Colophony-induced asthma in a poultry vender

A vender developed an immediate asthmatic reaction while removing feathers from poultry using a heated colophony-based mixture. Occupational-type provocation tests confirmed that he reacted to fumes of colophony alone.     

Combination of inflammatory cytokines increases nitrite and nitrate levels in the paraventricular nucleus of conscious rats

Inflammatory cytokines stimulate glial cells in vitro to produce nitric oxide (NO) from inducible NO synthase (iNOS). Whether the stimulation with cytokines produces NO derived from iNOS has not hitherto been demonstrated in the vivo brain. Nitrite and nitrate (NOx(-)) levels in the rat paraventricular nucleus (PVN) were measured before and after intraparenchymal microinjection of cytokines with a microdialysis technique. The cytokines, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha (10 ng), interleukin (IL)-1 beta (2 ng), and interferon (IFN)-gamma (2 ng) were microinjected. None of the cytokines alone had any effect on the NOx(-) levels for 8 h. But a combination of TNF-alpha and IFN-gamma gradually increased NOx(-) levels beginning at 140 min after the microinjection, and NOx(-) levels reached 1.8 times the basal level at 380 min. A combination of TNF-alpha and IL-1 beta increased NOx(-) beginning at 340 min, reaching 1.7 times the basal level at 440 min, whereas a combination of IL-1 beta and IFN-gamma had no effect. Microinjection of a mixture of all three cytokines increased NOx(-) levels beginning at 120 min, reaching 3.3 times the basal level at 400 min. Aminoguanidine, which is a selective inhibitor of iNOS, reduced NOx(-) levels induced by the mixed cytokine treatment. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR for iNOS mRNA was done. The intensity of the iNOS mRNA band for the cytokine-treated PVN was stronger than that for the vehicle-treated PVN. These results suggest that the increased NOx(-) after the treatment with mixed cytokines were dependent on iNOS activity. This is the first report to indicate that only cytokines induce NOS in vivo in the brain.     

Assessing Sexual Function amongst Hong Kong Chinese Patients with Gynecological Cancer: Translation and Validation of the Sexual Function-Vaginal Changes Questionnaire (SVQ)

OBJECTIVE The study aims to translate the Sexual FunctionVaginal Changes Questionnaire (SVQ) into Chinese and to establish its psychometric properties.METHODS A Chinese SVQ was developed by the use of the Brislin model of translation. The content validity and semantic equivalence were assessed by an expert panel. The translated version of SVQ was administered to 75 Hong Kong Chinese women who were suffered from gynecological cancer to test its psychometric properties.RESULTS The Chinese version of SVQ was compared to the original study for factor analysis. Internal consistency, itemtoscale correlations and test-retest reliability were high. The convergent and divergent validities supported the Chinese SVQ to CONCLUSION We conclude that the Chinese SVQ appears to be a valid, reliable and feasible disease-specific tool for the assessment of sexual function among Chinese patients.     

Reducing the dose of antipsychotic medications for those who had been treated with high-dose antipsychotic polypharmacy: an open study of dose reduction for chronic schizophrenia

Antipsychotic medications are often used at higher than the recommended dose and sometimes in a combination regimen to treat schizophrenia. However, in general, high-dose therapies have been abandoned in recent clinical studies. In this study, dose reduction of antipsychotic medication was implemented for patients with chronic schizophrenia, most of whom (81%) had been treated with an antipsychotic high-dose polypharmacy regimen consisting of more than 1000 mg/day in total amount. The results show that merely reducing the amount of antipsychotic led to favourable outcome in 23 out of 41 cases (56%), with another 13 cases (32%) showing no change. Dose reduction ended in failure in only five subjects (12%). Overall, the amount as well as the number of antipsychotic medications was significantly reduced from 1984 mg to 812 mg per day (reductions of 59% and from 3.6 to 2.2, respectively; both P<0.0001). The Global Assessment of Functioning scale improved from 30.6 to 37.2, which reached significance (P<0.001). Accordingly, the Severity of Illness improved from 4.7 to 4.2, and was also significant (P<0.01). Dose reduction is an encouraging strategy to consider for those patients with schizophrenia who have chronically been treated with high-dose antipsychotic polypharmacy, even if judged unavoidable in the past.     

Preoperative analysis of platelet aggregability in carotid surgery

To evaluate the relationship between preoperative analysis of platelet aggregability and perioperative complications, we analyzed 42 patients who underwent carotid endarterectomy or carotid artery stenting. The effect of antiplatelet drugs was tested by whole blood aggregometry. ADP (adenosine-diphosphoric acid) and collagen were used as agonists. According to platelet aggregability, patients were classified into 4 groups (class A: highly inhibited, class B: moderately inhibited, class C: normally inhibited, class D: non-inhibited). Seven (32%) of 22 patients were stratified as clopidogrel nonresponders, whereas four (10%) of 40 patients were aspirin nonresponders. Hemorrhagic complications were registered in four patients. All of them were classified as class A. Ischemic complications occurred in two patients, one was classified as class C, the other was class D. Preoperative analysis of platelet aggregability could be useful to reduce the risk of perioperative complications after carotid surgery.     

先天性心脏病并肺动脉高压患儿血清一氧化氮和血浆内皮素变化的意义

目的　探讨血清一氧化氮 (NO)和血浆内皮素 1(ET 1)对先天性心脏病 (CHD)患儿肺动脉高压 (PH)形成的影响。方法　选择健康儿童 3 0例为对照组 (A组 ) ;3 0例肺动脉压正常的CHD患儿为B组 ;3 0例CHD并PH患儿为C组。采用硝酸还原法对其血清NO 2 /NO 3 、放免法对其血浆ET 1浓度进行测定。结果　B组血清NO 2 /NO 3 浓度较A组明显增高 ;C组血清NO 2 /NO 3 浓度较A组低 ;无论是否并PH ,A、B两组与对照组相比 ,其血浆ET 1浓度均增高。结论　血清NO 2 /NO 3 浓度和血浆ET 1浓度及其间平衡关系共同影响PH的形成及其程度