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Biomedical subjects

M Althaus

Publications and source records attributed to M Althaus.

30 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1990

Problem behavior in international adoptees: I. An epidemiological study.

Behavioral/emotional problems and competencies in 2,148 international adoptees aged 10 to 15 years were compared with those in a same-aged sample of 933 children from the general population using the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist. Parents reported more externalizing problem behavior for adopted than nonadopted children. More than twice as many 12- to 15-year-old adopted boys were scored above the cutoff criterion for problem behavior than nonadopted boys of the same age. For adopted boys in this age range especially high scores were obtained on the Delinquent and Hyperactive syndromes. Adopted children were scored less competent than nonadopted children in their social and academic functioning, whereas adopted children were found to be more active in nonsports activities and to function somewhat better than nonadopted children in sports and nonsports activities. In contrast to the effect of parental occupational level on competent scores for normative American and Dutch samples, adopted children from lower SES showed better academic performance, were less often referred to special classes, and had less other school problems than adopted children from higher SES.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Problem behavior in international adoptees: II. Age at placement.

This study of 2,148 international adoptees aged 10 to 15 indicated that the older the child at placement the greater the probability that the child will develop behavioral/emotional problems and/or will perform less well in school. For 12- to 15-year-olds, the authors found that the older the child at placement, the greater the risk for obtaining high scores on the following Child Behavior Checklist Syndromes: The delinquent and uncommunicative syndromes in boys, and the cruel, depressed, and schizoid syndromes in girls.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Major life events and changes in the behavioural functioning of children.

The relationship between major life events and changes, across a 2-yr period, in the level of parent-reported behavioural/emotional problems in 1397 children from a general population sample was investigated using a highly modified version of the Coddington Life Events Record and the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist. The life event questionnaire used in the present study proved to have a satisfactory reliability. The number of life events increased significantly with increasing age of the child, and a higher incidence of such events was found for families with lower socio-economic status. A significant relationship was found between the total score of negative life events across the 2-yr period and changes in the level of behavioural/emotional problems of the children.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1990

Localization of cytoplasmic collagen mRNA in human aortic coarctation: mRNA enhancement in high blood pressure-induced intimal and medial thickening.

Enhanced synthesis and deposition of extracellular matrix components, including collagen, contribute significantly to arteriosclerotic changes in the arterial vessel wall. We localized cells actively synthesizing collagen by hybridizing 35S-labeled RNA probes complementary to type I and III collagen mRNA with cytoplasmic mRNA in frozen sections of surgically removed aortic coarctations. These were chosen as a model for comparing mRNA levels in areas of high blood pressure-induced wall thickening and in unaffected post-stenotic areas. In situ hybridization revealed increased expression of type I and III collagen mRNA in intimal cells and in cells adjacent to the medial-adventitial border in the pre-stenotic part of the coarctation. In contrast, cells of the post-stenotic area showed only a very low signal. No immunohistologically detectable macrophages were seen in the pre-stenotic subendothelial areas where mRNA levels were enhanced. Higher collagen mRNA levels therefore occur in particular regions of high blood pressure-induced arterial wall thickening in the absence of macrophages. The results suggest that in situ hybridization is suitable for detection of locally occurring transcriptional activation of cells for collagens in the vessel wall.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1988

Effects of ethanol, acetaldehyde, and lactate on proteoglycan synthesis and proliferation of cultured rat liver fat-storing cells.

The hypothesis that ethanol and some of its metabolites are directly involved in the process of fat-storing cell activation and stimulated proteoglycan synthesis in alcoholic liver injury was investigated. The effects of short-term (24 h) and long-term (4 days) exposure of rat liver fat-storing cells at various times of culture to ethanol, acetaldehyde, and lactate on the synthesis of proteoglycans and total protein and on the proliferation activity of the cells were studied. Ethanol and lactate did not stimulate the incorporation of [35S]sulfate into glycosaminoglycans. Acetaldehyde inhibited strongly glycosaminoglycan synthesis, reaching 50% inhibition at 330 mumol/L. The compound preferentially inhibited the synthesis of dermatan sulfate. No significant changes of glycosaminoglycan chain length or of the degree of polysaccharide sulfation were noted in acetaldehyde-treated cultures. The inhibition was reversed by the addition of beta-D-xylopyranoside (0.5 mmol/L), an artificial initiator of chain elongation, to the medium. Total protein synthesis, cell number, deoxyribonucleic acid content of the cultures, and [3H]thymidine incorporation were not affected by the compounds. The results do not support the view that ethanol, its oxidation product acetaldehyde, or lactate are directly involved in the activation of fat-storing cells and in enhanced matrix proteoglycan synthesis and secretion.

Acetaldehyde↗
PubMed1988

A comparison of syndromes derived from the child behavior checklist for American and Dutch girls aged 6-11 and 12-16.

Child Behavior Checklists completed by parents of 1848 clinically referred American and Dutch girls aged 6-11 and 12-16 were subjected to principal components analyses with varimax rotations. For the 6-11 yr age group, seven of the nine empirically derived syndromes showed cross-national correlations ranging from 0.80 to 0.98. For 12-16-yr-old girls, all eight of the American syndromes were firmly replicated for Dutch girls with correlations ranging from 0.84 to 0.97. Furthermore, cross-national similarities in the distribution of scores for normative samples supported the use of the same syndrome scales by clinicians and researchers in the two countries.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1988

Persistence and change in behavioral/emotional problems reported by parents of children aged 4-14: an epidemiological study.

Crucial to our understanding of psychopathology in children is information on the stability and change of behavioral/emotional problems and competencies across time. Existing studies, reviewed in this article, provide only limited answers due to one or more of the following factors: restriction of the sample to a single locality, the use of selected samples, large sample attrition, the use of different assessment instruments at different times, the small number of specific behavioral/emotional problems or the use of very broad categories of functioning. The present study was designed to test the persistence and change of behavioral/emotional problems and competencies as reported by parents of 1,412 children aged 4-14 over a two-year period in a representative sample of the general population. At both points, standardized parents' reports were obtained using the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). A recovery rate of 80.2% was obtained. Our study is the only one, as far as we known, to present follow-up data separately for ages covering the preschool period to adolescence, making it possible to compare stabilities in the occurence of behavioral/emotional problems across various developmental levels. Over the two-year follow-up period, there was a significant decrease in problem scores. Although possible, it is unlikely that the mental health of children in our sample increased very much. A decrease in problem scores over time has been demonstrated for clinical as well as general population samples in other studies as well. No satisfactory explanations are available for this phenomenon. It is important, however, that studies employing a retest design take account of this phenomenon. Irrespective of changes in the magnitude of group scores over time, stability coefficients can tell us whether individual children tend to preserve their rank orders. The stability coefficients between Time 1 and Time 2 total problem scores ranged from .62 (girls, aged 4-5) to .71 (boys, aged 6-11). No significant differences between stability coefficients for different age-groups and for both sexes could be demonstrated. The changes in scores across time for individual items were consistent with the cross-sectional data of our earlier study (Verhulst et al. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 1985, 72, suppl. 323). Stability coefficients for social competence scores at both times of assessment were generally somewhat weaker than those found for problem scores.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

A comparison of syndromes derived from the Child Behavior Checklist for American and Dutch boys aged 6-11 and 12-16.

Child Behavior Checklists completed by parents of 1863 clinically referred American and Dutch boys aged 6-11 and 12-16 were subjected to principal components analyses with varimax rotations. For each age group, the construct validity of seven empirically derived syndromes was supported by cross-national correlations ranging from 0.80 to 0.98. These syndromes were designated as Aggressive, Delinquent, Depressed (ages 6-11 only), Hyperactive, Schizoid (ages 12-16 only), Somatic Complaints, Uncommunicative, and Withdrawal (Social Withdrawal for ages 6-11; Hostile Withdrawal for ages 12-16). Cross-national similarities in the distribution of scores for normative samples supported the use of the same syndrome scales by clinicians and researchers in the two countries. The cross-national construct validity of Obsessive-Compulsive and Immature syndromes did not receive adequate support.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

The Child Assessment Schedule: parent-child agreement and validity measures.

Parents' and children's reports of behavioural-emotional problems in 116 children assessed by the Child Assessment Schedule developed by Hodges et al. (Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 21, 468-473, 1982) and the Graham & Rutter Parent Interview (British Journal of Psychiatry, 114, 581-592, 1968), both semi-structured interviews, revealed relatively high agreement compared with studies using highly structured assessment procedures. The majority of disagreements could be attributed to higher parents' scores. Only fears were reported more often by children, especially by the better-functioning children, suggesting that children's reports of fears may be related to a higher level of adaptive functioning rather than a higher level of psychopathology. Although the child interview may be crucial to obtain information often not reported by parents such as fears and anxiety, it was found that information from the child contributed only little to overall clinical judgement based on information already available from the parents.

Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Influence of the dopamine agonist alpha-dihydroergocryptine on the pharmacokinetics of levodopa in patients with Parkinson's disease.

This study investigated whether chronic coadministration of alpha-dihydroergocryptine (DHEC) altered the plasma pharmacokinetics of individualized treatments with levodopa in 12 patients with Parkinson's disease. Steady-state pharmacokinetics of plasma levodopa (L-Dopa) under combined treatment were compared with those under treatment with L-Dopa alone. There was no evidence of increased exposure to L-Dopa caused by concomitant treatment with DHEC. In contrast, additional treatment with DHEC reduced the overall exposure to L-Dopa (17.5% reduction in area under the curve; 95% CI: 23%-6%). This effect was small but statistically significant for the area under the plasma concentration-time curve, whereas tmax (time of maximum plasma concentration) and peak-to-trough fluctuation were not affected. Cmax (maximum plasma concentration), on average, was reduced to a similar extent (-14.5%; 95% CI: 38% to -17%), albeit not significantly. The magnitude of the interaction does not suggest changing the current clinical practice of up-titrating DHEC and subsequently adapting L-Dopa to the individual needs of patients.

Adult↗