Comparative study of the Jordan left-right reversal test, the reversals frequency test, and teachers' observations

The intertest pass/fail reliability of the Jordan left-right reversal test (JRT) and reversals frequency test (RFT) was compared on 510 "regular classroom" and 126 "learning handicapped" children. Children were divided into two age groups, 5 to 8 years and 9 to 13 years. Teachers completed a questionnaire assessing whether they felt a reversal problem existed. Statistical analysis showed low to moderate agreement between the pass/fail rate of the two tests (p less than 0.001) for both age groups of normal children; however, no statistical agreement was found for either age group of learning handicapped children. There was only very low agreement between the teacher's assessment of reversals and the pass/fail rates for both age groups of normals and the 9- to 13-year-old learning handicapped group. No agreement was found for the 5- to 8-year-old learning handicapped group. The effect of test design and recommendations for the clinical investigation of reversals are discussed.     

重度肥胖患者胃肠分流术后低氧血症机制的分析

目的　研究重度肥胖对胃肠分流术后动脉血氧分压的影响。方法　对 6 1例进行胃肠分流术的重度肥胖患者及 5 5例择期腹部手术的正常体重患者进行术前肺功能、术前及术后 1～ 5d的血气分析检测。结果　肥胖组术后1～ 5d、对照组术后 1～ 2d的动脉血氧分压较术前显著下降 (P <0 .0 5 ) ;肥胖组术后 1～ 2d动脉血氧分压与其最大分钟通气量及腰臀比显著相关 (P <0 .0 0 0 1)。结论　重度肥胖者较正常体重患者在腹部手术后发生低氧血症的程度较严重且持续时间长。     

What do Irish women know about cervical screening?

In anticipation of the launch of the national cervical screening programme, a questionnaire was distributed amongst 200 women on the maternity wards of the Coombe Women's Hospital. The questionnaires revealed that 24% of the women surveyed never had a smear test and 50% of these did not know how the test was performed. The majority of all women did not know what a smear test showed and 26% did not know the meaning of an abnormal smear. Irish women's knowledge of cervical screening is limited, and the success of the proposed programme will depend on an improvement in public information and education.     

Effects of d-amphetamine and haloperidol on latent inhibition in healthy male volunteers

Latent inhibition (LI) refers to a retardation of learning about the consequences of a stimulus when that stimulus has been passively presented a number of times without reinforcement. Acute positive-symptom schizophrenics, normal volunteers who score high on questionnaire measures of schizotypy and non-patients or animals treated with dopamine agonists show reduced LI. Neuroleptic drugs, such as haloperidol, administered at low doses, potentiate LI and effectively reverse disruption of LI induced by dopamine agonists in animals. However, a high dose of haloperidol, administered on its own, has been found to reduce LI. We examined the effects on LI of acute oral administration of an indirect dopamine-agonist, d-amphetamine (5 mg), and a nonselective dopamine receptor antagonist, haloperidol (5 mg), in normal male volunteers, using an associative learning task. Replicating previous reports, we found that d-amphetamine reduced LI; haloperidol also reduced LI, but only in subjects who scored low on the Psychoticism scale of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. In a subsequent study, no effect was found of 2 mg oral haloperidol administration on LI. The effect of 5 mg haloperidol on LI is interpreted as similar to that observed with a high dose of haloperidol in rats.     

Interactions between essential fatty acid,prostanoid, polyol pathway and nitric oxide mechanisms in the neurovascular deficit of diabetic rats

Summary Impaired -6 essential fatty acid metabolism and exaggerated polyol pathway flux contribute to the neurovascular abnormalities in streptozotocin-diabetic rats. The potential interactions between these mechanisms were examined by comparing the effects of threshold doses of aldose reductase inhibitors and evening primrose oil, alone and in combination, on neurovascular deficits. In addition, highdose aldose reductase inhibitor and evening primrose oil treatment effects were challenged by co-treatment with the cyclo-oxygenase inhibitor, flurbiprofen, or the nitric oxide synthase inhibitor, N^G-nitro-l-arginine. Eight weeks of diabetes caused an 18.9% reduction in sciatic motor conduction velocity (p<0.001). This was only modestly ameliorated by a 0.1% dietary supplement of evening primrose oil or the aldose reductase inhibitors ZD5522 (0.25 mg · kg^–1 · day^–1) and WAY121509 (0.2 mg · kg^–1· day^–1) for the final 2 weeks. However, joint treatment with primrose oil and ZD5522 or WAY121509 caused marked 71.5 and 82.4% corrections, respectively, of the conduction deficit. Sciatic nutritive blood flow was 43.1% reduced by diabetes (p<0.001) and this was corrected by 67.8% with joint ZD5522 and primrose oil treatment (p<0.001). High-dose WAY121509 (10 mg · kg^–1 · day^–1) and primrose oil (10% dietary supplement) prevented sciatic conduction velocity and nutritive blood flow deficits in 1-month diabetic rats (p<0.001). However, these effects were abolished by flurbiprofen (5 mg · kg^–1 · day^–1) and N^G-nitro-l-arginine (10 mg · kg^–1 · day^–1) co-treatment (p<0.001). Thus, the data provide evidence for synergistic interactions between polyol pathway/nitric oxide and essential fatty acid/cyclo-oxygenase systems in the control of neurovascular function in diabetic rats, from which a potential therapeutic advantage could be derived.Abbreviations ARI Aldose reductase inhibitor - EPO evening primrose oil - NCV nerve conduction velocity - NO nitric oxide - NOLA N^G-nitro-l-arginine     

Phase I/II investigation of paclitaxel, ifosfamide and carboplatin for advanced non-small-cell lung cancer.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to evaluate feasibility and tolerability of the three-drug combination of paclitaxel, ifosfamide and carboplatin (TIC) in patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer. The specific objectives of the study were: (i) to define the dose-limiting toxicities (DLTs) and the maximum-tolerated dose of ifosfamide administered as part of the combination; and (ii) to determine the overall response rate and overall survival of patients treated with this regimen. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients with untreated, stage IIIB (pleural effusion) or stage IV non-small-cell lung cancer were enrolled in one of three cohorts. Patients received paclitaxel 200 mg/m(2) as a 1-h infusion on day 1 with carboplatin at an area under the concentration-time curve (AUC) of 6 mg.min/ml on day 2. For dose level I, ifosfamide was administered at a dose of 2 g/m(2) on days 1 and 2. For dose levels II and III, the dose of ifosfamide was decreased to 1.5 g/m(2) on days 1 and 2 and the dose of carboplatin was decreased to AUC 5 mg.ml/min. Therapy for dose levels I and III included filgrastim support (5 micro g/kg/day), which was initiated on day 3 and continued until after day 11 or until an absolute neutrophil count >10 000/ micro l. Treatment cycles were repeated every 21 days. Once the phase II dose was established, a full cohort of patients received therapy at this dose level to examine further the regimen's activity and tolerability. RESULTS: Neutropenia was the DLT encountered for dose levels I and II. No DLT was encountered in the initial six patients treated at dose level III, and therefore this dose level was declared the recommended phase II dose. A total of 49 patients were treated at the recommended phase II dose. The predominant non-hematological toxicity encountered with this triplet regimen was cumulative peripheral neuropathy. Of the 65 eligible patients enrolled in this study, 17 (26%) responded. There were 15 patients with partial responses (23%), two with regression, and 26 with stabilization of disease (40%). Median progression-free and overall survival were 4.8 and 9.4 months, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The combination TIC is well-tolerated. This triplet regimen produced response and survival rates in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer similar to those of other current combination chemotherapy regimens.