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S Weich

Publications and source records attributed to S Weich.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1996

Mental health care costs: paucity of measurement.

For an evaluation of a mental health care programme to be comprehensive, it should include an economic component. However, very few cost instruments appear to exist, and only one has been fully described in the literature. This paper seeks to review the studies where costs have been calculated. For this exercise to be facilitated the different elements which make up overall cost are described. A number of areas have experienced economic evaluations, and the more important studies are described. The paper concludes that all too often evaluations either fail to measure costs or do so in an incomplete and inappropriate way.

Costs and Cost Analysis↗
PubMed1996

Centromere and telomere movements during early meiotic prophase of mouse and man are associated with the onset of chromosome pairing.

The preconditions and early steps of meiotic chromosome pairing were studied by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) with chromosome-specific DNA probes to mouse and human testis tissue sections. Premeiotic pairing of homologous chromosomes was not detected in spermatogonia of the two species. FISH with centromere- and telomere-specific DNA probes in combination with immunostaining (IS) of synaptonemal complex (SC) proteins to testis sections of prepuberal mice at days 4-12 post partum was performed to study sequentially the meiotic pairing process. Movements of centromeres and then telomeres to the nuclear envelope, and of telomeres along the nuclear envelope leading to the formation of a chromosomal bouquet were detected during mouse prophase. At the bouquet stage, pairing of a mouse chromosome-8-specific probe was observed. SC-IS and simultaneous telomere FISH revealed that axial element proteins appear as large aggregates in mouse meiocytes when telomeres are attached to the nuclear envelope. Axial element formation initiates during tight telomere clustering and transverse filament-IS indicated the initiation of synapsis during this stage. Comparison of telomere and centromere distribution patterns of mouse and human meiocytes revealed movements of centromeres and then telomeres to the nuclear envelope and subsequent bouquet formation as conserved motifs of the pairing process. Chromosome painting in human spermatogonia revealed compacted, largely mutually exclusive chromosome territories. The territories developed into long, thin threads at the onset of meiotic prophase. Based on these results a unified model of the pairing process is proposed.

Animals↗
PubMed1996

Effect of early life experiences and personality on the reporting of psychosocial distress in general practice. A preliminary investigation.

BACKGROUND: About 25% of primary care attenders are 'somatic presenters'; individuals consulting for physically-attributed somatic symptoms in the presence of psychiatric morbidity. We tested the hypothesis that somatic presenters differed from psychological presenters on measures of personality ad childhood experience. METHOD: Case-control study of 'psychological presenter' and 'somatic presenters'. RESULTS: Psychological presenter reported significantly greater insecurity in intimate relationships, and recalled their fathers as significantly less caring and more over-protective, than somatic presenters. These difference remained after adjusting for differences in the severity and duration of psychiatric symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Personality and childhood experiences may be associated with specific types of adult illness behaviour, independent of associations with the prevalence of psychiatric disorder.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Somatic presentation of psychiatric morbidity in general practice.

BACKGROUND: Twenty per cent of new illnesses in general practice, and 3% of consecutive attenders, are incident cases of 'pure' somatization. AIM: This study set out to estimate the prevalence of consultations by patients with psychiatric morbidity who present only somatic symptoms (somatic presentation), and to compare this with the likely prevalence of pure somatization. METHOD: A cross-sectional survey of consecutive general practice attenders was carried out. Psychiatric morbidity was measured using the general health questionnaire. Pure somatization was defined as medical consultation for somatic symptoms that were judged by a psychiatrist during an interview to be aetiologically attributable to an underlying psychiatric disorder but which were not recognized as such by the patient. RESULTS: Of attenders 25% were identified as somatic presenters. Of the somatic presenters interviewed one in six were estimated to be pure somatizers, which would extrapolate to 4% of attenders. Though all somatic presenters were probable cases of psychiatric disorder, subjects in this group had lower scores on the general health questionnaire than those who presented with psychological symptoms. General practitioner recognition of psychiatric morbidity was significantly lower among somatic presenters than for other subjects with psychiatric morbidity. CONCLUSION: General practitioner recognition of psychiatric morbidity could be improved for all types of somatic presentation, regardless of the aetiology of patients' somatic symptoms. There is a danger that concentrating attention on pure somatization may mean that psychiatric morbidity in the more common undifferentiated form of somatic presentation will be overlooked.

Adult↗