[Superficial iliac circumflex artery and veins]. Study on the superficial circumflex iliac vascular pedicle. The artery can take its origin separately from the common trunk of the common femoral artery. The decisive element is shown by the variations in course and diameter of the artery, which, in nearly 40% of the cases, seems relatively slender. In thoses cases, the sub cutaneous abdominal artery seems be the essential vascular element. Concerning the veins, they steadily join a principal vein, subjacent to the artery, sometimes doubled by a subordinate vein, satellite of the artery. All these notions incite to some prudence in using flaps that depend for their vascularisation on the superficial circumflex iliac pedicle.


[Ultrastructural location of aspartate aminotransferase in the cerebellum of mice]. The histochemical location of aspartate aminotransferase by ultrastructural observation in the mouse cerebellum has been investigated. The enzymatic activity was observed specifically in the fibre endings of basket cells and in the probable terminations of golgi cells axons. This observation suggests the intervention of aspartate aminotransferase in the specific function of the cerebellum inhibitor axons.


[Small veins of the heart auricle].

[Small veins of the heart auricle]. A rich venous network in the atria of the human heart, has been demonstrated by the "corrosion-fouille" technic with direct injection. The atrial veins may be arranged in 2 main groups:--the group of the Coronary Sinus for the left atrium.--the group of venae cordis parva for the right atrium (1), the interatrial septum and the neighbouring parts of the left atrium. The venae cordis parva may be subdivided into:--those descending to the right atrio-ventricular sulcus and ending in the right atrium or in a "right coronary collecting channel" (2) (small cardiac vein, Adachi common channel, Parsonnet subendocardial vein of the right atrium).--and those opening by the Lannelongue foramina into the right atrium. Are described 4 principal foramina and veins, arranged in 2 groups:--the group of the S.V.C. ostium, corresponding to the Superior Atrio-Septo-Nodal artery, with 3 veins, the Anterior Lateral vein (or vein of the cavo-auricular notch) for the Sino-Atrial node, descending along the sulcus terminalis, the Anterior Superior and Posterior Superior veins for the interatrial septum, the adjacent parts of the right and left atria. The large ramus from the top of the left atrium, a tributary of the Posteror Superior Vein, corresponds to the homonymous collateral of the Superior A.S.N. artery.--the group of the Coronary Sinus ostium, corresponding to the Inferior A.S.N. arteries, with the Anterior Inferior vein, returning blood from the A-V node region. Of these 4 veins, only one originates on the lateral side of the S.V.S. ostium; the 3 remaining lie on the interatrial septum, near the corresponding angles: Anterior-Superior, Posterior-Superior and Anterior-Inferior.


[Correlation of the dorsal tendinous variations of the hand with the arrangement of the entire tendinous extensor to the back of the finger in man]. The supplementary tendons attached to the supernumerary muscles of the forearm and the wrist form a particulary deep layer which has it's own tendon sheats and they join principally for the first varitey (musculus extensor communis pollicis et indicis) the back and the base of the first phalange; for the second variety (musculus interosseus dorsalis accessorius) the insertions on the side of the base of the first phalange.


Thermographical investigation of decubitus ulcers. 1. Posterior body reference thermograms indicate that in general a similar thermal body pattern of humans does exist. 2. The buttocks, hips, and thighs of a nude subject are thermally cool regions, possibly indicating poor vascular circulation and/or large fat concentrations. 3. Thermograms of the same anatomical area on the same subject under controlled environmental conditions are thermally similar. 4. The scapular region is from 1 to 2 deg F hotter than the sacral region for subjects reclining on Mylar. 5. The 1 deg temperature differential thermograms and the reference thermogram while the subject is on Mylar, in many ways, denote the geometrical shape of the underlying bone structure, especially the bones of the scapulae and sacrum. 6. On the degree temperatue differential thermograms, the anatomical regions most accused of being decubitus ulcer prone are the regions of highest temperatures: the scapulae, sacrum, elbows, and calves. 7. During reactive hyperemia, the visible red flare over the sacrum and coccyx becomes very intense in the first few minutes and then gradually diminishes. The thermal flare persists longer than the visible flare. The extended duration of the thermal flare over the visible red flare is attributed to a continued local elevated metabolic tissue rate caused by the previous engorgement of blood. 8. The thermal mottling seen in the first minute after releasing the load is believed to have been caused by the rapid infusion of blood and the dilation of affected vessels responsible for making up the blood flow debt which occurred during the period of ischemia. 9. A posterior body heating effect noticed immediately after the subject left the Mylar film has been attributed to the insulative qualities of the film. The cooling effect is more difficult to explain, but it is thought that the higher than average room temperature caused an increased evaporative cooling rate response of the two subjects either before getting off the film or immediately after getting off and therefore reduced the temperature of the skin. 10. The maximum reactive hyperemic temperature difference, the difference between the initial standing reference thermogram and the maximum flare temperature observed during tissue hyperemia, may be as high as 12 deg F. 11. Males on the average have larger flare patterns than females, 5.7 in.2 and 4.7 in.2, respectively. The flare areas were computed from thermograms taken 2 to 3 minutes after off-loading of tissue. 12. With the average distance from the buttock's fold to the highest and lowest thermal flare indication being lower for females (3.2 and 5.9) than for males (3.8 and 6.4), a relationship between the site or decubitus ulcer formation and the pelvic bone structure of the sexes may well exist. 13. No two thermal flare patterns are similar either in size or in shape. Thermal flare patterns occur along the centerline of the body at the sacrum and coccyx level. 14...


Proportionally controlled linear power assist device for artificial arms. A new prosthetic add-on device is being developed which promises to provide an economical means of adding power assist to a patient's existing conventional cable-operated prosthesis. Only minor modifications by a prosthetist would be required. Patients wearing conventional cable-operated above-elbow prostheses, who lack adequate function because they cannot generate the necessary cable excursion, are expected to dramatically improve their performance with little or no retraining. The proposed system will operate at speeds comparable to those of a conventional cable-operated prosthesis. The system will retain considerable function even if there is no power assist, and it will imporve the quality of the sensory feedback normally associated with a conventional cable-operated body powered prosthesis.


[Safety problems during the use of electromedical apparatus in man]. The stimulating action of an electric current on the human body is determined by the strength of the current, the direction, frequence and duration of action of the current. Measurements of sensation have shown that even with strengths of currents of about 15 to 20 mA (50 Hz), a complete cramp of the arm musculature occurs, whereby a voluntary relaxation of the part under tension is no longer possible. The inner resistance of the human body (without skin resistance) is between 650 and 1300 Ohm, according to the direction of the current. Electric field strengths on the heart have shown that disturbances of heart action always occur when the electric field produced by an outer circle of current round the heart is in the order of 80 mV/cm. This means that currents passed through the heart of even 80 muA can produce lethal ventricular fibrillation. On the basis of practical examples from clinical cases, the danger of micro shocks is shown. The question of a security check list is discussed.


Reentry in the atrium.

Reentry in the atrium. Studies with isolated atrial preparations of the rabbit showed that the occurrence of a single early premature beat may cause reentry not only in nodal tissue (SA node and AV node) but also in working myocardial tissue. In the SA node an early premature beat will cause a reentrant activation of the atrium only when the SA node is driven by an ectopic pacemaker. If the SA node is discharging spontaneously, no reentry could be demonstrated. In this situation the early impulse can not reach the center of the SA node because of a sinoatrial entrance block. Since the AV node fibers normally do not discharge spontaneously, an atrial premature beat may find an alternative route through the node and reenter the atrium. Such a reentrant beat or echo beat can start a tachycardia based on a circus movement of the impulse through the AV node. A supraventricular tachycardia can be started too by an early premature beat in the isolated left atrium, containing only working myocardial fibers and no slow conducting fibers as the nodal fibers are. By careful mapping the spread of activation during the premature beat and the subsequent beats of the tachycardia, a unidirectional block of the impulse of the premature beat was demonstrated. The impulse then turned around and invaded the blocked area retrogradely and reentered the area where it originated. This circus movement of the premature impulse was maintained during the subsequent tachycardial beats, showing that even in a small area of atrial muscle, containing no anatomical obstacle, a circus tachycardia can take place. To describe this kind of circus movement a new model (the "leading circle" concept) is introduced and briefly discussed.


[Action potentials and ionic currents].

[Action potentials and ionic currents]. Our knowledge of the ionic currents underlying the cardiac action potential has much increased in recent years. Principally three membrane current components are characterised, of which the change carries are sodium ions, calcium ions and potassium ions. Different drugs influence the current components in various ways. For an extensive description of the ionic currents in the heart, the bibliography is given.


His bundle electrography.

His bundle electrography. In this presentation the use of His bundle electrography in the diagnostic localization of atrioventricular conduction defects is discussed. The recording of the His potential allows an identification of conduction disturbances at a level above, in, or below the His bundle. Atrioventricular conduction can be stressed and latent conduction abnormalities thereby unmasked by atrial stimulation tests, such as the gradual increasing of the atrial driving rate, or the application of single atrial premature beats of which the coupling interval is gradually shortened. These stimulation methods make a quantitative characterization of the impulse conduction in the different parts of the A-V conduction system possible.


[The left-fascicular blocks ("hemiblocks")]. The left ventricular impulse conduction system is composed of two, three or more fasciculi. The blocking of the impulse in one fasciculus is termed a left fascicular block or "hemiblock" for short. The anatomical variations of the left ventricular impulse conduction system, and the possibility of partial blocking, makes the electrocardiographic diagnosis more difficult. The ECG criteria of left fascicular blocking - with special regard to the left anterior fascicular block - and their combinations with the right block (bilateral bifascicular block) are discussed. A bilateral trifascicular block without total AV block (in presence of a third left ventricular fascicle) is diagnosable in the ECG. The limits of electrocardiographic diagnosis of the fascicular impulse conduction disorders are shown and the importance of anamnestic and clinical data are emphasised with regard to therapy. Frequency and etiology of fascicular blocking are noted.


[Propagation of stimuli].

[Propagation of stimuli]. Cardiac muscle is considered as a biological cable, similar to fibres of skeletal muscle or nerve. "Local currents" within the core of the cable and through the extracellular space are responsible for the propagation of membrane excitation. Conduction velocity depends on (i) fibre diameter, (ii) specific resistance of the core and interstitial fluid, (iii) strength of possible inward current through the surface membrane. Conduction delay and possible block is found at sites of transition between terminal Purkinje fibres and ventricular muscle. Monophasic action potentials of somewhat different shapes are recorded from various parts of the heart. A slow upstroke is characteristic for sites of low conduction velocity (SA-node, AV-node). A progressive decrease of resting potential in the phase of diastole is typical for regions showing a tendency to automatic impulse generation (SA-node, AV-node, Purkinje fibres). Cardiac muscle is a functional syncytium. This statement is based on (i) measurements of electrical resistance between cells and (ii) diffusion experiments using tracer substances. Progressive de-coupling is observed under various pathological conditions, resulting in slow conduction or block.


Adrenal venography and ultrasound in the investigation of the adrenal gland: an analysis of 58 cases. Adrenal venography has been carried out in 58 patients with the left adrenal vein being successfully catheterized in 91 per cent and the right in 77 per cent. Of the 30 patients with primary hyperaldosteronism, 11 adenomas (12-35 mm diameter) have been demonstrated at venography and two of 15 mm suspected, all of which were confirmed surgically. Aldosterone levels in the adrenal vein plasma were raised on the affected side. In the group of proved micronodular hyperplasia, two patients had surgically confirmed macronodules and venography demonstrated one of 12 mm diameter. Two adenomas of 11 mm and one macronodule of 15 mm have been demonstrated at venography in the remainder who have not had an operation. Ultrasound was carried out in 12 patients with primary hyperaldosteronism, ten of which had tumours at venography. Two adenomas measuring 30 and 31 mm were outlined by ultrasound and confirmed surgically. Seven adenomas, including one macronodule (10-25 mm in diameter) were not defined. Three intra-adrenal phaeochromocytomas (45-90 mm) and one extra-adrenal (80-85 mm) were demonstrated at arteriography, identified by ultrasound and confirmed surgically. Of the ten patients with Cushing's syndrome three had enlarged glands at venography, this was confirmed surgically. Cumulative experience from this analysis and published reports indicate that venography will demonstrate tumours of 10 mm or more in diameter and outline enlarged glands; aldosterone assays will lateralize tumours as small as 3 mm; ultrasound will outline tumours of 30 mm and selective adrenal arteriography will demonstrate tumours of 10 mm. One patient developed acute adrenal cortical insufficiency with intra-adrenal extravasation on one side and thrombosis of the central vein on the opposite side. A second case developed temporary adreno-cortical insufficiency. Published reports indicate that the risk of complication is about 1 per cent. The report includes an anatomical study of the efferent adrenal veins in 50 patients paying particular attention to the diameter, number of accessory hepatic veins, and the angle of entry and position of the right adrenal vein.


Intraluminal iliac venous calcification. Two patients with bilateral intraluminal iliac venous calcifications have been reported. Both patients are elderly multiparous females with long-standing peripheral venous disease and a history of previous gynaecologic surgery. The iliac thrombosis may have occurred at the time of delivery or pelvic surgery. These are the first such cases to be reported in the English literature in the last 25 years and the only example documented with venography in the recent world literature.


Axial hypocycloidal tomography of the orbits. Axial hypocycloidal tomography has been applied to the investigation of 168 patients with suspected pathology in the orbit. Of these 75 had histological or angiographic confirmation of a space occupying lesion, and 55 patients showed positive evidence of abnormality. The X-ray changes observed include osteolysis and hyperostosis of the bony walls of the orbit, enlargement of the orbit-local and generalized, soft tissue abnormalities, and changes in the optic canal and superior orbital fissure. The most important evidence of the presence of a tumour or granuloma in the orbit was given by a positive "medial wall sign". This consists of a flattening or incurvation of the medial boundary of the orbit, best demonstrated by axial tomography. The sign was seen in 36.6 per cent of patients with proven intra-orbital space occupying lesions in the series. Axial hypocycloidal tomography is now an indispensable part of the diagnostic evaluation of patients with suspected orbital tumours and the procedure is complementary to other non-invasive investigations of the orbit, such as axial computerized tomography and ultrasonography.


Chronic Gaucher's disease: radiological findings in 17 South African cases. This paper reports radiological findings in a series of 17 South African patients with chronic (adult or non-neuronopathic) Gaucher's disease. Osteoarticular signs are briefly analysed on the basis of their pathogenesis. The visceral findings included an enormous calcified spleen and three cases with pulmonary lesions. Important advances have been made recently in diagnosing. Gaucher's disease and detecting carriers by demonstration of deficiency of beta-glucosidase. Radiographs are not diagnostic, but they may provide valuable clues to the nature and extent of lesions in bone, and they are essential in orthopaedic management of Gaucher's disease.


The measurement of sequential changes in cortical bone geometry. A method is described whereby the sequential changes occurring in the thickness of the cortices of the metacarpal shafts may be observed. The method utilizes pairs of hand radiographs from which the total bone width and medullary width of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th metacarpals are determined in duplicate using needle-tipped Vernier calipers. The errors are discussed and the precision of the method is shown to compare very favourably with the precision of the most recent densitometric techniques. The rate of loss of bone in post-menopausal women is evaluated, and is shown to be dependent upon the number of years elapsed since the menopause.


Ultrasound recording of fetal breathing. Apparatus for recording fetal chest wall movements is described. Special reference is made to technical considerations which can improve the quality of records obtained. Fetal breathing was observed in 44 out of 45 recordings. Maternal respiration and pulse could give rise to potentially confusing signals which were identified by recording these parameters on a separate channel.


Deconvolution analysis of the scintillation camera renogram. A scintillation camera with digital data store has been used to assess renal function. Analysis of the renogram by deconvolution, using an on-line digital computer, shows promise as a means of expressing renal function in terms of tubular transit times for 123I-Hippuran.


Radiation-induced chromosomal aberrations in human lymphocytes after partial-body exposure to 60Co gamma-irradiation and in vitro exposure to 230 kV X-irradiation. Small yields of chromosome aberrations were present in lymphocytes from 12 patients observed at first metaphase in culbure. Blood samples were obtained at various times, up to three days, after single partial-body therapeutic exposure ranging from 75 to 400 rads of 60Co gamma-irradiation. When all patients were considered there was no correlation between treatment dose and aberration frequency, but on subdivision into two groups on the basis of whether the reticuloendothelial system was involved in the cancer, linear regression analysis could be fitted to the data for each group. An in vitro dose response curve for dicentrics induced by 230 kV X rays at a dose rate of 23.3 rads per minute was constructed for use as a standard calibration curve for 48 hour cultures. The yield of dicentric aberrations was best fitted by a power law model, Y = kDn in which k = (1.59 +/- 0.66) 10(-4) and n= 1.49 +/- 0.08, (P =0.96).


Polysplenia.

Polysplenia. Polysplenia is a rare syndrome of visceral anomalies. The diagnosis in vivo may be difficult. Recently Vaughan, Hawkins and Elliott (1971) stressed the importance of visceral arteriography for a correct diagnosis. A patient with this condition was seen by us and the angiographic findings are reported hereby.


Iron poisoning in children.

Iron poisoning in children. In the present state of our knowledge it must be concluded that the outstanding anatomic changes directly attributable to acute iron poisoning are in the gastrointestinal tract and the liver. Both seem to be due to the direct action of iron upon living cells. In the stomach and small bowel the changes appear to be due to the corrosive effect of the iron salt whether in solution or in tablet form. And the anion  may indeed play the predominant role as demonstrated by the observation of the severe corrosive changes observed when accumulations of ferrous sulfate tablets occur in areas of the stomach or small bowel. That the mucosal barrier to iron is broken down seems incontrovertible. And it is no longer tenable to assume that the  severe complications of iron poisoning are due to the local necroses in the gastrointestinal tract. The liver, being the first parenchymal organ encountered by absorbed iron, is involved to a varying degree. The anatomic changes can progress to frank necrosis in severe cases. And even in those where overt histologic damage is not demonstrable, alterations in biochemical function occur. Anatomic changes in other parenchymal organs are probably largely secondary to dehydration, shock, hemorrhage, and infection. But the possibility of disordered enzyme systems here as well must be borne in mind though  so far not demonstrated. In severe cases where hemorrhages play so large a role, albeit infrequently, the specific action of iron in interference with coagulation mechanisms is of the utmost importance. The role of therapy with deferoxamine in production of shock is discussed below. In this connection breakdown of the mucosal barrier with release of apoferritin and ferritin as a hypotensive mechanism has also been suggested by Smith.


Characteristics of heavy users of outpatient prescription drugs. One hundred fifty-eight users of eight or more different prescription drugs in a three-month period were identified, using computerstored pharmacy data. Compared with 99 "light" users of only one or two different drugs, these heavy users were more likely to be older, female, and white and to have blue collar occupations, if male, or to be housewives, if female. Heavy drug use was associated with  greater use of other medical care and was usually a persistent  characteristic. Prepayment for drug prescriptions was not associated with heavy use. Among heavy users were found some severely ill individuals, and some with emotional  problems that appear to contribute  to symptoms and requests for drugs. In a 21-month period, adverse drug reactions were experienced by 28% of heavy users as compared  with 8% of light users.


[Productive films in patient groups].

[Productive films in patient groups]. For 3 years I have been trying to establish creative teamwork with a group of drug-addicted adolescents with the aim of stimulating imagination by visual means, thus enlightening hidden problems, and showing a way to self-representation. Especially with these patients an attitude of mistrust makes verbal access difficult. The group consists of some eight adolescents of about the same age, with whom I in no way try to interfere through provocation. We meet twice a week. On one day we discuss ideas, scripts and technical problems, the other day being dedicated to the practical side. My position in the group equals that of the hierarchic dynamic basic formula according to Raoul Schindler. The group is allocentric, work being aimed at common achievement. We try to create a feeling of solidarity, reduce tensions, and encourage individual relationships. So far we have accomplished four films. Teamwork has helped us to come to know each other better. The interpersonal relationships have improved. The barrier between doctor and patient has been completely obliterated.


[Spiritual manifestations in prehistoric images]. Having visited the places of prehistoric cult and cave paintings of the Franco-Cantabrian region, central Sahara, Monte Bego and Val Camonica as well as Switzerland and Austria, the author attempts to outline a chronological profile of the occidental prehistoric art. The evolution is marked by a progressive extension of the mental horizon and of the ability to abstract, the emergence of a more analytical and composed way of thinking, the development of an anesthetic representation power which no doubt were the basis of the invention of writing.


[The relationship between the structuralism of Levi-Strauss and linguistic methods. An attempt at applying structuralist phonologic models to the study of pathologic language]. The structuralism which is generally accepted as a 'good French' school of thinking, presents in some of its applications the short-time character of fashion in such a way that one often forgets what this philosophy implicates. In this essay, the author intends to show that even though a structural method really exists, one cannot say who exactly is 'the father' of structuralism. But during the long maturity period of thought that resulted in structuralism, one important step has been made in France by Lévi-Strauss who has been using a great number of linguistic concepts, and at the same time has contributed to the consequent progress realized in that discipline. In the light of linguistics and of the works made by Lévi-Strauss some notions are redefined: those of structure, those of oppositions in the systems, those of relations inside one system, and the interactions between 'significant' and 'signifié'. Born from recent research in mathematics and cybernetics, the notion of Model, very fertile in linguistics, is an important element in the Lévi-Strauss structural methodology. With the help of examples taken from phonetics and phonology, the author intends to show how to elaborate a model, of what nature are the links between the observed object and the model, and what can be the applications of that method in the study of pathological languages; the author also intends to show that the main interest in a model of structural type is its explicative and previsional quality. A critical study of the structural analysis makes it possible to show the real contribution of structuralism: the author presents new ways that have been revealed by structuralism and some developments later on favorized by this discipline, mainly in linguistics. Remark. In this study of structuralism, the author places herself on the level with 'method' and not with 'philosophy'.


[Color game--trial of a preventive method]. The 'Colour Game' is a methodically elaborated game using finger-paints. It is a form of adult education. An aid to mental hygiene and to the prevention of mental illness, it is intended to help people of today who are unable to cope with the demands of life and consequently feel frustrated. It is important for them to take preventive measures to avoid becoming mentally ill. Over a period of years this game as a means of communication between generations has produced some very suprising experiences. It promotes understanding between parents, even grandparents, and children, and thus affords some interesting aspects from the gerontological point of view. Clinical trials with groups of adults and mentally ill children have so far yielded positive results.


Art - a strategic and empirical therapy? Art therapy in Britain has progressed on two main lines, the empirical (aesthetic) and the strategic (psychological). In the writer's experience neither approach is adequate to deal with one particular style of creative expression, referred to as the basic archaic, linear style, and indicative of severe autistic regression when it becomes stereotyped. Attention is drawn to the importance of the appearance of fragments of other (transitional) styles that may appear and offer the key to therapeutic progress.


[The role of electroshock in the era of psychopharmacology]. Since the introduction of medicamental therapies in psychiatry, the electroshock technique has been put aside. After having noticed the fact "figures in hand", the speaker: --Reminds the practical conditions of electroshock, its principal indications during depressions and schizophrenia. --Compares the various convulsive techniques and especially the unilateral electroshock as well as those based on the use of pharmacological agents. --Proposes applicable therapeutical rules divided into six points and meant for "resistant" depressions.


[Limits of efficacy and tolerance of antidepressive medications]. About 35 to 40 % of all depressions still resist antidepressants either imipraiminic or M.A.O.I. In some cases recourse to E.S.T. may even be required. Recurrent monopolar depressions, hypochondriac depressions in aged patients, depressive states in psychotic evolutions are among the most difficult to be treated. Some factors of resistance (such as side benefits) happen in reactive and neurotic depressions and are independent of the pharmacological action. Among the problems of tolerance that have not been completely solved it is interesting to note, in the case of the tricyclics, confusional states and the dangers of toxicity for the heart, and in the case of M.A.O.I. the numerous forbidden associations (such as morphine-like substances, tricyclics, sympathicomimetic drugs...). The new compounds with supposed antidepressive action, such as hypothalamic factors (T.R.H. or M.I.F.) or the 5 H.T.P. represent research hypotheses rather than safe ground of treatment. The problems of maximal doses and long-acting antidepressants are also discussed.


[Antidepressives and anesthesia].

[Antidepressives and anesthesia]. Anesthesia and anti-depressors have a bad name: is their reputation justified? In the opinion of the Anesthesiologist, it is justified in a large part concerning the IMAO, because there is no absolutely secure solution in large scale surgery. On the other hand, the value of accidents must be reset in its proper place. Only the hypertensive increase is very worrying, not so the drop in tension, and it is often the therapeutical gesture which induces the catastrophe. As far as the tricyles are concerned, they never lead to real problems, if we are aware of the treatment to be applied.


[General anesthesia for electroshock therapy]. Those are a few reflexions to be pondered by psychiatrists, to remind them what are the dangers connected with anesthesia for electroshock-therapy. Some of those risks are well-known: inhalation of gastric liquids, recess in ventilation. Others are somehow more obscure: hyperkalemia, extended curarization after injection of succinylcholine. The risk is therefore still present: to know it is to be ready to face it.


[The aging of the mentally ill].

[The aging of the mentally ill]. The growing old of patients levels and reduces the affective impact of the mental diseases in the way of leucotomia (Muller). The author considers this problem of these patient's destiny. The fact of sending them to retreat-home may recreate new-focus of segregation. The chimiotherapy becomes illusory when treating old people (iatrogene pseudo-dementia. Irreversible tertiary effect of the medical treatments). The old psychotic dies more peacefully than the old person who has become psychotical late in life with a kind of serenity which evokes a bonze's wisdom, identification pattern for the young people. Is schizophrenia a chronic disease or is it made chronic by our society? Is there an analogy between the residual mental automatism and the Far-Eastern extasis?


[Psychiatry and sectorial politics].

[Psychiatry and sectorial politics]. The organization in "sectors" of psychiatric assistance represents one answer to the need to perfect the treatment of mental illnesses and to promote an effective prophylaxis. "Sectorial politics" derive at the same time from the broad principles of community psychiatry as well as from a necessary evolution of hospital assistance. Faced with the perspectives the psychiatrist may experience difficulties regarding his own "situation" and fears concerning the manner in which he will be "utilised". He tends to amplify in order to better denounce, the various risks of deviation of "sectorial politics": demedicalisation, abusive "psychiatrisation", threats to  individual liberties, etc... However, the effective participation of all psychiatrists constitutes the best guarantee that these risks will be avoided.


[Moreno's psychodrama].

[Moreno's psychodrama]. Moreno's psychodrama is a technique of training and of group therapy which obeys the laws of sociometry. At the beginning of his career, Moreno as Freud, found himself in a transcultural position which allowed him to better observe the "classical occidental individual" captive of his stereotypal "Tinned culture". The psychodrama aims to the liberation of the human being alienated in his individuality thus giving him back a creative and relational spontaneity owing to the cathartic value of the collective game and drama (taken is its etymological sense). The new American society, issued from the old Europe, allowed him to practise his theoretical conceptions of sociometry. If the Psychodrama is a method of remarkable efficiency in the training of dynamic psychology of groups, its therapeutics indications must be given with the greatest caution, in order to be at any time under medical control, specifically psychiatric control.


[Clinical and electroencephalographic study of a new antidepressive agent, mono-methyl-amino-propyl-dibenzo-bicyclo-octadine hydrochloride (Ciba 34, 276 Ba)]. A clinical trial on fifty patients studied a new compound with a quadricyclic structure, Ciba 34.276-Ba or Maprotiline in any category of depression. The product was found to have notable antidepressive properties, capable to act on the melancholic depressions of the manic depressive psychosis and of involutive melancholia. The best results were noted in the neurotic and reactive depressions perhaps because a tranquilizing activity marked in the majority of the cases. The clinical tolerance was found good and the side effects which reminded of those caused by derivates of Imipramine, remained moderate while the biological tolerance was perfect. The modifications of the electroencephalogram were of two types, one of them suggesting thymoanaleptic activity, the other suggesting rather a sedative activity.


[Psychiatry and the control of procreation]. Natural human reproduction is now controlled by medical means -contraception, surgical sterilization, free abortion-but for some couples (with a sterility problem) procreation is assisted by biological artifices-heterologous artificial insemination-or simulated by legal artifices = adoption (in France adopted children are officially notified as born from their adopting parents). These new biological methods and customs may create emotional disturbances and problems of identity. Psychiatrists have to know, to prevent or to treat them. This is a new pathology and there is a new role for psychiatrist.


[Betahistidine hydrochloride in the treatment of vertebro-basilar insufficiency]. The therapeutical results with betahistidine -HCl in 50 patients with vertebrobasilar arterial insufficiency (VBI) are reported. Betahistidine was given in an average dosage of 4 mg three times daily. The basic clinical criterion for evaluation was the presence of vertigo in all patients. Patients with long-tract symptoms were excluded from the study. Clinical evaluation was assessed following a 4-point rating scale. Three examinations were carried out, i.e.: (I) prior to the therapy; (II) one month thereafter and (III) six months after the first examination. There were: a mild but definited improvement in 22 %, a good improvement in 44 %, a very good one in 16 % and no improvement or worsening of the condition in 18 % of the patients. No side effects were noticed. A double blind study was carried out in 10 patients with positive results. The reported data are showing that this drug is a useful short and long-term treatment in cases with "nuclear" forms of VBI where vertigo is predominent.


[Correlations between human portal and peripheral venous insulin and proinsulin concentrations under glucose infusion]. In 8 female patients carbohydrate tolerance was proved by means of glucose infusion test 3 days after cholecystectomy. Parameters analyzed in portal and peripheral vein blood are compared with that of 47 healthy persons. All patients demonstrate a pathological carbohydrate tolerance after cholecystectomy, further characterized by an increased lipolysis, a paradoxical rise of HGH, a diminished insulin secretion during the early and increased IRI output in the second phase. There is a significant positive correlation between portal and peripheral vein IRI concentration despite the rising portalperipheral venous IRI difference with raised portal venous IRI concentration. Corresponding differences for proinsulin concentrations can be established in the early phase only. Relations existing between blood glucose and IRI are shown by multiple regression analysis. They suggest that the altitude of IRI concentration is determined by previous blood glucose concentration.


[Comparison between the oral glucose tolerance test and the glucose infusion test in the characterization of protodiabetes]. Within 3 days the 2-hour glucose infusion test (GIT) and the 50gm oral glucose tolerance test (oGTT) were performed in 113 normal weight and 33 obese persons suspected to protodiabetes and in 14 control subjects respectively. The results are compared with criteria from a group of healthy persons without any heredity of diabetes worked out in our laboratory. In about 66 per cent of the investigated subjects a concordance between both tests could observed in carbohydrate tolerance. Abnormal results were found more frequently after the oral glucose application. From these finding it was concluded a higher sensitivity of the oGTT. On the other hand followup studies of the disagreed diagnosis have shown that in 91 per cent the test results of the GIT were reproduced. The insulin secretion pattern agreed in 70 per cent between both tests. Whereas the insulin secretion pattern during the oGTT does not allowed to differ between the groups using the glucose infusion test we were able to observe a significant diminished hormone release in the initial as well as in the late phases, if the carbohydrate tolerance was pathologically. Summarizing the results we concluded that the GIT is characterized by a good reproducibility and a higher diagnostic importance than the 50 gm oGTT.


[Results of long-term biguanide therapy as a preventive measure in protodiabetes]. 55 patients with pathological glucose tolerance received a long term treatment with buformin (200 mg daily). In 43 of the protodiabetics the duration of treatment was one year, in 29 of them two years and in 11 three  years. The age of the patients was 38 years and the mean relative body weight was 118 per cent. The effect of buformin on glucose tolerance and insulin secretion was tested with the glucose infusion test before and after the periods of treatment. After one year we found in 58 per cent, after two years in 69 per cent and after three years in 64 per cent of the protodiabetics an improvement of glucose tolerance. In these groups the results showed a rise of the IRI in the low responder and a decrease of the IRI in the high responder. The good effects on glucose tolerance were not demonstrable in the compared groups with long-term treatment of diet only.


Testosterone concentration in testicular venous blood of adult rats and seminal citric acid and fructose concentration as well as weight of accessory sex organs. In 31 adult rats of Wistar strain (body weight 231 +/- 14g) the relationships between testosterone concentration in testicular venous blood of an individual rat and weight of accessory sex organs (testes, seminal vesicles, ventral prostate, levator ani muscle) and citric acid and fructose concentrations in seminal vesicles were investigated. No direct relationship was found between testosterone concentration and the above parameters. The correlation coefficient varied from 0.042 to 0.394.


Further studies on prostaglandins. III. Effect of prostaglandins on thyroid activity as assessed by 125I. The effect of crude prostaglandins extraced from prostate glands of camels as well as that PGE1, on the thyroid activity of male immature Boskat rabbits, was investigated. The iodinated amino acid fractions (T1, T2, T3 and T4) in the serum of the injected groups were determined in control and treated animals. Cytological work on sections of the thyroid glands of the treated and control rabbits were performed to study the effect on subcellular level. The results indicate that both crude and pure prostaglandins have a stimulating effect on thyroid activity. This was indicated by the increased 125I uptake of the thyroids of rabbits and evidenced histologically. PGE1, was found to be more effective as compared with the crude prostaglandins. The indinated amino acid and hormone fractions in the serum of the treated groups showed that T2 was increased as a result of injection of the crude prostaglandins, and T4 was increased after PGE1 injection. Tables and figures explained diversed effect.


The budgerigar (Melopsittacus undulatus) as endocrinological test model. Thyroxine transport in blood. By comparing in-vivo and in-vitro investigations the transport protein of thyroxine in the budgerigar (Melopsittacus undulatus) was determined. Electrophoretic and auto-radiographic methods were applied. Both investigations show the alpha-globulin to be a thyroxine-binding protein. The contradictions to other investigators are discussed. The experimental animal as an endocrinological model of the thyroid for questions of human medicine is recommended.


Hypothalamo-neurohypophysial complex in leukemia L 1210-bearing mice. Mice of the DBA strain were inoculated with 4.5 x 10(6) L1210 ascites cells and the time response of the hypothalamo-neurohypophysial complex was studied. The amount of neurosecretory material was determined in the neuroendocrine cells of supraoptic and paraventricular nuclei, throughout the hypothalamo-neurohypophysial tract and in the neural lobe of the hypophysis. Three methods of response evaluation were employed: the amoount of neurosecretory material was estimated according to an arbitrary scale, by cytophotometry while for the hypothalamic cell-nuclei the karyometric method was used. The existence of a functional interrelation between the presence of leukemic cells and the activity of the hormonogenic sites in the hypothalamus is suggested. A clear response to the tumor inoculation was established both in the amount of stainable substance and in the nuclear volume of the secretory neurones. It is suggested that an accelerated synthesis and release of neurosecretory material in tumor recipient mice reduces renal excretion in order to compensate a dehydration caused by the production of ascitic fluid.


The effects of CBG on the in vitro reduction of 3H-progesterone by liver homogenates and cell suspensions. The effects of CBG on 3H-progesterone metabolism by ovine, bovine and rat liver homogenates and bovine and rat liver cell suspensions were studied. As a source of CBG served plasma from "estrogenized" women. Same plasma, pretreated at 60 degree for 20 min. served as control. It was found that the amounts of 3H-progesterone remaining after incubation were higher in the presence of CBG, as compared with control incubations, when using the homogenates. No such effect was observed in case of cell suspensions.


[Rat ovarian function after post or prenatal injection of clomiphen]. If newborn rats are subcutaneously injected with 0,075--0,100 mg of Clomiphene Citrate within the first 5 days, it results that 73.7% of the females remain anovulatory. The percentage rises to 100 if 0,125--0,400 mg are given in several injections. The identical treatment has no influence on the testicular function. Prenatal administration to pregnant rats (total amount 0,250--2,70 mg in repeated subcutaneous injections) interrupts the pregnancy in a high percentage, but has no effect on the later gonadal function of the foetuses. Equally ineffective is the prenatal intra-amniotic injection of clomiphene (0,125--0,250 mg into each amniotic cavity). In this respect the action of Clomiphene differs from the action of testosterone and also of estradiol, as these two hormones produce the identical effect after intra-amniotic as after postnatal administration i.e. they are effective if passage through the placenta is avoided. Clomiphene, postnatally effective, loses its effectiveness when intra-amniotically injected, although the placenta is eluded. An inactivating action of the amnion fluid could be the explanation of this phenomenon.


Urinary androgen response of 8 girls with precocious puberty given cyproterone acetate. The effects of cyproterone acetate (CA), daily oral administration of 100 mg/m2, on the levels of urinary androgen excretion and velocity of skeletal maturation were studied in 8 girl patients with precocious puberty. Under therapy, testosterone excretion fell within a short time, and velocity of skeletal maturation normalized when the treatment was prolonged. Other beneficial effects such as stoppage of vaginal bleeding and no further growth of breast size and public hair, were also observed. Of 3 subjects, who were given CA for a period of 2--3 yrs, 2 showed further increments in testosterone excretion levels.


[The morphology and function of rat C-cells. 4. Determination of calcium, inorganic phosphorus and total nitrogen in the femora of untreated parathyroidectomized or thyreoparathyroidectomized and hormonally substituted female rats]. Female Wistar rats of a live weight of about 160 g and fed with a standard laboratory diet, were parathyroidectomized, or thyroparathyroidectomized and treated with thyroxine, parathyroid hormone, calcitonin. thyroxine and parathyroid hormone, or thyroxine and calcitonin. On the 15th day post operationem, and after twelve days of hormone treatment, the concentrations of calcium, inorganic phosphorus and total nitrogen were determined in the femur bone. Parathyroidectomy resulted in a decrease of phosphorus concentration in bone. After thyroparathyroidectomy (Tx), the concentrations of inorganic phosporus and nitrogen diminished during some days, whereas the calcium content decreased continuously. Thyroxine application normalized the concentration of inorganic phosphorus. The osteolytic and nitrogen-anabolic effect of parathyroid hormone took place only in simultaneous treatment with thyroxine. The injection of calcitonin had a nitrogen-anabolic effect on bone; the simultaneous treatment with thyroxine induced a loss of calcium out of bone, and a deposition of calcium phosphate in renal tissue. Calcitonin did not inhibit a significant decrease of calcium concentration in the femur bone; the hypophosphatemic effect was always present. The metabolism of bone tissue, influenced by hormonal actions, probably determined the localization of the deposition of inorganic phosphorus, deserting the serum under the influence of calcitonin.


The effect of exogenous TSH and Achilles tendon reflex time in man. The effect of exogenous thyrotropin (TSH) -- 3 X 10 IU daily -- on Achilles tendon reflex time (ART) was investigated in the group of 38 in-patients, treated for thyroid cancer. A significant shortening of ART was recorded in a subgroup of hypothyroid persons after the 2nd and 3rd dose of TSH. Moreover, a significant correlation was proved between initial values of ART and their changes after the 2nd and 3rd TSH injection in this group. No significant interrelationship was observed between changes of thyroid function and ART after TSH administration. In interpretation of this finding the possibility of direct effect of TSH on muscle metabolism in hypothyroid man should be considered.


Carbohydrate metabolism in rats after partial or total isolation of the medial hypothalamus. After medial hypothalamic deafferentation at complete (CD), frontal (FD), or frontolateral (FL) levels, at the same time with adrenocortical hormone determination, sensitivity to insulin and insulinemia were determined at a postoperative time, when adenohypophyseal hormonogenetic process concerned to ACTH and growth hormone, is reverted to the normal. The glucose assimilation coefficient (K) was followed weekly for a month postoperatively. Insulin sensitivity decreased after CD and increased after FD. FL and CD rats had significantly elevated plasma insulin level, despite normoglycemia. The changes recorded in plasma insulin level and sensitivity to insulin are attributed primarily to the CNS defect. After hypothalamic isolation, K is unchanged. This might point to the creation of new set point for hypo- and hyperglycemiating system, respectively. We concluded that the presence of nervous connections of the medial hypothalamus with surrounding nervous structures is necessary for a normal carbohydrate metabolism control.


A thymic factor increasing the blood sugar level. The thymus extract prepared by using isotonic NaC1 solution causes hyperglycaemy and the thymectomy, too, produces the same effect. Consequently, the active substance of the thymus is produced elsewhere in the organism and being stored within the thymus, gets into the extract by homogenizing its cells. Both the thymectomy and the thymic factor increase the effect of alloxan and this sensitizing effect can be prevented by pretreatment with prednisolone.


Immunoreactive insulin and obesity in women. The authors investigated basal and glucose stimulated (50 g by mouth) IRI values in women with normal weight and obese women (58) under conditions of balanced body-weight and after its reduction. The body composition was determined (from body density), and from specimens of subcutaneous abdominal adipose tissue also the size of fat cells and their total number. In obese women significantly higher IRI levels (basal and stimulated) were found as compared with controls and these values had a marked tendency towards normalization after reduction of body weight. The authors found significant relations between IRI values and the degree of obesity, fat content and lean body mass. The closest correlation was found between the stimulated IRI values and Broca's index (r = +0.8227). Between the loss of body-weight and body fat and between changes of IRI in obese subjects no significant relations were found. Investigation of the relationship of IRI and the size and total number of fat cells revealed marked associations between basal values and the sum of stimulated IRI values and the size of the fat cell. Relations between IRI and the total number of fat cells were not significant. When investigating the relationship between the incidence of obesity in the family and IRI values it was revealed that the group of obese women with obese mothers, as compared with the group who had neither parent obese, had a significantly higher basal IRI value and IRI value after stimulation with glucose during the 120th and 180th minute, the higher basal value in the group with an obese father was not significant. After weight reduction the differences between basal and stimulated IRI values were not significant.


The effects of testosterone administered neonatally on the incorporation of 3H-leucine into protein by thyroid gland of rat: a neonatal priming. Rats were castrated on day 2 after birth, given one injection of testosterone pronate (TP: 2.5 mg) or oil just after operation and then received TP or oil when adult. 3H-Leucine was injected intravenously 2.5 hours before killing. The incorporation of labelled amino acid into protein was investigated in the thyroid glands. Males receiving TP both neonatally and when adult incorporate twice as much labelled leucine into protein as compared to their counterparts. Grain density was highest in the thyroid gland of early hormone treated rats when challanged with testosterone in adulthood. Thyroid gland priming by early hormone treatment has been discussed.


Effect of ovariectomy and replacement therapy on the tissue lipid pattern in rats. Ovariectomy increases the percentage of total lipids in liver, kidney and uterus of intact cyclic rats. Estrogen and progesterone, when administered individually to ovariectomized rats, caused a decrease in the total lipid content of all tissues. Th effect of progesterone in estrogen-primed rats is not significant. Triglyceride and cholesterol content increases after ovariectomy; treatment with estrogen in ovariectomized rats led to a decrease in the concentration of these lipids. Progesterone has no significant effect on these lipids but showed an antagonistic action when given in estrogen-primed ovariectomized rats. The proportions of ethanolamine, choline and inositol phospholipids decreased after spaying and increased when estrogen was given to spayed rats. Progesterone alone had effect only on the uterus whereas progesterone administered to estrogen-primed rats showed an antagonistic effect in all tissues.


The mechanism of liver splanchnomegaly produced by a transplantable pituitary mammotropic tumor in rats. The mechanism of liver splanchnomegaly developed in rats bearing a transplantable pituitary mammotropic tumor which secretes large amounts of ACTH and prolactin has been studied. The results indicate that in the first phase of tumor growth liver enlargement could be due to hypertrophy, and later mainly to hyperplasia which overcomes hypertrophy. The adrenal glands were found to play an essential role in the process of liver splanchnomegaly because adrenalectomy prevented the disproportional growth of the liver. Evidence is presented showing that glucocorticoids are the dominant hormones responsible for the development of liver splanchnomegaly.


Direct radioimmunoassay of progesterone in plasma of farm animals. A radioimmunoassay technique has been developed for measuring progesterone directly, without extraction, in 20-mul-aliquots of plasma. The assay was performed in disposable polystyrene test-tubes. Working range of the calibration curve was 0.3 to 10 ng/ml, the precision rangin from 30 to 6%, respectively. The results obtained by the presented method are fully comparable to those reported by others. This method has been applied to farm animals, but is also applicable to other species whose plasma has a low affinity for progesterone.


Total and free testosterone in plasma of hypo- and agonadal men. Plasma total testosterone (T), apparently free T and testosterone binding globulin (TeBG) capacity determined in 14 normal men aged 30-40 years were 461 +/- 100 ng/100 ml, 9.4 +/- 3.0 ng/100 ml and 5.7 +/- 1.9 X 10(-8) M, respectively, whereas in 16 hypogonadal men the corresponding values were 38.6 +/- 27.2 ng/100 ml, 0.47 +/- 0.41 ng/100 ml and 10.4 +/- 3.4 X 10(-8) M showing the TeBG capacity significantly higher (p less than 0.001) in hypogonadal than in normal men. Treatment of 5 hypogonadal subjects with 250 mg testosterone enanthate plus 50 mg testosterone propionate decreased (p less than 0.001) the TeBG level from 14.7 +/- 2.5 X 10(-8YM to 8.3 +/- 1.4 X 10(-8) M on day 8 after a single injection. According to this difference in TeBG, the free T fraction in plasma rose from 0.94% to 1.9% of the total T concentration. These results suggest that alteration of total plasma T affected the TeBG capacity. Decreased T levels raised and increased T concentrations suppressed TeBG, but with a delayed response to the changed T concentrations. The initial mean values in 12 patients with prostatic cancer aged 60-74 years were 397 +/- 165 ng/100 ml, 4.05 +/- 1.8 ng/100 ml and 11.9 +/- 3.3 X 10(-8) M, respectively. The TeBG capacity in these patients was significantly higher and the free T concentration significantly lower (p less than 0.001) than those of the younger normal males. After treatment with 12 g diethylstilbestrol diphosphate and orchidectomy, the TeBG increased to 33.3 +/- 13.1 X 10(-8) M and the plasma free T concentration decreased to the minimal value of 0.053 +/- 0.04 ng/100 ml.


Effect of glucose infusion on venous blood levels of immunoreactive proinsulin activity, insulin activity and fat parameters in healthy and protodiabetic subjects. Concentrations of immunoreactive insulin activity (IRI) and proinsulin activity (IRP), blood glucose, free fatty acids (FFA), glycerol, cholesterol, triglycerides were analyzed in 140 subjects suspect of protodiabetes and 50 healthy persons before, during and after a glucose infusion test (GIT). The protodiabetic subjects were classified into normweight, overweight, obese, hyperlipemic groups with diet or with Regadrin therapy and each of them subdivided into such with normal and such with pathological carbohydrate tolerance. Norm- and overweight subjects with asymptomatic diabetes were characterized by a significant reduction of insulin secretion during both phases. Obese patients with or without hyperlipoproteinemia demonstrated an increased IRI reaction during the late phase of secretion. Carbohydrate intolerance was associated with an enhancement of basal triglyceride levels and a reduced depression of glycerol and FFA during the GIT. There were no differences in fasting or reactive IRP concentrations between healthy and protodiabetic subjects with normal carbohydrate tolerance. In asymptomatic diabetes the IRP levels were increased during the late secretion phase, but the percentage of IRP in total IRI was normal or--in existing high response--significantly reduced in comparison to norm response. The results do not support an enhanced IRP secretion as the cause of carbohydrate intolerance.


Ovulation induced by the intraventricular infusion of norepinephrine in rats made anovulatory by neonatal administration of various doses of testosterone. Gradually increasing doses of neonatal TP decrease the rate of ovulation induced by intraventricular infusion of 100 mug of NE. This finding suggests that the reduced functional capacity of the LH-RH-producing neurons in androgen-sterilized rats may account for the difference between the ovulatory action of NE in anterior hypothalamus-lesioned and androgen-sterilized rat.


Heavy metal contamination from geothermal sources. Liquid-dominated hydrothermal reservoirs, which contain saline fluids at high temperatures and pressures, have a significant potential for contamination of the environment by heavy metals. The design of the power conversion cycle in a liquid-dominated geothermal plant is a key factor in determining the impact of the installation. Reinjection of the fluid into the reservoir minimizes heavy metal effluents but is routinely practiced at few installations. Binary power cycles with reinjection would provide even cleaner systems but are not yet ready for commercial application. Vapor-dominated systems, which contain superheated steam, have less potential for contamination but are relatively uncommon. Field data on heavy metal effluents from geothermal plants are sparse and confounded by contributions from "natural" sources such as geysers and hot springs which often exist nearby. Insofar as geothermal power supplies are destined to multiply, much work is required on their environmental effects including those caused by heavy metals.


Distribution of metallothionein-bound cadmium and cadmium chloride in mice: preliminary studies. Metallothionein from livers of mice was isolated by gel chromatography and isoelectric focusing. One of two forms thus obtained contained 32 percent cysteine. This form, labeled in vitro with 109Cd, was injected intravenously in mice, and the distribution of 109Cd was studied. Animals killed after 4 hrs had over 80 percent of the injected dose in the kidneys. Protein obtained after gel chromatography, containing both forms of cadmium-binding protein, was also labeled in vitro with 109Cd and injected intravenously. Animals killed 4 hrs after injection had 50 percent of the injected dose in the kidneys. Whole-body measurements and wholebody autoradiography demonstrated that approximately 40-60 percent of the injected dose had been excreted in urine. The results show a selective accumulation of metallothionein-bound cadmium in the kidney and indicate possible differences in distribution and excretion of cadmium depending on binding to different forms of low molecular weight cadmium-binding proteins.


Methylmercury in the environment: a review of current understanding. The danger of methylmercury poisoning appears to be slight when the environment is not directly contaminated with methylmercury. Sediments rapidly bind mercury and decrease its availability to aquatic organisms. Sediments further have a greater propensity to demethylate than to methylate mercury. In noncontaminated aquatic ecosystems, the concentrations of methylmercury and inorganic mercury are many times lower than those that have been found to cause toxicity, even in the most sensitive organisms. Methylmercury bound to protein is comparatively less toxic than methylmercury salts, and selenium present in this protein appear to be one of the major detoxifying agents for methylmercury. This is particularly important in seafood, where there is an excess of selenium compared to methylmercury.


Developmental and behavioral changes in the rat during chronic exposure to lead. Young male and female Sprague-Dawley rats were given drinking water containing 5 or 50 ppm Pb for 40 days prior to mating. Pregnant females were continued on these regimens throughout gestation and lactation. After weaning the offspring were similarly exposed through adulthood. Reflex development, body weights, and locomotor activity were measured in the offspring. Significant delays were noted in the development of the righting reflex at 5 and 50 ppm and in eye opening at 50 ppm. No difference was observed in development of the startle reflex at either dose. Mean body weights of treatment groups during this developmental period were not significantly different from controls. Locomotor activity was measured in adult males utilizing a residential maze. Both levels of lead produced a significant reduction in locomotor activity. When groups were treated with d-amphetamine (4.0 mg/kg subcutaneous), lead treatment caused a dose-related diminution in the amphetamine-induced hyperactivity. These results indicate that rats exposed to low levels of lead from conception until adulthood show a delay in nervous system development. As adults, these animals exhibit hypoactivity and decreased responsiveness to amphetamine.


Methylmercury-cholinesterase interactions in rats. The interaction of methylmercury hydroxide (MMH) and cholinesterases was studied in male and female rats. MMH administered subcutaneously in doses of 10 mg/kg for 2 days reduced the level of plasma cholinesterase (ButChE) by 68% in females and 47% in males while brain acetylcholinesterase (AChE) was unaffected. Normal females had higher but more variable ButChE levels than normal males. In a time-course experiment, a single dose of MMH (10 mg/kg) reduced ButChE levels when mercury levels reached 22 mug/ml in the blood. A 10% reduction in brain AChE was observed at 72 hours; however, mercury reached a concentration of only 2.0 mug/g in brain tissue. The determination of the Michaelis constant Km and maximum velocity value Vmax for butyrylcholine and ButChE in control and MMH-treated (1 mg/kg) animals indicated that MMH reduced Vmax only. Since no loss in ButChE activity occurred when MMH and control plasma were incubated in vitro, MMH is not a direct inhibitor of ButChE. Because only the inactive monomeric form of ButChE contains free sulfhydryl groups, it is postulated that MMH combines covalently with the sulfur, preventing formation of active enzyme. By analogy, it is believed this is also the case with AChE.


Arsenic pollution at Obuasi Goldmine, town, and surrounding countryside. Human hair samples from mine workers and Obuasi citizens; various food items; drinking and washing water from Obuasi town; vegetation and soils from the countryside bordering on the goldmine; and geological materials from the mining process were collected and analyzed by volumetric, gravimetric, colorimetric, and neutron activation methods in order to assess the degree of arsenic pollution brought about as a result of the goldmining operations at Obuasi.


Analysis of control methods: mercury and cadmium pollution. Physical system conceptual models are developed to illustrate the various interconnecting pathways of metal flow. Economic use of mercury and cadmium, as representative toxic heavy metals, is inventoried, and the losses of each from the pathways of economic use are compared. Distinctions are made between high volume consumers and industries that are responsible for a large percent of total emissions or effluent loads. The pathways of the metals in the environment are traced via the conceptual models. A global mass balance is presented for mercury. The problem of high local concentrations vs. global metal flow is reviewed. Impacts of the metals on human health are categorized by type of effect. Available control strategies and abatement measures are evaluated with respect to the effectiveness of each on the problems of metal pollution, as illustrated by the physical models.


Health effects of fossil fuel combustion products: report of a workshop. Judgemental positions are presented on research priorities in regard to the health effects from stationary sources of fossil fuel combustion products. Hopefully, they can provide guidance for efforts to ensure that national energy needs are met with minimum environmental and economic burdens on the public. The major areas include epidemiological studies, controlled biological studies, mutagenesis and carcinogenesis, trace elements, monitoring and analysis.


Determination of platinum, palladium, and lead in biological samples by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. A flameless atomic absorption method for the coextraction of platinum and palladium from biological and environmental samples by high molecular weight amine (HMWA) is given. Also, methods for lead determination in biological samples by use of extraction flameless analysis and direct aspiration-flame analysis are reported. A study of lead contamination of Vacutainer tubes is given.


Levels of platinum, palladium, and lead in populations of Southern California. Results of an epidemiology study of populations living near a freeway and in the high desert area of Southern California for levels of platinum, palladium and lead are presented. Three age groups (children, young adults, and mature adults) were sampled twice for blood, urine, hair, and feces. Air, water, and soil samples were collected in the areas of the residences of the two populations. The primary objective of this study was to obtain baseline levels of these metals prior to the introduction of the catalytic muffler. The samples were collected in September 1974.


Whole body retention in rats of different 191Pt compounds following inhalation exposure. The whole body retention, excretion, lung clearance, distribution, and concentration of 191Pt in other tissues was determined in rats following a single inhalation exposure to different chemical forms of 191Pt. The chemical forms of 191Pt used in study were 191PtCl4, 191Pt(SO4)2, 191PtO, and 191Pt metal. Immediately after exposure most of the 191Pt was found in the gastrointestinal and respiratory tract. Movement of the 191Pt through the gastrointestinal tract was rapid, most of the 191Pt being eliminated within 24 hr after exposure. Lung clearance was much slower, with a clearance half-time of about 8 days. In addition to the lungs, kidney and bone contained the highest concentrations of 191Pt.


Cardiovascular actions of palladium compounds in the unanesthetized rat. The natural occurrence of palladium (Pd) is rare. It is obtained as a by-product during the extraction of platinum and, until the present time, its uses were small in number--principally in the manufacture of jewelry, dental alloys, chemical catalysts, and electrical contacts. Interest in Pd toxicology has been limited to occupational exposures and even that has been sparse. Recently Pd has been chosen as one of the metals to be incorporated into the automotive catalytic converter material. Palladium chloride has been shown to be extremely toxic when given to rabbits intravenously. Animals rapidly injected quickly died with damage chiefly to the heart. This heart damage was not explained or further defined, and other references addressing this subject have not been found. The objective of our study was to investigate and attempt to characterize toxic actions of soluble Pd compounds on the cardiovascular system of the unanesthetized rat. Surgically prepared rats were monitored for ECG, aortic blood pressure, cardiac contractility (dp/dt), and respiration before, during, and 1 hr following intravenous injections of Pd2+ salt solutions. Our findings indicate that injected Pd2+ profoundly disturbs the electrical integrity of ventricular myocardium. Effective doses induce cardiac arrhythmias with the consequential fall in blood pressure; the extent of the response is dose related. An immediate cardiovascular effect is seen when doses of 0.4 mg/kg or more of Pd ion as PdSO4 is administered over a 40-sec period of time via the femoral vein. Pd(NO3)2 and PdCl2 appear to have similar activity. To achieve and equal response three times as much Pd is necessary as (NH4)2PdCl4 or K2PdCl4.


Effect of platinum and palladium salts on thymidine incorporation into DNA of rat tissues. The intraperitoneal administration of PtCl4 or Pd(NO3)2 at levels of 28 or 56 mumole/kg body weight decreased the thymidine incorporation into DNA of spleen, liver, kidney, and testis. Spleen was most sensitive to both the platinum and the palladium salt. In liver, DNA syntheses in parenchymal cells and stromal cells were about equally sensitive to PtCl4. In control rats, only 20-30% of the 3H in the acid-soluble fraction of liver or spleen was in the form of thymidine and its phosphate esters 2 hr after the intraperitoneal injection of 3H-thymidine; prior injection of PtCl4 (56 mumol/kg body weight) did not change the pattern.


Heavy metal exposure from foods.

Heavy metal exposure from foods. The Food and Drug Administration has a continuing program of monitoring foods for their content of lead, cadmium, mercury, zinc, arsenic, and selenium to determine trends of increasing or decreasing levels. The monitoring protocol is that of the Total Diet Study, in which "market baskets" of typical foods and beverages consumed by 15- to 20-year-old American males are collected in various geographical locations at regular intervals during the year, divided into food classes, composited, and analyzed. Cadmium has the most widespread distribution of the six heavy metals and mercury the most limited. The analytical values for lead may be underestimated because of limitations of the methodology; these do not apply to the other five elements. A tabulation by year shows that the levels of these elements in foods do not vary significantly from one year to the next. Average intakes of lead, cadmium, and mercury are below the WHO/FAO tolerable intakes for adults; such tolerable intakes have not been established for arsenic and selenium. Increases in concentrations of these elements in foods would be considered undesirable, however.


Levels of toxic metals in marine organisms collected from Southern California coastal waters. Emission of toxic trace metals into southern California coastal waters has resulted in the extensive accumulation of the elements within marine sediments. The current study was undertaken to evaluate concentrations of trace metals in bottom-dwelling marine fauna collected from two sampling areas. Analyses carried out on muscle samples of the dover sole (Microstomus pacificus) and the crab (Cancer anthonyi) by proton-induced x-ray emission analysis showed considerable concentrations of arsenic and selenium. Samples of gonads, digestive gland, and muscle from the crab Mursia gaudichaudii analyzed by atomic absorption spectroscopy showed elemental concentrations in muscle similar to the crab Cancer anthonyi and much higher metal levels in gonad and digestive gland. These findings suggest the need for further studies concerning the relationship between emission of metals into the marine environment and their abundance in marine fauna.


Blood-brain barrier dysfunction in acute lead encephalopathy: a reappraisal. Acute lead encephalopathy was induced in adult guinea pigs by administering daily oral doses of lead carbonate. During the development of the encephalopathy, the structural and functional integrity of the blood-brain barrier was evaluated with electron microscopy and tracer probes. Blood, cerebral gray matter, liver, and kidney were analyzed for lead, calcium, and magnesium content. The animals regularly developed an encephalopathy after four doses of lead. There were no discernible pathomorphologic alterations in the cerebral capillaries or perivascular glial sheaths. Furthermore, no evidence of blood-brain barrier dysfunction was demonstrated with Evans blue-albumin complex or horseradish peroxidase. Blood-brain barrier permeability to radiolead was not increased in the intoxicated animals. During the development of the encephalopathy there was a progressive rise in the lead concentration in all tissues. Concurrently, there was a significant rise in brain calcium. These results suggest that the encephalopathic effects of lead may be mediated directly at the neuronal level.


Specificity of the effects of lead on brain energy metabolism for substrates donating a cytoplasmic reducing equivalent. Lead chloride, at concentrations of 67 muM in the incubation media, inhibits the potassium-stimulated respiration (3 to 30mM increase in K+) of rat cerebral cortex slices. The inhibition observed was dependent upon the substrate provided. In the presence of 10mM glucose or lactate, 35-50% inhibition of the response was observed, but no evidence of an effect could be observed when 10mM pyruvate served as substrate. In consonance with these observations, spectral measurements during the course of the response revealed an attenuation of the initial NAD(P)H oxidation followed by a substantial accumulation of the intermediate in slices metabolizing glucose, but not those metabolizing pyruvate. In vivo treatment of adult rats with six intrapertoneal injections spaced over a 14-day period gave rise to essentially similar findings at cerebral cortical lead concentrations averaging 0.41 mug/g (range equals 0.34-0.52) and above. No effect was observed at brain lead concentrations averaging 0.17 mug/g. These data suggested that lead interfered with the oxidation of the NAD(P)H produced by the initial oxidations of glucose in the cytoplasm. Inhibition of cytoplasmic NAD(P)H oxidation by brain mitochondria is of peculiar importance in a tissue relying almost exclusively upon the metabolism of glucose in vitro.


Mass balance of trace elements in Walker branch watershed: relation to coal-fired steam plants. A mass balance study of trace element flows at the TVA Allen Steam Plant at Memphis showed that most of the released Hg, some Se, and probably most Cl and Br are discharged to the atmosphere as gases. The elements As, Cd, Cu, Ga, Mo, Pb, Sb, Se, and Zn were concentrated in fly ash compared to slag and were more concentrated in the ash discharged through the stack than in that collected by the precipitator, while Al, Ba, Ca, Ce, Co, Eu, Fe, Hf, K, La, Mg, Mn, Rb, Sm, Sr, Ta, Th, and Ti showed little preferential partitioning between the slag and the collected or discharged fly ash. The elements Cr, Cs, Na, Ni, U, and V exhibited behavior intermediate between the latter two groups. This information about stack emissions of trace elements from the Allen Plant was used to estimate the likely range of air concentrations and input (dry and wet deposition) to the Walker Branch Watershed. The watershed, which is on the ERDA reservation at Oak Ridge, is within 20 km of three coal-fired steam plants, two in the TVA system and one belonging to ERDA. The estimated input values are compared to measurements of Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn in wet precipitation falling on the watershed during 1973 and 1974. Dry deposition of these elements could not be measured directly but estimates indicated that this could be of the same order of magnitude as the rainwater input. A six-month mass balance indicated that the watershed efficiently retains Pb (97-98% of the atmospheric input,) Cu (82-84%), while Cr (69%), Mn (57%), Zn (73%), and Hg (69%) are less well retained.


Placental transfer of cadmium in rats: influence of dose and gestational age. Placental transfer rates of cadmium were investigated in rats in relation to dose (0.1, 0.4, and 1.6 mg Cd/kg) and the gestational age (12, 15, and 20 days) when rats were treated. Pregnant rats were injected intravenously with a single dose of 109CdCl2 (approximately 20 muCi/animal), and animals were sacrificed after 24 hr. 109Cd concentrations were measured in the fetus, placenta, maternal liver, and blood. Cadmium crossed the placenta at all doses and at all gestational ages tested. However, higher percentages of administered cadmium accumulated in the fetus with increasing dose and increasing gestational age. For example, after pregnant rats were injected with low, middle, and high doses of Cd on day 12 of gestation, fetuses accumulated 0.0001, 0.0028, and 0.0095 per cent of the injected dose, respectively. Percentages of administered Cd detected in placental tissue did not change consistently with dose but Cd levels did increase with gestational age. Placental to maternal blood Cd concentration ratios increased with gestational age but not with dose. Maternal liver to fetal liver concentration ratios were 295, 137, and 27 for low, middle and high doses, respectively, 24 hr after pregnant rats were treated on day 20 of gestation. These results are discussed in relation to placental damage, metallothionein inducibility, and fetotoxicity.


[Effect of promedol and fentanyl on the permeability of the hemato-encephalic barrier of rats for noradrenaline-H3]. In tests situations with rats it was shown that promedol and phentanide produce an analgetic action accompanied by a reduced flow of tagged norepinephrine from the blood into the brain. A parallelism between the dosage of the substances and the intensity of the analgetic effect and the degree of changed permeability of the blood-cerebral barrier could be noted.


[Effect of lithium and cesium ions on the effects of catecholamines and serotonin introduced into the rat hippocampus]. Local micro-injection of dophamine, norepinephrine and serotonin into the dorsal hippocampus of rats in doses of 5gamma does not affect the muscle tone and spontaneous motor activity of the animals, but lengthens the latent period of the conditioned avoidance reflex (CAR). When administered into the hippocampus in the same dose 15 minutes after injection of lithium chloride (1gamma equiv) dophamine inhibits stronger the CAR and noticeably stimulates the motor activity. At the same time, a preliminary injection of lithium cloride into the hippocampus does not change the action of norepinephrine and serotonin on the length of the latent CAR period, but, when used against the background of lithium chloride, norepinephrine depresses the motor activity.


[Neurophysiological mechanisms of the action of stimulators on the memory]. Aethimizol - and strychnine-induced improvement of the short-term memory in dogs is attened by a rising level of excitability of the mesencephalic reticular formation, ventral hippocampus and of the frontal region of the neocrotex. And, conversely, with the stimulats producing a facilitating effect on the memory the excitability of the dorsal hippocampus, mamillary bodies and the dorso-medial amygdala becomes less intensive. At the same time, the function of the anterio-ventral thalamus, basolateral amygdala and also of the primary visual and accoustic regions of the neocortex remains unchanged. Aethimizol exerts an inhibitory effect on the lateral and ventro-medial hypothalamus whereas strychnine raises the excitability of the later and does not change the function of the ventro-medial hypothalamus. The lack of stimulating effect of caffeine on the memory is due to a different organization of the brain.


[Pharmacological properties of some p-chlorophenoxyacetic acid derivatives]. Among some derivatives of p-chlorophenoxyacetic acid (dialkylaminoethyl, diethylaminoethylmercaptomercaptan and tropine ethers, dialkylaminoethylene amides) there have been discovered compounds with marked neurotropic, locally anesthetic, antiarrhythmic and antihypoxic properties.


[Effect of choline chloride and calcium pantothenate on neuromuscular pathology caused by the administration of triamcinolone]. On isolated phrenico-diaphragmal preparations of 17-days old and adult rats it is shown that introduction of triamcinolon (for 3 days in amounts of 1.4 mg/kg) results in disruption of the neuro-muscular transmission, manifesting itself in a less intensive reaction to exogenous acetylcholine and alpha-tubocurarine. Administration of choline chloride and calcium pantothenate following that of triamcinolon does away with these effects of the glucocorticoid.


[Age-related characteristics of the reaction of the myocardial adenyl system to pharmacological sympatholysis]. Rats aged 7, 30 days and 3-5 months were given intraperitoneally single doses (2.5 mg/kg) of reserpine. The content of the adenyl system compounds (ATP, ADP, AMP and inorganic phosphorus) was determined. It was shown that as regards the extent of ATP and ADP depression the 7-day old animals proved more sensitive to reserpine than were adult animals.


[Experimental study of the anti-arrhythmia action of unithiol]. Tests conducted on 70 rabbits showed that cardiac rhythm disorders produced by introduction of a 10% calcium chloride solution was prevented by the administration of unithiol. With developing arrhythmia in the muscle of the rabbits' heart the level of sulfhydryl groups went down. The introduction of unithiol was followed by a rising content of sulfhydryl groups, especially in the myocardium of the left ventricle.


[Pharmacology of a new anti-angina preparation, nonachlazin]. Data on pharmacology of nonachlazine-a new antianginal preparation effective in the treatment of patients with ischemic heart disease-are presented. The drug tends to greatly improve the blood supply of the heart. Its beneficial action comes from the ability to intensively and protractedly enhance the coronary blood flow, thus increasing the oxygen reserve of the heart with the contractility of the myocardium rising without any substantial changes in the cardiac output and work.


[Effect of cordiamine and corasol on the tonus of the lymphatic vessels]. The action of cordiamine and pentylene tetrazole upon the tonicity of the thoracic and jugular lymph trunks and the arterial pressure was studied in acute experiments on dogs by employing perfusion with Lock's solution under constant pressure. It is shown that pentylene tetrazole forces down, as a rule, the lymph vessels tone, while cordiamine primarily brings it up.


[Comparison of the anti-arrhythmia and local anesthetizing actions of some substances]. A comparison of antiarrhythmic activity of substances (stimulation of the heart with electric current and measuring the duration of the refractory peroid) as against their local anesthetic properties (the eye cornea of the rabbit and the ischiatic nerve of the frog) proved the existence of a close correlation between the ability of substances to abolish arrhythmia, caused by an electric stimulation of the heart, and their capacity to produce a conduction anesthesia in the ischiatic nerve of a decapitated frog.


[Antiheparin properties of synthetic polycations]. The toxicity of differently structured polymeric compounds for mice (intravenously) and their antiheparin properties in in vitro and in vivo tests were studied. The antiheparin activity display polymers containing amino groups or onium atoms of nitrogen, sulphur and phosphorus in various structures. The antagonism to heparin is due to the polymers being endowed with polycationic properties.


[Synthesis and study of iophendylate (ethyliodophenylundecylates) in experimental myelo-, lympho- and hepathography]. An oily roentgen-contrast medium - iophendylate, whose physico-chemical properties are identical to those of the English oily medium - Myodil has been synthesized. Procedures for an experimental myelo-, lympho- and hepathography with the use of iophendylate have been worked out and tried. The medium is shown to posses high roentgencontrast properties and satisfactory tolarebleness.


[Effect of trimethoxybenzoate-1,2-oxyethylbenzimidazole and dibazol on the blood supply of the brain]. Tests staged on cats demonstated that intact animals and under conditions of the cerebral circulation restricted through intra-arterial infusion of serotonin-1,2-oxyethylbenzimidazole trimethoxybenzoate hydrochloride and dibazol caused with their intracarotic injection a material increase of the blood supply to the brain, exercising a vasodepressor action on the major functional divisions of its vascular system.


[Effect of gangleron on the free amino acid content in the gastric mucosa and in the biological fluids of rats with experimental ulcers]. Tests set up in albino rats with experimental peptic ulcer showed the gastric mucosa and the blood serum to contain a materially reduced quantity of free amino acids with their increase in the gastric juice. Introduction of gangleron contributed to a considerable rise in the level of the most of free amino acids in the mucosa of different gastric areas and in the blood serum. Under the effect of gangleron the content of free amino acids continued at a high level.


[Study of the embrotoxic properties of the repellent diethyltoluamide]. With application to the skin of an albino female-rat over the whole period of its pregnancy of the repellent diethyltolueneamide (DETA) in doses of 100 and 1000 mg/kg the overall embryonal fatality was found to go up, the size and weight of the rattlings to be down; there was recorded a lagging development of the newborns and a high postnatal death rate. The preparation could easily overcome the placental barrier, it was demonstrable in the placenta, fetuses, as well as in the bodies of newborn rattlings, even 3 months after their birth.


[Effect of reasec on the motor function of the esophagus and cardiac sphincter in cats]. Acute experiments with cats demonstrated that intravenous injection of reasec in doses of 0.25-0.45 ml/kg inhibits the contractile activity of the smooth muscles part of the esophagus, including the cardiac sphincter. The motoricity in the proximal sections of the esophagus formed by the striated muscles did not change against the background of the reasec's action.


[Effect of chloridine on some biochemical indices in pregnant rats]. Experiments conducted on rats demonstrated that introduction of chloridine (35 mg/kg) on the 13th day of gestation causes maldevelopment of the fetuses in 81.5 per cent of the cases. The blood serum of female-rats receiving the teratogenic compound showed a change in the content of the pre-albuminic and albuminic fractions, the appearance of an unusual proteinic band in the beta-globulins zone and also perversion of the isoenzymatic spectrum of the serumal lactate-dehydrogenase, as well as a 2.9-fold increase of its specific activity.


[Study of the mechanism of action of tegretol in experimental allergic encephalomyelitis]. Less pronounced intensity of extrapyramidal hyperkineses and aggravation of motor disturbances in patients with diffuse sclerosis occurring under the effect of tegretol prompted the authors to study the action of this drug on the course of experimental allergic encephalomyelitis. Daily administration of tegretol in a dose of 375 mg/kg retarded the development of the affection and produced a marked adynamia in the animals. Slowing down of the dominant rhythm and depression of its amplitude were recorded on the EEG. Shifts in the potassium and sodium content and reduced brain cholesterase activity were noted. The authors ascribe these changes to a mediated action of tegretol upon deep-seated cerebral structures.


[Effect of 7 days of administration of prednisolone and methandrostenolone on the incorporation of glycine-1-c14 into liver, thymus and splenic proteins]. Daily injections of prednisolone (10 mg/kg) for a space of 7 days to albino male-rats cause an increased synthesis of nuclear and mitochondrial proteins without changing the protein synthesis of other liver fractions. Following injection of prednisolone the protein synthesis in the spleen went up and in the thymus remained unchanged. This was paralleled by stronger decay processes of the lymphoid organs. Under identical conditions methandrostenon intensified the proteins synthesis in the nuclear fraction of the liver alone. It made run low the processes of the thymus and spleen proteins biosynthesis without affecting materially the weight of the lymphoid organs.


[Protein makeup of the lung cell nuclei of rats under the action of beryllium]. A study into the protein composition of cellular nuclei of the rats lungs under the effect of beryllium disclosed a disturbed proportion of individual nuclear protein fractions manifesting itself in the falling level of the globulin fraction and in the increased, content of the other proteinic components of the nucleus, viz. desoxyribonucleoproteinic, fractions of the acid and, especially, "residual" protein.


[Olivomycin-C14 distribution in the body of mice with Ehrlich's carcinoma resistant to the preparation]. Tests on mice with Ehrlich's carcinoma (solid and ascitic forms) evidenced that following a single intravenous injection of glycomycin-C14 its maximal concentrations are definable in 30 minutes--1 hour in the kidneys, liver, spleen and the blood (plasma). Six to seven percent of the total radioactivity of the tumor cells fell to the share of the nuclear fraction, while the rest of 93-94 per cent was made up by the remaining cellular components.


[Experimental analysis of the effects of the psychostimulant sydnocarb]. Used in a dose of 2-15 mg/kg in dogs and in a dose of 2-40 mg/kg in rabbits sydnocarb produced a stimulating effect, this being born out by conditioned reflex, electrographic and behavioral tests. Already the next day following introduction of the drug this effect in tests with dogs gave place to an inhibitory action. Introduction of the agent in all of the study does exerted a certain influence on the heart rate. At the earliest the electrographic effects were recorded in the cortical structures of the rabbit's brain, but proved most intensive in the limbic structures, when the dosage of the drug was increased up to 15-40 mg/kg.


[Mechanism of the hypothermic action of reversible cholinesterase inhibitors]. Experiments set up on mice demonstrated that galanthamine, hydrobromide, physostymine salicilate and iodomethylate produce a fall of the renal temperature, the hypothermal effect being proportional to the suppression of the cerebral cholinesterase. Anticholinergics benactyzine and atropine were largely capable of preventing hypothermia produced by the introduction of galathamine hydrobromide, the latter increasing the resistance of the animals to the action of high temperature.


[Experimental data on a new cholinesterase reactivator from the group of thiohydroximic esters]. Experimental data on the effectiveness of p-brombenzothiohydroximic S-diethylaminoethylate (diethyxime) -a new cholinesterase reactivator - are presented. The diethyximetoxicity with its single and multiple administration to animals was studied. The drug is shown to display a marked antidotal action when used in a dosage range of 490-10 mg/kg. Diethyxime is shown capable of restoring the activity of cholinesterase inhibited by dimethyldichlorovenylphosphate, of preventing the neuro-muscular block of the impulses conduction and of normalizing the function of the cardiovascular system. The drug is less toxic than is presently employed reactivator diproxime and it does not produce any side-effects on a number of organs and systems of the organism with its multiple administration to worm-blooded animals.


[Comparative effect of sydnocarb and phenamin on the bioelectrical activity of the brain]. In tests with cats and rabbits sydnocarb in doses of 3,4-8.5-17 mg/kg (per os or intraperitoneally) produces a more lasting reticulo-cortical activation than does amphetamine used in respectively equimolecular amounts. According to the EEG finding there is also observed a substantial difference in the nature of interaction of these stimulants with chlorpromazine, reserpine and imipramine.


[Effect of tranquilizers (diazepam and chlordiazepoxide) on the blood supply and activity of the heart]. The effect of diazepam (0.15 and 0.5 mg/kg) and chlordiazepoxide (1.0 and 2.0 mg/kg) on the blood supply and cardiac action were investigated in experiments on cats anesthetized with urethan and chlorasol. Both these compounds were found to lower the vascular resistance to  the blood flow, to bring down the coronary circulation rate and the oxygen intake of the heart. The preparations exert a marked influence on the work of the heart and the state of hemodynamics. Diazepam causes the development of an appreciable hypertension, bradycardia and reduces the cardiac ejection. Chlordiazepoxide produces a less pronounced fall of the arterial pressure, bradycardia and reduced the cardiac ejection. Unlike chlordiazepoxide diapezam reduces the contractibility of the myocardium, this being manifested in lessening the maximum acceleration of the blood flow in the aorta and in an increase of the systolic contraction time. Inhibition of the myocardium contractility occurring under the influence of diazepam may, to a certain degree, explain more pronounced hypotension observable on administration of this preparation.


[Effect of cholinesterase inhibitors and reactivators on the blocking action of dicarboxylic acid amino esters on neuromuscular conduction]. Inhibition of active cholinesterases in cats with armine or the GT-165 compound (0,0-diethyl-S-/beta-arylmethylamino) ethyl/thiophosphate methylsulphomethylate) potentiases ten- and hundred-fold the blocking action of subecholine and its derivatives on the neuro-muscular condution. The cholinesterase reactivator dipyroxime (2-5 mg/kg) quickly lifts the conduction block, provoked by muscle relaxants of the subecholine type under the cholinesterase inhibition. The subecholine analogue with a single propyl radical at each atom of nitrogen does not display any pressor action and, upon inhibition of cholinesterases, it blocks the neuro-muscular conduction when used in a dose of 0.1-0.2 gamma/kg. The maximal potentiation of the blocking action exerted by subecholine and its analogues is achieved in inhibiting not only pseudocholinesterase but acetylcholinesterase as well.


[Correlation between the distribution of triftazin in certain organs of rats and its pharmacological effects when administered by different methods]. Correlation between the dynamics of triftazine (stelazine, trifluoperazine) distribution in the brain, liver, and blood plasma of rats and the dynamics marking the development of cataleptic and antiagressive effects and also upset motor conditionation was studied. It was found that following oral administration of triftazine it slowly reaches the organs, the greatest part being adsorbed in the liver. On the contrary, of its intramuscular administration is characteristic a quicker accumulation in the organs and then the level of the neuroleptic in the brain and plasma is higher and in the liver - lower than with its oral introduction. A dissimilar dynamics of triftazine in the brain explains the difference of its pharmacological effects with diverse modes of administration. When given by mouth the content of the drug in the brain is insignificant and it rises but slowly, this being matched by a correspondingly slow development of the effects of triftazine. With the intramuscular route of introduction the neuroleptic's content in the brain rapidly reaches a high level, while its pharmacological effects are characterized by a quicker development than this is the case with its oral administration.


[Effect of dibazol, euphylline, No-Spa and galidor on thrombocyte osmotic resistance and blood clot retraction]. The osmotic resistance of thrombocytes and the blood clot retraction are shown to diminish in the presence of nospanum and holidor in the plasma and blood. A double logarithmic relationship between the values characterizing the action on the osmotic resistance of thrombocytes and the blood clot refraction, on the one hand, and concentrations of some of the study substances, on the other, was revealed. With parenteral introduction the fall of the osmotic resistance of thrombocytes and an increase in the amount of the retracted serum were noted to occur with a protracted subcutaneous injection of dibasol (5 mg/kg), whereas euphylline (24 mg/kg) caused only a smaller degree of retraction.