摘要:

ABSTRACTSerum prolactin (PRL) and human growth hormone (HGH) were assessed before, and three hours after oral administration of 2.5 mg of bromocriptine in 39 hospitalized geriatric patients with organic brain syndrome. Serum PRL concentrations decreased significantly irrespective of initial values (also in the 7 geriatric control subjects), but HGH levels were low in all patients and did not change during the three hours after administration of bromocriptine. Closer scrutiny of the HGH responses to bromocriptine in 5 patients and 5 controls showed that the serum HGH response was more variable among the patients than among the controls. The findings are discussed in relation to neuroendocrine changes associated with aging, institutional living, and mental disease.

ISSN:0002-8614    

DOI:10.1111/j.1532-5415.1978.tb02540.x

年代:1978

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

ABSTRACTEighteen patients over the age of 60 who were experiencing a major depressive episode were studied on a Clinical Research Unit after they had been drug‐free for at least two weeks. All‐night electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings revealed considerable fragmentation of sleep, a mean sleep efficiency of 58 percent, and very little delta sleep. The findings of reduced sleep time, shortened REM latency, and high REM density were similar to those in depressed patients under the age of 60. These preliminary findings support the application of EEG sleep recordings as a tool for the differential diagnosis of depression in the elde

ISSN:0002-8614    

DOI:10.1111/j.1532-5415.1978.tb02541.x

年代:1978

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

ABSTRACTIn assessing behavioral problems of the elderly there is a need for procedures which reliably indicate the presence and extent of impaired brain function. In this study, the relation of two mental status measures [the Mental Status Questionnaire (MSQ) and the Face‐Hand test] to intellectual performance and education was evaluated. The sample consisted of 153 consecutive inpatients and outpatients referred to a gerontology clinic. Intellectual performance was assessed with 8 tests of learning and memory, such as Paired Associates and Babcock Story Recall. The findings indicate that positive ratings for impaired brain function on either mental status test were related to lower intellectual performance at each of three levels of education — grade school, high school, and college. Subjects with more education and mental status scores indicating mild impairment performed better on intellectual tests than did less educated persons with no brain dysfunction, but they showed significant deficits compared to other subjects with similar education and intact brain function. Larger intellectual deficits were found when the patient made more test errors and when both tests gave positive ratings. These results confirm the importance of the MSQ and Face‐Hand tests as screening devices for the intellectual deficits associated with impaired brain function in a clinically heterogeneous popul

ISSN:0002-8614    

DOI:10.1111/j.1532-5415.1978.tb02542.x

年代:1978

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

ABSTRACTIn a 1973 study of 200 aged patients with groin hernias, a comparatively high incidence of the type known as sliding hernia was noted. The present study of 60 patients over age 70 seen at the Henry Ford Hospital between the years 1940 and 1972 was devoted specifically to the problem of sliding hernias. The threat of bowel strangulation is often advanced as a reason for the operative repair of such hernias, but this complication is rare. Bowel dysfunction, constipation and local discomfort are far more common, and gave rise to annoying symptoms in 75 percent of the patients studied. Barium enema x‐ray examinations often revealed some degree of bowel obstruction. Most often the sigmoid colon on the left side and the ileocecal segment on the right side constituted the sliding components of the hernia; the bladder was involved less often. Repair of 62 sliding hernias in 60 patients was performed successfully. There were no deaths, and only one recurrence of the herni

ISSN:0002-8614    

DOI:10.1111/j.1532-5415.1978.tb02543.x

年代:1978

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

ABSTRACTA study was made of the effects of centrophenoxine on the learning and memory of old mice. The results were correlated with changes in neuronal lipofuscin in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus. Old female mice (11–12 months) were treated with centrophenoxine for three months and their learning and memory were tested in a T‐maze. The number of trials required to attain the criterion in the 20 treated old mice were compared with those for 20 untreated mice of the same age and for 20 younger untreated mice. The treated animals learned the task with significantly fewer trials, and also exhibited a reduction of neuronal lipofuscin pigment in both the cerebral cortex and the hippocampus. The changes in lipofuscin were demonstrated by study of the characteristic autofluorescence, and by histochemical and ultrastructural (electron microscope) observati

ISSN:0002-8614    

DOI:10.1111/j.1532-5415.1978.tb02544.x

年代:1978

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

ABSTRACTA study was made of the social consequences of communicative disorders among 51 elderly hospitalized long‐term patients. Independent variables used to account for variations in social behavior were: 1) the presence or absence of aphasia, an impairment resulting in varying degrees of loss of verbal recognition, comprehension and language production; 2) sex; and 3) the level of nursing‐care needs as an indicator of overall physical independence. A rating scale for measuring “Social Involvement” was constructed. It involved four analytically‐derived factors — Interpersonal Behavior, Familial and Social Contacts, Group Participation, and Extent of Social Contacts. Since a comparison of the 15 aphasic and 36 nonaphasic subjects on the basis of these four factors revealed no substantial main effect, it would seem that social isolation was not attributable to aphasia per se. Rather, a number of significant interactions indicated that differences in the levels of social involvement were attributable to the combined influences of sex, presence or absence of aphasia, and varying levels of physical independence. The relationship between social involvement and social isolation has implications for the overall management and rehabilitation of long‐

ISSN:0002-8614    

DOI:10.1111/j.1532-5415.1978.tb02545.x

年代:1978

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

ABSTRACTAn attempt is made to clarify some existing perspectives of successful aging. The environmental milieu of the aged is laden with potent and pervasive implications about successful adaptation. Considerable exploration is required to facilitate a realistic focus upon various theoretical contributions already presented. The influence of stresses and adaptive energy depletions preceding the senescent state is discussed in an effort to facilitate knowledgeable assimilation of the potential impact of the socioeconomic milieu upon the aged. It is the author's contention that the elderly person, upon retirement, presents an adaptive energy reserve highly personalized in its ability to accommodate to change, and especially dependent upon the nature, number and intensity of environmental stressors to adapt, successfully or unsuccessfully, to senescence. Various environmental stressors are identified (e.g., changes in social opportunities and expectations which create new needs and constrict the realm of emotional and vocational influence, thus reducing opportunities and diminishing self‐esteem). Heavy emphasis is placed upon role theory, interaction ritual, and transactional analysis. These concepts are extended to the institutional setting–an environment which serves only to magnify mechanisms occurring diffusely throughout the social system while adding its own unique dimension to the stressors confronting the elde

ISSN:0002-8614    

DOI:10.1111/j.1532-5415.1978.tb02546.x

年代:1978

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0002-8614    

DOI:10.1111/j.1532-5415.1978.tb02549.x

年代:1978

数据来源: WILEY