Stephanie S. Alpert, Ph.D.

Decreased dopamine beta-hydroxylase activity in unipolar geriatric delusional depression
Meyers, B S; Alexopoulos, G S; Kakuma, T; Tirumalasetti, F; Gabriele, M; Alpert, S; Bowden, C; Meltzer, H Y
1999 Feb 15;45(4):448-452, Biological psychiatry
BACKGROUND: Decreased dopamine beta-hydroxylase (DBH) activity has been reported in unipolar psychotic depression. DBH comparisons between elderly delusional and nondelusional depressives and controls and determination of whether pretreatment group differences persist have not been reported. Our objective was to compare DBH activity in elderly delusional major depressives with that of nondelusional depressives and normal control subjects before and after hospital treatment. METHODS: Enzyme activity was assessed after hospital admission. A subsample had predischarge assessments. Treatment was not controlled but accounted for in analyses. Electroconvulsive therapy subjects were medication-free for posttreatment assays. RESULTS: Baseline and predischarge DBH assays were lower in subjects with delusional depression than in either comparison group. Despite high intraindividual correlation, treatment was associated with significant increases in activity in the clinical groups. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with late-life delusional depression have lower DBH activity before and after hospital treatment than age-matched nondelusional patients or normal controls
— id: 126973, year: 1999, vol: 45, page: 448, stat: Journal Article,

State specificity of DST abnormalities in geriatric depression
Meyers, B S; Alpert, S; Gabriele, M; Kakuma, T; Kalayam, B; Alexopoulos, G S
1993 Jul 1-15;34(1-2):108-114, Biological psychiatry
Pre-treatment and posttreatment dexamethasone suppression test (DST) results in physically healthy elderly major depressives without dementia demonstrated an association between treatment and DST normalization. Sixty percent of subjects were nonsuppressors at baseline compared to 17% after intensive treatment. DST results normalized in 75% of initial nonsuppressors; none of the initial suppressors converted to nonsuppression. A strong correlation between clinical improvement and decreases in afternoon cortisol levels was identified. Initial suppression status did not influence this association. There was a nonsignificant trend for very high (> 15 micrograms/dl) afternoon cortisol levels to be associated with delusional depression. The advantage of using continuous rather than categorical measures to assess the relationship between reversal of depression and DST results is discussed
— id: 126993, year: 1993, vol: 34, page: 108, stat: Journal Article,

The response of infant monkeys to mothers, familiars, strangers, and peers: Development during the first eight months of life
Alpert, Stephanie S
1979 ;39(7-B):3573- Jan, Dissertation abstracts international. Section B: the Sciences & Engineering
— id: 38780, year: 1979, vol: 39, page: 3573, stat: Journal Article,

Reponse to mother and stranger: a first step in socialization
Rosenblum LA; Alpert S
Primate bio-social development : biological, social, and ecological determinants New York : Garland, 1977,
— id: 3118, year: 1977, vol: , page: ?, stat: Chapter,

The influence of gender and rearing conditions on attachment and response to strangers
Alpert S; Rosenblum LA
Proceedings from the symposia of the fifth congress of the International Primatological Society, Nagoya, Japan, August 1974 Tokyo : Japan Science Press, 1975,
— id: 3119, year: 1975, vol: , page: ?, stat: Chapter,

Fear of strangers and specificity of attachment in monkeys
Rosenblum LA; Alpert S
The origins of fear New York : Wiley, 1974,
— id: 3120, year: 1974, vol: , page: ?, stat: Chapter,