Effects of Intraperitoneally Injected Acrylonitrile on Liver,Kidney and Brain

Abstract: Intraperitoneal injection of Chinese hamsters with acrylonitrile (30 mg/kg) decreased the glutathione content of liver and brain 4 hrs later. Twentyfour hrs after the injection, liver and kidney weights were increased; cerebral and renal glutathione concentrations were also increased. Cerebral succinate dehydrogenase and cytochrome oxidase activities were decreased as were liver and kidney ethoxycoumarin deethylase activity and liver microsomal cytochrome P-450 content. These biochemical effects may have been caused by acrylonitrile metabolites, i.e. glycidonitrile and cyanide ion; the hypoxic consequences associated with the latter being largely abolished after 72 hrs.     

Neurochemical effects of ethylhexyl nitrate in rats

Rats injected i.p. with 100 mg ethylhexyl nitrate/kg body wt excreted 0.3% of the dose in the urine within 24 h. No urinary nitrite was found within 5 postinjection hours while an output of 26.9 +/- 15.8 micrograms nitrite/h X kg body wt. was detected between 5-24 h. Cerebral glutathione concentration was below the control level after 1 day but returned to control value after 3 and 7 days postinjection. Brain acetylcholine esterase activity was marginally decreased after 1 day while RNA and succinate dehydrogenase assay excluded major structural damage. It seems that the mechanism of clinical symptoms experienced by exposed workers are comparable to those exposed to dynamite and are largely functional.     

Neurotoxic Effects of Disulfiram on Autonomic Nervous System in Rat

Abstract: Two groups of male Wistar rats weighing about 140 (WI) and 200 g (WII) and a group of Sprague-Dawley (S.D.) rats (140 g) received oral disulfiram 220–580 mg/kg (DSF) daily for one or three weeks. Isolated ilea of both control and treated rats showed similar responses to acetylcholine, but the responses to 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) were decreased after one and three weeks’treatment in the WI and SD rats. Pretreatment with reserpine intensified this effect in treated WI rats. A distinct decrease in the histochemical reactivity for the acetylcholinesterase and the non-specific cholinesterase was observed in the nerve plexuses of the gut wall indicating a DSF-induced nerve damage. Autonomic (cholinergic) nerves seemed thus to be affected by DSF. The two rats strains studied did not differ in their responses to 5-HT.     

Inhibition by tetrahydroharmane compounds of 5-hydroxytryptamine and histamine uptake in rabbit blood platelets

Summary The effect of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), tryptamine (T), 6-hydroxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroharmane (6-HTH), and 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroharmane (TH) on the accumulation of radioactive 5-HT and histamine, was studied in rabbit blood platelets. 6-HTH and TH inhibited the uptake of the labelled amine, but they were weaker inhibitors than 5-HT or T. All four compounds inhibited the accumulation of radioactive histamine in the granules as well as in the whole cells, but the latter effect is not the consequence of inhibition of granular accumulation.It is concluded that the methylene bridge, which is the most important structural difference between the harmanes and the tryptamines, does not abolish the affinity of the molecule to the uptake receptor at the platelet membrane. However, since the inhibitory potency was lower than that of the parent amines, one cannot be certain as to whether or not the conformation present in the harmane derivatives offers the best fit for the receptor.     

Health care contacts before and after attempted suicide

Objective The prevalence and timing of contact with health care predicting and after a suicide attempt are not well known. This study systematically investigated the pattern of all health care contacts both before and after attempted suicide. Methods All consecutive 1,198 suicide attempters treated in hospital emergency rooms in Helsinki during a 12-month period were identified. Data were gathered on all health care contacts 1 year before and after the index attempt. Results The vast majority of the suicide attempters had contact with health care during the 12 months before and after the index attempt. However, half were without a treatment contact during the final 30 days before the index attempt and one-third in the 30 days following the attempt. Suicide attempters who were not referred to aftercare, did not suffer from a previously recognised major mental disorder, were male, or made non-violent attempts were less likely to be receiving treatment after the attempt. Conclusion Although most suicide attempters have contact with health care within the year before and after the parasuicide, far fewer actually have a treatment contact at the time of the attempt. Accepted: 20 September 2001     

Skeletal measurements among infants who die during the perinatal period: new population-based reference

BACKGROUND: Reference data for roentgen skeletal measurements among infants who die during the perinatal period is not available, although it might prove helpful in the study of pre-autopsy radiographs. OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to define new population-based reference data for skeletal measurements among infants who die during the perinatal period. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We routinely took standardised pre-autopsy radiographs of aborted and stillborn fetuses from 16 weeks gestational age to 7 days after delivery during a period of 11 years in our hospital. The data presented here represents nearly all perinatal deaths in a well-defined geographical area during the study period. We calculated detailed plots of estimated 10th-90th centiles and quartiles of different skeletal measurements by gestational age at death. RESULTS: High correlations were seen between birth weight and the different skeletal measurements, including cranial width ( r>0.9, P<0.001). We were not able to identify any asymmetrical pattern of skeletal growth. Reference plots for femoral, tibial, humeral, radial and lumbar spine lengths, and for pelvic width are presented. CONCLUSIONS: We suggest that the current population-based reference data might be beneficial, and that skeletal radiographic measurements might contribute substantially in the assessment of fetal growth stage and in detection of skeletal abnormalities in infants who die during the perinatal period.     

Healing results of prolonged acute frontal sinusitis treated with endoscopic sinus surgery

In a marked part of patients suffering from acute frontal sinusitis, the symptoms do not resolve after initial therapy (antibiotics and/or trephination). The prolongation of the healing or recurrences may be caused by persistent inflammation or by structural abnormalities at the nasofrontal connection. During the last decade endoscopic surgery (FES) has become a very useful method to restore the frontonasal drainage although long term results of this kind of population are rare. We evaluated the results of endoscopic surgery in two patient groups (total number of 50) both operated after prolongation (persistent symptoms after 4 weeks) of the initial acute phase of the frontal sinusitis. The first group (A, 15 patients, first trephined) was followed-up 4 years, the number of recurrences after the first FES was 60% and in the other group (B, no initial trephination) with over 6 months follow-up, 91% of patients had recurrences. In group A pre- and postoperative CT-scanning was used to determine the possible anatomical variations that could be causing the failures. All but 3 patients showed some kind of abnormal anatomical variation. In group B only preoperative CT was done. In most cases the reasons for recurrences of frontal sinusitis were polyps and/or chronic inflammation at the ethmoidal region.