Predicting hospital adjustment by adolescent inpatients.

Data about 145 adolescent inpatients were used to examine the relationship between past patterns of aggressive behavior and behavior during the initial period of psychiatric hospitalization. During their first month in the hospital, adolescents with a history of externally directed aggression were more likely to present management problems, compared with adolescents without this history. Adolescents with a history of internally directed aggression were more likely to be self-destructive. However, no association was found between adolescents' preadmission patterns of aggression and the likelihood that they would experience depressive symptoms in the hospital. Associations were found between adolescents' patterns of aggression and diagnoses. The authors suggest strategies to enhance treatment of adolescents with various patterns of aggression during the initial phase of hospitalization.

Grandparent deaths and severe maternal reaction in the etiology of adolescent psychopathology.

Relationships between the extent of psychopathology and the occurrence of 21 major life events during five developmental periods (prebirth, infancy, childhood, latency, and adolescence) were examined with multiple regression and X2 analyses for 114 hospitalized male and female adolescents. Psychopathology was assessed with the Global Assessment Scale (GAS) at admission to long-term residential treatment in a private psychiatric hospital. Data on deaths, physical illnesses, psychological disturbances, and socioenvironmental events experienced by patients before admission were gleaned from interviews and institutional records. Life events and GAS were scored independently. Only deaths and socioenvironmental events were significantly associated with psychopathology. Specifically, deaths of grandparents during infancy corresponded to lower functioning at admission. Additional analyses showed that severe reactions of patients' mothers to grandparent deaths had been more common among those adolescents who were most disturbed at the time they were admitted to the hospital. These findings were largely serendipitous, however, and need replication.

Psychosis, aggression, and self-destructive behavior in hospitalized adolescents.

The authors studied the history of aggressive and self-destructive behaviors in psychotic and nonpsychotic hospitalized adolescents (N = 137). A multidimensional measure of self- and other-directed aggression was retrospectively applied to each patient's social and developmental history. Nonsignificant gender and diagnostic differences were obtained on ratings of violence and suicide. Broader definitions of internal and external aggression yielded nonsignificant diagnostic differences, but gender differences were observed on both internal and external aggression measures. Females displayed greater internal aggression, and males reported higher external aggression scores. These results, compared to those of other investigators, suggest the importance of social and cultural variables in understanding adolescent psychosis and aggression.

Long-term psychoanalytic hospital treatment of adolescents.

Approximately 0.5 per cent of adolescents require long-term hospital treatment to remedy their severe personality disorder or psychosis. This article describes the treatment processes that are used in psychoanalytic hospitals to restore more normal personality functioning. The concepts that guide these treatment processes are the resolution of early developmental conflicts, working through the transference to the institution, providing positive support, containment, and re-education.

Effects of Cis-diamminedichloroplatinum (II) on hematopoietic stem cells in mice.

Bone marrow cell responses to therapeutic doses of cis-diamminedichloroplatinum (II) (Cis-Pt) were evaluated in female C57B1/6 mice by determining bone marrow cellularity and content of transplantable colony forming units (CFUS) after treatment. Although limitation on the dosage of Cis-Pt is generally considered to be determined by renal toxicity, methods to increase the effective use of the drug such as hydration and diuresis, alteration of time-dose schedules and combination of Cis-Pt with other drugs and radiation, warrant studies on effects of the drug on other normal tissues such as bone marrow. Cis-Pt given on a time-dose schedule that is therapeutic for mice and, in general, is equivalent to regimens recommended for clinical use, was found to be myelosuppressive. The myelosuppression was dose related in that a total dose of 16 mg/kg (2 doses at weekly interval) reduced the number of CFUS/femur to 16% of the control value, 24 mg/kg (4 doses at weekly intervals) reduced the CFUS fraction to 10-14% of the value for controls and 32 mg/kg (4 doses at weekly intervals) reduced the fraction of CFUs to 6-7% of the control value. A quantitative extrapolation of these effects to man cannot be made, however, the data indicate that myelosuppression could become a significant factor as increased doses of Cis-Pt are used clinically.

Xeromammographic cone edge pressure to shift deep lesions into view: a simple modification and technique.

A straight lower edge on the flat side of an open-ended mammographic cone, applied firmly downward along the chest wall, may sometimes displace deepseated breast lesions into the mammography beam. This can be done with simple materials.

The Cleopatra view in xeromammography: a semi-reclining position for the tail of the breast.

The Cleopatra view is a semi-reclining position with the patient turned and leaning slightly backward and to the side. It allows the lateral breast and the tail of Spence to be radiographed in contact with the xeromammography cassette.