[Bibliometric indicators of research in primary care (1988-1992)].

Aim: To describe Spanish scientific production in primary care by means of using bibliometric indexes.

Setting: Spanish scientific production which was published in medical periodicals and indexed in the Indice Médico Español during the years 1988-1992.

Material: 446 articles published in thirty-four different medical journals.

[Long-term effectiveness of anti-smoking counseling in primary care: the relapse process].

Background: Addiction to tobacco is the main cause of preventive morbidity, and so the fight against tobacco consumption is a priority in the developed world. Health advice is a valuable tool in this struggle and it is within the reach of all health workers. To study the long-term effectiveness of all anti-tobacco advice in Primary Aid, together with the influence that the reason for giving up (spontaneous or after advice) has upon the relapse pattern.

[School acceptance of the theater as a method of health education].

Objective: To find how theatre was evaluated as an instrument of Health Education by the pupil-actors of a school where a play on the European Code against Cancer was put on.

Design: An observational study (descriptive and crossover).

Setting: Community level.

Receptor-independent mechanisms are involved in the priming of neutrophil's oxidase by vasoactive intestinal peptide.

Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) primed the respiratory burst of human neutrophils induced by phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) and by the chemotactic peptide N-formyl-Met-Leu-Phe (fMLP). The sigmoidal-shaped curve of the priming effect of VIP differs for both agonist since the Hill coefficient was close to three in the case of neutrophil activation by fMLP whereas the corresponding value for PMA was close to one. The priming effect of VIP was enhanced when neutrophils were stimulated by FMLP in the presence of sphinganine, a protein kinase C inhibitor, at concentrations which almost abolished the response to PMA.

Priming effect of vasoactive intestinal peptide on the respiratory burst of neutrophils non-mediated by plasma membrane receptors.

Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) primed the respiratory burst of human neutrophils in response to phorbol myristate acetate. Maximal and half-maximal effects were achieved at 10 and 0.5 nM VIP respectively.

Melatonin binding sites in the harderian gland of the rat and Syrian hamster.

Specific melatonin binding sites in the harderian gland of both rat and Syrian hamster were studied using [125I]melatonin. In both species, binding of [125I]melatonin by harderian gland membranes exhibited properties such as dependence on time, temperature, membrane concentration, saturability, and high specificity. Only one class of high-affinity binding sites was found with a Kd of 0.

Vasoactive intestinal peptide inhibits fMLP-induced respiratory burst in human lymphocytes.

N-Formyl-Methionyl-Leucyl-Phenylalanine (fMLP) induced in lymphocytes the production of reactive oxygen intermediates in a process which was inhibited by the presence of Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide (VIP) in a dose-dependent response at VIP concentrations in the range 10(-10)-10(-7) M. The dissociation constant for the high-affinity receptors of VIP agrees with the ID50 of the activation of adenylate cyclase which are close to 0.2 nM VIP, whereas the ID50 for the inhibition by VIP of fMLP-induced chemiluminescence approaches to 5 nM VIP.

Characteristics of receptors for VIP in rat peritoneal macrophage membranes.

Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) receptors were investigated in rat peritoneal macrophage membranes (RPMM) using [125I]VIP as ligand. The receptor binding was rapid, reversible, saturable, specific, and dependent on time, temperature, and membrane concentration. The Scatchard analysis of binding data was consistent with the existence of two classes of VIP binding sites with Kd values of 0.

Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) inhibits substrate adherence capacity of rat peritoneal macrophages by a mechanism that involves cAMP.

In this study, vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) is shown to inhibit substrate adherence capacity of rat peritoneal macrophages. The inhibitory response occurred in the 0.1-1,000 nM range of VIP concentrations and it was a time-dependent process.

Specific binding of 2-[125I]melatonin by partially purified membranes of rat thymus.

Melatonin binding sites were characterized in partially purified rat thymus membranes. The specific binding of 2-[125I]iodomelatonin ([125I]MEL) to thymus membranes was dependent on time and temperature, stable, saturable, and reversible. Concentration-dependent binding of [125I]MEL to thymus membranes was saturable and resulted in a linear Scatchard plot, suggesting binding to a single class of binding sites.

Binding of 2-[125I]melatonin by rat thymus membranes during postnatal development.

Previously, we have demonstrated the presence of melatonin binding sites in thymus membranes of adult rats. In this paper, we show that the binding of melatonin by thymus membranes changes during postnatal development. Maximum binding was observed in newborn rats; thereafter, binding decreased progressively during the first weeks of life and exhibited the lowest values in adult animals.

[An analysis of the potential years of life lost to cancer in Asturias and Spain].

Background: Potential years of life lost (PYLL) constitute a health indicator, used to study premature mortality. If applied, it produces an order in causes of death, which can be very different from that one, obtained with mortality rates.

Methods: Mortality, due to different pathologies, was analyzed with this indicator and, particularly, mortality due to cancer in Asturias and Spain.

Melatonin binding sites in the Harderian gland of Syrian hamsters: sexual differences and effect of castration.

The presence of specific melatonin binding sites in the Harderian gland of Syrian hamsters was studied using [125I]melatonin. Saturation binding experiments conducted with [125I]melatonin at 37 degrees C using Harderian glands of both male and female Syrian hamsters revealed a single nanomolar-affinity site. The dissociation constants (Kd) were 6.

Characterization of melatonin binding sites in human peripheral blood neutrophils.

In this paper we show the presence of 2-[125I]melatonin binding sites in human neutrophils (hN). The specific binding of melatonin to hN cells and hN membranes was dependent on time and temperature, stable, saturable, and reversible. In competition studies, the specific binding of radioactive melatonin to hN cells or hN membranes was inhibited by increasing concentrations of native melatonin.

[Advertising, advertising legislation and health].

The media and specifically magazines and sunday supplements contain advertisements, some of which can be dangerous to one's health. We have investigated these types of advertisements, which were included in the 15 top sales magazines in Spain. The period of analysis corresponded to the period april-may, 1991.

[Adolescence at risk: a health survey among pre-university students].

The present study investigates the level of health education in a representative sample of 804 pre-university Asturian students, randomly selected from the official list of the Ministry of Education and Science. We used a questionnaire (designed by us) in order to measure the knowledge, attitudes and behaviour related to some of the most important health determining factors. The survey was carried out by interviewing small groups of students in the classroom situation.

Synergistic action of melatonin and vasoactive intestinal peptide in stimulating cyclic AMP production in human lymphocytes.

In the present study we investigated the synergistic effect of melatonin and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) on cyclic AMP production in human blood lymphocytes. As shown by our group previously, VIP alone behaved as a potent activator of cyclic AMP production in human lymphocytes. On the other hand, melatonin alone did not affect the intracellular levels of cyclic nucleotide at any time or dose studied.

[The deterioration of cognitive functions in patients with dementia (a study of 18 cases)].

It appears that general intelligence, memory, and conceptual reasoning, and others are impaired in dementia. As previously noted, in general there is said to be evidence of apraxia, or agnosia until the dementia is quite severe, unlike, for example, Alzheimer's disease. A number of questions, however, remain unanswered.

Interaction of melatonin with human lymphocytes: evidence for binding sites coupled to potentiation of cyclic AMP stimulated by vasoactive intestinal peptide and activation of cyclic GMP.

Melatonin binding sites were characterized in human blood lymphocytes. The specific binding 2-[125I]iodo-melatonin ([125I]MEL) to human lymphocytes was dependent on time and temperature, stability, saturation, and reversibility. Moreover, guanine nucleotides decreased the specific binding of [125I]MEL to crude membranes of human lymphocytes, suggesting the coupling of these binding sites to a guanosine nucleotide binding regulatory protein(s).

Melatonin potentiates cyclic AMP production stimulated by vasoactive intestinal peptide in human lymphocytes.

The present paper demonstrates the effect of melatonin on cyclic AMP production in human lymphocytes from peripheral blood. Melatonin by itself did not influence cyclic AMP accumulation in these cells at any dose studied; however, the drug potentiated the effect of vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) on the cyclic nucleotide production. In the presence of physiological concentrations of VIP (either 1, 10 or 100 pM), melatonin potentiated cyclic AMP production.

Vasoactive intestinal peptide enhances phorbol myristate acetate-induced chemiluminescence in human lymphocytes.

Phorbol-myristate-acetate (PMA) induced in lymphocytes the production or reactive oxygen intermediates in a process which was stimulated by the presence of vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) in a dose-dependent response at VIP concentrations in the range 10(-11)-10(-8) M. The dissociation constant for the high-affinity receptors of VIP agreed with the ID50 of the activation of adenylate cyclase, and the ID50 for the stimulation by VIP of PMA-induced chemiluminescence, which were close to 0.2 nM VIP.