Biomedical subjects

M E Kolodziej

Publications and source records attributed to M E Kolodziej.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2000

Utilization of psychosocial treatments by patients diagnosed with bipolar disorder and substance dependence.

We investigated psychosocial treatment interventions, mood symptoms, and substance use among 24 patients with bipolar disorder and substance dependence. Patients were assessed for 6 months following hospital discharge. Psychotherapy and Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) attendance decreased over time. Moreover, the focus of patients' psychotherapy changed over time, with decreasing emphasis on the patients' specific disorders. Mood symptoms and substance use did not change significantly over time, although there was a trend toward more frequent drug use over time. These findings point to infrequent utilization over time of psychosocial treatments focusing specifically on bipolar and substance use disorder.

Adult↗

PubMed1996

Interpersonal contact and acceptance of persons with psychiatric disorders: a research synthesis.

This meta-analytic review predicted and confirmed that interpersonal contact between mental health employees or students and persons diagnosed with psychiatric disorders is associated with improved attitudes toward the latter group. As also predicted, the amount of attitude change was found to be smaller, although still significant, when the evaluative measure described a group of the "mentally ill" rather than specific individuals, and when the respondents were mental health employees rather than students. Contrary to predictions, contact interventions of longer duration were not associated with greater attitude changes. It is concluded that contact interventions occurring in mental health settings are effective in promoting attitude changes toward persons with psychiatric disorders, and methodological refinements that should strengthen the effectiveness of future contact interventions are outlined.

Humans↗

PubMed1996

Elevated blood pressure and personality: a meta-analytic review.

A meta-analysis of 295 relevant effect sizes obtained from 25,469 participants confirmed expectations that elevated blood pressure (BP) and essential hypertension (EH) would be associated with lower affect expression but with more negative affectivity and defensiveness. The strongest associations occurred for defensiveness and measures of anger and affect expression linked to an interpersonal context(s). However, a number of other factors also were found to moderate associations of BP with personality measures, including awareness of BP status, gender, occupation, and diastolic versus systolic BP assessment. Given these moderators, the authors conclude that a traditional view of personality causing EH is untenable and that, not incorporating multifactorial, synergistic approaches is likely to obscure associations of personality-behavior with EH.

Adult↗

PubMed1992

Phorbol ester-mediated downregulation of tropoelastin expression is controlled by a posttranscriptional mechanism.

Expression of tropoelastin, the principal precursor of elastic fibers, is tissue-specific and is limited to a brief developmental period. Little is known, however, about the mechanisms that regulate the tissue- and temporal-specific expression of elastogenesis. The tropoelastin promoter contains putative phorbol ester responsive elements, or AP-1 binding sites, but the functional significance of these sequences is unknown. To test if tropoelastin expression is influenced by phorbol esters, we exposed elastogenic fetal bovine chondrocytes to 10(-7) M 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate (TPA). Tropoelastin mRNA levels decreased greater than 10-fold in response to TPA, and this downregulation was paralleled by a decline in the secretion of tropoelastin protein into the culture medium. As determined by nuclear-runoff assay and transient transfection with a human gene promoter-CAT construct, tropoelastin transcription was unaffected after exposure to TPA. As indicated by actinomycin D experiments, the half-life of tropoelastin mRNA in control cells was about 20 h, but exposure to TPA resulted in an accelerated decay of the tropoelastin transcript (t1/2 = 2.2 h). These data indicate that downregulation of tropoelastin expression was controlled by a posttranscriptional mechanism and that the AP-1 elements in the bovine tropoelastin promoter may not be involved in regulation of production.

Animals↗

PubMed1992

1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D3 represses tropoelastin expression by a posttranscriptional mechanism.

Tropoelastin expression is down-regulated by exposure to 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25(OH)2D3), and we present data indicating that this repression is primarily controlled by a posttranscriptional mechanism. Steady-state and functional levels of tropoelastin mRNA were coordinately repressed by 10(-7) M 1,25 (OH)2D3 in fetal bovine chondrocytes, but transcription, as determined by nuclear runoff assay, was not appreciably influenced in fetal bovine chondrocytes or in rat lung fibroblasts. Similarly, exposure to 1,25(OH)2D3 did not influence chloramphenicol acetyl-transferase activity expressed by a human tropoelastin promoter-expression construct in either cell type. Exposure to cycloheximide had little effect on tropoelastin mRNA levels in control cells but partially restored tropoelastin mRNA levels in cells pretreated with 1,25(OH)2D3 and prevented repression when added together with 1,25(OH)2D3. Similarly, simultaneous exposure to actinomycin D and 1,25(OH)2D3 attenuated the down-regulation of tropoelastin. These data indicate that repression of tropoelastin steady-state mRNA levels by 1,25(OH)2D3 is primarily mediated by a posttranscriptional mechanism that requires both transcription and protein synthesis for full effect.

Animals↗