Gallbladder dyskinesia in chronic acalculous cholecystitis

To test the hypothesis that there is an early stage of cholesterol gallstone formation in man characterized by symptoms of chronic cholecystitis, poor gallbladder emptying, and biliary cholesterol crystals, we studied cholecystokinin-stimulated gallbladder emptying by DISIDA scintigraphy and examined bile for cholesterol crystals in symptomatic patients with normal oral cholecystography and gallbladder sonography. Of 36 patients studied, 16 had biliary cholesterol crystals; their mean 30-min gallbladder ejection fraction was 25.9±14.8%. Among the 20 patients without crystals, the mean ejection fraction was 60.3±23.3%. Fifteen patients, 11 with crystals and four without, had cholecystectomy because of persistent symptoms. All with crystals preoperatively and three without had chronic cholecystitis histologically. One patient without crystals had normal histology. We conclude that poor gallbladder contractility, well-established as an etiologic factor in animal models of cholesterol cholelithiasis, is now linked to acalculous cholecystitis, an early stage of human cholesterol cholelithiasis.     

Hematological Complications of Alcoholism

Numerous clinical observations support the notion that ethanol has multiple pathologic effects on hematopoietic tissue. The effects of alcohol on blood are diverse. The long-term ingestion of large quantities of ethanol has been shown to alter a substantial number of physiologic and biochemical variables. Abnormalities involving leukocytes, platelets, and erythrocytes may occur singly or in various combinations. Due to the frequent concomitant presence of alcohol-related hepatic disease, nutritional deficiencies, infection, and other chronic diseases, it is often difficult to distinguish the specific hematologic toxicities of alcohol ingestion from the hematologic toxicities of associated morbid conditions. Depressed hematopoietic cell formation (Table 2), increased destruction, and alterations in morphology and function of hematopoietic cells have been described.     

Coexistence of Neoplasia and Cortical Dysplasia in Patients Presenting with Seizures

Summary: Tumors and cortical dysplasia are associated with epilepsy, but few studies have examined the coexistence of neoplasia and dysplasia in these patients. We studied 13 patients (age 4–29 years) with recurrent seizures of 1 month to 21-year' duration (median 72 months). Ten patients were aged <21 years. Imaging studies localized the lesion to the temporal lobe (10 patients), parietal lobe (2 patients), and frontal lobe (1 patient). Tumors included ganglioglioma (8 patients), dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumor (DNT) (3 patients), and low-grade as- trocytoma (2 patients). Cortical dysplasia, including atypical aggregates of neurons (6 patients), multifocal loss of the cortical laminar architecture (7 patients), and neurons in the molecular layer of the cortex (3 patients) were observed near but separate from the tumor. Coexistence of certain tumors with cortical dysplasia, most frequently observed in the pediatric population, suggests a hamar-tomatous/dysplastic nature of the neoplasms.     

Human dolasetron pharmacokinetics: II Absorption and disposition following single-dose oral administration to normal male subjects

Dolasetron is a 5-hydroxytryptamine antagonist active at type III receptors; it is presently undergoing clinical evaluation for the reduction/prevention of cancer chemotherapyinduced nausea and vomiting. A previous study demonstrated that following intravenous administration to healthy male subjects, dolasetron disappeared extremely rapidly from plasma, and less than 1 per cent of the dose appeared in the urine. A major plasma metabolite, reduced dolasetron, peaked rapidly in the plasma. In this study, dolasetron was administered orally to healthy male subjects at doses ranging from 50 to 400 mg (mesylate monohydrate). Plasma concentrations of dolasetron were low and sporadic, and there was little excreted in urine; this prevented dolasetron pharmacokinetic analysis. Reduced metabolite concentrations peaked rapidly, with a median value of 1.00 h. The median terminal disposition half-life was 7.80 h. Median values for fraction of dose excreted in urine and renal clearance were 22.2 per cent and 2.56 ml min^?1 kg^?1. Whereas areas under the plasma concentration—time curves were proportional to dose, renal clearance increased with dose (p < 0.05). However, given dose proportionality to AUC, this is probably of little therapeutic consequence. Since reduced dolasetron has significant anti-emetic activity in the ferret model, it appears that this metabolite may play a significant role in pharmacodynamic activity.     

Seizure Elicitation Blocked by Pretreatment with Lidocaine

A patient is reported in whom pretreatment with intravenous lidocaine resulted in failure to elicit a seizure even at stimulus intensity markedly greater than that used successfully at prior and subsequent treatments. Together with one other report, this experience suggests that lidocaine may prevent a seizure by raising the seizure threshold. An alternative explanation is proposed for the classic findings of Ottosson that lidocaine-modified seizures are reduced in therapeutic efficacy.     

“Afterwork”: A clinical-phenomenological report

This paper explores a number of the dimensions of the process of afterwork: the psychological work that former patients engage in after treatment has terminated. Ten former patients, who had worked with 10 different therapists, were interviewed utilizing a semi-structured interview protocol, and their experiences form the basis for the findings and observations that are described. It was found that subjects remembered little by way of lessons or insights; rather, what remained with them were changes of perspective, the internalization of the process of the treatment, and the experience of their therapists' human qualities. In addition, it was found that most subjects had had some form of contact with their therapists post-termination. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

High-resolution analysis of locomotor activity rhythms indisconnected,a visual-system mutant ofDrosophila melanogaster

Free-running locomotor activity and eclosion rhythms ofDrosophila melanogaster, mutant at thedisconnected (disco) locus, are substantially different from the wild-type phenotype. Initial periodogram analysis revealed little or no rhythmicity (Dushayet al., 1989). We have reanalyzed the locomotor activity data using high-resolution signal analysis (maximum-entropy spectral analysis, or MESA). These analyses, corroborated by autocorrelograms, uncovered significant residual circadian rhythmicity and strong ultradian rhythms in most of the animals tested. In this regard thedisco mutants are much like flies expressing mutant alleles of theperiod gene, as well as wild-type flies reared throughout life in constant darkness. We hypothesize that light normally triggers the coupling of multiple ultradian oscillators into a functional circadian clock and that this process is disrupted indisco flies as a result of the neural lesion.This work was supported in part by NIH Grant FM-33205.