Health-related quality of life of patients after surgery for acute Type A aortic dissection.

Objectives: Acute Type A aortic dissection (ATAAD) and the ensuing surgical therapy may be experienced as a traumatic event by patients. This study aimed at analysing the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the physical and mental well-being of survivors of surgically treated ATAAD.

Methods: A total of 393 survivors were contacted and asked to fill in various health questionnaires.

Asanguineous priming of miniaturized paediatric cardiopulmonary bypass circuits for congenital heart surgery: independent predictors associated with transfusion requirements and effects on postoperative morbidity.

Objectives: In paediatric cardiac surgery, body weight-adjusted miniaturized cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) circuits within a comprehensive blood-sparing approach can reduce transfusion requirements. Haemodilution resulting from mixing the patient's blood with a CPB crystalloid solution may be reduced to the extent that asanguineous priming becomes possible. Therefore, we adopted asanguineous priming in our clinical routine.

HIV or HIV-therapy? Causal attributions of symptoms and their impact on treatment decisions among women and men with HIV.

Objectives: Among people with HIV, we examined symptom attribution to HIV or HIV-therapy, awareness of potential side effects and discontinuation of treatment, as well as sex/gender differences.

Methods: HIV-patients (N=168, 46% female) completed a comprehensive symptom checklist (attributing each endorsed symptom to HIV, HIV-therapy, or other causes), reported reasons for treatment discontinuations and potential ART-related laboratory abnormalities.

Results: Main symptom areas were fatigue/sleep/energy, depression/mood, lipodystrophy, and gastrointestinal, dermatological, and neurological problems.

[Dramatic increase in lymphogranuloma venereum among homosexual men in Hamburg].

Classical sexually transmitted diseases, including syphilis and gonorrhea, have recently increased significantly among homosexual men in Hamburg. During the last year we also observed an increase in patients with lymphogranuloma venereum (LGV) at the ifi-institute in Hamburg. In 2003, we identified 4 homosexual patients with LGV in different clinical stages.

High-performance liquid chromatography with on-line post-column immunoreaction detection of digoxin and its metabolites based on fluorescence energy transfer in the far-red spectral region.

The combination of immunoassays with separation techniques such as chromatography can result in enhanced selectivity and sensitivity. This paper describes an on-line chromatography with immunochemical post-column fluorescence energy transfer detection for digoxin and its metabolites. R-phycoerythrin (PE) was used as the donor and an indodicarbocyanine dye (Cy5) as the acceptor label.

Sympathomimetic effects of MIBG: comparison with tyramine.

Unlabelled: Because nothing is known about whether metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) has tyramine-like actions, the sympathomimetic effects of MIBG were determined in the isolated rabbit heart and compared with those of tyramine.

Methods: Spontaneously beating rabbit hearts were perfused with Tyrode's solution (Langendorff technique; 37 degrees C; 26 mL/min), and the heart rate as well as the norepinephrine and dopamine overflow into the perfusate was measured before and after doses of MIBG or tyramine (0.03-10 micromol) given as bolus injections (100 microL) into the aortic cannula.

Pupil dilation to tropicamide is not specific for Alzheimer disease.

Background: The extent of pupil dilation after instillation of a dilute tropicamide solution was proposed as a noninvasive neurobiological diagnostic test for Alzheimer disease (AD). Pupils in patients with AD dilated 23% vs only 5% in control subjects.

Objective: To determine whether pupil dilation in response to tropicamide distinguishes patients with AD from control subjects without dementia.

1,1'-Diisopropyl-2,4'-cyanine (disprocynium24), a potent uptake2 blocker, inhibits the renal excretion of catecholamines.

1,1'-Diisopropyl-2,4'-cyanine (disprocynium24), a potent inhibitor of the extraneuronal monoamine transport system (uptake2), was previously shown to reduce the clearance of catecholamines from plasma not only by blocking uptake2 but presumably also by blocking organic cation transport. To provide more direct evidence for the latter conclusion, the present study was carried out in anaesthetized rabbits. It aimed at determining the effect of disprocynium24 on the renal excretion of catecholamines which is known to be, at least in part, a consequence of organic cation transport in the kidney.

Effect of specific activity on organ uptake of iodine-123-meta-iodobenzylguanidine in humans.

Radioiodinated meta-iodobenzylguanidine (MIBG), an analogue of norepinephrine, has been used in management of neuroendocrine tumors. Recent studies reveal that distribution of radioiodinated MIBG in animals depends on the specific activity of this radiopharmaceutical. In order to clarify the effect of specific activity on organ uptake of radioiodinated MIBG.

Effect of specific activity on cardiac uptake of iodine-123-MIBG.

Unlabelled: Radioiodinated meta-iodobenzylguanidine (MIBG), an analog of norepinephrine, has been used to assess myocardial sympathetic innervation. Recent in vivo studies predict enhanced cardiac uptake of this radiopharmaceutical with high specific activity.

Methods: To clarify the effect of specific activity on cardiac uptake of radioiodinated MIBG, the distribution and kinetics of no-carrier-added [123I]MIBG (> or = 7.

The role of extraneuronal amine transport systems for the removal of extracellular catecholamines in the rabbit.

As selective inhibitors of the extraneuronal monoamine uptake system (uptake2) suitable for in-vivo studies were not available, the question of whether uptake2 plays a definite role in vivo is largely unresolved. We attempted to resolve the question by using 1,1'-diisopropyl-2,4'-cyanine iodide (disprocynium24), a novel agent that blocks uptake2 in vitro with high potency. Anaesthetized rabbits were infused with 3H-labelled noradrenaline, adrenaline and dopamine, and catecholamine plasma clearances as well as rates of spillover of endogenous catecholamines into plasma were measured before and during treatment with either disprocynium24 or vehicle.

Pharmacokinetic and alpha 1-adrenoceptor antagonistic properties of two cyanine-type inhibitors of extraneuronal monoamine transport.

1,1'-Diethyl-2,2'-cyanine (decynium22) and 1,1'-diisopropyl-2,4'-cyanine (disprocynium24) are highly potent inhibitors of the extraneuronal monamine transporter. When given as i.v.

The contribution by monoamine oxidase and catechol-O-methyltransferase to the total-body and pulmonary plasma clearance of catecholamines.

To study the effects of inhibition of catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) and monoamine oxidase (MAO) on the removal of circulating catecholamines, anaesthetized rabbits were infused for 120 min with 3H-labelled noradrenaline, adrenaline and dopamine. Total-body plasma clearances (Cltot) and pulmonary fractional extractions (ERp) of the infused amines and the cardiac output of plasma (CO(p)) were determined under steady-state conditions at the end of each of two consecutive 60-min treatment periods. MAO and COMT were inhibited by treatment with pargyline (40 mg/kg) and tolcapone (3 mg/kg followed by 1.

Roles of uptake1 and catechol-O-methyltransferase in removal of circulating catecholamines in the rabbit.

Anesthetized rabbits were simultaneously infused with [3H]norepinephrine (NE), [3H]epinephrine (Epi), [3H]dopamine (DA), and [3H]isoproterenol (Iso), and their plasma clearances and fractional extractions across the systemic (ERS), as well as pulmonary (ERP), circulation were determined before and after blockade of uptake1 by desipramine (2 mg/kg). Desipramine reduced the clearance of NE, Epi, and DA by 39, 13, and 14%, respectively, but did not affect Iso clearance. Similar results were obtained with respect to the effects of desipramine on ERS.

[Neurochemical studies of adrenergic reinnervation after heart transplantation].

Heart transplantation causes sympathetic cardiac denervation. Measurements of plasma concentrations of the main presynaptic noradrenaline metabolite, dihydroxyphenylglycol (DOPEG, the plasma pool of which is exclusively neuronal in origin), were used to examine sympathetic reinnervation of the transplanted human heart. We determined arterial and coronary-venous plasma concentrations of DOPEG in 27 heart transplant recipients (transplant age ranging from 0.

Evidence for partial sympathetic cardiac reinnervation following cardiac transplantation.

Heart transplantation causes total cardiac denervation. Measurements of plasma concentrations of the main presynaptic noradrenal metabolite, dihydroxyphenylglycol (DOPEG, exclusively neuronal in origin), were used to examine the possibility of sympathetic reinnervation of the transplanted human heart. We determined arterial and coronary-venous plasma concentrations of DOPEG in 15 heart transplant recipients (28-68 years of age at the time of transplantation with the transplant ageing from 0.

Effects of catechol-O-methyltransferase inhibition on the plasma clearance of noradrenaline and the formation of 3,4-dihydroxyphenylglycol in the rabbit.

The purpose of this study was to elucidate the finding of Friedgen et al. (1993 b) that catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) inhibition is much more effective in increasing the plasma concentration of endogenous dihydroxyphenylglycol (DOPEG) than in increasing the plasma concentration of infused DOPEG. To this end, reserpine-pretreated rabbits were anaesthetized and infused with noradrenaline and/or DOPEG, and the plasma clearances of infused noradrenaline (ClNA) and DOPEG (ClDOPEG) as well as the plasma DOPEG response to noradrenaline infusion [as reflected by the ratio of the steady-state increase in plasma DOPEG (delta DOPEG) to that in plasma noradrenaline (delta NA)] were determined before and after blockade of neuronal uptake by desipramine.

The part played by catechol-O-methyltransferase in the plasma kinetics of 3,4-dihydroxyphenylglycol and 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine in the anaesthetized rabbit.

The present study, carried out in anaesthetized rabbits, aimed at determining the effects of catechol-O-methytransferase (COMT) inhibition on the plasma kinetics of infused 3,4-dihydroxyphenylglycol (DOPEG) and 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA) as well as on endogenous plasma noradrenaline, DOPEG, DOPA and 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol (MOPEG). The plasma kinetics of infused MOPEG were also evaluated. To block the function of COMT, 3,4-dihydroxy-4'-methyl-5-nitrobenzophenone (Ro 40-7592) was given intravenously.

Plasma clearances and extractions of four catecholamines in the anesthetized rabbit: the role of amine removal by blood cells.

The purpose of the present study was to compare the plasma kinetics of norepinephrine (NA), epinephrine (A), isoprenaline (ISO), and dopamine (DA) in the anesthetized rabbit. To this end, a mixture of trace amounts of 3H-labeled NA, A, ISO, and DA was infused either into a femoral vein or into the ascending aorta, and the plasma amine clearances (Cl), the fractional amine extractions across the pulmonary (ERp) as well as systemic (ERs) circulation, and the cardiac output of plasma (COp) were determined at steady state of the amine infusion. The values of ERp, ERs, and COp were also used to calculate total-body fractional extractions [ERtot = ERp + ERs(1 - ERp)] and theoretical clearances (Clcalc = ERtot * COp).

Estimation of noradrenaline concentrations in the axoplasm of noradrenergic neurones in man.

The plasma concentrations of noradrenaline (NA) and its primary neuronal metabolite, dihydroxyphenylglycol (DOPEG), were examined during graded orthostasis and NA infusion in 13 healthy subjects to estimate the NA concentration difference between the site of neuronal DOPEG formation and that in plasma. Stimulation of NA release by graded orthostasis resulted in similar absolute increments in plasma NA and DOPEG with both plasma concentrations being dependent on the degree of orthostasis. The mean value of the delta DOPEG/delta NA ratio amounted to 0.

Evidence for various tryptamines and related compounds acting as substrates of the platelet 5-hydroxytryptamine transporter.

The aim of the present study was to answer the question whether amines other than 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) and tryptamine act as substrates of the platelet 5-HT transporter. To this end, a large number of tryptamines, 5-HT receptor agonists and phenethylamines (which had IC50 values for 3H-5-HT uptake inhibition of 145-24,500 nmol l-1) was examined in rabbit platelets in order to determine their ability to induce an outward transport of 3H-5-HT. Platelets (the MAO of which was blocked) from reserpine-pretreated animals were loaded with 3H-5-HT and then exposed for 5 min to various concentrations (ranging from 0.

Role of nitric oxide formation in the regulation of haemodynamics and the release of noradrenaline and adrenaline.

This study in the anaesthetized rabbit aimed at determining the role of nitric oxide (NO), the putative endothelium-derived relaxing factor, in the regulation of haemodynamics and the release into plasma of noradrenaline and adrenaline. Specific inhibition of NO formation was achieved by i.v.

Plasma norepinephrine and dihydroxyphenylglycol in essential hypertension.

The aim of the present study was to examine whether essential hypertension is associated with altered plasma concentrations of dihydroxyphenylglycol, the principal presynaptic metabolite of norepinephrine. Forearm venous plasma dihydroxyphenylglycol and norepinephrine were determined at rest and during graded orthostasis in 47 normotensive control subjects and 58 outpatients with essential hypertension. There was no group difference in age.