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Biomedical subjects

S Barry

Publications and source records attributed to S Barry.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1992

The desipramine-induced growth hormone response and the dexamethasone suppression test in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Ten patients with DSM-III-R obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) underwent the desipramine (DMI) growth hormone (GH) stimulation test as well as the dexamethasone suppression test (DST). The results were compared with the responses in a group of matched healthy controls. The GH response to DMI did not differ between patients and controls and 9 of 10 patients showed cortisol suppression in response to dexamethasone. The data suggest that neither alpha 2 adrenergic dysfunction nor DST non-suppression are features of primary OCD.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Serum thyrotropin responses to thyrotropin-releasing hormone in alcohol-dependent patients with and without depression.

Forty-one patients with DSM-III alcohol dependence syndrome were studied, as were 30 patients with major depression and 20 healthy controls. Nineteen of the alcohol-dependent patients had depressive symptoms. All subjects underwent a TRH/TSH stimulation test. Fifty percent of the alcohol-dependent patients without depression had a blunted response, while 52% of patients with depression were similarly blunted. The overall rate of blunting in the non-alcoholic major depressives was 26%. Blunting in the alcoholics was not associated with a personal or family history of affective disorder. Furthermore the blunted response in recently detoxified alcoholics was of no prognostic significance.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Change in barbiturate anaesthetic sensitivity as a prognostic indicator of electroconvulsive therapy outcome.

Barbiturate anaesthesia is modulated by brain noradrenergic (NA) function. As derangement of NA pathways is postulated to occur in depression, changes in anaesthetic sensitivity measured as producing loss of eyelash reflex were monitored in 29 depressed patients throughout a course of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Patients thus monitored were followed for 12 months after completing treatment. An increase in barbiturate induction dose over a course of ECT, indicating a decrease in anaesthetic sensitivity, was a powerful predictor of maintained wellbeing. All patients who increased their sensitivity to the anaesthetic either failed to respond to the course of ECT or relapsed within 12 months. The possible mechanism for this is discussed.

Anesthetics↗
PubMed1991

Blunting of noradrenergic-stimulated growth hormone release in mania.

Seven drug-free patients with bipolar affective disorder, currently in a manic phase, underwent desipramine-induced growth hormone (GH) stimulation, as did seven healthy age- and sex-matched subjects. There was significant blunting of GH release in the manic patients, suggesting a down-regulation of alpha 2-noradrenergic responses. Blunting of GH release was not related to severity of symptoms, duration of illness, or age. Similar blunting has previously been described in depressed patients.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Design considerations of CareWindows, a Windows 3.0-based graphical front end to a Medical Information Management System using a pass-through-requester architecture.

The Care Windows development project demonstrated the feasibility of an approach designed to add the benefits of an event-driven, graphically-oriented user interface to an existing Medical Information Management System (MIMS) without overstepping economic and logistic constraints. The design solution selected for the Care Windows project incorporates three important design features: (1) the effective de-coupling of severs from requesters, permitting the use of an extensive pre-existing library of MIMS servers, (2) the off-loading of program control functions of the requesters to the workstation processor, reducing the load per transaction on central resources and permitting the use of object-oriented development environments available for microcomputers, (3) the selection of a low end, GUI-capable workstation consisting of a PC-compatible personal computer running Microsoft Windows 3.0, and (4) the development of a highly layered, modular workstation application, permitting the development of interchangeable modules to insure portability and adaptability.

Academic Medical Centers↗
PubMed1990

A pilot study of a neuroendocrine test battery in posttraumatic stress disorder.

Eight female patients who fulfilled DSM-III criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) took part in this study. They were each assessed using the dexamethasone suppression test, the desipramine/growth hormone stimulation test, which examines alpha-2-adrenoceptor functioning, and the buspirone/prolactin test, which is thought to examine 5-HT receptor functioning. A control group consisting of age- and sex-matched healthy subjects was also tested. For each subject the three tests were conducted over 5 days. Hormone assays were carried out blind to diagnosis. Overall no differences on any of the three tests were detected between the patients and controls. The results do not support a link between PTSD and major depression.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Assessment of central noradrenergic functioning in irritable bowel syndrome using a neuroendocrine challenge test.

Desipramine, the monoamine reuptake inhibitor, acts predominantly on noradrenergic neurones, and via alpha-2 receptors brings about the release of growth hormone in normal healthy subjects. Thirteen patients with a diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome, 10 normal controls and eight patients with peptic ulcer disease were each given a challenge test of desipramine 1 mg/kg body weight. Growth hormone release over a 3 h period was monitored. A blunted response was defined as a failure of growth hormone levels to rise at least 5 mU/l above baseline. Of the 13 patients with irritable bowel syndrome 11 showed such a blunting. The results suggest abnormal central alpha-2 receptor functioning in irritable bowel syndrome.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Neuroendocrine challenge tests in depression: a study of growth hormone, TRH and cortisol release.

Thirty drug-free patients fulfilling the DSM-III criteria for major depression serially underwent the dexamethasone suppression test (DST), thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) test and a growth hormone (GH) challenge test with oral desipramine. Fifty-three per cent of the sample showed a blunted GH response, 47% were DST non-suppressors while 26% had a blunted TSH response. Eighty per cent of patients showed some biological abnormality. There was no clear association between any of these abnormalities. Neither was there any association between the neuroendocrine parameters studied and the severity of depression or patient gender. There was a trend for increasing GH blunting and DST non-suppression with increasing age.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Alpha-2 adrenergic receptor function in post-stroke depression.

The growth hormone (GH) response to desipramine was measured in ten patients meeting criteria for post-stroke depression (PSD), eight age-matched post-stroke (PS) non-depressed patients and eight healthy controls. Responses were significantly blunted in patients with PSD. These findings suggest diminished alpha-2 adrenoceptor function may be an important marker for PSD.

Aged↗
PubMed1990

The reproducibility of the prolactin response to buspirone: relationship to the menstrual cycle.

Prolactin response to buspirone challenge was examined in eight normal healthy male and six healthy female volunteers. A significant increase in prolactin levels was noted around 90 min following oral administration of buspirone hydrochloride. When subjects were tested on two further occasions it was found that responses in males were consistently reproducible while responses in females varied throughout the menstrual cycle with maximum responses occurring premenstrually. It is postulated that increased sensitivity of the 5HT receptor premenstrually may explain the variability in females.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Platelet 5-HT uptake in post-stroke depression.

Serotonin (5-HT) uptake into platelets is reduced in functionally depressed patients. Depression following stroke (cerebrovascular accident; CVA) is common and severe. Sixteen patients who had suffered a CVA within 6 to 12 months and who were medication-free had blood taken for measurement of platelet 5-HT uptake. Seven of these patients were depressed. These were compared with age- and sex-matched hospital controls. No difference in platelet 5-HT uptake was found across these groups.

Aged↗
PubMed1990

Responses of growth hormone to desipramine in endogenous and non-endogenous depression.

Desipramine, a monoamine reuptake inhibitor, was used to stimulate release of growth hormone (GH) in 29 DSM-III major depressives and in 10 healthy controls. Eighteen of the depressives showed a blunted response. The GH-stimulation test was unable to distinguish endogenous from non-endogenous patients. The 13 dexamethasone non-suppressors were more likely to have a blunted GH response than the 14 suppressors. The results indicate that at least a subset of non-endogenous depressives have significant neuroendocrine abnormality.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Changes in basal and stimulated growth hormone secretion in the aging rhesus monkey: a comparison of chair restraint and tether and vest sampling.

We studied basal serum GH and GH responses to iv clonidine and insulin-induced hypoglycemia in a group of four young (5-7 yr old) and four older (10-14 yr old) adult male rhesus monkeys under two restraint conditions, chair adaptation and a tether and vest system, to determine what changes in GH secretion occur with aging. The serum GH response to iv administration of GH-releasing hormone (GHRH) was also studied in the groups under tether and vest restraint. Serum samples were collected every 15 min and assayed for GH using a human GH RIA and for cortisol using an enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay. GH and cortisol concentrations in the young and older groups were analyzed with analysis of variance (ANOVA). In the chaired studies the older animals had a lower mean 6-h basal GH concentration than did the younger animals (2.7 +/- 0.8 vs. 3.5 +/- 0.5 micrograms/L; P = 0.0002). Prestimulation GH was lower before clonidine and insulin in the older chaired group (1.1 +/- 0.5 and 2.3 +/- 0.6 micrograms/L, respectively) compared to the younger group (3.6 +/- 0.8 and 3.8 +/- 0.7 micrograms/L, respectively; P less than 0.001). Poststimulation GH was lower after clonidine and insulin in the older chaired group (3.2 +/- 2.4 and 7.1 +/- 2.8 micrograms/L, respectively) compared to the younger chaired group (6.3 +/- 2.2 and 10.3 +/- 3.0 micrograms/L, respectively; P less than 0.05), but the differences in GH increments were not statistically significant. In the tether and vest studies the older animals had a lower mean 6-h basal GH concentration than did the younger animals (1.7 +/- 0.4 vs. 3.5 +/- 1.2 micrograms/L; P less than 0.0001). Prestimulation GH concentrations were also lower in the older tethered animals before clonidine (2.1 +/- 0.3 micrograms/L) and GHRH (1.4 +/- 0.2 micrograms/L) compared to levels in the younger animals (3.1 +/- 0.9 and 3.2 +/- 0.7 micrograms/L; P = 0.0023 and P = 0.0001, respectively). The younger tethered animals had greater poststimulation responses to clonidine (8.7 +/- 3.0 micrograms/L), insulin (8.8 +/- 3.6 micrograms/L), and GHRH (6.0 +/- 2.4 micrograms/L) than the older animals (3.8 +/- 0.9, 3.9 +/- 2.5, and 2.9 +/- 0.7 micrograms/L; P less than 0.0001, P = 0.0025, and P less than 0.03, respectively).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Aging↗
PubMed1990

Serotonin supersensitivity: the pathophysiologic basis of non-ulcer dyspepsia? A preliminary report of buspirone/prolactin responses.

Buspirone stimulates central 5-hydroxytryptamine (5HT) receptors and brings about the release of prolactin, and there is evidence to suggest that the extent of prolactin release after a challenge with buspirone is an indicator of the sensitivity of central 5HT receptors. Seventeen patients with a diagnosis of non-ulcer dyspepsia, eight normal healthy volunteers, and six patients with peptic ulcer disease were each given a challenge test of 60 mg buspirone orally, and prolactin release over a 3-h period was monitored. The mean prolactin response was significantly greater in patients with non-ulcer dyspepsia than in healthy controls and peptic ulcer disease patients. The results suggest that central 5HT receptors may be supersensitive in non-ulcer dyspepsia.

Buspirone↗
PubMed1989

A comparison of electroconvulsive therapy with a combined lithium and tricyclic combination among depressed tricyclic nonresponders.

Thirty severely depressed patients who were resistant to tricyclic antidepressant therapy were randomly allocated to treatment either with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) or addition of lithium (Li) to the tricyclic. Twenty-one of the 30 patients significantly improved at the end of 3 weeks of treatment. There were no differences in improvement rates between the two groups. However, the patients treated with a Li/tricyclic combination improved more rapidly, showing significant alterations in mental state by day 7. It is suggested that in otherwise physically healthy patients who are tricyclic nonresponders, the addition of Li may be a more rapid treatment than the use of ECT.

Adult↗