Phenomenology of organic and functional psychoses and the overlap between them.

The Present State Examination was conducted upon 328 recently admitted psychotic patients, of whom 23 were later found to have underlying organic illness. The phenomenology in these 23 was compared with that of 92 matching controls drawn from the parent sample who conformed to DSM-III criteria for schizophrenia, mania and depression. Few significant differences were present and there was considerable overlap between the diagnostic groups.

Towards a neuropsychology of schizophrenia.

A viable neuropsychology of schizophrenia requires, first, that signs and symptoms be understood in terms of underlying psychological processes and, second, that these underlying processes be related to brain systems. We propose that the negative signs of schizophrenia reflect a defect in the initiation of spontaneous action, while the positive symptoms reflect a defect in the internal monitoring of action. The spontaneous initiation of action depends upon brain systems linking the prefrontal cortex and the basal ganglia.

Anticipation in Huntington's disease is inherited through the male line but may originate in the female.

Data from the US National Huntington's Disease Roster have been analysed in terms of the difference in age of onset (AO) between affected parents and affected offspring, that is, in terms of 'anticipation'. While mean AO in offspring of affected mothers did not differ greatly from AO in their mothers, the distribution of AO in the offspring of affected fathers falls into two groups, the larger group showing an AO only slightly younger than their affected fathers and a small group whose AO was, on average, 24 years younger than their affected fathers. Analysis of the grandparental origin of the Huntington allele suggests that while propensity to anticipation is heritable for a number of generations through the male line, it originates at the time of differentiation of the germ line of a male who acquires the Huntington allele from his mother.

The Northwick Park "functional" psychosis study: diagnosis and treatment response.

Functional psychosis is conventionally subdivided into schizophrenia and manic depressive psychosis. Response to treatment is assumed to be a validating criterion for these diagnoses. The efficacy of pimozide (a dopamine antagonist neuroleptic), lithium, and a combination of the two was compared with that of placebo in a 4 week trial in 120 functionally psychotic patients each of whom was assessed for psychotic symptoms, manic symptoms, and depressive symptoms.

Neurochemical and neurohistological alterations in the rat and monkey produced by orally administered methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA).

MDMA is an amphetamine analog prescribed by some health professionals in the field of psychotherapy and used as a recreational drug by the general public. In recent reports, investigators have suggested that MDMA produces acute neurotoxicity when administered by subcutaneous injection. In order to determine if MDMA produces lasting neurochemical alterations after oral administration, groups of six rats (adult male Sprague-Dawley) were dosed by gavage with either 40 or 80 mg/kg of MDMA or saline vehicle once every 12 hr for 4 days.

Stereotyped responding on a two-choice guessing task by marmosets and humans treated with amphetamine.

The performance of normal human volunteers and marmosets on a 2-choice guessing task was assessed after saline (control) or amphetamine administration. In human subjects the drug increased the number of alternation responses, which can be interpreted as an increase in stereotyped switching and which is similar to the response pattern produced by some groups of psychotic patients on the same task (Frith and Done 1983; Lyon et al. 1986).

Morphologic classification and incidence of hematopoietic neoplasms in the Sprague-Dawley rat.

Hematopoietic and related neoplasms were morphologically studied in a total of 1,765 male and 1,765 female Sprague-Dawley rats from 6 chronic toxicity studies conducted at a large toxicology testing laboratory. The most common types of lymphoid neoplasms seen included the lymphoblastic lymphoma (0.65%) and the large granular lymphocyte lymphoma (LGL, Fischer or mononuclear cell leukemia) (0.

Neuropathological evaluation by combined immunohistochemistry and degeneration-specific methods: application to methylenedioxymethamphetamine.

To best interpret the significance of neurological alterations produced by chemicals, the changes in morphological as well as neurochemical parameters must be measured and compared to each other. We have devised an approach to readily label microscopic sections for multiple antigens (neurotransmitters, enzymes, peptides, etc.) as well as for the demonstration of degenerating structures by silver impregnation.

Tumorigenic responses to lindane in mice: potentiation by a dominant mutation.

Obese mottled yellow Avy/a, lean pseudoagouti Avy/a and lean black a/a (YS X VY) F-1 hybrid female mice were fed diet containing 160 p.p.m.

Selective decreases in MAO-B activity in post-mortem brains from schizophrenic patients with type II syndrome.

The activities of the A and B forms of the enzyme monoamine oxidase (MAO, E.C. 1.

The positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia reflect impairments in the perception and initiation of action.

The CNS maintains a fundamental distinction between actions elicited by external stimuli and actions elicited by internal goals (acts of will). As a result the intact organism can monitor centrally three aspects of its own actions: (1) the action appropriate to current external stimulation (stimulus intention or meaning); (2) the action appropriate to current goals (willed intention); and (3) the action which was actually selected (corollary discharge). In Type I (acute) schizophrenic patients, intentions of will lead to actions, but these willed intentions are not monitored correctly.

Toxicity of methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) in the dog and the rat.

Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) was administered to dogs and rats orally once a day for a 28-day period to evaluate the morphological and neuropathological effects. Major clinical signs associated with the administration of MDMA in the dog included circling, depression, dilated pupils, hyperactivity, rapid breathing, and salivation. Major clinical signs in the rat included hyperactivity, excitability, piloerection, exophthalmos, and salivation.

A comparison of some retrograde and anterograde effects of electroconvulsive shock in patients with severe depression.

Seventy severely depressed patients were randomly assigned to receive either a standard course of bilateral electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) or a course of simulated ECT (muscle relaxant and anaesthesia) identical to the real course except that the shock was omitted. Anterograde amnesia due to the shock was demonstrated in recognition memory for word lists and in recall of labels for faces, but this was eliminated by priming. Retrograde amnesia was also present for labels for faces learned the day before a treatment, but this was not eliminated by priming.

Chemical carcinogens. A review and analysis of the literature of selected chemicals and the establishment of the Gene-Tox Carcinogen Data Base. A report of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Gene-Tox Program.

The literature on 506 selected chemicals has been evaluated for evidence that these chemicals induce tumors in experimental animals and this assessment comprises the Gene-Tox Carcinogen Data Base. Three major sources of information were used to create this evaluated data base: all 185 chemicals determined by the International Agency for Research on Cancer to have Sufficient evidence of carcinogenic activity in experimental animals, 28 selected chemicals bioassayed for carcinogenic activity by the National Toxicology Program/National Cancer Institute and found to induce tumors in mice and rats, and 293 selected chemicals which had been evaluated in genetic toxicology and related bioassays as determined from previous Gene-Tox reports. The literature data on the 239 chemicals were analyzed by the Gene-Tox Carcinogenesis Panel in an organized, rational and consistent manner.

The relative stability of positive and negative features in chronic schizophrenia.

The mental states of 92 inpatients with chronic schizophrenia were assessed on two occasions 4 years apart. The relationship between the two ratings was examined in the 84 patients who were either consistently on or consistently off neuroleptics. Negative features were more stable than positive, but were not irreversible.

The effects of continued versus discontinued administration of 2-acetylaminofluorene on the morphology and behavior of hepatocellular and urinary bladder tumors in mice.

2-Acetylaminofluorene (2-AAF) was administered in the feed (60, 75, 100 or 150 ppm) to 3,314 BALB/c female mice for periods of either 9, 12, 15 or 24 mon. All mice were killed at 24 mon to compare the effects of continued versus discontinued administration of 2-AAF on morphologic characteristics of hepatocellular and urinary bladder neoplasms. Hepatocellular neoplasms included ratio of hepatocellular adenomas to carcinomas, degree of differentiation and incidence of pulmonary metastases.

Impairments in the learning and performance of a new manual skill in patients with Parkinson's disease.

Twelve patients with Parkinson's disease learned two novel skills in which they had to track a target by moving a joystick. In task 1 they had to learn to anticipate the movements of a semi predictable target. In task 2 they had to learn a novel control system in which the movements of the joystick were mirror reversed in relation to the computer screen.

Correlation between spontaneous and experimentally induced tumors in female BALB/c mice in a large 2-acetylaminofluorene study.

This investigation studied the incidence of both spontaneous and induced neoplastic lesions in 6,938 BALB/c female mice receiving 0, 75, 100 or 150 ppm of 2-acetylaminofluorene (2-AAF). The mice were maintained under barrier-type, specific pathogen free/defined flora (SPF/DF) conditions, and were serially sacrificed at 9, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 24, and 33 mon. The most frequently observed neoplasms, the incidence of which averaged over 20% and did not increase with the administration of 2-AAF, included lymphomas, alveolar-bronchiolar tumors and uterine polyps.

Reducing persistent auditory hallucinations by wearing an ear-plug.

A case study is presented of the effects of wearing an ear-plug in a single patient with persistent auditory hallucinations. Beneficial effects were detected when the plug was in the dominant ear only.

Scanning and transmission electron microscopic observations of the acute morphological response of the mouse urinary bladder to 4-ethylsulfonylnaphthalene-1-sulfonamide.

A total of 75 BALB/cStCrlfC3H/Nctr male weanling mice were administered either 0 or 250 ppm of 4 ethylsulfonylnaphthalene-1-sulfonamide (ENS) in the diet for periods up to 14 days to evaluate the early morphological changes of the transitional epithelium of the urinary bladder with scanning (SEM) and transmission (TEM) electron microscopy. Primary TEM changes included hyperplasia of the epithelium, loosening of the intercellular junctions, autophagic vacuoles and electron dense granules in the mitochondria. Primary SEM changes included sloughing of epithelial cells, irregularity in the size and shape of the transitional epithelial cells and the presence of microvilli.

Postmortem evidence of structural brain changes in schizophrenia. Differences in brain weight, temporal horn area, and parahippocampal gyrus compared with affective disorder.

The brains of 232 patients with a case-note diagnosis of schizophrenia or affective disorder who died in one mental hospital over a period of 22 years were weighed, and were assessed in a coronal section at the level of the interventricular foramina. From this sample were eliminated the brains of patients whose illnesses did not meet the Washington University criteria for a diagnosis of definite schizophrenia or primary affective disorder and those brains that showed significant histopathologic evidence of Alzheimer's-type change or cerebrovascular disease. This left a sample of 41 patients with schizophrenia and 29 patients with affective disorder.

Contributions of recent research to the classification of spontaneous lymphoid cell neoplasms in mice.

The present review focuses on the mouse as an experimental immunopathologic model for non-Hodgkins' lymphomas and related leukemias. Immunomorphologic evidence will be presented which demonstrates that B and T cell subtypes of mouse lymphoid cell neoplasms resemble and are analogous to B and T cell subtypes of human lymphoid cell neoplasms. The many experimental advantages of the mouse system will be stressed with a particular emphasis on the concept that this newly defined immunomorphologic approach should be effectively combined with biologic, molecular, and cytogenetic parameters.