Interaction between endogenous opioids, cholinergic and adrenergic mechanisms during vagally-induced gastrin release in rats

Endogenous opioids are present in neurons of the vagus and the intrinsic nervous system and they are colocalized with gastrin in antral G-cells. This raises the possibility that endogenous opioids modulate gastrin release. Stimulation of both cervical vagi (10V, 5Hz, 5ms) elicited an increase of arterial plasma gastrin levels at intragastric pH7 or pH2. The response at pH2 was 30% of that at luminal pH7. Atropine reduced vagally stimulated gastrin levels substantially. At luminal pH2 the small residual noncholinergic response was mediated neither by adrenergic mechanisms nor by endogenous opioids. At luminal pH 7 adrenergic blockade with phentolamine and propranolol reduced vagally stimulated gastrin by 60%. In the presence of atropine adrenergic blockade elicited only a small inhibitory effect suggesting that vagal activation of adrenergic mechanisms depends on atropine-sensitive cholinergic pathways. Blockade of opiate receptors by naloxone had no effect on vagal gastrin release, however, the noncholinergic gastrin response was reduced significantly by naloxone, suggesting that cholinergic mechanisms normally restrain activation of endogenous opioids during vagal stimulation. Naloxone had no effect on the noncholinergic, nonadrenergic stimulation of gastrin levels. These data suggest that endogenous opioids can contribute to vagal gastrin release provided the cholinergic restraint is blocked and adrenergic mechanisms stimulate endogenous opioids. In conclusion a major role of endogenous opioids in the regulation of vagal gastrin release can not be detected.     

Alcohol-dependent criminals: on the problem of their confinement according to paragraph 64 of the German federal law

The article presents part of the results of a Federal German investigation of psychiatric confinement in cases of delinquency in accordance with German law. Among the 674 inmates whose case history could be included in the investigation, there was a predominance of alcohol dependence in two-thirds of them. Confinement occurred mostly only after addiction and delinquencies had been going on for a long time. In more than one-half of the patients no attempt had previously been made to treat and manage their alcohol addiction. Every fourth patient is confined without first consulting a psychiatric expert. Basing on sociobiographic characteristics it is possible to form two contrasting groups of patients: a smaller group where addiction has set in early and delinquency at a late stage, and a larger one with early onset of delinquency developing parallel to the abuse of alcohol. This leads to conclusions with regard to the development of specific treatment guidelines.     

1 alpha(OH)D3 (ETALPHA) treatment and receptor studies in 16 patients with chronic and myeloproliferative disorders

10 patients with CLL and 2 with CML were treated with gradually increasing doses of 1 alpha(OH)D3, up to 4 micrograms daily during 6 wk. 3 patients with preleukemia and 1 with myelofibrosis were treated with 2 micrograms daily of 1 alpha(OH)D3 for a prolonged period up to 17 wk. The treatment with 1 alpha (OH)D3 did not result in changes of disease parameters in any of the patients under study. Receptor studies for 1,25(OH)2D3 were performed in 8 CLL patients and revealed only 1 patient with increased specific receptor binding capacity. The maximum tolerable dose of 1 alpha(OH)D3 varied individually, but was in the range of 2-4 micrograms daily.     

Surgical revision of biliopancreatic diversion

Biliopancreatic diversion is a very effective method for weight reduction. In some instances it is too effective and needs to be revised.     

The Busselton children's survey, 1983. Body size from five to 16 years of age

In 1983, 1623 primary and secondary schoolchildren took part in a health survey which was organized by the Busselton Population Studies Group. Age, sex, weight, height and country of birth were recorded for each child. Where possible, the country of birth of parents and the occupation of the father were extracted from previous Busselton surveys of adults. Compared with Perth schoolchildren, the difference in the attained weight and height of Busselton children at any age was small. This was so even though the two communities differ in location (rural compared with metropolitan), in ethnic origin (mainly British compared with diverse origins) and, probably, in social-rank distribution. Data from the two communities showed that a similar small secular increase in height had occurred since 1970/1971. This increase averaged at 1.2 cm for children at each year of age in Busselton and 1.5 cm to 1.6 cm for children in Perth.     

Modelling the interaction of small organic molecules with biomacromolecules. III. Interaction of benzoates with anti-p-(p'-azophenylazo)benzoate antibody

A novel approach for modelling the biological activity of organic molecules, which requires simultaneous consideration of the influence of all factors (topological, steric, hydrophobic, and electronic) that determine the bioactivity, is used to study the interaction of a series of benzoates with anti-p-(p'-azophenylazo)benzoate antibody. The results obtained suggest that this biological interaction proceeds by a two-step stereospecific mechanism. The first step requires a geometrical correspondence between the benzoates and the cavity in the biomacromolecule, which enables the pharmacophore to come into close contact with the receptor. The second step is the orbitally controlled electronic interaction between the active parts of the benzoates and the antibody. The electronic interaction results from pi-charge transfer from the pharmacophore to the biomacromolecule and from the formation of pi-complexes. A proposed mathematical model for this biological interaction exhibits some statistical advantages over existing models.