Wendy W. Davis

BRAIN POLYSOMES: RESPONSE TO ENVIRONMENTAL STIMULATION.

Polysomes have been isolated from rat brain and characterized by their appearance in the electron microscope and by their sedimentation in sucrose density gradients. Rats were isolated for 3 days in the dark and were then returned to the light for 15 minutes. The polysomes in brain, but not in liver, decreased in rats deprived of light and increased in those stimulated with light. These findings together with an increased capacity for protein synthesis in the brain in vitro and in vivo suggest that an increase in the activity of messenger RNA in the brain may result from environmental changes.

DSM-IV literature reviews : rationale, process, and limitations

DSM-IV will benefit from the extensive research and interest in diagnosis generated in large part by DSM-III. The development of DSM-IV is proceeding through three stages of empirical documentation, including literature reviews, analysis of unpublished data sets, and field trials. This paper discusses the rationale, process, and limitations of the literature reviews. The purpose of the literature reviews is to provide and to document a comprehensive review of the clinical and empirical literature to facilitate objective and empirically based decisions. The review process is guided by the explicit and systematic methods developed within meta-analysis. Limitations of the reviews are also discussed.

Bridging the gap between psychiatry and primary care: The DSM-IV-PC

To facilitate recognition of psychiatric and addictive disorders within primary care settings, the development of a primary care manual to diagnose mental disorders is described. The manual, DSM-IV-PC, is compatible with the full DSM-IV and was developed by both psychiatrists and primary care physicians. Symptom-based clinical algorithms are described to demonstrate the format of the manual, which the authors hope will promote educational, clinical, and research collaboration between psychiatrists and primary care physicians.

The classification of panic disorders: From Freud to DSM-IV

The authors trace the history of the classification of anxiety disorders, beginning with a detailed discussion of Freuds work on anxiety-neurosis as a basis for subsequent work. They discuss how anxiety disorders were described in DSM-I and DSM-II where Freuds concept of the anxiety neurosis was used as a major organizing principle. The revolutionary change in DSM-III is described in which the term and organizing principle of neurosis was dropped. The controversies that have arisen as a result of changes in DSM-III-R are discussed, particularly as they relate to compatibility with the International Classification of Diseases-10 (ICD-10) and especially with respect to the relationship and priority of panic and agoraphobia. Finally the authors discuss the process by which decisions will be made in DSM-IV where changes will be based on systematic reviews of empirical evidence whenever possible.

DSM-IV and International Communication in Psychiatric Diagnosis

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition (DSM-IV) will be published in 1994 at about the time of the international implementation of International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision (ICD-10). This timing was chosen to facilitate mutual influence and increased compatibility between DSM-IV and ICD-10. There have been several formal conferences and numerous informal discussions between the workers on ICD-10 and on DSM-IV and these have resulted in many changes, improving both systems and bringing them closer together (Frances et al 1989).