Support for school-based sexuality education among South Carolina voters

A random-digit dialed telephone survey was conducted in a traditionally conservative southern state to determine the level of support for sexuality education in the public schools including support for specific sexuality education topics, the earliest grade level at which each topic should be taught, and the amount of instruction time required for sexuality education in the high schools. Survey data were obtained from 534 South Carolina registered voters in late January/early February 1997. Results demonstrated that most South Carolina registered voters: 1) supported sexuality education in the public schools; 2) supported instruction on a variety of sexuality education topics; 3) supported instruction at all grade levels, especially beginning in middle school; and 4) believed instruction time for sexuality education in the high schools should either remain the same or be increased. In addition, a significant increase in support for sexuality education occurred from the beginning of the survey to the end, suggesting that the instrument itself may have served as an educational tool for respondents. The characteristics of registered voters who supported sexuality education at the beginning of the survey and at the end were examined and compared. These results may assist in the development of educational and marketing strategies designed to build support for school-based sexuality education programs in South Carolina and elsewhere.     

Poststroke bipolar affective disorder: clinical subtypes, concurrent movement disorders, and anatomical correlates

The authors describe 9 patients with bipolar affective disorder associated with cerebrovascular lesions. Eight had negative family histories of affective disorders and late age at onset (after age 40) of manic-depressive symptoms. Only one, with positive family history of affective disorders, developed mood swings before age 40. Clinical subtypes of bipolar disorder and patterns of affective cycling in these stroke patients resembled those previously reported in functional bipolar disorder. Five patients had concurrent hyperkinetic movement disorders, and one depressed patient presented with unilateral left-sided parkinsonism that disappeared during a manic switch. In most patients, bipolar affective disorder was associated with right hemisphere lesions that involved subcortical and midline structures. Findings suggest that damage to frontal-basal ganglia-thalamocortical circuits by subcortical vascular lesions may simultaneously provoke disorders of movement and mood regulation.     

Intraventricular chemotherapy in neonatal meningitis

All of 16 infants with neonatal meningitis treated during a 30-month period were found to have accompanying ventriculitis at the time of the initial ventricular puncture. Fifteen of these infants were caused by gramm-negative organisms. All infants received antibiotics systemically and intraventricularly via an implanted ventriculostomy reservoir or by direct ventricular injection. Antibiotic concentrations within the ventricular fluid were monitored during chemotherapy; the complications encountered during treatment are discussed. Fifteen infants survived the infection; of these, seven infants were normal at follow-up examinations. In our experience intraventricular chemotherapy as an adjunct to systemic administration of antibiotics has greatly reduced the mortality rate in neonatal meningitis.     

Valyl-transfer RNA formation stimulated by monovalent cations and spermine in rat liver

The effects of hypothalamic disconnection on body temperature and hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal activity following acute and repeated exposures to heat were studied. Intact male rats, or animals with complete posterior or anterior hypothalamic disconnection, were exposed to a temperature of 36 degrees C and a relative humidity of 35-45%. In the complete posterior and anterior hypothalamic disconnected rats the basal Tre was higher than that of the intact rats; the rise in Tre following heat exposure was lower in the operated rats than in the intact animals. All the experimental animals, except for those with anterior hypothalamic disconnection, showed a significant inhibition of corticosterone release on exposure to heat for 30 min, but no inhibition was observed in any of the disconnected rats when they were exposed to heat for 120 min. These results suggest that the main stimulus for ACTH release, during the first 30 min of heat exposure, is mediated by a neural input through the posteroir hypothalamus and this is followed by a nerural and/or humoral mechanism which enables the animals to increase their corticosterone secretion.     

Eosinophilic granular ceels in oligodendrogliomas. An ultrastructural study

In three cases of oligodendrogliomas, atypical cells rich in eosinophilic cytoplasm, resembling plump astroyctic or astroblastic cells, were studied under the electron microscopy. These cells showed finely granular cytoplasm with routine hematoxylin-eosin preparation; ultrastructurally, they exhibited abundant, round cytoplasmic bodies of autophagic-vacuole type, in addition to other fine structures characteristic of oligodendroglioma cells.