Atrial fibrillation in alcoholic lesion of the heart

Sixty chronic alcoholic patients, aged 35.6 +/- 0.7 years and an average alcoholic history of 9.3 +/- 0.5 years were examined. Atrial fibrillation was detected at 24 h ECG monitoring in 2 (3.45%) patients, and paroxysms of atrial fibrillation or flutter were detected by intracardiac electrophysiologic investigation in 6 (22.2%). Fourteen (44.8%) patients with alcoholic heart damage demonstrated atrial vulnerability, indicative of a predisposition to atrial fibrillation even at earlier stages of alcoholic heart damage.     

Morphological findings during retinal development and maturation in hereditary rod-cone degeneration in Abyssinian cats

The sequence of structural changes involved in postnatal photoreceptor differentiation, maturation and early degeneration was studied in young Abyssinian cats and kittens with hereditary rod-cone degeneration and compared to maturation in normal controls. In affected cats the earliest change seen was disorientation of outer segment discs in the majority of the rods, while other rods appeared to develop and mature normally. Such disorientation of discs (at oblique angles or parallel to the longitudinal axis of the outer segment, or whorls of discs) is considered as 'immaturity', since controls also showed a substantial number of disoriented rod outer segment discs at this young age. At postnatal day 35 the difference between affected animals and controls was marked with a high frequency of immature appearing rod outer segment discs in affected animals, while all rod outer segment discs were adult-like and arranged in an orderly manner in controls. Cones seemed unaffected at this age. More severe changes in affected rod outer segments in the form of disintegration of discs (vacuolization and clumping of disc material, or formation of debris), which we consider to represent degeneration, were first observed at the time when retinal maturation normally occurs in the cat, i.e. 150 days postnatally. Subsequently a drop-out of rods was seen, primarily of rods with disoriented and disintegrated outer segment discs, followed by a slow, progressive degeneration of rods that had developed and matured normally. Cones appeared normal during the time of retinal development and maturation and it was not until the age of 2-3 years (Narfstr?m and Nilsson, 1986, Incest. Ophthalmol, Vis. Sci. 27, 1569-76) that degenerative changes were seen also in cones.     

Optic nerve glioma and the management of optic nerve tumours in the young.

Thirty-one patients presenting as orbital optic nerve glioma have been reviewed with maximum follow-up of 14 years. Sixteen of these patients have been reported on previously and further follow-up is provided. Sixteen patients had a stable clinical course with little change over a period of up to 13.5 years. Neurofibromatosis was relatively common in this group (11/16). Fifteen patients had progressive enlargement of the tumour; the incidence of neurofibromatosis in this group was low (4/15). Eleven of these patients were explored neurosurgically and the optic nerve totally excised in 10 of them. The proximal cut end was normal in six patients and the chiasm has apparently remained free of tumour in all of them. We suggest a method of management of primary optic nerve tumours, both meningiomas and gliomas, in young patients.     

Nuclease hypersensitivity of the rat cytochrome P450IA1 gene

The bovine pancreatic deoxyribonuclease I (DNAase I) hypersensitivity of the rat cytochrome P450IA1 gene was investigated. A nuclease-hypersensitive region was observed at approximately 3.2 to 5.1 kilobase pairs upstream of exon 1 in adult and fetal rat liver. This region did not necessarily correlate with gene expression following 3-methylcholanthrene induction, although it may determine the potential for inducibility of this gene.     

Facilitation of discrimination transfers under amphetamine: the relative control by S+ and S− and general transfer effects

Rats were trained in a Y-maze on a two-choice simultaneous black-white discrimination with either black or white as S⁺. Animals were then transferred to one of three discrimination tasks. In task 1 (New S^–), a new stimulus, either vertical or horizontal stripes, was substituted for the original S^–. In task 2 (New S⁺), a new stimulus, either vertical or horizontal stripes as in task 1, was substituted for the original S⁺. In task 3 (New S⁺/S^–) animals were trained on horizontal-vertical discrimination. The pre-trial administration of 1 mg/kg d-amphetamine facilitated the acquisition of the original black-white discrimination with both black as S⁺ and white as S⁺. Likewise, the drug improved performance in all three transfer conditions. However, the course of learning in the three transfer tasks was different in the placebo- and amphetamine-treated animals. Amphetamine-treated animals were disrupted more by a change in S⁺ than by a change in S^–, whereas the opposite pattern was evident in the placebo controls. When both discriminative stimuli were changed, placebo animals exhibited pronounced decrement in performance, whereas amphetamine animals exhibited excellent learning. The implications of these findings for the effects of amphetamine on discrimination learning are discussed.     

Diagnostic value of load tests in the evaluation of nonspecific changes in the electrocardiogram

The paper describes the examinations of 353 patients with various cardiovascular pathologies and changes in the end-portion of the ECG ventricular complex. For that purpose potassium chloride, obsidan, orthostatic and hyperventilation tests were used. The examinations demonstrated that the ECG changes were of functional nature in 178 patients, of organic nature in 155 patients and of mixed nature in 20 patients which was important for reliable diagnostic and expertise conclusions.