Inhibition of nitric oxide synthase does not block the development of sensitization to the behavioral activating effects of amphetamine

Pretreatment with the nitric oxide (NO) synthase inhibitor, N^G-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME), a competitive blocker of NO production, did not interfere with the development of sensitization to the behavioral activating effects of amphetamine (AMPH). On five pre-exposure sessions, at 3-day intervals, rats were given two i.p. injections, either 50 mg/kgL-NAME 30 min prior to 1.5 mg/kgD-AMPH sulfate, saline and AMPH,L-NAME and saline, or saline only.L-NAME reduced the levels of activity recorded during the pre-exposure session but had no effect on the degree of sensitization shown to a challenge injection of 0.5 mg/kg AMPH given 10 days later. A separate study using in vivo microdialysis showed that pretreatment withL-NAME did not alter AMPH-stimulated dopamine release in nucleus accumbens.     

Physiologic Responses to Acute Psychological Stress in Adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus

This study was designed to assess physiologic responses to experimentallyinduced psychological stress in adolescents with Type 1 diabetesmellitus.     

The treatment of intractable rheumatoid arthritis with lymphoid irradiation

Subdisphragmatic lymphoid radiation was used as an alternative to cytotoxic drug therapy to treat six patients with progressive erosive rheumatoid arthritis. All were previously unresponsive to conventional therapy. Radiation (4,000 rad) was given to subdispbragmatic lymphoid tissues in fractionated doses of 150–250 rod each. Three of the six patients demonstrated long-lasting clinical improvement with a decrease in synovitis and morning stiffness and an increase in joint function. All six patients showed a profound depression in the peripheral blood lymphocyte count which persisted for at least six months. The irradiation was well tolerated; there have been no serious complications due to radiotherapy with follow-up ranging from 13 to 36 months. The substantial efficacy in some patients and the lack of severe toxicity in all suggests that radiotherapy deserves further study as an alternative to cytotoxic drugs in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.     

Mechanical performance of sutures in surgery.

In this study, we have compared the recommended configuration of a knot with specified sutures as ascertained by mechanical performance tests to that employed by a group of board-certified surgeons. Agreement between the surgeon and the results of the test was encountered in only one fourth of the instances. In another one fourth of the cases the surgeon overestimated the number of throws required for a knot to reach knot break. This additional suture material further handicaps the host's defenses, thereby inviting infection. Surgeons employed knots that untied without reaching knot break in the remaining half of the cases. The holding power of many of the knots that untied was substantially less than that of knots reaching knot break. On the basis of the study, it is recommended that results of the mechanical performance tests be made readily available to the surgeon so that his patient can receive maximal benefits from the knotted suture with the least damage to the host's defenses.