Platelet uptake of the amines 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) and dopamine has been found to be lower in depressed than in normal subjects. In the latter the values were more scattered. To discover whether this scatter was due to mild depression or predisposition to depression, 50 normal subjects whose amine uptake had been studied were asked to complete a questionnaire on symptoms and history of depression. No significant correlation between decreased amine uptake and answers to the questionnaire was found, but a correlation of minor significance (r=0.33; P less than 0.025) was found between increased number of potentially depressing life events and increased 5-HT uptake, contrary to what might have been expected. The scatter of values for amine uptake does not appear to be related to mood, or to personal or family history of depression.
Abstract 321 patients referred for consideration of termination of pregnancy were followed up. Termination of pregnancy caused little psychiatric disturbance provided the patient wanted an abortion; continuation of pregnancy, however, did on occasion lead to serious psychiatric disability, and a third of the mothers who kept their babies showed evidence of resenting them. Most unmarried women who were refused an abortion obtained one elsewhere; 2 of them died, though in neither case was death a direct result of the abortion.
A retrospective study of 140 babies who survived the first week of life and who had endotracheal intubation showed that 65 of them had either or both of the following complications of endotracheal tube therapy: (a) Collapse of one or more lobes with the tube in place or within the first two days following extubation and lasting less than 24 hours. When collapse lasted more than 48 hours, it often required repeated intubation for tracheal cleansing. The right lung, especially its upper lobe, was predominantly affected. (b) Tracheal lesions and nasal necrosis. A statistical comparison with intubated babies of similar age without complications showed the following factors to predispose to lobar collapse: younger gestational age, maximal high oxygen concentration administered, and prolonged duration of intubation. The results of endotracheal tube cultures bore no relation to the complication rate.