Focal Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease is characterized by relative sparing of primary sensory and motor cortex and a lack of sensory or motor symptomatology. We report a case of presenile onset dementia accompanied by a slowly progressive hemiparesis. Autopsy examination showed severe pathologic involvement of somatosensory cortex with neuritic plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, in addition to degeneration of the nucleus basalis and locus ceruleus. Neurochemical and immunocytochemical studies showed a moderate cortical cholinergic deficiency with normal somatostatin-like immunoreactivity and a profuse immunostaining of somatosensory cortex with the Alz-50 antibody. These unusual features emphasize that Alzheimer's disease is extremely variable in its clinical symptomatology, pathologic distribution, and neurochemical dimensions.     

Laser photodynamic therapy for papilloma viral lesions

Photodynamic therapy was tested for its therapeutic efficacy in eradicating rabbit papilloma warts. The wild-type viral warts suspension was used to induce treatable papilloma warts in the cutaneous tissue of Dutch Belted rabbits. The photosensitizing agents used intravenously were Photofrin II at 10 mg/kg of body weight and Chlorin e6 monoethylene diamine monohydrochloric acid (Chlorin e6 med HCl) at 1 mg/kg of body weight. The lasers used were an argon-dye laser at 628 and 655 nm and a gold vapor laser at 628 nm. The irradiances of 25 to 180 mW/cm2 were applied topically with an end-on lens optical fiber with total radiant doses of 7.5 to 54 J/cm2. Photofrin II and the argon-dye laser at the highest light dosage (54 J/cm2) and Chlorin e6 monoethylene diamine monohydrochloride administered 2 hours before argon-dye laser irradiation at 655 nm at the highest light dosage (54 J/cm2) produced wart regression. Total wart regression without recurrence was achieved with Photofrin II and the gold vapor laser at all light dosages. The difference observed between the argon-dye laser and the gold vapor laser might be explained by the pulsed nature of the gold vapor laser, with its high-peak powers, some 5000 x the average measured light dose. In this model, the smaller, less cornified lesions were more effectively treated with photodynamic therapy.     

Short-term effects of dietary-fat ingestion on energy expenditure and nutrient balance.

Joule for joule, dietary fat may promote obesity more than protein or carbohydrate. In this study we determined whether the addition of 50 g dietary fat to a standard breakfast would increase energy expenditure or fat oxidation during the immediate 6-h postprandial period or over the ensuing 18 h. We also determined whether subjects with a high level of aerobic physical fitness would show a greater increase in fat oxidation after the ingestion of the extra fat than would less fit subjects. Adding fat did not increase fat oxidation or energy expenditure either during the immediate 6-h postprandial period or over the following 18 h. This was true regardless of the subject's fitness level. Acutely, dietary fat ingested in excess of its usual rate of oxidation appears to be stored in the body. Being physically fit does not appear to provide an advantage in avoiding short-term storage of excess dietary fat.