Inheritance of heart rate variability: the kibbutzim family study.

Heart rate variability (HRV) measures are associated with coronary heart disease incidence and mortality. Therefore insight into the genetic and environmental determinants of these measures may have clinical relevance. We assessed the role of genetic and environmental factors of time domain and frequency domain HRV indices.

Primary hyperoxaluria type I: a model for multiple mutations in a monogenic disease within a distinct ethnic group.

Primary hyperoxaluria type 1 is an autosomal recessive inherited metabolic disease in which excessive oxalates are formed by the liver and excreted by the kidneys, causing a wide spectrum of phenotypes ranging from renal failure in infancy to mere renal stones in late adulthood. Mutations in the AGXT gene, encoding the liver-specific enzyme alanine:glyoxylate aminotransferase, are responsible for the disease. Seven mutations were detected in eight families in Israel.

Effect of immunomodulators on bleomycin-induced lung injury.

Background: The role of lymphocytes and their subpopulations in lung fibrosis is as yet unclear.

Objective: To define the role of immunomodulation in bleomycin-induced inflammatory fibrotic lung injury, by testing the effect of two known Th1 inhibitors: linomide and pentoxifylline.

Methods: C57BL/6 mice were treated by a single intratracheal instillation of 0.

Corticosteroid-induced glaucoma attributable to an adrenocorticotropin-secreting malignant carcinoid tumor of the thymus.

Purpose: To describe the clinical and histopathologic findings in a patient with corticosteroid-induced open-angle glaucoma attributable to an adrenocorticotropin-secreting malignant carcinoid of the thymus.

Methods: Case report. In a 33-year-old man, the clinical course, laboratory findings, and imaging results as well as the histopathologic findings are described.

Nonfasting plasma total homocysteine level and mortality in middle-aged and elderly men and women in Jerusalem.

Background: Elevated plasma total homocysteine level has been associated with cardiovascular disease in many studies, mostly in Europe and North America. Data on persons from other areas and on associations with overall mortality are sparse.

Objective: To determine the relation of plasma homocysteine level to all-cause and cause-specific mortality.

The use of oral pilocarpine in xerostomia and Sjögren's syndrome.

Objectives: To analyze the role of oral pilocarpine in the treatment of xerostomia of Sjogren's syndrome (SS).

Methods: The medical literature was reviewed for all studies using oral pilocarpine to treat xerostomia caused by SS or radiotherapy registered in the MedLine Silver Platter database from 1966 to 1998.

Results: All the studies identified excluded elderly individuals with cardiac or pulmonary disease.

Glucocorticoid receptor antagonists in the hippocampus modify the negative feedback following neural stimuli.

The effects of local glucocorticoid receptor antagonists implanted into the dorsal hippocampus on the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis responses following neural stimuli in freely moving rats, as well as their effects on the negative feedback exerted by dexamethasone (DEX) was studied in male rats. In animals with hippocampal cholesterol implants, photic and acoustic stimuli caused depletion in median eminence (ME) CRH-41 and a consequent rise in plasma ACTH and corticosterone levels. These effects were inhibited by systemic DEX, and the latter phenomenon was partially reversed by hippocampal implants of glucocorticoid (GR) and to a lesser degree by mineralocorticoid (MR) receptor antagonists.

Multifocal choroidal malignant melanoma: at least 3 melanomas in one eye.

Objectives: To describe a case of an enucleated eye harboring multiple choroidal malignant melanomas.

Methods: Clinical, ultrasonographic, and histopathological evaluations.

Results: Meticulous sectioning of the globe did not disclose any structural continuity between the 3 choroidal melanomas.

Suppression of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis by tyrphostin AG-556.

Tyrosine kinase blockers from the AG 126/AG-556 tyrphostin family are shown to inhibit the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced production of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFalpha), nitric oxide (NO), and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) in primary rat astrocytes cultures. The tyrphostin AG-556 which was previously shown to be effective against sepsis in mice and dogs also show excellent efficacy in inhibiting experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) in mice. AG-556 does not block the activation of JNK/SAPK and of p38/HOG and therefore seems to act at a target down stream to these kinases which is activated in stress or at a target on an obligatory parallel pathway.

Effect of radiocontrast agents on intrarenal nitric oxide (NO) and NO synthase activity.

Background/aims: Contrast media (CM) induce a biphasic renal hemodynamic response, with late prominent cortical vasoconstriction and marked outer medullary vasodilation. The objective of the study was to explore a possible role for altered nitric oxide (NO) production or bioavailability in these hemodynamic responses.

Methods: We explored the impact of CM (sodium iothalamate) upon rat renal NO synthase (NOS) activity (citrulline recovery) and NO (using a NO electrode).

Is benzodiazepine use during pregnancy really teratogenic?

Benzodiazepines (BDs) have a widespread use among people suffering from anxiety. These drugs easily cross the placenta and may affect the developing embryo and fetus. The literature is divided as to whether BD may cause an increase in spontaneous abortions or congenital anomalies.

Familial aggregation of heart rate variability based on short recordings--the kibbutzim family study.

The objective of this study was to assess the familial aggregation of heart rate variability (HRV), a readily measurable noninvasive reflection of cardiac autonomic function. Familial correlations were analyzed in 451 kibbutz members aged 15-97 years belonging to 80 kindreds. Five-minute duration Holter recordings made during silent supine spontaneous breathing and metronomic breathing were analyzed in the time and frequency domains.

Lysis of plasma clots by urokinase-soluble urokinase receptor complexes.

Single-chain urokinase plasminogen activator (scuPA), the unique form secreted by cells, expresses little intrinsic plasminogen activator activity. scuPA can be activated by proteolytic cleavage to form a two-chain enzyme (tcuPA), which is susceptible to inhibition by plasminogen activator inhibitor type I (PAI-1). scuPA is also activated when it binds to its cellular receptor (uPAR), in which case the protein remains as a single chain molecule with less susceptibility to PAIs.

The three-dimensional structure of myenteric neurons in the guinea-pig ileum.

Myenteric neurons of the guinea-pig ileum were intracellularly filled with the fluorescent dye Lucifer Yellow, optically sectioned with a confocal microscope and volume reconstructed to recreate 3-D images of the cells. The resulting images provide information not evident from regular microscopy. The somata varied in cross-section from flat-oval to nearly circular, and their surface membranes were marked by invaginations and protrusions significantly increasing the surface area of the somatic membrane.

Calreticulin inhibits vitamin D's action on the PTH gene in vitro and may prevent vitamin D's effect in vivo in hypocalcemic rats.

1,25-dihydroxyvitaminD3 [1,25-(OH)2D3] and PTH both act to increase serum calcium. In addition, 1,25-(OH)2D3 decreases PTH gene transcription, which is relevant both to the physiology of calcium homeostasis and to the management of the secondary hyperparathyroidism of patients with chronic renal failure. In chronic hypocalcemia there is secondary hyperparathyroidism with increased levels of PTH mRNA and serum PTH despite markedly increased levels of 1,25-(OH)2D3.

Role of serotonin in the amygdala in hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical responses.

In view of the fact that the amygdala (AMG) and hypothalamic serotonin (5-HT) have an excitatory effect on the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, we have investigated the role of 5-HT in the AMG on this response. In intact freely moving rats, a mildly stressing short photic stimulation caused depletion of median eminence CRH-41, due to its release into the portal circulation and a rise in serum ACTH and corticosterone levels. This effect was significantly inhibited in rats in which 5-HT was depleted in the AMG following local 5,7-dihydroxytryptamine administration, which did not affect hypothalamic 5-HT content.

Differences in rhodamine-123 efflux in B-type chronic lymphocytic leukemia suggest possible gender and stage variations in drug-resistance gene activity.

Peripheral blood samples from 61 patients (36 male, 25 female) with all stages of B-type chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) were studied for MDR1 phenotype using monoclonal antibodies and rhodamine-123 dye exclusion, a functional assay of MDR1 expression. The duration of the disease varied from 1 month to 22 years at the time of initial study. Overall, 74% of the patients were positive for rhodamine-123 exclusion.

Intravascular lymphomatosis--an indolent or aggressive entity?

Intravascular lymphomatosis (IVL) is a rare malignancy characterized by neoplastic proliferation of lymphoid cells within the lumens of arteries, small veins and capillaries. We report four patients with IVL and review the recent world literature, relating to incidence, clinical features and possible therapy. In these cases diagnosis was established coincidentally in one patient after prostatectomy.

The excitatory effects of the amygdala on hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical responses are mediated by hypothalamic norepinephrine, serotonin, and CRF-41.

The hypothalamic neural mechanisms that are involved in the facilitatory effects of the amygdala (AMG) on the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis have been investigated in rats. Stimulation of the central AMG nucleus caused a depletion of hypothalamic CRF-41, presumably due to its release into the portal circulation, and a subsequent rise in plasma ACTH and corticosterone (CS) levels. These effects were inhibited in rats in which hypothalamic norepinephrine (NE) or serotonin (5-HT) was depleted by catecholamine or serotonin neurotoxins, respectively.

Cisplatin-induced non-convulsive encephalopathy.

Cisplatin is a widely used chemotherapeutic agent implicated in a range of adverse effects affecting the nervous system. Among the others, convulsive encephalopathy is rare and its pathogenesis is unknown. We report an 84-year-old woman with adenocarcinoma of the ovary who developed two fully reversible episodes of non-convulsive encephalopathy, each following a course of cisplatin-based chemotherapy and thus confirming a causal relationship to the agent.

Effect of sphingosine on rat glial cells: inhibition of prostaglandin E2 and insensitivity of nitric oxide generation.

The effect of sphingosine on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-mediated protein kinase C (PKC) activation and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and nitric oxide (NO) production was studied in primary cultures of rat glial cells. Incubation of cells with LPS elicited translocation of PKC from the cytosolic to the membranous compartment, as shown by measuring PKC activity and by immunoblotting. Under these conditions, a sustained increase in both PGE2 and NO production was measured.

The role of limbic structures in the modulation of ACTH responses following adrenalectomy.

The role of the HIPP, DF, and the lateral SPT as well as of the central AMG nucleus in ACTH hypersecretion following Adex, was studied in male rats. In animals with bilateral dorsal hippocampectomy, DF section, or SPT lesions there was a much greater increase in ACTH hypersecretion when compared to Adex alone. Implants of CS in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus prevented the rise in serum ACTH following Adex, and this effect was reversed by hippocampectomy.

An unusual effect of ECT on drug-induced parkinsonism and tardive dystonia.

A patient with schizoaffective disorder and anticholinergic refractory neuroleptic-induced parkinsonism manifested a marked increase of parkinsonian symptoms and dystonia after ECT. This is the first report in the literature of such an unusual reaction of parkinsonian and dystonic symptoms to ECT.

Mortality in two Jewish populations--Montreal and Israel: environmental determinants of differences.

Background: Mortality was compared in the Jewish populations of Montreal and Israel and the overall Canadian population, to investigate whether the Israeli pattern of low male mortality and relatively high female mortality is replicated among Jews living elsewhere.

Methods: In Montreal, death certificates were obtained from Jewish funeral homes (where all Jewish deaths are believed to be handled) for 1986-1990 and coded.

Results: All-cause cumulative mortality for ages 35-74 (CM), was exceedingly low in Montreal Jews, both in males (CM = 0.