Hans Bergman

Evaluation of the Drug Use Disorders Identification Test (DUDIT) in Criminal Justice and Detoxification Settings and in a Swedish Population Sample

Psychometric properties of the 11-item self-report Drug Use Disorders Identification Test (DUDIT) were evaluated in a sample of heavy drug users from prison, probation, and inpatient detoxification settings, and in a general Swedish population sample. In the drug user sample, the DUDIT predicted drug dependence with a sensitivity of 90% for both DSM-4 and ICD-10 and a respective specificity of 78 and 88%. Reliability according to Cronbach’s α coefficient was 0.80. In the population sample, 3.1% scored positive on the DUDIT; T-score values are suggested. The DUDIT screens effectively for drug-related problems in clinically selected groups and may prove useful in the context of public health surveys.

Swedish universities Scales of Personality (SSP): construction, internal consistency and normative data

Objective: A thorough revision of the Karolinska Scales of Personality (KSP) was made by reducing the number of items and improving the psychometric quality as concerns face validity, internal consistency and response differentiation. The revised version was labelled The Swedish universities Scales of Personality (SSP) and now include 91 items divided into 13 scales.

COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY OF THE BRAIN AND NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT OF MALE ALCOHOLIC PATIENTS AND A RANDOM SAMPLE FROM THE GENERAL MALE POPULATION

The purpose of the present study was to compare the incidence of morphological and behavioral signs of brain damage in consecutively admitted male alcoholic patients and male subjects randomly selected from the general population. The results from radiological and neuropsychological studies demonstrate a relationship between alcoholism and brain damage. Cortical and central changes of the brain and neuropsychological deficits, particularly abstracting ability. can often be observed in alcoholic patients. However, cortical and central cerebral changes as assessed by computed tomography might follow different courses, and they correlate to somewhat different patterns of neuropsychological impairment (Bergman et al. 1979b). However, in most earlier studies the alcoholic patients have been selected for evident or at least suspected neurological damage or mental impairment. Furthermore, control groups used earlier have generally been recruited from other patient categories or available healthy volunteers among hospital staffs. Consequently, the groups in earlier studies cannot be considered representative for a general population (Bergman er a/, 1979a).

NURR1 promoter polymorphisms: Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia, and personality traits

We have previously identified mutations in exon three in NURR1 (NR4A2) in two patients with schizophrenia (SZ) and one patient with bipolar disease with psychotic symptoms. In the present study we analyzed the promoter region of NURR1 and identified five polymorphic sites: three were found to be in strong linkage disequilibrium with a previously identified polymorphic site in the sixth intron. One polymorphism of this haplotype and the two other independent polymorphisms were investigated for their possible association with SZ and Parkinsons disease (PD) by comparing their frequencies in a Swedish material consisting of 134 subjects with SZ and 207 matched controls and 108 subjects with PD and 125 matched controls. Exon 1 was also investigated in our Parkinson and control material but no variances were found. The distributions of the two most informative polymorphisms in the promoter were investigated in an American material as well consisting of 141 subjects with SZ and 139 matched controls. Furthermore, the identified markers were screened for association with putative endophenotypes of SZ in the Swedish material. The distribution of sequence variants among the Swedish controls matched for SZ was investigated with regard to personality. No significant genotype or allelic association of the three sequence variants with SZ or PD was found. Several comparisons regarding endophenotypes or personality indicated association at the 5% confidence level, although correction for multiple testing rendered none of these findings significant. We conclude that the identified polymorphic sites in the human NURR1 are unlikely to be involved in conferring susceptibility for SZ or PD in our patient material.

Alcohol habits in Sweden during 1997–2005 measured with the AUDIT

This study aimed to describe changes in Swedish alcohol habits during a period of “harmonization” with European Union alcohol policy. Three random samples collected during the years 1997 (n=997), 2001 (n=893) and 2005 (n=914) were compared. Alcohol habits and hazardous consumption was measured with the AUDIT (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test) distributed to the respondents by post. Results were somewhat diverse, but significant changes in alcohol habits occurred among two subgroups of the population: for women and the age group between 28 and 60 years, AUDIT scores peaked in 2001. The results are discussed in relation to the changes made in Swedish alcohol policy during the investigation period.

Neuropsychological changes during steady-state drug use, withdrawal and abstinence in primary benzodiazepine-dependent patients

Impairment on neuropsychological tests during steady‐state drug use and withdrawal, and after discontinuation of benzodiazepines, was studied in primary benzodiazepine‐dependent patients. One group of patients was tested before and the other group after the initiation of a gradual tapering‐off of the drug, and both groups were tested approximately 1 year later. At the initial assessment, both groups of patients showed impairment on most of the tests of general intelligence and on several of the tests in the Halstead‐Reitan battery, as well as on a test of nonverbal memory, in comparison with healthy controls. At follow‐up the patient groups had reached the level of the control group. This study confirmed earlier observations of neuropsychological deficits in long‐term benzodiazepine‐using patients and demonstrated that these changes are at least partly reversible by discontinuing drug intake.

Search for the influence of the tyrosine hydroxylase (TCAT)n repeat polymorphism on personality traits

A putatively functional tetranucleotide repeat polymorphism in the tyrosine hydroxylase gene (TH) has been investigated with regard to different aspects of psychopathology. We investigated whether reported associations of this TH polymorphism may reflect associations with common personality traits. Personality was assessed by the NEO Personality Inventory-Revised version (NEO PI-R), in 205 healthy Caucasian volunteers. Tendencies for higher scores in the neuroticism (N) facets, Angry hostility (P=0.008) and Vulnerability (P=0.021), were observed among carriers of one of the alleles (T8). Healthy women with the T6/T10 genotype had significantly higher scores (P=0.001) in the Deliberation and Dutifulness facets (P=0.031) (the Conscientiousness dimension, C) and lower scores (P=0.031) in the Feelings facet (the Openness dimension, O). We concluded that: (1) higher mean scores in the Neuroticism facets among T8 allele carriers are consistent with previous data and warrants further research; (2) the T6/T10 genotype may influence personality among women; (3) these data should be cautiously interpreted in the absence of corroborating data.

Sensory-Motor and Cognitive Functioning in Children Who Have Undergone Bone Marrow Transplantation

ABSTRACT. Sensory‐motor and cognitive functioning was investigated in a group of 32 children treated with bone marrow transplantation (BMT), 1–6 years after treatment. Twenty‐five of the patients had suffered from leukemia. The BMT procedure had involved a regimen of cytostatic drugs and, for leukemia patients, total body irradiation at a dose of 10 Gy, administered in one session. Cytostatic drugs and irradiation are known to be potentially neurotoxic, particularly when combined. The examination involved four neuropsychological tests of sensory‐motor and cognitive functioning, as well as an age‐appropriate intelligence test. For control the bone marrow donors (n=32), siblings of the patients, were also investigated. A pronounced delay in motor development was found in four children, who had been treated with BMT including total body irradiation before 3 years of age. Patients between 3 and 11 years of age at BMT were at a slight disadvantage, compared to donors, on tasks involving perceptual and fine motor speed. In older patients no deficits were observed.

Computed-Tomography of the Brain and Neuropsychological Assessment of Alcoholic Patients

The purpose of the project is to assess the state of the brain of alcoholic patients by means of computerized tomography and by neuropsychological performance and to correlate the findings with the clinical course of alcohol dependence. The investigated group is a consecutive series of 106 patients admitted for treatment of alcoholism and participating in a prospective program of mapping medical, social and psychological characteristics. Cortical changes were diagnosed in 59.6 % of the investigated patients, enlarged lateral ventricles in 33.3 % and an enlarged 3rd ventricle in 48.3 %. With regard to neuropsychological functioning 54.2 % of the sample scored in the mildly to severely impaired region of the Halstead Impairment Index and 63.5 % were considered to show signs of an intellectual impairment in the psychologists overall assessment of test results. Cortical changes and ventricular enlargement seemed to follow different courses in the investigated group since they were uncorrelated in the sub-group of older patients with long duration of heavy drinking. The correlations between neuropsychological functioning and morphological changes were generally low. However, the results suggest that learning and memory deficits indicate subcortical changes in the brains of alcoholic patients while a high score on the Halstead Impairment Index indicated cortical changes.

A regulatory monoamine oxidase a promoter polymorphism and personality traits

Monoamine oxidase type A (MAOA) has been implicated to be part of mechanisms underlying human temperament and psychiatric disorders. We hypothesised that a functional polymorphism in the 5′ untranslated region of the MAOA gene is associated with specific personality traits. In 371 healthy Caucasians, we estimated personality traits by the use of the Karolinska Scales of Personality (KSP), Scandinavian Universities Scales of Personality, Health-Relevant 5-Factor Personality inventory, Temperament and Character Inventory and the revised NEO Personality Inventory. In the same subjects, we analysed the genotype of a polymorphic region consisting of a variable number of a 30-bp repeat sequence located approximately 1.2 kb upstream of the MAOA gene. After correction for multiple testing, no statistically significant differences between MAOA genotype and personality were observed in men (n = 206) nor in women (n = 165). We conclude that the structure of this MAOA promoter region does not have a large impact on the expression of personality characteristics in the present Swedish population.