Therapeutic effects of foscarnet sodium and acyclovir on cutaneous infections due to herpes simplex virus type 1 in guinea pigs

The therapeutic effects of topically applied foscarnet sodium and acyclovir on cutaneous infections due to herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) were studied in guinea pigs. Foscarnet cream (3%) reduced both the cumulative vesicle score and the time for healing when HSV-1 strains C42 and 79 were tested. The application of foscarnet in cream form resulted in a dose-dependent reduction in skin virus titers and vesicle scores at concentrations ranging from 0.05% to 3%. Infections due to HSV-1 strain 79, but not those due to strain C42, were sensitive to treatment with 5% acyclovir in polyethylene glycol ointment. Topical application of 3% acyclovir in dimethyl sulfoxide on infections due to HSV-1 strain C42 resulted in a reduction in the skin virus titers, lesion scores, and the time for healing. Acyclovir, in both polyethylene glycol and dimethyl sulfoxide, was consistently less active than foscarnet cream in these animal experiments.

[Tinnitus after microsurgical interventions at the internal auditory canal (author's transl)]

The preoperative and postoperative complaints of tinnitus of 126 patients were compared who had undergone microsurgery of the internal auditory canal. Evaluation of the questionnaires revealed that after section of the cochlear nerve in 11 cases of otherwise therapy-resistant tinnitus, total or partial relief was obtained in five of the patients. After surgery for cerebellopontine angle tumors (n = 46) or after neurectomy of the vestibular nerve of menière's disease (n = 34) tinnitus, in general, was neither initiated nor increased. Therefore, operations at the internal auditory meatus do not constitute a special risk with respect to iatrogenic generation of tinnitus.

[Hearing defects after purulent meningitis (author's transl)]

80 children in the age of 4 to 20 years who got over a purulent meningitis in infancy or childhood were examined by means of several audiological methods. Two children (2,5 percent) were found to be deaf. In 4 cases (5 percent) deafness was detected only unilateral not preferring the right or left ear. Hearing impairment after the eights cranial nerve damage was found in four children. 4 children suffered from severe to profound hearing defects on one side or bilateral. No correlation could be found between incidence and severity of the hearing defects to the total dose of the antibiotics that were penicillin, ampicillin and gentamycin. Before the background of the literature reported on this subject and the presented results hearing impairment after purulent meningitis seems to be more likely a sequela of inflammation than a toxic side-effect of the antibiotics.

[Early diagnosis of acoustic neuroma by the vestibular tests. Indication for computerized tomography and cisternomeatography (author's transl)]

In a series of 390 cases with suspicion of acoustic neurinomas 78 such tumors could be diagnosed, including 12 early stage neurinomas. This relatively high detection quote of small neurinomas is due to a special diagnostical programme: Every patient with unilateral and sensorineural hearing loss, independent of vertigo anamnesis or of the result of x-rays must be further examined by a vestibular tests. All 78 patients with acoustic neuroma had pathological vestibular findings. The positional test turned out to be the most sensitive examination in the early diagnosis of acoustic neuromas and yields a still higher incidence than the thermic test: 95% of the patients with a neuroma showed pathological findings in the positional test. Every patient suffering from an unidentified unilateral and sensorineural hearing loss combined with a pathological result in the positional tests must be further checked by a cisternomeatography or computerized tomography using airinsufflation. Every fifth of these patients showed typical signs of an acoustic neuroma in the neuroradiological tests. 68 neuromas are operated today and verified histologically, 10 patients are still waiting for surgical treatment.

Basal and pentagastrin-stimulated levels of calcitonin in thyroid and peripheral veins during normocalcemia and chronic hypercalcemia in humans

The calcitonin secretion from the thyroid C-cells was studied with a peroperative method. The calcitonin concentrations in thyroid venous effluent and peripheral veins were determined in patients who underwent operations because of thyroid and parathyroid disease. In normocalcemia the thyroid vein level of calcitonin was significantly higher than that in peripheral vein. In chronic hypercalcemia no gradient over the thyroid was demonstrable. After injection of pentagastrin into a thyroid artery a very pronounced, but transient, increase in calcitonin concentration was registered. No difference in peak value between normo- and hypercalcemia was demonstrable. The peripheral vein level was unchanged. The peroperative method is very sensitive. A marked peak in thyroid vein corresponds to unchanged values in peripheral vein. The method invites further studies with other secretagogues and receptor-blocking substances.

Endoscopy of the pharyngeal eustachian tube

Transnasal endoscopy and transoral nasopharyngoscopy as routine examinations of the nasopharynx, tubal tori and pharyngeal part of the eustachian tube prove to be very useful. Some observations about the anatomy and the physiological movements of the tubal torus differ from the contemporary concept of the tubal opening mechanism. As measurements showed they do not necessarily correlate with tubal dysfunction or a patulous tube.

Temporal duration as a function of information processing

Estimation of duration has been shown to be a function of the amount and manner of organization of information processed during an interval. It was assumed that the use of an organizational schema to encode information reduces the actual amount of information stored. It was predicted that the use of an organizational schema will result in relatively shorter estimates of duration. Eighteen undergraduate subjects made estimates of intervals (.58 to 3.0 sec.) during which they watched film animations of moving geometric forms. In a second condition the same subjects were instructed to organize the animation as representing social interaction. An interaction showed that the use of an organizational schema to encode information resulted in smaller estimates for the longer intervals.

A selected ion monitoring method for the determination of pethidine and norpethidine in plasma. Comparison with a gas chromatographic method using electron capture detection

An analytical procedure for the simultaneous determination of pethidine and norpethidine in plasma by selected ion monitoring is described. The method has a capacity of 15--20 analyses per hour and can be used to determine pethidine and norpethidine down to 25 ng ml(-1) and 5 ng ml(-1), respectively. The selected ion monitoring method has been compared with a method based on electron capture detection after analysis of pethidine and norpethidine in spiked plasma samples and in plasma from patients. The two methods are capable of performing selective and accurate determinations of pethidine and norpethidine, in the concentration ranges obtained in man after a single therapeutic dose of pethidine.

Experimental grafting of the auditory nerve

The auditory nerve of five cats was sectioned unilaterally. Its proximal stump was immediately sutured to the proximal stump of the simultaneously severed facial nerve to study afferent sensory nerve regeneration. After time intervals of nine to 18 months, the nerve anastomosis was tested by electrical stimulation of the anastomosis and by recording evoked cortical responses at the auditory cortex. Electrophysiologic evidence of both fiber regeneration within the sectioned auditory nerve and of the reestablishment of a functional synapse at the cochlear nucleus was obtained. Further support of the concept of a possible auditory nerve grafting was added by the histologic examination of the nerve anastomosis and of the cochlear nuclei, which showed signs of the outspreading of axons from the facial nerve through the auditory nerve and through the barrier of the brain stem into the areas of the cochlear nuclei.

[A protective hearing aid (author's transl)]

A device consisting of a hearing protector headset and a modified hearing aid is used as a protective hearing aid for normal hearing subjects. Understanding of sufficiently redundant speech is remarkably improved, especially for noise level of about 20 dB above speech level. Tests have been made with the "Freiburger Zahlentest" and amplified "party noise" up to noise levels of 105 dBSPL. As an example: the above mentioned device enables the wearer to understand speech of 85 dB with 105 dB loud speech similar background noise while still the ears are charged with no more than 90 dB at all. Application for hyperacusis and recruitment patients is discussed.

Comparison of the acetylation of procainamide and sulfadimidine in man

The acetylation of procainamide and sulfadimidine has been measured simultaneously in plasma and urine in 20 healthy human volunteers by a specific G.L.C. method, after single and multiple oral dral doses of procainamide retard tablets. A distinct bimodality (9 rapid and 11 slow acetylators) was apparent from the concentrations of procainamide and N-acetylprocainamide both in urine and plasma, which was in complete agreement with data about sulfadimidine acetylation. The influence of acetylator phenotype on the relative concentrations of procainamide and N-acetylprocainamide in plasma as cn 5 additional healthy subjects after a single oral dose of procainamide. The present results show that acetylator phenotype can now be determined using procainamide as the test substance, and for this purpose multiple doses offer hardly any advantage over a single dose of the drug. However, because the separation between rapid and slow acetylators is less pronounced for procainamide than for sulfadimidine, precise criteria must be established for the conditions of the test, and the influence of diseases, such as renal insufficiency, should be taken into consideration.