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S S Kety

Publications and source records attributed to S S Kety.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Genetic transmission and improved diagnosis of schizophrenia from pedigrees of adoptees.

In previous investigations of the prevalence of schizophrenic illness among the biological relatives of schizophrenic adoptees in Copenhagen and the remainder of Denmark, the operation of heritable spectrum illness was clearly implicated. The findings supporting that conclusion are briefly summarized. Classical chronic schizophrenia was found almost exclusively in the biological relatives of chronic schizophrenic probands and its prevalence was ten times greater than that in the biological relatives of controls. These were global diagnoses, made without knowledge of the relationships and family histories of the subjects, and based upon the descriptions of dementia praecox or schizophrenia by Kraepelin and Bleuler. They showed considerably greater sensitivity and at least equal specificity in comparison with diagnoses made on the same material in accordance with operational criteria as exemplified by DSM-III. The prevalence of a disorder in the biological relatives of adoptees with that disorder in comparison with biological relatives of control adoptees offers a useful test for the expression of genetic factors in the disorder, but also a much needed evaluation of the validity of diagnoses based on clinical observation.

Adoption↗
PubMed1988

Schizophrenic illness in the families of schizophrenic adoptees: findings from the Danish national sample.

The prevalence of schizophrenic illness in the biological and adoptive relatives of schizophrenic adoptees has been examined in a total sample of adoptees in Denmark. The sample was studied in two stages, beginning with the Copenhagen sample of adoptions granted by the courts in the city and county of Copenhagen, and the results have been reported previously. The adoptions granted by the courts in the remainder of Denmark made up the Provincial sample, the preliminary results of which appear to confirm those obtained earlier. Chronic schizophrenia and milder syndromes described as latent, borderline, or uncertain schizophrenia, and in DSM-III as schizotypal personality disorder, were found in both samples to concentrate significantly in the biological relatives of schizophrenic adoptees as compared to their controls, but not in their adoptive relatives. These milder and marginal syndromes resembling schizophrenia occurring in the families of schizophrenic patients confirm the observations of Bleuler and others who succeeded him. Their presence in the biological families of schizophrenic adoptees indicates not only their familial, but also their genetic relationship to schizophrenia, although the specificity of that relationship has not been established.

Adoption↗
PubMed1987

The significance of genetic factors in the etiology of schizophrenia: results from the national study of adoptees in Denmark.

The prevalence of schizophrenic illness in the biological and adoptive relatives of schizophrenic adoptees has been examined for a total sample of adoptees in Denmark. The total sample was studied in two stages, beginning with the Copenhagen sample of adoptions granted by the courts in the city and county of Copenhagen, the results of which have been reported previously. The adoptions granted by the courts in the remainder of Denmark comprised the Provincial sample the preliminary results of which appear to confirm those obtained earlier. Chronic schizophrenia and milder syndromes described as latent, borderline, or uncertain schizophrenia were found in both samples to concentrate significantly in the biological relatives of schizophrenic adoptees as compared to their controls, but not in their adoptive relatives. These milder and marginal syndromes resembling schizophrenia occurring in the families of schizophrenic patients confirm the observations of Bleuler and others who succeeded him. Their presence in the biological families of schizophrenic adoptees indicates not only their familial but also their genetic relationship to schizophrenia.

Adoption↗
PubMed1986

Psychiatric disorders in the biological and adoptive families of adopted individuals with affective disorders.

To investigate the contribution of genetic and environmental factors in the etiology of mood disorders, a study was initiated to examine the frequency of psychiatric disorders in the biological and adoptive relatives of adult adoptees with mood disorders and in matched normal adoptees. Psychiatric evaluations of the relatives were made on the basis of independent blind diagnoses based on mental hospital and other official records. Analysis of the data showed an eightfold increase in unipolar depression among the biological relatives of the index cases and a 15-fold increase in suicide among the biological relatives of the index cases. These data demonstrate a significant genetic contribution to unipolar depression and suicide. They fail to disclose a significant contribution of family-associated transmission in the genesis of the mood disorders.

Adjustment Disorders↗
PubMed1985

Regional cerebral blood flow: estimation by means of nonmetabolized diffusible tracers--an overview.

Visualization and measurement of functional activity throughout the human brain has been made possible by position emission tomography (PET) using tracers, the accumulation of which in the various regions of the brain are functions of regional blood flow or energy metabolism. Certain principles and mathematical expressions describing the exchange of diffusible, nonmetabolized substances between capillary and brain, published nearly 40 years ago, have been useful in this development.

Brain↗
PubMed1985

Schizotypal personality disorder: an operational definition of Bleuler's latent schizophrenia?

In spite of the pressure for consensus that operational diagnoses exert, there remains considerable disagreement concerning the marginal syndromes which may be subtypes of schizophrenia or phenomenologically or genetically related. Some clarification of the question may result by returning to Bleuler's "latent schizophrenia," which he observed in the relatives of schizophrenics. Schizotypal personality disorder of DSM-III is only a first approximation of this, and its deficits in this respect are discussed briefly.

Adoption↗
PubMed1982

Neurochemical and genetic bases of psychopathology: current status.

A review, which does not attempt to be exhaustive, is presented. Evidence for the operation of genetic factors in the etiology of mental disorders, including studies of natural families, twins, and adoptees and their biological and adoptive relatives, is briefly summarized and discussed. Environmental influences are also clearly involved, and observations bearing on their nature are described. Certain neurochemical correlates of psychopathology, particularly those related to chemical neurotransmitters, are discussed. Since schizophrenia and the affective disorders are phenomenological syndromes, it is likely that they represent heterogeneous collections of more specific disorders with common symptomatic features. Attempts to delineate more homogeneous subgroups in these disorders on the basis of morphological or biochemical features have achieved some success, and an example of each approach is described.

Blood Platelets↗
PubMed1976

Mental illness in the biological and adoptive families of adopted individuals who have become schizophrenic.

In a sample of 5483 adults who had been legally adopted early in life by persons not biologically related to them, 33 were identified, from mental hospital records for whom a diagnosis of definite schizophrenia (chronic, latent, or acute) could be agreed upon by four raters. An equal number of matched controls were selected from the sample of adopted individuals who had never been admitted to a mental hospital. Ninety percent of the living parents, siblings, and half-siblings, biological and adoptive, cooperated in an extensive psychiatric interview permitting a consensus diagnosis by three blind raters. Schizophrenia and uncertain schizophrenia were found to be significantly concentrated in the population genetically related to the schizophrenic adoptees. Their adoptive relatives did not differ from the control populations in the prevalence of schizophrenic illness.

Adoption↗