Normal sleep and circadian rhythms: neurobiologic mechanisms underlying sleep and wakefulness.

Sleep is a vital, highly organized process regulated by complex systems of neuronal networks and neurotransmitters. Sleep plays an important role in the regulation of central nervous system and body physiologic functions. Sleep architecture changes with age and is easily susceptible to external and internal disruption. Reduction or disruption of sleep can affect numerous functions varying from thermoregulation to learning and memory during the waking state.     

Status of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system in patients with a neuroendocrine-metabolic type of the hypothalamic syndrome]

The paper is concerned with the results of a radioimmunoassay of the state of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system in patients with a neuroendocrine-metabolic type of the hypothalamic syndrome. They received pathogenetic therapy with peritol (an antiserotonin drug) or parlodel (a dopaminergic drug) during three months and routine therapy. The latter was not enough to return to normal the basal blood levels of aldosterone, reaction of the glomerular zone of the adrenocortical substance and the juxtaglomerular apparatus of the kidneys. Peritol therapy normalized the blood concentration of aldosterone; reactions of the glomerular zone of the adrenocortical substance and the juxtaglomerular apparatus to insulin hypoglycemia and furosemide acute testing improved considerably. After a course of parlodel therapy blood concentration of aldosterone got to normal, and reaction of the glomerular zone of the adrenocortical substance and the juxtaglomerular apparatus to insulin hypoglycemia was unchanged whereas it improved after furosemide testing.     

Effect of a single dose of parlodel on the secretion of various hormones in Itsenko-Cushing disease

The results of investigation of the secretion of hypophyseal, adrenal and renal hormones resulting from parlodel administration in 44 patients with Itsenko-Cushing disease were discussed. Concentrations of corticotropin (ACTH), prolactin, somatotropin (STH), thyrotropin (TSH), cortisol, aldosterone, adrenalin, noradrenaline, dopamine and blood renin activity were determined by radioimmunoassays and radioenzymatic methods on an empty stomach and 30, 60 min., 2, 4 and 24 h after parlodel administration (2.5 mg) per os. Parlodel administration in Itsenko-Cushing disease was shown to cause a decrease in the secretion of hypophyseal hormones (ACTH, prolactin and STH). The level of cortisol raised before the start of the investigation was gradually decreased after the drug administration and reached its minimum in 2-4 h. Correlation of the basal level of aldosterone and blood renin activity, and a response of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system to parlodel administration was revealed. Changes in the secretion of catecholamines were of diverse nature: a decrease in the blood concentration of noradrenaline in the absence of adrenalin and dopamine shifts.     

Hematologic problems in psychosomatic medicine.

Vitamin B12 deficiency is associated with problems in cognition, mood, psychosis, and less commonly, anxiety. Folate deficiency primarily is associated with problems in mood. Patients who have sickle cell disease, a disease of chronic pain, experience difficulties with depression, anxiety, stigma, and are at risk for substance abuse and dependence. Patients with hemophilia have benefited from advances in treatment; however, their morbidity and mortality were compounded in those who received blood products contaminated with HIV, or hepatitis B and C. Psychiatrists who practice psychosomatic medicine should expect to encounter patients with the above problems, as they are frequently seen in medical settings. Finally, most of the commonly used psychotropic medications have uncommon but potentially important hematologic side effects or may interact with the anticoagulants used in medically ill patients.     

Synthesis and acid ionization constants of cyclic cystine peptides

Cyclic peptide disulfides of the general formula were synthesized from the corresponding peptide derivatives [Boc-Cys(Trt)(Gly)-_n-Cys(Trt)-OBu^t] by oxidation with iodine in methanol and by subsequent removal of the terminal groups with trifluoroacetic acid. Acid ionization constants of the obtained peptides were determined by potentiometric titration in aqueous KCl (0.1 mol/L) medium. All compounds have two dissociable hydrogens, corresponding to carboxyl (pK¹= 2.35–2.84) and to terminal amino group (pK₂= 5.61–6.93); pK₁, values show first an upward and then a downward trend with the increase in ring size; the opposite is true for pK₂, values. These trends could be tentatively attributed to the intramolecular salt bridge (-COO——-NH⁺₃-) formation.     

Primary manifestation of Hodgkin’s disease in the central nervous system

 A 62-year-old woman presented with loss of memory and a mild hemiparesis. Neuroradiology demonstrated a left frontoparietal tumour. Biopsy specimens of this lesion revealed intracerebral Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a diagnosis supported by immunohistochemical reactions of the tumour cells for the CD30 antigen. Additional cell cycle studies revealed a high proliferative activity of the tumour cells in association with absence of apoptosis. There was no evidence that overexpression of bcl-2 or Epstein-Barr virus infection was involved in the pathogenesis of this neoplasm. Lymphomas in the lung were detected 3 months later. Following neurosurgical excision, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, the patient had no evidence of Hodgkin’s disease after 13 months of follow-up. Received: 8 October 1997 / Accepted: 8 December 1997     

Sympathetic neurons in the superior cervical ganglion are more numerous in SHR and Wistar-Kyoto rats than in wistar rats

Department of Physiology of Man and Animals, Faculty of Biology, Moscow University. Laboratory of Pathophysiology, Research Institue of Pediatrics, Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR. Department of General Biology, N. I. Pirogov Second Moscow Medical Institute. (Presented by Academician of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR M. Ya. Studenikin.) Translated from Byullet en' Éksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 108, No. 11, pp. 620–622, November, 1989.     

Nasal polyps in children

During the 1980-1995 period, 957 patients were admitted for nasal polyposis, 59 (6.2%) of them children. Results were analyzed with respect to localization of the polyps, allergy, histologic picture, bacteriologic tests, radiologic findings of paranasal sinuses, cytology of nasal mucosa, therapeutic approach, and tendency to relapse. Forty children (22 boys and 18 girls) were analyzed. Their mean age was 11.1 years. Unilateral polyposis was found in 29, and bilateral in 11 children. Antrochoanal polyps (ACP) were found in 30, bilateral nasal polyps in 5, polyps in maxillary sinus in 5, and allergy in 8 children. Inflammation of the maxillary sinus was present in 93% of children with ACP. Their correlation between ACP and inflammation in maxillary sinus suggested that edema of the sinus mucosa have led to protrusion through the ostium and formation of the nasal polyp.