Genetic linkage studies in Alzheimer's disease.

We studied 18 families with Alzheimer's disease in family members, under the assumption that the disease is due to a single gene with an autosomal dominant form of inheritance. There was no evidence of linkage of Alzheimer's disease with any of 27 phenotypic gene markers analyzed, but close linkage for the Rh and MNS blood group loci was excluded.

Early-onset Alzheimer's disease: an analysis of CT findings.

Brain computed tomographic scans of 60 patients with early-onset Alzheimer's disease (mean age, 60.7 years) were compared with those of age- and sex-matched control subjects. Computed tomographic analysis included standard ventricular measurements as well as subjective ratings of ventricular and sulcal size. These indices were correlated with the results of a battery of neuropsychological tests and electroencephalographic findings. Linear measurements of ventricular size were significantly greater in the patients with Alzheimer's disease than in the age-matched control group (p less than 0.0005). Using subjective appraisal of ventricular and sulcal size, the neuroradiologist noted abnormalities significantly more often in patients than in controls (p less than 0.0005). Linear measurements of ventricular size correlated significantly (p less than 0.05) with the severity of aphasia and dementia and the presence of electroencephalographic abnormalities. There was, however, no correlation between the subjective judgment of cortical atrophy and the degree of impairment as measured by neuropsychological tests. The findings in this study demonstrate the usefulness of computed tomographic imaging in Alzheimer's disease of early onset.

Alzheimer's disease: a study of epidemiological aspects.

A case-control study was performed to determine the possible roles of various environmental factors, prior illnesses, drug use, and personal habits in the development of Alzheimer's disease. Such information was collected from 40 patients with onset of dementia prior to age 70 and from 80 community control subjects matched for age, sex, and race. No significant differences were found between patients and control subjects in toxic environmental exposures, animal contacts, smoking, drinking, or unusual dietary habits. A significantly higher frequency of prior thyroid disease was found in women patients than in women control subjects (25.0% and 7.1%, respectively). A history of severe head injury was also obtained significantly more often among the patients than among the controls (15.0% and 3.8%, respectively). Aside from these differences, which may prove to be important associative factors in this illness, there appeared to be no major premorbid demographic or clinical factors associated with this form of dementia. There was evidence, however, of a genetic factor that was manifested in an excess of dementia and mental retardation (including Down's syndrome) in families of patients with Alzheimer's disease.

Biology, ideology, and the reification of developmental stages in the study of homosexual identities.

This paper examines the biological underpinnings of theories of homosexual identity formation by focusing on the developmental model of Minton and McDonald (1983/1984). Several problems stemming from the use of biologically derived models are identified: (a) stages, which are researchers' constructs rather than reflections of the subjects' perceptions, become reified; (b) moral assumptions embedded in biologically derived models become incorporated in sociopsychological theories of identity, without ever being acknowledged; and (c) the models tend to be constructed in a linear fashion, causing the researcher or theorist to ignore possible alternative paths.

Alzheimer's disease: genetic aspects and associated clinical disorders.

Genetic aspects and associated clinical disorders were studied in a consecutive series of 68 men and women in whom Alzheimer's disease appeared at or before age 70. Secondary cases of dementia were found in 17 (25%) of the families, affecting 22 of the probands' siblings and parents. The cumulative incidence of Alzheimer's disease in these relatives was approximately 14% at age 75. An increased frequency of Down's syndrome was observed among relatives of the probands: a rate of 3.6 per 1,000, as compared with an expected rate of 1.3 per 1,000. A history of thyroid disease was established in 9 (19.6%) of the 46 female probands, a frequency greater than that reported in the general population. There was no excess of hematological malignancies among the blood relatives, and parental age at the time of birth of the probands did not differ from the norm. The results of this study indicate that early-onset Alzheimer's disease is associated with a genetic factor manifested in a substantial familial aggregation of dementia, a probable excess of Down's syndrome in the probands' relatives, and a possible association with thyroid dysfunction in women with this form of dementia.

Lack of association between Alzheimer's disease and histocompatibility antigens.

The present report describes the distribution of histocompatibility antigens in 52 patients with Alzheimer's disease. No significant associations were observed between this illness and particular HLA types before or after statistical correction for multiple comparisons. These findings are discussed in terms of the difficulties inherent in the clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease and with regard to the choice of suitable control populations.

On "doing" and "being" gay: sexual behavior and homosexual male self-identity.

The possible relationships between sexual behavior and homosexual male self-identity are examined within a symbolic interactionist frame-work. The presence or absence of definitions of homosexuality, the nature of these definitions, and the rules learned by the individual for their application to himself and others determined how he perceived his feelings, his behavior, and his sexual identity. The identity histories of the men illustrate how the peer groups in which they were socialized and the behavior of their friends prevented them from defining their behavior in terms of the "homosexual pattern." They began to reinterpret their behavior as "homosexual" when they perceived changes in the behavior and definitions of their behavior by their friends, or when they came into contact with self-defined homosexuals.

Sadism and masochism: sociological perspectives.

This paper represents an initial attempt to provide theoretical structure for the sociological study of sadomasochism. Sadomasochistic behavior, like human behavior in general, is most fully understood within a social context. To understand "what is going on" within an S&M episode, one must know something about the culture of the group and how it defines and categorized people and behavior. This is where frame analysis is helpful. Frames are central components of the culture of the group, through which its members interpret the world. To a great extent the frame itself is structured by the language of the groups, which serves to explain to its members what is happening and to justify their desires, motives, and behavior. Frames tell people what is and what is not proper, acceptable, and possible with their world. They define and categorize for their members situations, settings, scenes, identities, roles, and relationships. When people join sadomasochistic groups, or any other kind of group, they are taught not only frames, but also the conceptual tools or "keys" for defining, applying, transforming, and limiting them. Frame analysis helps make sense of findings that might otherwise be difficult to explain. For example, the apparently puzzling existence in the S&M subculture of "dominant" women and "submissive" men when the larger society to which these individuals also belong prescribes aggressiveness for males and passivity for females may be explained in terms of makebelieve, fantasy, and the theatrical frame. Lack of generalization into the larger world of roles and relationships developed within the sadomasochistic subworld is explained in terms of how behavior is "keyed". A number of areas that have not been fully developed here could be profitably explored. For example, although we have attended to the structuring and limiting of S&M frames, we have not explored misframings, miskeyings, breaking frame, and other errors and their consequences for interactants. Hollander, for instance, provides an example in which an S&M episode was miskeyed with disastrous results. Another issue for further exploration involves the ways in which the language of S&M structures the relations between participants in the world by building in notions of activity and passivity and tying these to particular roles in the interaction. The specific identities of people as "dominant" or "submissive", the ways in which they arrive at a recognition of these self-identities, and the stability of these orientations await investigation.