Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0036341 (schizophrenia)
 60,220 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The DRD4 dopamine receptor is thus far unique among neurotransmitter receptors in having a highly polymorphic gene structure that has been reported to produce altered receptor functioning. These allelic variations are caused by a 48-bp segment in exon III of the coding region which may be repeated from 2-10 times. Varying the numbers of repeated segments changes the length, structure, and, possibly, the functional efficiency of the receptor, which makes this gene an intriguing candidate for variations in dopamine-related behaviors, such as alcoholism and drug abuse. Thus far, these DRD4 alleles have been investigated for association with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, Parkinson's disease, and chronic alcoholism, and all have been largely negative for a direct association. We evaluated the DRD4 genotype in 226 Finish adult males, 113 of whom were alcoholics, many of the early onset type with features of impulsivity and antisocial traits. Genotype frequencies were compared to 113 Finnish controls who were free of alcohol abuse, substance abuse, and major mental illness. In 70 alcoholics and 20 controls, we measured CSF homovanillic acid (HVA), the major metabolite of dopamine, and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA). No association was found between a particular DRD4 dopamine receptor allele and alcoholism. CSF concentrations of the monoamine metabolites showed no significant difference among the DRD4 genotypes. This study of the DRD4 dopamine receptor in alcoholics is the first to be conducted in a clinically and ethnically homogeneous population and to relate the DRD4 genotype to CSF monoamine concentrations. The results indicate that there is no association of the DRD4 receptor with alcoholism.
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PMID:DRD4 dopamine receptor genotype and CSF monoamine metabolites in Finnish alcoholics and controls. 757 71

The results of a study on the subjective basic symptoms associated with schizophrenia and drug abuse (especially alcoholism) are presented. A total of 242 psychiatric inpatients (74 with a dual diagnosis of schizophrenia and drug consumption, 81 schizophrenics, and 87 alcoholics) were included. The three groups did not differ with regard to the general score of subjective basic symptoms measured by the Frankfurt Complaint Questionnaire (Frankfurter Beschwerde-Fragebogen, FBF). Further analyses showed that the FBF statements are only partly typical for schizophrenia; another part is connected with alcoholism. Two new scales ("FBF-S" and "FBF-A") were created from the schizophrenia-typical items and the alcoholism-typical items, respectively. In "FBF-S" schizophrenics (with and without alcoholism) had higher scores than patients suffering from alcoholism alone; in "FBF-A" alcoholics (with and without schizophrenia) reached higher scores than schizophrenic patients. Consistent correlations with independent parameters of psychosis and alcoholism confirm the validity of "FBF-S" and "FBF-A". It is concluded that the FBF's capacity to discriminate different diagnoses can be improved and that the model of basic disturbances must be re-evaluated.
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PMID:[Basic symptoms in schizophrenia and alcoholism. A methodological comparative study]. 760 13

1. The efficacy of butoctamide hydrogen succinate (BAHS) was compared with that of nitrazepam on the basis of the polysomnograms and the subjective assessments. 2. Twelve healthy male students were divided into three groups consisting of 4 subjects each with were administered BAHS 600 mg, nitrazepam 5 mg, and BAHS 600 mg + nitrazepam 5 mg, respectively. 3. Polygraphic recordings were made for 8 consecutive nights for each subject, and the polysomnograms were evaluated by computerized automatic analysis using the interval histogram method. 4. An inert placebo was administered on the first 3 nights and on the seventh and eighth nights, and the test article regimen was administered on the fourth, fifth and sixth nights. 5. The test articles and the placebo were administered orally at 22:30 hr, and the recording of polysomnograms was started at 23:00 hr and ended at 8:00 hr the next morning. 6. The subjects were requested to fill out the subjective assessment of sleep before falling asleep and after arising the next morning. 7. BAHS increased REM sleep and decreased stage 2 sleep significantly; however, it failed to affect stage 1, 3 or 4 sleep. 8. Nitrazepam increased significantly the total sleep time and stage 2 sleep but decreased significantly the stage 3 sleep and decreased slightly the stages 1, 4 and REM sleep. 9. The combined treatment with BAHS and nitrazepam did not alter the sleep parameters except for increasing the total sleep time. 10. No obvious changes were observed in the subjective assessments after administration of the drugs. 11. These findings suggest that BAHS results in a unique sleep pattern different from benzodiazepines, and that BAHS may be suitable for treating insomnia in elderly patients and those with drug abuse, manic-depressive illness or schizophrenia.
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PMID:Stimulatory effect of butoctamide hydrogen succinate on REM sleep in normal humans. 762 90

A study of risk factors for homelessness among the severely mentally ill was extended to include women, and a case-control study of 100 indigent women with schizophrenia meeting criteria for literal homelessness and 100 such women with no history of homelessness was conducted. Subjects were recruited from shelters, clinics, and inpatient psychiatric programs in New York City. Clinical interviewers used standardized research instruments to probe three domains of risk factors: severity of mental illness, family background, and prior mental health service use. Findings adjusted for ethnicity revealed that homeless women had higher rates of a concurrent diagnosis of alcohol abuse, drug abuse, and antisocial personality disorder. Homeless women also had less adequate family support.
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PMID:Risk factors for homelessness among women with schizophrenia. 762 18

Fifty-three psychiatric hospital inpatients with a dual diagnosis of substance abuse and schizophrenia were given the Brief Symptom Inventory and the Schizophrenia/Substance Abuse Interview Schedule. Mean age was 29; 49 were men. Only 11% were employed. Forty percent abused mainly alcohol, 40% cannabis and 8% amphetamines; 20% abused more than one substance. Mean onset age of drug abuse was 16 years; schizophrenia was diagnosed a mean of 5 years later, and subjects had been admitted to hospital an average of 7 times since then. Most believed that drug abuse initiated or exacerbated their schizophrenia; 80% took drugs primarily to relieve dysphoria and anxiety. Amphetamines improved subjective well-being significantly more than alcohol, but choice of drugs was determined mainly by price and availability. Only cannabis increased positive symptoms of schizophrenia and only amphetamines reduced negative ones. Effectively treating this population requires an integration of psychiatric and drug treatment services, ideally in a community context.
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PMID:Self reports of the interaction between substance abuse and schizophrenia. 762 79

The lifetime co-morbidity of major psychiatric disorders among male alcoholics was examined with the structured Psychiatric Diagnostic Interview (PDI), which was administered to 928 patients undergoing alcoholism treatment at six Veterans Administration Medical Centers. Thirty-eight percent were positive for alcoholism only; 62% fulfilled inclusive lifetime diagnostic criteria for at least one other additional psychiatric syndrome. Thirty percent satisfied criteria for one additional syndrome; 16% for two additional syndromes; 12% for three; and 4% for four or more disorders in addition to alcoholism. Depression and antisocial personality were the most frequently identified co-occurring syndromes (36% and 24%, respectively) followed by drug abuse and mania (17% each). The additional psychiatric syndromes in this sample were clearly not randomly distributed; instead, certain disorders tended to cluster together such as: drug abuse and antisocial personality; mania and depression; depression and anxiety disorder; and schizophrenia and affective disorder. Implications for classification and treatment are discussed.
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PMID:Co-morbidity of lifetime psychiatric disorder among male alcoholic patients. 769 19

This report describes the clinical characteristics of psychotic patients who received a 6-month longitudinal research diagnosis of psychosis not otherwise specified (NOS) or for whom no consensus diagnosis was reached. The reasons why these subjects could not be classified into a specific DSM-III-R category, their classification under the proposed DSM-IV criteria, their reclassification at 24-month follow-up, and differences between these groups and patients with schizophrenia and affective disorders in demographic characteristics, initial clinical features, and short-term course are explored. Data were drawn from the first phase of the Suffolk County Mental Health Project. Longitudinal consensus procedures were used to derive 6- and 24-month DSM-III-R diagnoses based on information from a structured diagnostic interview, an interview with the patient's clinician, the medical record and discharge summary, and significant others. Thirteen subjects (4.7%) received a diagnosis of psychosis NOS, and 12 (4.3%) had no consensus diagnosis. Seven with psychosis NOS had an acute onset with rapid remission; this subgroup met DSM-IV criteria for brief psychosis without stressors. As a group, the psychosis NOS subjects were significantly older and had a lower rate of lifetime alcohol abuse/dependence than the schizophrenic and affective disorder groups. Their short-term course was significantly better than that of the schizophrenics and similar to that of patients with an affective disorder. Subjects with no consensus diagnosis were more likely to have lifetime drug abuse/dependence than the other two groups.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:Psychotic patients with unclear diagnoses. A descriptive analysis. 771 9

Recent evidence suggests that mid-pregnancy is a critical period for production of fetal abnormalities that cause behavioral and neuropathological changes in adult offspring. The present experiments provide an animal model of these effects by treating pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats during gestational days 11-14 with d-amphetamine (AM). Offspring were tested for neurological signs, foraging activity, reversal learning, and sensitivity to amphetamine challenge. In the Early Juvenile period, postnatal days (PND) 20-30, female AM offspring initially showed reductions in rearing, holepoking, and midfield activity. On later trials, and as young adults, AM females showed signs of locomotor hyperactivity despite continued poor foraging efficiency, and were also more sensitive to a 1.0 mg/kg d-amphetamine challenge. AM males showed initially slower and more perseverative responding than controls, but then developed excessive response switching. These changes continued during tests for Retention, Reversal, and Extinction in the Late Juvenile/Early Adult stage (PND 50-90), when both AM-exposed sexes showed increased eating time, significantly more perseverative lateral turning preference (right or left), and slower reversal learning than controls. Behavioral data were consistent with aberrations in thalamo-frontal and mesolimbic/nigrostriatal projection systems that have been reported in AM animals and which are also affected by maternal drug abuse and schizophrenia.
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PMID:Investigations of fetal development models for prenatal drug exposure and schizophrenia. Prenatal d-amphetamine effects upon early and late juvenile behavior in the rat. 786 52

Dysfunction of dopamine neural systems is hypothesized to underlie neuropsychiatric disorders and psychostimulant drug abuse. At least three dopamine systems have been characterized in the brain-nigrostriatal, mesolimbic, and mesocortical. Abnormalities of nigrostriatal dopamine neurons cause motor impairment leading to Parkinson's disease, whereas dysfunction of mesolimbic and mesocortical dopamine neurons are most implicated in psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia and in drug addition. One of the primary neural sites of action of potent antipsychotic agents and psychostimulant drugs of abuse are dopamine receptors and dopamine transporters which, respectively, mediate the induction and termination of dopamine's actions. Very limited information is, however, available about which particular set of dopaminergic cells in the human brain actually express the genes for these dopamine-specific proteins. In this study, we observed that the dopamine transporter and D2 receptor messenger RNAs are differentially expressed within the human mesencephalon: highest expression in ventral subpopulations of the substantia nigra pars compacta neurons with lowest expression in the mesolimbic/mesocortical ventral tegmental area and retrorubral cell groups. These findings suggest that motor- and limbic-related mesencephalic neurons in the human brain differ in the degree of dopamine transporter and D2 receptor gene expression.
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PMID:The dopamine transporter and dopamine D2 receptor messenger RNAs are differentially expressed in limbic- and motor-related subpopulations of human mesencephalic neurons. 789 51

The relationship between the onset of drug abuse and onset of illness (first hospitalisation) and its correlates were examined in 42 hospitalised schizophrenics identified as drug abusers. 60% of the patients began drug use before their first hospitalisation. No differences on sociodemographic or clinical parameters between patients who began drug use before their first hospitalisation and those who began after it were detected when drug abuse was treated as a unitary phenomenon. Use of specific drugs was associated with significant differences in age, age at first hospitalisation, premorbid functioning and type of schizophrenia between patients who began drug pre-morbidly and those who began to use drugs post-morbidly. The differences were not uniform for the different drugs used. The findings are discussed in relation to vulnerability and self medication models of comorbidity of drug abuse and schizophrenia.
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PMID:Drug abuse in schizophrenia: comparison of patients who began drug abuse before their first admission with those who began abusing drugs after their first admission. 794 16


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