The clinico-statistical characteristics of the testicular generative function in male subfertility following mumps

The paper emphasized the role of mumps complicated by orchitis in the etiology of male subfertility with allowances for a possible development of testicular degeneration in the course of epidemic parotiditis alone, i.e. without clinically evident orchitis. To distinguish the impact of mumps sustained in childhood on the infertility development clinical and laboratory investigations would be advisable in the majority of subfertile males. The results of clinical and statistical study of 865 infertile males aged between 20 and 36 yrs whose marital life varied from 8 mos to 12 yrs were reported. Anamnestic evidence of epidemic parotiditis sustained at the age of 5-13 yrs was found in 174 examinees (20.1 per cent). Spermographic data on subfertile males with a history of mumps were exposed to statistical computation and correlated with the data on 200 subfertile males who avoided the disease and the data on 22 healthy fertile males. The authors noted significantly low (p less than 0.05) contents of ejaculate spermatozoa in subfertile males with a history of mumps and a significantly low number of morphologically normal spermatozoa (p less than 0.001) in comparison to those values in subfertile males without a history of epidemic parotiditis.     

Ceruloplasmin activity in blood serum in stomach and duodenal ulcers

An examination of 100 patients with ulcer disease of the stomach duodenum and 20 practically healthy people has shown that the level of extracellular antioxidant enzyme defense (ceruloplasmin) is higher than those in practically healthy people. This dependence was most pronounced in the group of patients requiring surgical interventions. In the process of treatment the level of ceruloplasmin activity gradually decreased, without reaching normal values. The level of ceruloplasmin activity in patients with ulcer disease of the stomach and duodenum are thought to characterize the state of compensatory reactions in these patients.     

Diagnosis and evaluation of the severity of arterial insufficiency of the legs using ultrasonic Doppler flowmetry in the treadmill test

A method of diagnostics and assessment of the severity of arterial insufficiency of lower extremities was developed on the basis of multistep treadmill-test and measuring time of reestablishment of continuous bloodflow in the popliteal artery by the method of ultrasonic doppler flowmetry. An examination of 40 patients with angiographically detected alterations of the vessels and 18 healthy persons was performed. It was found that the diagnostic and assessment criterion of arterial insufficiency in treadmill-test with high parameters of sensitivity and specificity is longer duration of the period of reestablishment of continuous bloodflow over 180 sec. The arterial insufficiency severity is estimated by the value of exercise by the moment of the appearance of the criterion.     

Vascularized fibular grafts in the treatment of congenital pseudarthrosis of the tibia

Free vascularized fibular bone grafts were used in nineteen children, seen consecutively, who had congenital pseudarthrosis of the tibia. The average age was 5.1 years (range, 1.4 to 11.4 years). Sixteen of the patients had been treated with electrical stimulation for at least one year, and the tibia had not united. All but four patients had had at least one previous operative procedure. At an average follow-up of 6.3 years (range, 2.0 to 11.0 years), eighteen (95 per cent) of the nineteen pseudarthroses had healed. The leg-length discrepancy averaged 1.6 centimeters (range, 0 to 4.0 centimeters), but ten tibiae had residual or progressive valgus or anteroposterior malalignment despite bracing. There was minimum morbidity at the donor site.     

Immunocytochemical identification of outer segment proteins in the rd chicken

Immunoreactivities of two monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) that recognize cone photopigments were tested in the retinas of congenitally blind retinal degenerate (rd) chicks and compared to normally sighted carrier chicks, heterozygous for the mutation. MAb OS-2 had been previously determined to label rod and most cone outer segment membranes in normal chick retinas and is believed to bind to an epitope that is common to several photopigments in chickens. MAb COS-1 labels specifically middle-to-long-wavelength-sensitive cone photopigments in a number of vertebrate species. In rd chicks MAb OS-2 labeled the same number of rod outer segments at the same densities as carrier chicks. However, cone outer segments were less frequently and significantly less heavily labeled with this MAb at all ages tested (1 day, 1 week and 2 weeks post hatching). MAb COS-1 labeled the same number of cone outer segments in both rd and carrier retinas at 1 day of age, however, those outer segments that were labeled in rd specimens had significantly fewer gold particles on them. At both 1 week and 2 weeks of age, rd chick retinas had a significant reduction in numbers of cone outer segments labeled by COS-1. These findings support the hypothesis that the cone photopigment protein is abnormal in the rd chick model of hereditary blindness and retinal degeneration.     

Prolonged inhibition of acid secretion causes hypergastrinaemia without altering pH inhibition of gastrin release in humans

Hypergastrinaemia induced by potent inhibitors of acid secretion is thought to occur as a result of the elimination of the inhibitory effects of intragastric acid on gastrin release. The present study was designed to determine if the mechanisms responsible for feedback inhibition of gastrin release and acid secretion by intragastric acid are preserved during four weeks of varying degrees of drug-induced acid inhibition. Forty-eight healthy male volunteers were randomly assigned to one of four treatments for four weeks: 10 mg omeprazole o.m., 20 mg omeprazole o.m., 40 mg omeprazole o.m. or 150 mg ranitidine b.d. Gastrin release and acid secretion in response to peptone meals maintained at pH 2.5 and pH 5.5 by intragastric titration, and 24-hour gastrin profiles in response to standard meals were determined before treatment, at the fourth week of treatment and two weeks after discontinuing treatment. As expected, omeprazole produced dose-related effects on acid secretion and gastrin concentrations that were largely reversed after treatment was discontinued. Gastrin release in response to pH 5.5 peptone meals remained significantly greater than gastrin release in response to pH 2.5 meals during treatment with all doses of omeprazole. The ratio of pH 5.5/pH 2.5 peptone meal-stimulated gastrin release was approximately 1.5, and remained constant for all treatment groups throughout the study period. These data indicate that four weeks of drug induced hypochlorhydria causes an apparent increase in overall G-cell function, but it does not interfere with normal feedback inhibition of gastrin release and acid secretion mediated by intragastric acidity.     

Effects of fenfluramine on neuropsychological and communicative functioning in treatment-refractory schizophrenic patients

Reported behavioral improvement among autistic patients following feufluramine treatment and a high serotonin level among certain chronic schizophrenic patients suggested that fenfluramine treatment might be beneficial with such schizophrenic patients, especially within the realm of neuropsychological and communicative functioning. A brief neuropsychological battery was administered to eight chronic schizophrenic subjects before, during, and after fenfluramine treatment. Conversations in controlled settings were audiotaped before and during fenfluramine treatment for seven of these subjects and one additional subject. These language samples were analyzed for communicative competence and evidence of thought disorder. Overall, neuropsychological and communicative functioning was worse under the fenfluramine condition, even though blood serotonin levels were about half those at baseline conditions. The results suggest that it is not the higher levels of blood serotonin by themselves that are related to depressed neuropsychological, communicative, and other functioning. In fact, the higher levels of serotonin may well be related to adaptations for maximal level of functioning. These results suggest caution in the use of fenfluramine for other schizophrenic populations.