[Ovarian insufficiency in blepharophimosis, ptosis, epicanthus inversus].

Combined blepharophimosis, ptosis, and epicanthus inversus (BPEI) represent a rare syndrome with autosomal dominant transmission. In affected females it can be associated with infertility. In this case report we could follow the development of primary ovarian failure in a 28-year old woman with BPEI by repeated hormone determinations.

Delta-sleep-inducing peptide reduces CRF-induced corticosterone release.

It has been reported that delta-sleep-inducing peptide (DSIP) can affect several activities other than sleep, including reduction of stress. We studied the effects of this nonapeptide on corticotropin releasing factor (CRF)-stimulated release of corticosterone in rats treated with chlorpromazine-morphine-pentobarbital. Significant reduction of corticosterone levels were observed after intravenous injection of 5-30 micrograms/kg DSIP.

Interaction of arginine vasopressin and corticotropin releasing factor demonstrated with an improved bioassay.

We developed an improved in vivo bioassay for corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) by modifying the injection schedule in the standard chlorpromazine-morphine-pentobarbital assay procedure. A combined injection of chlorpromazine and morphine followed 75 min later by injection of pentobarbital produced low basal levels of corticosterone and rendered the animals highly sensitive to synthetic CRF but insensitive to the stress of ether or histamine. The lowest dose of CRF that significantly elevated plasma corticosterone levels was 0.

Divicine induces calcium release from rat liver mitochondria.

Divicine, a pyrimidine aglycone strongly implicated in the pathogenesis of favism, induces calcium release from intact rat liver mitochondria. Divicine-dependent calcium release is accompanied by oxidation and hydrolysis of intramitochondrial pyridine nucleotides. Inhibition of both mitochondrial glutathione peroxidase and glutathione reductase slows down divicine-induced calcium release.

Delta-sleep-inducing peptide and two of its analogs reduce nocturnal increase of N-acetyltransferase activity in rat pineal gland.

Serotonin N-acetyltransferase, an enzyme of the pineal gland, converts serotonin to N-acetylserotonin. The activity of this enzyme is induced by norepinephrine in the evening to reach high levels during the dark phase. Delta-sleep-inducing peptide, a humoral sleep factor, also seems to affect circadian rhythms.

Rapid psychotherapeutic effects of anesthesia with isoflurane (ES narcotherapy) in treatment-refractory depressed patients.

Treatment-refractory depressed patients who objected to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) were given a series of anesthesias with isoflurane (Forane), a modern and established inhalation anesthetic. According to our hypothesis to be tested, the brief period of electrocerebral silence (ES), which can be observed shortly after the grand mal seizure in ECT, may be in itself a crucial biological determinant for the therapeutic effects of ECT. Isoflurane is the only drug known to effect an ES in the EEG in nontoxic concentrations, which does not result in adverse effects on any body organ including the brain; no seizure activity can be observed.

Evidence for peptide aggregation.

Evidence is presented that peptides may occur in aggregated form. Addition of 125I-Tyr-DSIP to serum resulted in four peaks after gel filtration chromatography on a column of Sephadex G-25. One of the peaks (C) eluted at the same position as the labeled peptide standard.

Circadian variation of DSIP-like material in rat plasma.

Levels of delta-sleep-inducing peptide-like immunoreactivity (DSIP-LI) in rat plasma were measured by radioimmunoassay and found to exhibit a circadian rhythm that parallelled the normal rhythm for corticosterone. The maximal plasma levels of both substances were observed to occur at about 1700h. The lowest concentrations of DSIP-LI and corticosterone were detected at 2400h and 1000h, respectively.

DSIP occurs in free form in mammalian plasma, human CSF and urine.

Although delta-sleep inducing peptide was isolated and characterized several years ago, no definitive evidence has been presented for the natural existence of the free peptide. Several attempts at the partial characterization of DSIP-like immunoreactivity (DSIP-LI) have indicated that a small part of the total immunoreactivity is probably present as the free nonapeptide. Using gel chromatography (Sephadex G-100) and subsequent high performance liquid chromatography on rabbit, human, rat and dog plasma, we now show a distinct peak of DSIP-LI that has the same elution position as synthetic DSIP.

Tyr-MIF-1 and MIF-1 are active in the water wheel test for antidepressant drugs.

MIF-1 [Pro-Leu-Gly-NH2] and Tyr-MIF-1 [Tyr-Pro-Leu-Gly-NH2] were tested in a system in which antidepressant drugs are known to result in increased wheel turning as mice attempt to escape from a small tank of water. One hr after injection, both peptides were found to cause a significant increase of the number of rotations of the wheel at doses as low as 0.01 mg/kg IP, the dose-response pattern for MIF-1 resembling an inverted-U.

Delta sleep-inducing peptide (DSIP)-like material exists in peripheral organs of rats in large dissociable forms.

The presence of delta sleep-inducing peptide (DSIP) in brain has been shown by radioimmunoassay (RIA) and by immunocytochemistry. We now describe the occurrence of DSIP-like material in the peripheral organs of the rat as measured by RIA. Tissue from 12 areas was extracted with water, and the amounts of immunoreactive material found to be between 86 pg/mg tissue (muscle) and 849 pg/mg (stomach).

Polysomnography of torsion dystonia.

Nocturnal EEG, electro-oculograms, and electromyograms were studied in nine patients with dystonia musculorum deformans and in nine healthy controls. Electrodes were placed over frontal, central, and occipital regions in accordance with the international 10-20 system of electrode placement. A standard bipolar montage was used for the recordings, and records were scored independently in accordance with the manual of Rechtschaffen and Kales.

HPLC shadowing: artifacts in peptide characterization monitored by RIA.

High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), a valuable tool for characterization of peptides, is frequently used in combination with sensitive radioimmunoassays (RIA). The shadow phenomenon, representing carry-over of the peptide from previous application of the standard, can appear to result in the presence of endogenous peptide in the test sample when none is actually there. With delta sleep-inducing peptide (DSIP), we found the shadowing to be as high as 10%, although it was only 1% with 125I-Tyr-DSIP.

DSIP reduces amphetamine-induced hyperthermia in mice.

The effects of delta sleep-inducing peptide (DSIP) have not been fully determined. Besides sleep-inducing activities, effects on locomotor behavior, stress-reduction, and temperature-regulation have been published. It was reported that DSIP reversed the increase in temperature of rats injected at room temperature with 15 mg d-amphetamine per kg body weight.

Presence of delta-sleep-inducing peptide-like material in human milk.

Delta-sleep-inducing peptide (DSIP)-like material was detected in human breast milk of two women by RIA with a recovery of about 90%. The high concentration of DSIP-like immunoreactivity (DSIP-LI) in colostrum (30 ng/ml) decreased to about 10 ng/ml in milk. The concentration continued to decrease over the next 2 months in one women.

Electrocorticography: information derived from intraoperative recordings during seizure surgery.

The findings of 100 consecutive electrocorticographies in 94 epileptic patients were reviewed. Most of these patients underwent temporal lobectomies. A well defined and circumscript cortical spike focus was found in only 28 tracings whereas multiple sub-foci of spike activity or dissipated areas of spiking were demonstrated in 46 recordings.

Case report: polysomnographic effects of thalamotomy for torsion dystonia.

We report a patient with torsion dystonia whose polysomnographic recordings revealed poor sleep and a pronounced and almost continuous type of spindle activity during non-rapid eye movement sleep. Rapid eye movement sleep was also reduced. These changes proved to be independent of medications.

The center of the umbilicus as the Veress needle's entry site for laparoscopy.

Transumbilical laparoscopy was performed on 217 patients for diagnostic purposes. The center of the umbilicus was chosen as the entry site for both the Veress needle and the trocar. Two years of follow-up on 92 patients, including 29 who carried full-term pregnancies, did not reveal any damage to the umbilicus or any hernia formation.

Delta-sleep-inducing peptide (DSIP): a review.

Since the turn of the century, it has been postulated that humoral factors induce sleep. Many compounds were proposed as sleep-factors, but only two of the sleep-peptides have been purified to homogeneity and characterized, so far. One of them, DSIP, was shown to be a nonapeptide of MW 849 and to induce mainly delta-sleep in rabbits, rats, mice, and humans, whereas in cats, the effect on REM sleep was more pronounced.

Misleading concepts in the field of brain peptides.

Peptide research, like all of science, requires a careful balance between building upon previously accumulated knowledge and exploring perspectives that are in conflict with prevailing views. Many of the concepts discussed here originally stimulated certain lines of research. The downfall of most of these concepts, and thus their misleading nature, lies in the limitation of possible modes by which peptides are perceived to affect the functioning of the central nervous system (CNS).

[Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura: diagnosis and therapy in 46 patients].

The hematological and immunological data of 46 patients with idiopathic thrombozytopenic purpura (ITP) and their response to treatment are reported. The findings are as follows: (1) Antiplatelet antibodies (serum assays) cannot be recommended as a useful diagnostic approach in ITP. (2) Circulating immune complexes are demonstrable in 77% of our patients.

[Polygraphic registration of spontaneous syncope].

A 29 year-old female patient suffered from a syncopal attack in the early morning hours. During polygraphic registration (ECG, EEG, pulse, breathing, blood pressure) on a tilt table she developed another spontaneous orthostatic syncopal attack, which was triggered off by a lengthy period of standing and was preceded by a drop in the recorded blood pressure. She was asystolic over 21 sec.

The value of the edrophonium tonography in the diagnosis of myasthenia gravis.

Tonography of the eye was performed after administration of 10 mg edrophonium chloride (Tensilon) in 13 patients with clinically diagnosed myasthenia gravis. In ten of these patients repetitive nerve stimulation was used to examine the function of the motor end-plate. A significant pressure rise (more than 2 mm Hg) within the 1st min after edrophonium administration was observed in three patients (four eyes), whereas eight of the ten patients who underwent nerve stimulation showed positive results.