Tobacco consumption,opium use,alcohol drinking and the risk of esophageal cancer in North Khorasan,Iran

Background: There are some unique epidemiological characteristics of esophageal cancer in Iran. The objective of this study was finding the association between tobacco, substance and alcohol using with the risk of esophageal cancer in North Khorasan, Iran.

Methods: This Case-Control study was carried out on 96 patients with esophageal cancer and 187 controls. Controls were matched to cases by age and sex. Data were collected through structured interview. Data were analyzed by using chi-square test, T-test and logistic regression, in Stata software version 12.

Results: Our findings show Hookah smoking [OR = 6.1(CI_95%:1.2–13.1)] and opium consumption [OR = 2.1(CI_95%:1.2–3.5)] were associated with esophageal cancer. Cigarette and pipe smoking, age of onset of smoking, duration of smoking, number of smoking per day, leaving history of smoking, years of leaving smoking, drug withdrawal, number of times of drug withdrawal, a history of drug relapse, alcohol consumption and alcohol dose–response were not related to esophageal cancer.

Conclusion: According to our results, hookah smoking and opium consumption enhance the risk of esophageal cancer in North Khorasan of Iran. We suggest appropriate planning to prevent the esophageal cancer in this district.     

西安市城市居民食管癌的病因研究:烟酒因素的作用

本文报道了1984年10月~1985年10月西安市城市居民138例食管癌的病例对照研究。结果表明,吸烟为食管癌发病的危险因素,OR_M-H为4.12(95% CI为1.57~6.54)。OR与吸烟量、吸烟年限有显著剂量效应关系。吸烟作为食管癌的可能致病因子其潜隐期为37.19年。饮酒与食管癌的联系不显著(χ²=1.03,P﹥0.05)。作者认为吸烟单独或与其它因素共同作用下可能参与食管的癌变过程。     

Reversal of stress-induced anhedonia by the dopamine receptor agonist,pramipexole

Chronic exposure to mild unpredictable stress has previously been found to depress the consumption of a palatable (1%) sucrose solution, and to attenuate food-induced place preference conditioning. In this study the effects of pramipexole (SND-919), a dopamine D₂ agonist, were studied during 7–9 weeks of chronic treatment. Pramipexole (1.0 mg/kg per day) reversed the suppression of sucrose intake in stressed animals, increasing sucrose intakes above the levels seen in untreated nonstressed controls. Pramipexole also increased sucrose intake in nonstressed animals; these effects were accompanied by increases in water intake and tended to correlate with weight loss. Drug-treated stressed animals also lost weight, but in this case water intake was unaffected. A second group of animals received a higher dose of pramipexole (2.0 mg/kg per day). The effects of the two doses were very similar. After three weeks of treatment, these animals were switched to a lower dose of pramipexole (0.1 mg/kg per day). Increases in sucrose intake were maintained over three weeks of treatment at the lower dose, with significant recovery of body weight. Two further groups received the same doses of pramipexole (1.0 mg/kg for 6 weeks or 2.0 mg/kg for 3 weeks followed by 0.1 mg/kg thereafter), but received intermittent (twice-weekly) drug treatment. Intermittent pramipexole treatments also tended to increase sucrose intakes, but the results were less consistent from week to week. Following 6–8 weeks of pramipexole treatment, food-induced place preference conditioning was studied in all animals. Untreated stressed animals showed no evidence of place conditioning. Normal conditioning was seen in both groups of stressed animals treated daily with pramipexole (at 1.0 and 0.1 mg/kg) and in the group treated twice weekly at the higher dose (1.0 mg/kg); intermittent treatment at the lower dose (0.1 mg/kg) was ineffective. The results indicate that pramipexole exerts rapid anti-anhedonic effects in the chronic mild stress model. This conclusion is complicated, but not undermined, by drug-induced weight loss and by the presence of significant drug effects in nonstressed control animals.     

Oral sensorimotor therapy: Assessment,efficacy and future directions

This review addresses the current state of knowledge in oral sensorimotor therapy for children with neurological impairments and ingestive problems. Comprehensive assessment of the child with dysphagia looks at the interaction of oral performance and growth. These domains include eating efficiency, oral-motor skills, oral sensory evaluation, classification of the severity of an eating problem, interaction of respiration and ingestion, aspiration, positioning for feeding, social skills assessment, careload and assessment technologies. Oral sensorimotor therapy improves eating but not drinking skills in children 3–12 years of age. Weight gain is sufficient so that children maintain their growth channel but they do not show catchup growth. Many factors thought to contribute to better ingestive performance need further study, such as jaw and lip control in association with drinking. The earliest possible identification of infants at risk for eating impairments needs to be rigorously pursued. Such an approach offers hope that the later growth deterioration now seen in children with eating impairments may be prevented. Finally, the effect of positioning and the use of eating equipment to promote self-feeding need further study.     

The role of the subfornical organ in the drinking behavior of the pigeon

Pigeons with radiofrequency lesions that damaged the subfornical organ (SFO) (n = 4) or that isolated it from adjacent structures (n = 5), but not sham-lesioned pigeons, were unresponsive to blood-borne (i.p.) ANG II (100 micrograms/pigeon) in the immediate postoperative period and for 60 days thereafter. These animals were less sensitive to hypovolemic challenge (20% PEG), but they responded normally to 24 h of water deprivation and to cellular dehydration. Despite their unresponsiveness to bloodborne ANG II, the lesioned pigeons drank normally to 10 ng of i.c.v. ANG II given as early as 10 days after surgery, and they drank reliably and vigorously but less in total volume to 100 ng i.c.v. They also drank quickly, vigorously, and in normal total volume to i.c.v. tachykinins and bombesins, and to the peripheral (i.p.) bombesins. Peripheral (i.m.) tachykinins produced only low volume and variable drinking in all birds tested regardless of brain damage. The SFO of the pigeon, like that of the mammal, is essential for drinking evoked by blood-borne ANG II and is not necessary for thirst aroused by ANG II acting from within the cerebral ventricles. Lastly, it does not mediate the dipsogenic effects of the tachykinins or the bombesins.     

Facilitation of ethanol consumption by intracerebroventricular infusions of corticosterone

Male Wistar rats bearing intracerebroventricular (ICV) cannulae and with simultaneous access to 6% ethanol and water were subjected to adrenalectomy (ADX) or sham surgery. ADX decreased ethanol intake. Starting a few days later, the animals received ICV infusions with 100 μg corticosterone acetate (CORT) with 2-to 3-day intervals for 2 weeks. ICV CORT, but not SC CORT at the same dose, restored ethanol consumption in ADX rats to preoperative levels, whereas vehicle infusions (propylene, glycol) did not. Adrenally intact animals, which normally consumed moderate amounts of ethanol (≈0.5 g/kg per day), also showed a robust effect of ICV infusions of CORT, whereas this facilitatory effect was not observed in high consumers (≈3.0 g/kg per day). The suppressive effect of ADX on ethanol intake was not reproduced by concurrent and repeated ICV infusions of intracellular mineralocorticoid (RU 28318) and glucocorticoid (mifepristone) receptor blockers. It is concluded that CORT stimulates alcohol consumption by acting in the brain, probably by way of neuronal membrane mechanisms.