Panic anxiety, dyspnea, and respiratory disease. Theoretical and clinical considerations.

There is intriguing evidence suggesting pathophysiologic relationships among dyspnea, hyperventilation, and panic anxiety. The symptoms of panic attacks and pulmonary disease overlap, so that panic anxiety can reflect underlying cardiopulmonary disease and dyspnea can reflect an underlying anxiety disorder. The pathogenesis of panic may be related to respiratory physiology by several mechanisms: the anxiogenic effects of hyperventilation, the catastrophic misinterpretation of respiratory symptoms, and/or a neurobiologic sensitivity to CO2, lactate, or other signals of suffocation.

Venlafaxine for panic disorder: results from a double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

Venlafaxine has demonstrated efficacy for depression, and recent reports and clinical experience suggest that it may be effective for the treatment of anxiety disorders as well. We present what we believe are the first data from a controlled study designed to test the efficacy of venlafaxine for the treatment of panic disorder. There were 25 patients enrolled at one site of a five-center study; 13 received venlafaxine and 12 received placebo.

The longitudinal course and outcome of panic disorder.

Converging lines of evidence from a variety of methods of inquiry support a developmental model for panic disorder that includes a constitutional predisposition for anxiety influenced by genetic, familial, cognitive-behavioral and psychosocial factors, early expression during childhood, and variable manifestations during the life-cycle. Studies of patients followed up after acute pharmacotherapy trials and those treated naturalistically are consistent with this model and portray panic disorder as a generally chronic condition with a longitudinal course marked by relatively brief intervals of remission and high rates of recurrence and relapse. Longitudinal and follow-up studies suggest that panic attack frequency responds more readily and rapidly to pharmacotherapy than do other aspects of panic disorder such as agoraphobia and generalized anxiety.

Genetic map of rat chromosome 5 including the fatty (fa) locus.

Thirteen loci, including the obesity gene fatty (fa), were incorporated into a linkage map of rat Chromosome (Chr) 5. These loci were mapped in obese (fa/fa) progeny of a cross between BN x 13M-fal+F1 animals. Obese rats were scored for BN and 13M alleles at four loci (Ifna, D1S85h, C8b, and Lck1) by restriction fragment length polymorphisms and at eight additional loci (Glut1, Sv4j2, R251, R735, R980, R252, R371, and R1138) by simple sequence length polymorphisms (SSLP).

The Zucker fatty (fa) gene is not a mutation of corticotropin-releasing factor.

Corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) appears to regulate several physiological systems that display prominent abnormalities in Zucker fatty (fa/fa) rats, including the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, the autonomic nervous system, and feeding behavior. Moreover, central administration of CRF ameliorates the obese phenotype. In light of these observations, the gene for CRF is a plausible candidate for the defective gene in the Zucker fatty rat.

A molecular genetic method for genotyping fatty (fa/fa) rats.

After three decades of physiological research, the precise nature of the genetic lesion in Zucker fatty (fa/fa) rats remains unknown. Several methods have been used to identify preobese rats to detect the earliest phenotypic effects of the fa mutation. Most of these methods have used phenotypic characteristics that are not reliable until the second week of life, when increased adiposity is already evident.

Skin malignancies in the elderly. Diagnosable, treatable, and potentially curable.

Cutaneous malignancies are the most common tumors seen in the elderly population. They are often easily diagnosed while still in an early and potentially curable state. Basal cell carcinoma is the most frequently seen malignant neoplasm, followed by squamous cell carcinoma and malignant melanoma.

Dieting and depression: a critical review.

Investigations of affective changes during weight reduction have produced sharply conflicting results. Studies conducted through the 1950s and 1960s indicated that weight reduction was accompanied by a high incidence of affective disturbance ranging from simple dysphoria to clinical depression and psychosis. More recently, studies of behavioral programs have suggested that weight reduction may actually improve mood.

Psychological and social aspects of the surgical treatment of obesity.

New surgical procedures have revolutionized the treatment of morbid obesity (more than 100% overweight), a condition associated with serious medical complications and for which conservative treatment has been largely ineffective. These procedures, which are surprisingly safe, produce large weight losses and marked improvement in hypertension, diabetes, and other disorders influenced by obesity. Striking changes also occur in vocational and psychosocial functioning, including marital and sexual relations, in eating behavior, in food preferences, and in body image.

Niflumic acid-induced skeletal fluorosis: iatrogenic disease or therapeutic perspective for osteoporosis?

A case of skeletal fluorosis induced by prolonged treatment with niflumic acid, a fast-acting non-steroid antiinflammatory agent, is reported in a 35-year-old woman suffering from rheumatoid arthritis and treated, in addition, with corticosteroids. The case report discussed is, to our knowledge, the third of its kind regarding bone fluorosis resulting from use of this nicotinic derivative. This clinically asymptomatic case of skeletal fluorosis was discovered, as in the 2 previously reported cases, by the examination of bone X-ray (performed as part of the routine work-up for rheumatoid arthritis) which showed evident osteosclerosis.