Length polymorphism of heterochromatic segment of the Y chromosome in boys with acute leukemia

The extent of length polymorphisms of the heterochromatic and euchromatic segment of the human Y chromosome were investigated in 15 boys with acute leukemia and were compared with 15 normal controls. A greater value of the Yh/F index in relation to controls was established (P < 0.05). The length of the euchromatic segment was also shorter in the patients than the controls (P < 0.05).     

Effects on Plasma Glucose Concentration of Light-for-date Infants and Infants of Diabetic Mothers of Feeds Supplemented with a Glucose Polymer

ABSTRACT. Serial plasma glucose estimations were performed in 44 light-for-date infants and 17 infants of diabetic mothers fed 2, 3 or 4-hourly with feeds containing 10 % additional carbohydrate in the form of a glucose polymer (Caloreen). In the infants fed 2 and 3-hourly, plasma glucose was higher following the high carbohydrate feeds, particularly immediately before the next feed was due. Given 4-hourly, the high carbohydrate feed had little effect in most light-for-date infants, and in one light-for-date infant and two infants of diabetic mothers the plasma glucose was lower at the end of 4 hours than following normal formula. It is concluded that the addition of glucose polymer to feeds given 2 and 3 hourly has a potentially useful effect in neonates at risk of developing hypoglycaemia, but it cannot be used to increase the feed interval to 4 hours.     

Pharyngeal diverticula

A series of 73 hypopharyngeal (Zenker's) diverticula is reported and the choice of treatment and technique of excision are discussed. The problems of excision include operation on an infected site with limited access but few patients are unfit for the procedure. Preoperatively the sac should be packed and the oesophagus stented. The side of approach is unimportant as the condition is essentially midline. Cricopharyngeal myotomy appears to reduce the recurrence rate, possibly by improving coordination of pharyngeal contraction and upper oesophageal relaxation. The use of electrocoagulation is not recommended as 20% of patients require repeated general anaesthesia and the procedure fails in 13%. For all but the smallest pouches, excision is the treatment of choice.     

Reduced N-acetylaspartate in the temporal cortex of rats reared in isolation.

BACKGROUND: Isolation rearing of rats is a nonpharmacologic, nonlesion manipulation that leads to deficits in prepulse inhibition (PPI) and other behavioral and neurochemical alterations reminiscent of schizophrenia. N-acetylaspartate (NAA) is present in high concentrations in the central nervous system and is found primarily in neurons. N-acetylaspartate is considered to be a marker of both neuronal loss and cellular dysfunction. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy studies have shown reductions of cortical and hippocampal NAA in schizophrenia, and a recent postmortem study has demonstrated a regionally selective temporal cortex deficit. METHODS: The aim of the present study was to determine whether rats reared in isolation exhibit deficits in PPI and reductions in NAA in discrete brain regions, namely the temporal cortex, frontal cortex, hippocampus, and striatum. RESULTS: Compared with socially housed rats, isolation rearing resulted in PPI deficits (p <.05) and reductions in NAA in the temporal cortex (p <.001), with no significant change in the other regions investigated. CONCLUSION: These results suggest a disturbance of neuronal function, reflected by NAA reductions in the temporal cortex in isolation-reared rats, providing further evidence that isolation rearing can mimic aspects of the neuronal pathology of schizophrenia.     

Scintigraphic diagnosis of tricuspid regurgitation

The authors describe a simple technique for diagnosis of tricuspid regurgitation. Red blood cells were labeled in vivo with 99mTc and 22 patients were studied with ECG-gated blood-pool imaging of the liver. A single region of interest was manually drawn around the liver and a time-activity curve obtained. The per cent change in liver counts during the cardiac cycle was found to be significantly higher in the 12 patients with tricuspid regurgitation (Group I) (mean, 4.04 +/- 1.6%; range, 1.3-21.4%) compared with the 10 controls (Group II) (mean, 0.35 +/- 0.16%; range, 0.013-1.3%) (p less than 0.05). Using a 1% change in liver counts as the criterion of a positive study, all 12 cases in Group I were diagnosed correctly, but there was one false positive in Group II; thus the sensitivity was 100% and the specificity 90%.     

A cranial nail for fetal shunting

A small number of human fetal hydrocephalics have been treated by ventriculoamniotic shunts of silastic tubing [2, 5, 7, 8, 10, 22]. The Colorado device appears to be the one most commonly used [2]. The original experimental device tested on a primate model resembled a hollow shingle nail. This was designed by Michedja and Hodgen, contained a spring valve, measured approximately 32×4 mm and was placed by hysterotomy [16]. An attractive feature of this design was its fixation by impaction in the skull, preventing displacement by fetal activity, a reported disadvantage with the silastic devices [2, 10]. To our knowledge, no one has used this nail-like design and tailored it to transuterine percutaneous placement in a human case.     

Involvement of the intralaminar parafascicular nucleus in muscarinic-induced antinociception in rats

The thalamic contribution to cholinergic-induced antinociception was examined by microinjecting the acetylcholine (ACh) agonist carbachol into the intralaminar nucleus parafascicularis (nPf) of rats. Pain behaviors organized at spinal (spinal motor reflexes), medullary (vocalizations during shock), and forebrain (vocalization afterdischarges, VADs) levels of the neuraxis were elicited by noxious tailshock. Carbachol (0.5, 1, and 2 microg/side) administered into nPf produced dose-dependent elevations of vocalization thresholds, but failed to elevate spinal motor reflex threshold. Injections of carbachol into adjacent sites dorsal or ventral to nPf failed to alter vocalization thresholds. Elevations in vocalization thresholds produced by intra-nPf carbachol were reversed in a dose-dependent manner by local administration of the muscarinic receptor antagonist atropine (30 and 60 microg/side). These results provide the first direct evidence supporting the involvement of the intralaminar thalamus in muscarinic-induced antinociception. Results are discussed in terms of the contribution of nPf to the processing of the affective dimension of pain.     

Evidence for a differential medial prefrontal dopamine D1 and D2 receptor regulation of local and ventral tegmental glutamate and GABA release: a dual probe microdialysis study in the awake rat

The effects of perfusion with two selective dopamine receptor agonists SKF38393 and pergolide into the medial prefrontal cortex (mPfc) on local and ventral tegmental area (VTA) glutamate and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) release were investigated using dual probe microdialysis in the awake rat. Intracortical SKF38393 (10, 100, 500 microM, 60 min) decreased glutamate and increased GABA release in the mPfc but had no effect on either amino acid neurotransmitter in the VTA. Intracortical perfusion with the selective GABA(A) receptor antagonist bicuculline (0.1 microM, 140 min) reversed the SKF38393 (100 microM, 60 min)-induced decrease in local glutamate release, while the selective GABA(B) receptor antagonist CGP35348 (100 microM, 140 min) was without effect. Intracortical pergolide (1 microM, 60 min) was associated with a prolonged reversible decrease in local and VTA glutamate release that was also associated with a decrease in VTA GABA release, which was reversed in the presence of intracortical raclopride (10 microM, 140 min).Taken together, the present findings indicate a differential regulation of glutamate and GABA release in the mPfc and VTA by dopamine D(1) and D(2) receptors in the mPfc whereby (a) activation of the dopamine D(1) receptor in the mPfc decreases local glutamate release possibly via a feed-forward activation of the local GABA interneurons; (b) activation of the dopamine D(2) receptor in the mPfc inhibits both local glutamate release and the excitatory glutamate drive on the VTA.