Controlled clinical trial comparing flurbiprofen and phenylbutazone in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Preliminary results in 12 patients with rheumatoid arthritis are presented from an on-going double-blind, between patient comparison of flurbiprofen and phenylbutazone. Patients received either 300 mg flurbiprofen daily or 400 mg phenylbutazone daily over a 2-week treatment period. Two patients treated with phenylbutazone developed a rash, and treatment was discontinued in 1 of them after Day 2.

[Clinical problems of neural lesions in the phase of rehabilitation. Their significance and importance in final success of rehabilitation therapy]

The frequency and significance of associated diseases and clinical problems in patients with nerve injuries in the recovery stage was statistically assessed. A variety of clinical situations are observed in practically all such patients. Half of the symptoms and diseases encountered relate to the nervous system and cardiocirculatory apparatus, while there is also a high incidence of skeletal muscle and urinary affections. The significance of these signs as far as rehabilitation is concerned can be seen in the fact that psychological and micturition disturbances are observed, along with muscle hypertonia, fibromyositis, cystitis and arthrosis. These form the more common obstacles to the regular execution of a rehabilitation programme, whereas no such significance is possessed by such serious diseases as valvular cardiopathy, hypertension and neoplasia of the neuraxis.

Cross tolerance to antinociception elicited by intracerebroventricular administration of mescaline and morphine to rabbits, and EEG correlates

Tolerance and cross tolerance to the antinociceptive effect of equipotent doses of morphine (10 mug/kg) and mescaline (100 mug/kg) are shown in the rabbit after their repeated intracerebroventricular administration. The recording of the electrical activity of different brain areas indicates that a partial tolerance also develops to the EEG effects in animals undergoing chronic treatment with mescaline. The comparison of certain of the mescaline-induced effects with those of morphine suggests that some biochemical and neural patterns are common to the 2 drugs.

Development of tolerance to the antinociceptive effect of mescaline intraventricularly administered to rabbits

Some effects of intraventricular injection of mescaline are examined in conscious rabbits. By means of electrical stimulation of the tooth pulp it is shown that an acute treatment with 70, 100, 150 mug/kg of mescaline elicits analgesia, the intensity of which is dose-dependent: with daily administration of 100 mug/kg for 5 days a complete tolerance develops to the antinociceptive effect. A tolerance also develops to the behavioral effects of mescaline after repeated administrations, with the exception of the stuporous state, a symptom which, on the contrary, is accentuated as the treatment proceeds. An EEG arousal is induced in the rabbit by acutely administered mescaline; the chronic treatment (100 mug/kg) makes the return of voltage to original levels progressively slower. Finally, the confrontation of certain of the mescaline-induced effects with those of morphine suggests some biochemical and neural patterns common to the 2 drugs.

Gross, microscopic and ultrastructural study of the intestinal tube of Xenodon merremii Wagler, 1824 (Ophidia)

The small and large intestines of Xenodon merremii have a similar structure. They are separated by a sphincter of thickened circular muscle. The mucosa of the proximal part of the small intestine is raised into a honeycomb pattern, but distally there are only longitudinal folds. The lining epithelium throughout is of a simple columnar type, with absorptive, goblet, argentaffin and argyrophil cells, but no Paneth cells, villi or crypts of Lieberkühn are present.