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Query: UMLS:C0040822 (tremor)
 18,428 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The literature on alcohol and stress in human subjects carried out since 1981 is reviewed. The review covers selected aspects of the interaction of alcohol and stress. (1) Most of the review focuses on the role of stress on alcohol ingestion. Retrospective research based on data from the Health and Nutrition Examination Survey indicated an increase in alcohol consumption with anxiety in certain groups of, as yet not well characterized, individuals. For example, although still insufficiently documented, stress does not appear to play a significant role in alcohol ingestion by women and the elderly. By contrast, stress does appear to play a role in the control of alcohol ingestion by adolescents. Prospective studies employing questionnaire-interview formats generally support an effect of stress on alcohol ingestion. However, studies employing male college aged social drinkers did not find a correlation between levels of stress and ingestion of alcohol. Alcoholics also differ in the reasons for drinking alcohol, but generally ingest alcohol to lessen anxiety/stress. It is clear that the Tension Reduction Hypothesis as originally postulated is no longer adequate. Many new models based on an interaction of alcohol and stress have been proposed to explain the control of alcohol consumption. Considering the multidimensionality of factors that appear to contribute to the control of alcohol ingestion, it is unlikely that a single model could possibly be relevant to alcohol ingestion under all conditions. More likely different models may be relevant to alcohol consumption under specific conditions, or for specific populations. (2) Alcohol has been reported to decrease anxiety in agoraphobics. The self-medication by agoraphobics may contribute significantly to their alcohol abuse. (3) Alcohol has also been reported to decrease tremor of the hands in stressed subjects as well as in patients with essential tremor. (4) Although a number of studies have employed electrodermal activity in studies aimed at the interaction of alcohol and stress, the results have been rather inconsistent. (5) The controversy on the purported beneficial effect of alcohol on the cardiovascular system persists. A number of studies have shown a J- or U-shaped relationship between alcohol ingestion and incidence of coronary heart disease. Alcohol may also influence stress-induced changes in blood pressure. Although a number of studies have demonstrated lower blood pressure in individuals ingesting less than two drinks per day compared with abstainers or heavy alcohol imbibers, the evidence is not conclusive. (6) It is not clear whether the interaction of alcohol and stress involves alterations in plasma catecholamines.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Alcohol Clin Exp Res 1991 Jun
PMID:Stress and alcohol interaction: an update of human research. 189 94

Ethanol ingestion markedly reduces tremor in patients with essential tremor. This clinical observation prompted the present experiments, which were designed to investigate ethanol's reduction of tremor in squirrel monkeys trained to execute a bar-holding task. A lever was attached to the hub of a rotary variable differential transformer (RVDT) and three squirrel monkeys were trained to position this lever within a 4.5 cm band for 8 seconds for a fruit juice reward. Behavior was maintained by a random ratio 2 schedule of reinforcement. Angular position of the lever was sampled for 5.12 seconds while the monkey held the bar, differentiated twice and analyzed to obtain a spectral description of tremor in units of acceleration 2/Hz. During control and vehicle sessions a spectral peak appeared at about 6-8 Hz and the magnitude of this peak varied from 25 to 150 milli-g2/Hz (where g is the acceleration due to gravity). A second peak appeared in two animals at greater than 15 Hz. For one animal this high-frequency peak was dominant during control sessions but the 6-8 Hz peak was dominant after intubation with water or ethanol. Ethanol produced consistent and dose-related decreases in the amplitude of the spectrum describing tremor but the location of the spectral peaks did not differ from vehicle sessions. The doses that altered tremor also produced an increase in the number of short-duration holds as well as other, less consistent, alterations in the form of the response. These data confirm and quantify ethanol's potency as a tremorolytic agent.
J Stud Alcohol 1991 Sep
PMID:Ethanol's effects on tremor and positioning in squirrel monkeys. 194 6

To study the demographic and clinical correlates of essential tremor (ET), we analyzed a comprehensive database of 350 patients evaluated at the Movement Disorders Clinic at Baylor College of Medicine from 1982 to 1989. The age at onset of tremor showed bimodal distribution for both male and female patients, with peaks in 2nd and 6th decades. ET appeared most frequently in hands, followed by head, voice, tongue, leg, and trunk. Half of the patients (47%) had associated dystonia, including cervical dystonia, writer's cramp, spasmodic dysphonia, and cranial dystonia, and 20% of the patients had associated parkinsonism. At least one 1st-degree relative of 62.5% of ET patients reported tremor. Alcohol relieved tremor in 2/3 of ET patients. Sixty-eight percent of patients who had adequate follow-up improved with propranolol, and 72% with primidone. There was no significant difference in various clinical variables between the 219 patients with familial ET and 131 with sporadic ET. Patients with early-onset ET were more likely to have hand involvement and associated dystonia than patients with late-onset ET. Dystonia was more frequently associated with mild ET than with severe ET. Patients with low-frequency tremor were older and had more head but less hand involvement than patients with high-frequency tremor. The lack of relevant differences between ET subgroups suggests that, despite variable expression, ET represents a single disease entity.
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PMID:Essential tremor: clinical correlates in 350 patients. 162 Mar 68

The DSM-III-R criteria for uncomplicated alcohol withdrawal require the presence of coarse tremor of the hands, tongue, or eyelids plus one of a number of other clinical features. We examined the validity and other characteristics of these items in 137 patients in pure alcohol withdrawal using the reliable and valid Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment for Alcohol. The DSM-III-R items of hand tremor amplitude, nausea or vomiting, headache, transient hallucinations, autonomic hyperactivity (increased pulse or sweating), and anxiety correlated significantly with total score and significantly indicated clinical severity. Addition of an "agitation" item improved the correlation. The diagnostic accuracy is greater than 95% if any two or more items are present. The number of positive items, of which tremor can be one, to grade clinical severity shows that a score of 2 indicates "very mild"; 3, "mild"; 4, "moderate"; and 5, "severe.". We propose that an Alcohol Withdrawal Diagnostic Inventory and a DSM-III-R-compatible brief Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment for Alcohol are useful for clinical research, where graded symptom characterization is needed. Our data may be helpful in the development of criteria for DSM-IV.
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PMID:Characterization of DSM-III-R criteria for uncomplicated alcohol withdrawal provides an empirical basis for DSM-IV. 202 Dec 96

The role of the neuropeptide corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) in mediating the behavioral effects of ethanol withdrawal in the rat was examined using the elevated plus-maze test. In Experiment 1, CRF (0.5 microgram ICV) reduced the percentage of time spent on the open arms of the elevated plus-maze, consistent with an "anxiogenic-like" effect. CRF also reduced the total number of arm entries, indicating a reduction in general activity. Low doses (5 and 25 micrograms ICV) of the CRF antagonist, alpha-helical CRF produced no behavioral effects in the elevated plus-maze, while a higher dose (50 micrograms ICV) elicited CRF-like activity. In experiment 2, rats were maintained for 2-3 weeks on a liquid diet containing ethanol (8.5-11.5% v/v) or sucrose. Eight hours after withdrawal from the ethanol diet rats displayed "anxiogenic-like" responses as well as a reduction in general activity in the elevated plus-maze compared with rats withdrawn from control diet. Alpha-helical CRF significantly antagonized the "anxiogenic-like" effects of ethanol withdrawal in the plus-maze. General activity and physical signs of ethanol withdrawal such as tail stiffness, body tremor and ventromedial distal flexion were unaffected by alpha-helical CRF. Blood Alcohol Levels (BALs) determined immediately after removal of the ethanol diet showed no group differences in ethanol consumption. These results suggest that increased activity of central CRF systems may mediate the anxiogenic effects of ethanol withdrawal.
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PMID:CRF antagonist reverses the "anxiogenic" response to ethanol withdrawal in the rat. 202 23

Withdrawal of rats from 5 weeks of a liquid ethanol diet (10%), resulted in anxiogenic responses in the social interaction and elevated plus-maze tests of anxiety. The rats withdrawn from ethanol also showed increased aggression, tremor and rearing. Baclofen (1.25 and 2.5 mg/kg), but not nitrendipine (25-100 mg/kg), reversed the anxiogenic withdrawal responses, without having any effect in control animals and without having significant sedative effects. Baclofen reduced the enhanced aggression during withdrawal of ethanol, but this may have reflected a more general anti-aggressive action. Baclofen (2.5 mg/kg) reduced the withdrawal tremor. Nitrendipine (100 mg/kg) significantly reduced withdrawal tremor, but this dose was sedative, so this was likely to be a non-specific effect. It is proposed that the anxiogenic response during withdrawal of ethanol is due to a reduced GABA function, involving both GABAA and GABAB receptors.
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PMID:Effects of baclofen and nitrendipine on ethanol withdrawal responses in the rat. 203 Aug 22

The aim of this study was to determine whether administration of ethanol protects rats against the preconvulsive symptoms of high pressure nervous syndrome (HPNS). Male Sprague-Dawley rats were given either saline or 0.5, 1.5 or 2.5 g/kg ethanol i.p. After injection, the animals were individually exposed to helium-oxygen at 60 atmospheres absolute (atm abs) pressure. The chamber temperature was adjusted to counteract ethanol- and helium-induced hypothermia. Several behavioral parameters were scored continuously during the first 64 min after injection. The time spent in tremor at high pressure was significantly less in the 1.5 and 2.5 g/kg ethanol-treated groups. The number of jerks was significantly lower in the 2.5 g/kg ethanol-treated group. The two highest doses of ethanol induced a characteristic pattern of unsteady locomotion, which was returned to normal in the 1.5 g/kg group at 60 atm abs. Other behavioral effects of ethanol, such as depression of total motor activity, were also reduced. These results indicate that ethanol can significantly ameliorate some of the adverse symptoms of HPNS in freely moving rats.
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PMID:Interaction of ethanol and the high pressure nervous syndrome in rats. 221 48

Using the techniques of selective breeding, mouse lines have been developed that express severe (Withdrawal Seizure Prone: WSP) or mild (Withdrawal Seizure Resistant: WSR) handling induced convulsions after cessation of chronic ethanol exposure. These lines differ at least ten-fold in severity of withdrawal after identical ethanol treatment. One feature of the genetic model is that other traits which distinguish these lines are presumably influenced by those genes determining ethanol withdrawal severity. WSP and WSR mice do not differ markedly in the metabolism of ethanol. In addition to handling induced convulsions, they also differ in other withdrawal signs: for example, WSP mice show more pronounced tremor. WSP and WSR mice do not differ in sensitivity to ethanol's hypothermic, anesthetic, or locomotor stimulant effects, nor in the magnitude of tolerance development to these responses. This suggests that sensitivity, tolerance and dependence are distinct genetic entities. WSP mice also display more severe withdrawal from diazepam, phenobarbital, and nitrous oxide than WSR mice, suggesting that some genes generally predispose mice to withdrawal from depressants. WSP mice display withdrawal handling induced convulsions after a single dose of ethanol, pentobarbital, or diazepam. The effective dose for producing drug seizures is not markedly different between WSP and WSR mice for a number of compounds with varied mechanisms of action. However, WSP mice are more sensitive than WSR mice to the effects of acute doses of convulsants to elevate handling induced convulsions. WSP mice have more binding sites in hippocampus for the N-methyl-D-aspartate antagonist MK 801. Binding of this ligand is increased during ethanol dependence in both mouse lines.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:Alcohol dependence and withdrawal: a genetic animal model. 224 62

Alcohol-responsive myoclonic dystonia is reported in 26 individuals in a six-generation family, thus indicating autosomal dominant inheritance. Twenty affected family members aged between 3 and 56 years were examined on one occasion. Myoclonus in arms, shoulder, and neck distribution was seen in 17, with occasional generalized jerks in 14. Leg dystonia/hemidystonia was seen in two infant cases, writer's cramp in seven, torticollis/retrocollis in two, and finger tremor in three. The onset of myoclonus was regularly reported from 2 to 3 years of age, the onset of leg dystonia/hemidystonia from 6 to 18 months of age, writer's cramp from early school age, and neck dystonia from late teenage. The effect of alcohol had been noted in 10 individuals, and seven of them abused alcohol. Once established, the neurological signs did not progress significantly. Leg dystonia resolved in two juvenile members. Two adult members had recovered from myoclonus: one elderly man and one posthemorrhagic spastic hemiplegic man. Extensive family investigation is necessary to clarify the clinical variation of this autosomal dominant disorder of involuntary movements.
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PMID:Alcohol-responsive myoclonic dystonia in a large family: dominant inheritance and phenotypic variation. 225 50

Previous research has demonstrated response differences following administration of alcohol between adult males with a positive (FHP) versus negative (FHN) family history of alcoholism. These response differences are thought to reflect differences in vulnerability to dependence on alcohol. Thus, the role of positive family alcoholism history in increasing risk of addiction to a variety of drug classes might be studied by determining whether FHP subjects show different responses to drug classes other than alcohol. This was done in the present study by determining dose-effect functions for a variety of physiological (heart rate, skin conductance, skin temperature), subjective (analog mood and drug effect, Subjective High Assessment Scale), and psychomotor measures (hand tremor, body sway, Digit Symbol Substitution Test, eye-hand coordination, and numeric recall) in FHP and FHN college-aged males for secobarbital (0, 100, 200 mg by mouth) and ethanol (1 g/kg). FHP and FHN subjects were matched on light-to-moderate drinking patterns, anthropometric dimensions, age, years of schooling, and drug use. At equivalent blood alcohol levels family-history positive subjects reported greater effects of ethanol than did family-history negative subjects on almost all subjective measures. Following the high dose of secobarbital, FHP but not FHN subjects showed elevated subjective effects; these effects were substantially less and were evident in fewer measures than following ethanol. In contrast to effects on the subjective measures, ethanol and secobarbital produced comparable impairment in both groups of subjects for most psychomotor responses. Group differences were not obtained on any physiological measures.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Alcohol Clin Exp Res 1990 Oct
PMID:Alcohol and secobarbital effects as a function of familial alcoholism: acute psychophysiological effects. 226 98


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