Bilateral versus unilateral sudden sensorineural hearing loss.

OBJECTIVES: To analyze the clinical characteristics and treatment results between bilateral (bi-) and unilateral (uni-) sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL). STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: A retrospective study. METHODS: Three hundred twenty-four patients with SSNHL were classified into two groups; simultaneous bi-SSNHL (n = 16) and uni-SSNHL (n = 308). We compared clinical characteristics, medical history, hearing level, and treatment results between the 2 groups. RESULTS: The incidence of bi-SSNHL was 4.9 percent of overall patients with SSNHL. Bi-SSNHL occurs more commonly in patients of older age, with preexisting diabetes mellitus, and lipid panel abnormalities compared with uni-SSNHL. Ten patients (62.5%) in the bi-SSNHL group showed hearing recovery in 1 or both ears compared with 56.5 percent of patients with uni-SSNHL. Only 12 (37.5%) of all 32 ears recovered in bi-SSNHL, which was significantly lower than in uni-SSNHL. CONCLUSION: Bi-SSNHL has a very low incidence and lower recovery rate than uni-SSNHL. Recognition of similarities and differences between bilateral and unilateral SSNHL can help in counseling and managing the patients.     

Diagnosis of schizophrenia. Prediction of short-term outcome

Seven systems for the diagnosis of schizophrenia were compared in their ability to predict short-term outcome at follow-up: with each other, with selected specific symptoms, and with a simple additive composite symptom score. None of the systems nor the symptoms predicted strongly, but DSM-III and Schneiderian First Rank Symptoms and the composite score performed somewhat better than the other predictors.     

Malaria in Korea

Malaria was steadily decreasing in Korea except in certain counties of the mountainous and hilly areas, in the 1960s. Judging from the present epidemiological, social and economic conditions, it can be said with confidence that malaria with "unstable" characteristic in the Republic of Korea has already been disappeared. No doubt, the causes of the disappearance of malaria are complex. Certainly improved living conditions and life style; better medical and educational facilities in the wake of a rapid economic development could all have some role. On the other hand, the disappearance of malaria without large scale control operations could be ascribed to the two main factors: one is malaria case detection and simultaneous drug therapy available through the nation-wide passive case detection network during the 1960s and the other is rapidly improved farming practices begun in 1970s, which resulted in the use of a huge quantity of pesticides and other chemicals for agriculture, which, in turn, might affect local anopheline vectors which were originally not effective ones any way.     

Neuropeptides: Animal behaviour and human psychopathology

Summary Animal studies have demonstrated that neuropeptides modulate nervous system functions. It has been postulated that disturbances in neuropeptide systems may be aetiological factors in psychiatric and neurological disorders. Neuropeptides related to ACTH/MSH, including ORG 2766, increase motivation and attention and facilitate recovery processes after nerve damage. These peptides may be effective during the early stage of dementia. Vasopressin and related peptides improve memory processes in animals and humans. In addition, these peptides influence social behaviour, mood and addictive behaviour. The non-opioid -type endorphins have neurolepticlike activities in animals and antipsychotic effects in a category of schizophrenic patients. Peptides related to CCK have also been found to be effective in these patients. Some neuropeptides, e.g. TRH and PLG, have been reported to exert antidepressant effects. Further research may eventually produce neuropeptides with therapeutic action in psychiatric and neurological diseases.Parts of this article were presented on the occasion of the inauguration ceremony of the Department of Psychiatry of the University of Mainz on April 2 and 3, 1987     

Brief report: cognitive functioning in children with Tourette's syndrome with and without comorbid ADHD

OBJECTIVE: To examine whether patients with Tourette's syndrome (TS) with and without comorbid attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) differ in cognitive functioning and whether a higher level of cognitive functioning is associated with severity of TS symptoms and psychosocial functioning. METHODS: Cognitive functioning, symptom severity, and psychosocial functioning were examined in 40 patients (33 boys, 7 girls; age range 6-18 years) with TS, of whom 17 had the comorbid diagnosis of ADHD. RESULTS: Patients with a comorbid ADHD diagnosis evidenced poorer performance than those with TS alone with respect to severity of TS symptoms, psychosocial functioning, verbal and performance intelligence, and word fluency, but not on tests of cognitive flexibility. Psychosocial functioning was predicted by symptom severity, but not by intelligence or fluency. CONCLUSIONS: Results confirm prior findings that comorbid ADHD is associated with more TS symptoms and worse psychosocial and cognitive functioning, and motivate whether cognitive flexibility plays a role in moderating the deleterious psychosocial effects of Tourette's syndrome and ADHD.     

Silencing the major apple allergen Mal d 1 by using the RNA interference approach

BACKGROUND: Apple allergy is dominated by IgE antibodies against Mal d 1 in areas where birch pollen is endemic. Apples with significantly decreased levels of Mal d 1 would allow most patients in these areas to eat apples without allergic reactions. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to inhibit the expression of Mal d 1 in apple plants by RNA interference. METHODS: In vitro -grown apple plantlets were transformed with a construct coding for an intron-spliced hairpin RNA containing a Mal d 1-specific inverted repeat sequence separated by a Mal d 1-specific intron sequence. The presence of the construct in transformants was checked by PCR. Expression of Mal d 1 in leaves was monitored by prick-to-prick skin testing in 3 patients allergic to apples and by immunoblotting with a Mal d 1-reactive mAb and with IgE antibodies against Mal d 1. RESULTS: After transformation, plantlets were selected on the basis of having a normal phenotype and growth rate. With PCR, in 6 of 9 selected plantlets, the presence of the gene-silencing construct was demonstrated. By skin prick test it was shown that a wild-type plantlet had significantly ( P < .05) higher allergenicity than 5 of the transformants. Reduction of expression of Mal d 1 was confirmed by immunoblotting. In wild-type and unsuccessful transformants, a strong band was detected with Mal d 1-reactive mAb 5H8 at the expected apparent M r of 17 kDa. This band was virtually absent in the transformants that carried the gene-silencing construct. With human IgE antibodies, the same observations were made. CONCLUSIONS: Mal d 1 expression was successfully reduced by RNA interference. This translated into significantly reduced in vivo allergenicity. These observations support the feasibility of the production by gene silencing of apples hypoallergenic for Mal d 1.     

Lipid transfer protein: a pan-allergen in plant-derived foods that is highly resistant to pepsin digestion

BACKGROUND: Lipid transfer proteins (LTPs) are small molecules of approximately 10 kD that demonstrate high stability. They have recently been identified as allergens in the Rosaceae subfamilies of the Prunoideae (peach, apricot, plum) and of the Pomoideae (apple). They belong to a family of structurally highly conserved proteins that are also present in non-Rosaceae vegetable foods. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the cross-reactivity to non-Rosaceae LTPs, and to study the role of protein stability in allergenicity. METHODS: Thirty-eight patients with a positive SPT to Rosaceae fruit extracts enriched for LTP were characterized by interview and SPT. To investigate IgE cross-reactivity between Rosaceae and non-Rosaceae LTPs, RAST and RAST inhibition as well as ELISA and ELISA inhibition were performed, using whole food extracts and purified LTPs. Both purified natural LTPs (peach, carrot and broccoli) and Pichia pastoris recombinant LTPs (carrot and wheat) were included. Pepsin digestion was used to address the role of stability in the allergenicity of LTPs. RESULTS: IgE antibodies to Rosaceae LTPs reacted to a broad range of vegetable foods, including Gramineae (cereals), Leguminosae (peanut), Juglandaceae (walnut), Anacardiaceae (pistachio), Brassicaceae (broccoli), Umbelliferae (carrot, celery), Solanaceae (tomato), Cucurbitaceae (melon), and Actinidiaceae (kiwi). Binding and inhibition studies with purified natural and recombinant LTPs confirmed their role in this cross-reactivity. Many of these cross-reactivities were accompanied by clinical food allergy, frequently including systemic reactions. Antibody binding to LTP was shown to be resistant to pepsin treatment of whole extract or purified LTP. CONCLUSION: LTP is a pan-allergen with a degree of cross-reactivity comparable to profilin. Due to its extreme resistance to pepsin digestion, LTP is a potentially severe food allergen.     

Screening assays for immunologic infertility: a comparison study.

Because the immunobead antisperm antibody test (IBT) is difficult to learn and results are heavily operator-dependent, we compared findings on IBT with those of SpermMAR and SpermCheck in 58 patients to determine whether the latter two tests could demonstrate improved screening ability. Assays performed on both sperm and serum (i.e., direct and indirect) yielded 100% positive predictive values when IBT was used as the standard. Both SpermCheck and SpermMAR are easier to perform, and, as the former has a slightly greater sensitivity, we recommend SpermCheck for the detection of immunologic infertility.     

Chronic Cocaine Injections Attenuate Behavioral Response of κ-Opioid Receptors to U-50,488H Agonist

Chronic injections of cocaine (20 mg/kg daily for 10 days) increase activity and decrease anxiety in male C57Bl/6j mice in comparison with animals chronically injected with normal saline. U-50,488H (κ-opioid receptor agonist; 2.5 mg/kg) produced an anxiolytic effect in animals preinjected with normal saline and had no effect in animals chronically injected with cocaine. Presumably, chronic activation of dopaminergic systems caused by cocaine injections is paralleled by desensitization of k-opioid receptor system. __________ Translated from Byulleten' Eksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 140, No. 9, pp. 305–307, September, 2005     

Immunotherapy of mammary adenocarcinoma metastases in C3H/HeN mice with chronic administration of cyclo-oxygenase inhibitors alone or in combination with IL-2

In this study the efficacy of treatment of two cyclo-oxygenase inhibitors, ibuprofen (Ibu) and indomethacin (Indo), are compared in the immunotherapy of metastasis designed to reverse prostaglandin E₂ (PGE₂)mediated inactivation of interleukin-2 (IL-2)-dependent host killer cell lineages. These agents were tested either alone for the prevention of metastasis or in combination with IL-2 for the eradication of established metastasis. C3H/HeN mice were placed on chronic oral Ibu (CIbT; 200 and 600 ,g/ml of water) or Indo (CIT; 10 g/ml) 5 days after s.c. transplantation of 5 × 10⁵ metastatic C3L5 mammary carcinoma for the prevention of spontaneous lung metastases. They showed intolerance to Indo at a dosage of 14 g/ml, which was well tolerated by other mouse strains in previous studies, but tolerated the Ibu dosages used. Control and treated mice were killed on day 30 to score metastatic lung colonies, to evaluate killer activity in splenocytes against natural killer (NK)-sensitive YAC-1 lymphoma or NK-resistant C3L5 adenocarcinoma and 8911 lymphoma targets, and to phenotype the surface markers of killer cells. CIbT and CIT alone at the above dosage significantly reduced the number of lung colonies, retarded local tumor growth and restored NK activity of splenic killer cells expressing AGM-1⁺, Thy-1^–, Lyt-2^– phenotype. To treat established lung metastasis, mice bearing 15-day C3L5 transplants were given CIbT or CIT alone or in combination with two 4-day rounds (days 20–23, 31–34) of IL-2 (15 000 Cetus units, i.p. every 8 h) and were killed on day 35 to score lung colonies and characterize splenic killer cells. CIbT or CIT alone reduced the number of spontaneous lung metastases and restored anti-YAC-1 killer function of splenocytes with NK-like phenotype (AGM-1⁺, Thy-1^–, Lyt-2^–); some anti-C3L5 killer function was also generated in the high dose Ibu group and the killer cell showed AGM-1⁺, Thy-1⁺ and Lyt-2⁺ phenotype. Combined therapies with CIbT or CIT plus IL-2 were more effective in reducing metastases and promoting killer cell function, the best results being achieved with high dose Ibu + IL-2. All killer cells expressed AGM-1 and Thy-1. In addition, C3L5 killer cells also expressed Lyt-2, suggesting T-cell stimulation. PGE₂ synthesis in the host was inhibited by at least 50% in mice subjected to CIbT or CIT. Thus, Ibu proved to be an excellent substitute for Indo in preventing metastasis and NK cell activation when given alone, and also in ameliorating established metastasis and activating lymphokine-activated killer cells when combined with IL-2.