[NVIC] Pharmaceuticals, Brain Dysfunction and Violence

[Guest guest]

[NVIC] Pharmaceuticals, Brain Dysfunction and Violence

February 28, 2007

National Vaccine Information Center

A young boy on the beach was throwing the washed-up starfish back into

the ocean. A stranger passing by told him not to bother, because it would

not make any difference, there were thousands of beaches and millions of

starfish, and it would not be possible to save all of them. The boy reached

down, picked up a starfish, threw it back into the ocean and said, smiling

softly, " I made a difference for that one! "

e-NEWS:

" Details continue to emerge about the lonely life of [Virginia Tech]

killer Seung-Hui Cho, who had a history of mental illness. Among Cho's

effects, officials found prescription medications related to the treatment

of psychological problems.....There are dozens of other examples of

violence at schools and the presence of antidepressants, but the carnage

hardly is limited to our campuses. Countless families have been destroyed

around the world through homicides and suicides committed by adults on

antidepressants.....The list (which can be found at www.drugawareness.org)

encompasses hundreds and hundreds of cases.....Most antidepressant drugs,

including Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Luvox, Celexa, Lexapro and Effexor, are

known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, which alter brain

chemistry in an attempt to manage depression......A recent study by the

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that half of all Americans

take at least one prescription drug, and that antidepressant use has nearly

tripled in the past decade.... " - Ty , Modesto Bee, April 29, 2007

" Despite efforts to curb drug companies' avid courting of doctors, the

industry is working harder than ever to influence what medicines they

prescribe, sending out sales representatives with greater frequency and

plying physicians with gifts, meals and consulting fees, according to

several new papers. One study published in the New England Journal of

Medicine last week found that 94 percent of doctors have some type of

relationship with the drug industry -- most commonly accepting free food or

drug samples, which about 80 percent of physicians did.....28 percent said

they had been paid for consulting, giving lectures or signing up patients

for clinical trials...... " We now know that virtually every doctor in the

United States has some form of relationship with the pharmaceutical

industry, " said G. , lead researcher of the New England

Journal of Medicine study and an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard

Medical School. " They are common. A quarter receive honoraria or some form

of payment for their services, and that was much higher than we expected. "

- Lee, Washington Post, April 29, 2007

" The researchers found dysfunction in common brain regions in reviews of

brain imaging data from 41 murderers, from a study group suffering from

aggressive impulsive personality disorder, and from a group diagnosed with

antisocial personality disorder. They also reviewed data from two

individuals who suffered early damage to the two regions of the brain in

question. Those individuals, injured early in life, both showed histories

of verbal and physical abusiveness and intermittent, explosive bursts of

anger. The research paper also described a large group of subjects who have

a genetic deficit that causes a disruption in the brain's serotonin levels.

The serotonin system employs many of the brain regions described earlier

and a disruption of the system has been linked to increased aggression.

son's analysis showed that these emotion-controlling brain regions

showed less activity in the individuals who carried this genetic

abnormality. son stresses that the research points to both genetics

and poor environmental history as potential contributors to impulsive

violence, and together they present a " double whammy " that put people at

much greater risk. " These parts of the brain are particularly responsive to

experiential shaping, " son says. " - Science Daily, August 15, 2000

" A retrospective study of brain investigations of 372 male patients in a

maximum- security mental hospital patients is described......In the most

violent group, 20% had focal temporal electrical abnormalities on EEG

(slowing and/or sharp waves) and 41% had structural abnormalities localised

to temporal lobe on CT....These results suggest that high violence rating

scores are associated with temporal lobe abnormalities on CT and abnormal

temporal electrical discharges on EEG. " - MT Wong et al, Acta Psychiatrica

Scandinavia, August 1994

Barbara Loe Fisher Commentary:

A significant portion of the US population is now using multiple

prescription drugs and vaccines from infancy through adulthood, even though

there has never been an evaluation of multiple drug and vaccine use in

humans to determine the effect on long term physical and mental health. If

Americans have become drug and vaccine junkies, then medical doctors who

promote and prescribe biological and chemical products made and sold by the

pharmaceutical industry have become their suppliers. Although drugs and

vaccine(s) prescribed (or mandated) by doctors can sometimes cause profound

negative changes in brain and immune function, there is little effort made

by the pharmaceutical industry and doctors profiting from mass drug and

vaccine use to evaluate potential negative effects or take steps to

minimize them.

Vaccine induced brain inflammation, which has been the hallmark of severe

reactions since the first vaccine - smallpox vaccine - was used on a mass

basis can be mild or severe and damage the developing brain of a child,

permanently altering behavior, personality, intelligence, emotional

stability, and physical ability. Drug induced chemical changes in the brain

can also negatively affect important aspects of normal brain function.

Instead of spending more research dollars to create new drugs and vaccines,

the pharmaceutical industry should first find out why drug and vaccine

complications occur and who is at high risk for suffering them.

An epidemic of chronic physical illness and disability, along with an

epidemic of depression and violent behavior, in American children and young

adults has developed during the past quarter century. Although economic and

social factors influence health and behavior, the possibility that

environmental insults are causing significant damage to brain and immune

function in a growing minority of children is very real. Too much

prescription drug and vaccine use cannot be discounted as one of those

environmental insults, which could result in greater or lesser damage,

depending upon genetic and other biological variables.

If a substantial minority of violent inmates in prisons and mental

institutions are brain damaged, we ignore at our peril the potential role

that prescription drug and vaccine-induced brain dysfunction plays in the

epidemic of chronic illness and violent behavior plaguing America. We owe

it to future generations to find out just how big that role may be before

more drugs and vaccines are prescribed and the epidemic gets worse.

Role of antidepressants in killings needs review

http://www.modbee.com/local/story/13533556p-14137410c.html

The Modesto Bee

April 29, 2007

By TY PHILLIPS

tphillips@...

Click here for the URL:

The murderous rampage that left 33 people dead at Virginia Tech has

stirred countless emotions: sadness and anger, fear and hatred, grief and

disgust. When Dr. Ann Blake heard the details, she felt many of those

same emotions. Yet there is one sentiment does not share with much of

the rest of the world: surprise. As terrible as it sounds, after nearly 20

years researching links between violent crime, suicide and antidepressants,

is surprised only that it doesn't happen more often.

Details continue to emerge about the lonely life of killer Seung-Hui Cho,

who had a history of mental illness. Among Cho's effects, officials found

prescription medications related to the treatment of psychological problems.

Though it's still premature to draw conclusions without toxicology results,

these are the details , an author and the executive director of the

International Coalition for Drug Awareness, expected from the moment she

heard about the Virginia Tech shootings. In her experience, when it comes

to investigating high-profile shootings, antidepressants are as common as

the presence of loneliness, despondence and rage.

" I'm just so tired of seeing people die, I could scream, " said during

a phone interview. " It's happening daily in this country. It's so massive,

it's just unreal. We've got so many school shootings now, I can't even

begin to keep up with them all. And the reason is so incredibly obvious.

You don't have to look at much to figure it out. "

2006, , Colo. - Duane on shot and killed a girl and sexually

assaulted six others. Antidepressants were found in his vehicle.

2005, Red Lake Indian Reservation, Minn. - Jeff Weise shot and killed nine

people and wounded five before committing suicide. Prozac.

1998, Springfield, Ore. - Kip Kinkel killed his parents, then went to

school and opened fire in the cafeteria, killing two and wounding 22. Prozac.

1989, Stockton - Purdy used an assault rifle to spray bullets

through a playground at Cleveland Elementary School, killing five children

and wounding 29 people before he killed himself. Elavil.

'It's all so intertwined'

There are dozens of other examples of violence at schools and the presence

of antidepressants, but the carnage hardly is limited to our campuses.

Countless families have been destroyed around the world through homicides

and suicides committed by adults on antidepressants.

In June 2001, Texan Yates drowned her five children under the

influence of four psychiatric medicines, including Effexor.

In February 2004 in Polk Township, Pa., Hirt, hours after taking a

pill for manic depression, set fire in a bedroom where her two toddlers

were playing, closed the door and sat on a sofa watching television while

the fire spread, killing both children. Effexor.

Other famous cases include the 1998 deaths of actor Phil Hartman and his

wife, a murder/suicide committed by her (Zoloft); the 1999 home and office

killing spree by Atlanta day trader Mark Barton (Prozac); the 1998 shooting

deaths of four co-workers by Connecticut lottery accountant Beck,

who then killed himself (Luvox); and the 1994 New York City subway bombing

by Leary, which injured 48 (Prozac).

The list (which can be found at www.drugawareness.org) encompasses hundreds

and hundreds of cases.

" You start linking them together and looking at all the similarities and

you say, 'Good grief, it's all so intertwined,' " said , who has

appeared on programs including " 20/20, " " Dateline " and " 60 Minutes " and

served as a consultant on high-profile cases including Columbine and

Yates. " I keep asking, 'When is somebody going to see this?' But we've been

so brainwashed about drugs, we think legal means safe.

" Most people don't know LSD once was prescribed as a wonder drug. Most

people don't know that PCP was considered to have a large margin of safety

in humans. Most people don't know ecstasy was prescribed and sold for five

years to treat depression. Few know that history of drugs, and I think

that's our biggest problem. We're just not educated enough to have concerns. "

Prozac nation, indeed

The Northern San Joaquin Valley certainly is not immune. Stanislaus County

Coroner Kristi Herr, who has investigated hundreds of the county's 4,000

annual deaths, including many accidental overdoses of prescription

medicines, said she regularly goes into homes of deceased people and finds

medicine cabinets loaded with prescription medicines. Sometimes there are

so many pill bottles that large garbage bags are needed to transport them all.

" It seems to me a large portion of our society is on antidepressants, " Herr

said. " That isn't based on statistics. That is just based on my experience

of going into homes and evaluating the cases that come through here. "

In 2003, then-Newman resident Lorraine Slater's 14- year-old daughter,

Dominique, killed herself after being treated for depression with several

antidepressants, including Celexa and Wellbutrin. As her depression and

erratic behavior worsened, her doctor prescribed her a double dose of

Effexor. Fifteen days later, she was dead. Her body later was found in the

Delta Mendota Canal in , not far from the family's home.

" On the drug, she became more agitated, combative and restless, " Slater

said. " And she had never been like that before. It's like our daughter was

on LSD. It was a real Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde experience. "

Shortly after Dominique's death, the FDA released a warning that one in 50

patients, or 2 percent, will experience an adverse reaction to Effexor,

which can include suicidal thoughts.

Slater has become a consumer advocate working to raise awareness of

possible dangers of antidepressants. On May 9, she will testify at a

hearing at the state Capitol concerning a bill that would require drug

companies to disclose results of all clinical trials. " We're not against

medication, " Slater said. " We just want disclosure about results from their

trials. In their internal memos, marketers are told to downplay the side

effects, and a lot of doctors aren't aware of the real dangers.

" We're just saying these companies need to give the citizens they're

supposedly trying to help the information about possible symptoms so people

can make informed decisions. If their medicine is so good, what is there

they have to hide? "

Arguments against link

Of course, the logical argument against tying violent crimes to

antidepressants is that there are countless factors that motivate a person

to commit a violent act.

And those who carry out these deeds often are people with mental illness,

so the presence of antidepressants can be expected. These are solid points;

correlation does not in itself mean causation. And there is no doubting

that countless people have benefited from these drugs.

Still, as one looks at the details of violent crimes around the country,

too often there is an array of antidepressants. At the very least, this is

a topic that deserves greater scrutiny.

In early 2005, the FDA issued a warning that antidepressants can cause both

suicide and violence. The agency also mandated a black-box warning - the

most serious available - that states these drugs can produce side effects

that include anxiety, agitation, panic attacks, irritability, hostility,

aggressiveness, impulsivity and mania.

The FDA also has warned that abrupt withdrawal of antidepressants can

produce suicide, psychosis or hostility.

Eli Lilly, which makes Prozac, repeatedly has denied claims that Prozac

causes violence, even though the company's own documents acknowledge

" nervousness, anxiety, self-mutilation and manic behavior " are among the

" usual adverse effects " of the medicine.

It's the same Eli Lilly that has paid more than $1.2 billion to 28,000

people who claimed they were injured by the drug Zyprexa during the past

decade, according to a Jan. 5 article in the New York Times.

Paying $1.2 billion over 10 years may sound like a lot of money until

compared with the $4.2 billion the company made last year alone selling

Zyprexa, which has been taken by 20 million people worldwide since its

introduction in 1996.

Most antidepressant drugs, including Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Luvox, Celexa,

Lexapro and Effexor, are known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors,

which alter brain chemistry in an attempt to manage depression.

Serotonin, a neurotransmitter, is a chemical that facilitates communication

within the brain, allowing one to experience happy feelings upon its

release. Essentially, the antidepressant drugs prevent reabsorption of

serotonin in an attempt to make the happiness experience last longer.

Mother of a monster

One of the former lead chemists at the National Institute of Health, whose

work eventually led to the development of many antidepressant drugs, first

spoke out against the drugs nearly 10 years ago.

" I am alarmed at the monster that s Hopkins neuroscientist

Snyder and I created when we discovered the simple binding assay for drug

receptors 25 years ago, " said Dr. Candace Pert in the Oct. 20, 1997, issue

of Time magazine.

She said Prozac and other SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor)

antidepressants may cause heart problems and affect the entire body, where

the vast majority of serotonin is produced.

The medical profession " ignores the body as if it exists merely to carry

the head around, " said Pert, who's now scientific director of RAPID

Pharmaceuticals in Potomac, Md. " These molecules of emotion regulate every

aspect of our physiology. "

A recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that

half of all Americans take at least one prescription drug, and that

antidepressant use has nearly tripled in the past decade. According to some

estimates, 30 million Americans take antidepressants. FDA statistics show

U.S. physicians issue more than 10 million antidepressant prescriptions

each year to patients younger than 18. FDA-approved prescription drugs

injure 2.2 million and kill at least 100,000 Americans each year, according

to numerous published studies.

Some survive and forgive

Problem is, when antidepressants don't work as intended, the harmful

fallout isn't limited to the user. The victims often are those within

striking distance. They are people like Mark , who was sitting

outside and reading a Bible when he was shot numerous times by

at Columbine High School.

" The first one hit me in the back of the leg. That was the shotgun blast, "

said in a recent phone interview. " That was the most painful. And

then I got hit several more times in the chest; the bullets went right

through me. They tried to make sure I was dead. I laid down and pretended I

was dead.

" I think , from the medication, didn't really know what he was

doing. I don't really hold him responsible for it. and Dylan were both

taking medicines. They just didn't seem to have any reaction to what they

were doing. They were having fun with it, laughing and enjoying it and

having a good time. I feel that antidepressants were the cause of the

Columbine shooting. "

, now 24, travels the country and speaks about the importance of

forgiveness. Since the Virginia Tech shootings, he has been besieged with

interview requests. His interviews included an appearance on " The Morning

Show with Mike and t, " a national Fox News Network program. The hosts

invited because they wanted to hear from someone who had survived a

school shooting, someone who presumably could offer insight to help other

children survive such an incident.

" Forgiveness, " told them, " that's how I survived it. "

But said the show's commentators weren't much interested in his

message of forgiveness. Instead, the show focused on interviews with FBI

agents and police tacticians, who offered survival tips that we are

supposed to use to arm our children as we send them off to school.

Is this what it's come to? Do we now simply accept that frequent school

shootings are a part of today's society and prepare ourselves for when

tragedy strikes? Too often, instead of working to find the cause of

problems, we react to symptoms. That same kind of thinking is what has so

many Americans taking antidepressants in the first place.

To comment, click on the link with this column at www.modbee.com.

Bee columnist Ty can be reached at tphillips@... or 874-5716.

Drugmakers, Doctors Get Cozier

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/28/AR2007042800

896.html?nav=rss_business

Gifts Continue, Contacts Increase Despite Guidelines

The Washington Post

April 29, 2007

By Lee

Click here for the URL: (registration required)

Despite efforts to curb drug companies' avid courting of doctors, the

industry is working harder than ever to influence what medicines they

prescribe, sending out sales representatives with greater frequency and

plying physicians with gifts, meals and consulting fees, according to

several new papers.

One study published in the New England Journal of Medicine last week found

that 94 percent of doctors have some type of relationship with the drug

industry -- most commonly accepting free food or drug samples, which about

80 percent of physicians did. More than one-third of the 1,662 physicians

who responded to a survey conducted from November 2003 to June 2004

reported being reimbursed by the drug industry for costs of going to

professional meetings or continuing medical education, and 28 percent said

they had been paid for consulting, giving lectures or signing up patients

for clinical trials.

Two other papers examined in detail the strategies that pharmaceutical

representatives, or " detailers, " use and how effective the industry is at

influencing doctors.

" We now know that virtually every doctor in the United States has some form

of relationship with the pharmaceutical industry, " said G. ,

lead researcher of the New England Journal of Medicine study and an

assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. " They are

common. A quarter receive honoraria or some form of payment for their

services, and that was much higher than we expected. "

Contacts between doctors and drug salespeople have jumped from the average

of 4.4 per month reported in 2000, and other researchers found. In

the survey period, drug representatives met with family practitioners an

average of 16 times a month, with cardiologists and internists nine or 10

times a month, with pediatricians eight times a month and with surgeons

four times a month. Only anesthesiologists, who saw the representatives

twice a month, appear to be meeting with the industry less often than

before, the study found.

As those numbers suggest, the companies shower more attention on certain

doctors, the researchers said. Cardiologists -- whose prescribing patterns

tend to influence primary care doctors -- were more likely to be paid for

consulting and other services than were family practitioners,

pediatricians, anesthesiologists and surgeons, the study found.

" When I send somebody to a cardiologist, if he puts somebody on a medicine,

I'm not going to change it, " said co-author Blumenthal, a general

internist and the director of the Institute for Health Policy at

Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. " If they use a particular agent,

I'm more likely personally to prescribe that agent because I figure the guy

is an expert and he has got some reason for picking that brand as opposed

to some other brand. "

The ties between doctors and drug companies are deepening despite voluntary

guidelines to curb excesses, adopted in 2002 by the American Medical

Association, the American College of Physicians, the Accreditation Council

for Continuing Medical Education and the Pharmaceutical Research and

Manufacturers of America. The inspector general of the Department of Health

and Human Services issued similar guidance in 2003.

Under the industry code, gifts must be worth less than $100 and should

primarily benefit patients -- items such as stethoscopes or medical

dictionaries. Meals should be " modest " in cost, and a physician's spouse

should not be included. Gifts of cash or tickets to sporting events are

inappropriate. Consulting arrangements must be for real services, and

doctors should not be paid for listening to marketing pitches.

" Clearly, adequate safeguards are already in place, " Ken , senior

vice president of the drug industry association, said in a statement. " The

goal is to make sure the focus of conversations between company

representatives and physicians remains providing accurate information about

medicines. "

A former industry insider, however, painted a different picture in an

article last week in PLoS Medicine, a journal published by the Public

Library of Science. Shahram Ahari, a former drug company representative,

and physician e Fugh-Berman wrote that the estimated 100,000

representatives who visit doctors' offices look for details such as family

photos or hobbies that they can use to forge a relationship. They use food,

gifts and money to make often-overworked doctors feel more appreciated --

and more loyal to the company's drugs. If a physician will not meet with

them, the representatives often woo the office staff with flattery and meals.

" Pharmaceutical gifting . . . . involves carefully calibrated generosity, "

Ahari and Fugh-Berman wrote. " Many prescribers receive pens, notepads, and

coffee mugs, all items kept close at hand, ensuring that a targeted drug's

name stays uppermost in a physician's subconscious mind. High prescribers

receive higher-end presents, for example, silk ties or golf bags. "

Drug companies also purchase prescription records from pharmacies and, with

the help of an American Medical Association database, identify individual

physicians' prescribing patterns and rank doctors based on how many

prescriptions they write, the authors wrote.

The tactics work. Another study in PLoS Medicine last week found that

visits by detailers prompted nearly half of 97 physicians to increase

prescriptions of gabapentin, a drug approved to treat seizures. In many

cases, the drug representatives were pushing non- approved, or " off-label, "

uses of the drug, the study found.

A study in the Journal of General Internal Medicine in February found that

physicians in focus groups said that they understand the potential

conflicts of interest but that they still view their meetings with drug

detailers as informative and appropriate. Such findings suggest that

voluntary guidelines are inadequate, researchers wrote.

In an interview, one District-based physician, orthopedic surgeon E.

Lavine, said that drug representatives used to visit his office daily but

have cut back in recent years to stopping by about twice a week. The

conduct guidelines have eliminated most excesses, Lavine said, and many

doctors view the sessions as a way to learn about side effects and how

drugs compare.

" The vast majority of physicians appreciate the information but find them

[detailers] as a nuisance, " said Lavine, chairman of the Medical Society of

the District of Columbia.

" They always tend to come in the middle of the day when you are busy seeing

patients, and it's very difficult to break away and talk to them. And if

they've bought lunch for the staff, then you are sort of obligated to give

them a little bit of your time. I think they certainly have a valuable

educational benefit. I don't think that physicians are going to change

their prescribing patterns for free samples. "

http://www.news.wisc.edu/5121.html

Brain Study Sheds Light On Impulsive Violence

Science Daily

Date: August 15, 2000

Source: University of Wisconsin-Madison

Science Daily - The human brain is wired with natural checks and balances

that control negative emotions, but breakdowns in this regulatory system

appear to heighten risk of violent behavior, according to findings of a

study by UW-Madison psychologist son.

As part of a special report on violence in the July 28 issue of the journal

Science, son and colleagues analyzed brain imaging data from a large,

diverse group of studies on violent subjects and those predisposed to

violence. The studies focused on people diagnosed with aggressive

personality disorder, those with childhood brain injuries and convicted

murderers. Researchers found common neurological threads among these more

than 500 subjects in the brain's inability to properly regulate emotion.

The study focused on several interconnected regions in the prefrontal

cortex of the brain, areas defined in son's previous work as an

essential control mechanism for negative emotions.

A similar brain process has been implicated in a number of mental health

problems, including depression and anxiety disorders. son says this

newfound connection between violence and brain dysfunction opens a new

avenue for studying and possibly treating violence and aggression.

" We are placing the question of violence right in the middle of our basic

research on the neurobiology of emotion, because our previous insights in

this area give us tremendous leverage to understand the root causes of

violence, " son says. " There never has been a theoretical framework to

make sense of this before. "

One of the core findings, son says, deals with the interplay between

several distinct brain regions, namely the orbital frontal cortex, the

anterior cingulate cortex and the amygdala. The orbital frontal cortex

plays a crucial role in constraining impulsive outbursts, while the

anterior cingulate cortex recruits other brain regions in the response to

conflict. The amygdala, a tiny but highly influential portion of the brain,

is involved in the production of a fear response and other negative emotions.

son and colleagues Putnam and Larson found that

normal brain activity in the orbital and anterior regions were blunted or

entirely absent in many of the study groups, while the amygdala showed

normal or heightened activity. The inability of the two brain regions to

effectively counteract the response of the amygdala may help explain how

threatening situations can become explosive in some people.

A major strength of the research is in the range of people studied and the

consistency of the results, son says. The researchers found

dysfunction in common brain regions in reviews of brain imaging data from

41 murderers, from a study group suffering from aggressive impulsive

personality disorder, and from a group diagnosed with antisocial

personality disorder.

They also reviewed data from two individuals who suffered early damage to

the two regions of the brain in question. Those individuals, injured early

in life, both showed histories of verbal and physical abusiveness and

intermittent, explosive bursts of anger.

The research paper also described a large group of subjects who have a

genetic deficit that causes a disruption in the brain's serotonin levels.

The serotonin system employs many of the brain regions described earlier

and a disruption of the system has been linked to increased aggression.

son's analysis showed that these emotion-controlling brain regions

showed less activity in the individuals who carried this genetic abnormality.

son stresses that the research points to both genetics and poor

environmental history as potential contributors to impulsive violence, and

together they present a " double whammy " that put people at much greater

risk. " These parts of the brain are particularly responsive to experiential

shaping, " son says.

The study may recast the way society looks at impulsive violence, by

defining it as a mental health issue. " Emotion regulation is extremely

significant for a whole constellation of problems people encounter, " he says.

The long-term implications of the study will be in the realm of new

treatments, son predicts, that will combine targeted behavioral

interventions with drug therapies, in much the same way depression and

anxiety disorders are treated.

" Given what we know about brain plasticity and the fact that the brain

really can change in response to experience, we have good reason to expect

that these treatments may, in fact, have beneficial consequences, " son

says.

While the research points to emotion regulation deficits as a " smoking gun "

in impulsive violence, son cautions that science is a long way from

developing any preventive strategy for at-risk populations. son's

future studies will explore this complex brain process in much greater

detail, through the use of imaging technologies such as magnetic resonance

imaging (MRI) and positron emission topography (PET) used in tandem for

high-resolution, real time images of brain function.

son is director of the Wisconsin Center for Affective Science and

directs the W.M. Keck Center for Functional Imaging. His research is

supported by the National Institute of Mental Health.

Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by University

Of Wisconsin- Madison.

Electroencephalography, computed tomography and violence ratings of male

patients in a maximum- security mental hospital.

Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica

1994 Aug;90(2):97-101

Wong MT, Lumsden J, Fenton GW, Fenwick PB.

Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, London, United Kingdom.

ABSTRACT

A retrospective study of brain investigations of 372 male patients in a

maximum-security mental hospital patients is described. All computed

tomography (CT) scan and electroencephalography (EEG) reports were

collected and rated blind; patients were subsequently divided into 3 groups

according to the violence rating of their pre-admission offending

behaviour. The 3 groups were similar in their mean age, psychiatric

diagnosis, Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale score and proportions of

patients investigated with EEG and CT. In the most violent group, 20% had

focal temporal electrical abnormalities on EEG (slowing and/or sharp waves)

and 41% had structural abnormalities localised to temporal lobe on CT

(dilated temporal horn and/or reduced size of temporal lobe). The

corresponding figures for the least violent group are 2.4% and 6.7%

respectively. These results suggest that high violence rating scores are

associated with temporal lobe abnormalities on CT and abnormal temporal

electrical discharges on EEG.

PMID: 7976465 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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Vaccines - http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/vaccine.htm