Tobacco policies in Austria during the Third Reich.

BACKGROUND: The anti-smoking stance taken by Adolf Hitler, coupled with Nazi support for research on smoking and lung cancer and campaigns to discourage smoking, have encouraged pro-smoking groups to equate tobacco control activities with totalitarianism. Previous work has described the situation in Germany. OBJECTIVE: To examine the situation in Austria, also part of the Reich after 1938. DESIGN: Iterative analysis of documents and reports about the situation in Austria in the 1930s and 1940s, supplemented by a review of Reich legal ordinances, party newspapers, health behaviour guidelines issued by Nazi party organisations and interviews with expert informants. RESULTS: In contrast to the situation in Germany where, albeit to a much lesser degree than is commonly believed, some anti-smoking policies were adopted, the Nazi authorities in Austria made almost no attempt to discourage smoking and the Austrian tobacco company worked closely with the Nazi authorities to ensure that supplies were maintained. CONCLUSION: Especially when looked at in the Austrian context, the much-cited link between anti-smoking policies and Nazism is a gross over-simplification. This purported link should not be used to justify the continued failure to act effectively against smoking in Germany and Austria.     

T-wave alternans during exercise testing calculated by the method of 'modified moving average'

I enjoyed reading the contribution by Nieminen et al.¹ focusingon the predictive role for cardiovascular mortality, especiallysudden cardiac death, of the T-wave alternans (TWA) calculatedby the analytical     

Balanced analgesia after hysterectomy: the effect on outcomes.

Balanced analgesia (an opioid and a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agent) after hysterectomy often leads to better postoperative pain outcomes. Researchers compared post-hysterectomy patients who received balanced analgesia with those who received only morphine patient-controlled analgesia, and their relationship with pain scores, ambulation, and hospital length of stay.     

Laboratory routines cause animal stress.

Eighty published studies were appraised to document the potential stress associated with three routine laboratory procedures commonly performed on animals: handling, blood collection, and orogastric gavage. We defined handling as any non-invasive manipulation occurring as part of routine husbandry, including lifting an animal and cleaning or moving an animal's cage. Significant changes in physiologic parameters correlated with stress (e.g., serum or plasma concentrations of corticosterone, glucose, growth hormone or prolactin, heart rate, blood pressure, and behavior) were associated with all three procedures in multiple species in the studies we examined. The results of these studies demonstrated that animals responded with rapid, pronounced, and statistically significant elevations in stress-related responses for each of the procedures, although handling elicited variable alterations in immune system responses. Changes from baseline or control measures typically ranged from 20% to 100% or more and lasted at least 30 min or longer. We interpret these findings to indicate that laboratory routines are associated with stress, and that animals do not readily habituate to them. The data suggest that significant fear, stress, and possibly distress are predictable consequences of routine laboratory procedures, and that these phenomena have substantial scientific and humane implications for the use of animals in laboratory research.     

Functional imaging studies in cannabis users.

Cannabis remains the most widely used illegal drug in the United States. This update examines the available literature on neuroimaging studies of the brains of cannabis users. The majority of studies examining the acute effects of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) administration used PET methods and concluded that administration of THC leads to increased activation in frontal and paralimbic regions and the cerebellum. These increases in activation are broadly consistent with the behavioral effects of the drug. Although there is only equivocal evidence that chronic cannabis use might result in structural brain changes, blood-oxygenation-level-dependent-fMRI studies in chronic users consistently show alterations, or neuroadaptation, in the activation of brain networks responsible for higher cognitive functions. It is not yet certain whether these changes are reversible with abstinence. Given the high prevalence of cannabis use among adolescents, studies are needed to evaluate whether cannabis use might affect the developing brain. Considerable further work, employing longitudinal designs, is also required to determine whether cannabis use causes permanent functional alterations in the brains of adults.     

Peripheral large nerve fibre function in patients with chronic plaque psoriasis

Accumulating evidence suggests the involvement of neurogenic inflammation in the pathogenesis of psoriasis. Moreover, the concomitant occurrence of peripheral neuropathy has been reported in several psoriatic patients. Thus, the aim of the present study was to answer the question whether an impairment of peripheral large nerve fibre function may exist in psoriasis. Thirty-two patients with severe and generalized chronic plaque psoriasis and 32 sex- and age-matched healthy controls were evaluated by detailed clinical neurological and standard neurophysiological examination. The latter included motor nerve conduction study of one nerve in the upper and one in the lower extremities and sensory nerve conduction study of one nerve in the upper and two in the lower extremities. Neurological examination failed to demonstrate any clinical evidence of large fibre neuropathy. Furthermore, all values of the examined neurophysiological parameters were within normal limits; comparisons of the corresponding mean values in the patient and the control group showed no statistically significant differences. These findings demonstrate no measurable abnormalities of the peripheral large nerve fibres in psoriatic patients and therefore an association of psoriasis with peripheral large fibre neuropathy cannot be suggested.