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Biomedical subjects

M Gaffney

Publications and source records attributed to M Gaffney.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Striatal subregions are differentially vulnerable to the neurotoxic effects of methamphetamine.

Methamphetamine (m-AMPH) or saline was repeatedly administered to rats. One week later, the caudate-putamen of the m-AMPH-treated rats revealed a decrease in both [3H]mazindol-labeled dopamine uptake sites and tissue dopamine content. Moreover, the resulting pattern of decline in these measures was regionally heterogeneous. The ventral caudate-putamen displayed the greatest decrease in both [3H]mazindol binding and dopamine content while the neighboring nucleus accumbens and the dorsal caudate-putamen remained relatively intact. These results indicate a regional difference in the susceptibility of striatal dopaminergic terminals to the neurotoxic effects of methamphetamine.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Variance components in comparative bioavailability studies.

Variance components in comparative bioavailability studies are examined. Assay measurement error is shown to be negligible relative to other variance components, and hence, repeat assay does not appreciably increase study precision and is unnecessary. More important is the finding that repeat administration of each formulation to each subject may substantially decrease the variance of the formulation difference and may allow the use of fewer subjects in a study. The benefit of repeat administration depends on the relative sizes of the within-subject variance component and the subject-formulation interaction component. In addition, repeat administration allows separate estimation of the within-subject component and the subject-formulation component. The former component is important for assessing bioequivalence, and the latter component, for assessing interchangeability of formulations.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed1992

Response of negative symptoms of schizophrenia to neuroleptic treatment.

BACKGROUND: In view of the inconclusive reports in the literature about the response to neuroleptics of chronic schizophrenics with negative symptoms, the authors further evaluated this issue. METHOD: A sample of 30 ambulatory chronic schizophrenics meeting DSM-III-R criteria who had to a marked degree at least two negative symptoms of the five on the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS) received various therapeutic dosages of thiothixene for 3 months. The average dose was 26.75 mg/day. Subjects were periodically evaluated with the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, Negative Symptoms Rating Scale (a modified version of the SANS), and the Randt Memory Test. The time effect on treatment was calculated by repeated measures of analysis of variance. The relationship between the positive and negative symptoms was tested by an analysis of covariance. RESULTS: Both negative and positive symptoms improved with treatment. The negative symptoms tended to respond to treatment predominantly independently of the positive ones. At the end of the study, 63% (N = 19) of patients had improved moderately, 16% (N = 5) had improved slightly, and 20% (N = 6) had not improved. CONCLUSION: The data require further support from a long-term follow-up study that may show the extent to which these gains are maintained over time.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Computed tomography scans and negative symptoms in schizophrenia: chronic schizophrenics with negative symptoms and nonenlarged lateral ventricles.

Computed tomography scans of 31 chronic schizophrenics with negative symptoms and 31 age-matched normal volunteers were assessed for ventricular size, cortical atrophies, third ventricle diameter, and cerebellar atrophies. No significant differences were found in the size of the lateral ventricles or third ventricles between the chronic schizophrenics and the controls. The frontal horns in patients did show a tendency toward increased size compared with controls. Sulci width showed significant differences between patients and controls. The clinical variables, except for the memory test, did not correlate with any brain morphology. A meta-analysis was performed on 17 studies that used the planimetric method in order to evaluate the relationships between the size of the lateral ventricles in patients and their respective controls. We found significant differences between the group of studies using normal controls and the group using medical controls.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Results of a double-blind placebo controlled trial of a new serotonin uptake inhibitor, sertraline, in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Eighty-seven patients with a DSM-III diagnosis of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) without depression were entered into a double-blind, placebo-controlled study of the efficacy of sertraline, a new serotonin uptake inhibitor. After a 1-week washout period, patients were randomly assigned to receive either placebo or sertraline. After a 2-week titration period in which the once-daily sertraline dose was increased from 50 mg/day to a maximum of 200 mg/day, dosage was maintained until the end of the eighth week, then patients were titrated off medication over the next 2 weeks. Efficacy was measured by the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS), NIMH General Obsessive-Compulsive Scale, Maudsley Obsessive Compulsive (MOC) Inventory, and Clinical Global Impressions (CGI) Severity and Improvement scales. Results on the MOC Inventory showed trends in favor of active drug that were not statistically significant compared with placebo. Results of the Y-BOCS total score, the NIMH score, and the global severity and improvement scores demonstrated a statistically significant superiority of sertraline compared with placebo.

1-Naphthylamine↗