Glycine transporter I inhibitor, N-methylglycine (sarcosine), added to antipsychotics for the treatment of schizophrenia.

BACKGROUND: Hypofunction of N-methyl-D-aspartate glutamate receptor had been implicated in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Treatment with D-serine or glycine, endogenous full agonists of the glycine site of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor, or D-cycloserine, a partial agonist, improve the symptoms of schizophrenia. N-methylglycine (sarcosine) is an endogenous antagonist of glycine transporter-1, which potentiates glycine's action on N-methyl-D-aspartate glycine site and can have beneficial effects on schizophrenia. METHODS: Thirty-eight schizophrenic patients were enrolled in a 6-week double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of sarcosine (2 g/d), which was added to their stable antipsychotic regimens. Twenty of them received risperidone. Measures of clinical efficacy and side effects were determined every other week. RESULTS: Patient who received sarcosine treatment revealed significant improvements in their positive, negative, cognitive, and general psychiatric symptoms. Similar therapeutic effects were observed when only risperidone-treated patients were analyzed. Sarcosine was well-tolerated, and no significant side effect was noted. CONCLUSIONS: Sarcosine treatment can benefit schizophrenic patients treated by antipsychotics including risperidone. The significant improvement with the sarcosine further supports the hypothesis of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor hypofunction in schizophrenia. Glycine transporter-1 is a novel target for the pharmacotherapy to enhance N-methyl-D-aspartate function.     

腹腔镜与开放性肾囊肿去顶术的临床对照分析

目的评价腹腔镜与开放性肾囊肿去顶术的临床疗效。方法回顾性分析采用经后腹腔镜和经腹腔镜行肾囊肿去顶术21例，其中经腹腔5例，经后腹腔16例，与开放性手术16例比较。结果手术时间，术中平均出血量，术后下床活动时间，术后住院天数，术后并发症腹腔镜组均优于开放手术组，住院费用腹腔镜组略高于开放性手术组。结论腹腔镜肾囊肿去顶术治疗单纯性肾囊肿安全、有效。应成为治疗单纯性肾囊肿的首选方法。     

北京农村居民健康状况及卫生服务需求调查

目的了解北京农村居民健康状况及卫生服务需求特点。方法从昌平区、顺义区、大兴区、房山区随机抽取25～64岁农民1605人进行统一问卷调查。结果农民高血压自报患病率为22．4％，超重和肥胖率为56．1％；现在吸烟率为34．4％，缺乏运动率为41．6％；家庭主要经济支出为学生上学(35．3％)，建房(25．4％)和疾病(21．2％)；54．9％家庭医疗费用支出占总收入的10％以上；最关心的健康问题主要是慢性疾病防治(70．2％)；最希望获得的健康知识是慢性病预防知识(72％)；希望获得健康知识的途径是广播和电视(81％)；家庭最希望获得的医疗保健服务是方便看病和获得药物(73．8％)。结论慢性病给农民带来沉重负担，并成为农民关心的主要健康问题。     

Recapitulation of fast skeletal muscle development in zebrafish by transgenic expression of GFP under the mylz2 promoter.

A 1,934-bp muscle-specific promoter from the zebrafish mylz2 gene was isolated and characterized by transgenic analysis. By using a series of 5' promoter deletions linked to the green fluorescent protein (gfp) reporter gene, transient transgenic analysis indicated that the strength of promoter activity appeared to correlate to the number of muscle cis-elements in the promoter and that a minimal -77-bp region was sufficient for a relatively strong promoter activity in muscle cells. Stable transgenic lines were obtained from several mylz2-gfp constructs. GFP expression in the 1,934-bp promoter transgenic lines mimicked well the expression pattern of endogenous mylz2 mRNA in both somitic muscle and nonsomitic muscles, including fin, eye, jaw, and gill muscles. An identical pattern of GFP expression, although at a much lower level, was observed from a transgenic line with a shorter 871-bp promoter. Our observation indicates that there is no distinct cis-element for activation of mylz2 in different skeletal muscles. Furthermore, RNA encoding a dominant negative form of cAMP-dependent protein kinase A was injected into mylz2-gfp transgenic embryos and GFP expression was significantly reduced due to an expanded slow muscle development at the expense of GFP-expressing fast muscle. The mylz2-gfp transgene was also transferred into two zebrafish mutants, spadetail and chordino, and several novel phenotypes in muscle development in these mutants were discovered.     

肠梗阻的临床进展

将近5年来有关肠梗阻的新诊治方法作一综述，结论如下：①B超、CT和76％泛影葡胺口服造影等对肠梗阻诊断有重要临床价值。②腹腔镜小肠梗阻手术是最能体现微创技术优越性的手术之一。③EPII应以非手术疗法为主。     

Localized cerebral proton MR spectroscopy in HIV infection and AIDS.

PURPOSETo document differences in the cerebral proton MR spectra of patients with early and late stages of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection.METHODWe studied the relative N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA) levels by localized proton spectroscopy of the parietooccipital region of the brain in 43 HIV-seropositive patients, including 26 with an acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)-defining diagnosis, and in eight control subjects.RESULTSReduced relative NAA levels were shown in those HIV-1-seropositive patients: 1) with AIDS against HIV-1-seropositive patients without AIDS (P < .04); 2) with HIV-1-associated cognitive/motor complex against neurologically healthy patients (P < .007); 3) with encephalopathic changes on MR against those with normal imaging (P < .001); and 4) on follow-up against their results on initial study (P < .03).CONCLUSIONSBy clinical (Centers for Disease Control classification) and radiologic (MR evidence of white-matter disease) criteria indicating late-stage HIV infection, reduced relative levels of NAA have been demonstrated. Spectroscopic abnormalities can be quantitatively tracked with time. This paper demonstrates the clinical use of detecting NAA as a putative in vivo measure of the neuronal loss that has been demonstrated in postmortem studies of patients with AIDS. This neuronal loss, which is believed to underlie the HIV-1-associated cognitive/motor complex, is thought to be attributable directly or indirectly to the presence of HIV in the brain. Proton spectroscopy may serve as a quantitative noninvasive indicator of this aspect of cerebral involvement in HIV disease.     

Arthroscopic all-inside repair techniques of lateral meniscus anterior horn tear: a technical note

Although the conventional outside-in technique is especially useful for repairing tears in the anterior portion of the meniscus, it has a disadvantage of making an additional 1–2 cm sized skin incision and tying knots subcutaneously over the capsule. Therefore we devised two all-inside repair techniques of lateral meniscus anterior horn tear according to the site of meniscal tear, meniscosynovial junction or red–red zone. Because these techniques are modified methods of the outside-in meniscal repair using a spinal needle, they are as simple as conventional outside-in technique. In addition they have advantages of vertical mattress suture, which is an important characteristic of the all-inside repair, and no additional incision. We recommend these techniques as an alternative method for repairing an anterior horn tear of the lateral meniscus.