Capsule thickness of cataractous lenses with and without exfoliation syndrome

Lens capsule thickness was measured in 105 cataractous lenses with and without exfoliation syndrome. The lenses were removed by intracapsular cryoextraction. Forty lenses (38%) showed exfoliation, while 65 (62%) were exfoliation negative. Thickness values were measured by light microscopy from the central anterior capsule, central posterior capsule and from the equator. The mean thickness values were for the central anterior capsule 8.2 +/- 3.2 mu, for the central posterior capsule 3.2 +/- 1.4 and for the equator 3.9 +/- 1.3. There was no statistical difference between the exfoliation-positive and exfoliation-negative lenses. The capsule thickness varied greatly throughout the present material. The highest value, 22.4 mu, was measured from an exfoliation-negative central anterior lens capsule of a male patient aged 33 years. The lowest value, 0.6 mu, was measured from an exfoliation-positive central posterior capsule of a male patient aged 64 years. The central posterior capsule is the thinnest area of the lens capsule. The findings call for great caution in polishing the posterior capsule during extracapsular cataract surgery. The higher complication rate in eyes with exfoliation syndrome cannot be explained by thinner lens capsules but rather on the more friable zonules.     

Alignment of 3-dimensional cardiac structures in O-15-labeled water PET emission images with mutual information.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to develop a method to correct the heart position between two oxygen 15-labeled water cardiac positron emission tomography (PET) image sets to be able to use the equivalent regions of interest for the quantification of the perfusion values in the same myocardial segments. METHODS AND RESULTS: Independent component analysis was applied to the dynamic image sets (simulated phantom and 6 rest-pharmacologic stress and 10 rest-rest image sets of healthy female volunteers) acquired at different time points to separate the cardiac structures (ventricles and myocardium). The separated component images from independent component analysis from the 2 studies of the same individual were aligned with a normalized mutual information-based registration method. The alignment parameters were applied to position the regions of interest in the floating image sets for calculation of the myocardial blood flow values. In the rest case the mean myocardial blood flow value was 0.76 +/- 0.12 mL x g(-1) x min(-1) for the manual method and 0.79 +/- 0.10 mL x g(-1) x min(-1) for the proposed method (by use of the right ventricle component in the alignment), and in the stress case these values were 3.39 +/- 0.70 mL x g(-1) x min(-1) and 4.01 +/- 0.71 mL x g(-1) x min(-1), respectively. No statistically significant difference was found between the methods. CONCLUSION: In the tests with the phantom and patient images the alignment of cardiac structures was shown to be successful. The alignment could be done without the use of information from the myocardial compartment.     

Newborns discriminate novel from harmonic sounds: a study using magnetoencephalography.

OBJECTIVE: We investigated whether newborns respond differently to novel and deviant sounds during quiet sleep. METHODS: Twelve healthy neonates were presented with a three-stimulus oddball paradigm, consisting of frequent standard (76%), infrequent deviant (12%), and infrequent novel stimuli (12%). The standards and deviants were counterbalanced between the newborns and consisted of 500 and 750 Hz tones with two upper harmonics. The novel stimuli contained animal, human, and mechanical sounds. All stimuli had a duration of 300 ms and the stimulus onset asynchrony was 1s. Evoked magnetic responses during quiet sleep were recorded and averaged offline. RESULTS: Two deflections peaking at 345 and 615 ms after stimulus onset were observed in the evoked responses of most of the newborns. The first deflection was larger to novel and deviant stimuli than to the standard and, furthermore, larger to novel than to deviant stimuli. The second deflection was larger to novel and deviant stimuli than to standards, but did not differ between the novels and deviants. CONCLUSIONS: The two deflections found in the present study reflect different mechanisms of auditory change detection and discriminative processes. SIGNIFICANCE: The early brain indicators of novelty detection may be crucial in assessing the normal and abnormal cortical function in newborns. Further, studying evoked magnetic fields to complex auditory stimulation in healthy newborns is needed for studying the newborns at-risk for cognitive or language problems.     

In vitro growth inhibition of human small cell lung cancer by physalaemin

Production and secretion of neuroendocrine peptides by small cell lung cancer (SCLC) has been detected in the past years. Most recently the role of bombesin as an autocrine/paracrine growth modifier has been demonstrated. We used the soft agarose clonogenic assay to evaluate the influence of other neuroendocrine peptides on the in vitro proliferation of SCLC cell lines. Neuroendocrine peptides tested were adrenocorticotropic hormone, arginine vasopressin, calcitonin, glucagon, kassinin, neurotensin, physalaemin, somatostatin, and substance P. Experiments were carried out in serum-free and serum-supplemented media with and without serum-free incubation periods. Our results indicated that the amphibian undecapeptide physalaemin inhibits the clonal and mass culture growth of SCLC cell lines at picomolar concentrations. All other neuroendocrine peptides failed to influence SCLC growth in the test systems used. These results suggest a growth regulating effect of physalaemin and a potential new form of neuroendocrine peptide therapy for SCLC.     

Cost-effectiveness analysis of guidelines for antihypertensive care in Finland

Background  

Hypertension is one of the major causes of disease burden affecting the Finnish population. Over the last decade, evidence-based care has emerged to complement other approaches to antihypertensive care, often without health economic assessment of its costs and effects. This study looks at the extent to which changes proposed by the 2002 Finnish evidence-based Current Care Guidelines concerning the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of hypertension (the ACCG scenario) can be considered cost-effective when compared to modelled prior clinical practice (the PCP scenario).     

Increased GABAergic transmission aggravates nucleus basalis magnocellularis lesion-induced behavioral deficits

Quisqualic acid NBM lesions had no effect on water maze performance, but slightly impaired passive avoidance acquisition. GammavinylGABA treatment alone had no effect on the passive avoidance and water maze performance, but aggravated acquisition deficit in rats subjected to NBM lesioning. However, gammavinylGABA-treated NBM-lesioned rats reached control level of performance.     

DSP-4, a noradrenergic neurotoxin, produces more severe biochemical and functional deficits in aged than young rats

The present study examines the effects of noradrenergic lesions (either DSP-4 i.p. or 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) into the dorsal noradrenergic bundle on biochemical (noradrenaline (NA), dopamine (DA), serotonin (5-HT) and choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) activity) and cortical EEG (quantitative EEG (qEEG) and high-voltage spindle (HVS) activity in young and aged rats. Near complete 6-OHDA NA lesions, but not partial DSP-4 NA lesions, increased HVS activity in young rats. DSP-4 and 6-OHDA lesions produced no significant changes in the 5-HT or DA levels or in the ChAT activity in young rats. In some of the aged rats, DSP-4 produced similar biochemical and HVS effects, as it induced in young rats. In the remainder of the aged rats, NA levels were greatly and 5-HT levels slightly decreased. DA levels and ChAT activity were unaltered in either set of aged rats. HVS activity was increased only in that group of aged rats with the greatly lowered NA content. These results suggest that: (1) some of the aged rats are more sensitive to DSP-4 treatment than young adult rats; and (2) NA depletions have to be complete to produce an increase in HVS activity in young and aged rats.