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Query: UMLS:C0036572 (seizures)
 80,221 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The role of genotype as a determinant of biologically based inter-individual differences in vulnerability to substance abuse has received little systematic investigation except in the case of alcohol. This report describes the use of an animal model, the inbred mouse, to identify and to characterize variants with inherently altered susceptibilities to the rewarding and other behavioral actions of cocaine. Among a battery of nine inbred strains chosen solely for their genetic diversity, genetic polymorphisms commonly occurred which altered the potency and/or efficacy of cocaine to induce conditioned place preference, oral self-administration, motor activity activation, seizures and lethality. These changes in cocaine sensitivity generally were of a behavior-specific and pharmacodynamic nature. One strain, DBA/2J, found to be markedly hyporesponsive to the rewarding action of cocaine, also was hyporesponsive to the rewarding effects of amphetamine, etonitazene, phencyclidine, caffeine and procaine. We speculate that this strain has an inherent generalized appetitive defect. The frequent occurrence and large magnitude of inherent phenotypic changes in cocaine responsiveness which we have identified among inbred mouse strains now permits an analytical genetic study of processes underlying cocaine-mediated reinforcement.
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PMID:Genetic determinants of susceptibility to the rewarding and other behavioral actions of cocaine. 206 14

When seeking medical care, homeless persons often turn to health centers that were designed to treat the poor who have homes. To provide for effective medical care, personnel in such facilities need to know how the health care needs of the homeless are different from those of other clinic users. To compare the physical health of these two groups, we conducted a health survey and screening physical examination of 464 patients who attended the general adult and homeless clinic sessions of one of the main neighborhood health centers in Los Angeles County, California. As compared with the poor who have homes, homeless persons were more likely to have dermatological problems (32% vs 21%), functional limitations (median, 2 vs 0 per person), seizures (14% vs 6%), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (21% vs 12%), social isolation, serious vision problems (22% vs 12%), foot pain, and grossly decayed teeth (median, 1 vs 0 per person). We conclude that to care more optimally for homeless adults, health centers must pay attention to their functional disabilities, substance abuse, skin abnormalities, vision impairment, dental problems, and foot problems.
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PMID:Health, homelessness, and poverty. A study of clinic users. 206 4

Multiple variables were examined in relation to outcome of ECT in a complete population of 261 patients treated over a four-year period. Sixty-three percent were rated as much improved. Response to ECT was not predicted by identifying data, DSM-III Axes I, II and III, Research Diagnostic Categories (RDC) or the majority of the "blind" clinical ratings and neuropsychological and EEG data. ECT response was significantly associated with DSM-III Axis IV and V, history of substance abuse and the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) withdrawal-retardation factor. Ratings of psychopathology and measures of intelligence improved with ECT, more in the patients who responded favorably than in those who did not. Scores on the neuropsychological test battery were better after ECT but remained within the brain-damaged range. Schizophrenic patients received the greatest number of treatments and showed the least variability in seizure duration. Electrical energy required for seizure induction was highest in depressed patients. Bilateral electrode placement was preferred for the majority of patients.
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PMID:Electroconvulsive treatment--indications, benefits, and limitations. 376 18

Seventy-three jimsonweed exposures reported to a regional poison center over a five-year period were reviewed. The ingestors' mean age was 17.3 years (range, 11 to 28 years). The most common route of exposure was oral, and the circumstance was drug abuse or experimentation in the majority of the cases. Although 11 callers remained at home, 59 required medical care in an emergency department or were admitted to the hospital. Treatment consisted of gastrointestinal decontamination, supportive care, and physostigmine salicylate administration. Almost 40% of the medically treated patients received physostigmine for severe hallucinations. One of the 59 medically treated patients had seizures develop. Calls to the poison center regarding jimsonweed differed from other calls in several respects. Jimsonweed abuse is a potentially serious form of substance abuse in adolescents and young adults.
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PMID:Jimsonweed intoxication in adolescents and young adults. 674 88

Alcohol use and associated factors were studied in 124 consecutive cocaine-dependent admissions to an outpatient substance abuse clinic. Two analyses were conducted: First, those who did and did not meet criteria for current alcohol dependence were compared on sociodemographic and drug use characteristics. Second, patients who reported simultaneous cocaine and alcohol use on > 50% vs. < or = 50% of the occasions that they used cocaine were compared using the same dependent measures. Fifty-seven percent of patients met criteria for current alcohol dependence. Those with and without alcohol dependence did not differ on any sociodemographic characteristics, but those with dependence scored higher on the alcohol and family subscales of the Addiction Severity Index, the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test, and measures of alcohol use, and were more likely to use cocaine and alcohol simultaneously, to use cocaine with friends and in social settings, and were more likely to report financial difficulties and unwanted sexual relations as adverse consequences of their cocaine use. Sixty-four percent of patients reported > 50% simultaneous cocaine and alcohol use. The two groups did not differ on any sociodemographic characteristics, but those reporting greater simultaneous use were more likely to be alcoholic, scored higher on most measures of alcohol use, and were more likely to report using cocaine with friends and in social settings. The only other differences observed between the two groups were fewer reports of seizures or difficulty concentrating in the group reporting greater simultaneous use. The present results confirm prior reports on the widespread prevalence of alcohol dependence among cocaine-dependent patients and extend them by providing new information on the prevalence and other characteristics of simultaneous cocaine and alcohol use.
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PMID:Alcohol dependence and simultaneous cocaine and alcohol use in cocaine-dependent patients. 773 68

The present paper summarizes the proposed time-dependent sensitization (TDS) and partial limbic kindling model for illness from low-level chemicals; reviews and critiques prior studies on CNS aspects of multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS); and outlines possible experimental approaches to future studies. TDS is the progressive and persistent amplification of behavioral, neurochemical, endocrine, and/or immunological responses to repeated intermittent stimuli over time. Partial limbic kindling is a progressive and persistent lowering of the threshold for eliciting electrical afterdischarges, but not motor seizures, in certain brain structures such as amygdala and hippocampus; behavioral consequences include increased avoidant behaviors. The focus of the paper is the controversial claim of altered sense of smell and illness from low levels of environmental chemicals (i.e., "cacosmia"), levels that should not have any biologically harmful effects by the rules of classical neurotoxicology. A major perspective of this paper is that the phenomenology of MCS is similar to that of time-dependent sensitization (reverse tolerance) and tolerance as studied in the substance abuse literature. The TDS model for MCS proposes that neurobiological amplification underlies the symptoms and phenomenology of these patients, including their behavioral features of heightened affective and somatic distress. It is hypothesized that MCS patients, who are mostly women, may be individuals who sensitize to substances rapidly and to the extreme, to the point of aversive symptomatology with less complete capacity for development of tolerance. Possible parallels between MCS and TDS include: (a) initiation by single or multiple intermittent stimuli; (b) lasting changes in subsequent reactivity to low levels of chemically unrelated substances; (c) cross-sensitization between the stressors and pharmacological agents; (d) greater vulnerability of individuals who are female, who have certain genetic characteristics, and/or who may be hyperreactive to novelty (cf. trait shyness); (e) lack of obvious differences between sensitized and unsensitized individuals at baseline without eliciting exposures; (f) bidirectionality (bipolarity) of sensitized responses; (g) both context-dependent (conditioned) and context-independent (unconditioned) amplification of responses. To minimize variability between studies, research in this area needs (a) consensus on a working case definition of MCS or at least of cacosmia as a specific symptom in a subset of well-defined medical and psychiatric disorders; and (b) proper design of chemical challenge studies in MCS, controlling for individual differences in sensitizability and for the properties of sensitization (e.g., repeated intermittent exposure tests) and tolerance (e.g., removal from customary ambient air exposures prior to testing).
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PMID:White paper: Neuropsychiatric aspects of sensitivity to low-level chemicals: a neural sensitization model. 777

The authors administered the Structured Clinic Interview for DSM-III-R (SCID) to 20 outpatients with nonepileptic seizures documented by video-EEG. Fourteen (70%) had one or more non-somatoform DSM-III-R diagnoses. All 14 met criteria for panic disorder. Comorbid mood, psychotic, substance abuse, and eating disorders were also noted. Meticulous use of the SCID, with extensive follow-up, may have resulted in enhanced detection of panic disorder in patients who do not spontaneously report panic symptoms. Panic attacks may play a more important role in nonepileptic seizures than has been generally recognized, especially in outpatients with a chronic course of illness.
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PMID:SCID diagnosis of panic disorder in psychogenic seizure patients. 795 Mar 49

During a 24-month period, 205 consecutive new referrals to Muhimbili psychiatric unit were studied. Their socio-demographic characteristics, sources of referral, types of treatment received before referral and the nature of their clinical problems were identified. Their neuropsychiatric disorders were classified according to ICD-10. The ratio of males to females was found to be 1.6:1. The average age was 29.3 years. 23.4% of adult patients were unemployed, two fifths of all patients were single and 70% of all subjects had less than eight years of formal education. Whereas 42.9% of all referrals were from other departments of Muhimbili hospital, the remaining were largely from parastatal dispensaries, district and regional hospitals within Dar es Salaam city. At least a fifth of all patients had consulted traditional healers prior to referral and antimalarials had been given inappropriately to 34 patients with mental problems. Mental disorders consisted of functional psychosis, 36.6% of which three quarters were schizophrenia, neurosis (19.5%), seizures (16.6%), substance abuse (8.8%), organic mental disorders (5.3%), headache (4.9%), sexual dysfunction (2.9%). The rest had conduct disorders and pseudocyesis. Seventeen percent of all cases had concomitant physical disorders. Most patients had delayed to seek medical help.
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PMID:Nature of referrals to the psychiatric unit at Muhimbili Medical Centre, Dar es Salaam. 868 72

The aim of this retrospective study was to analyze data obtained from cases with acute confusional migraine and compare them with those of other series. Data were abstracted from files of 76 patients with a discharge diagnosis of migraine admitted to British Columbia Children's Hospital, Vancouver, Canada, between January 1982 and September 1990. Of the 76 patients, 13 manifested confusional migraine (ratio of males to females was 11:2). The age ranged between 6 and 15 years (mean age 10.8 years). All patients reported headache and confusion. The duration of confusion was 2-24 hours. Other findings included a positive history of mild head trauma (4 patients), agitation (8 patients), past history of headache (7 patients), family history of migraine on the maternal side (10 patients), and history of migraine on both sides of the family (1 patient). CT scans were performed on 11 patients; 10 were reported to be normal, and 1 patient presented an arachnoid cyst. EEGs performed on 4 patients disclosed mild abnormality in 2. Cerebrospinal fluid, studied in 2 patients, was normal. Management of a child with confusional migraine must take into consideration underlying causes, such as seizures, encephalitis, and substance abuse.
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PMID:Confusional migraine in childhood. 885 96

Crime prevention is usually given a lower priority and underestimated as an area of policing. Detection and seizures attract priority and headlines, not the prevention of delinquency and breach of peace, which have all the potential of violent crime. Policing is for people: therefore, people must be made partners in policing. Once that goal is achieved, the whole system becomes transparent and accountable. Resources that cannot come from the police or Government alone come from participative policing. The present article describes a unique and innovative programme in substance abuse management by a combined initiative of community and police officials, which led to the establishment of the Navjyoti Delhi Police Foundation for Correction, De-Addiction and Rehabilitation.
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PMID:A woman's leadership in mobilizing an Indian community for drug control. 890 56


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