神经肽Y对免疫细胞活性的影响

神经肽Y（NPY）是广泛分布于中枢神经系统和外周神经各部位的神经肽类物质。本实验观察NPY在体外对几种免疫细胞活性的直接作用。结果表明，NPY对小鼠T淋巴细胞丝裂原反应性和NK细胞的杀伤活性均无明显影响（P＞0．05），对巨噬细胞分泌溶菌酶有明显抑制作用（P＜0．05）；而对B淋巴细胞丝裂原反应性则有明显的促进作用（P＜0．05）。上述结果提示，NPY对部分免疫细胞功能的影响因细胞种类而异。     

雌酮对蟾蜍神经—肌接头传递的影响

在蟾蜍离体坐骨神经－缝匠肌制备的肌细胞终板进行细胞内记录，研究了雌酮对神经－肌接头传递的影响。结果表明：雌酮加于浸浴液能增加１０μｇ筒箭毒处理组和１０ｍｍｏｌ／Ｌ ＭｇＣｌ２处理组制备的终板电位振幅，但前者的增加更显著；雌酮加入浸浴液３０分钟后引起小终板电位的振幅和频率明显增加，但波形不改变，静息膜电位也不改变。这些结果提示，雌酮能增加神经－肌接头传递，且主要通过突触前机理的作用。     

Apolipoprotein E—associated risk for Alzheimer's disease in the African-American population is genotype dependent

As a part of our ongoing study on Alzheimer's disease (AD) in elderly African Americans, we obtained clinical assessment and apolipoprotein E (ApoE) genotype data on 288 individuals (including 60 with AD). The ApoE σ4 allele frequency was significantly increased in AD patients compared with controls. The age-adjusted odds ratio (OR) for AD in σ4 homozygotes was 4.83 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.71–13.64) compared with the σ3/σ3 genotype, but the OR for AD with the σ3/σ4 genotype did not reach significance (1.20; 95% CI, 0.58–2.45). These findings suggest that the association between ApoE σ4 and AD is weaker in African Americans than in whites.     

Incidental prostatic carcinoma: four-year follow-up after treatment with cyproterone acetate

This report is a retrospective clinical randomized study carried out on 114 cases of incidental prostatic carcinoma aged 55-87 years, 58 untreated and 56 treated with cyproterone acetate (CPA 200 mg/day) for 6 months, immediately after surgery. 78 cases were staged A1 and the remaining 36 A2. In stage A1, 75 cases were histologically graded G1, and 3 G2, whereas in stage A2, 7 cases were G1, 19 G2 and 10 G3. Moreover, flow cytometric DNA analysis showed in A1 20 G1 carcinomas with nuclear diploidy and 3 G2 with nuclear aneuploidy, in stage A2, 4 G3 tumors with nuclear aneuploidy. During the 4-year follow-up, 25/28 patients of the untreated group and 15/56 of the CPA-treated group were found in progression. In A1, progression was found in 6/37 untreated patients and 5/41 CPA-treated, whilst in A2 progression was observed in 19/21 untreated patients and in 10/15 treated with CPA. The critical period for progression was between the 2nd and 3rd year of follow-up. In A1, therefore, 6 months of therapy with CPA does not modify the progression rate, which is significantly improved in A2 (66% in the treated and 90% in the untreated group) during the first 30 months of follow-up. The prognosis may probably be further improved by continuing endocrine therapy.     

Lyme disease presenting as urinary retention

We report a case of Lyme disease that presented with urinary retention. The individual then experienced lower extremity paralysis. Paralysis and urinary retention resolved with intravenous ceftriaxone antibiotic. To our knowledge this is the first report of a urological manifestation as the initial clinical presentation of Lyme disease. Recognition of clinical symptoms and urological complications of Lyme disease also are discussed.     

Positive and negative interactions in the behavioural expression of D1 and D2 receptor stimulation in a model of Parkinsonism: role of priming.

Previous exposure to a dopaminergic agonist (priming) strongly potentiates contralateral turning behaviour in response to D1 and D2 agonists in unilaterally 6-hydroxydopamine-lesioned rats. In order to study the influence of priming on the behavioural interaction of D1 and D2 receptors, we examined the effect of selective D1 and D2 receptor blockade on the contralateral turning induced by the mixed D2/D2 agonist apomorphine in drug-naive and primed 6-hydroxydopamine-lesioned rats. In drug-naive rats, apomorphine induced a dose-related, apparently monophasic rotation curve. Administration of selective D1 (SCH 23390) or D2 (raclopride) antagonists abolished the contralateral turning induced by 0.1 mg/kg of apomorphine and partially inhibited that induced by 0.5 mg/kg. In primed rats low doses of apomorphine (0.05 mg/kg) induced an apparently monophasic contralateral turning which was reduced by D1 receptor blockade and completely abolished by D2 receptor blockade; a higher dose of apomorphine (0.1 mg/kg) instead elicited a biphasic (two-peak) pattern of rotation. After this dose of the agonist, blockade of D1 or D2 receptors abolished the second peak of rotation but, while D1 blockade reduced the total number of turns, D2 blockade failed to do so. Quantitative analysis of the interaction between D1 and D2 receptors in the overall turning effect, as well as in the time-course of turning behaviour, indicates that D1 and D2 receptors interact not only positively but also negatively. After higher doses of apomorphine, both negative and positive interactions take place sequentially during the time-course of apomorphine action and provide a clue for explaining the two-peak pattern of rotation observed after apomorphine in rats previously exposed to the drug.     

Cytoskeletal alterations might account for the phylogenetic vulnerability of the human brain to Alzheimer's disease

A theory is presented here in the attempt to explain why Alzheimer's disease (AD) primarily affects areas of the human brain that have been acquired recently in phylogenesis. Disturbances in cytoskeletal function are proposed to play a fundamental role in triggering the sequence of pathologic events leading to the occurrence of AD-related histopathological markers and to the degeneration and death of neurons. These deficits are supposed to occur more likely in neuronal populations that possess a high degree of plasticity, the substrate of memory functions, and that constitute, in fact, the phylogenetically new telencephalic regions of the human brain.