A comparison of the clinical and psychological effects of diazepam and amylobarbitone in anxious patients.

1. Twenty-four anxious inpatients were treated with diazepam, amylobarbitone sodium and placebo in flexible dosage for 1 week. They each received all three treatments according to a fully-balanced design, using double-blind procedures.

The effect of temporal lobe surgery on electrodermal activity: implications for an organic hypothesis in the aetiology of schizophrenia.

It has recently been suggested that the bilateral asymmetry of electrodermal activity (EDA) reported in schizophrenia may be related to unilateral temporal lobe dysfunction. To test this hypothesis, 3 aspects of EDA--skin conductance level (SCL), number of spontaneous fluctuations (SF), and skin conductance response (SCR)--were measured bilaterally in 10 patients who had undergone unilateral temporal lobectomy. No differences could be detected between the operated and non-operated sides within the patient group, nor between the patient and control groups.

Salivary secretion in the affective disorders and schizophrenia.

Salivary secretion was measured in 54 psychiatric patients comprising four diagnostic groups: schizophrenia, mania, depression and anxiety state. Detailed psychometric assessment was carried out at the time of measurement. Although salivary flow failed to show an association with either diagnostic category or mental state at the time of examination, it was positively correlated with a subjective rating of appetite.

Bodily reactions to people and events in schizophrenics.

Schizophrenic patients were tested on psychophysiologic measures within their homes and in the laboratory. Sweat gland activity and heart rate changes when patients encounter novel situations such as life events, together with the home atmosphere generated by a critical or overinvolved relative, confirmed objectively the importance of previous social measures of these factors in determining relapse. Drug effects were also found to be modified by these social factors.

Sleep and hypnotics.

Sleep is an enigma and the clinical importance of disturbed sleep is not clear. Much has been learnt in the past 25 years of the physiology of normal and abnormal sleep. Complaints of insomnia can be related to several causes--normal extreme patterns, psychiatric, physical, specific and drug-related.

Psychological performance in anxious patients treated with diazepam.

1. After each week of a flexible dosage treatment with either diazepam, amylobarbitone or placebo anxious patients were assessed by a comprehensive battery of psychiatrist's ratings, subjective tests and psychological performance tasks to detect the clinical and psychological effects of the drugs. 2.

Drug concentrations in neuropsychiatry: alternative approaches.

The practical value of measuring plasma concentrations is to optimize treatment in order to attain the best balance in each particular patient between wanted clinical therapeutic effects and unwanted adverse and side-effects. This increase in treatment efficacy can be concurrent--that is, the treatment is monitored and the dosage changed as necessary--or predictive, where the results of a test dose can be used to calculate the appropriate dosage. Wanted effects include: (1) the attainment of adequate drug concentrations for the minimum period of time necessary, as in the use of antibiotics; (2) the suppression of symptoms, as in the use of the benzodiazepines in anxiety states; (3) the use of drugs to improve function, e.

Acute and chronic effects of lithium chloride on physiological and psychological measures in normals.

In the acute experiment six healthy volunteers were given orally two doses of lithium chloride, 16 and 32 mmol, and placebo sodium chloride 32 mmol in a double-blind standardized procedure, with a 1-week interval between treatments. Compared to sodium, lithium produced a decrease in subjective well-being, decrease of skin conductance fluctuations, and increase in plasma calcium concentrations. Dose-related effects were maximal at the first hour after ingestion, decreasing or disappearing at 3--5 h.

Electrodermal and heart-rate measurements in chronic and partially remitted schizophrenic patients.

Electrodermal activity and heart-rate were recorded in the laboratory from partially remitted schizophrenic patients living in the community, chronic schizophrenic inpatients and normal controls. Althoug all patients had faster heart-rates, no consistent electrodermal differences between patient groups and normals were evident, nor was there a bimodal distribution of responding within the patient group. Laboratory recordings did not reflect differences in community patients tested in their homes and associated with environmental and social factors.

Dream content and daytime attitudes in anxious and calm women.

Twenty female anxious neurotic patients were compared with 25 normal female volunteers, divided into a low anxious normal and a high anxious group, with respect to dream report content. Dream reports were analysed using an objective and reliable method and were correlated with the day-time attitudes of the subjects measured by Semantic Differential techniques. Anxiety levels influenced both dream reporting and dream content.

The EEG's of chronic schizophrenic patients in hospital and in the community.

EEG's were recorded from chronic schizophrenic inpatients, remitted patients living in the community and normal controls, during resting and auditory stimulation conditions. Chronic impatients had more energy in the slower and fastest wave bands than either remitted patients or normal controls. No differences were found in overall EEG energy and variability between groups of subjects or between sides of the head.

Plasma concentrations of diazepam, noradiazepam and amylobarbitone after short-term treatment of anxious patients.

Twenty-four anxious inpatients were treated with diazepam, amylobarbitone and placebo, each given in flexible dosage for one week, according to a fully-balanced design. Plasma concentrations of diazepam and of its metabolite nordiazepam and of amylobarbitone were determined after two, four and seven days of treatment. Clinical and psychological assessments were made after seven days of each treatment by means of psychiatrist rating scales, patient's self-rating and a comprehensive battery of performance measures.

The clinical pharmacology of oxazepam.

The benzodiazepines have been available now for about 15 years but new aspects of their actions are being elucidated all the time. Oxazepam has a short half-life and inactive metabolites and therefore differs from most other benzodiazepines. Some aspects of its clinical pharmacology are reviewed in outline.

The electroencephalographic and psychological effects of imipramine in depressed inpatients.

Ten patients with psychotic depression were assessed on a battery of clinical, EEG, psychological, and biochemical measures during treatment with imipramine (150 mg/day). Significant changes occurred in the scores on self-rated and observer-rated depression scales and on an observer-rated side effect scale. Significant changes also occurred in the EEG evoked response, but the effects on spontaneous activity were minimal.

Effects of adrenaline injection on human plasma tryptophan and non-esterified fatty acids.

1. Subcutaneous injection of adrenaline into normal male volunteer subjects caused large increases of plasma non-esterified fatty acids and free tryptophan, but plasma total tryptophan fell considerably. Therefore increases of the percentage of plasma tryptophan in the free state were more marked than absolute increases of free tryptophan.

Is nicotine important to tobacco smoking?

Tobacco smoking is generally regarded as a form of nicotine dependence, but the evidence for this is slender. Two experiments are described here which examine the hypothesis that habitual smokers need nicotine and that they regulate their intakes of this drug. A laboratory test for smoking was devised which permitted the continuous monitoring of puffing as well as of selected physiologic variables; the procedure was also designed to reduce the influence of smoking habits and rituals.

Prolactin and psychophysiologic measures after single doses of thioridazine.

Six normal men ingested thioridazine, high and low doses, and placebo on three occasions. Their plasma and urinary thioridazine and mesoridazine plus sulforidazine were measured over 5 hr, together with their plasma prolactin, and a battery of psychophysiologic variables. Drowsiness and EEG changes correlated highly with rise in prolactin, but not with drug plasma concentrations.