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S A Shah

Publications and source records attributed to S A Shah.

10 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1978

The XYY genotype.

The epidemiological data pertaining to the XYY genotype suggest that there is a three- to fourfold overrepresentation of XYY individuals in mental and penal settings and a twentyfold overrepresentation of mental-penal (special security) settings. The reasons behind the risk for behavioral disability are not known at this time. Tallness and ondulocystic acne are reported frequently to be associated with the genotype. Since much of the available information about the XYY sex chromosome complement is biased, more data is required before definitive statements can be made about the personality characteristics or intelligence of the vast majority of XYY men not appearing in social settings oriented towards behavioral deviancy.

Abnormalities, Multiple↗
PubMed1978

Effect of hyperthermia on the immune response of normal rabbits.

Sequential skin responses to dinitrochlorobenzene challenge and repeat assays of serum antibody titer after two injections of bovine serum albumin were used as functional indices of cellular and humoral immunocompetence following hyperthermia in normal adult New Zealand White rabbits. The animals were subjected to different degrees of local hyperthermia by watercuff or radio-frequency heating of the normal thigh muscles maintained at 42 degrees for 1 hr on 3 consecutive days or 47--50 degrees for 30 min, respectively, or to total body hyperthermia (42 degrees for 1 hr on three occasions) in a humidified incubator. No alteration occurred in the response of heated rabbits to dinitrochlorobenzene challenge over a 3-month period. The humoral immune response to bovine serum albumin was significantly depressed (p less than 0.02) in the treated animals, and the reduction was independent of method and degree of heating. The results suggest that the B-lymphocytes are more susceptible to hyperthermic damage than is the T-cell population.

Animals↗
PubMed1976

Dissolution of two-component solids.

The dissolution rates of compressed two-component mixtures were investigated. A good correlation between the composition of the solid and its observed dissolution rate was demonstrated by regression analysis. A model for dissolution was applied to compressed mixtures of aspirin-salicylic acid, aspirin-phenacetin, phenacetin-caffeine, and aspirin and caffeine (the last mixture complexes in solution).

Chemistry, Pharmaceutical↗
PubMed1975

Dangerousness and civil commitment of the mentally ill: some public policy considerations.

The author discusses "dangerousness to others" as a ground for involuntary civil commitment of the mentally ill, suggesting that there is often a confounding of legal/public-policy concerns and mental health concerns in issues related to this concept. The questionable nature of the presumption of dangerousness in mental patients and the overprediction of dangerous behavior for this group indicate that such commitment processes may circumvent legal safeguards designed to ensure due process. The author recommends that psychiatrists and other mental health professionals assume greater responsibility for the ways in which their services are used in these proceedings.

Alcoholism↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Current developments in genetics and their implications concerning the problems of social deviations].

A review of historical developments in the field of human genetics reveals much conflict between those espousing and hereditarian position and those maintaining an environmentalist point of view. A confusion of political, propaganda, and ideological objectives with those of science has had deleterious effects on the field of human genetics, and upon the willingness of some disciplines to accept genetic contributions to the understanding of human behavior. Modern thinking in behavioral genetics rejects the Nature-Nurture dichotomy as incorrect and meaningless. The phenotype cannot be inherited; it develops as a function of interactions between the genotype and the environment. It is convenient to think of hereditary contributions to behavioral traits as fixing a reaction range; the genotype may be viewed as determining an indefinite but nevertheless circumscribed assortment of phenotypes. There have been numerous studies seeking to ascertain the genetic factors in a variety of mental disorders. The mental disorder most thoroughly studied from a genetic standpoint is schizophrenia. Three recent studies of adoptees, two in Denmark and one in America, have indicated the importance of hereditary factors in schizophrenia. Biological relatives of adoptees diagnosed as schizophrenic were more likely themselves to have suffered schizophrenic-spectrum disorders than were biological relatives of non-schizophrenic adoptees. Adoptees whose biological parents were schizophrenic or manic depressive were more likely to themselves be diagnosed schizophrenic than were adoptees whose biological parents had no psychiatric history. Children born to hospitalized schizophrenic women and who were placed for adoption shortly after birth were more likely to be schizophrenic than were matched control adoptees born to non-schizophrenic mothers. In studies conducted in Denmark, Schulsinger has also employed the adoptee method in studies of psychopathy. Diagnostic criteria were developed to reliably identify 57 cases of psychopathy from among 507 adoptees with known mental disorders. A non-psychopathic group of matched control adoptees was also formed. Mental illness among the relatives of these adoptee cases (biological and adoptive relatives) was ascertained through a careful search of psychiatric records. Psychopathic spectrum disorders were found to be more than twice as prevalent among biological relatives of the psychopathic index cases than was the case for biological relatives of the control cases. The percentage of affected cases among adoptive relatives was nearly equal for both study groups. Thus, this study provides a demonstration of the possible importance of genetic factors in the etiology of psychopathy. Other attempts to assess hereditary and constitutional aspects of criminal behavior have been made. These include twin studies and also Eysenck's study of the heritability of behavioral traits including extraversion, introversion, and emotionality.

Adoption↗