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Biomedical subjects

T J Crowley

Publications and source records attributed to T J Crowley.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1982

Hypomagnesemia and ventricular tachycardia: a complication of ulcerative colitis and parenteral hyperalimentation in a nondigitalized noncardiac patient.

A nondigitalized patient without heart disease, but with ulcerative colitis on parenteral hyperalimentation, developed ventricular tachycardia in association with hypomagnesemia. Magnesium infusions were successful in suppressing the arrhythmia, but because of ongoing fecal losses, hypomagnesemia and ventricular tachycardia recurred each time the infusion was stopped. After total colectomy, the patient remained normomagnesemic and free of arrhythmias. The few previous descriptions of arrhythmias attributed to hypomagnesemia in nondigitalized patients are reviewed. The importance of recognizing hypomagnesemia as an easily reversible cause of arrhythmias is stressed.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

Use of contingency contracts in specialty clinics for cocaine abuse.

Animal research reveals that cocaine is a highly reinforcing drug, and patients describe it as "compelling"; the drug maintains vigorous self-administration behavior in animals and humans despite its clear adverse effects. This suggests that the drug is very difficult for experienced users to give up. It further suggests a need for vigorous treatment to produce and maintain abstinence, thus permitting patients to relearn drug-free behaviors which are alternative to continued cocaine use. This 12-month pilot study aimed to determine 1) whether cocaine abusers would enter and remain in treatment, and 2) whether contingency contracts appear to complement standard clinical treatment in initiating and maintaining abstinence. We established cocaine clinics in Denver and Aspen. Of the first 67 patients admitted into those clinics, 32 (48 percent) elected to utilize contingency contracts. Thirty-one of those completely abstained from cocaine use during the treatment. Of the 35 patients who did not elect to use contingency contracts, no one remained abstinent and in treatment for more than four weeks. The results indicate that cocaine abusers will enter treatment, and that contingency contracting may contribute to a favorable outcome.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

Motility, Parkinsonism, and prolactin with thiothixene and thioridazine.

Clinical impressions suggest that thioridazine hydrochloride produces fewer extrapyramidal effects and more sedation than thiothixene. These drugs were given, each for three weeks, to 15 chronic schizophrenic outpatients in a counterbalanced, double-blind, crossover study. Spontaneous locomotion was recorded with an unobtrusive actometer toward the end of each three-week drug period. Surprisingly, patients were significantly more active with thioridazine, whereas parkinsonian scores, prolactin levels, and Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale scores remained about equal with the two drugs; thioridazine's extrapyramidal side effects were not "atypical." There are some explanations for why common clinical impressions and recent rodent studies have not predicted these results.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Every-other-day acetylmethadol disturbs circadian cycles of human motility.

1-Alpha-acetylmethadol (LAAM) maintenance treatment has been proposed as a favorable alternative to methadone maintenance. With an unobtrusive actometer we recorded two successive 24-h cycles of spontaneous motor activity from 12 patients receiving LAAM every other day, and from five receiving methadone every day. LAAM patients were about 50% more active on days of drug administration than on no-dose days (P less than 0.001). There were no significant day-to-day differences in motility of methadone patients. LAAM administered every other day may significantly modify the human circadian rhythm of spontaneous motility; further research is thus needed before this treatment is widely adopted.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Bedtime flurazepam and the human circadian rhythm of spontaneous motility.

Sixteen male students received bedtime placebo and flurazepam 30 mg at home in a counter-balanced double-blind, crossover design. For 24 h after each treatment the subjects' spontaneous motor activity was recorded each 15 min with an unobtrusive actometer, worn as the subjects attended classes. The circadian activity curves were submitted to cosinor analyses. The 24 h post-flurazepam activity was a mean of 15.1% lower than post-placebo activity (P less than 0.025). On the average, both the nocturnal through and the daytime peak of motility dropped; the latter change was greater, reducing by a mean of 19.4% the amplitude of the circadian rhythm of activity (P greater than 0.01). the timing, or phase, of the rhythm was not shifted. Although the drug did not consistently modify reports of subjective feelings on the Profile of Mood States (POMS), 13 subjects correctly discriminated drug from placebo sessions (P less than 0.05). A bedtime dose of 30 mg of flurazepam appears to significantly reduce spontaneous human motility that night and during the next day. Activity recording revealed an important residual, behavioral effect of the drug which was not reflected in POMS reports of subjective feelings, suggesting that activity recording may provide a more sensitive measure for psychotropic drug effects.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Neuropsychological impairment with schizophrenia vs. acute and chronic cerebral lesions.

Performed detailed neuropsychological evaluations with 25 recently hospitalized schizophrenics in whom systematic neurologic workups had failed to reveal CNS disease. Efforts were made to minimize possible effects of drug-induced extrapyramidal symptoms on test performance. Although the schizophrenics showed some neuropsychological impairment relative to 25 normals, their deficits were not as severe as those of patients known to have either acute or chronic brain disorders (N = 25). The diagnostic accuracy achieved by the tests supports their use in short-term treatment facilities when the differential diagnosis includes schizophrenia and brain disorder, especially acute brain disorder. Schizophrenics' neuropsychological impairment was more correlated with degree of EEG abnormality than with degree of psychosis, which suggests a possible organic basis for the deficits that they showed on testing.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1978

Dopamine excretion and vulnerability to drug-induced Parkinsonism. Schizophrenic patients.

Before and during a standardized course of trifluoperazine therapy, 18 schizophrenic patients underwent repeated examinations for extrapyramidal motor signs, clinical psychopathology, and urinary excretion of free and conjugated forms of dopamine and its metabolites. Patients excreting more free dopamine and metabolites, or showing less complete conjugation, before drug treatment, were much less likely than others to develop parkinsonian akinesia and rigidity during drug treatment. Neither catatonic rigidity nor akinesia before treatment was predictive of a parkinsonian response to trifluoperazine, but pretreatment tremor may have been. The severity of schizophrenic psychopathology was unrelated to dopamine excretion. This study of schizophrenic patients, and our previous research in Parkinson's disease, suggest that urinary dopamine excretion may reflect dopaminergic function of the extrapyramidal motor system in both conditions.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Brief communication. Generalization of [DAla2]-enkephalinamide but not of substance P to the morphine cue.

Rats were trained to discriminate morphine (7.5 mg/kg, IP) from saline in a two bar positively reinforced lever pressing paradigm on a FR4 schedule. Morphine (IP) showed a naloxone reversible dose-related generalization to the training dose. [DAla2]-Methionine enkephalinamide (DAE) at 1 mg/kg and Substance P (SP) at 0.1 and 0.25 mg/kg showed vehicle appropriate responding after IP injection. DAE (5 mg/kg) disrupted responding completely; SP (0.5 and 0.1 mg/kg) disrupted responding in 50% of the rats. The disruption caused by IP injection of DAE was not naloxone reversible. Intraventricular injection of morphine (5 microgram/rat) and DAE (5 microgram/rat) produced generalization to the opiate cue. The effect of DAE was reversed by naloxone (1 mg/kg, SC). SP (500 and 750 ng/rat, IVT) produced saline-like responding; 1 microgram/rat disrupted responding completely. These data demonstrate that morphine and enkephalin, but not Substance P, share similar discriminative properties.

Animals↗
PubMed1978

Methadone dose and human sexual behavior.

Among 31 male and 17 female former addicts in methadone maintenance or drug-free treatment, the frequency of sexual behaviors was determined by questionnaires administered at least weekly over several weeks. Daily methadone dose (mg/kg) correlated significantly with frequency of genital contacts (r = -.54) and organs (-.43) among females, and with frequency of ejaculation (-.31) among males. Although open and nonblind, the study suggests that higher doses of methadone may suppress human sexual behavior.

Adult↗
PubMed1977

Comparison of thyrotropin-releasing hormone with melanocyte-stimulating-hormone-release-inhibiting factor as pentobarbital antagonists in monkeys.

Thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH), 0.1 mg/kg, i.m., significantly counteracted pentobarbital narcosis in six monkeys, but melanocyte-stimulating-hormone-release-inhibiting factor (MIF), 0.1 mg/kg i.m., did not. Earlier dose-response studies in unanesthetized monkeys had shown that this dose of MIF stimulated motor activity; this dose of TRH had shown no stimulant effect, but a higher dose depressed activity. Thus, an MIF dose that stimulates unanesthetized monkeys does not reverse pentobarbital narcosis; a TRH dose that by itself is neither stimulant nor depressant does partially reverse pentobarbital narcosis.

Animals↗
PubMed1977

The Parkinsonian syndrome and its dopamine correlates.

The urinary excretion of free dopamine in 37 untreated parkinsonian patients correlated negatively with the severity of rigidity and akinesia (p less than 0.025) and with total neurologic deficit (p less than 0.05). In a parallel study of psychiatric patients, those with the lowest levels of urinary free dopamine before treatment were the most vulnerable to, and developed the most severe, secondary parkinsonian rigidity (p less than 0.005), akinesia (p less than 0.05), and total deficit (p less than 0.01) when they were subsequently treated for two weeks with trifluoperazine. In neither study was there a significant correlation between free urinary dopamine and tremor. These studies directly associate the level of free dopamine in the urine with the severity of the parkinsonian syndrome. Therefore, although many peripheral sources contribute to urinary free dopamine, a small decrease in the level may actually reflect the severity of the disturbance of central dopamine metabolism and the known deficiency of dopamine in the neurons of the parkinsonian brain.

3,4-Dihydroxyphenylacetic Acid↗
PubMed1977

Thyroid-induced alterations in myocardial sodium-potassium-activated adenosine triphosphatase, monovalent cation active transport, and cardiac glycoside binding.

The effects of thyroid hormone on guinea pig myocardial NaK-ATPase activity, transmembrane monovalent cation active transport, and cardiac glycoside binding were were examined. NaK-ATPase activities of left atrial and left ventricular homogenates of control and triiodothyronine (T3)-treated animals were determined, and compared to activities of skeletal muscle and liver. T3 administration was associated with a significant increase of 18% in left atrial and left ventricular NaK-ATPase specific activities. This increment was less than that noted in skeletal muscle (+42%) and liver (+30%). To determine if enhanced NaK-ATPase activity was accompanied by increased monovalent cation active transport, in vitro 86Rb+ uptake by left atrial strips and hemidiaphragms was measured. Transition from the euthyroid to the hyperthyroid state resulted in a 68% increase in active 86Rb+ uptake by left atrium, and a 62% increase in active uptake by diaphragm. Passive 86Rb+ uptake was not affected in either tissue. Ouabain binding by atrial and ventricular homogenates of T3-treated animals was increased by 19 and 17%, respectively, compared to controls, in close agreement with thyroid-induced increments in NaK-ATPase activiey. Taken together, these results are consistent with enhanced myocardial NaK-ATPase activity and monovalent cation activt transport due to an increase in the number of functional enzyme complexes.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗
PubMed1976

MIF, TRH, and simian social and motor behavior.

MSH-release-inhibiting factor (MIF) and thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) both have been reported to modify mood and activity in man. These two hypothalamic peptides were given intramuscularly across a 1000-fold dose range to 5 juvenile male M. nemestrina monkeys living in a social group. Motor activity was recorded automatically, and an observer counted various social behaviors. MIF increased motor activity for up to 11 hr. It decreased quiet foraging behavior, but did not change behaviors of social interaction. TRH did not stimulate motor behavior; high doses strongly suppressed it and produced apparent somatic distress. TRH increased behaviors of quiet rest and association and decreased environment exploration and low-intensity dominance behaviors. The lowest dose of TRH increased social play. Two monkeys showed repetitive, stereotyped behaviors even in baseline observations, and certain doses of TRH and MIF may have increased the frequency of these behaviors.

Animals↗
PubMed1976

Dopamine correlates of neurological and psychological status in untreated Parkinsonism.

Thirty-seven untreated Parkinsonism patients showed significant positive correlations among decreased excretion of free dopamine, MMPI scores indicative of schizophrenic-like looseness of thinking, and the severity of all Parkinsonism signs except tremor. The data could indicate that abnormalities of dopamine metabolism may underlie both the motor and mental abnormalities of Parkinsonism.

3,4-Dihydroxyphenylacetic Acid↗
PubMed1976

Low urinary dopamine and prediction of phenothiazine-induced Parkinsonism: a preliminary report.

Psychiatric patients who excreted larger amounts of urinary free dopamine before treatment were significantly more likely than patients excreting smaller amounts to develop parkinsonian side effects during moderate-dose trifluoperazine therapy. If this finding is replicated, urinary free dopamine determinations could prove valuable in indicating which patients should receive those antipsychotic drugs least likely to produce extrapyramidal side effects.

Adult↗