Behavior psychomotor

In a study of the effect of fexofenadine on driving and psychomotor behavior there were no differences between fexofenadine and placebo on reaction times, decisionmaking, or driver behavior (72). However, one criticism of this study was the failure to include a positive control, such as diphenhydramine. 

Uremic encephalopathy occurs as a result of the effects of uremia on the central nervous system and is associated with symptoms including alterations in consciousness, thinking, memory, speech, psychomotor behavior, and emotion. Sensory and motor function may be altered, particularly affecting leg nerves, resulting in leg cramps and restless leg syndrome. Uremic encephalopathy is less common because of earlier initiation of dialysis in patients with Stage 5 CKD. 

Psychomotor behaviors pertain to the proper and skillful use of body mechanics and may involve both gross and fine motor skills. Safety-training sessions for psychomotor skills should involve as many of the senses as possible. The trainer must adapt the format involving such physical movements to match the skill level of the learner and the difficulty of the task (System Safety Training, 2000). 

The characteristic behavioral effects of acute and chronic psychomotor stimulant diugs are locomotor activation, stereotypy, and conditioned reward and stimulus-reward learning. The most important brain regions involved in these effects are summarized in Table 3. 

When severe anxiety is present, it is important to obtain the history from a family member or friend. During the time the history is taken, the nurse observes the patient for behavioral symptoms indicating anxiety (eg, psychomotor agitation [extreme restlessness], facial grimaces, tense posture). Physiologic manifestations of anxiety include increased blood... 

Schuster CR The behavioral pharmacology of psychomotor stimulant drugs, in Psychotropic Agents, Part II. Edited by Hoffineister F, Stille G. New York, Springer-Verlag, 1981, pp 587-605... 

Antagonism of several characteristic effects of amphetamine and cocaine by the alpha adrenergic receptor antagonist prazosin is a most recent example of noradrenergic mechanisms in the actions of psychomotor stimulants (Tessel and Barrett 1986). We investigated whether or not prazosin may attenuate the disruptive effects of amphetamine on social and aggressive behavior in mice and squirrel monkeys (Miczek, unpublished observations). Pretreatment with prazosin (0.4 mg/kg) attenuated the disruption of attack... 

J.F. Temporal and sequential patterns of agonistic behavior. Effects of alcohol, anxiolytics and psychomotor stimulants. Psychopharmacology 97 149-151, 1989. 

The motor activation produced by psychomotor stimulants has been long associated with the midbrain dopamine systems. While focused stereotyped behavior produced by high doses of indirect sympathomimetics is blocked by removal of dopamine terminals in the corpus striatum (Creese and Iversen 1975), the locomotor activation produced by low doses of indirect sympathomimetics is blocked by removal of dopamine terminals in the region of the nucleus accumbens (Kelly et al. 1975). This dopaminergic substrate for psychostimulant effects appears selective for the indirect sympathomimetics in that dopamine lesions to the region of the nucleus... 

In view of this neurotoxicity, we will review some data relevant to this process. First, we will review data showing that methamphetamine (METH), a prototypic psychomotor stimulant, which has been widely used for nonmedical purposes at doses often a good deal higher than therapeutie doses, is neurotoxic to dopamine (DA) and serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HI)) systems. Second, we will examine the evidence that other substituted phenethylamines are also neurotoxic to certain transmitter systems. Last, we will examine the behavioral and pharmacological consequences of neurotoxicity that result from exposure to some of these amphetamine-related drugs. 

Diagnosis of a urea cycle defect in the older child can be elusive. Patients may present with psychomotor retardation, growth failure, vomiting, behavioral abnormalities, perceptual difficulties, recurrent cerebellar ataxia and headache. It is therefore essential to monitor the blood ammonia in any patient with unexplained neurological symptoms, but hyperammonemia is inconstant with partial enzymatic defects. Measurement of blood amino acids and urinary orotic acid is indicated. 

Wolf, M. E. The role of excitatory amino acids in behavioral sensitization to psychomotor stimulants. Prog. Neurobiol. 54 679-720,1998. 

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