Cardiac conduction abnormalities and atrial arrhythmias associated with salicylate toxicity

Cardiac side effects from aspirin are uncommon; however, severe acid-base imbalance, pulmonary edema, ventricular ectopic activity and cardiopulmonary arrest have been reported in patients with toxic serum salicylate concentrations. We saw a patient with salicylate toxicity who developed a variety of sinus and atrioventricular nodal conduction disturbances and atrial arrhythmias with a relatively low toxic serum salicylate concentration. The cardiac rhythm returned to normal as the serum salicylate concentration decreased, and results of subsequent electrophysiologic testing and Holter monitoring were normal. A low serum albumin level may have resulted in altered salicylate binding in this patient, thereby increasing the availability of unbound (active) drug for toxic effects.     

Effect of an homo-aza-steroidal ester on estrogen receptor

A new modified steroid esterified with the cytotoxic moiety, p-[N,N-bis(2-chloroethyl)amino]phenyl-acetic acid, has been synthesized and tested for interaction with estrogen receptor and cytotoxic activity on the MCF-7 cell line.     

12-month outcome of patients with major depression and comorbid psychiatric or medical illness (compound depression)

OBJECTIVE: Inpatients with major depressive illness often have coexistent nonaffective psychiatric and/or medical conditions. The authors' objective is to address the following questions: 1) What is the effect of comorbid illness on the severity of major depression and associated psychosocial factors? 2) How does the course of depression differ for patients with and without concurrent illness? 3) Do patients with compound depression differ in rate of recovery and time to recovery from patients with pure depression? METHOD: The subjects were 78 patients with a DSM-III diagnosis of major depression who were consecutively admitted to an acute care university-affiliated psychiatric hospital; 37 of these patients had major depression only and 41 had major depression compounded by a coexisting axis I, II, or III condition. The patients were studied while hospitalized and for 12 months after hospital discharge. Instruments used included the Modified Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression, the Global Assessment Scale, and the Social Readjustment Rating Scale. RESULTS: Patients with compound depression reported significantly poorer functioning over the 12-month follow-up period and had lower recovery rates than the patients with pure depression. There were no differences in recovery rates between men and women with compound depression, but significantly more men than women with pure depression recovered. CONCLUSIONS: Compound depression is a common clinical occurrence, the course of illness is more difficult for patients with compound depression than for patients with pure depression, and the recovery rate of patients with compound depression is lower than that of patients with pure depression.     

Frontal impairment and hypoperfusion in neuroacanthocytosis

Cerebral blood flow tomography, by xenon 133 inhalation or HMPAO (99mTc-d, l-hexamethyl-propylene amine oxime) technetium Tc 99m injection, revealed a severe hypoperfusion in both frontal lobes of a 40-year-old woman with confirmed neuroacanthocytosis. This finding occurred in conjunction with neuropsychological deficits consistent with selective frontal lobe dysfunction. This observation is the first documentation of this type of dementia in neuroacanthocytosis.     

Urinary detected renal antigens in the early diagnosis of kidney graft rejection.

The determination of renal antigens in the urine with an immunoassay, based on monoclonal antibodies (moabs), is a noninvasive test system for the analysis and monitoring of renal injury. New moabs allowing an immunohistologic dissection of the human nephron were generated by a direct intrasplenic immunization of mice with pathologic urine samples. A sandwich enzyme immunoassay was developed to quantitate renal cell membrane antigens in the urine samples. A sandwich enzyme immunoassay was developed to quantitate renal cell membrane antigens in the urine. While antigen excretion in healthy individuals is low, preliminary data of a clinical investigation suggest the usefulness of these assay systems in diagnosis of tubular injury in human kidney transplant recipients. The immunoassay can provide very early hints of renal graft rejection prior to the appearance of clinical symptoms or the detection by routine clinical laboratory investigations.