Relaxation with biofeedback-assisted guided imagery: the importance of breathing rate as an index of hypoarousal.

Fifteen men and 35 women, suffering from a number of psychological and somatic disorders, were taught to relax by biofeedback-assisted deep-diaphragmatic breathing together with guided mental imagery. No instructions were given about rate. Breathing rate and pattern, PETCO2, and EEG were monitored before training and after the first three 2-minute training trials (session 1).

Actions of rat growth hormone-releasing factor and norepinephrine on cytosolic free calcium and inositol trisphosphate in rat C-cells.

Rat growth hormone-releasing factor (rGRF) and norepinephrine (NE) stimulate secretion of calcitonin (CT) and neurotensin (NT) from cultured C-cells. The mechanism by which these agents cause secretion has not been well studied. We have examined the actions of the CT and NT secretagogues rGRF and NE on cytosolic free calcium concentrations ([Ca2+]i) in the rat C-cell line rMTC 44-2.

The family physician and health objectives for the nation.

Specific, measurable health objectives for the nation have helped guide federal, state, and local policy in disease prevention and health promotion during the 1980s. About one half of these objectives will probably be achieved by 1990. Public awareness of hypertension and its consequences, for example, is at very high levels.

[Objective assessment in the Romberg test (posturography) with the new Lucerne measuring plate].

To perform postural measurements routinely a new device was developed which differs from existing equipment by its simple technique, high accuracy and low price. This device also allows to introduce this important examination technique to the daily ENT-practice.

Opioid peptide levels in gerbil brain after transient ischemia: lasting depletion of hippocampal dynorphin.

Peptides derived from each of the 3 endogenous opioid precursors were measured in gerbil brain regions at various times after transient bilateral carotid artery occlusion using radioimmunoassays specific for beta-endorphin-, met-enkephalin-, and dynorphin A-related peptides. Lasting changes were observed only in the hippocampus. The most striking effect was on dynorphin A immunoreactivity, which was reduced by 30-40% as early as 1 hour after recirculation and remained at 50% of the control level for at least 1 week.

[Hearing loss caused by a walkman radio?].

Investigations on 50 high school students showed that this group had been using the "Walkman" only 1.5 h. per day during the last 14 months.

The family physician looks at occupational health information.

Although much is known about occupational and environmental health risks, this information is rarely used by physicians practicing primary-care medicine. As a specialty with roots in the epidemiologic tradition, family medicine should be able to use these data to help care for the individual in the context of the family and community. In this discussion, the historical links between family medicine and epidemiology are reviewed, barriers to the use of epidemiologically derived occupational health information are analyzed, and solutions to the problem of integration are proposed.

Cardiovascular responses to exercise and stress in the borderline hypertensive rat.

This report demonstrates the effect of voluntary exercise in attenuating increases in heart rate (HR) caused by chronic stress in an animal model of stress-induced hypertension, the borderline hypertensive rat (BHR). Exercise training also protected against the hypertensive effects of stress in 16-wk-old, but not 10-wk-old animals. In the first experiment, adult borderline hypertensive rats were subjected to 1 wk of signaled shock followed by 6 wk of signaled, unsignaled, or no shock.

Automated morphologic evaluation of pulmonary arteries in primary pulmonary hypertension.

Pulmonary wedge angiograms have been shown to reflect the severity of pulmonary vascular disease in congenital heart disease. Thirteen pulmonary wedge angiograms with a balloon occlusion catheter were performed in 11 adult patients (five normals and six with primary pulmonary hypertension [PPH]) and their features related to the resting pulmonary artery pressure (PAP). Individual cine frames from each study were selected and digitized with a computer-assisted operator-interactive program.

Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy of rat ventricles following supravalvar aortic banding. A model of left ventricular hypertrophy.

Left ventricular hypertrophy produced by supravalvar aortic banding in infant rats was studied by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Weight gain at 11 weeks of age in the 11 male Sprague-Dawley rats with aortic bands placed at three weeks was similar to that of the 14 controls. The left ventricle of banded rats hypertrophied, increasing the ratio of left ventricle plus septum to body weight (LV + S/BW) by more than 50% (P less than .

Endogenous modulation of alpha-adrenergic contraction in canine tracheal muscle.

We studied the effect of passive stretch on the contraction of canine tracheal smooth muscle (TSM) to alpha-adrenergic agonists and acetylcholine (ACh) in 211 epithelium-free TSM strips from 42 dogs in vitro. Passive stretch at a resting tension of 100 g/cm2 caused a time-dependent decrease in the contractile response to alpha-adrenergic agonists after beta-adrenergic blockade with propranolol. Initial contraction elicited by 10(-3) M phenylephrine (PE) and clonidine (CLO) decreased at 2 h by 31 and 100%, respectively.

Unusual sensitivity of cytosolic free Ca2+ to changes in extracellular Ca2+ in rat C-cells.

An essential function of C-cells is to monitor extracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]e) and to respond to changes in [Ca2+]e by regulating hormone secretion. Using the calcitonin-secreting rat C-cell line rMTC 44-2, we have investigated a possible tight linkage between [Ca2+]e and cytosolic free Ca2+ ([Ca/+]i). We have demonstrated, using the Ca2+ indicator Quin 2, that the [Ca2+]i is particularly sensitive to changes in [Ca2+]e.

Comparison of glucose, LCT, and LCT plus MCT as calorie sources for parenterally nourished septic rats.

Protein and energy metabolism were investigated in acutely septic rats. Rats were made septic by cecal puncture and ligation. For the next 24 h they were given one of five parenteral formulations differing only in the nonprotein calorie source.

Measurement of cytosolic free Ca2+ concentrations in human and rat osteosarcoma cells: actions of bone resorption-stimulating hormones.

Influx of extracellular Ca++ into bone cells has been postulated as an early action of PTH and other bone resorption-stimulating factors. To test this hypothesis directly, we measured the cytosolic free Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) in two hormone-responsive human (SaOS-2 and G-292) and two rat osteosarcoma cell lines (Ros 25/1 and Ros 17/2.8) and in primary cultures of bone cells from neonatal mouse calvaria using the fluorescent Ca2+ indicator Quin 2.

Alterations in exogenous substrate metabolism in sepsis.

Metabolic rates and substrate utilization patterns were evaluated by using a rate cecal ligation and perforation model. Animals that survived for 48 hours after the induction of sepsis were hypermetabolic and responded appropriately to varying exogenous substrate infusions. In contrast, animals that did not survive to 48 hours were premorbidly hypometabolic and failed to adjust their oxidation patterns in response to the exogenous substrate supply.

Pulmonary arterial changes in patients with ventricular septal defects and severe pulmonary hypertension.

In 25 patients, aged eight months to 31 years, with ventricular septal defect (VSD; isolated in 15, the others with atrial septal defect, PDA, coarctation or patent ductus arteriosus + coarctation), each with severe pulmonary artery hypertension (pulmonary artery systolic pressure [Ppa] at least 75% of systemic and an elevated pulmonary vascular resistance), we related morphologic and morphometric data from open-lung biopsy to hemodynamic measurements obtained at cardiac catheterization during the same hospital admission. Of the hemodynamic features measured, only the ratios of pulmonary-to-systemic flow and pulmonary-to-systemic resistance correlated significantly with structure. Neither pulmonary artery pressure (Ppa) nor pulmonary vascular resistance correlated significantly with any structural feature studied.

The effects of glucose and amino acids on tumor and host DNA synthesis.

Tumor-bearing animals provided with intravenous glucose and amino acids (TPN) exhibit enhanced response to S-phase-specific chemotherapeutic agents (H. M. Reynolds, J.

Developing a marketing plan for a residency practice.

Competition for patients is becoming a hallmark of the health care system. Family medicine centers must increasingly think about marketing if they are to attract and retain adequate numbers of patients for resident education. As we have learned from direct experience, marketing is best done in the context of a comprehensive plan.

The effect of isoproterenol on the development and recovery of hypoxic pulmonary hypertension. A structural and hemodynamic study.

Isoproterenol, administered intravenously during acute hypoxic exposure, is here shown to prevent about two-thirds of the rise in pulmonary artery pressure in unanesthetized male Sprague-Dawley rats with normal pulmonary vascular beds. In rats receiving continuous intravenous infusion of isoproterenol during 2 weeks' exposure to chronic hypobaric hypoxia (FiO2 0.1) the drug does not prevent either the hemodynamic or pulmonary structural changes caused by hypoxia.