Mood and behavioral symptoms in individuals with chronic solvent exposure.

Psychiatric symptoms have been reported for individuals who experience chronic exposure to low levels of organic solvents. However, it is not known what proportion of such individuals experience psychiatric disorder; which specific disorders may be characteristic of this population; or whether bioaccumulation of lead contributes to the relationship between solvent exposure and psychiatric symptoms. Twenty-nine male journeymen painters and 32 male non-painter control subjects were administered semi-structured diagnostic interviews for DSM-III-R Axis I and Axis II disorders.

Increased incidence of anxiety and depressive disorders in persons with organic solvent exposure.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine whether the prevalence of current and past DSM-IV axis I psychiatric disorders is higher among persons with a history of exposure to organic solvents than among a demographically similar group of nonexposed control subjects.

Methods: Thirty-eight solvent-exposed subjects and 39 nonexposed healthy control subjects were evaluated for axis I disorder with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV.

Results: A significantly higher number of solvent-exposed subjects (71%) met criteria for current DSM-IV axis I disorder in comparison with control subjects (10%).

Pulmonary complications after coronary revascularization.

Pulmonary complications are common after coronary artery bypass grafting. Identifying those individuals with increased risk of respiratory complications allows for appropriate preoperative intervention. The most commonly seen pulmonary complications include pleural effusion, hemothorax, atelectasis, pulmonary edema, diaphragmatic dysfunction, and pneumonia.

Hemodynamic effects of noninvasive bilevel positive airway pressure on patients with chronic congestive heart failure with systolic dysfunction.

Background And Study Objectives: Noninvasive positive airway pressure may play a significant role in treating patients with congestive heart failure (CHF). We tested our hypothesis that noninvasive bilevel positive airway pressure improves left ventricular performance in patients with chronic CHF secondary to severe systolic dysfunction.

Objectives: To determine the cardiac performance of patients using bilevel positive airway pressure, and to describe the hemodynamic effects of bilevel positive airway pressure and its use as a therapeutic adjunct in these patients.

Clinical crown length changes from age 12-19 years: a longitudinal study.

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between age, gender and clinical crown length using a longitudinal study design.

Method: Four hundred and fifty-six sets of study models initially obtained for a large prospective longitudinal cohort study of orthodontic needs were examined. Each set of models corresponded to subjects at three different ages: 11-12, 14-15 and 18-19years old.

Neurobehavioral effects of acute exposure to inorganic mercury vapor.

Mercury has well-established toxic effects on the central nervous system. This article describes comprehensive neuropsychological and emotional functioning of a group of 13 workers exposed to inorganic mercury vapor compared to that of a normal control group. The exposed group was exposed over a 2- to 4-week period and had elevated blood mercury levels.

Long-term diuretic therapy in hypertensive patients: effects on serum homocysteine, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, and red blood cell folate concentrations.

Background: The effects of chronic diuretic use on serum homocysteine and its metabolic cofactors vitamin B6, vitamin B12, and red blood cell (RBC) folate have not been well studied.

Methods: Blood samples from 17 hypertensive patients receiving long-term diuretic therapy and 17 hypertensive patients not taking diuretics were analyzed for serum homocysteine, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, and RBC folate.

Results: The mean serum homocysteine concentration for patients taking diuretics (17.

Single-use, disposable, presterilized light-activation probe: the future?

Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare a single-use, disposable, presterilized light activation probe with an equivalent autoclavable probe. Light output, heat generation, and depth of cure were investigated.

Method And Materials: Ten disposable and two reusable probe tips were tested.

Predictors of involvement in P300 latency in solvent-exposed adults.

Persons with a history of exposure to organic solvents have been shown to have cognitive and personality changes, as well as abnormalities on measures of neurophysiology (e.g., delays in P300 latency).

Building-associated pulmonary disease from exposure to Stachybotrys chartarum and Aspergillus versicolor.

The authors present an outbreak of disease associated with exposure to Stachybotrys chartarum and Aspergillus species. A courthouse and two associated office buildings had generated discomfort among employees for two years since initial occupancy. Multiple interventions had been unsuccessful An initial evaluation of 14 individuals identified three with potential asthma and three with symptoms consistent with interstitial lung disease.

Neuropsychological performance of journeymen painters under acute solvent exposure and exposure-free conditions.

Journeymen painters were evaluated with a comprehensive battery of neuropsychological tests and compared to demographically similar nonexposed controls. For painters, a cumulative exposure to solvents was estimated from a structured interview that derived an index based on lifetime exposure and exposure in the past year. Painters were tested either shortly after having painted or after an exposure-free interval.

Testing the neural sensitization and kindling hypothesis for illness from low levels of environmental chemicals.

Sensitization in the neuroscience and pharmacology literatures is defined as progressive increase in the size of a response over repeated presentations of a stimulus. Types of sensitization include stimulant drug-induced time-dependent sensitization (TDS), an animal model related to substance abuse, and limbic kindling, an animal model for temporal lobe epilepsy. Neural sensitization (primarily nonconvulsive or subconvulsive) to the adverse properties of substances has been hypothesized to underlie the initiation and subsequent elicitation of heightened sensitivity to low levels of environmental chemicals.

Comorbid illness is associated with survival and length of hospital stay in patients with chronic disability. A prospective comparison of three comorbidity indices.

Objectives: This study was designed to determine if comorbidity added more information than knowing only the patient's age in predicting survival and length of hospital stay.

Methods: The authors compared the relative predictive validity of three comorbidity indices: the Cumulative Illness Rating Scale, the Charlson Index, and a count of International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification medical diagnoses in relation to survival and length of hospital stays in patients with spinal cord injury. The sample consisted of 330 longitudinally followed spinal-cord injured patients admitted between January 1989 and December 1990 who were followed for an additional 18 months.

Differential associations of P300 amplitude and latency with cognitive and psychiatric function in solvent-exposed adults.

Cognitive and mood changes are central components of solvent encephalopathy. This study examined event-related potentials in relation to neuropsychological and psychiatric function in solvent-exposed adults. Results revealed that longer P300 latency was associated with poorer cognitive test scores, whereas reduced P300 amplitude was related to increased psychiatric symptomatology.

The CNS site of glucocorticoid negative feedback during LPS- and psychological stress-induced fevers.

Glucocorticoids exert negative feedback in the anterior hypothalamus (AH) during lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced fevers, but the central location of their negative feedback during psychological stress-induced fever has not been determined. To confirm that glucocorticoid modulation of LPS fever occurs in the AH, adrenalectomized animals were injected intrahypothalamically with either 0.25 ng of corticosterone or vehicle followed by 50 micrograms/kg LPS intraperitoneally.

A preliminary neuropsychological study of Persian Gulf veterans.

A neuropsychological investigation of 21 Persian Gulf veterans and 38 demographically matched controls was conducted in order to make a preliminary determination concerning presence of neuropsychological deficits associated with the Persian Gulf War experience. The neuropsychological test battery consisted of measures of complex attention, memory, and motor skills previously shown to be sensitive to exposure to environmental toxins. It was found that the Persian Gulf veteran group did not demonstrate substantial impairment, but an impairment index derived from 14 test variables was statistically significantly different from controls in the direction of poorer performance.

Effects of blood lead levels on cognitive function of older women.

Elevated blood lead concentrations are known to have detrimental effects on neuropsychological function in both children and occupational cohorts of men and women. Although it is generally accepted that lead exposure at low levels is more dangerous for infants and children than for adults, the issue of the lowest level of exposure at which lead causes deleterious health effects in adults is yet to be solved. There is no available data on the role of lead exposure in cognitive dysfunction in nonoccupational cohorts of older persons.

Recombinant human insulin-like growth factor I increases insulin sensitivity and improves glycemic control in type II diabetes.

Insulin resistance is a major factor in the pathophysiology of type II diabetes and a major impediment to successful therapy. The identification of treatments that specifically target insulin resistance could improve diabetes management significantly. Since IGFs exert insulin-like actions and increase insulin sensitivity when administered at supraphysiological doses, we determined the effect of 6 weeks of recombinant human IGF-I (rhIGF-I) administration on insulin resistance and glycemic control in obese insulin-resistant patients with type II diabetes.

Insulin-like growth factor I (rhIGF-I) as a therapeutic agent for hyperinsulinemic insulin-resistant diabetes mellitus.

Insulin resistance is one of the major underlying abnormalities in NIDDM, however, its pathophysiologic mechanisms are not well understood. Many clues about the mechanisms of insulin action have come from patients with the most severe forms of insulin resistance, including those with genetic abnormalities in the insulin signal transduction cascade. We used rhIGF-I as a probe to differentiate insulin and IGF-I action and to study the therapeutic potential of IGF in states of insulin resistance.