Glycation by ascorbic acid oxidation products leads to the aggregation of lens proteins.

Previous studies from this laboratory have shown that there are striking similarities between the yellow chromophores, fluorophores and modified amino acids released by proteolytic digestion from calf lens proteins ascorbylated in vitro and their counterparts isolated from aged and cataractous lens proteins. The studies reported in this communication were conducted to further investigate whether ascorbic acid-mediated modification of lens proteins could lead to the formation of lens protein aggregates capable of scattering visible light, similar to the high molecular aggregates found in aged human lenses. Ascorbic acid, but not glucose, fructose, ribose or erythrulose, caused the aggregation of calf lens proteins to proteins ranging from 2.

Regulation of the 11 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase in the rat adrenal. Decrease enzymatic activity induced by ACTH.

Patients with ectopic ACTH syndrome often develop hypertension and hypokalemic alkalosis with an abnormal increase in the ratio of plasma cortisol to cortisone, indicating that 11 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (11 beta HSD) activity is inhibited. Inhibition of 11 beta HSD allows access of cortisol or corticosterone to the mineralocorticoid receptor where it act as a mineralocorticoid. Two isozymes, 11 beta HSD-1 and 11 beta HSD-2, have been cloned and characterized.

Parental hostility: impact on the family.

This study examined the effects of parental hostility on the families of 100 psychiatrically hospitalized children. Parents and their children were administered an assessment battery. The results for families who scored high on parental hostility were compared to families with low parental hostility.

Hopelessness in inpatient youths: a closer look at behavior, emotional expression, and social support.

Objective: To examine the individual and family characteristics of children and adolescents with high levels of hopelessness.

Method: One hundred inpatient youngsters participated in the study. Several measures, including the Hopelessness Scale for Children, Problem Behavior Scale of the Scales of Independent Behavior, Social Support Questionnaire-Revised, Pediatric Anger Expression Scale, and Differential Emotions Scale, were used to compare differences between youngsters who scored high or low on hopelessness.

Dysthymic disorder in clinically referred preschool children.

Objective: This clinical and descriptive study examined the existence, phenomenology, and frequency of dysthymic disorder in a sample of clinically referred preschool children. In addition, the frequency of DSM-IV symptoms and the alternative research criterion for dysthymic disorder were investigated.

Method: Three hundred consecutive preschool admissions (aged 2 to 6 years) to a child development unit were given a comprehensive evaluation by a treatment team.

Endocrine causes of hypertension.

Hypertension is a prominent feature of various endocrine diseases including primary aldosteronism, pheochromocytoma (considered separately in this issue), Cushing's syndrome, adrenal enzymatic deficiencies like 11 beta-hydroxylase, 17 alpha-hydroxylase deficiencies, and congenital or acquired 11 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase deficiencies. Patients with 11 beta-hydroxylase deficiency cannot convert 11-deoxycortisol or deoxycorticosterone into the active glucocorticoids cortisol and corticosterone, respectively. The increase in the powerful mineralocorticoid deoxycorticosterone, resulting from the enzymatic block, promotes sodium retention, hypertension, and hypokalemia.

Thyroxine secretion rates during pregnancy in the rat.

Thyroxine secretion rates (TSR) at various stages of pregnancy in rats were measured by the radiothyroxine pool-turnover method. Groups of rats included normal controls (non-pregnant), days 5, 10, 20, and 22 of pregnancy and near term (within 24 hours prior to parturition if past 22 days of pregnancy). Each animal had blood samples taken just prior to injection of 10 microCi L-thyroxine (L-T4)-131I and at 12, 24, 36, and 48 hours afterwards.

Perceived family and social support: impact on children.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relation of children's perceived family and social support to their behavior and hopelessness.

Method: Subjects were 100 child psychiatric inpatients who completed a series of self-report measures, including the Social Support Questionnaire-Self Report, the Scales of Independent Behavior, and the Hopelessness Scale for Children.

Results: Children who perceived lower levels of family and social support were more withdrawn or inattentive and were more harmful to others, damaging to property, and uncooperative.

Modified nucleosides in human serum.

Methylated purines and pyrimidines derived from the degradation of transfer ribonucleic acid have been shown to be excreted in abnormal amounts in the urine of patients with cancer. Recent technology developed by Gehrke and Kuo has allowed the separation and quantification of modified nucleosides in serum using reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography with diode-array measurement. Serum levels of ten modified nucleosides were measured in 37 normal healthy adults to establish normal values and to correlate activity with age and sex.

Family violence: impact on children.

Violence within the family is increasingly being recognized as a serious societal problem in the United States. Four types of family violence are discussed: violence toward children, siblings, women, and the elderly. This paper explores the development of violent relationships in the family from both biological and psychological perspectives, with the latter encompassing four frameworks--the psychopathological model, the social learning model, the aversively stimulated aggression concept, and systems theory.

Comorbidity for disruptive behavior disorders in psychiatrically hospitalized children.

A variety of instruments were used to compare six groups of inpatient children: pure attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity (ADDH), pure conduct disorder (CD), pure oppositional defiant disorder (OD), ADDH + CD, and ADDH + OD, and a clinical control group who had no DBD diagnosis. Children with ADDH and CD or OD exhibited a greater degree of psychopathology. Children with CD and OD were more similar than different, indicating that perhaps a continuum of pathology exists between these diagnostic classifications.

Hopelessness in children and adolescents. An overview.

Most research on hopelessness has focused on adult populations. However, with the recent publication of Kazdin's Hopelessness Scale for Children, there has been increasing attention directed toward hopelessness in children. This report reviews research on hopelessness, and in both adults and children, emphasizes findings which support Beck's cognitive trial view of depression.

Current perspectives on anxiety disorders in children and adolescents: an overview.

This report provides an overview of the status of child and adolescent anxiety disorders. General biological and theoretical concepts of anxiety are reviewed, as are current diagnostic systems. We then examine developmental, epidemiologic, and clinical data, as they add to our understanding of child and adolescent anxiety disorders.

Correlates of hopelessness in psychiatrically hospitalized children.

The importance of hopelessness within the study of childhood psychiatric disorders is becoming increasingly apparent. The present study divides a child inpatient sample (age 7 to 12 years) into two groups based on scores from the Kazdin Hopelessness Scale for Children. Comparisons made between the two groups on various measures showed that children with high hopelessness had lower cognitive ability, "difficult child" temperament characteristics, more anxiety, lower self-esteem, and a higher degree of psychopathology than the low-hopelessness group.

Risk factors and correlates of severe psychiatric disorders in a sample of inpatient children.

This study used three informants to assess pervasiveness of psychopathology in a sample of 100 psychiatrically hospitalized children. Analyses of risk factors for severely disturbed and less disturbed children revealed that hopelessness, anxiety, low self-esteem, undisciplined personality profile, and negative life events differentiated the severely disturbed group from the less disturbed group. Implications of these findings are discussed, with an emphasis on the importance of focusing on degree of psychopathology with regard to risk factors.

Aggression in adolescents: the role of social support and personality.

A study was conducted to determine the degree to which social support and personality predict the use of reasoning and aggression by adolescents to resolve interpersonal conflict. Although all adolescents appeared to use reasoning to resolve conflict, those with less social support and those exhibiting a forceful personality were more likely to report using verbal and physical aggression to resolve conflict. By contrast, introverted adolescents were less likely to report using verbal aggression to settle their differences.

Life events and major depression in a sample of inpatient children.

This study reports on the relationship between stressful life events and depression in an inpatient sample of 100 children, age 7 to 12 years. Thirteen children were diagnosed as depressed on the basis of structured interviews. These subjects reported having more negative life events (both unit and weighted) as measured by the life Events Checklist (LEC) than did the remaining sample.

Utility of the Beck Depression Inventory with clinic-referred adolescents.

This study reports on the utilization of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Diagnostic Interview for Children and Adolescents (DICA) in a sample of 100 clinic referred adolescents. Results indicate that the BDI efficiently identified and differentiated depressed from nondepressed adolescents. In addition, greater levels of depressive symptomatology and depressive disorder were found in girls.

Correlates of anxiety in psychiatrically hospitalized children and their parents.

The authors separated 100 children hospitalized in a child psychiatry service into three groups according to their level of anxiety on the basis of the responses of the children and their parents to diagnostic interviews. Differentiation of the groups of children was validated by independent test instruments. Results of tests administered to the children and their parents revealed significant relationships between anxiety in the adults and in the children.

A community study of anxiety in children and adolescents.

The authors used an epidemiologic approach to investigate rates, symptoms, and behavioral concomitants of anxiety across the child and adolescent age span. They drew 210 children aged 8, 12, and 17 in equal numbers from a community sample and evaluated them with structured diagnostic assessments. They found anxiety to be the most frequently reported type of psychopathology across all three age groups.