An integrated system for interstitial 192Ir implants.

An efficient system for preparing, afterloading, and removing interstitial 192Ir strands has been developed. Use of the system reduces the risk of personnel exposure and eliminates some patient discomfort. The system is "integrated" in that all aspects of the implantation process are considered, from source preparation to source removal.

Epidemiologic programs for computers and calculators. Simple algorithms for the representation of deterministic and stochastic versions of the Reed-Frost epidemic model using a programmable calculator.

Two programs are described for the emulation of the dynamics of Reed-Frost progressive epidemics in a handheld programmable calculator (HP-41C series). The programs provide a complete record of cases, susceptibles, and immunes at each epidemic period using either the deterministic formulation or the trough analogue of the mechanical model for the stochastic version. Both programs can compute epidemics that include a constant rate of influx or outflux of susceptibles and single or double infectivity time periods.

Cognitive therapy and pharmacotherapy for depression. Sustained improvement over one year.

Seventy patients with nonbipolar affective disorder who completed a 12-week course of either cognitive therapy (CT), pharmacotherapy, CT plus active placebo, or CT plus pharmacotherapy were assessed one month, six months, and one year after termination of active treatment. Of the 44 patients who had originally responded to treatment, 16 relapsed as defined by reentry into treatment or by self-reported depression scores in the moderately depressed range. Twenty-eight patients remained well during the one-year follow-up.

Plasma nortriptyline and clinical response in depression.

Plasma levels of nortriptyline below 50 ng/ml or above 150 ng/ml have been reported to yield results inferior to intermediate levels. In the present study, patients with uncomplicated primary, nonbipolar depression were randomly assigned to 12 weeks of treatment with NT alone or with cognitive therapy. Nine of 35 patients had mean NT plasma levels less than 50 ng/ml.

Calibration of prestained protein molecular weight standards for use in the "Western" or enzyme-linked immunoelectrotransfer blot techniques.

Prestained protein molecular weight standards allow easy, direct visual location of electrophoretically transblotted lanes on nitrocellulose. They also provide a simple and accurate means for calibrating the molecular weights of resolved bands. Commercial prestained protein molecular weight standards, however, appear to have significantly different molecular weights from the original unstained proteins.

Immunofluorescent staining of Treponema in tissues fixed with formalin.

Immunofluorescent examination of formalin-fixed tissue for Treponema pallidum has generally been unsatisfactory because of nonspecific background fluorescence and poor contrast. We examined the process of treating deparaffinized formalin-fixed tissue sections with 1% ammonium hydroxide (NH4OH) to improve fluorescent staining. Treponema pallidum- and Treponema pertenue-infected rabbit testes or human tissue biopsy specimens fixed in 10% buffered formalin and embedded in paraffin were examined.

Wrist disarticulation of a deformed hand: appropriate prosthesis and the habilitation of a severely retarded young man.

A 24-year-old man, who was late attaining developmental milestones and tested in the severely mentally retarded range, had incurred third- and fourth-degree burns at 2.5 years that resulted in a deformed, anesthetic, and useless distal left upper limb. Following wrist disarticulation, he was fitted with a cosmetic prosthesis that he accepted enthusiastically.

Patient attrition in a comparative outcome study of depression. A follow-up report.

Eighty-seven moderately to severely depressed psychiatric outpatients were randomly assigned to 12 weeks of cognitive therapy (n = 24), pharmacotherapy (n = 24), cognitive therapy plus pharmacotherapy (n = 22) or cognitive therapy plus active placebo (n = 17). Seventy patients completed the treatment protocol; 17 dropped out before the end of the treatment period. Completers and dropouts did not differ at pretreatment on demographic variables, measures of depression, cognitive functioning or social adjustment.

Possible ideal lac operator: Escherichia coli lac operator-like sequences from eukaryotic genomes lack the central G X C pair.

Five DNA fragments have been cloned from yeast, chicken, and mouse DNA that titrate lac repressor in an Escherichia coli lac+ I+Z+ wild-type strain when on a multi-copy plasmid. The five repressor-binding sequences have been identified by DNA sequence determinations and DNase cleavage-inhibition patterns. They share the 14-base-pair symmetrical consensus sequence 5' T-G-T-G-A-G-C:G-C-T-C-A-C-A 3' (the colon represents the center of symmetry), which is an inverted repeat of 7 base pairs of the left half of the E.

The process of change in cognitive therapy and pharmacotherapy for depression. Changes in mood and cognition.

Twenty-eight moderately depressed outpatients were randomly assigned to 12 weeks of cognitive therapy (N = 14) or pharmacotherapy (N = 14). Significant changes in mood, cognitive processes, and content were similar to those found in previous studies demonstrating effectiveness of cognitive therapy. Patients treated with medication, however, demonstrated nearly identical change on all measures, including cognitive measures, despite the absence of direct focus on cognitive activity.

Cognitive therapy and pharmacotherapy. Singly and together in the treatment of depression.

Eight-seven moderately to severely depressed psychiatric outpatients were randomly assigned to 12 weeks of cognitive therapy (CT) (n = 24), pharmacotherapy (n = 24), CT plus pharmacotherapy (n = 22), or CT plus active placebo (n = 17). Seventy patients completed the treatment protocol. Seventeen dropped out before the end of the treatment period.

Rupture of intracranial aneurysms and ventricular opacification during carotid angiography.

Two cases of rupture of intracranial aneurysms and opacification of the lateral ventricles occurring during carotid angiography are reported and X-rays of the haemorrhage from the aneurysms are presented. Though the possibility of this complications remains a real one, the early use of this valuable procedure should not be precluded.

Processing of the electroencephalogram in cardiac surgery.

The objective of this investigation was to find a method to automatically detect several types of abnormal EEG patterns which occurred during cardiac surgery. The EEGs were analyzed by means of several EEG processing and pattern recognition methods. It was found that a good classification into normal and abnormal EEG patterns was generally obtained if only two EEG features were used.

[Electroencephalographic findings during open heart surgery. Automatic analysis in relation to parameters of anesthesia and use in intraoperative monitoring of cerebral function].

It is generally agreed upon by experts that EEG monitoring of brain function during open heart surgery is of the utmost importance in preventing postoperative neurological and psychopathological consequences. Up to now, however, this monitoring has not been performed on a large scale: (1) it is a very time-consuming task for the clinical neurophysiologist: (2) the anesthetist does not generally possess enough knowledge of this part of neurophysiology to get more than only a rough impression of the alterations of brain function during these procedures. To improve this situation we developed an automatic method to monitor brain function: the results of period-amplitude analysis of the EEG are continuously related to a number of important parameters--blood pressure, temperature, anesthesia.

Pregnancy after prolonged pulsatile administration of luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone in a patient with clomiphene-resistant secondary amenorrhea.

Induction of ovulation with LRH, self-administered by the patient (20 microgram every 2 h, iv) from 0700-2300 h continuously for 90 days, is described. Three ovulatory cycles resulted, and the patient conceived during the third cycle. The morning serum LH and FSH concentrations showed a pattern similar to that seen in normal cycles.

Measurement of rise time of averaged muscle action potential in normal subjects and patients with myopathy.

As a result of diminution of the number of muscle fibers in patients with myopathy, the rise time of the fast negative phase of the spike potentials in the EMG becomes shorter. By using a small special purpose computer (averager) a mean action potential is obtained from which the rise time of the "spike" is determined. In normal muscles the mean value is 509 microseconds (SD 118).