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Biomedical subjects

R Straub

Publications and source records attributed to R Straub.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1996

Electrodermal activity (EDA) and suicidal behavior.

There may be a connection between suicidal tendencies, electrodermal activity (EDA), disorders of impulse control, and neurobiochemistry (in the sense of a "psychobiology of suicidal tendencies"). The EDA values obtained during a psychobiological habituation experiment involving 11 female patients with personality disorders (PA; ICD-10) and histories of suicide attempts were compared with those of age-paralleled nonsuicidal depressive patients and depressive patients with histories of suicide attempts. They were also compared with EDA values in female schizophrenics with and without histories of suicide attempts. The PA group showed significant differences in all EDA values compared with nonsuicidal depressives, but no significant differences compared with other groups.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

[Depression and electrodermal response measures in a habituation experiment. Results from over 400 depressed inpatients].

Depressed inpatients of the Weissenau Depression Treatment Unit take part in an over ten years unchanged psychophysiological habituation experiment with auditive stimuli to study their electrodermal reactivity. An overview on EDA-results of about 400 inpatients (ICD-9: 296.1/300.4/309.1, without delusional depression and without bipolar affective psychosis) is given. Women compared to men and also endogenous (ICD-9: 296.1) compared to psychogenic depression (ICD-9: 300.4/309.1) show significantly more non- and hypo-response.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

[Electrodermal reactivity in schizophrenic women with so-called basic symptoms].

Studies on electrodermal reactivity in a psychophysiological habituation experiment with schizophrenic patients often show a high number of "non" - or "hypo-responsiveness". There is not enough evidence to explain non-response as anticholinergic drug effect of antipsychotic medication; results in the literature suggest that hyporesponsiveness can be regarded more as a psychopathological phenomenon of a distinct subgroup of subsigns of schizophrenia which are called negative symptoms or basic disturbances. For the measurements of so-called basic symptoms we used two German self-report questionnaires, the "Frankfurter Befindlichkeitsskala für schizophren Erkrankte (FBS)" by Süllwold and Herrlich (1987) and the "Günzburger Selbstbeurteilungsskala für Basissymptome bei Schizophrenen (GSBS)" by Schüttler and co-workers (Blumenthal et al., 1989). The FBS includes two factors, a so-called "hyper" - and a "hypo"-syndrome; the GSBS consists of three categories which are named "Potential-reduktion", "kognitive Denkstörungen" and "kognitive Wahrnehmungsstörungen". We expected a relationship between "non" - oder "hypo-responsiveness" of the electrodermal reactivity in a habituation experiment with acoustic stimuli and higher values in the "FBS hypo-syndrome" respectively the "GSBS Potentialreduktion" (reduction of energy, drive, apathy, depressive mood etc.). 40 female inpatients, mean age 35.5 years with the ICD-9 diagnoses 295.x (n = 34) and 397.0 (n = 6) were investigated in this study. All the inpatients were treated with antipsychotic medication at the time of the study (usually the third week of inpatient stay in a closed acute treatment ward for females after reduction of acute psychopathology).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Folate deficiency, anticonvulsant drugs, and psychiatric morbidity.

The folic acid (FOA) level was determined in serum and erythrocytes in 100 epileptic patients and 100 control patients using a luminescence assay. A lowered FOA concentration in serum, erythrocytes, or both was observed in 15% of the epileptic patients and in 2% of the control group. In the epileptic patients, the FOA in the serum and in the erythrocytes was significantly lower than that in the control group. Patients receiving carbamazepine monotherapy had a significantly lower FOA level in the erythrocytes than did patients receiving phenytoin monotherapy. The FOA level showed a negative correlation to the duration of epilepsy. None of the patients with lowered FOA had a normal mental status. The course of the supplementation treatment with 5 mg folinic acid (or FOA) of four patients with FOA deficiency could be monitored psychopathometrically. All four patients showed an improvement in their well-being and the majority of measured variables of the cognitive performance.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Determination of beta-lactam residues in milk using perfusive-particle liquid chromatography combined with ultrasonic nebulization electrospray mass spectrometry.

The introduced electrospray (ESP) technique combined with quadrupole mass spectrometry (MS) was applied for the trace residue detection (10 ppb) of commonly administered beta-lactam antibiotics in bovine milk. Because of the widespread use of penicillin G, ampicillin, amoxicillin, cephapirin, cloxacillin, and ceftiofur in veterinary medicine, these six popular drugs were chosen to develop a fast and reliable microcolumn liquid chromatographic (micro-LC) separation method for residue-containing milk extracts. Furthermore, the analytes were selected to test the chromatographic behavior of a novel stationary phase, a perfusive-particle column packed with derivatized porous polystyrene divinylbenzene. The effects of mobile phase additives on separation and ESP ionization efficiency were investigated. The ionization of the eluted analytes took place either in a conventional ESP interface with a capillary shield allowing flow rates up to 40 microL/min or in the latest model of the ultrasonic nebulization ESP interface. The perfusive-particle column, although not optimized for the separation of small molecules, exhibited sufficient resolution of the antibiotics for its routine usage, especially when considering the remarkable time-saving advantage compared with ordinary reversed phase micro-LC columns. The application of the novel ultrasonic nebulization interface lowered detection limits and improved the stability of the signals over a much wider flow rate range than possible for ionization with the ESP system equipped with the conventional needle.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

Electrodermal reactivity in male and female depressive patients who later died by suicide.

On the basis of earlier studies on electrodermal responsiveness in patients with suicide attempts, an investigation on electrodermal activity (EDA) in former depressive inpatients was carried out. Male and female depressive inpatients who died of suicide later and participated in an habituation experiment during their inpatient treatment were identified retrospectively and compared (strictly matched by age and sex) to depressive suicide attempters with violent or nonviolent methods, suicide ideators and a nonsuicidal depressive group. In the first part of the study only male depressives (n = 12) who had committed suicide after or during inpatient treatment were compared with their controls. The hypothesis of a expected low electrodermal responsiveness and a fast habituation as an peripheral expression of a central impulse or violence control disturbance could not be confirmed. This was done in the second part of this study. We came to the following results: 1) a tendency to a faster habituation in the violent suicides compared with nonsuicidal depressives and violent suicide attempters plus violent suicide group in male depressives compared to suicide attempters (SA), nonviolent suicide ideators and nonsuicidal depressives. 2) A significant difference with faster habituation rates in a male and female violent suicide group compared with nonsuicidal depressives and again comparing a group of male and female violent suicides and SA with nonviolent SA, suicide ideator and nonsuicidal depressive controls. These results may reflect a dysregulation of violence and impulsivity control mechanism as an underlying disorder or personality trait.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Pharmacotherapy of delusional depression: experience with combinations of antidepressants with the neuroleptics zotepine and haloperidol.

The combination of an antidepressant with a neuroleptic is standard pharmacotherapy for delusional depression today. The neuroleptics used are rarely specified: occasionally haloperidol or perphenazine are mentioned. In two different open-treatment studies, consecutively admitted delusional depressed inpatients received a butyrophenone [haloperidol, bromperidol, approximately 10 mg/day (n = 16)] or zotepine [150-200 mg/day (n = 15)] as a neuroleptic in combination with a tri- or tetracyclic antidepressant (amitriptyline, maprotiline, 150 mg/day). There was a significant improvement in both groups in the sum score of the Hamilton depression scale (24-item version), in a subscore of so-called delusional items (items 2, 17, 19, 20, 23, and 24 together), in the subscore of remaining items and also in most single items such as mood, inhibition, agitation, feelings of guilt or hopelessness.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Equine pituitary adenoma: a functional and morphological study.

Clinico-pathological correlations in horses with pituitary adenomas are poorly understood. This paper describes the functional and morphological features of five cases of equine pituitary adenoma and of a case of multinodular pituitary hyperplasia. New findings reported include immunoreactivity for beta-lipotropin (beta-LPH), beta-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (beta-MSH), gamma 3-MSH, prolactin (PRL), and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) in neoplastic cells of the pituitary adenoma; and, in the multinodular hyperplasia, beta-LPH, beta-endorphin (beta-END), alpha-MSH, beta-MSH, gamma 3-MSH and FSH immunoreactivity. It is suggested that the equine pituitary syndrome does not correspond to human Cushing's disease, as generally accepted, but is related to the overproduction of several pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC)-derived peptides by the cells of the tumour or hyperplastic nodules.

Adenoma↗
PubMed1993

[Social workers in the commitment procedure].

Regular inclusion of a social worker alongside the expertising physician whenever a judge has to decide on committing a person to a psychiatric hospital, is known in German legal practice as "Stuttgart model". Our experiences with this procedure are discussed on an interdisciplinary level. In our opinion this model agrees with the spirit of the new German law governing guardianship and care.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

[Folic acid deficiency in patients hospitalized with depression? A pilot study of clinical relevance].

Seventy-seven depressive inpatients were studied in a pilot study to determine their serum and red cell folate levels at admission. Only one depressive inpatient with a low serum folate value had a history of an illness-related lack of nutrition prior to admission, and the low value was only on day 1 of the study. Our results demonstrate that folate acid deficiency is not as common in depressive inpatients as reported, especially in British studies for two reasons: different eating habits and a methodological problem.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

[Personality, motivation and affect as modulating factors in suicidal behavior of depressed women].

From a psychological point of view, we would expect that motivational rather than biological dysfunctions mediate initiation of violent and non-violent suicidal actions. To prove this assumption we classified depressed women in four groups according to their suicidal behaviour and matched them to age: suicide ideators, violent suicide attempters, non-violent suicide attempters, non-suicidal depressed controls. We then tested group differences in respect of aggression, impulsivity, introversion, affective lability, anxiety, depression and electrodermal activity (EDA). To take a closer look at motivational dysfunctions, we implemented the Action Control Scale (corresponding to Kuhls theory of action and state orientation), since we regard chronic state orientation as a risk factor for suicidal behaviour. Results show few differences in violent attempters compared with controls. In contrast to non-violent attempters, they show a greater tendency to achievement and action oriented behaviour being less introverted. Non-violent attempters, however, show most significant differences to their controls: Corresponding to a high state orientation, they are more depressed, anxious, less stable in respect of affectiveness, and more introverted, with low scores in aggression and contentedness in life. In contrast to some other studies, nonreactivity in the electrodermal system dominates in all groups. Results demonstrate that motivational dysfunctions like state orientation allow better prediction and understanding of violent or non-violent suicidal behaviour in depressed women than does electrodermal reactivity.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

[Electrodermal hypoactivity in depression: psychobiological marker or differential psychophysiologic disposition?].

Research about the dominating hypoactivity in electrodermal system in affective disorders led to the assumption that electrodermal activity (EDA) could be an important biopsychological trait in the etiology of depression. However, experimental results are contradictory. Some studies find nosological validity, other studies an influence of psychomotor status on EDA or correlations to clinical improvement, etc. Most of these results are based on laboratory conditions (habituation experiment with tones). The person-situation-environment interaction and their dynamic process regulation on electrodermal activity are neglected. Also lacking is a comparable description of nosology, psychomotor status and experimental design. After discussing the neuropsychological background of the habituation paradigm which led to the "traditional" assumptions of the correlation between electrodermal activity and depression, results of different samples are shown tested over years using always the same classification and experimental methods. None of our assumptions could be verified. Although low levels in SCL dominate, we could not find results of high sensitivity and specificity in contrast to controls. However we found differences in other, more complex experiments containing personality traits and reactions to emotional words. In a multi-level process-oriented stress paradigm of the success/failure type we found a delay in regeneration of psychological and electrodermal measures after failure. This results demonstrate that investigation in electrodermal activity needs more complex and process-oriented experimental designs. EDA probably has not the quality of a biological marker, but seen in the context of person and situation factors it differentiates depressed states.

Arousal↗
PubMed1991

Suicidal behaviour and electrodermal activity in depressive inpatients.

Within the context of a habituation experiment, the electrodermal activity (EDA) of suicidal depressed patients was measured. Twenty-four patients had a suicide attempt in their most recent history; these attempts were divided into attempts with violent or nonviolent methods. All the patients who had used a violent method habituated quickly, as was the case for 4 of 5 patients who committed suicide in the year following the experiment. Just as many patients who used nonviolent methods habituated quickly or slowly. There was no indication that age, sex or medication had any influence. For 18 of these 24 patients, comparable groups, in terms of age and sex distribution, were formed containing either nonsuicidal depressed patients or patients with suicidal thoughts. No differences between groups concerning any of the EDA variables could be found. In accordance with these results, EDA cannot be considered to be a valid predictor for suicide-proneness. The relations between violent suicide attempts and nonreactivity should, however, be further examined and the group of nonreactive patients in EDA should be treated as a risk group for clinical reasons.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

[Psychopathologic and psychophysiologic follow-up of inpatient depressed patients with standardized treatment with clomipramine and oxaprotiline].

The aim of this study was to show psychopathological and especially psychophysiological data of depressed inpatients which were collected during a 28-day double-blind study with 68 depressed inpatients given clomipramine 150 mgr/die) or maprotiline/oxaprotiline 150 mgr/die). Using Hamilton-Depression-Scale, Self-depression-scale (SDS by Zung), Beschwerdeliste (BL) and Befindlichkeitsskala (Bf-S) by v. Zerssen an impressive reduction of depression scores was observed in all rating scales with some superiority of clomipramine. But at the end of the study at treatment day 28 both groups - clomipramine and maprotiline/oxaprotilin - had similar results. During treatment each patient was part of a weekly habituation experiment using electrodermal activity in an orientation reaction as measure. Contrary to other studies (Lader 1975 or Heimann 1976, 1980) there was no difference in the course of psychophysiological data (EDA) between both treatment groups or between depressive agitation and psychomotor retardation. There was also no relationship between reactivity in EDA at study begin and treatment results.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Blood gas measurements during exercise: errors due to temperature correction.

This study assessed the degree to which correcting blood gas measurements to rectal temperature (Tre) rather than to the temperatures at which gas exchange occurs [pulmonary arterial (Tpa) or intramuscular (Tm)] introduces errors into blood gas analysis of exercising mammals. Horses and steers weighing 450 kg were run on a treadmill at speeds up to those eliciting maximal rates of O2 consumption (VO2max), and temperatures were measured in various body compartments. In both species Tpa rose faster than Tre during the run, the degree of dissociation being a function of exercise intensity and duration. Tm was measured only in horses, and it rose faster than Tpa during the run and decreased more slowly postrun. Correcting blood gas values measured at an analyzer temperature of 37 degrees C to Tre without accounting for transient increases during the run of Tpa and Tm that were never reflected in Tre significantly biased estimates of blood gases. The biased estimates erroneously indicated that both species experienced more severe hypoxemia than they actually did at VO2max and masked the hypercapnia experienced by the horses at VO2max.

Animals↗