PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

S Hodgins

Publications and source records attributed to S Hodgins.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1998

Iron-deficiency anemia in Nunavik: pregnancy and infancy.

PURPOSE: This paper documents the problem of iron-deficiency anemia in the Inuit region of Nunavik, in Northern Quebec, particularly among pregnant women and infants. It also addresses the issue of Helicobacter pylori gastritis as a possible cause of anemia in this population. METHOD: Data on anemia in pregnancy are from routinely collected prenatal records. Data on anemia in infants are drawn from blood samples collected for a study on the impact of environmental contaminants. Helicobacter serologies were done on cord-blood specimens from 100 consecutive births screened for contaminant exposure. For comparison, serologies were done on a series of cord-blood specimens from 99 births in Southern Quebec. RESULTS: By term, 40% of pregnant women in Nunavik are anemic (Hgb < 115 g/L). Of infants aged 9-14 months, 58% are anemic (Hgb < 110 g/L), and among the remaining 42%, over half have depleted iron stores. Twenty-seven percent of the Nunavik sample had positive or equivocal Helicobacter serologies. In the comparison group, 10% were positive or equivocal.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Adult outcomes of child conduct problems: a cohort study.

The present study assessed the mental health and criminal records of 6,449 males and 6,268 females who presented conduct problems as children by examining an unselected birth cohort followed up to age 30. Conduct problems were defined by teacher ratings of behavior problems and/or antisocial behavior in the community. There was little overlap in the children identified by teachers and by the community. These two groups of children were at differential risk for adult mental disorder. Seventy-six percent of the males and 30% of females with childhood conduct problems had either a criminal record, a mental disorder, or both by age 30. Risk ratios for adult criminality and/or mental disorders, however, were greater for females than for males with a history of childhood conduct problems. Almost all of the mental disorders were severe substance abuse. Mental disorders and crime were strongly associated among males with a history of childhood conduct problems.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Children of parents with bipolar disorder: a metaanalysis of risk for mental disorders.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the prevalence rates of mental disorders among children of parents with bipolar disorder and of parents with no mental disorders. METHOD: Seventeen studies, meeting specific selection criteria, were included in the metaanalyses. Risks for mental disorders among children were estimated by aggregating raw data from the selected studies. RESULTS: Results indicate that in comparison with children of parents with no mental disorders, children of parents with bipolar disorder are 2.7 times more likely to develop any mental disorder and 4.0 times more likely to develop an affective disorder. The metaanalyses indicate that during childhood and adolescence, the risks for any mental disorder and for affective disorders in children are consistently but moderately related to having a parent who suffers from bipolar disorder. CONCLUSIONS: Risk factors that could account for the psychopathology observed in children of bipolar parents are explored.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Mental disorder and crime. Evidence from a Danish birth cohort.

BACKGROUND: Evidence has accumulated since the mid 1960s from a number of different countries indicating an association between mental disorder and crime and particularly between the major mental disorders and violence. Registries in Denmark were used to identify a birth cohort and to document all psychiatric admissions and all criminal proceedings of the 324401 members of this cohort up to the age of 43 years. METHODS: Persons who had been admitted to a psychiatric ward were assigned to a diagnostic category according to a hierarchy of principal discharge diagnoses. They were compared with persons never admitted to a psychiatric ward as to the prevalence, type, and frequency of criminal convictions. RESULTS: Women and men who had been hospitalized in psychiatric wards were more likely to have been convicted of a criminal offense than persons with no history of psychiatric hospitalization. The offenders who were hospitalized committed all types and, on average, as many offenses as did the never-hospitalized group of the same sex. CONCLUSIONS: These findings confirm those from 2 other post-World War II Scandinavian birth cohorts that have found an association between psychiatric hospitalization and criminal convictions. They also concur with findings that patients discharged from psychiatric wards are more likely than other persons living in the same community to commit crimes and with results from North America showing elevated rates of major mental disorders among incarcerated offenders. Generalization of these findings is limited to nations with similar criminal justice, mental health, and social welfare systems.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Ventral frontal deficits in psychopathy: neuropsychological test findings.

The hypothesis of prefrontal dysfunction in psychopathy has been pursued for many years, without convincing results. It is proposed here that this approach in previous studies was far too global. The present investigation was carried out in order to test a more specific hypothesis of orbitofrontal and/or frontal ventromedial deficits in psychopathy. Psychopathic criminals were compared to non-psychopathic criminals with measures related to orbitofrontal or frontal ventromedial functioning, as well as with control measures more associated with frontodorsolateral and posterorolandic functions. All subjects provided urine samples for drug assay. It was found that, while the two groups performed similarly on all the control measures, including the drug tests, the psychopaths were significantly impaired on all the orbitofrontal-ventromedial tasks. The psychopaths were significantly impulsive on several tests as well as significantly dysosmic [corrected]. The latter finding is particularly important in the sense that it cannot readily be explained socioculturally, thus presenting a new and convincing argument for brain-based etiology of this disorder. The results are discussed in relation to other psychiatric disorders characterized by impulse dyscontrol as well as in relation to other putative neurobiological etiological factors in psychopathy.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Neuropsychological correlates of violence in schizophrenia.

Thirty-one outpatient men with schizophrenia were assessed with various measures of lifelong history of physical violence as well as psychopathology, neuropsychological performance, and neurological intactness. Most of the results consisted of nonsignificant positive relationships between physical aggression and neuropsychological performance in these schizophrenia subjects. Some neuropsychological test performances did show significant positive correlations with levels of aggressivity. In contrast with previous studies that have established a relation between neuropsychological impairment (as opposed to performance) and violence in schizophrenia, subjects of the present study were high-functioning outpatients who may not have attained a level of neurological impairment inducing constant uncontrollable outbursts of irritative aggression in their daily living. The importance of defining in detail the clinical characteristics of the subjects studied and the type of violence assessed is discussed, and an ecological interpretation of these counterintuitive results is provided.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1995

[Correlation between symptoms and social adjustment in patients suffering from schizophrenia or major affective disorder].

With a view to examining the appropriateness of relying solely on pharmacotherapy rather than on a program of multimodal therapy, the goal of this study is to test the hypothesis that there is little relationship between psychotic and affective symptoms on the one hand, and life skills and social functioning on the other. Eighty-four male subjects presenting a diagnosis of schizophrenia, mania or severe depression were therefore recruited in hospitals in the Montreal region. The relationships previously identified were studied, while factors likely to affect them, such as the chronicity of the disorder, the level of intellectual functioning, and the presence of additional symptoms, were controlled as necessary. The results suggest poorer social functioning among the schizophrenics having a high level of negative symptoms. In addition, the relationship between negative symptoms and IQ suggests that the intellectual functioning of these individuals can potentially affect the acquisition of skills required for adequate social functioning. Among subjects with a major affective disorder, the results reveal poor social functioning even during quasi-asymptomatic periods. These results suggest that patients suffering from schizophrenia or a major affective disorder require interventions aimed at increasing their level of psychosocial functioning.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1995

Neurological soft signs in schizophrenia: are they related to negative or positive symptoms, neuropsychological performance, and violence?

This investigation was carried out on 31 unemployed schizophrenic outpatient men. The general purpose was to explore new aspects of neurological soft signs in schizophrenia. A 108-item version of the Nathan Kline Institute scale of soft signs, the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia psychiatric interview, the negative and positive symptom scale (PANSS), a comprehensive scale of life-time history of violence, and a large set of neuropsychological tests were administered. It was found that "motor" soft signs were significantly more prevalent than "sensory-perceptual" signs, but that each body side manifested equal numbers of neurological signs. Before and after statistical correction for age, education, alcoholism, drug abuse disorder, and daily and cumulative neuroleptic dosage, orbitofrontal-type neuropsychological tasks measuring "impulsivity" related very robustly to the soft signs. Furthermore, before and after the same statistical corrections, right body-side signs correlated significantly with the same neuropsychological tests, whereas left body-side signs did not. The PANSS scores and levels of lifetime violence generally did not correlate significantly with neurological soft signs. The latter negative findings, we think relate to the fact that these were relatively high-functioning (i.e., outpatient) schizophrenics. Overall, the results support notions of frontal lobe and left hemisphere involvement in schizophrenia, these two dysfunctional systems being apparently linked at the level of the orbitofrontal area of the brain.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1993

Homicide, schizophrenia and substance abuse or dependency.

Few studies have extensively studied the aggressive behaviours of mentally disordered offenders. This investigation compared 14 schizophrenics found not guilty of homicide by reason of insanity (NGRI) with 12 schizophrenics convicted of homicide. A comparison group of 15 homicide offenders with no major mental disorder was used. Drug and alcohol consumption, previous history of aggression against others as well as mental health were assessed using standardized, reliable, valid instruments. Significantly more of the inmates with no major mental disorder were diagnosed as having a history of drug or alcohol abuse or dependency (60%) than the NGRI schizophrenics (35.7%). In addition, both groups of convicted homicide offenders were more likely to have committed homicide under the influence of drugs or alcohol than the NGRI group. No significant difference distinguished the groups for the mean number of aggressive incidents. The subjects found NGRI assaulted more often during an acute phase of mental illness than the convicted schizophrenics. Although both groups appeared to have a similar number of hospitalizations, most of the hospitalizations of the convicted schizophrenics occurred after the crime.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

Major mental disorder and antisocial personality disorder: a criminal combination.

Much evidence now suggests that patients with major mental disorders are at increased risk for crimes and violence. Leading experts in forensic psychiatry have proposed that the illegal behaviors are a consequence of these major disorders. Yet, longitudinal studies have consistently indicated that adult criminality is preceded by a childhood history of antisocial behavior. We hypothesized that among offenders with major mental disorders there are two groups: (1) the first group has a secondary diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder (APD), and a childhood history of antisocial and criminal behavior preceding the onset of the major disorder; (2) the second group do not meet the criteria for APD, and behave criminally only as adults. This hypothesis was tested on a representative sample of penitentiary inmates with major mental disorders. It was found that those with APD had a significant childhood history of criminal activity and antisocial behavior, endorsing, on average, eight of ten possible indices. In comparison, the mentally disordered inmates without APD endorsed on average two indices. The mentally disordered offenders with APD began their criminal careers earlier, and had significantly more convictions and more convictions for nonviolent offenses than those without APD. APD was not associated with violence among men with major mental disorders.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Mental disorder, intellectual deficiency, and crime. Evidence from a birth cohort.

Studies of criminality among patients in psychiatric hospitals and of mental disorder among incarcerated offenders have suggested an association between the major mental disorders (schizophrenia and major affective disorders) and crime. However, these investigations are characterized by notable methodological weaknesses, and, consequently, this conclusion has remained tentative. Little is known about the criminality of intellectually handicapped people. The present study examined the relationship between crime and mental disorder and crime and intellectual deficiency in an unselected Swedish birth cohort followed up to age 30 years. It was found that men with major mental disorders were 2 1/2 times more likely than men with no disorder or handicap to be registered for a criminal offense and four times more likely to be registered for a violent offense. Women with major disorders were five times more likely than women with no disorder or handicap to be registered for an offense and 27 times more likely to be registered for a violent offense. These subjects committed many serious offenses throughout their lives. The criminal behavior in over half these cases appeared before the age of 18 years. Intellectually handicapped men were three times more likely to offend than men with no disorder or handicap and five times more likely to commit a violent offense. Intellectually handicapped women were almost four times more likely to offend than women with no disorder or handicap and 25 times more likely to commit a violent offense.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

A method for fixation of previously fresh-frozen human adult and fetal brains that preserves histological quality and immunoreactivity.

A method is described that enables fixation of previously fresh-frozen and stored adult and fetal human or animal brains. The method involves fixing during thawing under controlled, cryoprotected conditions and is compatible with good histological quality and the preservation of enzymatic activity and immunoreactivity of many neural antigens. It offers considerable advantages for the storage of large amounts of tissue from which multiple samples can be taken and processed under fixation and other conditions that can be optimized for a variety of methods, many of which may be incompatible if the whole brain is fixed in a single fixative prior to storage.

Acetylcholinesterase↗
PubMed1991

Psychological stress and psoriasis: experimental and prospective correlational studies.

Using a dismantled time-series design, 18 subjects with psoriasis symptoms on the scalp were randomly assigned to four groups and six dropped out: meditation (N = 5); meditation and imagery (N = 4); waiting list (N = 5); and no treatment control group (N = 4). Treatment lasted 12 weeks, with 4 weeks pre- and post-baseline periods. An assessment control group was also used during baseline periods (N = 4). The severity of psoriasis symptoms was reliably rated by dermatologists. A time-series multivariate regression analysis controlling for extraneous factors influencing psoriasis symptoms, revealed a significant difference between the mean psoriasis ratings of treatment and control groups after treatment (partial r = 0.30, p less than 0.01). No additional impact was associated with the use of the imagery technique (partial r = 0.06, p less than 0.05). Four subjects in the treatment groups, two in each condition, succeeded in clinically improving their psoriasis symptoms and none deteriorated. The practice of meditation may be clinically effective for some patients in reducing their psoriasis symptoms. For one of the control groups, the relation between psychological stress and psoriasis was examined prospectively over a period of 20 weeks using standardized measures. A time-series multivariate statistical method indicated an average positive correlation between the severity of psoriasis symptoms and psychological distress (partial r = 0.31, p less than 0.01) and the impact of adverse life events (partial r = 0.23, p less than 0.05); there were, however, important individual differences. Stress reduction techniques can thus be regarded as part of the treatment offered to some patients suffering from psoriasis.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Impact of supervised apartments on the functioning of mentally disordered adults.

The impact on the mentally disordered of living in supervised residences remains unclear. The present investigation followed a group of supervised apartment residents and a matched comparison group for two years. Symptomatology, psychosocial functioning, stress, social support, quality of life, and life satisfaction were measured at six month intervals. Readmission and consultations in the emergency room were documented for all subjects for the two year period. Neither readmission rates, emergency room consultations, nor measures of functioning, other than symptomatology, differed for the two groups. It is argued that supervised apartments are stressful environments that may lead to deterioration in mentally disordered persons.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Co-occurring mental disorders among criminal offenders.

Many convicted offenders suffer from major mental disorders. These offenders commit crimes with great frequency. They do not receive mental health care and are often found in isolation cells of correctional facilities. The present investigation examined lifetime multiple disorders, measured by the DIS, among a representative sample of male penitentiary inmates. Pure forms of the major mental disorders were rare. All possible combinations of the major disorders were found to exist. No patterns of groupings of disorders were evident.

Adult↗