Elective aortocoronary bypass grafting in the elderly

Operative mortality, postoperative morbidity and follow up data were analyzed retrospectively from 122 consecutive patients, over 65 years old undergoing elective aortocoronary bypass grafting for symptomatic relief of angina pectoris at the Plains Health Centre, Regina, Saskatchewan, from January 1980 to December 1985. There were two in-hospital deaths (operative mortality 1.6%). Definite perioperative myocardial infarction occurred in 12 patients (9.8%). The 120 survivors were followed for a mean of 32 months. There were three deaths during follow-up, giving a five-year probability of survival of 93%. Twenty-three clinical events (including deaths) occurred during follow-up, giving a five-year probability of event free survival of 72%. Ninety percent of patients say they are pleased with their operation. Seventy-eight percent are currently angina free. These data illustrate the effectiveness of aortocoronary bypass grafting in low risk elderly patients with symptomatic coronary artery disease.     

Marked hypodiploidy in blast phase chronic myelogenous leukemia: report of a case and review of the literature

The emergence of a near-haploid clone of cells in blast phase chronic myelogenous leukemia is an unusual event. We report such a case and review eight other cases described in the English literature. The significance of the substantial loss of genetic material is discussed as is the phenotypic and genotypic heterogeneity observed in this group of patients.     

Myosin light chains and muscle pathology

We evaluated the isoform composition of heavy and light chains of myosin in single muscle fibers from patients with Duchenne dystrophy, myotonic dystrophy, or polymyositis. In all myopathic muscles, there was an increase in the proportion of intermediate fibers which, by analysis of myosin isoforms, fell into two subpopulations, one that contained both fast and slow myosin and another that contained myosin molecular hybrids. The increased proportion of intermediate (or transitional) fibers suggests changes in the equilibrium between fast and slow motor units. These changes could result from regeneration and subsequent maturation of fibers or from direct transformation of mature fibers of one type into the opposite.     

Renal vascular reactivity in jaundice

Obstructive jaundice is associated with a predisposition to hypotension and acute renal failure that may be related to changes in renovascular responsiveness, particularly to norepinephrine (NE). This study was undertaken to investigate changes in vascular response to NE and to determine how these changes are related to prostaglandins. Kidneys from bile duct-ligated (BDL) rabbits (n = 5) were perfused with Krebs' solution at 7.65 ml/min, and the response to varying boluses of NE (0.78 to 6.24 micrograms) was measured as changes in perfusion pressure. When compared with sham-operated control kidneys (n = 8), a significantly blunted response was seen at all doses tested. The NE response was further assessed by measuring force development in mounted segments of main renal arteries (MRAs) (n = 8) and interlobar arteries (ILAs) (n = 6) from BDL rabbits and sham-operated controls (MRA, n = 8; ILA, n = 6). The dose-response curves were significantly depressed in both MRAs and ILAs from BDL animals. In addition, MRAs from sham-operated control animals exhibited decreased response to NE after incubation for 1 hour in jaundiced serum. This attenuated response of MRAs to NE was prevented when indomethacin (5 mg/kg) was given to BDL rabbits before death (n = 9) or when 10(-6)mol/L of indomethacin was added to jaundiced serum during incubation (n = 6). These results indicate that obstructive jaundice induces a decreased vascular contractile response in rabbits to NE and that this effect is mediated by prostaglandins.     

Right temporal-lobe contribution to global visual processing

The performance of 92 patients with unilateral temporal- or frontal-lobe excisions and 35 normal control subjects was tested under two experimental conditions (global, local) of a Stroop-type reaction-time task, employing either hierarchically structured letters or abstract designs as stimuli. In the local condition, subjects were asked to focus their attention on the small forms and to ignore the large form, whereas they were instructed to do the reverse in the global condition. The results showed that, in the local condition, the patients with right temporal-lobe lesions were less affected than the other groups by interference from the global aspect of the stimulus. This reduced sensitivity to the overall configuration of the stimulus was unrelated to the extent of hippocampal removal or to the presence of visual-field defects. These findings support the hypothesis that the human right temporal neocortex contributes to the global processing of visual information.     

Prevalence and correlates of depressive symptoms among former prisoners of war

Studies of former prisoners of war (POWs) provide valuable insights into posttraumatic adaptation because they gather information from a large population who survived the traumatic experiences of military captivity. Previous studies of POWs have shown elevated rates of psychiatric symptoms and disorders. This report presents evidence from a longitudinal study of three large, representative, national samples of former POWs. The study finds that depressive symptomatology, as measured by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, is elevated in World War II POWs from the Pacific and European theaters and in Korean conflict POWs. Decades later, depressive symptomatology is found to be strongly associated with prior treatment in captivity. Differences in depressive symptomatology among the three POW groups can be attributed to captivity-related factors and to buffering factors, such as age at capture and education.     

Protective effect of nimodipine against quinolinic acid-induced damage of rat hippocampus in vitro.

The study was undertaken to examine the effect of nimodipine, calcium channels blocker, on the morphological alterations induced by quinolinic acid (QUIN). The experiment was performed on 21-day-old organotypic rat hippocampal cultures. Nimodipine was applied to the nutrient medium simultaneously with QUIN (both at 100 microM). Ultrastructural changes were evaluated 24 h, 5 and 7 days after the exposure to tested agent. It was shown that nimodipine induced distinct cytoprotective effect, especially considering the development of late neurotoxic injury produced by QUIN. However, the protection was not complete, indicating the participation of the other factors in the pathomechanism underlying structural damage produced by QUIN.