Job stress, absenteeism and coronary heart disease European cooperative study (the JACE study): Design of a multicentre prospective study

Background: The motives, objectives and design of a multicentreprospective study on job stress, absenteeism and coronary heartdisease in Europe (the JACE study) is presented in this paper.Some specific gaps in the reviewed literature are explicitlytapped into by the JACE study. Its objectives are i) to comparethe distributions of the Karasek job stress scales for the samebroad categories of occupations in different European countries(in males and females), ii) to study the predictive power ofthe job stress scales and the job strain model for one yearof sickness absence (in males and females) and iii) to studythe predictive power of the job stress scales and the job strainmodel for a three year incidence of coronary heart disease (Inmales only). Methods: In answering these questions, relationsare studied controlling for gender, age, level of education,company size, physical work risks and shift work, as well astraditional risk factors for CHD (i.e serum cholesterol, serumHDL cholesterol, smoking habits and blood pressure). The JACEstudy is a Biomed 1 concerted action. The JACE group consistsof eight participating centres from six countries, i.e. fromBelgium and Sweden (two centres), France, Italy, Spain, Swedenand The Netherlands (each one centre). The coordination of thegroup is in Brussels. The participating centres brought in over15, 000 European workers to test the hypotheses.     

CB1 Cannabinoid Receptor-Dependent and -Independent Inhibition of Depolarization-Induced Calcium Influx in Oiigodendrocytes

Ca2+稳态平衡的调节在少突胶质细胞功能和存活中起重要作用.大麻素CB1和CB2受体在许多细胞中调节Ca2+水平和/或K+电流.本文利用培养的少突胶质细胞中,通过增高细胞外K+浓度(50 mM诱导膜去极化,研究大麻素复合物在此过程引发钙内流中的作用.CB2受体激动剂ACEA导致去极化诱导的少突胶质细胞胞浆的Ca2+瞬变表达浓度依赖性抑制,最大效应为(94±3)%,半效应浓度(EC50)为(1.3±0.03)μM.这种作用可被CB2/CB2激动剂CP55、940、内源性大麻素类AEA和2-AG所模拟,但是CB2受体选择性激动剂JWH133没有作用.CB2受体拮抗剂AM251(1μM)也可减少细胞外高K+诱导的Ca2+反应.但不能防止ACEA(3 μM)诱发的抑制效应.然而,ACEA和AEA减少去极化诱导的Ca2+瞬变的能力在CB2受体敲除小鼠和经百日咳毒素预处理的少突胶质细胞中明显降低.内流性K2+通道阻断剂BaCI:(300 μM)和CsCl2(1 mM)降低电压诱导的Ca2+内流并部分阻断ACEA的抑制效应.本文表明,大麻素抑制少突胶质细胞中去极化诱导的Ca2+瞬变是通过包括PTX-敏感的Gi/o蛋白和阻断K2+内流通道的CB2受体依赖性和非依赖性机制.     

Malignant Ventricular Arrhythmias in Chronic Chagasic Myocarditis

We studied 28 cases of chronic chagasic myocarditis (CCM) with frequent ventricular arrhythmias. Two-hundred and three conventional ECGs recorded during 3 months showed ventricular extrasystoles (VE) ranging between 0.2 and 6 per ten beats in 100%; multiform VE in 97.04%; couplets in 79.31%; ventricular tachycardia (VT) in 42.85%; and R on T in 21.67%. A 24-hour continuous recording showed that VE ranged between 3780 and 61733 (mean 16618 ± 2627); muitiform VE and couplets were present in 100% of patients, and VT was present in 78.5%. In 16 patients (group I) the frequency of VE was persistently high, without diurnal variation; 11 patients showed sustained reduction during sieeping hours and only one showed an increase during night sleep (group II). Even in group II, VE never disappeared for periods longer than 10 minutes. In five patients, four 24-hour recordings were obtained at weekly intervals, and in five other patients a second 24-hour recording was performed 10 to 24 months later. The remarkable frequency, persistence and low variability of ventricular arrhythmias in CCM suggest that such arrhythmias can be used as a most stable, reliable, but highly demanding model for testing the efficacy of antiarrhythmic drugs. (PACE, Vol. 5, March-April, 1982)