and a tendency toward acting out seem to increase the potential risks. Such events should be treated analogous to suicidal crises, with a strategy that takes the individual disorder into consideration. The parameters investigated in this paper are not sufficient, even in different combinations, to offer a satisfactory explanation or predict the occurrence of this extremely rare behaviour; further research is necessary.

Acting Out↗

["Running amok"--content analytic study of 196 news presentations from industrialized countries].

We performed a content analysis study based on 196 reports in the German press published during the last decade on acts of violence designated as "going berserk" or "running amok (amuck)" and meeting defined criteria. With less than one person per one million men per year running berserk or amok, this is a very rare act of violence, albeit a very dangerous one involving 1.3 deaths and 1.7 injuries per case. Offenders differ from the normal population in regards to the small percentage of women (5%) and high unemployment (40%), and from other violent offenders in that they are normally occupationally well-qualified. Severe psychiatric disorders are overrepresented. A total of 108 cases were classified according to specific syndromes either by specialists or experts on the spot, or on the basis of a description of the signs and symptoms. Of the syndrome-related acts, the most dangerous offences were committed by 10 delusionally ill and 2 psychopathic individuals. 30 less dangerous offenders suffered from paranoid-hallucinatory syndromes. 28 crimes committed in a state of intoxication and 11 "crimes of passion" were the least dangerous. Another 25 persons with an extensive incidence of suicide in the family, without any apparent pre-existing psychiatric disorder, may have gone berserk in the course of a depressive syndrome. Although psychotically ill individuals tend to overreact more often following a minimal slight, under delusions or with no apparent reason at all, on the whole the causes for both the psychotic and other offenders are of a serious nature. Object loss and private disputes on the one hand and social conflicts on the other were of approximately equal significance. The relationship between the offender and his victim is more essential for the course of the occurrence than motives or the type of the psychopathological syndrome. If only family members are attacked, the offenders have usually been inconspicuous, elderly individuals, two thirds of whom can not be allocated to a given syndrome and may be depressive. They kill deliberately and on-target, do not merely injure their victims--hardly ever, in fact--and then commit suicide practically without exception. If strangers are the target of violence, the crimes are generally committed by younger, passive-aggressive, psychopathic, paranoid or intoxicated offenders. They kill only about half of their victims, but injure many, also causing a great deal of damage. They rarely commit suicide.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Adolescent↗

["Endogeniform" affective psychoses and normal pressure hydrocephalus].

Four patients with neuroradiological evidence of normal pressure hydrocephalus and psychiatric diagnosis of affective psychoses with major depression--like characteristics are presented. Three patients underwent shunting operations following an observation period of 2 to 6 years. During the post-operative follow-up of 3 to 7 years, resp., no clinical changes were noted. In our opinion, and following critical evaluation of the available literature, major depression--like affective disorders in normal-pressure hydrocephalus are not influenced by shunting operations, unless they occur simultaneously as an additional symptom in an Adams-Hakim syndrome with definite progression.

Affective Disorders, Psychotic↗

[Anorectic reactions in low intelligence].

Six female in-patients suffering from anorectic reaction are described. Difficulties in diagnosis and differences between these patients and anorectic patients of normal intelligence are discussed. The main finding is that in all six cases there was an extremely close and symbiotic mother-child relationship and a weak or absent father. Relevant life events in the nuclear family (new partner for the mother, illness in the father) then triggered the eating disorder.

Adolescent↗

[Inpatient management of adolescent psychiatric patients. A single day study].

The distribution of disorders in a one-day sample of 1806 adolescents receiving inpatient psychiatric care and classified with the diagnostic system ICD-9 is described. Of the inpatient psychiatric facilities for adolescents in the Federal Republic of Germany and West Berlin, 85% responded to our questionnaire. The main findings were: 1) More of the inpatients were male than female (1:0.8); 2) 80% of the patients were being treated at non-university facilities; 3) differences in diagnose between university and other hospitals were small and concerned only psychosis, eating disorders and oligophrenia; 4) the most frequent diagnoses were psychosis and neurosis (20% each), followed by special symptoms/syndromes and conduct disorders (between 10% and 15% each) and emotional disorders (10%); 5) other disorders were less common (under 10% each); 6) a comparison of the different Länder in the Federal Republic indicated that some regions do not have enough inpatient facilities.

Adolescent↗

[Stability of beta-lactamase inhibitors and beta-lactam antibiotics in parenteral formulations as well as in body fluids and tissue homogenates. Comparison of sulbactam, clavulanic acid, ampicillin and amoxicillin].

Stability of beta-Lactamase Inhibitors and beta-Lactam Antibiotics in Parenteral Formulations as Well as in Body Fluids and Tissue Homogenates/Comparative studies with sulbactam, clavulanic acid, ampicillin and amoxicillin. The beta-lactamase inhibitors and the beta-lactam antibiotics are markedly different in chemical stability. The comparative examination of 4 different infusion solutions at 4 degrees C, 25 degrees C and 37 degrees C gives the following sequence of decreasing stability: sulbactam (CAS 68373-14-8), ampicillin (CAS 69-53-4), amoxicillin (CAS 61336-70-7) and clavulanic acid (CAS 58001-44-8). It is particularly striking that the two beta-lactamase inhibitors, sulbactam and clavulanic acid, behave very differently. Sulbactam is also much more stable than clavulanic acid to incubation at 37 degrees C in body fluids or in tissue homogenates. The differences in the stability of the individual drugs should be born in mind during clinical use of combination formulations such as sulbactam/ampicillin (Unacid) and clavulanic acid/amoxicillin.

Amoxicillin↗

[Anorexia nervosa and Down syndrome].

This article reports on a 24-year-old woman patient with anorexia nervosa and Down's syndrome. Following examination of previous case studies on the simultaneous occurrence of these illnesses, the authors make a further contribution to the controversial discussion of whether primary anorexia can occur at all in the mentally retarded or whether it should not rather be considered an anorectic reaction related to other disorders, e.g. depressive disturbances.

Adult↗

Studies on the synergism of sulbactam and beta-lactam antibiotics under in vitro conditions and in healthy volunteers after intravenous administration. Antibacterial activity in vitro, compatibility and pharmacokinetics of the drugs in combination.

Sulbactam, a new beta-lactam inhibitor, increased the in vitro activity of cefotaxime, mezlocillin and piperacillin against 803 clinical bacterial isolates. The synergism of sulbactam and these antibiotics was particular marked against 467 beta-lactamase positive strains, both aerobic and anaerobic. In the presence of sulbactam the mean minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of the antibiotics against beta-lactamase positive bacteria were greatly reduced: with cefotaxime by 58%, with mezlocillin by 64% and with piperacillin by 70%. Sulbactam alone at low concentrations inhibited the growth of only a few strains (Neisseria spp., Acinetobacter spp.). The inhibitor proved to be very stable in infusion media under a variety of conditions and was compatible in vitro with 14 different beta-lactam antibiotics. The pharmacokinetics profiles of sulbactam and the antibiotics cefotaxime, mezlocillin and piperacillin were similar after infusion to healthy volunteers. The relevant pharmacokinetic parameters of the single substances were essentially unchanged when administered in combination. The general similarity between the pharmacokinetics of sulbactam and of the beta-lactam antibiotics appears to be an essential precondition for the therapeutic success of such a synergistic combination. Thus the physicochemical and pharmacological properties of sulbactam apparently permit flexible dosage in combination with different penicillins or cephalosporins and sulbactam can be administered as non-fixed combination in the clinical treatment of bacterial infections.

Adult↗

Delayed visual evoked potentials in chronic alcoholism.

Pattern reversal visual evoked potentials (VEPs) were studied in 80 chronic alcoholics and in 43 normal subjects. In the patient group, P2 latencies and inter-eye differences were found above the 98% confidence limit in 30%, and above the 99.9% confidence limit in 10%. An abnormal waveform was observed in 12.5% and 7.5% of the patients. VEP abnormalities showed some statistical correlation with the gamma-type of alcoholism of Jellinek, but almost no correlation was observed with a variety of clinical and laboratory data. This suggest that VEP abnormalities are unrelated to other toxic effects of alcohol on the peripheral and central nervous systems or on metabolism.

Adult↗

Preliminary study of the pharmacokinetics of desmethyldiazepam administered as drops or tablets.

Desmethyldiazepam (Vegesan) was administered in the form of 5-mg and 10-mg tablets and of 10-mg drops to 4 male and 4 female young healthy volunteers. The plasma levels of desmethyldiazepam were measured over 168 h. The time courses could be fitted to the one- or to the two-compartment model. The mean half-lives of elimination came to 75.3 +/- 32.0 (SD) h (5-mg tablets), 66.5 +/- 21.0 (SD) h (10-mg tablets) and 78.4 +/- 33.2 (SD) h (10-mg drops). The bioavailability of desmethyldiazepam from tablets and from drops was practically the same. The bioavailability appeared to be independent of dose in this range. A significantly higher total plasma clearance was calculated for the male than for the female volunteers after all three dosage forms (p less than 0.05). The total plasma clearance lay between 4.8 and 13.0 ml/min for the female and 12.4 and 24.3 ml/min for the male volunteers. Ingestion of the contraceptive pill is suggested as a possible cause of the sex differences.

Adult↗

Epilepsy and prejudice: the dimensionality of stereotypes towards epileptics.

Previous investigations (cross-sectional and time series studies) to conditional structures of heterostereotypes toward epileptics are mainly based on the interview schedule of Caveness (1949). This item pool seems insufficient to parametrisize the horizon of attitudes toward epileptic persons. Antonak and Rankin (1981, 1982) found a higher degree of dimensionality of stereotypes by application of their ATPE scale (Attitudes toward persons with epilepsy). Therefore, studying the complex interaction of attitudes and knowledge about epileptics, we presented an adapted and translated German version of the ATPE to a sample of 372 volunteers. The dimensional decomposition of the 32 items resulted in five factors: 1. attitudes regarding education and social integration (EDUCINT), 2. attitudes regarding working behaviour (WORK), 3. negative attitudes regarding reproductive behaviour (REPR), 4. open discrimination (DISC), 5. passive tolerance (PASTOL). Variance analytical investigations showed a complex pattern of stereotypes in the sample in relation to sociodemographic background parameters.

Adolescent↗

Uptake of antimicrobial agents by human polymorphonuclear leucocytes.

The uptake of the antimicrobial agents tinidazole, josamycin and penicillin G by normal human polymorphonuclear leucocytes (PMNs) was measured in vitro, using radiolabeled drugs. Extracellular concentrations corresponding to therapeutically effective serum levels of the drugs were used. Penicillin G penetrated the leucocyte membrane poorly, the ratio of the cell-associated to the extracellular concentration (C/E) being between 0.23 and 0.54. In contrast, tinidazole and josamycin were accumulated by the cells: C/E for tinidazole varied from 1.38 to 1.56 and C/E for josamycin from 3.5 to 21.4, depending on incubation times. It is inferred that these two compounds are capable of inactivating intracellular organisms and would therefore be useful for treating or preventing chronic infections caused by pathogens which survive intracellularly. The extraordinarily high accumulation of josamycin by PMNs could not easily be reversed by repeated cell washing and might be explained by the existence of an active transport mechanism.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗

Afferent information processing in patients with chronic alcoholism. An evoked potential study.

Visual evoked potentials (VEP), median nerve sensory conduction velocity (SNCV) as well as sensory evoked potentials (SEP), and brainstem acoustic evoked potentials (BAEP) were investigated on both sides in 40 patients with chronic alcoholism (mean age 37 years) without clinical signs of alcohol-induced central nervous system lesions. The results were compared to those obtained in 40 normal controls (mean age 32 years). In both groups, the parameters were analysed by means of both dependence and interdependence statistics. Dependence statistics (ANOVA) revealed significant differences between both groups. In 70% of the patients, at least one pathological parameter (greater than mean +/- 2.5 SD) was found; about 38% of the patients had two or more pathological values. Most pathological parameters were observed with BAEP testing (45% of patients) followed by SNCV (33%), median nerve SEP (30%), and VEP (10%). No significant clustering of pathological parameters was found in certain patients. By means of interdependence statistics, evidence is presented for a disturbance of sensory processing in the brainstem auditory pathways of the patients.

Adult↗