Hosaku Torii

Hand preference in schizophrenics and handedness conversion in their childhood.

ABSTRACT– A handedness questionnaire which was given to 1774 schizophrenic inpatients was identical to that employed in our previous study on healthy students. Information was obtained on forced conversion of hand usage in childhood and the occurrence of left‐handedness in their families. Family history of schizophrenia was also investigated. There were no significant differences in the prevalence of left‐handedness or non‐right‐handedness (i.e., left‐handedness and ambidexterity combined) between schizophrenic patients and normal subjects. However, the rate of converted right‐handedness in schizophrenics was higher than that in normal people. The incidence of original non‐right‐handedness (i.e., present non‐right‐handedness and converted right‐handedness combined) in schizophrenics was greater than that in normal controls.

Does family history of schizophrenia influence age at onset of schizophrenia

The relation between age at onset of schizophrenia diagnosed using DSM‐III criteria and the presence or absence of this illness among first‐degree relatives was investigated in 2417 patients. The mean age at onset among those with a family history of schizophrenia was slightly and nonsignificantly earlier than that of schizophrenic patients without a positive family history. The former developed their illness before the age of 25 years more frequently than did the latter.

Recent information about crossed aphasia.

交叉性失語には, 右半球内の言語表象の組織化が広範で異常なもの (異常交叉性失語) と, 通常の非交叉性失語の際の左半球内の組織化の鏡像を呈するもの (鏡像交叉性失語) とがある.前者は早期発達段階における左半球機能の故障によるものであり, 右半球内の損傷部位と関係なく, 非流暢性発話, 失文法など一定の症状を呈しやすいとされている.後者は遺伝を含む生物学的素因によるものであり, 症状と病巣部位との関係は左半球損傷による非交叉性失語とよく対応する.一方, 交叉性失語の合併症状の研究から, 種々の高次大脳機能の交叉の起こりやすさが問題にされ, 言語機能の方が視空間機能よりも交叉しやすいことが分かった.近年は, 交叉性「右半球症候群」ないし機能側在性の逆転 (reversed laterality) なる名称のもとに, 稀有な症例が報告されているが, これらの側在性の逆転の原因としては生物学的素因の関与が想定されることが多い.

Ultrastructure of Rectal Biopsy Specimens in Unusual Familial Ataxia with Cerebrospinal Fluid Abnormality

Abstract: The ultrastructure of rectal biopsy specimens from a 60‐year‐old woman of unusual familial ataxia with cerebrospinal fluid abnormality was investigated. She had two male siblings similarly affected and a close consanguinity in the family. Meissners plexus neurons, Schwann cells, fibroblasts and smooth muscle cells within the rectum contained intracytoplasmic eosinophilic inclusions (lEIs) with or without intensely eosinophilic granules. Ultrastructurally the lEIs were composed of a membrane‐bound, fine granular material with or without dense cores. The IEIs resembled intracytoplasmic inclusions seen in various cells of the central nervous system from a male autopsied sibling. The clinically and morphologically similar finding in the two siblings suggests an autosomal recessive inherited metabolic disorder previously unreported.

Hand Preference of Schizophrenics in the Hokuriku District in Japan

ranged from 13-41 with a mean age of 25.6. The subjects were divided into three groups: 12 patients with TLE who had epileptogenic discharge localized left temporal lobe (L-TLE), 6 patients with TLE in the right temporal lobe (R-TLE), and 2 patients on both sides. They underwent the various personality and neuropsychological tests-Rorschach Test, MMPI, CMI, WAIS, Benton Visual Retention tasks, BenderGestalt Test and paired word memorizing test (TODAI-NOKEN). The results were as follows: From the data of personality tests, the personality of the L-TLE patients tended to be more neurotic and emotionally labile than that of the R-TLE patients. As to the neuropsychological tests, both groups (L-TLE and RTLE) were matched for an overall I.Q., and no significant differences emerged on the full-scale WAIS measure. In addition, there were no significant variations between the groups on verbal or performance subtest measures. However, the only subtestscaled score was found to differentiate the variety of the groups. The R-TLE patients had the impaired cognitive and constitutive function of the figure. As to the verbal and non-verbal memory functioning, there was no discernible difference between the L-TLE and R-TLE groups. But, as for the Benton Visual Retention tasks, the R-TLE group was unable to describe the right figure. The total number of error-scores in the R-TLE patients was higher than that of the L-TLE group. Moreover, the errors on half of the right side of the figure were twice those on the other side in the R-TLE patients. And the errors on the left side of the figure were twice on the other side in the L-TLE patients. As to the Bender-Gestalt Test, the R-TLE group performed worse than the L-TLE group. These facts suggest that the visuomotor function seems to be impaired in the R-TLE group. Based on the results mentioned above, the neuropsychological aspects of TLE were discussed. Hand Preference of Schizophrenics in the Hokuriku District in Japan

Neuropsychological Test Results in Chronic Schizophrenics: Comparison with Normal Control and Brain Damaged Groups

For the assessment of lateralization and frontal lobe function of the schizophrenic brain, chronic schizophrenics had a battery of neuropsychological tests which consisted of WAIS, Visual Memory Test, Word Fluency Test, Animal Drawing Test and Kana Word Test. Each test result in the schizophrenic group was compared with that of the normal ccntrol and brain damaged groups. Twenty-eight schizophrenic subjects were selected from consecutive inpatients with right-handedness. Their characteristics were as follows; the mean age 44.5, the mean hospitalized periods 11.5 years, the mean duration of illness 21.6 years and the mean school training periods 9.1 years. Results: Many schizophrenics in the study showed lower scores on the subtests of WAIS sensitive to function of the dominant hemisphere than those of the non-dominant hemisphere (Gruzelier & Hammond) and, especially, the schizophrenic patients with ECT clearly displayed a dysfunction of the dominant hemisphere. In other neuropsychological test results, the schizophrenic group showed significantly lower scores than those of the normal control group, but no significant difference from the brain damaged group. However, the response patterns on the Visual Memory Test in the schizophrenic group were similar to those of the left brain damaged patients. On the performance of tests sensitive to the frontal lobe dysfunction, the schizophrenic group was significantly inferior to the normal control group, whereas it was not so impaired as the frontal lobe damaged patients.