Season of birth in schizophrenia. Evidence for confinement of an excess of winter births to patients without a family history of mental disorder.

Although it is well recognised that schizophrenic patients are more often born in winter, the significance of this finding remains obscure. Data relating to season of birth and family history were analysed for 561 patients with an ICD-9 diagnosis of schizophrenia. Patients with no family history of any psychiatric disorder group were significantly more likely to be born in winter than patients with a first-degree relative affected by schizophrenia.

Evidence for a pseudo-autosomal locus for schizophrenia using the method of affected sibling pairs.

A susceptibility locus for schizophrenia in the 'pseudo-autosomal' region has been proposed on the basis of the reported excess of sex-chromosome aneuploidies (e.g. XXY and XXX) among patients with schizophrenia and the finding that schizophrenic sib-pairs are more often of the same than of the opposite sex.

Familial, obstetric, and other clinical correlates of minor physical anomalies in schizophrenia.

Objective: This study investigated possible antecedents of minor physical anomalies in schizophrenia, particularly in terms of obstetric and genetic factors, and demographic, clinical and cognitive correlates of such anomalies in schizophrenia.

Method: Forty-one outpatients satisfying the DSM-III criteria for schizophrenia were examined for minor physical anomalies by using the Waldrop scale. These subjects were drawn from a group of 45 such patients whose cognitive function had been previously evaluated with Trail Making Tests A and B and whose biological mothers had been interviewed for any history of obstetric complications or family history of schizophrenia.

Psychosis following use of proprietary antidiarrhoeal medicines.

Anticholinergic psychosis was observed to follow ingestion of proprietary antidiarrhoeal preparations by a 63-year-old woman. Possible abuse or accidental overuse of such medicines in the acutely psychotic patient should always be considered.

Obstetric complications, the putative familial-sporadic distinction, and tardive dyskinesia in schizophrenia.

Obstetric complications were more common in the histories of those schizophrenic outpatients without a family history of psychiatric disorder, and were associated with an earlier onset of their illness. Those patients with tardive dyskinesia were more likely to have a family history of psychiatric disorder, less likely to have experienced obstetric complications, and showed greater cognitive deficit. Obstetric complications should be considered in juxtaposition with genetic factors in evaluating the putative familial-sporadic distinction in schizophrenia.

Obstetric complications in schizophrenia and the validity of maternal recall.

The significance of the excess of obstetric complications which appears to characterize the histories of schizophrenic patients is critically dependent on the validity of the source of obstetric information, especially when this is obtained by maternal recall. Twenty-one biological mothers of 17 schizophrenic and four other patients were interviewed for their recollections of individual events characterizing the pregnancy and delivery relating to each patient. These were then compared with those events documented in maternity hospital records.

An evaluation of cranial CT scanning in clinical psychiatry.

From 6,300 psychiatric admissions over a 37 month period, all 54 patient referrals for CT were identified and their charts reviewed. CT influenced diagnosis, management or prognosis in 11.7 percent of patients scanned.

'Early-onset schizophrenia' after teenage head injury. A case report with magnetic resonance imaging.

A 14-year-old youth sustained an injury to the left frontoparietal area, which was followed by evident change in personality and subsequently by an early-onset schizophrenia-like psychosis. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed ventricular dilatation, slightly more marked in the left hemisphere, and cortical atrophy. Some implications of this case for research on schizophrenia itself are discussed.

Dietary intake, energy metabolism, and excretory losses of adult male germfree Wistar rats.

Adult germfree rats excreted 87% more calories with the feces than comparable conventional rats, but this loss was compensated by an 18% higher intake. As a result, energy utilization of germfree and conventional rats was similar (148 and 143 kcal/kg/day, respectively), although the germfree rat metabolized only 71.9% of its dietary intake, versus the conventional rat's 80%.