Rapid endocrine effects of tamoxifen and testolactone in prostatic carcinoma patients

The short-term (6-day) endocrine effects of tamoxifen and testolactone were investigated in men with prostatic carcinoma. Tamoxifen treatment (20 mg/day) did not affect the gonado-tropin levels, but it temporarily increased prolactin, induced sex hormone-binding globulin production, and suppressed peripheral serum progesterone, 17-hydroxyprogesterone, an-drostenedione, testosterone, and 5α-dihydrotestosterone concentrations. These changes were attributed to the estrogenic properties of tamoxifen, since no changes in peripheral serum estradiol concentrations were observed. Testolactone (1000 mg/day) decreased peripheral estradiol concentrations by 50% and increased the concentrations of the neutral steroids measured. The increases in serum FSH and LH were very small. This study corroborates the early estrogen-like action of tamoxifen, and the experiment with testolactone further suggests that endogenous estradiol has physiological functions in man, regulating gonadotropin and androgen production.     

The North Karelia Youth Project. A community-based intervention study on CVD risk factors among 13- to 15-year-old children: Study design and preliminary findings

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the major cause of mortality and morbidity in most of the industrialized world. Their prevention may be possible through reduction of well-established risk factors: smoking, elevated serum cholesterol, and hypertension. Several preventive trials among adults are under way. Ultimately, however, we should aim at preventing the development of risk factors in childhood. An intervention study begun in the county of North Karelia, Finland, aimed to test the feasibility and effects of a comprehensive school- and community-based program to reduce risk factors during adolescence. The target population is the children of North Karelia who were, at the outset of the program, in the seventh grade (13 years). Two schools received intensive intervention; the others received general county-wide intervention. A matched county was used as reference. The baseline survey in autumn 1978 in three matched pairs of schools involved approximately 1,000 children, their parents and teachers, and information about school diets. The participation rates of children and parents was more than 99%. A similar survey will be carried out among the same subjects after the 2-year intervention period. A high serum cholesterol level (5.1 mmol/liter—equivalent to 197 mg/dl) among the children studied was an outstanding finding of the baseline survey. Study design, methods of intervention, and other results of the baseline survey are presented.     

Compressive strength and surface characterization of glass ionomer cements modified by particles of bioactive glass.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to determine compressive strength, Young's modulus of elasticity, and Vickers' surface hardness, of conventional cure and resin-modified glass ionomer cements after the addition of bioactive glass (BAG) particles into the cements. METHODS: Experimental glass ionomer cement (GIC)-BAG materials were made by mixing 10- or 30-wt% of BAG particles with conventional cure and resin-modified GIC powders. Materials were processed into cylindrical specimens and immersed in water for 1, 3, 7, 14, 30 and 180 days before mechanical tests. SEM and EDS analysis was used to characterize the changes in surface topography and the main elemental composition. RESULTS: The compressive strength of the test specimens decreased with the increasing amount of BAG. The compressive strength of resin-modified GIC increased during the immersion, but remained at a lower level than that of the other materials. The conventional cure GIC-based materials had on average 55% higher surface microhardness than the resin-modified materials. In the elemental composition, more Ca was detected in the BAG-containing materials than in the pure GICs. The amount of F was significantly higher (p < 0.001) on all resin-modified materials, being highest on resin-modified GIC with 30-wt% of BAG after 180d of immersion. SIGNIFICANCE: The addition of BAG to GIC compromises the mechanical properties of the materials to some extent. Thus, their clinical use ought to be restricted to applications where their bioactivity can be beneficial, such as root surface fillings and liners in dentistry, and where high compressive strength is not necessarily needed.     

Implementation of a hypertension control program in the County of North Karelia,Finland

A hypertension control program was established as part of the more comprehensive North Karelia Project. This project was started in 1972 in response to a petition from the population of North Karelia, a county in Finland, asking for national assistance to reduce the exceptionally high cardiovascular disease mortality and morbidity in the area. The North Karelia Project was carried out from 1972 to 1977.The hypertension control program was implemented mainly in local health centers by physicians and public health nurses, who followed guidelines issued by the project staff and worked under its supervision.Although the target population for the North Karelia Project was the entire population of North Karelia, the project focused on middle-aged men. The hypertension subprogram was introduced in steps. Its objectives included the training of health personnel, establishment of an information system in the county to educate people about hypertension, and organization of the detection, treatment, and followup of hypertensives. A hypertension dispensary was established in each of the 12 health centers in the county. Continuous training of the local public health nurses and physicians faciliated integration of the hypertension program into the operations of the health centers.A central hypertension register and the hypertension control clinics at the health centers were the essential tools in the systematic followup of hypertensives. Some 17,000 hypertensives were on the register by the end of the 5-year project.The main aim in providing health education about hypertension, as well as in treating hypertension itself, was to prevent severe cardiovascular diseases as a whole. Therefore the hypertension control program was integrated into the comprehensive cardiovascular disease control program, and hypertensives received advice concerning smoking and dietary changes as well as about high blood pressure.A survey of health care personnel in North Karelia and in a reference area showed that the care of hypertensives was more systematic in North Karelia and that its health care personnel were more satisfied with the cardiovascular disease care that was provided.     

Epidemiology of dementia in a Finnish population

An epidemiological study of dementia was carried out in the city of Turku (population 164,568) in Finland. A total of 421 patients with moderate to severe dementia were found. Degenerative dementia, i.e. presenile and senile dementia, was present in 218 patients (51.8 %), and in 152 patients (36.1 %) the dementia was associated with arteriosclerosis, including multi-infarct and combined dementia. The prevalence rate of dementia, all types, was 256 per 100,000 population, and 1,961 per 100,000 population over 65 years old. The age-specific prevalence rates of dementia increased with advancing age from 0.1 % in the age group 55–64 years to 11 % in the age group over 85 years. The peak annual incidence rate for all types of dementia was 58 per 100,000 population, and 447 per 100,000 population over 65 years old. Both prevalence and incidence figures suggested a female preponderance in dementia of degenerative origin and in dementia with associated arteriosclerosis.     

Possible involvement of nigrostriatal dopamine system in the inhibition of thyrotropin secretion in the rat

The dopaminergic inhibition or cold-stimulated thyrotropin (TSH) secretion was studied in male rats. Serum TSH levels were decreased by apomorphine (1 mg/kg i.p.) but not by dopamine (DA. 0.2–5 mg/kg s.c.). This effect of apomorphine was abolished b haloperidol (1 mg/kg i.p.), meioclopramide and sulpiride (10 mg/kg i.p.) but not by domperidone (0.1–5 mg/kg i.p.) does not cross the blood-brain barrier while the other DA receptor antagonists do so. Higl doses of domperidone itself inhibited the cold-induced TSH secretion whereas the other DA antagonists did not. DA (1–10 μg/rat) into the medial basal hypothalamus (MBH) had no effect but 10–50 μg/rat into the 3rd ventricle inhibited the cold-stimulated TSH secretion. 6-Hydroxydopamine infusion after dcsipramine pretreatment (25 mg/kg i.p.) did not affect TSH secretion when given into the MBH (2 μg/rat), the 3rd ventricle (10 μg/rat) or unilaterally into the substantia nigra (SN. 6 μg/nucleus), but bilateral nigral infusions abolished the TSH cold The inhibitory effect of apomorphine (0.1 and 0.5 mg/kg i.p.) was amplified only in the rats whose SN was unilaterally destroyed. These results show that tuberoinfundibular DA neurons do not affect TSH secretion. Instead, the inhibition is mediated through the hypothalamic projections of the nigrostriatal DA system.     

Herpes simplex encephalitis: A serological follow-up study

A solid-phase radioimmunoassay method was used for the detection of herpes simplex virus (HSV) immunoglobulin M (IgM), IgA, and IgG antibodies within the central nervous system in 11 adult patients with acute HSV encephalitis. Serial cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and serum specimens were sampled during the observation periods, extending up to 43 months after onset.
The clinical diagnosis of HSV encephalitis was confirmed demonstrating virus or virus antigen in the central nervous system in four patients and with significant HSV antibodies in CSF in all the patients. In acute stage CSF HSV antibodies of a significant level were demonstrated in one of four samples taken on days 3–4 after onset, and in samples taken on days 6–8 in five of nine patients. CSF HSV antibodies of a significant and high level were detected in all samples taken from day 10 after onset.
Intrathecal production of HSV IgM and IgA antibodies lasted from 7 weeks to 43 months during the observation periods. All patients had persistent intrathecal production of HSV IgG antibodies as well as of oligoclonal IgG during the total observation periods up to 43 months.