Prenatal ethanol exposure affects temperature responses of adult rats to pentobarbital and diazepam alone and in combination with ethanol

Long-term effects of prenatal alcohol exposure on body temperature responses to pentobarbital and diazepam and to either drug in combination with ethanol were studied in adult rats who were the offspring of dams fed a 5.0% w/v ethanol-containing liquid diet during the last 2 weeks of gestation. Adult offspring of pair-fed and chow-fed dams served as nutritional and normal controls, respectively. Pentobarbital (6.25-25.0 mg/kg) and diazepam (2.5-10.0 mg/kg) produced significantly greater dose-related hypothermic responses in females than males. Following either pentobarbital or diazepam administration female prenatally ethanol-exposed (E) rats responded with a greater fall in body temperature than the controls. Significantly greater hypothermia occurred in both male and female E rats than in controls when ethanol (1.5 g/kg) was administered together with pentobarbital or diazepam. However, the drug combinations did not produce additive effects on body temperature in any prenatal treatment group. Pentobarbital produced acute cross-tolerance to ethanol while diazepam potentiated ethanol's effect. These studies confirm and extend our previous findings of enhanced hypothermic responses to ethanol in adult rats exposed to ethanol in utero and indicate that maternal alcohol consumption produces long-term effects on the central thermoregulatory systems of offspring.

Evaluation of feet and skeletons of limbs from pigs treated with a repartitioning agent, cimaterol

Recently, beta-adrenergic agents, which repartition muscle and fat, have been used to develop more muscular carcasses in broilers, steers, lambs, and pigs. Cimaterol, one such repartitioning agent, effectively improves carcass quality in pigs. Since the mode of action of repartitioning agents is uncertain, and because they may indirectly affect skeletal development or the integrity of feet, the purpose of this study was to assess the effect of cimaterol on selected growth cartilages and feet. Pigs were randomly placed in four groups and fed a ration that included Cimaterol at 0.00, 0.25, 0.50, or 1.00 mg/kg. At 100 kg live-weight, pigs were slaughtered and selected growth cartilages, bones, and feet were examined macroscopically, radiologically, and microscopically. Although the majority of pigs had lesions in feet, or had dyschondroplastic changes typical of osteochondrosis in many growth cartilages, particularly physes, there were no significant differences in frequency of pigs with lesions between groups. Cimaterol enhanced carcass quality with no detrimental effect on bones or feet.

Neuropsychiatric aspects of multi-infarct dementia and dementia of the Alzheimer type

Delusions, depression, and hallucinations were assessed in 30 patients with dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT) and 15 with multi-infarct dementia (MID). The nature and prevalence of delusions did not distinguish DAT from MID: delusions were present at the time of examination in 30% of patients with DAT and in 40% of patients with MID, and had occurred at some time in the course of the illness in half the patients of each diagnostic group. Delusions were primarily paranoid in type and involved elementary misbeliefs concerning theft or infidelity. Depression was significantly more common in MID than DAT. Seventeen percent of patients with DAT had depressive symptoms; none with severe depression were identified. Four of 15 patients with MID exhibited major depressive episodes and 60% manifested depressive symptoms. Depression and delusions were not deducted in patients with severe dementia. Hallucinations occurred in both diagnostic groups but were not common: one patient with DAT and one with MID had auditory hallucinations, and three patients with MID had visual hallucinations.

Obsessions and compulsions in Gilles de la Tourette's syndrome

The incidence of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in patients with Gilles de la Tourette's syndrome (GTS) was assessed with a specially designed questionnaire. The Inventory was administered to patients with OCD, patients with GTS, and normal controls. Fifty-one percent of the patients with GTS had significantly elevated Inventory scores. The frequent occurrence of OCD in GTS suggests that the two disorders may share common neurobiologic mechanisms.

Motoneurone survival activity in extracts of denervated muscle reduced by prior stimulation of the muscle

Inactivation of skeletal muscle by denervation increases motoneurone survival activity in extracts of skeletal muscle. The present investigation shows that electrical stimulation of denervated muscle decreases motoneurone survival activity in extracts of these muscles. The result suggests that motoneurone survival is dependent on a factor(s) in muscle whose synthesis and/or release is regulated by muscle contraction.

Aphasia in dementia of the Alzheimer type

Speech and language assessment in 30 patients with dementia of the Alzheimer type and in 70 normal controls revealed that all Alzheimer patients were aphasic. Throughout most of the course, the language disorder resembled transcortical sensory aphasia, and increasing language impairment correlated with increasing severity of dementia. Aphasia was present regardless of age of onset or family history of dementia. Aphasia is an important diagnostic criterion of dementia of the Alzheimer type.

Angiomicrographic investigation of the vessels associated with physes in young pigs

There is little information available relating to the vasculature of physes of pigs, hence the object of the present study was to establish the distribution of blood vessels in normal physes of pigs at one and 15 days old. By the use of an angiomicrographic technique it was possible to demonstrate that vessels were in two main categories; first, those which entered the physis from the epiphysis and terminated, or branched and then terminated half to two thirds of the distance into the depth of the physis; second, vessels which crossed the full depth of the physis. Since vessels that cross the physis from epiphysis to metaphysis were a frequent feature of normal physes they do not seem to be a congenital defect which predisposes to the development of dyschondroplasias in young pigs.

Dyschondroplasias of growth cartilages (osteochondrosis) in crossbred commercial pigs at one and 15 days of age: radiological, angiomicrographical and histological findings

The age of onset and morphology of the earliest lesions of dyschondroplasias in pigs have not been established. Bones and growth cartilages from pigs were examined for the presence of lesions using radiological, angiomicrographical and histological techniques. Lesions were in 10 of 11 pigs at 15 days of age and 12 of 21 pigs at one day of age, indicating that the condition was congenital. The simplest and apparently earliest lesion was an area of persistent hypertrophied chondrocytes and matrix which extended from the articular-epiphyseal complex or physis into the epiphysis or metaphysis, respectively. Since the prevalence of lesions was high it was considered that the dyschondroplasia may be part of the usual growth pattern of cartilages in contemporary pigs.

Diabetic vasculopathy in the rat: an in vivo microscopic study of the circulation

A transparent tissue chamber adapted to the rat back was used for in vivo observation of vascular and circulatory changes in the streptozotocin diabetic rat. The chamber was implanted in a functional and richly vascularized bed of striated muscle. Extensive red cell rouleaux formation was observed within 2-7 days of induction of hyperglycaemia and was closely followed by development of constrictions and dilatations in both venules and arterioles. In 3 of 7 diabetic rats saccular microaneurysms, similar in form to those reported in diabetic animals and humans, developed in the vascular bed. The rat back chamber provides an opportunity for continuous in vivo study of vascular lesions developing in streptozotocin diabetes. Fixation under microscopic observation allows close correlation of functional changes in vivo with the ultrastructural appearance of specific tissue areas.

Comparative cardiac effects of maprotiline and doxepin in elderly depressed patients

In a double-blind study, 49 elderly patients with primary major depression, with or without cardiovascular disease, were treated with maprotiline or doxepin. Holter monitors, 12-lead ECGs, and orthostatic blood pressure measurements were used. Maprotiline was associated with decreased PVCs in patients with a "high" baseline rate, while doxepin was associated with increased PVCs in this group. There were no significant differences in orthostatic blood pressure changes between treatment and nontreatment phases or between the two drugs. Small but significant increases in heart rate and prolonged PR interval were noted with both drugs. QRS interval was prolonged by maprotiline but decreased by doxepin. Neither drug produced untoward effects in patients with stable angina or an old myocardial infarction. Maprotiline may have an antiarrhythmic effect which could be beneficial in the treatment of depression with concomitant PVCs. Conversely, doxepin may be more appropriate for depressed patients with heart block or intracardiac conduction delays. Further research is necessary to confirm these suggestions.

The preparation and use of guar bread in diet therapy

Guar bread rolls were prepared in the hospital diet kitchen from a recipe developed in the Food Science Department of Queen Elizabeth College, using a bread mix to which was added 30 g of guar gum (French, 1982). Four bread rolls per day provided 15 g guar. The dose can be varied as required. The method was satisfactory for home baking providing a regular supply of guar in small quantities can be made available.

Prenatal alcohol exposure alters adult expression of sexually dimorphic behavior in the rat

Saccharin preference and performance in a Lashley III maze were found to be altered in adult male and female rats that had been exposed to alcohol during gestation. Specifically, the sexual dimorphism normally observed in both behaviors was absent in fetal alcohol-exposed animals. The lack of sexual dimorphism appeared to result from a masculinization of the exposed females and a feminization of the exposed males.

Dyschondroplasias, including osteochondrosis, in boars between 25 and 169 days of age: histologic changes

Microscopic sections of physeal and articular-epiphyseal (A-E) cartilages from major limb bones of 60 boars between 25 and 169 days of age were examined. The objectives in this study were to determine the age of onset and pathogenesis of osteochondrosis, a defect of endochondral ossification. Lesions regarded as typical of osteochondrosis were associated with physes of pigs from 25 days of age, indicating an earlier age of onset than has generally been documented. Two morphologically distinct lesions were observed, but both had areas with increased depth of the zone of hypertrophying chondrocytes. Some lesions were repairing. With increasing age of the pigs, the number of involved physes increased in each of 6 different age groups up to 169 days. Lesions associated with physes were observed in boars younger than those with lesions associated with A-E complexes. A few pigs at, or older than, 53 days of age, had osteochondrosis-like lesions involving epiphyseal growth cartilages. However, a dyschondroplasia different from osteochondrosis and typified by chondrolysis was more frequently associated with A-E complexes of pigs at or greater than 79 days of age. The number of affected cartilages and sites with this type of lesion also increased with age. Although osteoarthrosis had not developed in any of the pigs, it is probable that chondrolytic areas were precursors of degenerative joint disease. To date, osteochondrosis has been used to encompass lesions involving physes and A-E complexes. However, in view of the findings in the present study, dyschondroplasia is the preferred term to be used generically and then qualified by morphologic description, since causations may be different.

Dyschondroplasias, including osteochondrosis, in boars between 25 and 169 days of age: radiologic changes

Boars in 6 different groups (between 25 and 169 days of age) were examined radiographically to determine the age of onset of lesions associated with the sites of endochondral ossification in limb bones. Although lesions were in histopathologic sections of physes from all groups of pigs, they were not found frequently in radiographs of live animals until boars were more than 100 days old. Microscopic lesions were infrequent in articular-epiphyseal (A-E) complexes of pigs less than 80 days old, and radiographic examination of live animals had limited value until animals were greater than 100 days old. Radiographs of slabs of bone were useful in the detection of physes with lesions in all age groups and A-E complexes with lesions in boars 100 days of age or older. So that the accuracy of radiographic examination of live animals for the diagnosis of dyschondroplasias could be evaluated, a comparison was made between the numbers of growth cartilages with lesions as determined by radiologic examination of live animals, radiographic examination of slabs of bone, and light microscopy (examination of tissue sections). Only 21% of the lesions associated with physes and 22% of the lesions associated with A-E complexes were detected in radiographs of bones of live pigs. The authors concluded that the latter method was inaccurate for the identification of dyschondroplastic foci. Identification of lesions by examination of radiographs of slabs of bone was only slightly more accurate, since 33% of physes and 23% of A-E complexes which had lesions were found. Potential errors in evaluation of radiographs were discussed.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Vitreous fluorophotometry in children with type I diabetes mellitus

A clinical, biochemical and ocular study was carried out on 17 children with type I diabetes mellitus. Eight had no clinical or angiographic evidence of retinopathy (Stage 0), seven had stage 1, one had stage 2 background retinopathy (Malone's classification) and one had intraretinal microvascular abnormalities. The vitreous fluorescein concentration 3 to 5 mm in front of the macula in those without retinopathy varied from low to abnormally high, while the concentrations in those with retinopathy were above normal. There was no correlation between haemoglobin A1 estimations taken at the time of the study and the vitreous fluorophotometry readings. This variation in fluorophotometry values obtained in diabetics with stage 0 disease differs from the findings in previous reports and may be of prognostic value in determining those patients at risk of developing retinopathy, and may be an indication for improving diabetic control.

Motor neuron survival and neuritic extension from spinal cord explants induced by factors released from denervated muscle

Extracts prepared from denervated adult skeletal muscle contain increased amounts of neurotrophic activity which promotes both survival of dissociated motor neurons and the outgrowth of neurites from explants of spinal cord maintained in serum-free defined media. The trophic activity is specific for motor neurons and reaches a peak within the first week post-denervation. In these most potent extracts the neurite outgrowth enhancement is a linearly increasing function of protein concentration at low concentrations; at higher concentrations the neurite activity-concentration relationship saturates and in the milligram range the relationship becomes inhibitory. When media containing active denervated muscle extract was preincubated over polycationic substrata, it lost the ability to promote neuritic growth; this could be restored if fresh extract was added to the cultures. Thus it was demonstrated that within the denervated muscle extract there are physically separable agents responsible for neuron survival and neurite expression. It is possible that the release of neurotrophic factors may be in part responsible for the in vivo phenomenon of nerve sprouting.

Therapeutic superiority of maprotiline versus doxepin in geriatric depression

In a double-blind study, 49 geriatric patients suffering from primary major depression were treated with maprotiline or doxepin. Efficacy and safety were assessed by the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale and the Zung Self-Rating Depression and Anxiety scales, side effects profile, routine laboratory tests, and measurements of blood levels. Although marked improvement was obtained with both antidepressants, patients on maprotiline showed statistically greater improvement than those on doxepin. No significant differences were detected between the two drugs with respect to side effects. A significant positive correlation was obtained between dosage and blood levels of maprotiline and doxepin, but there was no correlation between blood levels and clinical response. Overall, results suggest that maprotiline may be superior to doxepin in the treatment of geriatric depression.

Erythrocyte membrane fluidity in type 1 diabetes mellitus

Erythrocyte membrane fluidity was determined in a group of type 1 diabetics in varying metabolic control. No difference in membrane fluidity, as measured by fluorescence polarization of 1,6-diphenyl-1,3,5-hexatriene, was found between cells from diabetic subjects. In addition, no difference was detected in membrane phospholipid and cholesterol content or the ratio of cholesterol to phospholipid in the diabetic subjects when compared to controls. The present study suggests that changes in erythrocyte membrane fluidity do not play a major role in the alterations of the physical properties of blood seen in type 1 diabetes mellitus.

Marriage and labor market discrimination in Japan

"Many Japanese firms have engaged in the practice of compulsory retirement upon a female employee's marriage. In 1966, this practice was ruled as being contrary to provisions in Japan's Civil Code. [The authors] have specified and estimated a model of the economic determinants of age at marriage in order to analyze the effect that this discrimination has had on nuptiality in Japan. [The] results indicate that on average, after accounting for an upward trend, women who married after the 1966 court decision married about one year younger than women who married before 1966." It is also found that age at marriage is influenced by several socioeconomic variables, including wife's wage and educational level, husband's income and educational level, and wife's family background. Data are from a 1975 survey of women aged 20-59 who were living in the Tokyo metropolitan area.

Cholinergic growth factor from skeletal muscle elevated following denervation

The effect of skeletal muscle extracts upon cholinergic neuron in vitro survival was investigated. All muscle soluble protein extracts elicited survival of neurons above that of neurons alone in culture and were found to be active below a protein concentration of 1.0 mg/ml. However, skeletal muscle which had been previously denervated, was found to contain higher amounts of survival activity than innervated muscle extracts. This elevation of survival activity was greatest within the first 7 days post-denervation, but subsequently declined towards the innervated level.

Comparison of lipid-mediated blood-brain-barrier penetrability in neonates and adults

The permeability of compounds that penetrate brain capillaries by virtue of their lipoidal solubilities was studied in vivo after a single capillary transit by the intracarotid injection technique. Brain permeabilities of 14C-labeled test isotopes were measured relative to that of tritiated water, a highly diffusible reference substance, with correction for any test isotope remaining in the cerebral vasculature. The brain uptake indices of acetamide, antipyrine, benzyl alcohol, butanol, caffeine, cytosine, diphenyl hydantoin, ethanol, ethylene glycol, heroin, mannitol, methanol, phenobarbital, propylene glycol, thiourea, and urea were measured in ether-anesthetized newborn rabbits. A highly significant correlation (r = 0.86) between brain uptake indices and octanol-saline partition coefficients of these compounds was observed. An almost identical relationship was derived in the adult rat blood-brain barrier where brain uptakes and partition coefficients of some 48 compounds could be correlated (r = 0.86). The similarities in slope-intercept relationships indicate that newborn rabbit and adult rat brain endothelia are functionally similar with respect to lipid-mediated permeability [in contrast to previous studies that have established dramatic differences in selective permeabilities of metabolites transported by saturable, carrier-mediated ("facilitated diffusion") mechanisms]. Permeability-surface area products were also derived; these data confirmed no differences in permeability could be detected between newborn and adult blood-brain-barrier capillaries. A relationship between hydrogen bond number (an alternative indicator of hydrophobic properties( and brain uptake indices derived for the adult rat brain could not be confirmed in the case of the newborn rabbit.

Nicotine from cigarette smoking increases circulating levels of cortisol, growth hormone, and prolactin in male chronic smokers

Results of this study indicate that nicotine from cigarette smoking increases circulating levels of cortisol, growth hormone, and prolactin in male chronic smokers. Previous studies have not addressed the question of whether the stimulus for smoking-related hormone release is the 'stress' of smoking or a pharmacologic action of nicotine and other tobacco substrates. Nicotine exposure is controlled in this study by allowing each subject to smoke only two 2.0 mg nicotine cigarettes during one experimental session and two 0.2 mg nicotine cigarettes in another session. Plasma levels of cortisol, growth hormone, and prolactin for the higher nicotine session were found to be significantly elevated over those for the low-nicotine session, indicating that nicotine itself plays a predominate role in smoking-induced hormone increases. All hormone levels for the 2.0 mg nicotine session had not returned to baseline 60 min after smoking.

Fetal exposure to ethanol enhances pituitary-adrenal and temperature responses to ethanol in adult rats

Long lasting effects of perinatal ethanol exposure were studied in adult rats who were the offspring of dams fed a 5.0% w/v ethanol-containing liquid diet ad libitum or pair-fed the isocaloric control diet during gestation weeks 2 and 3 or during postnatal week 1. Fetal exposure to ethanol reduced body weight of pups at birth unless the ethanol diet was supplemented with casein; neonatal exposure to the ethanol or pair-fed diets, casein supplemented or not, reduced pup weights until day 21 postnatally when weights of all fetally or neonatally exposed pups were normal. Between 52 and 120 days of age females were tested for pituitary-adrenal and temperature responses to a challenge dose of ethanol. Prenatally ethanol-exposed rats showed significantly higher plasma corticosterone titers and developed a greater hypothermia in response to an intraperitoneal injection of ethanol (0.75--1.5 g/kg) than did pair-fed controls. Similar responses enhancement did not occur in the postnatally ethanol-exposed rats. Temporal patterns of blood ethanol levels after an intraperitoneal injection of ethanol (1.5 g/kg) were similar in prenatally ethanol-exposed females and their pair-fed controls. The data indicate that exposure to ethanol in utero exerts persistent effects on the offspring, rendering them more responsive to the hypothermic and pituitary-adrenal activating effects of alcohol as adults.

High-fibre foods: a feasibility study using guar gum

Guar gum at different concentrations was incorporated into foods from six groups to establish some principles to aid the production of high-viscosity therapeutic foods. The amounts of gum that could be incorporated into a food, without major loss of acceptability, were higher in products with low final water content than those with high final water content. The domestic preparation of these recipes should be possible provided that recipe modifications are carefully followed.