On the Limitations of Therapy Manuals

While the benefits of training manuals can hardly be questioned, they are exceedingly limited in reducing variability attributed to the "therapist factor." We propose that manuals provide a useful outline of the general principles of a therapeutic approach, but can only reduce therapist variability at the expense of other essential therapeutic phenomena. Manuals cannot adequately convey, for example, how the effective therapist functions as a model of adult living and as a person who provides guidance. We suggest that such an experience cannot readily be packaged in manualized form, though manuals may serve as a useful beginning. Recommendations for therapist manualized training include greater attention to the subtleties of human relationships and adequately conveying that any technique is effective only when catalysed by a living, relational process.     

Acoustic rhinometry in pre-school children

Acoustic rhinometry was performed in 35 normal nose-breathing children between 3 and 6 years. The average cross-sectional areas at the nasal valve, at the anterior end of the turbinates, and in the nasopharynx were 0.34±0.06 cm², 0.35±0.08 cm² and 1.37±0.48 cm² respectively. The average minimal cross-sectional area was 0.29±0.06 cm². The minimal cross-sectional area was located at the nasal valve in 14 and at the anterior end of nasal tubinates in 21 of the 35 children. As would be expected, the cross-sectional areas at different sites of the nasal cavity increased with increasing age of the children. But, whereas the minimal cross-sectional area increased by 0.024 cm² per year, the nasopharyngeal cross-sectional area increased by 0.20 cm² per year. No significant differences were found between boys and girls. Measurements of the posterior nasal and nasopharyngeal cross-sectional areas were unreliable, whenever the minimal cross-sectional area was less than 0.2 cm². Furthermore, assessment of the nasopharynx may be difficult because of involuntary movements of the soft palate.     

心理因素对小学生脑力工作能力影响的研究

采用横断面研究方法，对180名小学三年级学生脑力工作能力与其智力、性格、学习动机等心理因素和学习、睡眠时间等作息因素的关系进行分析研究。验证了学习、睡眠时间是影响学生脑力工作能力重要的外部因素；脑力工作能力与智力和学习成绩呈正相关。学生自身的心理因素中，学习动机对脑力工作能力有重要影响，所以激发和强化学生的学习动机，是保持和提高学生学习工作能力的有效手段；而性格内外向性、情绪稳定性等因素，对脑力工作能力的影响不明显。     

Acute Immobilization Stress and Intraventricular Injection of CRF Suppress Naloxone-Induced LH Release in Ovariectomized Estrogen-Primed Rats

The present study was undertaken to evaluate the role and possible interaction of the endogenous opioid peptide (EOP) and corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) in the acute stress-induced suppression of gonadotropin secretion in ovariectomized estrogen-primed rats. An intravenous (i.v.) injection of naloxone (10 or 20  mg/kg), an EOP antagonist, significantly elevated serum luteinizing hormone (LH) levels within 10  min in non-stressed animals. The naloxone-induced LH release was completely eliminated when tested 30  min after the onset of acute immobilization. In a subsequent study, it was found that suppression of the naloxone-induced LH release occurred as early as 5  min after the stress onset, and was still evident 60  min after the end of a 30-min period of immobilization. The effect of naloxone was restored 3  h after liberation of the animal from the 30-min immobilization. An intraventricular (i.c.v.) injection of CRF (1 or 5  μg) also significantly suppressed, in a dose-related manner, the effect of a subsequent i.v. injection of naloxone. However, an i.c.v. injection of α -helical CRF(9-41) (25 or 50  μg), a CRF antagonist, prior to immobilization, could not interfere with the suppressive effect of stress on naloxone-induced LH release. These results suggest that both acute immobilization stress and CRF can inhibit the LH secretory activity without mediation by EOP neurons. However, the stress-related suppression may involve non-CRF mechanism(s).     

Haemophilia A and haemophilia B: molecular insights

This review focuses on selected areas that should interest both the scientist and the clinician alike: polymorphisms within the factor VIII and factor IX genes, their linkage, and their ethnic variation; a general assessment of mutations within both genes and a detailed inspection of the molecular pathology of certain mutations to illustrate the diverse cause–effect relations that exist; a summary of current knowledge on molecular aspects of inhibitor production; and an introduction to the new areas of factor VIII and factor IX catabolism. An appendix defining various terms encountered in the molecular genetics of the haemophilias is included, together with an appendix providing accession numbers and locus identification links for accessing gene and sequence information in the international nucleic acid databases.     

Nasal fractures in children

Summary A group of thirty children with nasal fractures was evaluated retrospectively by means of a questionnaire and hospital records. Age at the time of injury ranged from age 3 to 12 (mean = 8.6) years and mean follow-up period was 9 years. Eight patients reported some degree of nasal obstruction post reduction, but only one patient required submucous resection and two patients underwent septorhinoplasty for appearance. No patients reported class III malocclusion, or required orthodontic treatment or maxillofacial corrective surgery for maxillary hypoplasia. We concluded that a childhood nasal fracture treated by closed reduction does not have deleterious effects on facial or nasal growth.This work was supported in part by the Brigham Surgical Group Foundation, Inc., Boston, Massachusetts, USA     

急性脑血管病肿瘤坏死因子-α的临床研究

目的：探讨肿瘤坏死因子-α（TNF-α）在急性脑血管病（ACVD）中的作用及其变化的临床意义。方法：选取95例ACVD患者，并设性别及年龄相匹配的血清对照组（20例）及脑脊液对照组（10例）。应用酶联免疫吸附法（ELISA）于发病后第1、3、7、14d测定血清和脑脊液中TNF-α。结果：①三种脑血管病患者血清TNF-α动态变化存在差异，脑出血和脑梗死组的峰值单间为发病后第3d，而蛛网膜下腔出血（SAH）组为第1d。②脑梗死患者血清TNF-α水平与梗死面积、神经功能缺损程度及病情恶化与否相关。③SAH组于发病后第1d、3d、7d脑脊液TNF-α值高于血清，14d时降至对照组水平并与血清无差异。结论：①脑梗死患者血清TNF-α的动态观察，可为临床预测梗死灶大小、神经功能缺损程度及病情恶化与否提供依据。②发病早期的脑梗死患者若CT未能显示病灶时，血清TNF-α的明显升高有助于临床诊断和治疗。③SAH患者脑脊液中TNF-α水平明显高于血清，进一步提示脑内神经组织可产生TNF-α。脑脊液中TNF-α的持续明显升高可能与SAH后脑血管痉挛有关。④TNF-α参与了ACVD的炎性反应过程，早期抑制TNF产生及抗炎性反应的治疗可能具有潜在的临床价值。     

Multidrug transport in human glioblastoma cells is inhibited by transforming growth factors type beta 1, beta 2, and beta 1.2

The transforming growth factors type beta 1, beta 2, and beta 1.2 suppress multidrug transport in human pat-1 glioblastoma cells and even in cells that strongly over-express mdr genes and are resistant to inhibition of multidrug transport by chemosensitizers. Thus, inhibition of multidrug transport by cytokines might be a new approach to increase cellular accumulation of chemotherapeutic agents in multidrug resistant glial tumor cells. Interestingly, a member of the more distantly related decapentaplegic subgroup of transforming growth factors, the bone morphogenetic protein BMP 2, did not inhibit multidrug transport.