Arrest and incarceration of civil commitment candidates

To gauge whether more stringent civil commitment criteria have led to the criminalization of mentally ill persons, forcing them into jails and prisons instead of treating them, a statewide sample of 1,226 civil commitment candidates in North Carolina was tracked for six months after their commitment hearings. Only 72 sample members were arrested during the period, mostly for burglary or larceny (22 arrests), simple or aggravated assault (17 arrests), and minor offenses (40 arrests), including drunkenness, trespassing, and traffic violations. Fourteen sample members were jailed, and two were sent to prison. The mentally ill who were not involuntarily hospitalized or who were hospitalized for only short periods were seldom arrested; when they were arrested, the charges were generally for nondangerous offenses.     

Altered acceptability of and preference for sugar solutions by diabetic rats is normalized by high-fat diet

Two experiments examined the ingestive responses of streptozotocin-diabetic rats fed low-fat or high-fat diets to glucose, fructose, sucrose and maltose solutions in brief (30 min) intake tests. In Experiment 1, one-bottle acceptability tests were used whereas two-bottle preference tests were used in Experiment 2. Three main findings resulted from these studies. Firstly, diabetic rats fed the low-fat diet displayed a reduced acceptance of and preference for all concentrated sugar solutions. Secondly, glucose consumption patterns of diabetic rats fed the low-fat diet were distinctly different from their responses to the other sugars. Thirdly feeding high-fat diets, either high or low in carbohydrate, normalized the responses of diabetic rats to the sugar solutions. The results suggest that feeding high-fat diets to diabetic rats normalizes their responses to sugar solutions because of reductions in hunger and thirst associated with the provision of a utilizable source of calories and an improvement in body fluid balance.     

Acute occupational poisonings in enclosed spaces

The contributors provide an analysis of the conditions and reasons accounting for the acute occupational intoxications in closed environments, which occurred in Moscow in 1986-1989 and resulted in 18 deaths. Proposals are made with regard to a state standard act on the safety rules for working in closed environments with the texts of some paragraphs to this act.     

Three-dimensional human pattern visual evoked potentials. II. Multiple sclerosis patients.

Pattern visual evoked potentials were obtained from 46 patients with definite relapsing/remitting multiple sclerosis, using both a conventional 5-channel occipital array and a 3-D recording technique consisting of three bipolar derivations approximating the three dimensions of space. These three orthogonal wave forms were displayed as a 3-D Lissajous trajectory for each subject. Two of the 15 patients with completely normal conventional pattern VEPs had abnormalities of the orientation of the B-C curvilinear segment of the 3-D pattern VEPs. Delays in the first major occipital positive component (P100) were evident using both techniques; the correlation between P100 latency and the latency of the corresponding trajectory apex was r = 0.99 (P less than 0.01). Post-chiasmal MRI abnormalities were associated with 3-D VEP orientation abnormalities. Three-dimensional pattern VEPs are moderately more sensitive than conventional pattern VEPs at detecting dysfunction posterior to the optic chiasm in demyelinating disease and do not require the use of eccentric fixation to do so.     

Surgical treatment for temporomandibular joint problems.

Surgical intervention may be necessary for some patients with specific pathology or derangement of the temporomandibular joint as part of an overall management protocol. The current literature discusses the efficacy of arthroscopy, the treatment of the difficult problem of ankylosis, and the use of implants and autogenous and allogenic materials to replace the disk.     

New data on the pharmacokinetics of adriamycin and its major metabolite, adriamycinol

Twenty-two days after administration by intravenous bolus, of 50 mg of adriamycin to several patients we found concentrations of adriamycin and adriamycinol of the order of 100 pcg/ml. In theory, however, with a terminal half-life of 30 h, the plasma levels of adriamycin and adriamycinol should be close to 0.1 pcg/ml. Further pharmacokinetic investigation was therefore necessary. We have retained for this study nine male patients, aged between 53 and 69 years who received 25 to 50 mg of adriamycin by slow intravenous injection. The HPLC method permitted the detection of 50 pcg/ml of adriamycin and adriamycinol, with the possibility of monitoring their elimination during 120 h (and in one case during 160 h). The terminal half-lives of elimination estimated in 8 patients were respectively 110 +/- 52 h for adriamycin and 92 h 50 min +/- 43 h for adriamycinol. Surface ratios under adriamycinol curves against calculated adriamycin was 1.10 +/- 0.26. Plasma levels found during the To in certain patients correspond to the end of the drug elimination of the previous treatment. It is difficult with a half-life to 110 h to predict the effects of residual concentrations of adriamycin and adriamycinol.     

Handcuff neuropathies

Compressive neuropathy due to tight application of handcuffs occurred in 5 patients. The superficial radial nerve was affected in 8 hands and the median nerve in two. Neurologic deficits persisted as long as 3 years after handcuffing. Nerve conduction studies helped to exclude malingering and other diagnoses. All patients had been intoxicated when handcuffed or had been arrested with force. The handcuff mechanism, which allows accidental overtightening after application, is an unrecognized factor in these neuropathies.     

Microencapsulated dopamine (DA)-induced restitution of function in 6-OHDA-denervated rat striatum in vivo: comparison between two microsphere excipients.

Biodegradable controlled-release microsphere systems made with the biocompatible biodegradable polyester excipient poly [DL lactide-co-glycolide] constitute an exciting new technology for drug delivery to the central nervous system (CNS). The present study describes functional observations indicating that implantation of dopamine (DA) microspheres encapsulated within two different polymer excipients into denervated-striatal tissue assures a prolonged release of the transmitter in vivo. Moreover, in this regard, the results show that there were clear cut temporal differences in the effect of the two DA microsphere formulations compared in this study, probably reflecting variations in the actual composition (i.e., lactide to glycolide ratio) of the two copolymer excipients examined. This technology has considerable potential for basic research with possible clinical application.