Persistent impairment of clomipramine demethylation in recently detoxified alcoholic patients.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether the metabolism of clomipramine is altered by chronic alcohol drinking. Eleven recently detoxified alcoholic patients were included (experimental group EG) and compared to a reference group of patients with no history of alcoholism (reference group RG, n = 102). Blood concentrations of clomipramine and its metabolites were measured as part of the routine drug monitoring program.

Talking with adolescents.

Adolescents often prefer the anonymity of communicating via machines, e.g. telephones and computers, to conversing face to face.

A field study of the generation of nitrate in a hill cap cloud.

A field experiment to investigate the formation of nitrate as an airstream passes through a hill cap cloud has been performed at the UMIST field station on Great Dun Fell. It has been shown that the aerosol nitrate concentration increased by about 0.5 microg m(-3) as the airstream passed through the cloud during the night.

Results of a survey of forensic psychiatrists on the validity of the sadistic personality disorder diagnosis.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine how often forensic psychiatrists evaluated individuals with sadistic personality disorder; their views about the usefulness of the diagnosis; the frequency of certain childhood factors; and the sensitivity and specificity of the individual diagnostic criteria.

Method: A questionnaire to be answered anonymously was sent to all of the 1,390 members of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. Two hundred seventy-nine usable questionnaires were returned for data analysis.

Voice therapy techniques adapted to treatment of habit cough: a pilot study.

Patients with long-standing habit cough having no organic basis can be successfully treated with a combination of psychotherapy and speech therapy. Techniques for speech therapy are adapted from those used with hyperfunctional voice disorders to fit this debilitating laryngeal disorder.

Breast cancer melanosis in a postmastectomy scar.

Pigmented skin lesions developed in the postmastectomy scar of a 42-year-old woman, 3 years after mastectomy, clinically mimicking malignant melanoma. A histologic study of the skin showed neoplastic mucin secreting glands and melanocyte colonization. Literature pertaining to melanin pigmentation of epithelial tumors not primary in the skin is reviewed.

Monitoring problem drug use in Bristol.

A prospective multi-agency survey of problem drug use associated with illicit drugs and solvents in the city of Bristol in 1984-1985 found 759 problem drug users, giving a period prevalence rate of 0.4-0.8% of those aged 10-44 years.

Psychogenic habit cough: review and case reports.

Psychogenic habit cough--a condition that can be debilitating if it extends over a period of years--has been described in both pediatric and adolescent populations, but not in adults. The authors review the cases of 4 adult patients with this condition, review the available pediatric/adolescent literature, and make suggestions for the direction of future research. In some cases, psychogenic habit cough in adults can be successfully treated with a combination of psychotherapy, relaxation therapy, and speech therapy.

Problem drug users known to Bristol general practitioners.

A 12-month prospective survey was undertaken of all 239 problem drug users known to general practitioners in Bristol and the doctors' attitudes towards them. The drug users were predominantly young, aged 15-35 years, and males outnumbered females by approximately two to one. Seventy-eight per cent had problems associated with opiates, almost invariably heroin, 10% had problems with stimulants (mainly amphetamine powder), and others had problems with hallucinogens, cannabis, barbiturates and solvents.

Response of murine spermatocytes to the metaphase-arresting effect of several mitotic arrestants.

Three mitotic arrestants, colchicine, Colcemid and vinblastine, were evaluated for their effects on producing meiotic arrest in the laboratory mouse. Colchicine is the most effective and its effect is both dose- and time-dependent. Treatment of mice with 40 mg/kg of colchicine for 3 h resulted in drastic improvement of the yield and quality of M-II figures.

ECT in the presence of increased intracranial pressure and respiratory failure: case report.

Despite the safety of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in the presence of such potentially dangerous CNS disorders as CNS infections, brain tumor, and normal pressure hydrocephalus, increased intracranial pressure is still considered an absolute contraindication. In addition, although ECT has been administered to patients with pneumonia, it has never been used when respiratory failure is present. The safe and effective use of ECT in a patient in whom life-threatening refusal to cooperate with medical therapy appeared to be caused by a combination of depression and organic brain disease is reported.

Theoretical Michaelis-Menten elimination model for propranolol.

A pharmacokinetic model, with Michaelis-Menten elimination, has been developed for drugs and propranolol in particular. The theory is given and the relationship between the area under the theoretical plasma level curve and the absorption rate constant is discussed. This approach allows for an explanation of many of the observed pharmacokinetics of 'Inderal' and particularly 'Inderal' LA; a sustained release preparation of propranolol.

Increased number of locus ceruleus noradrenergic neurons in the convulsive mutant quaking mouse.

Noradrenergic cell bodies in the locus ceruleus of the convulsive mutant quaking mouse and the control of the same strain were visualized using histofluorescence and tyrosine hydroxylase-like immunoreactivity. Cell counts performed with the two techniques gave closely similar results within each strain, indicating a 50% increase in the number of noradrenergic neurons in the midportion of the mutants' locus ceruleus when compared to the controls. This result gives histological support to the increased noradrenergic neurotransmission previously described in the brain of this mutant.

Morphology of primate's dopaminergic amacrine cells as revealed by TH-like immunoreactivity on retinal flat-mounts.

Dopaminergic (DA) cells have been revealed by immunohistochemical localization of tyrosine hydroxylase in the retina of cynomolgus monkey, chimpanzee and human. The DA neurons were visualized in cross-sections as well as in flat-mounts of retina. The comparison revealed a striking morphological similarity between the DA neurons in the three species.

Localized conserved regions of the S RNA gene products of bunyaviruses are revealed by sequence analyses of the Simbu serogroup Aino virus.

The complete nucleotide sequence has been determined for the S RNA of Aino virus, a member of the Simbu serogroup (Bunyavirus genus, family Bunyaviridae). The S RNA is 850 nucleotides long (2.76 X 10(5) daltons) and in the viral complementary sequence has a short 5' non-coding region of 34 nucleotides and a more extensive 3' non-coding region of 117 nucleotides.

Phenobarbital tolerance and physical dependence: chronically equivalent dosing model.

A rat model of phenobarbital tolerance and physical dependence has been developed based on the 'maximally tolerable, chronically equivalent' dosing paradigm. Sodium phenobarbital was administered orally twice daily for 35 days in individually adjusted doses to achieve mean daily peak CNS depression culminating in severe ataxia. Dose to dose continuity of CNS depression was maintained throughout treatment.

Nonviral heterogeneous sequences are present at the 5' ends of one species of snowshoe hare bunyavirus S complementary RNA.

Analyses of the 5' ends of snowshoe hare bunyavirus plus sense S RNA species (including mRNA) recovered from infected cells have revealed two types of termini. These include ends that are essentially exact copies of the 3' end of the viral S RNA and others that are similar, but additionally have 13-14 nucleotide extensions that are heterogeneous in sequence. The former probably represent replicative plus sense RNA species, the latter mRNA species that have host cell derived primer sequences.

Post-natal development of TH-like immunoreactivity in the rat retina.

The post-natal development of catecholaminergic neurons has been studied in the rat retina, using tyrosine-hydroxylase immunohistochemistry. The first TH-like immunoreactive cells were observed by the third post-natal day. The differentiation of neurons and the development of their processes continued until and after, the opening of the eyes (14-15th post-natal day).