MMPI scales for DSM-III personality disorders: their derivation and correlates.

Scales tapping the dimensions of personality disorder as represented in the DSM-III were derived using a combined rational/empirical strategy. The final version of the scales demonstrated both content validity as well as internal consistency. Correlations between the derived scales and between these scales and the original MMPI clinical scales were generally found to be in the expected direction providing preliminary evidence of criterion related validity. It is suggested that the derived scales may represent an advance toward the reliable assessment of DSM-III personality constructs.

Reliability of the sentence completion test of ego development in a clinical population.

Interrater and internal consistency reliability of Loevinger's sentence completion test of ego development is examined within a psychology clinic population consisting of relatively pure types of neurotic, psychotic, and character disordered groups. Reliability study of the instrument suggests it is generalizable across populations, thusly supporting the reasonableness of further research with the test in clinical contexts.

Antihypertensive activity in rats for SQ 14,225, an orally active inhibitor of angiotensin I-converting enzyme.

SQ 14,225 (D-3-mercapto-2-methylpropanoyl-L-proline) markedly lowered the blood pressure of the renin-dependent aortic-ligated and two-kidney Goldblatt hypertensive rat and failed to reduce blood pressure in the one-kidney Goldblatt hypertensive rat. In the two-kidney Goldblatt rat, SQ 14,225 (p.o.) was about 10 times as potent as teprotide, the nonapeptide SQ 20,881 (s.c.). Oral doses of SQ 14,225 moderately reduced the blood pressure of the Wistar-Kyoto spontaneously hypertensive rat but not that of the normotensive Wistar-Kyoto rat. Bilateral nephrectomy abolished the antihypertensive activity of SQ 14,225 in the spontaneously hypertensive rat. SQ 14,225 and SQ 20,881 elicited parallel dose-response curves in the two-kidney renal hypertensive rat. Post-treatment of spontaneously hypertensive rats with either agent failed to augment the antihypertensive effect produced by effective doses of the other agent. The results suggest that SQ 14,225 acts primarily by inhibiting the renin-angiotensin system to reduce elevated blood pressure, especially in presumably renin-dependent models of hypertension.