Season of birth and electrodermal unresponsiveness in male schizophrenics.

The present study was designed to examine differences in the electrodermal activity of schizophrenics born in the season of excessive risk (January-April), and those born in the season of nonexcessive risk (May-December). Thirty-two male schizophrenics were presented with a series of orienting tones (1000 Hz, 80dB, 2 sec duration) while electrodermal activity was monitored. They were subdivided according to season of birth and compared in three electrodermal variables, and also in some background and clinical parameters. We found that schizophrenics born in the season of excessive risk were characterized by significantly lower electrodermal activity and more negative symptoms than those born in the season of nonexcessive risk.

High frequency oral movements induced by long-term administration of amperozide but not FG5803 in rats.

Long-term studies of antipsychotic-induced oral movements may serve as a rat model of acute and tardive movement disorders. Vacuous chewing movements (VCM), tongue protrusions (TP), and jaw tremors (TR) were studied in rats during acute and chronic administration of two potential antipsychotics, amperozide and FG5803. Comparisons were made with haloperidol and vehicle. Single intraperitoneal injections of amperozide (0.2, 1, or 5 mg/kg) or FG5803 (1.2, 6, or 30 mg/kg) were without effect on oral behaviors. During long-term drug administration, withdrawal and readministration, endpoint analysis was focused on changes in supranormal oral movements. The maximal mean control frequencies found at 29 sessions during 14 months experiment +2 standard deviations were used to define the upper limit of the normal range. FG5803 (1.2, 6, or 30 mg/kg per day) administered via the drinking water for 12 months, did not produce significant deviations from this normal range with respect to VCM, TP, or TR, and this drug was not studied further. Rats receiving amperozide (0.2, 1, or 5 mg/kg per day) showed dose-related increases in oral movements over the year. The changes began after 3 months of treatment with amperozide 1 and 5 mg/kg per day, but became statistically significant only during the second half of the treatment year. Amperozide 0.2 mg/kg per day did not produce significant changes in oral movements during administration for a year, but drug withdrawal resulted in a significant rise in TP behavior. Haloperidol (1 mg/kg per day) produced increases in supranormal oral movements which tended to level out after 9 months. In all groups with significant elevations (i.e. haloperidol and amperozide 1 and 5 mg/kg per day), there was a persistence of such movements during a month of drug withdrawal. During treatment with amperozide (1 or 5 mg/kg per day), some rats developed a high frequency chewing behavior up to 175 VCMs/min. It is concluded that long-term treatment with amperozide, but not FG5803, produced a tardive pattern of supranormal oral movements. The importance of these findings for the clinical future of amperozide is difficult to predict, due to the unexpected finding of high-frequency chewing, which has not been noticed before during extensive studies of classical neuroleptics.

Early parental death: relation to electrodermal orienting response and gender in schizophrenia.

The aim of the present study was to examine age at parental loss by death and its relation to electrodermal orienting response and sex in schizophrenia. Forty-four DSM-III schizophrenic inpatients were exposed to a series of moderately intense tones in a standard orienting habituation paradigm, while skin conductance was recorded. The twenty-three patients who failed to respond to any of the first two tones were found to be younger when they lost their first parent compared to the 21 responders. When the 44 patients were divided according to sex, the females were found to be younger than the males when parental loss occurred. Finally, when multivariate analyses were performed, it was found that both responding/nonresponding and sex provided almost equally large independent contribution to the prediction of parental loss.

Electrodermal activity as a predictor of social functioning in female schizophrenics.

Twenty-nine female schizophrenics and 20 female controls were presented with a series of moderately intense tones in a standard orienting habituation paradigm while skin conductance was monitored. Premorbid adjustment and symptoms were also rated, and the schizophrenics were observed 2 years later. The total schizophrenic group was divided into a good-outcome group and a poor-outcome group. Good social functioning outcome required both self-supporting ability in the job market and at least a minimal social life. The poor-outcome group had a significantly higher skin-conductance level and frequency of spontaneous skin-conductance fluctuations than the control group, whereas the few patients with good outcome did not differ from controls. These results are contrary to previous findings with a group of schizophrenic men in which poor social functioning was associated with low electrodermal activity. This discrepancy is discussed in terms of sex differences in schizophrenic disorder.

Electrodermal nonresponding, premorbid adjustment, and symptomatology as predictors of long-term social functioning in schizophrenics.

The hypothesis that electrodermal nonresponsiveness to orienting stimuli delineates a core group of "Kraepelinian" type schizophrenics was tested by following up social functioning outcome over a 2-year period in 37 schizophrenics. Good social functioning outcome required both some self-supporting ability in the job market and a minimal social life. The prior assessments included monitoring of electrodermal responses to a series of moderately intense tones, ratings of reported and observed symptoms during an interview, and ratings of premorbid adjustment on the basis of an interview with a close relative. Electrodermal nonresponding, poor premorbid adjustment, and negative symptomatology predicted poor social functioning during the second follow-up year, but the relationship to nonresponding pertained exclusively to a group of 15 first-episode patients. Discriminant analysis showed that electrodermal nonresponding and symptoms were the only independent predictors of outcome.

Electrodermal activity and social network as predictors of outcome of episodes in schizophrenia.

The predictive value of electrodermal activity and social network was examined among 48 consecutively admitted schizophrenic patients. The patients were followed from an initial admission, through hospital stay, discharge, follow-up (M = 31 months), and possible relapse. Outcome variables were the length of stay in the hospital at the key episode and time to relapse, defined as a marked exacerbation or return of schizophrenic symptoms requiring inpatient or expansion of outpatient treatment. Multivariate analyses showed that a psychosocial variable, the availability of attachment, was the only independent predictor of length of stay in the hospital. Age at admission was a strong predictor of time to relapse. Age interacted with both outcome and electrodermal activity, and young electrodermal nonresponders were found to have the shortest time to relapse. At the 1-year follow-up, a main relapse effect was found for patients with a low skin conductance level.

Symptomatology and electrodermal activity as predictors of neuroleptic response in young male schizophrenic inpatients.

This study examined whether the response to treatment with neuroleptic medication in 21 schizophrenic patients could be predicted from symptomatology, electrodermal activity, and premorbid adjustment. Positive symptoms and high levels of electrodermal activity were associated with a good response to conventional neuroleptic drugs. However, multivariate analysis indicated that symptomatology was the only independent predictor of treatment response.

Electrodermal orienting response, maternal age, and season of birth in schizophrenia.

Consistent with earlier research, male schizophrenic patients born during the season of excess risk for schizophrenia (January-April) showed significantly lower electrodermal responsivity than controls born during the season of excess risk, and patients and controls born during the season not associated with increased risk (May-December). No support for maternal age as an explanation for the season-of-birth effect was found.

Elementary school achievement and absence due to illness.

The aim of the present study was to examine whether school performance is influenced by absence because of illness and if there are any differences in the relationship due to grade, sex, and season of birth. Data were taken for 598 pupils born in 1947 whose complete records for the 1st through 6th grades were stored at the city archive of Uppsala. Simple correlational analyses were conducted between spring absence due to illness in the 2nd through 6th grades and teacher-assigned grades during the same spring for verbal and arithmetic performance. Significant negative correlations were found between absence and both arithmetic and verbal performance in Grades 5 and 6. Subgroup analysis revealed significant correlations for the girls in the 5th grade and for boys in the 6th grade. However, only girls and boys born during the first half of the year showed these significant correlations between absence due to illness and performance.

Mortality in heroin addiction: impact of methadone treatment.

The mortality within a cohort of 115 street heroin addicts was studied for 5-8 years using the Kaplan-Meier survival estimate technique. This differed markedly from the relatively low mortality of 166 comparable heroin addicts given methadone maintenance treatment (MT). The street addicts' mortality rate was 63 times that expected, compared with official statistics for a group of this age and sex distribution. When 53 patients in MT were involuntarily expelled from treatment, due to violation of programme rules, they returned to the high mortality of street addicts (55 times that expected). A group of 34 rehabilitated patients who left MT with medical consent retained the low mortality of MT patients (their mortality rate was 4 times that expected). Despite this great improvement in survival, even patients in MT showed a moderately elevated mortality (8 times that expected), mainly due to diseases acquired before entering the treatment programme. It is concluded that MT exerts a major improvement in the survival of heroin addicts.

Electrodermal orienting response and central nervous system dopamine and serotonin activity in schizophrenia.

The present study was designed to examine the relationship between electrodermal activity and the levels of the dopamine metabolite homovanillic acid (HVA) and the serotonin metabolite 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) in cerebrospinal fluid. Lumbar cerebrospinal fluid from 36 unmedicated and six medicated schizophrenic patients and 23 controls was analyzed by gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer. The schizophrenic patients and a group of 14 normal controls were presented with a series of orienting tones (1000 Hz, 80 db, 2-second duration) while electrodermal activity was monitored. For the patients, this occurred during an acute episode of schizophrenia. The results suggest an inverse relation between electrodermal activity and the CSF-level of HVA. Although the picture is not entirely consistent, electrodermal nonresponders appear to have normal HVA levels, while electrodermal responders have decreased levels compared with normal controls. There is also a relation between electrodermal activity and 5-HIAA, but this association is not as clear-cut as the one between electrodermal activity and HVA.