Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Relationship Of Serum Prolactin With Severity Of Drug Use And Treatment Outcome In Cocaine Dependence., Ashwin A. Patkar, Paolo Mannelli, Kenneth M. Certa, Kathleen Peindl, Heather Murray, Michael J. Vergare, Wade H. Berrettini

Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior Faculty Papers

RATIONALE: Alteration in serum prolactin (PRL) levels may reflect changes in central dopamine activity, which modulates the behavioral effects of cocaine. Therefore, serum PRL may have a potential role as a biological marker of drug severity and treatment outcome in cocaine dependence.

OBJECTIVE: We investigated whether serum PRL levels differed between cocaine-dependent (CD) subjects and controls, and whether PRL levels were associated with severity of drug use and treatment outcome in CD subjects.

METHODS: Basal PRL concentrations were assayed in 141 African-American (AA) CD patients attending an outpatient treatment program and 60 AA controls. Severity of drug use was assessed …

Unilateral Olfactory Thresholds In A Chemosensory Clinic Population, Beverly Cowart, Edmund Pribitkin, David Rosen, Christopher Klock, Timothy Laflam

Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery Faculty Papers

Poster presentation at 26th Annual Meeting of the Association of Chemoreception Sciences in Sarasota Florida, April 21-25, 2004.

INTRODUCTION

Because there is the possibility of unilateral loss of olfactory function or differential degrees of olfactory dysfunction in the two nostrils, unilateral tests of olfactory threshold sensitivity are routinely included in many chemosensory clinical test batteries to supplement bilateral tests (e.g., Cain et al., 1988; Hummel et al., 1997). Surprisingly, however, the results of unilateral testing in patients with chemosensory complaints have not been extensively reported. Thus, it is unclear how useful these additional measures are in characterizing individual patients.

A …

Nuovi Approcci Terapeutici Contro Il Cancro Del Colon, Giovanni Mario Pitari

Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics Faculty Papers

This presentation was given in Augusta (Siracusa, Italy) for the 2004 Paul Harris Fellow Award, Rotary Foundation of Rotary International. The lecture discusses the clinical significance of the GC-C pathway and its potential as a therapeutic target for colon cancer and metastatic tumors. It underscores the importance of the dysregulation of the GC-C pathway in promoting colorectal tumorigenesis and of dietary calcium in the GC-C-mediated chemoprevention.

Questa e’ la presentazione per il Premio 2004 Paul Harris Fellow del Rotary International (Augusta, Siracusa, Italia). La dissertazione illustra l’importante significato clinico della via moleculare regulata da GC-C e dai suoi ligandi (guanilina, …

Obesity And Health Status Among Urban Vs. Suburban Elderly In Philadelphia And Surrounding Counties, Ockidde Dufayne Harris

Theses and Dissertations

Obesity is a dangerous health condition affecting approximately 30% of all Americans and can be attributed to 300,000 deaths a year. Obesity has been found to disproportionately affect Blacks, Latinos, and those with lower SES. Although obesity is a problem for all age groups, its prevalence is highest among those 60-74 years of age. Studies have shown that there is an association between obesity and chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease, arthritis, cancers, and type-2 diabetes. According to the Centers for Disease Control, chronic health conditions affect 80% of all elderly persons, many times limiting function and decreasing quality of …

Pre-Treatment Measures Of Impulsivity, Aggression And Sensation Seeking Are Associated With Treatment Outcome For African-American Cocaine-Dependent Patients., Ashwin A. Patkar, Heather W. Murray, Paolo Mannelli, Edward Gottheil, Stephen P. Weinstein, Michael J. Vergare

Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior Faculty Papers

We investigated whether measures of impulsivity, aggression and sensation seeking differed between cocaine-dependent subjects and controls, and whether these measures were related to treatment-outcome for cocaine patients. Pre-treatment assessments of impulsivity (Barratt Impulsivity Scale [BIS]), aggression (Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory [BDHI]) and sensation seeking (Zuckerman Sensation Seeking Scale [SSS]) were obtained for 141 African-American cocaine-dependent patients entering a 12-week, intensive outpatient treatment program and 60 controls. The outcome measures were number of negative urine drug screens, days in treatment, dropout rates and number of treatment sessions. Cocaine patients reported significantly higher scores on the SSS, the BIS and the BDHI than …