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Biomedical subjects

L A Faillace

Publications and source records attributed to L A Faillace.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1993

Changes in alcohol expectancies and drinking behavior among treated problem drinkers.

Research on alcohol expectancies among clinical populations has not focused on the extent to which changes in alcohol expectancies correspond to changes in drinking. In this investigation, male and female problem drinkers participating in an outpatient treatment focused on drinking reduction techniques provided data on drinking behavior and alcohol expectancies at pretreatment, posttreatment and at an 18-month follow-up. Results showed a significant relationship between decreases in alcohol expectancies and decreased drinking. Decreases in alcohol expectancies were not found over the course of the 8-week treatment, but instead at the 18-month follow-up. Implications and future research needs are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Trans-cranial electrical stimulation attenuates abrupt morphine withdrawal in rats assayed by remote computerized quantification of multiple motor behavior indices.

The goal of the present study was to assess the effects of trans-cranial electrical stimulation on the behavioral signs of the abrupt withdrawal syndrome of rats. However, this goal also necessitated the introduction of an experimental model measuring animal behavior for prolonged periods of time using a computerized animal activity monitoring system to quantify spontaneous motor activities associated with abstinence behavior. Comparable withdrawal severity was obtained by both the activity monitoring system and investigator observation of motor signs of abstinence behavior. Moreover, using this system we demonstrate a time-dependent effect of electrical stimulation in reducing the severity of various indices of motor hyperactivity associated with abrupt morphine withdrawal in rats.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

Freshman and senior medical students' attitudes toward the elderly.

The authors' purpose in the present study was to examine attitudes toward the elderly among medical students and the impact of medical education on such attitudes. Questionnaires first used in a similar study in the 1960s were administered to freshman and senior medical students in 1981 and 1984 at one medical school. Comparison of these two groups indicated that the seniors viewed the elderly more positively than did the freshmen in certain areas, namely the productivity, social significance, and sexuality of the aged. To control for potentially confounding shifts in cultural values in society as a whole and in medical school selection variables, the two freshman groups were compared, and the two senior groups were compared. Results of these analyses indicated few, if any, differences between the freshman classes of 1981 and 1984 or between the senior classes of the same years. Finally, a longitudinal analysis was performed to contrast the attitudes of the students first sampled as freshmen in 1981 to their perceptions as seniors in 1984. Further, the results of the present study were compared with those of a similar study in the 1960s. Taken together, these results indicate that attitudes toward the elderly are becoming more favorable in society in general and in medical schools in particular and that the medical education process was responsible for the more favorable attitudes expressed by the senior medical students.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Computer-based monitoring of clinical care in a public psychiatric hospital unit.

A computer-based clinical monitoring system on a 40-bed university hospital psychiatric unit provides documentation to justify clinicians' diagnosis and choice of treatment and facilitates evaluation of patients' progress at scheduled intervals. The microcomputer system was developed to meet state guidelines for monitoring patients receiving neuroleptic drug treatment. A weekly status report generated for each patient alerts the treating physician to cases in which data do not justify clinical decisions, identifies potential problems, and suggests considering for discharge patients whose symptoms have sufficiently abated. The system is also useful in supervision and research.

Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted↗
PubMed1987

Implications of restrictive diagnosis for compliance to antidepressant drug therapy: alprazolam versus imipramine.

Early dropouts from a double-blind comparison of the therapeutic efficacy of alprazolam and imipramine were examined. The dropout rate across the total sample of 99 analyzable outpatients with major depression was 3 times higher in the imipramine treatment group. Although essentially all patients met DSM-III criteria for major depressive episode, only two thirds of the total sample met the restrictive Feighner criteria for primary depressive disorder. Early termination in the imipramine group was concentrated in the group of depressed outpatients who failed to satisfy the Feighner criteria. Implications of these and other recently reported results for choice of drug treatment for depressed psychiatric outpatients are discussed.

Alprazolam↗
PubMed1980

Mechanisms of host defense in well nourished patients with chronic alcoholism.

Tests of immune function were performed on five recently abstinent, well nourished,and disease-free patients with chronic alcoholism. No significant defects in adherence, metabolic, or bactericidal activity of polymorphonuclear leukocytes were found when compared to sex-matched controls. Antibody-dependent and natural killer cellular cytotoxicity of monocyte-macrophages and lymphocytes also were normal. These data support the concept that immunity might be intact in the group of patients with chronic alcoholism who are recently sober, well nourished, and free of underlying disease.

Alcoholism↗
PubMed1979

The effect of the combination of lithium and haloperidol on brain intermediary metabolism in vivo.

The effect of the chronic administration of the combination of lithium and haloperidol has been studied in rat brain in vivo. Lithium was administered in food in amounts sufficient to maintain serum lithium levels of 1.0 +/- 0.1 mEq/l; haloperidol (1.5 mg/kg) was given i.p. once daily. Control animals pair-fed with the lithium/haloperidol alone, or neither drug. Fifteen days after the beginning of the experiments the brains were instantaneously frozen with a rapid brain-freezing device and multiple metabolites were measured in the perchloric acid extract of the tissue. Intermediates examined included selected metabolites of the glycolytic pathway and the tricarboxylic acid cycle, N-acetylaspartate and cofactors such as ATP, CoA, and acetyl-CoA. Estimates of the effects of the treatments on cytoplasmic and mitochondrial redox states were also made. The results showed only minor effects of any of the treatments on any of the parameters studied and little or nothing to distinguish the combination of lithium and haloperidol from either treatment alone.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

EEG's in an alcohol detoxification and treatment center.

EEG's were carried out on two hundred and one (201) alcoholics admitted to a four week treatment program. The majority were grossly intoxicated on admission and presented the usual differential problems during the first few days of hospitalization. In spite of therapeutic doses of medication before testing, 85% had totally normal EEG's and only 5.5% revealed clearly abnormal tracings. Of those for whom repeat records were later obtained, four of six with an abnormality showed a persistance of abnormality suggesting underlying organic dysfunction and not just "intoxication". EEG has a place in identification of the alcoholic patient at greater risk for neurological complications and may be useful in alerting the psychiatrist to obtain additional personal and family history, neurological examination, and when appropriate, further tests for potential structural abnormality. Routine use of structural tests such as computerized scan will aid in the identification of serious structural abnormalities but will not identify equally serious disorganizing functional abnormalities.

Alcoholism↗
PubMed1978

Physical illness presenting as psychiatric disease.

A study of 658 consecutive psychiatric outpatients receiving careful medical and biochemical evaluation, defined an incidence of medical disorders productive of psychiatric symptoms in 9.1% of cases. The most frequent presentations were of depression, confusion, anxiety, and speech or memory disorders. The presence of visual hallucinations was believed to indicate medical etiology until proved otherwise. Major illnesses presenting with psychiatric symptoms in order of frequency were infectious, pulmonary, thyroid, diabetic, hematopoietic, hepatic and CNS diseases. Forty-six percent of these patients suffered from medical illnesses previously unknown to either them or their physician. A plea is made for careful medical evaluation of psychiatric patients.

Adult↗