Vertebral Fractures Produced by Metrazol-Induced Convulsions

Polatin, Phillip; Friedman, M.; Harris, Meyer M.; Horwitz, William A.

doi:10.1001/jama.1939.02800170030010

Cited by 57 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…In fact, it occurs rarely in humans, perhaps only in medical conditions such as infection with the tetanus bacillus, which causes tetanic muscle contractions that may lead to bony fractures (Baisch 1917;Wilhelm 1923;Roberg 1937). Similarly, treatment of patients with schizophrenia with the analeptic (convulsion-producing) drug metrazol (Bennett and Fitzpatrick 1939;Polatin et al 1939), or of those with depression with convulsive shock therapy (Hamsa and Bennett 1939), was associated with bony fractures before these forms of inhumane treatment were finally terminated. These examples show that unregulated skeletal muscle contraction can produce sufficient force to cause bony fractures.…”

Section: The Explanation For 6 Common Exercise Phenomena According Tomentioning

confidence: 99%

Time to move beyond a brainless exercise physiology: the evidence for complex regulation of human exercise performance

Noakes

2011

Appl. Physiol. Nutr. Metab.

206

198

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In 1923, Nobel Laureate A.V. Hill proposed that maximal exercise performance is limited by the development of anaerobiosis in the exercising skeletal muscles. Variants of this theory have dominated teaching in the exercise sciences ever since, but 90 years later there is little biological evidence to support Hill's belief, and much that disproves it. The cardinal weakness of the Hill model is that it allows no role for the brain in the regulation of exercise performance. As a result, it is unable to explain at least 6 common phenomena, including (i) differential pacing strategies for different exercise durations; (ii) the end spurt; (iii) the presence of fatigue even though homeostasis is maintained; (iv) fewer than 100% of the muscle fibers have been recruited in the exercising limbs; (v) the evidence that a range of interventions that act exclusively on the brain can modify exercise performance; and (vi) the finding that the rating of perceived exertion is a function of the relative exercise duration rather than the exercise intensity. Here I argue that the central governor model (CGM) is better able to explain these phenomena. In the CGM, exercise is seen as a behaviour that is regulated by complex systems in the central nervous system specifically to ensure that exercise terminates before there is a catastrophic biological failure. The complexity of this regulation cannot be appreciated if the body is studied as a collection of disconnected components, as is the usual approach in the modern exercise sciences.

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Section: The Explanation For 6 Common Exercise Phenomena According Tomentioning

confidence: 99%

Time to move beyond a brainless exercise physiology: the evidence for complex regulation of human exercise performance

Noakes

2011

Appl. Physiol. Nutr. Metab.

206

198

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show abstract

“…A vertebral fracture was detected by Wespi (55), who pointed out the necessity of paying greater attention to complaints of backache. Nevertheless, fractures of spinal vertebrae were considered rare occurrences until very recently, when their incidence was investigated by Polatin, Friedman, Harris, and Horwitz (40). i These investigators, through routine X-ray examinations, found a high percentage of compression fractures in the thoracic spine.…”

Section: Metrazol Treatmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

The insulin-shock and metrazol treatments of schizophrenia, with emphasis on psychological aspects.

Shipley¹,

Fritz²

1940

Psychological Bulletin

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“…This paper concerns itself with attempts to modify the metrazol convulsion with the purpose of decreasiiig its usual severity and duration while a t the same time preserving its general character and form. The resulting milder seizure may eventually have a clinical application in view of the reports of fractures occurring during metrazol treatment of the psychoses (I), (2), (3), (4), (5). That such lighter convulsions can occur for the most part without producing fractures is supported by the roentgenographic studies on an unpublished series of twenty epileptics which yielded no evidence of fracture although all PHARMACEUTICAL ASSOCIATION cordingly decided to investigate the action of these substances upon the metrazol convulsion.…”

Section: Pharmacologic Modification Of the Metrazol Convulsionmentioning

confidence: 99%