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Biomedical subjects

M A Reveley

Publications and source records attributed to M A Reveley.

70 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1981

Brain monoamine oxidase activity in schizophrenics and controls.

Postmortem samples of caudate nucleus and frontal cortex from schizophrenic, schizophrenic-like, and control subjects were examined for monoamine oxidase activity using dopamine, phenylethylamine, and 5-hydroxytryptamine as substrates. There were no significant differences between the diagnostic groups with any of the three substrates. Neither was there a difference between the sexes, nor a consistent relationship of enzyme activity to age.

Aged↗
PubMed1981

Increased platelet monoamine oxidase activity in affective disorders.

Platelet monoamine oxidase activity was determined in 52 unipolar depressive patients, 26 patients with bipolar affective disorder and 48 controls using phenylethylamine as substrate. Unipolar depressive patients of either sex and bipolar depressive women showed significantly higher platelet MAO activity than controls. Women had higher activity than men. Neither age nor serum lithium level correlated with enzyme activity and there was no significant change in activity after the institution of lithium treatment.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

The distinction of primary and secondary affective disorders. Clinical implications.

We studied a sample of 26 primary depressives and 18 secondary depressives for a number of demographic, family history, and clinical variables and prospectively followed them over one hospitalisation to assess short-term differences in outcome. The Hamilton rating scale for depression and the Zung self-rating depression scale were administered at admission and discharge. While both groups received similar treatments, the primary depressives exhibited a statistically significantly greater degree of recovery than the secondary depressives as measured by these scales. The secondary depressives had more prior suicide attempts (if psychiatrically or medically non-serious attempts are included), a longer duration of current episode of depression and a higher proportion of relatives with alcoholism than the primary depressives.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

Urinary MAO inhibitor in psychiatric illness.

Normal human urine contains an endogenous monoamine oxidase inhibitor. We have now investigated its activity in urine samples from psychiatric patients in various diagnostic categories. Significantly higher values were observed in alcoholics recently withdrawn from ethanol, compared with controls. Inhibitory activity was not specifically related to primary affective disorders. Inhibitor output may be positively related to certain symptom clusters rather than to disease entities (i.e. alcohol withdrawal, agitation, and hyperkinesis). Significantly lower inhibitor output was also found in a small group of patients with chronic schizophrenia.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1981

Human platelet monoamine oxidase activity in health and disease: a review.

The most readily available source of monoamine oxidase in man is the platelet, although only the B form of the enzyme is represented in this site. Platelet activity is higher in women than in men. The enzyme activity is generally stable and is partly under genetic control. There is some evidence that individuals with low activity have a higher psychiatric morbidity than those with high activity. Despite some negative studies, the consensus of publication dealing with schizophrenia, migraine, and alcoholism find that mean platelet monoamine oxidase activity in the patient group is lower than in the controls. Values are raised in unipolar depression. Technical differences, or patient or control group heterogeneity, might well account for the absence of unanimity in the literature. A considerable degree of overlap between patient and control values, whatever the clinical diagnosis, appears to be the standard finding. Apart from these neuropsychiatric disturbances, platelet monoamine oxidase activity is raised in megaloblastic anaemia and reduced in iron deficiency anaemia. Although altered enzyme activity values may be linked to abnormal platelet populations in some of the haematological disorders discussed, in general the causes of abnormal platelet monoamine oxidase activity are unknown.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

Decreased urinary output of conjugated tyramine is associated with lifetime vulnerability to depressive illness.

In a group of normal pregnant women whose psychiatric histories were unknown, those with the lowest output of urinary tyramine (free plus conjugated) after an oral tyramine load had a significantly higher lifetime incidence of depressive illness compared with those with the highest output. as none of the women were suffering from depression at the time of tyramine loading, it seems likely that this decreased excretion of tyramine is associated in some way with vulnerability to depressive illness, whether puerperal or nonpuerperal.

Chronic Disease↗
PubMed1980

Further light on the tyramine test in depression.

In studies of post-partum women, the oral tyramine loading test is shown to be of predictive value in identifying those subjects with a lifetime history of depressive illness. The cause of the decreased output of conjugated tyramine, after tyramine ingestion, is still unclear. Some possible mechanisms have been under scrutiny.

Affective Disorders, Psychotic↗
PubMed1977

Reliability of psychiatric diagnosis. II. The test/retest reliability of diagnostic classification.

In a study of interrater diagnostic reliability, 101 psychiatric inpatients were independently interviewed by physicians using a structured interview. Newly admitted patients were randomly selected and examined by one of three psychiatrists. A second psychiatrist reexamined the same patient about 24 hours later. Interviews from the two examinations were evaluated independently and diagnoses were made on the basis of objective criteria. The degree of diagnostic agreement for the two examinations were calculated using the kappa statistic. Agreement was found to be high as compared to other studies in the psychiatric literature, despite the fact that in most previous investigations diagnoses were not made independently. The results were also compared to studies of reliability of medical judgments. Possible reasons for the high interrater reliability are discussed and include the use of a structured interview and objective diagnostic criteria.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1977

Evaluation of a screening interview for Briquet syndrome (hysteria) by the study of medically ill women.

A screening interview for Briquet syndrome consisting of 14 symptom questions was administered to a group of 50 medically ill women. No patient was found eligible for a diagnosis of Briquet syndrome, a frequency less than the estimated general population prevalence of 1% to 2%. When symptoms explainable by known organic disorder were considered positive, 14% of patients became eligible for the diagnosis. We consider this a low enough rate to allow screening by lay interviewers. A frequency distribution of symptoms comparing the medically ill women and a group of psychiatric clinic women with Briquet syndrome shows that the Briquet group had both more symptoms and distinctive patterns of symptoms.

Age Factors↗
PubMedDate not supplied

A genetic study of platelet phenolsulphotransferase activity in normal and schizophrenic twins.

In a series of 19 identical and 16 fraternal twin pairs, the activities of the two forms of the enzyme, phenolsulphotransferase, denominated M and P, were investigated in blood platelets. Both were shown to be under a high degree of genetic control. No differences were found between 11 schizophrenic patients from discordant twin pairs, compared with their well cotwins and 12 male and female volunteer twin pairs, for either form of the enzyme.

Arylsulfotransferase↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Reduced Kamin blocking in non paranoid schizophrenia: associations with schizotypy.

Kamin blocking (KB) is an attentional phenomenon whereby prior learning about a stimulus (A) retards learning about a new stimulus (B) when later presented in compound (AB) with the original stimulus A. KB has been shown to be reduced in patients with schizophrenia. Using Oades' KB paradigm it has been suggested that drug treatment may influence the expression of KB abnormalities in patients. It is therefore unclear whether Reduced KB are due to drug treatment or to the illness itself. One experimental approach that circumvents drug treatment confounds is to study schizotypal traits in healthy volunteers. In the present study we investigated KB using the Oades paradigm in 27 healthy volunteers and 21 schizophrenic patients. We additionally investigated the relationship between KB performance and measures of schizotypal traits and a number of factors relevant to the experience of schizophrenia using the O-LIFE questionnaire. Our results indicate first a clear negative relationship between general schizotypy and more specifically, Unusual experiences (UNEX) and cognitive disorganisation (COGDIS) and KB performance. This relationship was qualitatively and quantitatively similar in both healthy volunteers and schizophrenic patients. Second we have independently replicated reduced KB in non-paranoid patients and no change in KB in paranoid patients using the Oades KB task. This study also confirms that reduced KB in non-paranoid patients is confined to early test trials (3-4) while the negative relationships with schizotypy scales UNEX and COGDIS that we have found are also confined to these early test trials confirming the psychological relevance of this specificity.

Adult↗