Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0036572 (seizures)
 80,221 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The steady rise in the promiscuous use of phencyclidine (PCP) as a "recreational" drug has recently gained nationwide attention because of the numerous violent and/or bizarre incidents caused by the use of this drug. Because the media often exaggerate reports of bizarre and violent behavior to make a "good" story, the potential PCP user may be tempted to ignore the media warnings. In the case of PCP, however exaggerated the story, a real danger does exist. So, despite numerous newspaper, radio and television warnings about the possible consequences of PCP use and abuse, the incidence of toxic reactions continues to climb. In many cases PCP is sold as other drugs, particularly THC, and in various colored capsules, tablets, liquids and crystals which may explain the increased usage despite the numerous warnings against its use. The advances in laboratory techniques and chemical processess have enabled the clandestine chemist to prepare relatively pure PCP and thus eliminate many of the toxic side effects due to impurities in the drug. In addition, 30 or more psychoactive PCP analogues have been developed and are starting to make an appearance on the street. PCP is perhaps the most potent psychotomimetic compound known at the present time and is capable of inducing a psychosis which is clinically indistinguishable from schizophrenia. The psychosis-producing effects of PCP are the most common toxic effects seen in hospital emergency rooms; but as the amount of PCP taken and/or the simultaneous involvement of other drugs, particularly barbiturates, occurs, severe medical problems (e.g., coma, seizures, respiratory arrest) begin to appear. Death from high doses of PCP or PCP plus other drugs does occur, but the principal cause of death from PCP abuse is due to trauma, homicide or suicide (usually of the bizarre or violent form). Young adult males, persons predisposed to mental illness and naive drug users appear to be the most susceptible to the adverse effects of PCP. The fact that chronic PCP users are starting to increase in number is mute testimony that not all users experience "bad trips" with PCP. Unfortunately for the user, however, this does not guarantee that the next trip will not be a bad one. The effects of chronic use seem to be twofold: severe depression with suicidal thoughts and numerous violent, agitated behavioral patterns. Neither seems to be a suitable alternative. At the present time there is not specific antidote for toxic PCP reactions and the prolonged psychosis induced in some cases does not appear to respond to the standard antipsychotic medications as quickly as do the functional psychoses. The major improvement from a medical standpoint is the development of more sensitive laboratory techniques to confirm the presence of PCP in body fluids. This advance has undoubtedly led to the apparent increase in the number of PCP cases reported by hospitals and to the accuracy of clinical diagnosis by medical, drug or law enforcement communities...
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PMID:PCP (phencyclidine): an update. 4 8

A treatment involving chronic implantation of a receiver that can be activated by an external power source to stimulate specific brain sites has been used in 11 patients with intractable psychiatric illness. All of the patients, a heterogeneous group, had failed to respond to all indicated treatments. Length of illness varied from 6 to 23 years without significant remission. Of the 11 patients, four had uncontrollable violence-aggression (two with no demonstrable organic brain disease and two with brain pathology), five were chronic schizophrenics, and two had lifelong patterns of severe neurosis in addition to the disabling disorder for which the procedure was performed. Three of the 11 patients had seizures in addition to behavioral pathology. Ten of the 11 patients are out of the hospital and functioning without medications or other treatment. Some are symptom-free and others have shown significant improvement. The one patient who failed to respond had an organic lesion over the cerebellar site that was to be stimulated. The rationale for the procedure was based on data gathered during earlier therapeutic studies in patients with depth electrodes and extensive anatomical and physiological experiments in animals. The transistorized stimulator used in treating these patients is similar to stimulators being used for treatment of epileptic and spastic patients.
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PMID:Modulation of emotion with a brain pacemamer. Treatment for intractable psychiatric illness. 30 80

Psychiatric disorders were investigated in 74 patients with drug-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy (complex partial epilepsy). In all cases unilateral anterior temporal lobectomy had been performed during the period 1960-69. At follow-up in 1970-71, 45 patients were free from seizures, and in a further group of 15 patients seizure frequency had been substantially reduced. There were four postoperative deaths. Six patients were psychiatrically normal and had no history of any such disorder. Behavioural disturbances were observed in 55 patients. Before operation 11 patients displayed schizophrenia-like psychoses, and nine others became psychotic during follow-up. Fourteen patients attempted suicide on one or more occasions. Half the patients had diminished sexual drive. Improvement in psychiatric status was clearly correlated with relief from seizures and, in those cases with only a few or no seizures after operation, led directly to social rehabilitation. The presence or absence of a psychiatric disorder was not useful as a criterion for or against surgery.
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PMID:Mental aspects of temporal lobe epilepsy. Follow-up of 74 patients after resection of a temporal lobe. 43 35

Two children are reported who had recurrent attacks of impairment of time sense, body image, and visual analysis of the environment. These occurred with a clear state of consciousness and in the absence of any evidence of an encephalitic process, seizures, drug ingestion, or psychiatric illness. Both children had recurrent headaches; one was clearly migrainous. There was a family history of migraine in both cases. These children represent examples of the Alice in Wonderland syndrome in juvenile migraine.
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PMID:The Alice in Wonderland syndrome in juvenile migraine. 44 Aug 58

Twenty-two inpatients with a discharge diagnosis of hysterical seizures were compared with 22 matched inpatients with a discharge diagnosis of epileptic seizures. There were significant differences between the groups in respect to family and personal history of psychiatric disorder, attempted suicide, sexual maladjustment, and a current affective syndrome.
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PMID:Hysterical seizures. 45 52

"Fahr's Disease" is characterized by bilateral and symmetrical calcifications of the Globus Pallidus (systematically extending to the Commisura Anterior and the Capsula Interna, and less commonly to the Putamen, the Centrum Semi-Ovale and the Cerebral Cortex), and of the Cerebellar Nucleus Dentalus (with spreading to the White Matter and the Cortical Lamellae). Lesions or absence of Parathyroids are frequently related, with subsequent metabolic disorders of Phosphorus and Calcium, but idiopathic cases without hypoparathyroid disturbances are also found. A Morgagni-Morel Hyperostosis Frontalis Interna is often associated with "Fahr's Disease", and there could be a relationship between these two affections. We found in three cases the association between "Fahr's Disease" and Morel's Nodular Dysgenesis of the Frontal Cortex. Most of the cases are sporadic, but observations with a clear familial incidence are also found. Clinically, various Neurological Disorders (cerebellar, extrapyramidal, pyramidal, dysarthria, epileptic seizures) are often but not always observed; the Psychiatric Disorders found in some cases could be fortuitious associations (psychoses), connected to hypothyroidism (oligophrenia), and in aged patients, to unrelated cerebral vascular or degenerative lesions; very seldom, a dementing state could be connected to the spreading of calcifications to the Cerebral Cortex.
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PMID:[Pallido-dentate calcifications (apropos of 7 anatomo-clinical case reports)]. 69 68

A case history is reported of a 44-year-old man with a 6-year history of psychomotor seizures. For the past year he had described persistent olfactory hallucinations of an unpleasant nature which he referred to himself. In many respects these symptoms conform to the pattern observed in the olfactory reference syndrome, a recently described but apparently quite discrete psychiatric disorder; there were, however, certain atypical features. At a later stage unilateral anosmia was noted. Radiological examination then demonstrated an arterio-venous malformation in the right frontal lobe. The relationship between the malformation and the psychomotor seizures, and the implications that each has for the development of an olfactory reference syndrome are fully discussed.
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PMID:Psychomotor seizures, arterio-venous malformation and the olfactory reference syndrome. A case report. 69 78

Drugs, either self-administered or prescribed by physicians, can result in substantial neurologic disability in psychiatric patients. It is clear that the use of neuroleptic agents to treat psychiatric illness may result in a variety of tardive movement disorders. Most commonly, these take the form of orobuccal dyskinesias, but choreic movements of the trunk and extremities, dystonic postures, myoclonus, tics, parkinsonism, and akathisic syndromes also may occur. The choreic tardive syndromes are thought to occur more commonly in the elderly female population, but tardive variants may affect a different population. The neuroleptic malignant syndrome carries a significant mortality and remains a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. Early detection and vigorous treatment reduces the morbidity and mortality from this condition. Stroke, seizures, and various movement disorders may complicate the illicit use of cocaine and complicate the rehabilitation of those patients dependent on its use. The unsatisfactory treatment of tardive syndromes, neuroleptic malignant syndrome, and cocaine-induced neurologic disease underscores our incomplete understanding of the neurochemistry of dopamine, the function of newly discovered dopamine receptors, and the role they play in maintaining normal emotional and motoric function. For now, awareness of the varied neurologic syndromes related to neurotransmitter-modulating agents should provide the impetus for careful use of these agents and for the continued development of improved drugs for the treatment of psychiatric disease.
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PMID:Neurologic complications of drugs. Tardive dyskinesias, neuroleptic malignant syndrome, and cocaine-related syndromes. 135 Dec 85

Examination of the neurobiology of psychiatric illness in general, and of affective disorders in particular, reveals a variety of associated biochemical abnormalities. These have generally been assumed to be part of the pathological process or secondary to it, and thus deserving of therapeutic efforts aimed at reversal. However, recent clinical and preclinical data suggest that some alterations occurring in the affective disorders may be compensatory and adaptive; that is, part of an endogenous therapeutic mechanism rather than part of the evolving disease process. For example, the symptom of sleep loss in depression seems to fall under this rubric inasmuch as sleep deprivation induces mood improvement in depressed patients. Preclinical data are presented that another primary pathological process--the occurrence of kindled seizures--can evoke endogenous compensatory processes that are either anticonvulsant in their own right, or enable the anticonvulsant effects of a drug such as carbamazepine. It may be that some biochemical abnormalities occurring in affective illness are similarly adaptive. As one example, increased thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) has been reported in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of depressed patients. This elevation of TRH and the resulting neuroendocrine profile may be part of an endogenous counter-regulatory process aimed at mood improvement. Again, preclinical seizure models are supportive in that TRH not only is induced following repeated seizures, but also exerts anticonvulsant effects on these same seizures. In an analogous fashion, TRH elevations in depressed patients may also exert ameliorating effects on depressive symptomatology. This formulation presents directly testable hypotheses that could importantly impact on our understanding of the pathophysiology of affective disorders, and suggests novel therapeutic strategies through the enhancement of endogenous compensatory mechanisms.
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PMID:Ziskind-Somerfeld Research Award 1992. Endogenous biochemical abnormalities in affective illness: therapeutic versus pathogenic. 144 65

This paper is the fourteenth installment of our annual review of research concerning the opiate system. It includes papers published during 1991 involving the behavioral, nonanalgesic, effects of the endogenous opiate peptides. The specific topics this year include stress; tolerance and dependence; eating; drinking; gastrointestinal and renal function; mental illness and mood; learning, memory, and reward; cardiovascular responses; respiration and thermoregulation; seizures and other neurological disorders; electrical-related activity; general activity and locomotion; sex, pregnancy, and development; immunological responses; and other behaviors.
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PMID:Endogenous opiates: 1991. 149 4


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