Antisocial personality disorder, HIV risk behavior and retention in methadone maintenance therapy

In a sample of 55 consecutive methadone maintenance admissions to our clinic, 42% were diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) using the National Institute of Mental Health Diagnostic Interview Schedule NIMH DIS. Individuals with ASPD exhibited greater risk for HIV infection as defined by more sexual contacts, needle use and equipment sharing. Data at 1 year follow-up were obtained on this group of patients. The objective was to compare the ASPD and non-ASPD groups with regards to demographics, drug abuse history, outcome and retention in treatment. There were no significant differences between the groups on any demographic or treatment outcome variables. Survival analysis indicated that there were no group differences in treatment retention. In conclusion, although there were no differences in treatment outcome between ASPD and non-ASPD groups it is possible that ASPD patients who drop out of treatment will be at higher risk for contracting and spreading HIV within the IV drug using population. These data also suggest that in this population the diagnosis of ASPD using primarily behavioral traits as measured in the NIMH-DIS-III, has little utility in predicting treatment outcome.     

2型糖尿病并脂肪肝与血脂紊乱的关系探讨

目的　探讨 2型糖尿病并脂肪肝患者与脂代谢紊乱之间的关系。方法　对 60例 2型糖尿病并脂肪肝和 5 2例 2型糖尿病不并有脂肪肝病例的血脂谱 ,空腹血糖 (FPG ) ,餐后 2小时血糖 ( 2hPG) ,空腹胰岛素 (FINS)进行测定 ,计算体重指数 (BMI)及胰岛素敏感指数 (ISI)。结果　 2型糖尿病并脂肪肝与不并脂肪肝相比 ,甘油三脂 (TG) ,低密度脂蛋白胆固醇 (LDL -C) ,FINS均升高 (P <0 .0 5 ,P <0 .0 1) ,而ISI明显降低 (P <0 .0 1)、脂蛋白a(Lp(a)降低(P <0 .0 5 )。结论　 2型糖尿病并脂肪肝比不并脂肪肝者存在明显脂代谢紊乱及胰岛素抵抗     

Amphetamine impairs the discriminative performance of rats with dorsal noradrenergic bundle lesions on a 5-choice serial reaction time task: New evidence for central dopaminergic-noradrenergic interactions

A series of experiments examined the effects of lesions of the dorsal noradrenergic bundle (DNAB), induced by 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA), on the behavioural response to systemic and intra-accumbens amphetamine, using a rat analogue of Leonard's 5-choice serial reaction time task for humans. Although the 6-OHDA DNAB lesion produced a profound depletion of cortical noradrenaline (NA) (to around 5% of control levels) it did not impair any aspect of performance on this task. Both systemic and intra-accumbens amphetamine increased behavioural measures of impulsivity of responding, but neither impaired discriminative accuracy in the sham-operated control rats. However, the DNAB lesioned rats did show a discriminative impairment following both low doses of systemic amphetamine, and intra-accumbens amphetamine. The latter effect was antagonised by systemic administration of the specific dopaminergic (DA) antagonist alpha-flupenthixol. The DNAB lesion did not alter the effect of amphetamine on any other behavioural measure, including speed and impulsivity of responding. These results suggest that although DA and NA participate in qualitatively different behavioural processes, the effects of DNAB lesions on attentional processes depend on the level of DA activity within the nucleus accumbens.     

Dopamine receptor agonists alter gap prestimulus modulation

An innocuous sensory event (a prestimulus) that briefly precedes a startle-eliciting stimulus (SES) will reduce the amplitude of the subsequently elicited reflex. In three experiments brief silent periods in otherwise continuous noise (gaps) were used as prestimuli to investigate the effects of the D₁ dopamine receptor agonist (±)-SKF-38393 (SKF) and the dopamine D₂ receptor group agonist (−)-quinpirole hydrochloride on gap inhibition of the rat’s acoustic startle reflex. Gap durations of 4 and 50 ms were analyzed. Quinpirole (0–1.6 mg/kg) had a biphasic effect on gap inhibition. Lower doses increased gap inhibition, an effect that peaked at the 0.4 mg/kg dose. For higher doses, inhibition returned to control levels for the 4-ms long gap, but remained elevated for the 50-ms long gap. SKF had no effect on gap inhibition, and haloperidol (0.2 mg/kg) reversed the quinpirole-induced increase of gap inhibition. These data implicate the D₂ dopamine receptor group in gap inhibition of startle modulation. The results are discussed in terms of the effects of catecholamine agonists on attention. Received: 25 July 1995/Final version: 28 April 1997     

以中医神志学说辨析百合病

运用神魂魄意志五神与五藏、五官、五体的配属关系．结合文献对百合病命名、病位、症状、病机及愈期判断加以探讨。提出百合病属中医神志失和类病变，由热病伤阴，余邪未尽．心肺阴虚，神志失养，加之情怀不畅，气郁不舒，百脉失调，形神失和而发病。     

Bilateral field advantage in visual crowding

Thirty randomly oriented T’s were presented in a circle around fixation at an eccentricity of 11° such that each T was crowded by its neighbors. Two locations within the same hemifield (unilateral condition) or one location in each hemifield (bilateral condition) were precued for subsequent probing. Observers were then asked to report the orientation of a target T at one of these locations. A bilateral field advantage was found: target identification was better when the two precued targets were in different hemifields than when they were within the same hemifield. This bilateral advantage was absent when only targets were presented, without any distracters. Further controls showed that this advantage could not be attributed to differences between horizontal and vertical target alignments or to visual field anisotropies. A similar bilateral advantage has been reported for multiple object tracking (Alvarez, G. A., & Cavanagh, P. (2005). Independent resources for attentional tracking in the left and right visual fields. Psychological Science 16(8), 637-643) and other attentional tasks. Our results suggest that crowding also demonstrates separate attentional resources in the left and right hemifields. There was a cost to attending to two targets presented unilaterally over attending to a single target. However, this cost was reduced when the two crowded targets were in separate hemifields.     

An effect of triazolam on visual attention and information processing

This study explored whether benzodiazepines selectively affect aspects of attention and/or visual information processing, as they do memory. A cued visual-search paradigm was employed, using normal volunteers and a single dose of triazolam. This paradigm provided for a detailed examination of two aspects of visual attention and information processing: 1) controlled versus automatic attention allocation (via central and peripheral cues), and 2) the extent to which processing an item in a non-cued location affects performance (via cue-validity). Triazolam, compared to placebo, significantly increased response time, and Drug Condition interacted with Cue-Validity but not Cue-Type. Based on these data, we argue that triazolam doesnot affect attention allocation butdoes affect attentional disengagement and/or attention switching mechanisms.     

Effects of antipsychotic drugs on latent inhibition: sensitivity and specificity of an animal behavioral model of clinical drug action

Latent inhibition (LI) of a conditioned emotional response (CER) has been proposed as a quantitative measure of selective attention. We have assessed the parallels of the pharmacology of LI in rats with the clinical pharmacology of schizophrenia. Drug and vehicle treated rats were divided into groups and preexposed 20 times to cage illumination as a CS, or not preexposed. All groups were conditioned with 2 CS-footshock pairings. The following day CER, as measured by interruption of drinking in response to CS presentation, was recorded. LI was observed as a decreased CER in preexposed relative to non-preexposed animals. LI was enhanced by haloperidol 0.3 mg/kg after 7 or 14 daily treatments, but not after a single acute dose. Haloperidol doses of 0.3 and 0.03 mg/kg enhanced LI, while doses of 0.003 and 3.0 mg/kg had no effect. Haloperidol enhancement of LI was unaffected by the coadministration of the anticholinergic agent trihexyphenidyl. Enhancement of LI is exhibited by the antipsychotic drugs fluphenazine, chlorpromazine, thiothixene, thioridazine, mesoridazine, and metoclopramide but not clozapine. The non-antipsychotic drugs pentobarbital, imipramine, chlordiazepoxide, trihexyphenidyl, and promethazine failed to enhance LI. LI exhibits striking parallels to the clinical pharmacology of schizophrenia.Preliminary data were presented in part at the Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting, Phoenix, AZ, 1989     

Comorbid disorders in hospitalized bipolar adolescents compared with unipolar depressed adolescents

This study examined comorbid psychiatric disorders in adolescents with bipolar disorder. Hospitalized bipolar adolescents (N=10) were compared to hospitalized adolescents with unipolar depression (N=33), and to adolescents with nonaffective psychiatric disorders (N=11). Results showed conduct disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, psychosis, and having any DSM-III-R psychoactive substance use disorder were all significantly more common in the bipolar group than the unipolar depressed group. Comorbid anxiety disorder was present in 40–45% of the subjects in the unipolar and bipolar groups, but in none of the control group subjects. This study is supported in part by a grant to Dr. Borchardt from the University of Minnesota Graduate School.