Interactions between alcohol and nicotine on intracranial self-stimulation and locomotor activity in rats.

These studies were aimed at investigating interactions between alcohol and nicotine on operant behavior and on locomotor activity. Independent groups of rats with electrodes in the lateral hypothalamus were trained to lever press for intracranial self-stimulation (ICSS) on either a fixed-ratio 15 (FR 15), FR 30, fixed-interval 15-second (FI 15-s) or FI 30-s schedule of reinforcement. In the FI 15-s experiment, nicotine increased and alcohol decreased responding. This also happened in the FI 30-s experiment; however, when the two drugs were combined, an increase in lever pressing occurred which was greater than that produced by nicotine alone. Nicotine increased rates in the FR 15 schedule but, when combined with alcohol, did not reverse the decrease in rates produced by alcohol. In the FR 30 schedule, nicotine also increased response rates, but did not reverse the decrease produced by alcohol in this paradigm. A separate group of animals was tested in a locomotor activity apparatus following administration of nicotine, alcohol or their combination. Nicotine increased locomotor activity and alcohol depressed it. However, when 0.10 or 0.17 mg/kg nicotine was combined with 0.3 g/kg alcohol, an increase greater than that produced by nicotine alone occurred. We have found that alcohol and nicotine together can produce a potentiation of nicotine's stimulatory effects depending upon the dose and the requirements of the task.     

Thyroid disorders and steroid receptor proteins

65 patients with various thyroid disorders were studied for estrogen and progesterone receptor binding proteins. Two-thirds of all patients with both benign and malignant disease demonstrated positive protein receptor assays. No differences were seen among disease processes, sex, or age. While the therapeutic implications of this random association between steroid receptors and thyroid disorders are unknown, the authors recommend that patients with thyroid malignancies be studied for estrogen and progesterone receptor binding proteins and potential inhibitory or therapeutic steroid responses.     

Human chronic kidney allograft rejection is accompanied by increased intraglomerular cathepsin B and L activity

Abstract The major reason for late graft losses is chronic rejection. Recently, a large number of studies have indicated that proteolytic enzymes play an important role as mediators of glomerular injury. The cysteine proteinases cathepsins B and L degrade structural matrix proteins such as type I collagen and laminin. We investigated intraglomerular protease activities in 12 patients after kidney graftectomy because of end-tage renal disease following chronic rejection. A group of 12 patients undergoing nephrectomy because of cancer served as controls using only non-involved parts of the kidney. The activities of cathepsins B and L in homogenates of isolated glomeruli were measured fluorometrically methylcoumarylamidc substrates and related to DNA content. In rejected kidney allografts we observed significantly enhanced intraglomerular cathepsin B activity and cathepsin B + L activity.     

Lifetime diagnoses in patients with somatoform disorders: Which came first?

Thirty inpatients with somatoform disorders were examined with the structured clinical interview SCID for psychiatric lifetime diagnosis. In the present diagnoses, we found a concordance of 63% for somatoform and affective disorders and the lifetime comorbidity of both disorders was 87%. Additionally, patients with somatoform disorders frequently had a history of other psychiatric disorders (for example, anxiety disorders, 40%). For 73% of patients with somatoform disorders and a history of affective disorders, the onset of the somatoform disorder was prior to the onset of another psychiatric disorder. The time interval between the onsets of somatoform disorders and affective disorders was greater than 1 year for most patients; for 46% of the patients with a history of both disorders, the time interval between the two disorders was more than 5 years. The course of illness for somatoform and affective disorders was quite different; while affective disorders tended to episodic periods with interim remissions, the somatoform disorders usually showed long, chronic courses (mean duration of the current somatoform disorder was 11.9 years). Finally, the Symptom Check List SCL-90R demonstrated good discrimination between patients with affective and anxiety disorders. However, the SCL-90R failed to discriminate patients with somatoform disorders from affective- and anxiety-disordered subjects. Therefore, the development of other psychometric scales is necessary for the evaluation of patients with somatoform disorders.     

CO2 laser surgery of oral premalignant lesions

Experiences gained in the CO2 laser treatment of patients with oral dysplastic precancerous lesions are presented. Besides 7 lichens planus, 50 leukoplakias of all grades of dysplasia, and carcinoma in situ and one lentigo maligna were removed superficially with a defocused laser. Within the average follow-up period of 37 months, 22% local recurrences were observed. In comparison with conservative drug therapy, conventional surgical procedures, and cryosurgical therapy, the CO2 laser treatment of multicentric premalignant diseases of the oral mucosa can be recommended as an alternative therapy.     

Silent supraglottic carcinoma

In a review of 51 consecutive patients with previously untreated squamous cell carcinoma of the supraglottic larynx, five (9.8%) patients were found to have no mucosal abnormality on initial evaluation by both computed tomography (CT) and direct laryngoscopy. All five patients who manifested submucosal disease had at least one endoscopic procedure done with a biopsy negative for cancer before definitive diagnosis, resulting in an average delay from initial endoscopy to diagnosis of 19.8 weeks. These inapparent or "silent" neoplasms present unique problems in regard to establishing a diagnosis by routine biopsy techniques, even though CT reliably demonstrates their presence. Early diagnosis requires aggressive biopsy techniques based on CT findings.