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Biomedical subjects

S J Freeman

Publications and source records attributed to S J Freeman.

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

Help-seeking behaviour of depressed students.

Depression, the most common form of psychological distress among university students, is often serious enough to warrant professional help but only a minority of depressed students seek formal help. This paper reports on the characteristics which differentiate two groups of depressed students--the help-seekers from the non-help-seekers. A university psychiatric clinic population (N = 183) was compared with a non-clinic sample (N = 55). Data about depressive symptoms, social supports, the use of medical, psychiatric and other helping services, sources of referral and the usual demographic and sociocultural information were obtained. The Beck Depression Inventory was used as the measure of depression. Severity of depression was the single most important predictor of use of the psychiatric service. In addition, being female was also an important predictor. After controlling for severity and sex, the demographic factors which distinguished help-seekers from non-help-seekers were as follows: The help-seekers were more likely to be graduate students, older, living away from family and/or to use a non-psychiatric physician. Contrary to expectation, having a confidant was not related to help-seeking, suggesting that the presence of a confidant may be preventive but does not necessarily decrease the need for professional help once a student has become depressed. A depressed student's decision to seek help may be influenced by four factors: the severity of the problem; the individual's propensity to seek help; the availability of alternate resources; and the accessibility of psychiatric services. The findings are discussed in the light of these factors.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

From hospital to community. Six-month and two-year outcomes for 505 patients.

The authors have completed a large descriptive study of the system of psychiatric aftercare in Metropolitan Toronto. This article describes the relevant 6-month and 2-year postdischarge outcome in each of five aftercare components for 505 subjects in a traditional system of service delivery. Provincial hospital, research institute, and general hospital subgroups are compared. For the total group, recidivism and employment rates are similar to those found in previous studies. Symptoms and distress levels are high. Considerable numbers of subjects live in inadequate and unsatisfactory housing. Social isolation, inadequate income, and difficulties with instrumental role functioning are persistent problems with little improvement between 6 months and 2 years postdischarge. Differences among the subgroups vary according to type of outcome and, for the most part, can be explained by differences in the characteristics of the patients served by the three types of inpatient treatment settings. These findings provide additional information about serious deficiencies in discharge planning and aftercare service delivery that is focused primarily upon the treatment of illness. The authors conclude that a more balanced system of aftercare requires a shift in resources to rehabilitation programs in the community.

Academies and Institutes↗
PubMed1984

Fluctuations in mood and psychological distress during the menstrual cycle.

This paper examines fluctuations in mood and symptoms associated with psychological distress during the phases of the menstrual cycle in two samples of university women. The first (Study I) sample of women (N = 162) was randomly selected from the University population. The second sample (Study II) was women (N = 138) who attended a psychiatric clinic. The subjects completed a questionnaire which included measures of depression, anxiety and general psychological distress. Information about the menstrual cycle and contraceptive pills was elicited from the subjects who were unaware that affect during the menstrual cycle was being studied. In study I there were no significant differences in depression, anxiety or psychological distress between phases of the cycle. The results of study II indicated that even in a group of women with emotional problems, it was not possible to demonstrate an increase in the average severity of mood disturbance or psychological distress during any phase of the menstrual cycle. It was concluded that in general, university women between the ages of 18-30 who are mostly single, nulliparous, with or without significant psychopathology, seeking or not seeking psychiatric help do not experience significant or disruptive fluctuations in mood and symptoms of psychological distress during the phases of the menstrual cycle. Women who are afflicted with distressing and incapacitating cyclical fluctuations are best studied as a vulnerable subgroup.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

Sonography after splenic embolization: the wedge-shaped acute infarct.

After undergoing therapeutic transcatheter embolization of the splenic artery for treatment of portal hypertension, 11 consecutive patients were evaluated with sulfur colloid scintigraphy and real-time sonography of the left upper quadrant to determine which method was better for follow-up evaluation of the spleen. Six splenic infarcts were documented by both imaging methods; sonography, however, demonstrated the characteristic wedge shape of the infarct in four of the six cases. There were no cases of splenic abscess formation. Sonography should be the primary method for evaluation of the spleen after transcatheter embolization and can help in planning treatment to avoid abscess formation.

Abscess↗
PubMed1983

Monoclonal antibodies against human placental sphingomyelinase.

Monoclonal antibodies against human placental acid sphingomyelinase have been raised. The antibodies are all of the IgG1 type, and are quite specific for the enzyme. One of the antibodies has been used to demonstrate a common antigenic identity of three polypeptides (mol.wts. 90,000, 72,000, and 48,000) of a purified sphingomyelinase preparation.

Antibodies, Monoclonal↗
PubMed1983

Improved purification of beta-galactosidase from rabbit brain: two separable fractions share kinetic and structural properties.

beta-Galactosidase has been purified from rabbit brain by a procedure which gives substantially greater purification and yield than the previously reported method. The enzyme was solubilized in 4% aqueous butanol and purified by a procedure which included affinity chromatography on columns of concanavalin A - Sepharose (ConA-Sepharose) and aminophenylthiogalactoside Sepharose (APT galactoside-Sepharose). The activity was resolved by DEAE-Sepharose chromatography into two fractions; the first did not bind to the column and was eluted in the unbound fraction, while the second bound to the column and could be eluted with a salt gradient. The unbound and bound fractions were purified 7600-fold and 4900-fold, respectively, by the newly developed procedure. Both gave two closely migrating protein bands on polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and the major contaminating protein was beta-hexosaminidase in each case. The enzyme in the unbound fraction had an isoelectric point (pI) of 6.7 and an apparent molecular weight by gel filtration of 114 000 +/- 10 000. The enzyme that bound to DEAE-Sepharose at pH 8.0 and comprised about 60% of the total acid beta-galactosidase activity of rabbit brain eluted from Sephacryl S-200 as a single peak with apparent molecular weight 140 000 +/- 10 000. The two fractions displayed similar relative specific activities towards the synthetic substrates and ganglioside GM1 and lactosyl ceramide. Neither enzyme hydrolyzed galactosyl ceramide. We have immunological evidence which suggests that the two fractions of beta-galactosidase are also structurally related.

Acid Phosphatase↗
PubMed1983

Social support and post hospital outcome for depressed women.

In a larger follow-up study of discharged patients, a subgroup of 87 women with non-psychotic disorders had an unexpectedly poor outcome at six months with regard to readmissions, symptoms and social adjustment. The only factor which distinguished those who had been readmitted was lack of social support. Lack of social support was also related to poor symptom and social adjustment outcomes. There were considerable difficulties with social functioning independent of high symptoms. The adequacy of aftercare services is questioned in the light of these findings.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Inhibition of proteolysis in rat yolk sac as a cause of teratogenesis. Effects of leupeptin in vitro and in vivo.

Conceptuses from 9.5-day pregnant rats were cultured for 48 h in heat-inactivated homologous serum to which leupeptin, a specific inhibitor of the lysosomal cysteine-proteinases, was added for the final or the penultimate 6 h. The presence of leupeptin (25 micrograms/ml or above) increased the protein content of yolk sacs at harvesting to approximately twice the control value. The protein content of the embryo at harvesting was lower than that of controls. When 125I-labelled polyvinylpyrrolidone was added to the culture serum for the final 6 h of culture, radioactivity was found in the yolk sac at harvesting, but not in the embryo. The presence of leupeptin did not affect the rate of uptake of the radiolabelled macromolecule by the yolk sac, nor facilitate its entry into the embryo. When formaldehyde-denatured 125I-labelled bovine serum albumin was added to the culture medium for the final 6 h of culture, little radioactivity was found in the yolk sac at harvesting, and barely any was found in the embryo. Trichloroacetic acid-soluble radioactivity was found in the culture serum. The presence of leupeptin sharply increased the levels of radioactivity in the yolk sac (but not the embryo) and sharply decreased the acid-soluble radioactivity of the culture medium. When rat serum whose proteins were labelled with [3H]leucine was used as culture medium, radioactivity was found in both yolk sac and embryo at harvesting. The presence of leupeptin increased the amount found in the yolk sac and decreased that found in the embryo. These results are interpreted as follows. Leupeptin enters the lysosomes of the yolk sac, inhibiting their cysteine proteinases. The digestion of proteins pinocytosed by the yolk sac is consequently inhibited, resulting in the accumulation of protein by the yolk sac and a decreased flow of amino acids to the embryo. Leupeptin (50 mg/kg), injected into pregnant rats at either 8.5 days or 9.5 days of gestation, induced congenital malformation in the offspring. It is proposed that leupeptin exerts its teratogenic action by inhibiting proteolysis in the lysosomes of the yolk sac, and so depriving the developing embryo of its supply of amino acids at a critical stage of development.

Abnormalities, Drug-Induced↗
PubMed1983

Evidence that protein ingested by the rat visceral yolk sac yields amino acids for synthesis of embryonic protein.

[3H]Leucine-labelled haemoglobin was prepared from rat reticulocytes incubated in the presence of [3H]leucine. Conceptuses from 9-5-day pregnant rats were incubated in vitro tox 48 h, with [3H]leucine-labelled haemoglobin present for the final 12, 8, 4, 2 or 0.5 hours. Radioactivity accumulated in visceral yolk sac and in embryonic tissue. When exposure to labelled haemoglobin was for only a short period before harvesting, all the radioactivity found in the embryo and most of that found in the visceral yolk sac trichloroacetic acid-soluble (i.e. associated with free amino acid rather than with protein). After longer exposures the proportion of radioactivity that was acid-soluble decreased to minimum values of about 20%. SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of the protein-associated radioactivity in visceral yolk sac and embryo was performed. After exposure to labelled haemoglobin for 1 h only prior to harvesting, the yolk sac contained a single peak of radioactivity coincident in mobility with haemoglobin. The embryo contained no protein-associated radioactivity. After exposure to labelled haemoglobin for 12h, many protein bands in both yolk sac and embryo were radiolabelled. Thus a single radiolabelled protein pinocytically captured by the visceral yolk sac can give rise to the presence of many labelled proteins in embryo and visceral yolk sac. These results indicate that the source protein underwent proteolytic digestion and that the amino acids generated were re-utilized for protein synthesis in both embryonic and visceral yolk-sac cells.

Amino Acids↗
PubMed1982

Predictors and correlates of adaptation to conjugal bereavement.

The authors interviewed 162 widows 1, 6, 12, and 24 months after bereavement to determine which sociodemographic, prebereavement, and response variables and circumstances of the husband's death were related to distress level, as measured by the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ). The most important variable associated with high distress at 1 month was the woman's perception that she was seeing old friends less than before her husband's death. At 2 years it was possible to predict distress levels with 86% accuracy by means of a multiple regression analysis using 10 variables, including 1-month GHQ score, short final illness of the husband, and satisfaction with available help.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1981

A psychosocial analysis of risk of psychological impairment following bereavement.

A multiple regression analysis was used to investigate the explanatory potential of a multidimensional approach to risk of psychological impairment. Information from a study of bereavement in Canadian women included meaning of the event to the individual, personality attributes, social supports available following bereavement and sociodemographic data. Risk of psychological impairment was estimated by score on the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ). Sixty-four per cent of the variance in GHQ scores at one month postbereavement was accounted for. The authors hypothesize that the addition of a measure of coping styles and more comprehensive measures of the other dimensions studied would increase the power of the technique. It seems critical to take into account the possible large effects of sociodemographic factors.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1981

Psychiatric aftercare: identified needs versus referral patterns.

Although psychiatric aftercare has received increased attention, little is known about patients' needs for community resources or about predischarge referral patterns. The authors interviewed hospital staff about needs and referrals for each of 747 patients about to be discharged. Nearly all patients had needs in the medical/therapeutic area and most received referrals. In three other nonmedical aftercare areas needs were identified for a much lower percentage of patients, and identified need was two to three times greater than referrals made. The authors discuss the implications of these findings for the provision of aftercare services.

Adult↗