B型利钠肽与心房颤动的相关性研究

目的探讨血B型利钠肽(BNP)水平与心房颤动(房颤)之间的关系。方法对160例符合入选标准的门诊和住院心血管病患者的血BNP水平进行测量,按是否存在房颤和是否为窦性心律(窦律)分为房颤组(87例)和窦律组(73例)。结果房颤组血BNP水平较窦律组明显升高[(165±127)pgmlvs(92±65)pgml,t=4.89,P<0.001],多元线性回归分析表明房颤和β受体阻滞剂治疗是高血BNP水平的独立预测因素(B=52.3,P<0.001;B=21.5,P<0.001)。结论房颤患者血BNP水平明显升高。     

IV. Extra-auditory effects in long-term exposure to aircraft and traffic noise

Summary 12 male Ss were exposed for 3 h to aircraft noise (peak value: 89–100 dB(A)) or traffic noise (Leq : 73.2 dB(A)); a mental task had to be carried out for 8 min at the end of each hour. Exposure to traffic noise caused decrease of systolic blood pressure, increase of diastolic blood pressure, decrease of pulse pressure, heart rate and quotient of heart rate and respiratory rate and increase of respiratory rate. Aircraft noise effects tended to go into the same direction, but were only significant for diastolic blood pressure (increase) and pulse pressure (decrease). Binary choice capacity was impaired only in case of exposure to aircraft noise.In the course of the 3 hours exposure to aircraft noise and also traffic noise there was a further increase of diastolic blood pressure. The other parameters were not affected by duration of exposure.These results strongly suggest that long-term exposure to noise is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease in daily living and working conditions.     

Sinus arrest and asystole due to severe lithium intoxication

We report the occurrence of sinus arrest and asystole due to severe lithium intoxication in a patient with preexisting conduction tissue disease. Lithium should be used with extreme caution and frequent monitoring in patients with conduction tissue disease.     

III. Extra-auditory effects in short-term exposure to noise from a textile factory

Summary 12 male Ss were exposed for periods of 15 min to noise from a textile factory (98 dB(A)), or mental load (binary choice task) or combined load (noise + mental load). Exposure to industrial noise causes similar effects. e.g. increase of diastolic blood pressure and respiratory rate, decrease of pulse pressure, sinus arrhythmia and mental capacity, as induced by exposure to aircraft noise or traffic noise, despite great differences in noise characteristics.     

Phasenfrequenzgang neuraler Impulsmuster von Vibrissenreceptoren

Summary Phase-frequency response of afferent impulse patterns leading from pressure-sensitive receptors of the cat's vibrissae was investigated and neural activity recorded from 37 single-fibre and multi-fibre preparations of the nervus infraorbitalis. In the lower frequency range (f<10 Hz) action potentials precede the oscillatory stimulus at the vibrissae to about a quarter of a sinusoidal period. Thus, they occur within the phase of maximal positive velocity. In the medium frequency range (10 Hzf100 Hz) impulse patterns are nearly in phase with the input stimulus, whereas there is an extensive phase lag of the afferents increasing rapidly with frequency in the higher frequency range (f>100 Hz).Furthermore, the phase-frequency response of this sense organ is dependent on the stimulus amplitude cause of non-linearities in its transformation characteristics.

Diese Untersuchungen wurden ausgeführt mit Unterstützung der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft.     

Face and emotion processing in frontal variant frontotemporal dementia.

Lavenu et al. [Alzheimer Dis. Assoc. Disorder 5 (1999) 96] have shown that patients with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) show impaired recognition of facial expressions. It is not clear, however, whether these deficits arise from an impairment affecting face processing generally, emotion processing generally, or facial expression recognition alone. We address this issue by testing six patients with frontal variant frontotemporal dementia (fvFTD) on a series of face perception tasks (including facial identity and facial expression recognition), and a test of vocal emotion recognition. In general, the fvFTD participants showed impaired recognition of facial expressions in the context of preserved recognition of facial identity. In addition, however, deficits were also observed for the vocal emotion recognition task. These results are consistent with the idea that fvFTD affects the recognition of emotional signals from multiple modalities rather than facial expression processing alone. It is plausible that the emotion recognition impairments observed contribute to the abnormal social behaviour that is characteristic of this condition.     

Amphetamine disrupts successive but not simultaneous visual discrimination in the monkey

Three adolescent marmosets were trained on simultaneous and successive versions of a red-white visual discrimination task. The effects of doses of 0.2–1.2 mg/kg d-amphetamine on the performance of these tasks were assessed using a balanced design. It was found that while there was no drug effect on performance of the simultaneous task, amphetamine exerted a dose dependent disruptive effect on the successive version of the task. It is argued that amphetamine disrupts response control rather than discriminative ability and, in this respect, resembles the effect of orbitofrontal and limbic lesions in contrast to other neocortical lesions.     

II. Extra-auditory effects in short-term exposure to aircraft and traffic noise

Summary A series of human studies was performed in 12 young healthy male subjects to investigate extra-auditory effects of short-term (15 min) exposure to aircraft noise (84–91 dB(A)), to traffic noise (Leq 83.5 dB(A)), to mental load, and to combined load (noise + mental load). Exposure to noise caused increase of diastolic blood pressure and respiratory rate, decrease of pulse pressure and quotient of heart rate/respiratory rate and also decrease of performance in a mental task. Aircarft and traffic noise generally induce similar effects, which go into the same direction as induced by mental performance alone. Combined exposure induces a stronger (but not additive) effect on diastolic blood pressure and respiratory rate than each condition alone. There is suggestive evidence that exposure to noise and performance of an information processing task both induce simultaneous increase of sympathic and parasympathic tone.     

Diurnal changes in serotonin content of frontal pole and pain sensitivity in the rat

This study examined the relationship between diurnal variations in pain sensitivity, and serotonin content of frontal pole, hippocampus and amygdala in the rat. Rats demonstrated significantly longer paw-lick latencies in response to a painful thermal stimulus during light hours as compared with dark hours. Similarly, all three brain regions demonstrated a significantly higher serotonin content during light as compared with dark hours. There was a significant correlation (0.66) between paw-lick latencies and serotonin content of frontal pole but not with serotonin content of hippocampus or amygdala. The occurrence, in a normal animal, of a heightened sensitivity to a painful stimulus during dark hours when serotonin content of brain is also lowest is consistent with studies demonstrating that lowering of serotonin content by means of lesions, drugs or tryptophan deficient diets also produces an increased sensitivity to painful stimuli.