Showing papers by "Robin M. Murray published in 1995"
TL;DR: This method permits the detection of structural differences within the entire brain (as opposed to selected regions of interest) and may be of value in the investigation of structural gray and white matter abnormalities in a variety of brain diseases.
533 citations
TL;DR: It is suggested that a predisposition to verbal hallucinations is associated with a failure to activate areas concerned with the monitoring of inner speech.
336 citations
TL;DR: The data confirm that depression is associated with hypercotisolaemia and reduced central 5-HT neurotransmission and suggest that CFS may be associated with hypocortisolemia and increased 5- HT function.
242 citations
TL;DR: Recurrent episodes of major depression in the recovered MD relatives were significantly associated with increased N scores, suggesting that raised N may be a vulnerability marker for major depression.
162 citations
TL;DR: There is a deficit in problem solving activity in schizophrenia that may be associated with translating 'willed intentions' into action, independent of slower motor speed.
161 citations
TL;DR: Maternal influenza during the second trimester may impair fetal growth and predispose to obstetric complications and lower birth weight in a proportion of individuals destined to develop schizophrenia.
Abstract: Objective: Epidemiologic studies have reported an association between prenatal exposure to influenza and adult schizophrenia. The authors studied this association in individual patients with schizophrenia and also investigated the relationship of obstetric complications, another postulated risk factor, to adult schizophrenia. Method: Using a structured interview instrument, the authors assessed infections during pregnancy, obstetric complications, gestational age, and birth weight by interviewing the mothers of 121 patients with DSM-III-R schizophrenia. Results: Significantly more infections were reported in the second trimester of the patients ‘ gestations than in the combined first and third trimesters. Influenza accounted I or 70% ofsecond-trimester infections. Patients with schizophrenia whose mothers reported having influenza during the second trimester were almost five times more likely to experience at least one definite obstetric complication than were patients who were not exposed to in fluenza during the second trimester; the exposed patients weighed a mean of 2 10 g less at birth than the unexposed patients. Conclusions: Maternal influenza during the second trimester may impair fetal growth and predispose to obstetric complications and lower birth weight in a proportion of individuals destined to develop schizophrenia. (AmJ Psychiatry 1995; 152:1714-1720)
144 citations
TL;DR: Afro-Caribbean patients in the United Kingdom have a better outcome after psychiatric illness than do white people, and this may be due, at least in part, to a greater exposure to precipitants in the social environment.
Abstract: Objectives: To compare the course and outcome of psychotic illness in a group of Afro-Caribbean patients resident in the United Kingdom and a group of white British patients. Design: Cohort study of consecutive admissions followed up for four years. Subjects: 113 patients with psychotic illness of recent onset admitted to two south London hospitals. Main outcome measures: Course of illness, history of self harm, social disability, treatment received, and hospital use adjusted for socioeconomic origin. Results: The Afro-Caribbean group spent more time in a recovered state during the follow up period (adjusted odds ratio 5.0; 95% confidence interval 1.7 to 14.5), were less likely to have had a continuous illness (0.3; 0.1 to 0.8), were less at risk of self harm (0.2; 0.1 to 0.8), and were less likely to have been prescribed antidepressant treatment (0.3; 0.1 to 0.9). There were no differences in hospital use, but the Afro-Caribbean group had more involuntary admissions (8.9; 2.1 to 35.6) and more imprisonments over the follow up period (9.2; 1.6 to 52.3). Conclusions: Afro-Caribbean patients in the United Kingdom have a better outcome after psychiatric illness than do white people. The combination of high incidence and more benign course of illness of psychotic illness in this group may be due, at least in part, to a greater exposure to precipitants in the social environment.
119 citations
TL;DR: The data suggest that the silent articulation of sentences involves activity in an area concerned with speech generation, while imagining speech is associated with additional activity in regions associated with speech perception.
116 citations
TL;DR: The data confirm that depression is associated with hypercotisolaemia and reduced central 5-HT neurotransmission and suggest that CFS may be associated with hypocortisolemia and increased 5- HT function.
115 citations
TL;DR: Although schizophrenia in females has much in common with affective disorder, the "schizophrenogenic" effect of maternal influenza also appears to be more significant in female than in male schizophrenia.
Abstract: Compared with their male counterparts, females with schizophrenia, on average, show better premorbid functioning, later onset, and a more benign course of illness. They are also more likely to have a family history of schizophrenia and/or affective illness, to exhibit "atypical" and affective features, and to show a seasonal pattern of hospital admission that mimics that of patients with mania. However, there exists a paradox. Although schizophrenia in females has much in common with affective disorder, the "schizophrenogenic" effect of maternal influenza also appears to be more significant in female than in male schizophrenia. Perhaps females with a predisposition to affective psychosis who have also been subject to the effects of maternal viral infection during gestation develop some subtle neurodevelopmental damage that renders their psychosis schizophrenia-like.
113 citations
TL;DR: There was a weak association between the presence of MPAs and positive family history of a major psychiatric disorder, and those with MPAs required more frequent and longer psychiatric admissions, and showed impaired ability on a test sensitive to left parietal system function.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors conducted a systematic search for major genes in schizophrenia using a series of multiply affected families and reported preliminary results of linkage under heterogeneity with markers on chromosome 13, achieving a lod2 score of 1.61 for marker D13S144 at theta = 0 and alpha of 0.5.
Abstract: Family, twin and adoption studies highlight the influence of genes in the aetiology of schizophrenia, though the mode of inheritance is unclear. We have been conducting a systematic search for major genes in schizophrenia using a series of multiply affected families and report preliminary results of linkage under heterogeneity with markers on chromosome 13. A lod2 score of 1.61 for marker D13S144 was obtained at theta = 0 and alpha of 0.5 and nearby markers also produced positive values.
TL;DR: Evidence of a genetic association between bipolar disorder and alleles at 3 monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) markers, but not with alleles of a monoamines oxidase B (MAOB) polymorphism is presented.
Abstract: We present evidence of a genetic association between bipolar disorder and alleles at 3 monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) markers, but not with alleles of a monoamine oxidase B (MAOB) polymorphism. The 3 MAOA markers, including one associated with low MAOA activity, show strong allelic association with each other but surprisingly not with MAOB. Our results are significant only for females, though the number of males in our sample is too small to draw any definite conclusions. Our data is consistent with recent reports of reduced MAOA activity in patients with abnormal behavioral phenotypes. The strength of the association is weak, but significant, which suggests that alleles at the MAOA locus contribute to susceptibility to bipolar disorder rather than being a major determinant.
TL;DR: The results suggest the possibility that the region around D 22S278 and D22S283 contains a gene which contributes to the aetiology of schizophrenia.
Abstract: As part of a systematic search for a major genetic locus for schizophrenia we have examined chromosome 22 using 14 highly polymorphic markers in 23 disease pedigrees. The markers were distributed at an average distance of 6.6 cM, covering 70-80% of the chromosome. We analyzed the data by the lod score method using five plausible genetic models ranging from dominant to recessive, after testing the power of our sample under the same genetic parameters. The most positive lod score found was 1.51 under a recessive model for the marker D22S278, which is insufficient to conclude linkage. However, an excess of shared alleles in affected siblings (P < .01) was found for both D22S278 and D22S283. For D22S278, the A statistic was equal to the lod score (1.51) and therefore did not provide additional evidence for linkage allowing for heterogeneity, but the Liang statistic was more significant (P = .002). Our results suggest the possibility that the region around D22S278 and D22S283 contains a gene which contributes to the aetiology of schizophrenia.
TL;DR: There was a linear trend in the association between increasing age and first admission rates for non-organic, non-affective psychosis in the elderly, corresponding to an 11% increase in the incidence with each 5-year increase in age.
Abstract: We examined the association between ageing and the administrative incidence rate of late onset (after age 59) non-organic, non-affective psychosis in two samples of patients aged 60 years or older who were first admitted to hospital in (1) The Netherlands between 1978 and 1992 (n = 8010) and (2) nine regional health authorities in England and Wales (n = 1777) between 1976 and 1978 There was a linear trend in the association between increasing age and first admission rates for non-organic, non-affective psychosis in the elderly, after adjustment for the possible confounding effects of time trend and gender, corresponding to an 11% increase in the incidence with each 5-year increase in age These observations support a connection between degenerative brain processes and onset of non-affective psychosis in the elderly
TL;DR: Evidence is found of an allelic association between bipolar disorder and a marker at the pancreatic phospholipase A2 gene (PLA2A) in this region (p ≤ 0.01).
Abstract: Chromosome 12q is a region of interest for the genetics of bipolar affective disorder because of reports of apparent cosegregation between this disorder and Darier's disease in a small number of families. Findings from a recent linkage study suggest that this chromosomal region may contain a suscept
TL;DR: A computerized system for brain tissue classification of dual echo MR data is developed, which uses a polychotomous logistic model for discriminant analysis, combined with a Bayes allocation rule incorporating differential prior probabilities, and spatial connectivity tests, to assign each voxel in the image to one of four possible classes: gray matter, white matter, cerebrospinal fluid, or unclassified.
TL;DR: It is predicted that winter birth and urban birth are each associated with an increased risk of schizophrenia; and the effects of winter birthand urban birth potentiate each other.
Abstract: In a recent Swedish study, Lewis et al' found that the risk of schizophrenia was greater in people brought up in cities than in those brought up in rural areas. The factors responsible for this effect are uncertain but a winter birth excess has been consistently reported in schizophrenia.2 We suggest that the same factors are responsible for both the urban/ rural difference in risk and the winter birth excess. We predict (a) winter birth and urban birth are each associated with an increased risk of schizophrenia; and (b) the effects of winter birth and urban birth potentiate each other.
TL;DR: The current study compared 67 DSM-III-R schizophrenics and a general population group of 1640, using information obtained from contemporaneous birth records to study the prenatal development of individuals who later develop the illness.
TL;DR: It is concluded that the prevalence of premorbid abnormalities is highest among chronic schizophrenia, but similar disturbances also occur, to a lesser degree, in less disabling affective and non-affective psychotic disorders.
Abstract: The aim of this study was to examine the hypothesis that differences in outcome among affective and non-affective psychoses are associated with differences in the degree of developmental deviance. We conducted a retrospective survey of first contact cases treated over a 20-year period in a psychiatric hospital serving a catchment area in South London. All patients with non-depressive functional psychoses residing in the catchment area who received their first psychiatric treatment between 1965 and 1984 were included in the study. Cases were classified according to the relative chronicity of their illness into four non-overlapping groups: mania, schizomania, acute schizophrenia and chronic schizophrenia. There was a linear trend in the association between illness chronicity and proxy measures of developmental deviance, such as premorbid unemployment, single status and poor academic achievement. Compared to individuals with mania, schizophrenic patients had a 3–6 times increased risk of premorbid abnormality. For patients with schizomania and acute schizophrenia, the risk was 1.5–3 times greater than for manic subjects. We conclude that the prevalence of premorbid abnormalities is highest among chronic schizophrenia, but similar disturbances also occur, to a lesser degree, in less disabling affective and non-affective psychotic disorders.
TL;DR: Microscopic examination of the CA1-CA2 junctional areas in the offspring of mice exposed to influenza failed to demonstrate excess pyramidal cell disarray when compared with influenza-free, age matched controls, and analyses of the data by sex and severity of maternal infection failed to reveal any significant effects.
TL;DR: Computerized methods for estimating Rg of the magnetic resonance image (MRI) boundary between cortex and subcortex and measurement of cerebral hemispheric asymmetry suggest an important interactive effect of gender and schizophrenia on lateralized cerebral structure.
Abstract: Abnormal patterns of cerebral hemispheric asymmetry have been inconsistently reported in association with schizophrenia. Radius of gyration (Rg) is a measure of the mean dispersion of points in a radially organized structure about that structure's centre of gravity. We developed computerized methods for estimating Rg of the magnetic resonance image (MRI) boundary between cortex and subcortex, and applied these methods to measurement of cerebral hemispheric asymmetry in 37 schizophrenics (SZs) and 30 controls (CONs). In right-handed CONs, Rg of right brain boundaries was significantly greater than Rg of left brain boundaries; in left-handed CONs, Rg of left brain boundaries was significantly greater than Rg of right brain boundaries. In right-handed males (both SZ and CON), there were significant differences in Rg between hemispheres; whereas in females (both SZ and CON) there were no such differences. Right-handed male SZs (N = 26) were distinguished by reversal of the right-handed male CON pattern of interhemispheric difference in Rg, and by global reduction in Rg of right brain boundaries. There was no evidence for significant abnormality of Rg in right-handed female SZs (N = 7). These findings suggest an important interactive effect of gender and schizophrenia on lateralized cerebral structure.
TL;DR: Investigation of any effect of prenatal exposure to influenza during gestation on subsequent risk of schizophrenia using a national sample from The Netherlands revealed that an increase in the prevalence of influenza 3 months prior to birth was followed by a increase in births of preschizophrenics, although this fell outside statistical significance.
TL;DR: The findings strengthen the suggestion that the region around D22S283 contains a susceptibility gene for schizophrenia, and the TDT test for both linkage and linkage disequilibrium is applied.
Abstract: Previously we reported evidence for genetic linkage between markers on chromosome 22q12 and schizophrenia in 23 multiply affected pedigrees. As part of further investigation of this region, we have applied the transmission disequilibrium test (TDT) to the genotype data. The TDT is a test for both linkage and linkage disequilibrium, and is based on the unequal probability of transmission of two different marker alleles from parents to affected offspring. We obtained significant results for the marker D22S283 (chi 2 = 35.9, 14 df, p = 0.001), D22S278 (chi 2 = 16.5, 6 df, p = 0.01) and F8VWFP (chi 2 = 13.1, 4 df, p = 0.01). Application of the Bonferonni correction for testing multiple markers renders the results for marker D22S278 and F8VWFP non-significant (from p = 0.01 to p = 0.14), while the result for D22S283 remains modestly significant at p < 0.02. Overall, our findings strengthen the suggestion that the region around D22S283 contains a susceptibility gene for schizophrenia.
TL;DR: The patient and control samples showed no significant deviation from Hardy‐Weinberg equilibrium and, in a test of all alleles, the patients and controls did not differ significantly in allele frequencies, but the male schizophrenics were more likely than male controls to have the A3/147 bp allele.
Abstract: Since abnormalities of brain development play a role in the aetiology of schizophrenia, growth factors, known to play a role in neurodevelopment, such as neurotrophin-3 (NT-3), are therefore candidate genes for this disorder. The A3/147 bp allele of a dinucleotide repeat polymorphism in the promoter region of the NT-3 gene has been reported as occurring more frequently in a sample of Japanese schizophrenics compared to controls. We have determined the frequency of alleles of this polymorphism in 175 Caucasian schizophrenic patients and 147 control subjects. The patient and control samples showed no significant deviation from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and, in a test of all alleles, the patients and controls did not differ significantly in allele frequencies. However, the male schizophrenics were more likely than male controls to have the A3/147 bp allele (P = 0.029).
TL;DR: Maternal exposure to influenza at approximately the third to fourth month of gestation may be risk factor for developing mental handicap.
Abstract: This study was undertaken to determine whether prenatal exposure to influenza epidemics increases the risk of mental handicap. The monthly birth frequencies of 827 first-admission individuals (mean age at admission 13 years) with a primary diagnosis of non-specific mental retardation, discharged from psychiatric hospitals in England and Wales, were examined in relation to the monthly death rates from influenza over the period 1953-1980. The relative risk of developing mental handicap when exposed to influenza epidemics during mid-gestation was assessed by a generalized linear model. Increased death rates from influenza, a measure of prevalence of the infection, were significantly associated with an increase in births of mentally handicapped individuals 6 months later. For every 1000 female deaths from influenza there was a 17% increase in births of mentally handicapped individuals 6 months later. Maternal exposure to influenza at approximately the third to fourth month of gestation may be risk factor for developing mental handicap.
TL;DR: Exposure to influenza epidemics during gestation is not associated with autism, and the relationship between the number of autistic patients and the occurrence of influenza Epidemics one to nine months before birth is examined.
Abstract: We examined the relationship between the number of autistic patients, obtained from the register of the National Autism Society (NAS), born each month between January 1953 and December 1988 in England, and the occurrence of influenza epidemics one to nine months before birth. The relative risk of developing autism, for exposure to influenza during gestation, was assessed by a Poisson regression model. Our results indicate that exposure to influenza epidemics during gestation is not associated with autism.
TL;DR: It is suggested that the factor(s) responsible for the season-of-birth effect preferentially affects city born schizophrenics.
01 Jan 1995
TL;DR: Since William Perfect first suggested a relationship between influenza and insanity, similar theories have been intermittently proposed, often following major epidemics of influenza.
Abstract: In 1787, William Perfect referred to the then contemporary view that “instances of insanity are at this day more numerous in the kingdom than they were at any former period” and, in discussing a particular case, wondered whether the cause was “the epidemic catarrh, more generally known by the name of influenza, which raged with such violence in the year of 1782” (Perfect, 1787 pl18) Since William Perfect first suggested a relationship between influenza and insanity, similar theories have been intermittently proposed, often following major epidemics of influenza For example, Menninger (1928) claimed that many of the cases of psychosis which followed the severe 1918/19 influenza pandemic were indistinguishable from dementia praecox Since then influenza itself has been partly tamed by means of vaccination and antibiotic treatment of secondary infection However, the controversy over whether influenza can cause schizophrenia is raging with renewed violence
TL;DR: Patients with late paraphrenia or late onset schizophrenia frequently have associated cognitive impairment which may in some cases progress to a recognized dementia, and the frequency of the apoE ϵ4 allele is high in individuals who develop Alzheimer's disease.
Abstract: Patients with late paraphrenia or late onset schizophrenia frequently have associated cognitive impairment which may in some cases progress to a recognized dementia. The frequency of the apoE ϵ4 allele is high in individuals who develop Alzheimer's disease. Twenty‐three patients with late paraphrenia were genotyped for ApoE. The frequency of the ϵ4 allele was comparable with that found in a large group of centenarians, but lower than previously reported from populations of normal controls and Alzheimer's disease patients. Two out of three male patients tested had the rare ϵ2/ϵ2 genotype, which was not found in any of the females. Copyright © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.