Showing papers in "Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences in 1960"

JB 329 degrees--a new spychotomimetic, its antagonism by tetrahydroaminacrin and its comparison with LSD, mescaline and sernyl.

Abstract: Evoked potentials of 23 patients with chronic liver disease and delirium were compared with those of matched controls without delirium. Delirious subjects had significantly worse scores on the Mini-Mental State Exam and Trail Making Tests. Mean peak activity from computerized spectral analysis of the EEG was lower in delirious subjects than in nondelirious subjects (7.5 +/- 3.8 cycles per second (cps) and 9.5 +/- 3.2 cps, respectively). Mean auditory brainstem evoked potentials were abnormal in both groups, with delirious subjects showing a bimodal distribution of latency values and a greater proportion of abnormal values. Somatosensory evoked potentials were abnormal for delirious patients and normal for controls, and the differences were significant. The data suggest that the underlying pathophysiology of delirium may lie, at least in part, at the subcortical level.

The relative value of various somatic therapies in schizophrenia.

Abstract: Intellectual impairment and disease severity tend to parallel one another in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD), but the pattern of development of the neuro psychological impairments contributing to the overall intellectual decline is unknown. This problem was addressed by comparing neuropsychological performance in the early and later stages of PD. Impairment of recent memory, impairment of cognition, and somatic features of depression were seen early and worsened with more advanced disease. Impairment of visuospatial skills, remote memory, language, and mood were observed only in the later stages of PD. These findings suggest that neuropsychological impairments do not develop in a uniform manner with progression of PD. I n his original essay on “the shaking palsy,” James Parkinson’ suggested this disease leaves the senses and intellect intact. Many researchers disagree and feel that most, perhaps all, Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients eventually develop cognitive disturbances. Many also agree that the overall severity of intellectual disturbance and severity of the clinical disease are positively correlated,2� although which specific quantitative and/or qualitative neuropsychological factors produce the overall intellectual decline at different stages of PD remain unclear. We compared early PD patients to patients in advanced stages and to normal controls with a neuropsychological test battery that measures several areas of cognitive function. Our purpose was to identify neuropsychological features that are impaired early and determine whether they worsened in more advanced PD (quantitative differences), and to identify processes that are normal in the early stages and become impaired only in advanced stages of PD (qualitative changes).