[Age and toxicopathy--Vaud 1977-1978].

Recent work on principles of pleasure and on endogenous opioïd system enlightens some regulations of mental comfort and of homeostasis of the nervous system. From this point of view, the choice of specific drugs, during the first months of their use, would give an indirect picture of the troubles which caused initially the use of these substances. The present study discloses, behind the apparent anarchy of mono- and polytoxicopathies, some constant relations between age and sex of drug-users and specific choice of drugs.

[The nature of drug consumption from 1977-1978 in the canton of Vaud].

In the canton of Vaud, Switzerland, 1589 regular drug consumers used in 1977 and 1978 one or more of the following substances: cannabis, opiates, hallucinogens, amphetamines, cocaine, medicaments (principally usual sleeping pills, analgesic pills, and tranquillizers). Half of the consumers used only cannabis, or opiates, or medicaments. Amphetamines, hallucinogens, cocaine were used very seldom alone.

Necrotic extrafusal muscle fibers of the dystrophic mutant mouse: the ultrastructure of the myoneural junction.

At 28 days postpartum, the extensor digitorum longus muscle of the dy2J mutant mouse contains a population of myofibers which exhibit coagulation necrosis for approximately 90% of their length. Using the electron microscope, motor endplates were found on more than half of the necrotic fibers studied, occurring in mildly, moderately, and severely necrotic regions of these fibers. The ultrastructural features of the axonal terminals did not vary with the condition of the fiber segment at which the endplate occurred.

Electrophysiological studies of paraventricular and supraoptic neurones recorded in vitro from slices of rat hypothalamus.

1. In slices (300 micrometer) of rat hypothalamus maintained in vitro in isotonic (298 +/- 4 m-osmol/kg) medium, the median firing rate of twenty-four supraoptic (s.o.

Absence of the caudal somatopleure in a twin: a combined thoraco-abdominal defect.

Many congenital defects of the ventral thoracoabdominal wall have been described. Among the most severe of these malformations are ectopia cordis, omphalocele, and vesicointestinal fissure. The simultaneous occurrence of all three of these anomalies has not been previously reported.

[Enzymological examinations on Clostrium oncolyticum M 55 ATCC 13,732 (author's transl)].

Since excenzymes are mainly involved in oncolysis by Cl. oncolyticum M 55 ATCC 13,732 the enzyme production of the strain should be examined under different growth conditions. The excretion of a protease and of two nucleases was observed in the nutrient medium for 72 h and the results obtained in a nitrogen atmosphere were compared with those obtained in an oxygen atmosphere.

[Frequency of drug prescriptions and their adverse effects in a medical department].

The enquiries carried out in our unit since 1971, in some 1600 patients who received in all more than 13000 drug prescriptions and who were observed during 3 periods whose total duration was 12 months, prompt the following conclusions. The number of adverse reactions in which the relationship of cause and effect with one or several drugs was either definite or probable amounted to 217, 2--3% among patients at admission and 5--11% of patients during their hospital stay. The average number of prescriptions per patient remained stable and the average number of drug reactions per 100 prescriptions varied from 0.

[Factors that intervene in adverse drug reactions].

Drug prescriptions and adverse reactions occurring during 2 periods of 3 months in a department of medicine were analyzed by computer programs. Among 148 reactions suspected, 130 were considered definite or probable by one physician (1.6 reaction per 100 drug prescriptions).

Oxygen-linked CO2 transport in sheep blood.

We have analyzed oxygen-linked carbamate formation in sheep hemoglobin B by measuring a) the effect of CO2 on oxygen affinity and Bohr effect in red cell suspensions and dilute (1.3 mM Hb4) and concentrated (5 mM Hb4) hemoglobin solutions at 37 degrees C and b) CO2 binding curves of deoxygenated and oxygenated whole blood and hemoglobin solutions, respectively, at the same temperature. In the presence of CO2 both the Bohr effect and oxygen affinity were significantly lower in 1.