Sobriety outcome after alcoholism treatment with biofeedback participation: a pilot inpatient study

The effect of the amount of biofeedback training received upon abstinence from alcohol was studied at 3, 6, and 12 months postdischarge for 233 male veterans in an inpatient alcoholic rehabilitation unit (ARU). The frequency of sobriety for those patients with at least 6 training sessions was significantly better than for those with less or no training at all three time periods. The effect was most prominent for those receiving the highest level of biofeedback training (8+ sessions), and at the earlier time frame (3 months). The discussion focused upon the implications for overall rehabilitation programming for the alcoholic and on factors involved in the efficacy of biofeedback therapy.     

Humoral and cellular immunity in sarcoidosis

The Kveim reaction was studied in vivo in 50 patients with sarcoidosis. Commonwealth Serum Laboratories Kveim material and a new Danish Kveim material gave 14 and 8 positive reactions respectively, as well as 6 and 8 equivocal reactions. Forty-six of the patients were also tested in vitro for cell mediated immunity to the Danish Kveim material, using both the leucocyte migration agarose technique and the capillary technique. No significant migration inhibition or stimulation were found. A tuberculin skin test was performed in 49 of the patients, and in 45 a dinitrochlorobenzene sensitivity titer was determined. Both tests revealed a depression of the cell mediated immunity. The serum levels of immunoglobulins IgG, IgA, IgM, IgD, and IgE were determined. The serum of each patient was also examined to determine if organ-non-specific and granulocyte-specific antinuclear factors of IgG class, antibodies against native DNA, rheumatoid factor, mitochondrial antibodies, antibodies against thyroid cytoplasm, and parietal cell antibodies were present. IgG levels were above normal in 28 patients; IgE was above normal in 10 patients, 4 of whom were atopics or had an atopic disposition. Organ-non-specific antinuclear factors were present in 17 patients.     

Cytokine gene polymorphism in human disease: on-line databases

The pathologies of many infectious, autoimmune and malignant diseases are influenced by the profiles of cytokine production in pro-inflammatory (TH1) and anti-inflammatory (TH2) T cells. Interindividual differences in cytokine profiles appear to be due, at least in part, to allelic polymorphism within regulatory regions of cytokine gene. Many studies have examined the relationship between cytokine gene polymorphism, cytokine gene expression in vitro, and the susceptibility to and clinical severity of diseases. A review of the findings of these studies is presented. An on-line version featuring appropriate updates is accessible from the World Wide Web site, http://www.pam.bris.ac.uk/services/GAI/cytokine4.htm.     

Gas chromatographic method with mass-selective detection for the determination of 2-isopropoxyphenol in human urine

Human metabolism of the insecticide propoxur yields 2-isopropoxyphenol (IPP) which is excreted conjugated in urine. In this publication a sensitive and selective analytical method is described which permits the determination of IPP as a suitable parameter for biomonitoring. The clean-up of the hydrolysed urine samples consisted of steam distillation and solid-phase extraction using a reversed-phase column. IPP and the internal standard 2-ethoxyphenol were converted to their pentafluorobenzyl ethers. Excess of the derivatisation reagent was removed using deactivated silica gel. Separation and quantitative analysis was carried out by capillary gas chromatography and mass selective detection. Coefficients of variation were below 5% for concentrations from 6 to 300 microg/l. The detection limit was 0.5 microg/l. The method was checked by analysing six urine samples from pest controllers after indoor application of propoxur. The IPP concentrations ranged from 45 to 306 microg/g creatinine. IPP was not detected in urine specimens from 10 non-exposed persons. The sensitivity of the developed method permits the detection of latent exposure to propoxur.     

Neuropsychological profiles of FMR-1 premutation and full-mutation carrier females

The present French-German investigation of fragile-X syndrome (fra-X) was undertaken to disentangle genetic from environmental effects on cognitive performance as assessed with the following measures: Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R), Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Trail-Making Test, Tower of Hanai, Verbal Fluency Test, Stroop Test, short-term and consolidation memory, and the d2 task. Groups with different genotypes (n = 11 mothers with a full mutation in the FMR-1 gene of fra-X children; n = 65 mothers with a premutation in the FMR-1 gene of fra-X children; n = 18 siblings of these mothers with normal CGG repeats) and with different psychosocial stressors from fra-X families (n = 14 siblings with a premutation but without affected children of their own) were examined. A group of mothers of non-fra-X autistic children (n = 39) formed an external control group. Previous findings were replicated concerning cognitive performance of FMR-1 full-mutation carrier mothers, who were characterized by lower overall IQ and poorer performance than the group of mothers with the FMR-1 premutation in verbal and performance subtests of the WAIS-R, tests of executive-frontal lobe functioning, and tests of sustained attention. Carriers of the FMR-1 premutation, whether they were mothers of affected children or not,performed in a similar way on all neuropsychological tasks to the intrafamilial control group without CGG amplification. On the basis of these results, it is concluded that there is no neuropsychological evidence of reduced cognitive performance of FMR-1 premutation carriers compared with performance of two control groups with normal CGG repeats. Furthermore, the psychosocial burden of raising fra-X children does not exert an environmental effect on neuropsychological test performance.     

A prospective study of methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase and methionine synthase gene polymorphisms, and risk of colorectal adenoma

We examined the relationship between a functional polymorphism (667C-- >T, ala-->val) of the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase gene (MTHFR) and the risk of colorectal adenomas in the prospective Nurses' Health Study. Among 257 incident polyp cases and 713 controls, the MTHFR val/val polymorphism [relative risk (RR) = 1.35, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.84-2.17] was not significantly associated with risk of adenomas. This lack of association was observed for both small (RR = 1.36, 95% CI 0.76-2.45) and large (RR = 1.32, 95% CI 0.66-2.66) adenomas. Furthermore, there was no significant interaction between this polymorphism and consumption of either folate, methionine or alcohol. We also examined the relationship of a newly identified polymorphism (asp919gly) of the methionine synthase gene (MS) with the risk of colorectal adenomas in the same population. The MS gly/gly polymorphism was also not significantly associated with risk of colorectal adenomas (RR = 0.66, 95% CI 0.26-1.70). These results, which need to be confirmed in other studies, suggest that the MTHFR val/val polymorphism, which has been previously inversely associated with risk of colorectal cancer, plays a role only in a late stage (adenoma-- >carcinoma) of colorectal tumorigenesis, and/or may protect against malignant transformation in the subset of benign adenomas, which may progress to malignancy.      

Frequency of pancreatitis after endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography with iopromid or iotrolan: a randomized trial

Blood isotone contrast media is considered to be less toxic to vascular and pancreatic duct endothelium than high-osmolar contrast media. In this study we assessed the impact of a low-osmolar contrast agent compared with a blood isotone product on pancreatic damage induced by endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) and endoscopic retrograde sphincterotomy (EST). In a prospective trial 42 consecutive ERCP/EST patients were randomized to receive either iopromid, a low-osmolar non-ionic contrast agent (770 mosmol/kg H₂O), or iotrolan, a blood-isotone non-ionic product (320 mosmol/kg H₂O). The endoscopies were performed by two experienced endoscopists. Forty patients were included in the study. Blood samples were collected before and 40 min, 2, 4, 6 and 24 h after the endoscopic procedure. Samples were analysed for pancreatic serum enzymes, acute-phase proteins and blood counts. A clinical pain score was investigated. Post-ERCP pancreatitis was diagnosed in 2 patients in the iopromid group and in 5 patients in the iotrolan group. There was no significant difference between groups in the time course of pancreatic serum enzymes, acute-phase proteins or in the pain score. Due to the small number of patients in this study, only stronger differences caused by the two contrast media could have led to statistically significant results. We did not observe statistically significant differences in comparing iotrolan and iopromid concerning ERCP/EST-induced pancreatic damage. Received: 26 February 1999; Revised: 14 May 1999; Accepted: 9 June 1999