Adjustment to spinal cord injury: stage theory revisited

To better understand adjustment following spinal cord injury (SCI), 106 subjects from two samples (N = 53 each) were administered the SCL-90-R, a symptom checklist, and the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control scales. Sample 1 subjects were admitted for rehabilitation during 1981 to 1982 and sample 2 subjects were admitted during 1984 to 1986. Sample 2 subjects entered rehabilitation programs more quickly after injury and reported more anxiety, phobic anxiety, and hostility than sample 1 subjects. Within each sample, there was no evidence for a relationship between age or time since injury and health beliefs or psychological distress. This study does not support stage theory for adjustment after catastrophic injury, but does suggest the importance of understanding the impact of social policy changes in adjustment following spinal cord injury.     

The future of cardiovascular imaging and non-invasive diagnosis

Advances in medical imaging now make it possible to investigate any patient with cardiovascular disease using multiple methods which vary widely in their technical requirements, benefits, limitations and costs. The appropriate use of alternative tests requires their integration into joint clinical diagnostic services where experts in all methods collaborate. This statement summarises the principles that should guide developments in cardiovascular diagnostic services.This paper is published simultaneously in the European Heart Journal (2006;27:1750–1753) and in the European Journal of Echocardiography (2006;7:268–273).     

Pharmacology of calcium-induced long-term potentiation in rat hippocampal slices

A transient increase (10 min) in extracellular calcium concentration (4 mM) causes a long-lasting (greater than 2 hr) enhancement of population spike responses evoked by radiatum fibers to CA1 pyramidal neurons in rat hippocampal slices. This phenomenon is similar to tetanic long-term potentiation (LTP), and is also related to memory processes. The influence of various drugs was investigated on calcium-induced LTP. The NMDA antagonist 2 amino-5-phosphonopentanoic acid (AP5; 100 microM) was able to prevent the calcium-induced LTP, while atropine sulphate (10 microM), propranolol hydrochloride (10 microM) and verapamil hydrochloride (100 microM) were ineffective. The results suggest an involvement of the NMDA receptor in the development of calcium-induced LTP.     

Electroencephalographic sleep studies in depressed outpatients treated with interpersonal psychotherapy: I. Baseline studies in responders and nonresponders.

Electroencephalographic (EEG) sleep measures have been examined as predictors of therapeutic response in patients with major depression. Although some studies have reported that EEG sleep measures are predictive of a favorable outcome with medications, two recent studies found no differences in the baseline sleep characteristics of responders and nonresponders to psychotherapy. To clarify this issue, we compared baseline EEG sleep in a group of patients with recurrent depression who responded to interpersonal psychotherapy (n = 19) and a comparable group who did not respond (n = 18). Baseline ratings of depression severity did not differ in the groups, but some differences in baseline sleep were noted. Psychotherapy nonresponders had longer sleep latencies, lower sleep efficiency, and increased automated measures of phasic rapid eye movement (REM) activity. In addition, the two groups had different EEG sleep adaptation patterns for REM latency and phasic REM density measures across the two study nights. These preliminary results suggest that baseline EEG sleep patterns, as well as the pattern of laboratory adaptation, may differ for depressed patients who respond to psychotherapy and those who do not.     

Aspects of the morphogenesis of cancer of the endometrium

The paper covers a number of morphogenetic problems of endometrial cancer with reference to multidirectional differentiation of the uterine epithelium affected by tumor. Metaplastic changes of the endometrium observable in three basic variants (tubal, endocervical, squamous cell) can entail dysplasia with resultant malignant transformation. Endometrial cancer shows complex structure of the tumor with sings of multidirectional epithelial differentiation: endometrial, tubal, endocervical, squamous). Morphological features of the tumor and adjacent mucosa, assessed comparatively, suggest a close relationship between the direction of endometrial epithelium differentiation and the new growth histological structure.