The effect of a 5 alpha-reductase inhibitor on androgen-mediated growth of the dog prostate

The administration of testosterone cypionate (0.4 mg/kg BW . day) to castrated male dogs caused a doubling of prostate weight within 4 weeks and an increase in the content of testosterone and dihydrotestosterone in the prostate. When the 5 alpha-reductase inhibitor 17-N,N-diethylcarbamoyl-4-methyl-4-aza-5 alpha-androstan-3-one (3 mg/kg BW . day) was administered simultaneously with testosterone cypionate, prostatic testosterone content increased from 0.5 +/- 0.2 to 4.1 +/- 1.3 ng/mg DNA, the increase in prostatic dihydrotestosterone content was prevented, and prostatic size decreased to half the starting weight. These results suggest that dihydrotestosterone formation plays a role in prostatic growth.     

Measuring Physical Activity in Asthma Patients: Two-Minute Walk Test,Repeated Chair Rise Test,and Self-Reported Energy Expenditure

Although prudent exercise is recommended for most patients with well-controlled asthma, many patients avoid exercise and physical activity because they are concerned about triggering asthma. In a sample of 258 asthma patients (mean age 42 years, 75% women), the objectives of this study were to assess the two-minute walk test and the repeated chair rise test and to compare results to self-reported physical activity recorded with the Paffenbarger Physical Activity and Exercise Index (PAEI). Patients walked a mean of 510 feet, required a mean of 14 seconds for the chair rise test, and reported a mean of 1,810 kilocalories per week from activities, mostly walking. In multivariable analysis, male sex, younger age, more education, lower body mass index, and better short-term asthma control, but not long-term asthma severity, were associated with better performance-based test results and more self-reported physical activity. Better short-term control also was associated with less breathing and leg exertion during both tests. Correlations between the PAEI and performance-based tests were approximately 0.38. Performance-based and self-reported measures provide information about various aspects of exercise capacity and can be used during routine clinical practice to assess physical activity in asthma patients.     

Neural substrates of the tilt illusion.

PURPOSE: It has been suggested that direct and indirect tilt illusions and after-effects have different mechanisms, namely that the direct effects arise in VI and are sensitive to differences in spatial and temporal parameters between test and inducing stimuli, whereas indirect effects arise in extrastriate cortex and are insensitive to such parameters. When Wolfe (Vision Research 1984; 24: 1959-64) reported that large direct tilt after-effects occurred with short test flashes, he postulated that either there are distinct mechanisms which process brief and longer duration stimuli or that there are distinct mechanisms that are not primarily concerned with duration but are differentially responsive to temporal parameters amongst several others. RESULTS: In three experiments we demonstrate that large direct tilt illusions can be induced when parameters other than duration are manipulated, including contrast and spatial frequency, and that such large effects can occur when stimulus parameters are chosen to favour preferentially either the transient (magnocellular-like) system or the sustained (parvocellular-like) system. CONCLUSIONS: These results are thus consistent with Wolfe's second hypothesis. None of these stimulus manipulations had any effect on indirect tilt illusions, consistent with previous findings and hypotheses about the different mechanisms of the direct and indirect effects.     

Erfahrungen anlässlich des Expertenpanels „Fußball-WM Deutschland – Medical Lessons Learned“, 06.10.2006, München

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Treatment of advanced cancer of the prostate with an analog of LHRH, buserelin

Patients with metastatic prostatic cancer were treated by means of an LHRH agonist, Buserelin, by nasal administration. The serum testosterone levels were permanently decreased to castration levels in all patients. The objective response rate (CR + PR) was 50%.     

Perceptual distortion of an oblique line in the presence of an abutting vertical line

Two experiments measured line-dot alignment errors to either a long (2 deg 6 min) or short (12.7 min) oblique test line which was presented either in isolation or abutting a vertical inducing line. Alignment PSE's were obtained for a variety of line-dot separations at both the free end and at the intersect end of the test line, using a multiple randomly interleaved staircase technique.A number of aspects of the data were inconsistent with the hypothesis that alignment errors reflect whole-of-line changes in perceived orientation or intercept when the inducing line is present. Rather, the results were consistent with the notion that long lines are processed by integrating the outputs of analysers which respond to short line segments and that alignment errors reflect the differential weighting given to such analysers, depending upon the distance between the dot and the relevant segment of the line. An alternate hypothesis involving “cognitive mistracking” (Tong and Weintraub, 1974) could not be excluded by the results.     

Motor learning with augmented feedback: modality-dependent behavioral and neural consequences

Sensory information is critical to correct performance errors online during the execution of complex tasks and can be complemented by augmented feedback (FB). Here, 2 groups of participants acquired a new bimanual coordination pattern under different augmented FB conditions: 1) visual input reflecting coordination between the 2 hands and 2) auditory pacing integrating the timing of both hands into a single temporal structure. Behavioral findings revealed that the visual group became dependent on this augmented FB for performance, whereas the auditory group performed equally well with or without augmented FB by the end of practice. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) results corroborated these behavioral findings: the visual group showed neural activity increases in sensory-specific areas during practice, supporting increased reliance on augmented FB. Conversely, the auditory group showed a neural activity decrease, specifically in areas associated with cognitive/sensory monitoring of motor task performance, supporting the development of a control mode that was less reliant on augmented FB sources. Finally, some remnants of brain activity in sensory-specific areas in the absence of augmented FB were found for the visual group only, illustrating ongoing reliance on these areas. These findings provide the first neural account for the "guidance hypothesis of information FB," extensively supported by behavioral research.     

Scientific monitoring of the visitation procedure in inpatient rehabilitation centres of the German statutory pension insurance fund--the "Visit II" Project

Visitation procedures are an established method of external quality assurance. They have been conducted for many years in the German statutory pension insurance's medical rehabilitation centres and have continuously been refined and standardized. The overall goal of the visitation procedure implemented by the German statutory pension fund is to ensure compliance with defined quality standards as well as information exchange and counselling of rehabilitation centres. In the context of advancing the visitation procedure in the German statutory pension funds' medical rehabilitation centres, the "Visit II" Project was initiated to evaluate the perspectives and expectations of the various professional groups involved in the visitations and to modify the materials used during visitations (documentation form and manual). Evaluation data from the rehabilitation centres visited in 2008 were gathered using both written surveys (utilization analysis) and telephone-based interviews with administration managers and chief physicians. The utilization analysis procedure was evaluated with regard to its methodological quality. In addition, the pension insurance physicians in charge of patient allocation during socio-medical assessment were surveyed with regard to potential needs for revision of the visitation procedure. Data collection was complemented by expert panels with auditors. Interviews with users as part of the formative evaluation of the visitation procedure showed positive results regarding acceptance and applicability of the visitations as well as of the utilization analysis procedures. Various suggestions were made with regard to modification and revision of the visitation materials, that could be implemented in many cases. Documentation forms were supplemented by current scientifically-based topics in rehabilitation (e. g., vocationally oriented measures), whereas items with minor relevance were skipped. The manual (for somatic indications) was thoroughly revised. The transparent presentation of visitation processes and visitation criteria has proven to be a useful basis for strengthening the cooperation between the statutory pension insurance funds and the rehabilitation centres. Moreover, it is a helpful tool for the systematic and continuous advancement of this complex method by including all parties involved.