No association between the DRD3 Ser9Gly polymorphism and schizophrenia.

Objective: To investigate the association between a Ser9Gly polymorphism of the dopamine D3 receptor gene (DRD3) and schizophrenia.

Methods: 408 schizophrenic patients and 172 control subjects were compared with regard to their DRD3 Ser9Gly genotypic and allelic frequencies. In addition, we carried out a family-based association study including 183 pedigrees (472 subjects) using the transmission disequilibrium test (TDT).

[Intraabdominal foreign body caused diagnostic difficulty].

The problem of retained foreign body in the abdominal cavity following surgery is permanent and almost impossible to solve for abdominal surgeons. We present the story of a 49-year-old woman operated on because of a cystic lesion formed around a swab which was left in the abdominal cavity during open cholecystectomy ten years ago. We did not realise the nature of the lesion before the operation or by examination during the operation.

[Antipsychotic medication in psychosocial rehabilitation].

The strategy and points of medication and the use of antipsychotics in the phase of psychosocial rehabilitation substantially different from that we use in the acute treatment. While in the acute phase the primary goal is the symptom-reduction as soon as possible, the goal in the psychosocial rehabilitation is the maintenance of the symptom-free remission state, as long as possible in a stable way, providing the best functioning and best available quality of life with minimal loss of capacities and skills. The basis of the lasting, stable remission and of the successful psychosocial rehabilitation is the effective, safe and tolerable pharmacotherapy, in which the antipsychotics play essential role.

The role of the chief ethics officer in a physician's office.

The unique role of the chief ethics officer in a sports medicine office is described and guided by the four principles of ethics, as well as the principles and codes of ethics of the American Medical Association, the International Sports Medicine Federation, and the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. The chief ethics officer should understand and be conversant with these principles and these codes of medical ethics, and transmit this information in order to further patient goals, physician goals, and employee goals.

'False positive' MRI of the knee: a literature review study.

Objective: A retrospective literature review study was performed because our group has seen an increasing number of patients with a "positive MRI" for torn meniscus being referred for arthroscopic surgery yet their clinical signs and symptoms do not fit that of a "torn meniscus."

Methods: Fifteen literature articles from 1989 through 1999 were evaluated for MRI studies on asymptomatic volunteers.

Results: Starting in the third decade, there is "age-dependent degeneration" of the meniscus with increasing MRI signals in the meniscus in asymptomatic patients.

Human chorionic gonadotropin attenuates the vascular response to angiotensin II.

Objective: Our purpose was to investigate interactions between human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and angiotensin II (ANG II) in resistance arteries.

Study Design: Isolated pre-arteriolar vessels of female Sprague-Dawley rats were prepared from the mesenteric arcade and the mesometrium. Dose-response curves were recorded by means of an video-electronic arteriograph system.

The vasoconstrictor response of uterine and mesenteric resistance arteries is differentially altered in the course of pregnancy.

Objectives: The purpose of the present study was to test the hypothesis that pregnancy is associated with an attenuation of the vasoconstrictor response not only in the uterine, but also in the systemic circulation. Decreased vascular reactivity should be characterized by an early onset to account for the rapid fall in peripheral resistance which was observed during the first third of gestation.

Study Design: Dose-response curves for phenylephrine hydrochloride (PE), angiotensin II (ANG II), and endothelin 1 (ET 1) were recorded from isolated pressurized uterine and mesenteric arterioles.

Human chorionic gonadotropin dilates uterine and mesenteric resistance arteries in pregnant and nonpregnant rats.

Membrane receptors for human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) are expressed in a variety of steroidogenic cells, and also in extragonadal tissues such as vessels of the female genital tract. We examined the possible contribution of hCG to the endocrine control of prearteriolar mesenteric and uterine vessels before and during pregnancy. Lumen diameters of isolated pressurized resistance arteries from Sprague-Dawley rats were measured using a video-electronic system.

Age and reproductive status affect basal venous tone in the rat.

Objective: Changes in venous tone alter vessel diameter and capacitance of veins. These alterations may be induced by the steroid hormonal milieu. Therefore, our question was whether venous tone differs between estrous cycle, pregnancy and old rats.

[Decay of villages--population censuses at the end of the seventeenth century].

"The study raises an interesting methodological problem of population history research: the authenticity of bygone population censuses (in this case at the end of the 17th century [in Hungary]), their scientific applicability, and the interpretation of data...

[Data for the assessment of the 1850 population census in Transylvania].

"Having reviewed the population figures of historical Transylvania the study analyses from three aspects the reliability of data of the population census in 1850...

Acute tears of the anterior cruciate ligament. Surgical versus conservative treatment.

In a prospective eight-year study comparing surgical and conservative treatment of acute tears of the anterior cruciate ligament, ninety-two patients in whom a tear had been confirmed either by arthroscopy or by arthrotomy were treated and could be followed. The choice of treatment was determined entirely by whether the result of a pivot-shift test was graded as absent, trace, or mild (non-operative treatment) or as moderate or severe (surgical treatment). Surgical treatment consisted of primary repair of the torn ligament and augmentation with a patellar tendon graft.

Synthetic and allograft anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.

Although still in the early stages of development, the use of synthetics and allografts in ACL surgery appears promising. Two prosthetic ligaments, the Kennedy LAD and Gore-Tex, are FDA approved for limited indications. The Kennedy LAD has been shown to be effective in augmenting an autograft with inherent structural weakness in its central portion.

A new operative approach to snapping hip and refractory trochanteric bursitis in athletes.

This report concerns seven patients that had a painful hip due to snapping of the iliotibial band over the greater trochanter and resultant trochanteric bursitis, and whose symptoms were refractory to nonoperative treatment. An operative procedure that has not been previously described was performed. It involved the excision of an ellipsoid-shaped portion of the iliotibial band overlying the greater trochanter and removal of the trochanteric bursa.

[Permeability of post-ischemic aortic wall in rats].

Examinations were carried out in order to reveal details of process of the permeability damage, its degrea and fate of the plasma-substances getting into the vessel all. Abdominal aorta has been cross-clapped for one hour by the aid of a double ligature. In a recirculatory period from 1 hour to 10 days material serving for labeling of the plasma has been determined in the vessel using histochemical and microchemical methods.