Corticotropin response to combined administration of human corticotropin-releasing hormone and small-dose arginine vasopressin in normal subjects.

Arginine vasopressin (AVP) is known to potentiate corticotropin (ACTH) secretion by human corticotropin-releasing hormone (hCRH), and a combined administration of hCRH and AVP appears useful as a pituitary ACTH reserve test. This study was designed to evaluate the appropriate dose of AVP and its route of administration, for better estimation of pituitary ACTH reserve in humans, when used in combination with a conventional hCRH stimulation test. First, intravenous (IV) doses of hCRH (100 micrograms) and AVP (0, 0.1, and 0.3 U) were administered simultaneously in six normal subjects. Second, IV hCRH was administered with intramuscular (IM) AVP (0, 1.0, 3.0, and 5.0 U) in 10 normal subjects. Blood samples for measurement of plasma ACTH were obtained at 0, 15, 30, 45, 60, 90, and 120 minutes after the hCRH with and without AVP administration. The order of AVP doses was randomly chosen in each subject. The peak plasma ACTH level was 65.0 +/- 16.0 pg/mL (30 minutes) with hCRH alone and 139.5 +/- 35.6 pg/mL (15 minutes) with hCRH plus 0.3 U IV AVP in six normal subjects. Similarly, the peak plasma ACTH level was 43.5 +/- 5.6 pg/mL (30 minutes) with hCRH alone and 116.0 +/- 19.6 (15 minutes) and 96.6 +/- 24.0 pg/mL (15 minutes) with hCRH plus 3.0 and 5.0 U IM AVP in 10 normal subjects, respectively. The hCRH-induced ACTH responses (delta ACTH) with both IV and IM AVP were significantly (P less than .05) greater than the respective control values with hCRH alone. The responses (delta ACTH) were comparable between the two phases of 3.0 and 5.0 U IM AVP.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Safety and usefulness of a novel eMotion electric mesh nebulizer in children with asthma.

BACKGROUND: A new electronic mesh nebulizer, eMotion is known to have higher performance compared to conventional nebulizers. However, there are some concerns about whether too much delivered dose might cause side effects with higher frequency. METHODS: To evaluate the safety and usefulness of the nebulizer, we measured changes in heart rates and lung functions of 73 asthmatic children when they inhaled 1 microg/kg of procaterol with eMotion or a conventional nebulizer, Junior BOY. RESULTS: In 34 children with mild asthma exacerbation, physical findings, lung function and transcutaneous oxygen saturation levels were improved after inhalation using both nebulizers. No adverse effects including significant increase of heart rate were found. Improvements in the rates of the parameters were comparable. When response to beta2-agonist inhalation was checked in 39 children in stable condition, similar degrees of improvement in lung function were observed, and heart rates did not change after inhalation with either nebulizers. CONCLUSIONS: Safety and efficacy was comparable between eMotion and a conventional nebulizer when it was used to administer beta2-agonists in asthmatic children. However, from the fact that eMotion needs only 3-4 minutes to inhale 2 mL solution, eMotion could be more useful for most children who usually do not prefer longer inhalation time with conventional compressor nebulizers.     

Effects of intraaortic balloon position on renal artery blood flow.

Debate continues over what happens to renal blood flow when intraaortic balloons are adjacent to the renal arteries. Fourteen dogs were prepared by implanting instruments to measure heart rate; right atrial, pulmonary arterial, carotid arterial, and femoral arterial pressures; cardiac index; mixed venous oxygen saturation; urine output; and left and right renal blood flows. A 12-mL intraaortic balloon was inserted through the left (n = 9) or right (n = 5) femoral artery. The position of the balloon was randomized so that it was initially placed in either the control (thoracic) or renal position (at the level of the renal arteries). Intraaortic balloon pumping was performed for 4 hours in each position. In 8 dogs, at least one of the renal arteries had partial occlusion, 23% to 98% decrease in flow (mean decrease, 66%), while the intraaortic balloon was in the renal position. An intraaortic balloon in the renal position results in lower renal blood flow as well as a high risk (57%) of selective renal artery occlusion. Decreased renal blood flow is not apparent using conventional monitoring, as hemodynamics do not change.     

Effects of vanadyl sulfate on osteopenia in streptozotocin-induced diabetic (STZD) rats. Comparison with those of insulin]

The insulin mimetic effects of vanadium salts on glucose metabolism have been well-documented in STZD rats. In this study, the long-term effects of vanadyl sulfate (vanadium) on osteopenia in STZD rats were examined and compared with those of insulin. From 2 days after an intravenous injection of streptozotocin (30 mg/kg), the rats with hyperglycemia (> 300 mg/dl) received either vanadium (0, 0.02, 0.1 or 0.5 mg/ml) in drinking water or daily subcutaneous injections of insulin (0, 0.4 or 4.0 U/day) for 54 days. Their tibiae and femurs were examined by chemical analyses, by contact microradiography and by the method of double tetracycline labeling. Decreases in bone mass, bone density and in the rate of bone formation were observed in STZD rats. Development of these symptoms in the STZD rats with osteopenia was prevented by the administration of either vanadium or insulin in a dose-dependent fashion. The effects of vanadium at a dose of 0.5 mg/ml for preventing bone loss in STZD rats were similar to those of insulin at a dose of 4.0 U/day. These results indicate that vanadium has insulin mimetic effects on osteopenia in STZD rats.     

Inhibitory Effect of Cryptoporic Acid E, a Product from Fungus Cryptoporus volvatus, on Colon Carcinogenesis Induced with N-Methyl-N-Nitrosourea in Rats and with 1,2-Dimethylhydrazine in Mice

The antitumorigenic effect of cryptoporic acid E (CPA-E), a dimeric drimane sesquiterpenoid isolated from the fungus Cryptoporus volvatus , on colon carcinogenesis was investigated. Female F344 rats given an intrarectal instillation of 2 mg of N-methyl-N-nitrosourea 3 times weekly in weeks 1 and 2 were fed diet containing 0.2% CPA-E from week 3. Femal ICR mice given 15 weekly intraperitoneal injections of 10 mg of 1,2-dimethylhydrazine/kg body weight during weeks 1 to 15 were fed diet containing 0.06% CPA-E from week 1. The experiment was terminated at week 35 for rats and at week 25 for mice. The incidence and the number of tumors per animal were reduced in CPA-E-fed animals compared to the controls: 31% vs. 75% (P<0.05) and 0.4±0.2 (SEM) vs. 0.9 ± 0.2 (0.1> P >0.05) in rats, and 31% vs. 63% (0.1>P>0.05) and 0.4±0.2 vs. 2.4 ± 0.8 (P<0.05) in mice (16 animals in each group). Intrarectal deoxycholic acid-induced colonic mucosal ornithine decarboxylase activity was significantly lowered in CPA-E-fed animals compared to controls. This shows an antipromoting activity of CPA-E against colon carcinogenesis. Thus, it was concluded that CPA-E inhibits colon cancer development in both rats and mice treated with 2 different colon carcinogens.     

Left ventricular aneurysmectomy after myocardial infarction--comparative study between true aneurysms and functional aneurysms

Postinfarction left ventricular aneurysms are pathophysiologically divided into true, functional and false aneurysm. On 14 patients treated by aneurysmectomy, we studied the difference of pre- and post-operative cardiac function between true aneurysms (9 patients) and functional aneurysms (5 patients). The aneurysm area, which is expressed as the end-diastolic perimeter (akinetic or dyskinetic area/left ventricular silhouette), was 51.6 +/- 7.7% in the true aneurysms versus 35.7 +/- 6.0% in the functional aneurysms. Preoperatively, patients with a true aneurysm had a more severe clinical status than those with a functional aneurysm (Six of nine patients with a true aneurysm were in New York Heart Association functional class III or IV). Postoperatively, all patients except one with a true aneurysm and one with a functional aneurysm improved in clinical status. Nonaneurysmal EF, that is the function of the nonaneurysmal left ventricle, has a significant correlation to postoperative LVEF (r = 0.57, p less than 0.05). Nonaneurysmal EF was 54 +/- 4% in the true aneurysm group versus 51 +/- 16% in the functional aneurysm group. LVEF improved significantly (p less than 0.05) from 31 +/- 11% preoperatively to 55 +/- 10% postoperatively in the group of true aneurysm, but did not improved significantly from 43 +/- 12% to 50 +/- 9% in the functional aneurysm group. The postoperative akinetic area was 8.1 +/- 9.1% in the true aneurysm group versus 17.8 +/- 11.5% in the functional group. We conclude that larger and more adequate resection of aneurysms improves the cardiac function in the true aneurysm group more than in the functional aneurysm group.     

Extracellular or ghost Pick bodies and their lack of tau immunoreactivity: a histological,immunohistochemical and electron microscopic study

Histological, immunohistochemical, and electron microscopic evidence of an extracellular, or ghost Pick body has been found in the granular cell layer and, rarely, in the pyramidal cell layer of the hippocampus of an autopsy case of Pick's disease. The ghost Pick body appeared as a blurred, weak argyrophilic mass in the neuropil, and it was composed of accumulated fibrillary structures, 13 nm in diameter, intermingled with glial filament bundles. These ghost Pick bodies did not react with anti-tau and antiubiquitin antibodies, but did react weakly with antiglial fibrillary acidic protein antibody, whereas intracytoplasmic Pick bodies were strongly immunolabeled with anti-tau but only weakly with anti-ubiquitin anti-bodies. These results suggest that the Pick body is discharged into the neuropil after destruction of the mother neuron, loses its immunoreactivity to certain tau and ubiquitin antibodies during this process (thereby inducing a glial reaction) and remains in the neuropil as a ghost Pick body.