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 capability of positron computed tomography (PCT) to delineate the substructures of the brain and its facility for accurately measuring the local tissue radioactivity concentration allow the application of tracer kinetic models for the study of local cerebral function in man. This principle and an adaptation of the 14C-deoxyglucose (DG) model of Sokoloff et al. with 18F-2-fluoro-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG) is being used at UCLA. Brookhaven National Laboratory, University of Pennsylvania, NIH, and the Massachusetts General Hospital to determine the local cerebral glucose metabolic rate (LCMRGIc) in normal man at rest and during sensory activation and the changes that occur in patients with a variety of cerebral disorders. Kinetic studies with PCT have been employed to measure the rate constants of the model in different gray and white matter structures of the brain in both normal and ischemic states. The precision of the method in normals has been shown to be about +/- 5% for 1.5-2.0 sq cm regions of the brain. Studies in normals have yielded values for hemispheric CMRGIc that are in agreement with measurement using the Kety-Schmidt technique and LCMRGIc values in agreement with values in monkeys using DG autoradiography. Studies in volunteers subjected to visual and auditory stimulation are demonstrating the potential of this technique for investigating the human brain's response to different stimuli. STudies in patients with stroke show excellent correlation between the degree, extent, and particular structures involved and the clinical symptoms. The method consistently detected hypometabolism in cortical, thalamic, and striatal tissues that were dysfunctional due to deactivation or damage but which appeared normal on x-ray CT. Studies in patients with partial epilepsy have shown hypometabolic zones that highly correlated anatomically with interictal EEG spike foci and were associated with normal x-ray CT studies in 77% of the patients studied. The studies on epilepsy at UCLA have resulted in the integration of the LCMRGIc study into the clinical workup of patients with partial epilepsy that are candidates for surgical resection of their epileptogenic focus (effective June 1979). Studies on Huntington's chorea, Parkinson's disease, aphasia, dementia, schizophrenia, and tumors are in early stage of investigation but also are providing exciting new results. Further studies are needed to determine the role of the local function information obtained with the PCT-FDG method in elucidating the basic mechanism and the potential to aid in improving the approach to medical therapy.
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PMID:Positron computed tomography studies of cerebral glucose metabolism in man: theory and application in nuclear medicine. 697 94

Recent bio-developmental models of shyness traits (Schmidt, L.A., Fox, N.A., 1998. The development and outcomes of childhood shyness. Annals of Child Development 13, 1--20; Schmidt, L.A. Fox, N.A., 1999. Conceptual, biological, and behavioural distinctions among different types of shy children. In: Schmidt, L.A., Schulkin, J. (Eds.), Extreme Fear, Shyness, and Social Phobia: Origins, Biological Mechanisms, and Clinical Outcomes. Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 47--66) have proposed that childhood shyness and early sociability troubles may be a precursor to pervasive social dysfunction in adulthood. An important question in testing the vulnerability model is to determine the severity of shyness among adults who have a serious social dysfunction, such as individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia. The Cheek and Buss Shyness and Sociability Scales (Cheek, J.M., Buss, A.H., 1981. Shyness and sociability. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 41, 330--339) and the Reznick Retrospective Self-report of Inhibition (Reznick, J.S., Hegeman, I.N., Kaufman, E.R., Woods, S.W., Jacobs, M., 1992. Retrospective and concurrent self-report of behavioural inhibition and their relation to adult mental health. Development and Psychopathology 4, 301--321) were administered to 23 schizophrenia outpatients and 23 control subjects matched for age and sex. The results indicated that individuals with schizophrenia showed significantly more shyness (P<0.004), lower sociability (P<0.02) and more recollections of childhood social troubles (P<0.007) compared with the control group. Within the schizophrenia group, both shyness traits (P<0.04) and limited sociability (P<0.01) were clearly associated with interpersonal dysfunction, while significant correlations were also found between troubled sociability and negative symptoms (P<0.05). The findings of shyness traits, impaired sociability and more recollections of childhood social difficulties among stable outpatients diagnosed with schizophrenia are consistent with predictions based on a bio-developmental shyness vulnerability model.
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PMID:Shyness, sociability, and social dysfunction in schizophrenia. 1129 86

Despite intensive research in recent decades, the search for the aetiopathogenesis of psychiatric diseases is just as relevant as ever. In recent years, ideas of the aetiopathogenesis of psychotic diseases based on the concept of "vulnerability" in its diverse variations and developments have been gained increasingly ground. The publications of Zubin and associates above all have contributed to a "vulnerability model". According to this descriptive model, schizophrenic disturbances develop as a result of stimuli/irritants or stress factors under modulation of the social and physical environment as well as dependent on the premorbid personality. The increased vulnerability which gives rise to this is perceived as a threshold descensus of the individual towards stimuli/irritants (with a deficit counter--irritants impulses). Apart from that, multi-causality of vulnerability is assumed as the starting point, whereby there is the possibility of several therapy approaches. Moreover, contrary to the prevailing pessimistic view that schizophrenia is a process-type progressive disease, an episodic nature of schizophrenic psychoses is postulated with a prognosis that is indeed positive in the long term. In recent years, although often not explicitly stated, Zubin's concept of vulnerability was also indubitably subjected to various further developments (the vulnerability stress model by Nuechterlein and associates as also the integrative psycho-biological schizophrenia model by Ciompi may serve as examples). Worth mentioning are also various new concepts from system sciences (such as those from cybernetics, synergetics, the chaos theory, the communication theory, structure determinism etc.), which endeavour to clarify the problem of psychosis. The evaluation of central neurophysiological function deviations with schizophrenics and their relations has so far been oriented above all towards the vulnerability model of Zubin and Nuechterlein, which differentiates temporarily relatively stable trait markers with generally unaltered expressivity at the pre-, intra-, and post-psychotic stages as well as episode markers and intermediate markers. However, specific factors contributing to the pathogenesis of schizophrenic disturbances have not as yet been found, in addition, there is still a multitude of methodological problems and distinctive features to fulfill the expectation of a comprehensive concept with which the whole complexity of the occurrence, the progress, and the outcome of psychoses can be explained. Reintroduction of the concept of vulnerability experienced, as Schmidt-Degenhardt put it, "a renaissance in use that appeared almost inflationary and a completely dubious popularisation ... without reference to its historical implications...". Consequently, a critical view of the use of this term would appear to be necessary.
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PMID:[Concepts of vulnerability of psychiatric diseases]. 1148 45

Childhood obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) was once considered a rare childhood condition, although recent epidemiological data rank OCD as the fourth most common psychiatric disorder, making it twice as common as panic disorder or schizophrenia (Barrett & Healy, 2003). The available literature indicates that OCD affects children and adolescents at a prevalence rate of up to 4%. Early onset of OCD is associated with a significant increase in the rate of persistence of this disorder (Geller, 2006). Among adults with OCD symptoms, one-third to one-half develop symptoms before or during adolescence (March, Franklin, Nelson, & Foa, 2001). OCD, like most psychiatric disorders, is believed to be influenced by biological, psychological, and social interactions with regard to the onset and course of illness (Cromer, Schmidt, & Murphy, 2007). Exploring factors influencing the onset of symptoms is essential to early treatment and the reduction of suffering in children and adolescents (Douglass, Moffitt, Dar, McGee, & Silva, 1995). Early identification and treatment in childhood may also reduce adult morbidity related to this disorder (March et al., 2001). An overview of the predominant theories in biomedical, behavioral, and psycho-social models are presented, supporting an interdisciplinary approach to the treatment of OCD in children.
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PMID:Factors influencing the onset of childhood obsessive compulsive disorder. 1937 73