Recurrent Abdominal Pain in Adolescents: Psychosocial Correlates of Organic and Nonorganic Pain

Recurrent abdominal pain is associated with a host of adverse social and financial consequences. Theoretical models have suggested numerous psychosocial factors that may contribute to the formation and maintenance of recurrent abdominal pain. To date, studies comparing groups with organically and nonorganically based pain on psychosocial variables have yielded inconsistent results. Adolescents diagnosed with organic (n = 25) and nonorganic (n = 24) abdominal pain and a control group of siblings of children with chronic constipation (n = 19) were compared on psychological, behavioral, and familial dimensions. Adolescents with nonorganic abdominal pain reported a significantly higher frequency of related symptoms than both com- parison groups. However, groups did not significantly differ on adolescent or maternal-reported measures of anxiety, locus of control, life events, family environment, or behavior problems. Greater methodological rigor and selection of control group participants who shared the contextual experiences of living in a family with a chronically ill child may account for these findings.     

Growth in children with steroid sensitive nephrotic syndrome

Background: Nephrotic syndrome in children usually has an onset between 2–8 years of age and steroids form the mainstay of management. Therapy may affect growth in children with relapsing nephrotic syndrome. This study was carried out to correlate growth with the cumulative dose of steroids in children with steroid sensitive nephrotic syndrome (SSNS).     

Outpatient lumbar myelography. Initial results in 79 examinations using a low-dose metrizamide technique

Seventy-nine patients underwent lumbar myelography on an outpatient basis, with a low (3.75 g) dose of metrizamide as the radiocontrast agent and a 25-gauge spinal needle used for lumbar puncture. No patient experienced significant neurotoxicity following the examination; 70.8% (56 of 79) experienced minimal (23%) or no (48%) side effects. Three patients (3.8%) were admitted to the hospital for management of common side effects (headache, nausea/vomiting, back pain). We obtained postmyelographic computed tomographic scans on 96% (76 of 79) of the patients. Our initial results suggest that outpatient lumbar myelography is safe and can be performed with a very acceptable incidence of side effects.     

苯甲吗啉类药物的代谢及代谢产物的研究

本文报道苯甲吗啉类药物的气相色谱与气质联用检测方法。用HP-5890A气相色谱仪、氮专属性检测器,对服药后不同时间排尿中原型药及主要代谢产物,以内标法定量测定,绘制尿累积排泄曲线.醚提取物用三氟醋酐衍生化、气相色谱、气质联用分析比较衍生化前后保留时间及质谱数据,鉴定主要代谢产物苯甲吗啉,微量代谢产物去甲麻黄素、去甲伪麻黄素、麻黄素和伪麻黄素,方法灵敏、结果可靠,适用于此类药物的临床监测与运动员尿样检测。     

A health center response to community crisis: Some principles of prevention and intervention

September 1975 saw implementation of Phase Two of mandatory bussing of children in the Boston Public Schools. This article describes the experiences of the neighborhood health center in Charlestown, Massachusetts prior to, during, and after the initial crisis period. Principles relating to prevention and intervention emerged which can be applied by community clinicians when they face potential or actual community crises. The article emphasizes health center efforts to intervene in the anticipatory stress which occurred prior to the onset of bussing. The short- and long-term effects of the crisis on the neighborhood and on the health center are briefly discussed.Ward J. Cromer is Chief, Community Mental Health Services, Bunker Hill Health Center of the Massachusetts General Hospital, 73 High Street, Charlestown, MA 02129. Barbara J. Burns is Chief, Primary Care Research Section, Applied Biometrics Research Branch, National Institute of Mental Health 18C-10, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20857, and was formerly Research Coordinator, Bunker Hill Health Center, of the Massachusetts General Hospital. This paper was revised from a panel presentation at the Orthopsychiatric Association Meeting, New York City, 1976, in which Catherine Beyer, Paul O'Leary, and Fr. Tom Panowicz, of the Bunker Hill Health Center, and Maurice Gillen, community leader, Charlestown, MA were participants (in addition to the two authors).     

Adolescent sexuality and issues in contraception.

The influence of physiologic, psychologic, and cultural influences on human sexuality is reviewed. These factors are considered in the exploration of how adolescents express their sexuality and the consequences of that expression.     

Cerebrospinal fluid analyses in migraine patients and controls

To investigate the role of central neurotransmitters in the pathogenesis of migraine, we measured cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of certain amino acids (glycine, taurine, glutamine) and metabolites of biogenic amines (5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid and homovanillic acid) in 38 migraine patients and compared them with the levels from 10 headache-free controls. The levels of taurine, glycine and glutamine were significantly higher in the migraine patients (p < 0.0001 for taurine and glycine; p < 0.0009 for glutamine); there were no significant differences among the three migraine subgroups (infrequent migraine, frequent migraine and transformed migraine). In seven patients subsequently treated with divalproex sodium, CSF taurine levels decreased significantly from pretreatment baseline values. These data support the concept that migraine is at least in part a disorder of central neurotransmission.