S. P. Calloway

Cerebral ventricular size in depressed subjects

A computed tomographic study of 101 depressed patients and 52 normal control subjects is described. Increasing age and male sex were both associated with larger ventricular size in both patient and control groups. Controlling for these effects, the depressed patients had larger ventricles than the control subjects. In the patient group there was no association between ventricular size, course of illness or exposure to drug treatment or electroconvulsive therapy.

ECT and cerebral atrophy. A computed tomographic study.

The case‐notes of 41 elderly depressives who underwent computed tomography were examined and the ECT history of each patient was assessed. No association was found between ECT and global cortical atrophy or ventricular size, but a significant relationship was demonstrated between frontal lobe atrophy and ECT.

The cerebral cortical appearance in depressed subjects

This paper describes a comparison of the cerebral cortical appearance of 101 patients with a history of clinical depression and 52 control subjects. An age-related increase in sulcal widening was evident in both groups. However, after controlling for age, the patients were found to differ from control subjects in two respects: they had a greater amount of sulcal widening, most noticeably in the frontal and temporal areas; and there was a positive correlation between increasing sulcal widening and increasing lateral ventricular size not found in the control subjects. Patients with a past history of treatment by electroconvulsive therapy showed more sulcal widening in the parietal and occipital areas than those not so treated.

Endocrine changes and clinical profiles in depression: II. The thyrotropin-releasing hormone test

Thirty-one (43%) of 68 patients with primary depression were found to have a blunted thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) response to thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH). Increased thyroid activity, as measured by the free thyroxine index (FTI), was present in 16 (24%) of the patients. Patients with blunted responses had a higher mean FTI level than those with normal responses. Patients with blunted responses were significantly more likely to exhibit the symptoms of depersonalization, derealization and agitation. There was no clear association between blunting and any particular diagnostic category of depression. Patients with blunted responses and high FTI values were more likely to report significant long-term environmental difficulties than patients with blunted responses and normal FTI values. It is suggested that there may be more than one mechanism responsible for blunting of the TSH response in depressed patients. In some patients blunting may be due to negative feedback from increased output of thyroid hormones, possibly released as part of a stress response. In other patients blunting may be due to a different mechanism, possibly involving pituitary gland dysfunction. These mechanisms would not necessarily be mutually exclusive in any one patient.

Frequency of swallowing in duodenal ulceration and hiatus hernia.

inflamed mucosa with no parasites. Sections from the mucosa of ileum and caecum and the rectal biopsy specimen, trypsinised and stained with antisera to immunoglobulins, kappa and lambda chains, and IgA secretor piece, using the immunoperoxidase method, showed similar numbers and distributions of positive lymphocytes to those in normal controls. Peripheral lymphocyte subpopulations showed normal Tand B-cell proportions with a normal distribution of surface immunoglobulin classes on B cells. T-cell transformation was normal after stimulation by phytohaemagglutinin. Serum

THE EFFECT OF EMOTIONAL AROUSAL ON SPONTANEOUS SWALLOWING RATES

The effect of two experimental tasks aimed at inducing emotional arousal on spontaneous swallowing rates was investigated. An anxiety-inducing cognitive task and a Velten-type depression-inducing manipulation were both found to increase spontaneous swallowing rates in normal subjects. This confirmed previous anecdotal reports of elevated swallowing rates associated with emotional arousal. The implication of this finding for a possible pathway between emotional factors and gastrointestinal disorders is discussed.