Biomedical subjects

U Willinger

Publications and source records attributed to U Willinger.

26 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

PubMed1994

The season of birth of schizophrenics and schizoaffectives.

We examined the birth distribution of 2,450 schizophrenic and 682 schizoaffective patients first admitted between 1971 and 1992 to the University Hospital for Psychiatry in Vienna. Our data showed an excess of schizophrenic births in the first quarter of the year and a deficit in the third quarter compared with expectation from census data. The quarterly distribution of schizophrenic births seemed to be different from the one of of schizoaffective patients. In schizoaffectives an excess of births in the first quarter of the year was present, but no other deviation from expectation.

Adult↗

PubMed1994

[Huntington chorea: (CAG)n repeats on gene IT 15 in Austria].

In March 1993 the gene IT 15 was identified on chromosome 4p and it was demonstrated that it contained an unstable (CAG)n trinucleotide repeat that is elongated in patients with Huntington's chorea (HC). Persons with more than 37 (CAG)n repeats tend to have a higher risk of developing the disease. Testing the (CAG)n repeats in Austrian HC patients with PCR techniques shows correspondence between the clinical diagnosis of HC and genotypes [more than 42 (CAG)n repeats]. There was a weak correlation between the number of (CAG)n repeats and age of onset, however, this finding is without diagnostic value due to the scatter of the values.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1993

No proof of linkage between schizophrenia-related disorders including schizophrenia and chromosome 2q21 region.

We examined linkage between schizophrenia and schizophrenia-related disorders and five genetic markers on chromosome 2 in fourteen families ascertained through affected probands in St. Louis and Vienna. The chromosomal region 2q21 was considered a candidate locus for schizophrenia because of a report of a balanced translocation 2;18 (q21;q23) in a schizophrenia family. Linkage analyses were conducted for three disease models: a narrow model including schizophrenia only; an intermediate model including a spectrum of schizophrenia-related disorders; and a broad model including major affective disorders. Multipoint linkage analyses excluded linkage across the region (about 50 cM) for the intermediate disease model. The same was generally true for the broad affection status model. None of the two-point and multipoint analyses showed definite linkage of schizophrenia to any marker. The most prominent positive association was between D2S44 and a broad affection status model, giving a two-point lod score of 1.71 at 0.20 recombination fraction.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

The tridimensional personality model: influencing variables in a sample of detoxified alcohol dependents. European Fluvoxamine in Alcoholism Study Group.

C.R. Cloninger proposed a biosocial model for personality, linking personality traits to patterns of responses to various external stimuli, including alcohol. The Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ) was administered in a multicenter study to detoxified alcohol-dependent patients (N = 521). The objectives of the study were to evaluate (1) the expression of the three personality dimensions, novelty-seeking (NS), harm avoidance (HA), and reward dependence (RD), of the TPQ in this sample, and (2) the influence of different variables on these personality dimensions. The following variables were selected for a multiple and a stepwise regression analysis: sex, family history for major psychiatric disorders, marital status, occupation, age at study enrollment, age of onset of alcoholism, serum cholesterol level, intake of neuroleptics or benzodiazepines for detoxification, and severity of depression and anxiety. In comparison to Austrian normative data, both sexes of detoxified alcohol addicts scored higher in HA. The variables examined explain 23% of the variance of NS and 35% of HA. Only one variable, namely age of onset, is significantly influencing NS (19% explained variance). HA is significantly influenced by three variables: anxiety state, anxiety trait, and sex (32% explained variance). RD is not influenced by any of the variables examined.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Concerning specific language impairment: intelligibility in expressive language].

BACKGROUND: Even in the age of two years toddlers with Expressive Language Impairment (SLI-E) differ regarding their phonetic inventories compared with an age-matched group developing normally. METHOD AND PATIENTS: PCC-R scores of 19 children with expressive language disorder, aged between four and six years, are compared with age and sex matched controls with normal language acquisition. RESULTS: There are significant differences between PCC-R scores, children with expressive language disorder show lower scores than children with normal language acquisition. Age, sex and nonverbal intelligence do not influence performance measured with PCC-R. Analysis regarding early, middle and late consonants shows, that expressive language disordered children show bigger problems in aquiring late than early and middle consonants.

Age Factors↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Language development disorders in childhood: nonverbal intelligence and language comprehension].

33 children with Specific Language Impairment (F 80, ICD 10) were randomly selected and their results regarding nonverbal intelligence, passive vocabulary and sentence comprehension were compared with data of 33 control children matched by age and sex. Although cognitive performance is average in both groups, significant differences regarding nonverbal intelligence are found. Whereas nonverbal intelligence is predictable from sentence comprehension to a high degree in den SLI-group, it is not predictable in the control group.

Austria↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Verbal and nonverbal intelligence in children with language development disorders].

Difficulties in language acquisition seem to be serious, if there are additional problems like intellectual and/or emotional/social impairment, which are often reported [10]. These additional problems and the definition of specific language impairment as a developmental disorder, restricted to language acquisition seem to be contradictory [17]. Aim of that study is to look for specific language impaired children with similar cognitive abilities and though to investigate, if there are children without additional cognitive problems considering the definition of specific language impairment. 93 children, between 4;0 and 6;6 years old, were diagnostized as specific language impaired (ICD-10) and were assessed by the "Hannover Wechsler Intelligenztest für das Vorschulalter (HAWIVA)" [6] (german version of WPPSI). Cluster analysis showed, that 1/3 of the specific language impaired children presented no additional cognitive problems and 2/3 of them showed cognitive problems regarding nonverbal and verbal intelligence indeed. These additional cognitive problems indicate that there may be a more basic cognitive defect underlying specific language impairment [15]--at least for a group of specific language impaired children. Furthermore the nonverbal and verbal intellectual difficulties emphasize to general developmental support of specific language impaired children for optimal improvement in language acquisition.

Child↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Writing competence of deaf adults].

Although all over the world deaf people face the same problems acquiring spoken and written language, detailed empirical studies are missing. The aim of this study was a grammatical analysis o faxes written by deaf adults. 236 faxes were selected from two Australian institutions. Analysis dealt with lexicon, morphology and syntax. Results show that there are three competence group, which differ in a statistically significant way. Group 1 consists of deaf subjects whi have fairly complete knowledge of written German; members of group 2 know the more basic rules and show less syntactic complexity in their texts while members of group 3 use holophrases, lack differentiation of word categories and show problems with serialisation.

Adolescent↗