Migraine in the menopause.

Many women with migraine, especially those with a history of menstrual migraine, experience an exacerbation as they approach menopause. During this time, the orderly pattern of estrogen and progesterone secretion is lost. The fluctuating and falling levels of estrogen during the perimenopausal years may increase the frequency and severity of migraine.

Menstrual migraine. Methods of prevention and control.

In many women, migraine headaches are clearly linked to estrogen levels: the incidence rises at the menarche; attacks may be precipitated by falling estrogen levels before menses; and symptoms usually improve during pregnancy when there are noncyclic high levels of estrogen. Decreased estrogen production in the perimenopausal phase may trigger an exacerbation of migraine. However, after menopause when estrogen levels are noncyclic and low, there may be an improvement in migraine.

The effects of naltrexone, an oral beta-endorphin antagonist, in children with the Prader-Willi syndrome.

Children with the Prader-Willi syndrome have severe and often intractable hyperphagia unresponsive to medical or surgical treatment. Although the effect of opioid antagonists on suppressing appetite in humans has been inconsistent, we evaluated the effectiveness of a new opioid antagonist, naltrexone, in suppressing appetite in four obese adolescents with the Prader-Willi syndrome. Data were collected during the double blind oral administration of the drug and placebo for two 7-day periods.

Plasma levels of immunoreactive beta-endorphin and adrenocorticotropic hormone during labor and delivery.

beta-endorphin and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) are derived from the same precursor protein, and the plasma levels of beta-endorphin and ACTH are thought to be representative of the pituitary secretion of these peptides. Simultaneous measurements of immunoreactive beta-endorphin and ACTH were done on plasma samples from pregnant women at term and found to be normal, but a significant increase was observed during the stress of labor. Simultaneous measurement of immunoreactive beta-endorphin and ACTH in the umbilical vein at time of vaginal delivery demonstrated elevated levels of both peptides.

A simple safe method for continuous infusion epidural analgesia in obstetrics.

Continuous infusion epidural anaesthesia may reduce the risks of hypotension, high spinal block and intravenous injection associated with repeated bolus injections. However, controlling the rate of a simple infusion is difficult and infusion pumps are expensive and bulky. We describe a method for continuous infusion epidural anesthesia using a 6 ml/hr capillary infusion device (Intraflo CFS-06F Sorenson Research Co.

Expression of cloned beta-endorphin gene sequences by Escherichia coli.

DNA coding for the opiate peptide beta-endorphin has been cloned into bacterial plasmids in such a way as to direct the synthesis of a hybrid beta-galactosidase/beta-endorphin protein. This hybrid protein can readily be cleaved in vitro to release biologically active beta-endorphin.

Adrenoleukodystrophy: report of a familial case.

Adrenoleukodystrophy is an unusual disorder in which progressive diffuse demyelination of the cerebrum is associated with adrenal insufficiency, and which is transmitted as a sex-linked recessive trait. This report describes a 36-year-old-male, who first presented 12 years previously with hypogonadothrophic hypogonadism. It is only more recently that he has developed primary adrenal insufficiency, as well as a neurological disorder characterized by cerebellar, pyramidal tract and cerebral cortical abnormalities.