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Biomedical subjects

M Lusiardo

Publications and source records attributed to M Lusiardo.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Season of birth of schizophrenics in Mississippi, USA.

Prior reviews indicate that schizophrenics tend to be born in the winter, relative to non-psychiatric controls. This conclusion has been criticized, however, as the association between birth seasonality and schizophrenia may be the result of a statistical artifact, the age-incidence effect. To examine this possibility, we studied the birth seasonality of 2892 schizophrenics, controlling for the age-incidence effect. Both before and after instituting these controls, we found excesses for the months of December and March. We conclude that the age-incidence hypothesis does not provide any general explanation of the season-of-birth effect in schizophrenia.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

Factor structure of a Spanish version of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale.

A Spanish adaptation of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS) was factor-analyzed and its factor solution compared with the Canadian version of this test. A principal factor analysis was performed, revealing four factors of alexithymia. These factors are quite similar to those found through factor analysis of the TAS for the Canadian sample. A discussion of the factor structure is presented.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Differences between schizophrenics born in winter and summer.

A total of 1814 patients were studied from the Mississippi State Hospital with a DSM-III diagnosis of schizophrenia and aged 15-39 years at the time of admission. The 634 schizophrenics with a birth date between 1 December and 31 March were compared with the 1180 born between 1 April and 30 November for age of admission, race, sex, marital status, duration of initial admission and clinical subtype. The only significant difference between the variables was the duration of the first admission: winter-born patients had a shorter psychiatric hospitalization than summer-born schizophrenics. These findings are discussed in accord with similar studies.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Alexithymia: reliability and validity of the Spanish version of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale.

This study was conducted to explore reliability and validity from the Spanish version of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS). An alpha coefficient of 0.78, and a test-retest reliability of 0.83 over a 3-week period were obtained. In a sample of 111 college students, TAS correlated strongly and positively with the hypochondriasis subscale of the MMPI and with a somatization disorder questionnaire, but negatively with measures of sociability and psychological mindedness. In addition, factor analysis showed the TAS to have a stable, replicable factor structure. These findings suggest that this Spanish adaptation of the TAS is a psychometrically sound measure of the alexithymia construct.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1988

Effects on memory following a single oral dose of diazepam.

The effects of diazepam on learning and memory were investigated in a double-blind study of 28 Uruguayan university women who were randomly assigned to four treatments, seven subjects each: placebo, 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3 mg/kg diazepam orally. Subjects were presented with five uncategorized and categorized word lists, a 12-digit number list, and a tonal discrimination test, before and up to 200 min after treatment. Immediate and delayed recall were tested. Performance of the 0.1 mg/kg diazepam group did not show significant differences from placebo in any of the tests. For the 0.2 dose group, marginal impairments were noted at 60 min followed by full recovery at 190 min. On the contrary, 0.3 mg/kg diazepam produced significant impairments on immediate and delayed recall, with marginal impairments still evident at 190 min. The finding that diazepam did not impair performance on a tonal discrimination test provided some evidence that memory impairments did not result from failures in general alertness.

Acoustic Stimulation↗