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Biomedical subjects

L McEvoy

Publications and source records attributed to L McEvoy.

10 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Multiple risk factors predict suicide in alcoholism.

From a study of the lives of 50 alcoholics who committed suicide, seven nonacute clinical/historical features were identified post hoc that appear to be intimately linked to suicide. They included continued drinking, major depressive episode, suicidal communication, poor social support, serious medical illness, unemployment, and living alone. This study examined whether these features are common to alcoholics generally and/or to nonalcoholics who commit suicide or if they may be specifically predictive of suicide in alcoholics. The frequencies of these factors were compared with those in an earlier sample of 32 alcoholics who committed suicide, then with data from two St Louis studies of living alcoholics and a cohort of individuals with major depressive disorder who committed suicide. The frequency of the identified items was replicated among the 32 alcoholics in a larger community sample of individuals who committed suicide. The white men from those two samples of alcoholics who committed suicide were then combined for the advantage of sample size. Six of the seven factors could be compared with a population survey sample of 106 living alcoholics and five with a clinically identified sample of 142 living alcoholics. All compared factors were significantly more frequent among those who committed suicide than among controls. Any four of the six factors identified 46 (69%) of the 67 individuals who committed suicide with few false-positive results among the controls. Regarding all seven of the identified factors, 54 (81%) of the 67 men and 64 (83%) of the entire sample of 82 individuals who committed suicide had four or more risk factors. Alcoholic women and blacks showed the same pattern as white men.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Muscle hypertrophy response to resistance training in older women.

We conducted a 12-wk resistance training program in elderly women [mean age 69 +/- 1.0 (SE) yr] to determine whether increases in muscle strength are associated with changes in cross-sectional fiber area of the vastus lateralis muscle. Twenty-seven healthy women were randomly assigned to either a control or exercise group. The program was satisfactorily completed and adequate biopsy material obtained from 6 controls and 13 exercisers. After initial testing of baseline maximal strength, exercisers began a training regimen consisting of seven exercises that stressed primary muscle groups of the lower extremities. No active intervention was prescribed for the controls. Increases in muscle strength of the exercising subjects were significant compared with baseline values (28-115%) in all muscle groups. No significant strength changes were observed in the controls. Cross-sectional area of type II muscle fibers significantly increased in the exercisers (20.1 +/- 6.8%, P = 0.02) compared with baseline. In contrast, no significant change in type II fiber area was observed in the controls. No significant changes in type I fiber area were found in either group. We conclude that a program of resistance exercise can be safely carried out by elderly women, such a program significantly increases muscle strength, and such gains are due, at least in part, to muscle hypertrophy.

Aged↗
PubMed1991

New methods in cross-cultural psychiatry: psychiatric illness in Taiwan and the United States.

OBJECTIVE: Cross-cultural psychiatric research has suffered from many methodological shortcomings. To answer some of these shortcomings, the present study compared rates of psychiatric disorders in Taiwan and the United States by combining data from both countries into a single data set. METHOD: Results from large, community-based surveys in the United States and Taiwan, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Epidemiologic Catchment Area survey and the Taiwan Psychiatric Epidemiological Project, were combined into a single data set. This integration of the data sets was possible because both surveys used the NIMH Diagnostic Interview Schedule to ascertain cases. The integrated data sets were then analyzed with identical algorithms to generate lifetime prevalence rates of psychiatric disorders according to DSM-III criteria for both the United States and Taiwan. RESULTS: Lifetime prevalence rates of psychiatric illness in Taiwan were generally lower than U.S. rates. The rates of any disorder were 21.56% in Taiwan and 35.55% in the United States (Z = 22.34, p less than 10(-109]. The rates of most specific disorders were lower in Taiwan, and none of the rates was higher in Taiwan. CONCLUSIONS: While a culturally determined response bias may have lowered the rates in Taiwan somewhat, the results appear to be valid. Implications for the future use of structured diagnostic interviews in cross-cultural research are discussed.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1988

Merocyanine 540 as a flow cytometric probe of membrane lipid organization in leukocytes.

Merocyanine 540 (MC540) is a fluorescent probe that binds preferentially to membranes with loosely packed lipids. When combined with flow cytometry, it provides a novel methodology for rapidly and quantitatively assessing lipid organization in individual leukocytes. Analysis of cells stained simultaneously with MC540 and 1-[4-trimethylammoniumphenyl]-6-phenyl-1,3,5-hexatriene, to normalize for surface area, revealed that all leukocytes in peripheral blood bind equivalent amounts of dye per unit surface area. This result indicates that the lipids of the plasma membranes of all types of circulating cells are organized similarly. Upon activation with appropriate stimuli, lymphocytes, monocytes, and neutrophils all bound increased amounts of dye per unit surface area, indicating a change in lipid organization to a less-ordered state. Cells stained with MC540 were sorted on the basis of their fluorescence intensity yielding populations homogeneous with respect to lipid organization. Thus not only can MC540 and flow cytometry be combined for analyzing the organization of lipids in individual leukocytes, but sorted populations can be obtained for further biochemical, structural, and functional analyses.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

Post-traumatic stress disorder in the general population. Findings of the epidemiologic catchment area survey.

There have been numerous studies of post-traumatic stress disorder in trauma victims, war veterans, and residents of communities exposed to disaster. Epidemiologic studies of this syndrome in the general population are rare but add an important perspective to our understanding of it. We report findings on the epidemiology of post-traumatic stress disorder in 2493 participants examined as part of a nationwide general-population survey of psychiatric disorders. The prevalence of a history of post-traumatic stress disorder was 1 percent in the total population, about 3.5 percent in civilians exposed to physical attack and in Vietnam veterans who were not wounded, and 20 percent in veterans wounded in Vietnam. Post-traumatic stress disorder was associated with a variety of other adult psychiatric disorders. Behavioral problems before the age of 15 predicted adult exposure to physical attack and (among Vietnam veterans) to combat, as well as the development of post-traumatic stress disorder among those so exposed. Although some symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, such as hyperalertness and sleep disturbances, occurred commonly in the general population, the full syndrome as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, third edition, was common only among veterans wounded in Vietnam.

Catchment Area, Health↗
PubMed1987

The predictive validity of lay Diagnostic Interview Schedule diagnoses in the general population. A comparison with physician examiners.

A clinical reexamination by psychiatrists is a useful comparison for exploring lay Diagnostic Interview Schedule-derived psychiatric diagnoses in general population surveys, but as a validity standard psychiatric reexamination is less than ideal. There are many potential sources of disagreement that have nothing to do with the validity of either the lay or the psychiatrist examination. Another approach to comparing lay and psychiatrist diagnoses is to examine their relative predictive power. We describe such a comparison using outcome variables derived from the one-year follow-up examination of Epidemiologic Catchment Area respondents done at the St. Louis site. We examine several outcome variables across nine diagnostic categories. Within the limits of the available data, lay and psychiatrist diagnoses appear to be essentially equal in terms of the number of outcomes better predicted and few of the differences in predictive power approach statistical significance. We discuss the implications of these findings for the analysis of lay interviewer Diagnostic Interview Schedule-derived diagnoses.

Catchment Area, Health↗
PubMed1987

Red cell-mediated microinjection.

Red cell-mediated microinjection facilitates the rapid introduction of macromolecules into large numbers of culture cells. Efficient injection of cells in monolayer using PEG as fusogen can be accomplished using any of three alternative agglutinating agents (PHA, Con A, or polylysine) to attach loaded red cells to recipient cells. These three method yield similar efficiencies of microinjection and postfusion viability, as shown in Table I. Either of the methods, after being tailored to fit particular needs, can be expected to produce results similar to those in Table I with some variability due to differences in cell types. One drawback when PHA is used as agglutinin is the inability to remove adherent, nonfused red cells from cultures after fusion. Reversible attachment of red cells is possible using Con A or polylysine. For each of the latter agglutinins, reversal of binding detaches the great majority of the red cells; virtually all nonfused red cells may be eliminated by performing an additional simple step in either case.

Agglutinins↗
PubMed1986

Membrane phospholipid asymmetry as a determinant of erythrocyte recognition by macrophages.

To assess the role of transbilayer phospholipid distribution in the recognition and phagocytosis of erythrocytes by macrophages, human erythrocytes with either a symmetric or asymmetric distribution of membrane phospholipids were prepared by hypotonic hemolysis and then incubated with cultures of human monocyte-derived macrophages. Erythrocytes with an abnormal, symmetric distribution were phagocytosed 4 times more readily than their counterparts with an asymmetric distribution or than normal, asymmetric intact erythrocytes. This enhanced phagocytosis correlated with two biophysical properties of the membrane: the spacing of phospholipids, as assessed by binding of the dye merocyanine 540, and the relative hydrophobicity, as measured by aqueous two-phase polymer partitioning. These results suggest a mechanism by which loss of membrane asymmetry is translated into recognition by macrophages and provide guidelines in loading erythrocytes that may be useful in manipulating the mode of delivery when erythrocytes are used as drug carriers in vivo.

Calcium↗
PubMed1985

Membrane phospholipid asymmetry and the adherence of loaded red blood cells.

The phospholipids of the red cell membrane are asymmetrically distributed across the bilayer. Loss of this asymmetry by certain normal and pathological red cells is correlated with their increased adherence both in vitro and in vivo. Red cells loaded under conditions which result in loss of asymmetry adhere to cultured endothelial cells and are phagocytized in vitro by macrophages more readily than red cells loaded under conditions in which asymmetry is maintained. These results suggest that preserving phospholipid asymmetry during loading may prevent undesired in vivo interactions by reinfused red cell carriers.

Cell Adhesion↗