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Biomedical subjects

R von Frenckell

Publications and source records attributed to R von Frenckell.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1984

Haloperidol plasma levels and clinical response in paranoid schizophrenics.

The relationship between haloperidol plasma levels, plasma prolactin, and therapeutic efficacy was evaluated in 20 paranoïd schizophrenics in a fixed-dose study for 6 weeks. We found a significant intrapatient cross-correlation of therapeutic efficacy, as measured by decrease in MSS and BPRS rating scales and time-dependent haloperidol and prolactin changes, which were tested at weekly intervals. However, no significant curvilinear relationship was present between steady-state haloperidol plasma levels and MSS and BPRS improvement scores. Our data do not furnish clear-cut evidence in favor of the existence of a therapeutic window for haloperidol plasma levels in paranoïd schizophrenia.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Duration of benzodiazepine clinical activity: lack of direct relationship with plasma half-life. A comparison of single vs divided dosage schedules of prazepam.

The anxiolytic activity and tolerance of two dosage schedules of prazepam, a long plasma half-life benzodiazepine, were compared under double-blind conditions in two groups of 10 inpatients each who met Research Diagnostic Criteria for Generalized Anxiety Disorder and presented chronic and severe symptomatology. Patients received prazepam 40 mg per day on one of two dosage schedules: divided dosage (DD) - 10 mg in the morning and at noon and 20 mg in the evening; or single dosage (SD) - 40 mg in the evening. The 3 weeks of therapy were preceded and followed by 1 week of wash-out for baseline and follow-up assessments, which were performed weekly with the Hamilton Anxiety Scale, Clinical Global Impression, rating of morning drowsiness and evening worsening of symptoms, and patient self-rating of anxiety by means of a visual analogue scale performed both in the morning and in the afternoon. The results showed a clear superiority of the DD over the SD schedule: better anxiolytic efficacy on the Hamilton Anxiety Scale (P less than 0.0005) and on both morning and afternoon visual analogue scales (P less than 0.01 and P less than 0.0002); less morning drowsiness (P less than 0.0001); and steadier anxiolytic effect during the daytime, as globally rated by the investigator (P less than 0.0001) or measured by morning-afternoon differences on the visual analogue scale (P less than 0.005). These results suggest that plasma pharmacokinetics alone may not be sufficient to predict the duration of benzodiazepine anxiolytic activity.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Dose-response relationship between plasma oxytocin and cortisol and adrenocorticotropin concentrations during oxytocin infusion in normal men.

We previously demonstrated that acute injection of a pharmacological dose of oxytocin (2 IU) in humans decreased the concentrations of ACTH and cortisol, a neuroendocrine action opposite that of vasopressin. In the present work the effect of continuous infusion of lower doses of oxytocin was tested. Plasma oxytocin was also measured using an oxytocin RIA to study the dose-response relation. Infusion of oxytocin (8 mIU/min for 30 min) resulted in a plasma oxytocin level of 9.9 +/- 1.4 (+/- SD) muIU/ml and induced a decrease in the plasma concentration of ACTH in three of four normal subjects. Infusion of oxytocin at the rate of 16 mIU/ml for 30 min resulted in plasma oxytocin level of 17.7 +/- 1.6 muIU/ml and decreases in plasma ACTH and cortisol concentrations in all six subjects tested. Increasing the oxytocin dose from 32 to 64 and 128 mIU/min for three additional 30-min periods induced more pronounced decreases in plasma ACTH and cortisol. In each subject, there was a highly significant inverse relationship between plasma oxytocin, and ACTH and cortisol (r = -0.85 to -0.99). During saline infusion, a significant inverse relationship with a 10-min lag period between plasma oxytocin and ACTH (r = -0.55) was found in only one of six subjects. These data demonstrate that infusion of exogenous oxytocin leading to plasma levels approximately 10 times higher than normal induced consistent decreases in corticotropic function. Because the oxytocin concentration in portal blood is approximately 300 times higher than that in peripheral blood, it is likely that the inhibitory action of oxytocin on ACTH secretion is of physiological significance.

Adrenocorticotropic Hormone↗
PubMed1984

[Effects of time variables (time-blind, time gap) on quantitative evaluation of psychopathology].

Are the objectivity and sensibility of quantitative psychopathology influenced by certain methodological conditions (time-blind evaluation or not, chronological order or random order, suppression of the time gap between two evaluations or not)? Different evaluations of AMDP videotaped interviews were not able to demonstrate systematic effects of these temporal conditions on the evaluation itself. Other variables (monotony, order of sequences, verbal inertia, contingencies) might well play a greater role. Within the methodological limits of the present study, the time-blind evaluation was the most sensitive.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

[Effect of lysine-vasopressin on the Flicker Test and the Buschke Memory Test in elderly patients].

In the present study, we have tested the cortical arousal (Flicker's Test) and mnesic function (Buschke Test) before and after a short-term Lysine-Vasopressin (LVP) treatment in normal senescent male (Age: 64,3 +/- 3,4). We have not been able to evidence any objective nor subjective improvement in the LVP versus placebo treated group. We do not know the origins of the discrepancies between the different clinical studies published so far concerning the influence of exogenous vasopressin on memory in man.

Aged↗
PubMed1983

[Computerized letter to the attending physician. Practical application of the AMDP (Association of Methodology and Documentation in Psychiatry)].

The authors have elaborated a micro-computerized program which enables --on the basis of the Psychopathology Form (plus optionally the Somatic Form) of the AMDP-System and of an open-language diagnosis and treatment --to print out instantly a semi-standardized letter and a syndromic profile of 10 or 13 factors. This realization is favorably acknowledged by general practitioners and medical inspectors thanks to its speed of transmission, to its brevity and to the clarity of the syndromic reduction of the clinical picture. Other advantages lie in the greater validity of factor scores as compared to items scores, the standardization and readability of the clinical files, and the extension of the AMDP data bank.

Computers↗
PubMed1982

[Validation of a depression threshold: the Hamilton scale].

We propose a method to suggest cut-off scores for the Hamilton Depression Scale. Two ones are found for the 24 items scale, i.e. 23 and 32; one cut-off score for the 21 items scale, i.e. 20. We show that the second cut-off score is related to the last three items of the 24 items scale. The results are stable, independent of the statistical procedure and reliable within a belgian sample and a canadian one.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

A correlation study of contingent negative variation, reaction time, and EEG power spectrum in control and psychopathological populations.

Contingent negative variation (CNV), reaction time (RT), and EEG power spectrum were measured in a group of 27 neurotics and 26 controls subjects, male and female, aged 18 to 38. CNV was recorded with a 1 sec interstimulus interval and averaged over 48 trials. Two spectral analyses of the EEG were performed, the first during the 1 sec period preceding S1 (spontaneous EEG), the second during the S1-S2 interval (activated EEG). For each group of subjects, we calculated the correlations between four measures of CNV amplitude, RT duration, and the relative powers of the delta, theta, alpha and beta activities during spontaneous and activated EEG. In neurotic subjects there was an absence of correlation between the pre- and post-imperative segments of the CNV, and between early CNV amplitude and per cent alpha power. Both groups shared in common strong correlations relating CNV amplitude and RT length, on the one hand, and the different components of the EEG spectrum, on the other hand, Principal component analysis applied to the pooled data revealed different factors for CNV and EEG parameters, suggesting independence of the neurophysiological mechanisms implied in the two phenomena.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1981

A study of psychological and endocrine variables on 14 patients treated by chronical haemodialysis.

In 13 patients suffering from renal dysfunction and treated by chronic haemodialysis, the mnemic functions appeared within the limits of normality and there was no positive correlation between blood levels of neurophysines and free cortisol. On the other hand, a negative correlation was found between levels of neurophysine I and items 3 and 5 of the memory test PRM. This negative result indicates that in haemodialyzed patients a discrepancy may exist between blood levels of neurophysines and vasopressin release, or that there is no direct relationship between plasma and CSF concentrations of such hormones.

Adrenocorticotropic Hormone↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Variability of albumin excretion in insulin-dependent diabetics.

Sixteen adults patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and 16 healthy controls, matched for sex and age, were asked to collect their urine during the night and during the day at rest, at weekly intervals on four occasions. Subjects with heart failure, kidney disease, hypertension, abnormal urinalysis (Albustix positive) or poorly controlled diabetes prior to entry in the study, were excluded. A high variability in the albumin excretion rates (AER) was observed in both diabetic and control groups but the variance was significantly greater in diabetics. Moreover the variance in AER was higher in daytime as compared to overnight urine collections in both groups. Overnight urine collections are more precise than daytime urine collections for the determination of AER.

Activity Cycles↗