Neurocognitive effects of aluminum

The neurocognitive effects of aluminum (Al) were studied in 35 hemodialysis patients. Higher Al levels were associated with a decline in visual memory. As Al levels increased, patients with lower vocabulary scores (a measure of premorbid intelligence) showed a decline in attention/concentration, frontal lobe functions, and on several neurocognitive measures, while those with higher vocabulary scores revealed no Al-related decline. These results suggest that individuals with lower verbal intelligence may possess less well-developed compensatory strategies to overcome the neurocognitive effects associated with Al. These data also indicate that Al is neurotoxic and, therefore, potential sources of environmental Al should be identified and eliminated.

Childhood eating and weight in eating disorders: a multi-centre European study of affected women and their unaffected sisters

BACKGROUND

Previous studies have suggested that childhood eating and weight problems may be risk factors for eating disorders. Robust evidence is still lacking.

AIMS

To investigate whether childhood eating and weight problems increase the risk of eating disorders in affected women compared to their unaffected sisters.

METHODS

Women (150) with anorexia (AN) or bulimia nervosa (BN) recruited from clinical and community samples were compared to their unaffected sister closest in age on maternal reports of childhood eating and weight.

RESULTS

Women with BN were significantly more overweight at the ages of 5 and 10 (both OR = 2.8, p < 0.01), ate a lot (OR = 1.3, p < 0.01), were less picky (OR = 0.6, p < 0.05) and ate quickly (OR = 2.3, p < 0.05) between the ages of 6 and 10 compared to their healthy sisters. Significantly more women with AN were described as having a higher weight at 6 months (OR = 0.8, p < 0.01) and 1 year (OR = 0.6, p < 0.01) compared to their healthy sisters. Childhood eating was comparable in the women with AN and their unaffected sisters.

CONCLUSIONS

Traits of childhood overeating were more common in bulimic women compared to their unaffected siblings. Subjects with AN did not differ from their sisters on eating variables. The increased risk of BN due to childhood overweight suggests that prevention strategies for childhood obesity and overweight may therefore be applicable in BN.

Prevention of phosphate-induced progression of uremia in rats by 3-phosphocitric acid

Male Sprague-Dawley rats were rendered uremic by surgical removal of 70% of functioning renal mass. This produced a rapid threefold rise in serum creatinine to 0.87 +/- 0.067 (SEM) mg/dl at 2 weeks postoperatively which declined subsequently to a value of 0.64 +/- 0.06 (SEM) and remained stable thereafter for an additional 4 weeks in animals maintained on a diet with normal phosphate content. Increase of dietary phosphate content to 2.2% at 2 weeks after surgery produced a significant and progressive increase in serum creatinine to values fourfold higher than the mean values in comparable partially nephrectomized control animals maintained on a diet with normal phosphate content (P less than 0.001). This deterioration in renal function was associated with extensive nephrocalcinosis, tubular dilatation, cellular necrosis, and marked interstitial inflammation. 3-phosphocitric acid, a compound which has been shown to prevent calcium phosphate crystal growth as well as to prevent in vivo nephrocalcinosis, was very effective in preventing this phosphate-induced deterioration of renal function and in preventing any significant increase in renal calcium content in animals fed a high phosphate diet. This compound was also effective in preventing the renal histologic changes associated with phosphate-induced uremia.

Right adrenal metastases of hepatocarcinoma after liver transplantation: case report and literature review

BACKGROUND

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) represents one of the most common malignancies globally, accounting for nearly one million new cases per year. Although the treatment of extrahepatic metastases from primary liver tumors is essentially palliative, a solitary metastasis from such tumors offers a possibility of cure by surgical resection. The adrenal gland is an uncommon site for metastasis from primary liver tumors.

METHODS

We report a liver transplantation case of HCC and hepatitis B virus in a 23-year-old man with an excellent postoperative result. However, because an increased alpha-fetoprotein was evident and complete radiologic and blood tests were performed, all of which were normal. Three years posttransplantation, a right adrenal mass was identified by CT. PAAF was performed as well as adrenalectomy for a solitary adrenal metastasis from hepatocellular carcinoma.

RESULTS

The patient underwent adrenalectomy for the right adrenal metastasis at 3 years following liver transplantation for HCC. He is presently alive and disease-free 24 months after adrenalectomy.

CONCLUSION

Carefully selected patients with solitary metastasis from HCC may be considered for resection.

X-ray studies on phospholipid bilayers. VIII. Interactions with chlorpromazine.HCl

Chlorpromazine is a widely used phenothiazine tranquilizer known to alter the shape of normal erythrocytes and their osmotic fragility. In order to understand the nature of the interactions chlorpromazine.HCl (CPZ.HCl) was made to interact with phospholipid bilayers formed by dimyristoylphosphatidylethanolamine (DMPE) and dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC). This study was carried out by X-ray diffraction on crystalline powders of various molar mixtures of CPZ.HCl with DMPE and DMPC, with and without water. It was found that CPZ.HCl significatively affects the bilayer structure of DMPC in the presence of water, but not that of DMPE.

Thiazide-induced hyponatremia

We have described a case of severe acute hyponatremia developing in a patient who had been taking thiazides for the previous eight months without having any electrolyte abnormalities. The onset of the electrolyte disturbance coincided with a physician-recommended hydration regimen, which we believe unmasked a drug-related impairment of water excretion. Withdrawal of thiazide therapy promptly resulted in water diuresis and rapid correction of the hyponatremia.

Long-term treatment of chronic chagasic cardioneuropathy with a mixture of gangliosides: effect on evolution of circulating antiGM1 antibodies

Chagas disease involves a cardiac impairment, being the first alterations of autonomic disorders which affect heart rate and blood pressure control. At this stage, diminished heart rate responses to atropine and propranolol are observed. Prior studies have shown that short term ganglioside treatment improves the responses to these agents, but there is no information about the long term effect of gangliosides and the evolution of antiGM1 titers. The effects of long term treatment with gangliosides on autonomic tests in patients with chagasic cardiodisautonomy and the evolution of antiGM1 titers were studied in 90 patients (57 men, 33 women, aged 25-60 years) with positive serology for Chagas disease and electrocardiogram showing sinusal bradycardia and incomplete right branch block, without cardiomegaly, with autonomic alterations by postural and Valsalva's tests. All patients were submitted to a test that consisted of intravenous injection of atropine 0.04 mg/kg followed 3 min later by intravenous injection of propranolol 0.2 mg/kg. During these tests heart rate and blood pressure were recorded continuously. Subsequently, 30 patients were treated with 100 mg/day of a mixture of gangliosides by intramuscular injection during 15 days in a row, followed by 40 mg/day during another 75 days. Another 30 patients received continuous treatment for 12 months. The remaining 30 patients were controls. The antiGM1 antibody circulating titers were determined before the treatment, at the third and 12th month. Seventy-four patients completed the study. Before treatment, the heart rate increased, though slightly, after the injection of atropine. After 3 months of ganglioside treatment a statistically significant increase in the response to atropine was recorded. In the controls at 12 months, the response to atropine remained increased without differences between the patients treated for 3 and 12 months. The control patients did not show any modification of the heart rate response during 12 months. Both ganglioside-treated groups showed an increase in the response to propranolol. The antiGM1 titer distribution was similar in both healthy subjects and chagasic patients. None of the patients had positive antiGM1 titers in basal conditions nor significant modifications after the ganglioside treatment. Chagasic cardioneuropathy was not associated in this study with high antiGM1 antibody titers. Chagasic patients showed a diminished heart rate response to atropine as well as to propranolol. Ganglioside treatment determined an increased heart rate response, particularly after atropine. Increased heart rate response was maintained until 1 year, without differences between the patients treated for 3 and 12 months. No changes in the antiGM1 titers were observed during the ganglioside treatment.

Application of Inverse Design Approaches to the Discovery of Nonlinear Optical Switches

Molecular switches, in which a stimulus induces a large and reversible change in molecular properties, are of significant interest in the domain of photonics. Due to their commutable redox states with distinct nonlinear optical (NLO) properties, hexaphyrins have emerged as a novel platform for multistate switches in nanoelectronics. In this study, we employ an inverse design algorithm to find functionalized 26R→28R redox switches with maximal βHRS contrast. We focus on the role of core modifications, since a synergistic effect with meso-substitutions was recently found for the 30R-based switch. In contrast to these findings, the inverse design optima and subsequent database analysis of 26R-based switches confirm that core modifications are generally not favored when high NLO contrasts are targeted. Moreover, while push-pull combinations enhance the NLO contrast for both redox switches, they prefer a different arrangement in terms of electron-donating and electron-withdrawing functional groups. Finally, we aim at designing a three-state 26R→28R→ 30R switch with a similar NLO response for both ON states. Even though our best-performing three-state switch follows the design rules of the 30R-based component, our chemical compound space plots show that well-performing three-state switches can be found in regions shared by high-responsive 26R and 30R structures.

Influence of renin levels on the treatment of essential hypertension with thiazide diuretics

Initial plasma renin activity (PRA) was measured in 213 patients with untreated hypertension before beginning thiazide (chlorothiazide and hydrochlorothiazide) therapy alone to test whether patients with low-renin hypertension exhibited a greater response to diuretic therapy. Diastolic blood pressure response to treatment in the low, mid-range, and high PRA groups did not differ significantly (delta diastolic blood pressure, -13.6 +/- 1.6, -11.6 +/- 1.5, and -10.8 +/- 2.6 mm Hg, respectively). Moreover, eight subjects with the highest PRA values exhibited the same magnitude of decrease in diastolic blood pressure as did the low PRA group (15.0 +/- 4.2 vs 13.6 +/- 1.6, respectively). This study thus provides no evidence for increased sensitivity to diuretic therapy among patients with low-renin essential hypertension.

MMPI differences among three diagnostic groups of Mexican-American state hospital patients

The purpose of this study was to determine whether there were significant MMPI differences among three diagnostic groups of Mexican-American psychiatric inpatients and whether a profile pattern was associated with each one, schizophrenia ( n = 32), antisocial personality disorder ( n = 15), and affective disorder with unipolar depression ( n = 18). Comparisons on the basic validity and clinical scales yielded only three significant differences, on the Frequency, Depression, and Schizophrenia scales. No unique profile patterns were found; groups showed a similar mean profile configuration, with elevations on the Psychopathic Deviate and Schizophrenia scales. Overall, antisocial men appeared on the MMPI less disturbed than either the depressive or schizophrenic men. The results are consistent with previous findings which suggest that the MMPI scores may correspond poorly with DSM-III diagnostic groups. The results also suggested that Mexican-Americans in psychiatric facilities, irrespective of diagnosis, may respond similarly on the MMPI.

Saphenous vein graft aneurysms demonstrated by computed tomography

A case of aneurysms of saphenous vein coronary artery bypass (CAB) grafts is presented with CT and echocardiography findings. Aneurysms of the bypass graft are rare complications of CAB surgery but many occur due to atherosclerosis, infection, surgical technique, or vasculitis.

Rib pain in a 23-year-old woman with severe asthma

This case illustrates the importance of considering a wide range of diagnoses in patients complaining of rib, flank, and pleuritic pain. Further, additional evaluation is warranted when "pneumonia" does not respond to conventional treatment.