Frequency and severity of religious delusions in Christian patients with psychosis.

The influence of religious activity on the severity of religious delusions is unclear. This study examined whether Catholic and Protestant patients experienced more religious delusions than non-religiously affiliated patients. We also explored whether the severity of religious delusions, according to the Religious Delusions item on the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms (SAPS), was associated with the amount of religious activity. The Protestants experienced more religious delusions than Catholics and those without religious affiliation. Although when the groups were combined, patients who were more religiously active experienced more severe religious delusions (n=133), there was no difference in the severity of religious delusions across the non-religious, Catholic and Protestant groups. Religious affiliation may influence the frequency of religious delusions, particularly in Protestant individuals, but religious affiliation appears to be independent of religious delusion severity.

A novel social situation and loneliness.

Although social isolation has been shown to have a negative long-term influence on feelings of loneliness, there has been no systematic investigation of situational influences on loneliness. The purpose of this study was to compare scores on the UCLA Loneliness Scale, the loneliness which people feel prior to performing a novel task, with those on the same scale after engaging in the task. 31 college freshmen were divided into those working alone (n = 14) and those working in a group (n = 17). Those who performed the novel task within a group felt significantly less lonely after than prior to performing the task and reported less loneliness than the students who performed the same task in isolation. An important implication of this study is that group interaction may directly and immediately reduce the amount of loneliness individuals feel.

Age, sex and gonadal influences on oestrogen receptor content in the rat liver.

Liver cytosol oestrogen receptor (OR) content of intact and gonadectomized male and female rats of defined age (1-18 months) was measured by the controlled pore glass bead assay. The OR content of animals of both sexes aged 3 weeks was low to insignificant (0.12 +/- 0.04 (S.E.M.) pmol/g wet wt liver). In the intact animal, liver OR reached maximum levels at an earlier age in the male (1.35 +/- 0.12 pmol/g at 28-32 weeks) than in the female (4.89 +/- 0.17 pmol/g at 44-52 weeks). In the mature female the OR is thus maintained at a level threefold greater than in males of comparable age. Levels of OR in the gonadectomized male tended to be higher, at all ages, than those in the intact male but this difference was not statistically significant. Ovariectomy was associated with a decreased OR content in rats aged less than 6 months and an increase in the older rats, but these effects (of ovariectomy) were not statistically significant. In the females, regression analysis of pooled data, combining all ages, indicated a significant positive correlation between OR and liver wet weight, independent of gonadal status; no such relationship was found with the males. The results indicate that factors influencing liver cytosol OR content include maturity, age and sex whereas the gonads have little obvious effect. These findings lend further support to the concept that sex differences exist in the liver.