A case of intestinal trichobezoar

Report is made of a case of an unusual localization of a trichobezoar in a 12 year-old girl, who presented vomiting and abdominal pain as chief complaints. She was found to have an 18 X 5 cm palpable abdominal mass, which upon surgery was localized in terminal ileum and in the pathology report was found to be a trichobezoar. The interest of this case is the unusual localization of a single bezoar and the fact that a resection of 25 cm. of small bowel had to be done, as it was found necrotic at the time of surgery.     

Mesencephalic participation in the control of sexual behavior in the female rat.

In 2 experiments with 78 female albino rats, electric stimuli applied to both pudendal nerves evoked field potentials, unit responses, and multiunit responses in the ventrolateral midbrain, in and around the peripeduncular nucleus. Bilateral lesions placed in this region suppressed sexual behavioral responses (lordosis and courting behavior) of ovariectomized Ss primed with 5, 10, 100, and 1,000 μg of estradiol benzoate and 2 mg/kg progesterone. It is proposed that the region in question represents a relay station for the integration of sensory and endocrine information concerned in the control of receptive sexual behavior in the female rat. (54 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Controlled clinical assay in Clonidine, arginine aspartate, alpha-ketoglutarate of Ornithine and Ciproheptadine as growth stimulants in children with short stature

Eighty-one healthy prepubertal children of short stature, between two and twelve years of age, were divided into four homogeneous groups. Each group was treated with a placebo for one year and for a second year with one of the following drugs (double blind): clonidine (CI), arginine asprate (AA), ornithine alphaketoglutare (OKG), or cyproheptadine (Cp). CI and OKG did not better the standard deviation of height. AA and Cp did, but to no greater extent than the placebo. The growth rate did not change in any group. The ratio of bone age/chronological age was significantly higher at the end of the OKG year than at the end of the year with placebo, a difference that was not found in any other group. The prognosis of adult height (TW2) did not change in any group. The standard deviation of weight increased in all groups, both with the placebo and the various drugs, without significant differences between the groups. The CI caused frequent clinical side effects, including a reversible increase in transaminases in one child. The Cp stimulated hunger. The AA and OKG did not produce side-effects and the placebo increased appetite in 11% of the children. Somatomedin C was significantly higher after one year with Cp than after one year with the placebo, significantly higher after the placebo than after CI and AA and there was no difference between the treatment with the placebo and OKG. Growth hormone values in a 24 hour urine sample were so scattered that we do not consider them helpful.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Rapid and efficient purification of hepatitis A virus from cell culture

Hepatitis A virus (HAV) characteristically remains strongly cell-associated when grown in culture, with only small yields in the culture supernatant. Cell factories (6000 cm2) of BS-C-1 cells infected with the cytopathic HM175A.Z strain of HAV for 3, 4 or 7 days were harvested using trypsin to disperse the infected cell monolayer, and cells were collected by low speed centrifugation. More than 70% of the yield of virus and viral antigen can thus be obtained in the packed cell pellet. Packed cell pellets were resuspended in 5 volumes of isotonic buffer and cell membranes lysed by the addition of a non-ionic detergent. After removal of nuclei by centrifugation, ionic detergent was added to the clarified cytoplasmic extract. Under these conditions, HAV particles (virions and empty capsids) are the only particulate material remaining in the sample, and were recovered in a single ultracentrifugation step through discontinuous sucrose/glycerol density gradients. In one day, this method yields viral antigen with minimal cellular contaminants, in a concentrated volume suitable for subsequent biochemical, vaccine or diagnostic uses. The yield of viral antigen over numerous batches varied from 200 to 1600 vaccine-equivalent doses per cell factory, with a titre of up to 1 x 10(10) infectious particles per ml.     

Lithiasis of the prostatic loge

Lithiasis may develop in the prostate loge following prostate surgery. Calculus formation in the prostate can be ascribed basically to foreign bodies, residual adenomatous spheroids and clots or fragments of sphacelous mucosa in the presence of a stenotic area after surgery and/or infection. The diagnosis is based on the physical examination and particularly on the radiological findings. Treatment is by open surgery or endoscopic or extracorporeal lithotripsy.     

A short-term longitudinal study of impulsivity and antisocial behavior.

Analyzes the relationships between impulsivity and antisocial behavior in a noninstitutionalized sample, taking into account the multidimensional nature of impulsivity and the diversity of types of antisocial behavior. Data were obtained in 1989 and 1990 from 1,226 adolescents aged 12–18 yrs as part of a longitudinal study of risk factors for drug abuse and delinquency. The patterns of stability or change of the various dimensions of antisocial behavior (rule breaking, vandalism, theft, aggression, and drug taking) in relation to impulsivity were investigated. The results support that self-report measures of impulsivity are closely correlated with antisocial behavior among adolescents. The longitudinally-oriented analysis of this work also shows that impulsivity is associated with a future increase in antisocial behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Frequency of molecular alterations in heterozygous beta-thalassemia in southern Spain and their relation to the hematologic phenotype

INTRODUCTION: Heterozygous beta-thalassemia manifests hematologically with microcytosis, reduced red blood cell hemoglobin concentration and high hemoglobin A2 levels. Almost all molecular alterations are due to point mutations. We attempt to determinate the frequency of that mutations in the Oriental Andalusia Area, and its relationship with the hematological phenotype. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We have studied 45 heterozygous patients. DNA samples were amplified by PCR, using the printers CD7 and HI1. A 16 Kb fragment corresponding to beta globin gene was obtained and analyzed by Dot Blot assay and hybridized with allelic specific oligonucleotide (ASO) probes to detect the 6 more frequent mutations found in the South of Spain. RESULTS: Codon 39 nonsense mutation (31.1%) was the most frequent finding followed by IVS-1 NT 110 (26.7%). The relationship between hematological parameters and molecular mutations concluded that IVS-I NT 6 mutation developed a minimal anemia. DISCUSSION: From the practical point of view, this study indicates that we were able to detect more than 90% of heterozygous beta-tal. with 5 out of 6 ASO probes used in this work. Thus, our data also provides a further implication in prenatal diagnosis.     

Growth points in research on memory and hippocampus.

We present an overview of two of our ongoing projects relating processes in the hippocampus to memory. We are trying to understand why retrograde amnesia occurs after damage to the hippocampus. Our experiments establish the generality of several new retrograde amnesia phenomena that are at odds with the consensus view of the role of the hippocampus in memory. We show in many memory tasks that complete damage to the hippocampus produces retrograde amnesia that is equivalent for recent and remote memories. Retrograde amnesia affects a much wider range of memory tasks than anterograde amnesia. Normal hippocampal processes can interfere with retention of a long-term memory stored outside the hippocampus. We conclude that the hippocampus competes with nonhippocampal systems during memory encoding and retrieval. Finally, we outline a project to understand and manipulate adult hippocampal neurogenesis in order to repair damaged hippocampal circuitry to recover lost cognitive functions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)