Psychosocial changes following retirement

This study was designed to: (a) identify the perceptions of retirees about changes in their life patterns during retirement; (b) investigate the kinds of adjustment problems occurring in retirement as a basis for developing prevention oriented pre-retirement programs; and (c) identify extant factors which could demonstrate underlying themes relating to retirement adjustment. A 72-item, multiple response questionnaire was used to gather demographic data, information on use of time, pre-retirement planning, health problems, changing life patterns, and adjustment to retirement. It is the latter which is reported in these findings. The population included 1565 retirees from a designated company living in the south-eastern United States of America, with a response of 764 subjects (48.82%). Findings suggest the respondents were generally healthy and well adjusted; however, numerous adjustment problem areas were identified within the six life patterns. Additional factor analysis (principal components) demonstrated four factors of particular importance: satisfaction with retirement, retirement concerns, spousal relationships, and pre-retirement preparation outcomes.     

Effect of fexofenadine on eosinophil-induced changes in epithelial permeability and cytokine release from nasal epithelial cells of patients with seasonal allergic rhinitis

Recent studies have suggested that antihistamines, widely used in the treatment of symptoms of patients with allergic rhinitis, may also possess antiinflammatory properties. The mechanisms underlying this property, however, are not clearly understood. We have cultured epithelial cells from nasal biopsy specimens from patients with seasonal allergic rhinitis outside the pollen season and studied the effect of 0 to 10(-3) mol/L fexofenadine, the main active metabolite of terfenadine, on eosinophil-induced changes in electrical resistance (measure of permeability) and release of proinflammatory mediators from these cells. Additionally, we have studied the effect of this drug on eosinophil chemotaxis and adherence to endothelial cells induced by conditioned medium from these human nasal epithelial cell (HNEC) cultures. Incubation of HNEC in the presence of eosinophils treated with opsonized latex beads significantly decreased the electrical resistance of these cultures, an effect that was abrogated by treatment of the cultures with 10(-9) to 10(-3) mol/L fexofenadine. Similarly, incubation of HNEC in the presence of eosinophils treated with latex beads also significantly increased the basal release of the chemokine "regulated upon activation, normal T cell expressed and secreted" (RANTES) (from 96.0 to 613.0 fg/microg cellular protein; p < 0.05), IL-8 (from 42.0 to 198.5 pg/microg cellular protein; p < 0.05), granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) (from 0.54 to 3.4 pg/microg cellular protein; p < 0.05), and soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1) (from 7.8 to 18.4 pg/microg cellular protein; p < 0.05) from HNEC. The eosinophil-induced release of IL-8, GM-CSF, and sICAM-1 from the HNEC was significantly attenuated by treatment with fexofenadine. Analysis of the effects of conditioned medium from HNEC demonstrated that this significantly increased both eosinophil chemotaxis and adherence to endothelial cells. Addition of 10(-6) to 10(-3) mol/L fexofenadine to the conditioned medium significantly attenuated eosinophil chemotaxis and adherence to endothelial cells. These results suggest that fexofenadine may reduce nasal inflammation by modulating the release of proinflammatory mediators and adhesion molecules from HNEC.     

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease: neurophysiologic visual impairments

OBJECTIVE: The predictive value of electrophysiologic visual testing in Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) was investigated, and the retinal pathologic findings in three cases are reported. BACKGROUND: The fatal prognosis of CJD, its transmissibility, and the lack of treatment make early diagnosis essential in averting human-to-human transmission. Electroretinogram and visual evoked potentials have been studied in few cases of CJD. METHODS: A visual electrophysiologic examination was performed in 41 consecutive patients referred with suspected CJD. The disease had been diagnosed in 24 patients (CJD group; 15 were confirmed neuropathologically and 9 by clinicolaboratory methods in accordance with diagnostic criteria). The remaining 17 patients were diagnosed with other neurologic disorders, and served as a control group. RESULTS: Flash electroretinogram revealed a significant decrease in the amplitude of the B1 wave (<60 microV) and the B/A ratio (<2) in the CJD group compared with those in the control group. Flash visual evoked potentials revealed no significant difference in latency, but amplitude was increased (>10 microV) in the CJD group, especially in patients with myoclonus. CONCLUSIONS: The visual electrophysiologic abnormalities provide an interesting noninvasive diagnostic tool in idiopathic CJD. The B1-wave decrease is closely correlated with the outer plexiform layer abnormalities observed on neuropathologic examination.     

The role of gender in very old age: profiles of functioning and everyday life patterns

Older men and women have different life contexts as a function of differential longevity and socio-structural opportunities over the life course. The question is whether gender-related differences also occur in psychological and everyday functioning in older adults. Examined were 258 men and 258 women between the ages of 70 and 103 years (M = 85 years), participants in the Berlin Aging Study. Significant gender differences were observed in 13 of 28 aspects of personality, social relationships, everyday activity patterns, and reported well-being. Cluster analysis identified 11 subgroups whose profiles of life conditions and health and psychological functioning could be categorized as more or less desirable (functional). The relative risk of a less desirable profile was 1.6 times higher for women than for men. For older adults, gender as a variable carries differences in physical frailty and life conditions that likely have consequences for psychological functioning.     

Langerhans cell histiocytosis

The authors present a rare case of Langerhans cell histiocytosis in a 31 year old female patient with vulvar, peri-anal and oral lesions, diabetes insipidus, pulmonary skin and bone infiltrations. Skin biopsy immunohistochemistry presented positive S100 protein and vimentin, but the diagnosis was done with the demonstration of Birbeck granules with electronic microscopy. The treatment was based on systematical chemotherapy although vulvar lesion has a bad response to chemotherapy.     

Microbial populations of Botrytis cinerea-inoculated strawberry fruit exposed to four volatile compounds

OBJECTIVE: The authors tested the hypothesis that eye tracking disorder in schizophrenia is associated with neurological signs. METHOD: The subjects were 93 normal comparison subjects and 59 schizophrenic patients. They were evaluated with the Neurological Evaluation Scale, a standardized rating instrument that assesses sensory integration, motor coordination, sequencing of complex motor acts, and other neurological signs. Also, the schizophrenic patients' smooth-pursuit eye movements were tested in response to a 0.3-Hz sinusoidal target by means of infrared oculography. They were divided into those with (N=18) and without (N=41) eye tracking disorder by using a previously described method, which was based on mixture analysis of the distribution of position root mean square error. RESULTS: The patients with eye tracking disorder had significantly worse performance than the patients without eye tracking disorder with respect to sensory integration, and the effect size was moderate to large. In comparison with the normal subjects, both patient subgroups had significantly worse performance on all of the Neurological Evaluation Scale subscales. CONCLUSIONS: Although neurological signs are present generally in schizophrenia, poor sensory integration is particularly pronounced in patients with eye tracking disorder. A review of the literature shows that the two abnormalities have strikingly similar patterns of validators, including 1) familial aggregation, 2) premorbid presence, 3) syndromal specificity, 4) trait status, and 5) association with the deficit syndrome. Poor sensory integration and eye tracking disorder in schizophrenia may be various manifestations of a common, underlying pathophysiological process.     

1-[Carbon-11]-glucose radiation dosimetry and distribution in human imaging studies

1-[Carbon-11]-D-glucose ([11C]-glucose) is an important imaging agent for PET studies that have been used to study the normal brain, encephalitis, epilepsy, manic-depressive disorder, schizophrenia and brain tumors. METHODS: Dosimetry estimates were calculated in subjects undergoing imaging studies to help define the radiation risk of [11C]-glucose PET imaging. Time-dependent radioactivity concentrations in normal tissues in 33 subjects after intravenous injection of [11C]-glucose were obtained by PET imaging. Radiation absorbed doses were calculated according to the procedures of the Medical Internal Radiation Dose (MIRD) committee along with the variation in dose based on the calculated standard deviation of activity distribution seen in the individual patients. RESULTS: Total body exposure was a median of 3.0 microGy/MBq in men and 3.8 microGy/MBq in women. The effective dose equivalent was 3.8 microGy/ MBq in men and 4.8 microGy/MBq in women. The critical organs were those that typically take up the most glucose (brain, heart wall and liver). CONCLUSION: The organ doses reported here are small and comparable to those associated with other commonly performed nuclear medicine tests and indicate that potential radiation risks associated with this radiotracer are within generally accepted limits.     

Ecomycins, unique antimycotics from Pseudomonas viridiflava

While insulin is known to promote vascular smooth muscle (VSM) relaxation, it also enhances endothelin-1 (ET-1) secretion and action in conditions such as NIDDM and hypertension. We examined the effect of insulin pretreatment on intracellular free calcium ([Ca2+]i) responses to ET-1 in cultured aortic smooth muscle cells (ASMCs) isolated from Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats and measured ET(A) receptor characteristics and ET-1-evoked tension responses in aorta obtained from insulin-resistant, hyperinsulinemic Zucker-obese (ZO) and control Zucker-lean (ZL) rats. Pretreatment of rat ASMCs with insulin (10 nmol/l for 24 h) failed to affect basal [Ca2+]i levels but led to a significant increase in peak [Ca2+]i response (1.7-fold; P < 0.01) to ET-1. The responses to IRL-1620 (an ET(B) selective agonist), ANG II, and vasopressin remained unaffected. ET-1-evoked peak [Ca2+]i responses were significantly attenuated by the inclusion of the ET(A) antagonist, BQ123, in both groups. The ET(B) antagonist, BQ788, abolished [Ca2+]i responses to IRL-1620 but failed to affect the exaggerated [Ca2+]i responses to ET-1. Saturation binding studies revealed a twofold increase (P < 0.01) in maximal number of binding sites labeled by 125I-labeled ET-1 in insulin-pretreated cells and no significant differences in sites labeled by 125I-labeled IRL-1620 between control and treatment groups. Northern blot analysis revealed an increase in ET(A) mRNA levels after insulin pretreatment for 20 h, an effect that was blocked by genistein, actinomycin D, and cycloheximide. Maximal tension development to ET-1 was significantly greater (P < 0.01), and microsomal binding studies using [3H]BQ-123 revealed a twofold higher number of ET(A) specific binding sites (P < 0.01) in aorta from ZO rats compared with that of ZL rats. These data suggest that insulin exaggerates ET-1-evoked peak [Ca2+]i responses via increased vascular ET(A) receptor expression, which may contribute to enhanced vasoconstriction observed in hyperinsulinemic states.