In eight years, 21183 San Diego County residents killed themselves. Of these, 52 had been at some time patients of one private psychiatric group. The suicide rate increased with age for the county population but not for the psychiatric patients. This difference was highly significant. Although older people generally are at greater risk for suicide, older psychiatric patients may be more responsive to treatment.
The toxic effects of hexachlorophene (HCP) on the central nervous system include paralysis of limbs with tonic extensor rigidity and edema and spongy degeneration of white matter in the brain and spinal cord (1 -4). These effects are reversible upon cessation of HCP administration (2), making it unlikely that permanent damage to cerebrospinal neurons is sustained in surviving animals. Instead, the signs suggest a "pressure lesion" ( 5 ) with the possibility of fatal outcome in cases that are severe, sustained, and unrelieved. This led us to investigate whether toxic amounts of HCP produce elevations of cerebrospinal fluid pressure (CSFP) and if so, whether this effect could be antagonized or reversed. The wide range of neurological observations accessible to simple "clinical" test in the cat was the basis for choice of this species over the rat for studies reported here.Materials and methods. Eighteen male mongrel cats, 1 to 2 years old, were immunized for distemper and pneumonitis and allowed to become accustomed to our laboratory for 4 to 5 weeks before use. They were removed from their cages twice each week and allowed free movement in the animal room while under observation to accustom them to the handling necessary for dosing and examination. They were systematically observed before and after treatment according to a checklist that included the criteria from Norton and DeBeer ( 6 ) , including recognition of personnel, grooming, feeding, drinking, and exploratory behavior, and many of the neurological tests outlined by McGrath (7), such as muscle tone, stretch, righting, placing, and extensor and pinnal reflexes.HCP, at a dose of 20 mg/kg, was weighed into a capsule for each animal and administered daily by the oral route. Blood samples 165
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