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Randolph W Parks

Publications and source records attributed to Randolph W Parks.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2007

Association of cigarette smoking and depressive symptoms in a forensic population.

The link between mental health issues and smoking has been an important area of investigation. However, little is known about this association in a general adult, male forensic population. The aim of this study was to identify demographic and clinical (depression and anxiety) variables that predict smoking in a forensic population. A large cohort of 353 inmates in a high-security prison underwent a psychiatric interview, including administration of the Montgomery-Asberg Rating Scale for Depression (MADRS) and Hamilton's Rating Scale for Anxiety (HAM-A). Multiple regression analysis suggested that younger age and higher depression scores might predict the amount of daily smoking in this population. In contrast, anxiety symptoms were not an independent predictor for smoking in our study. These findings support the need for additional research to focus on those factors associated with smoking in forensic populations. Psychiatric screening for younger male individuals in forensic settings and targeted cognitive-behavioral interventions to treat depressed smokers may ameliorate the smoking abstinence rate in prisons.

Adult↗
PubMed2007

A systematic review of cognition in homeless children and adolescents.

Objectives The cognitive function of homeless children and adolescents may be overlooked, albeit understandably, when societal interventions focus on their immediate housing needs. Nevertheless, homelessness might be hypothesized to carry many risks for the developing mind and brain. We wanted to discover whether this hypothesis had been tested previously. Design A systematic review to examine whether cognitive impairments were reported in homeless children and adolescents. Setting Objective, systematic review of standard databases, examined by key word searches. Participants Children and adolescents. Main outcome measures Formal assessments of cognition. Results We found that in spite of there being many homeless children in the world, fewer than 2000 have been assessed cognitively and reported in the literature. Yet when compared with those who are domiciled, these children tend to have lower intellectual functioning and decreased academic achievement. Furthermore, adolescents evince cognitive impairments in the contexts of drug, physical, and sexual abuse. Conclusions We suggest that cognitive and mental health screening be incorporated into those intervention programs deployed to facilitate societal reintegration of homeless children and adolescents.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Increased cerebellar vermis white-matter volume in men with schizophrenia.

We aimed to investigate cerebellar structural abnormalities and their functional significance in patients with schizophrenia. Forty right-handed men with schizophrenia and 40 sex, age and handedness matched controls underwent a volumetric magnetic resonance scan with 1 mm3 isotropic spatial resolution. Cerebellar grey- and white-matter volumes were analysed using voxel-based morphometry. Patients with schizophrenia completed a battery of neuropsychological tests assessing sustained attention (continuous performance test), memory (Hopkins memory test) and executive function (verbal fluency and Wisconsin card sorting tests). Patients with schizophrenia exhibited significantly increased cerebellar vermis white-matter volume compared with controls. By contrast, total cerebellar volume, and grey- and white-matter volumes of cerebellar hemispheres were not significantly different between groups. Increased vermis white-matter volume in patients was associated with poor verbal fluency performance. We concluded that increased white-matter in the cerebellar vermis, possibly suggesting anomalous connectivity, may be associated with verbal executive dysfunction in men with chronic schizophrenia.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

A new dissimilarity measure for finding semantic structure in category fluency data with implications for understanding memory organization in schizophrenia.

The ordering of words in category fluency lists is indicative of the semantic distance between items in conceptual memory. Several studies have concluded from structural analyses of such data, using cluster analysis or multidimensional scaling, that the semantic memory of patients with schizophrenia is more disorganized than that of controls. Previous studies have based their analyses on a measure of average interitem dissimilarity devised by A. S. Chan et al. (1993). Here the authors derive a new and improved method of determining dissimilarity and show that when this measure is applied to the fluency lists of patients with schizophrenia, the average pattern of organization for the animal category has similar structure to that of controls, but with greater variability between individuals.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

A functional magnetic resonance imaging study of social cognition in schizophrenia during an acute episode and after recovery.

OBJECTIVE: Difficulty with social interactions is a characteristic of schizophrenia. The authors used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate brain activation changes during a social cognition paradigm in patients with schizophrenia during and after an acute episode and their association with social and executive function. METHOD: In a longitudinal study design, 14 patients with schizophrenia experiencing an acute episode had an fMRI scan. They returned for a follow-up scan after clinical improvement. Fourteen healthy comparison subjects were also scanned twice with approximately the same time interval between scans as in the patient group. The authors employed a social cognition fMRI paradigm involving empathic and forgivability judgments. Schizophrenia symptoms, social functioning and illness insight scales, and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test were used to examine whether improvement on these measures was associated with recovery of brain activation in response to the social cognition paradigm. RESULTS: After recovery from the acute episode, patients exhibited increased activation in the left medial prefrontal cortex, which was, in turn, significantly correlated with improved insight and social functioning. Decreased symptom severity and improved performance on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test were not significantly associated with increased left medial prefrontal cortex activation. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to the authors' knowledge to use a social cognition paradigm to reveal improved left medial prefrontal cortex activation in schizophrenia after recovery from an acute episode. These results suggest that restored left medial prefrontal cortex activation may mediate improvement of insight and social functioning in patients with schizophrenia.

Adult↗