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

The dexamethasone suppression test (DST) has been used in psychiatric pathology for about 10 years. Carroll et al. consider this test to be specific of endogenous depression. According to these, and many other authors, approximately 55% of patients with endogenous depression show a positive response to the test, whereas a positive response is observed in only 4% of normal subjects or patients with psychiatric disorders other than major depressive disorders. The DST was performed in 162 psychiatric inpatients (5 with organic disease, 28 with schizophrenic disorders, 17 with major affective disorders, 5 with obsessive compulsive disorders, 103 with dysthymic disorders and 4 unclassified). Dexamethasone (1 mg) was administered orally at 11 p.m., and plasma cortisol concentration was measured the following day at 16 p.m. Response to the test was positive in 53% of patients with major affective disorders, 25% of those with schizophrenic disorders, 60% with obsessive compulsive disorders and 18% with dysthymic disorders. There was no statistical difference in the results according to age, sex ratio, family history of depression or duration of the disorders. Only two variables were close to the P less than 0.05 level of statistical significance: severity of the disorders and early morning awakening. DST sensitivity, therefore, would appear to be about 50% in major affective disorders, but this test is not specific as it may also be positive in other psychiatric disorders. A positive dexamethasone suppression test may be regarded as a sign of severity of psychiatric disorders.
 ...
PMID:[Dexamethasone suppression test in psychiatric pathology]. 295 93

In a sample of 268 cases of first-episode schizophrenia, 15 patients were found to have organic disease which appeared relevant to the mental state. There were three cases of syphilis, two cases of sarcoidosis, three of alcohol excess and two of drug abuse. There was one case each of carcinoma of the lung, autoimmune multisystem disease, cerebral cysticercosis, thyroid disease and previous head injury. In this series, identified organic disease was associated with less than 6% of cases of schizophrenia.
 ...
PMID:The occurrence of organic disease of possible or probable aetiological significance in a population of 268 cases of first episode schizophrenia. 360 29

The author discusses the question of the interference of schizophrenia and aging, and specially of the impact of biologic and organic versus social and situational factors. The presentation is based on long-term follow-up studies by the author himself and others, showing favorable outcomes in about half of the cases. Contrary to general beliefs, old age has quite often a favorable influence, eg. by dampening acute productive symptoms and drives, and by improving interpersonal relations. Psycho-organic deterioration is hardly more frequent, in schizophrenics, than in the general population. In conclusion, in old age, too, schizophrenia does no longer appear as a fatally progressive organic disease, but as a multiconditional open life process in vulnerable individuals with persisting potential for improvement even in old age.
 ...
PMID:Aging and schizophrenic psychosis. 386 64

Five patients with late-life onset of schizophrenic symptomatology (late-life paraphrenia) were found to have occult organic disorders. Although it was not possible to prove that the organic disorders were causal in these patients, none had any psychiatric illness until late in life and none had any significant risk factors for developing schizophrenia. This study demonstrates the need to investigate the medical and neurologic condition of any elderly patient presenting with a new onset of delusions. Modern investigative techniques may permit more accurate classification (and therapy) of some patients with late-life paraphrenia.
 ...
PMID:Late-life paraphrenia: an organic delusional syndrome. 395 82

Anorexia nervosa is a disease of increasing frequency with serious medical and psychological consequences. The presentation is one of significant weight loss. The initial assessment of such a patient must differentiate between an underlying systemic medical illness and an eating disorder. This paper will review the more common medical conditions causing weight loss and their distinguishing characteristics, including malignancy, inflammatory bowel disease, infections and metabolic disorders. Once an organic disease is ruled out, anorexia nervosa must then be differentiated from other eating disorders such as bulimia or other psychological diseases such as depression, schizophrenia, drug abuse, conduct disorders, and anxiety reactions. The pathogenesis of anorexia nervosa includes complex societal, family, and individual factors which require evaluation in the treatment process.
 ...
PMID:Differential diagnosis and pathogenesis of anorexia nervosa. 659 95

1 There have been few controlled prospective investigations into the prevention of suicidal behaviour and by and large they have failed to demonstrate the efficacy of social work, psychotherapy or psychiatric treatment. 2 A group of 58 high-risk patients with multiple episodes of suicidal behaviour was treated with mianserin 30 mg at night or placebo in a six month double-blind trial of the efficacy of an antidepressant in reducing suicidal behaviour. 3 Patients were screened for depression, schizophrenia and organic disease. Patients were diagnosed as suffering from personality disorders according to DSM-III criteria mainly borderline or histrionic. 4 There was no significant difference in outcome between the mianserin and placebo treated group at any point in the six month study. 5 An item analysis of the MADRS showed that at entry the item 'reduced appetite' predicted subsequent suicidal attempt. The total MADRS score did not predict further suicidal acts at entry but was highly significant at four weeks. At four weeks the items 'reduced sleep' and 'reduced appetite' were highly significant predictors of further suicidal acts and the items 'lassitude', 'suicidal thoughts', 'inability to feel' and 'pessimistic thoughts' were significant predictors.
 ...
PMID:The prevention of recurrent suicidal acts. 682 53

Unsuspected intracranial pathology was demonstrated in 12 of 136 chronic schizophrenic patients examined by computed tomography (CT). Seven cases of cerebral infarction were found, and one each of porencephalic cyst, meningioma, cystic enlargement of the pineal body, and two of subdural haematoma. Attention is drawn to the value of CT in demonstrating organic disease in schizophrenia.
 ...
PMID:Unsuspected organic disease in chronic schizophrenia demonstrated by computed tomography. 721 51

The psychology of hallucinations has been viewed as an "etiopathogenetic" tool for the diagnosis of schizophrenia (Schizophrenia Bulletin, Vol. 5, No. 4, 1979). This phenomenological misrepresentation is criticized as possibly damaging for both the schizophrenic and the drug abuser. The need to accept the often chronic course of schizophrenia as an organic disease is discussed.
 ...
PMID:Schizophrenia and ego psychology. 728 May 58

The authors studied psychic disorders in urban and rural people over 60 years of age living in old people's houses. The differences in the character of the neuropsychic disorders consisted in a prevalence of epilepsy, mental retardation, and organic disorders of various origin in old country people, and of neurotic disturbances in urban people. Equally prevalent among the inhabitants of urban and rural old people's houses were schizophrenia, manic-depressive psychosis, involutional and somatogenic psychoses, alcoholism, as well as senile and atherosclerotic dementia.
 ...
PMID:[Comparative study of the prevalence and types of neuropsychiatric disorders in late middle-aged persons in urban and rural homes for the aged]. 731 59

The Survey Psychiatric Assessment Schedule (SPAS) was used in a survey of elderly people living at home and in institutions to examine its reliability in determining mental state. A psychiatrist assessed the same subjects using the Geriatric Mental State Schedule (GMSS) and classified psychiatric disorder into three broad groups: organic disorders, schizophrenia and paranoid disorders, and affective disorders and psychoneuroses. The agreement between the psychiatrist's classification of mental state and the classification derived from SPAS was found to be satisfactory for organic disorders and less satisfactory for functional disorders. The limitations of this method of identifying psychiatric illness are examined.
 ...
PMID:The reliability of a Survey Psychiatric Assessment Schedule for the elderly. 742 44


<< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 Next >>