S. Smith

The relationship of the skin conductance and finger pulse amplitude components of the orienting response to season of birth in schizophrenia and depression

Schizophrenia is said to be associated with a modest excess of winter births. We examined relations of season of birth (SOB) to the skin conductance response (SCR) and finger pulse amplitude response (FPAR) components of the orienting response (OR) in 83 schizophrenic patients, 59 depressed patients, and 81 normal controls. SCR-OR nonresponding was more prevalent among depressed patients regardless of SOB, whereas only winter-born schizophrenics showed significantly more frequent electrodermal nonresponding than controls. However, this latter relation was not confirmed with log linear analysis. No other relations of SOB to SCR-OR or FPAR-OR nonresponding were significant. Our data do not support the view that nonresponding in the SCR or FPAR components of the OR is associated with winter birth either in schizophrenia or depression.

The orienting response in schizophrenia and mania

We examined skin conductance (SCR) and finger pulse amplitude response (PULSE) in 53 schizophrenic, 30 manic, and 28 control subjects to provide information on orienting response (OR) dysfunction in severe psychiatric disorders. SCR and PULSE to neutral and task-relevant tones were measured in acutely ill inpatients and normal control subjects on two occasions separated by a 3-week interval. There were no significant group differences in proportions of SCR and PULSE non-responders to neutral tones. PULSE frequency to task-relevant tones in both the schizophrenic and manic patients was lower than that for the control subjects in both OR sessions, but did not differ significantly between patient groups. Although PULSE frequency was inversely related to neuroleptic dose in the schizophrenia sample, reanalysis of unmedicated patients did not change our results. OR frequency to task-relevant but not to neutral tones exhibited test-retest reliability. Certain aspects of OR dysfunction may overlap in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Our failure to demonstrate excessive OR non-responding to neutral tones in schizophrenia patients is inconsistent with many previous studies but may be due to a high proportion of OR non-responders among the control subjects.

Temporal stability of polydipsia-hyponatremia

We evaluated temporal stability and outcome predictors associated with polydipsia-hyponatremia (PH). Severity of PH was measured on two occasions separated by at least 1 year in 25 chronic psychiatric inpatients (24 with schizophrenia). Three-quarters of the sample had clinically evident PH on follow-up. Follow-up PH severity was significantly related to intake severity and hospitalization length. Our findings suggest that PH may be a persistent condition with specific outcome predictors.

Method of accurate countersinking and rivet shaving

Wing skin riveting and bolting requires the surface to be flush to +/-.025mm(.001”) to produce an acceptable finish. Using the method described in this paper, automated wing riveting technology and panel assembly techniques can achieve better shave height and countersink accuracies than have previously been possible in production.

Autonomic reactivity in manic and schizophrenic patients

tionships between duration and side effects of neuroleptic treatment and NSS. These findings suggest that neuroleptic treatment may only play a partial role in the development of NSS in patients with schizophrenia and NSS may be one of the biological markers of this disorder. To confirm the fmdings of this study, data on a prospective follow-up design of neuroleptic-naive patients after neuroleptic treatment will be presented. and 25 patients with trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness). Our results show that Bal I allelic frequencies in the D3 gene display ethnic variations, even though schizophrenia is present in all human cultures. This suggests that, if the Bal I locus is associated with schizophrenia, it might not be causative per se but instead be a marker which is linked to another causative mutation in some populations.