Prenatal nicotine exposure selectively affects perinatal forebrain aromatase activity and fetal adrenal function in male rats.

Previous studies have revealed effects of prenatal nicotine treatment on fetal plasma testosterone and perinatal sexual brain differentiation in the rat. In an attempt to further elucidate the processes underlying this action of nicotine, we studied the effect of the drug on brain steroid aromatase which converts androgens to estrogens and is known to be important in sexual brain differentiation. Aromatase activity (AA) was measured by the conversion of [1 beta-3H]-androstenedione to estrone in a brain region comprising preoptic, hypothalamic and amygdaloid areas. In untreated animals, the development of AA between gestational day (GD) 18 and postnatal day (PN) 15 was similar in both sexes, except for a significant drop of AA in female brain at PN6, i.e., during the later part of the critical period for sexual brain differentiation. When time-pregnant rats were treated with nicotine delivered by an osmotic minipump for either one week (2 mg/kg/d or 6 mg/kg/d from GD12) or two weeks (6 mg/kg/d from GD8), their male offspring showed a decrease of AA to female levels at PN6, the sex difference existing at this stage thus being abolished. AA of offspring from dams bearing tartaric acid-containing minipumps or sham-operated at GD8 or GD12 was identical to that of untreated controls. No drug effect was seen in female fetuses and offspring. Sex differences in the developmental effect of nicotine may thus involve brain aromatase. An additional sex-dependent effect of nicotine was observed in the male fetal adrenal axis at GD18. Whether the drug effects on the two steroid hormone systems are interrelated, remains to be elucidated.     

Detection of circulating human platelet fragments by using monoclonal antibodies against platelet glycoprotein IIb-IIIa complex

A radioimmunoassay (RIA) for the detection of platelets and platelet fragments was developed. A sandwich of two monoclonal antibodies directed against the platelet-specific glycoprotein complex IIb-IIIa (GP IIb-IIIa) was used in this assay. A discontinuous 7.5-20% (v/v) albumin gradient was applied to separate platelets and their fragments of various sizes. In platelet suspensions fractionated in this way, we observed that particles smaller than normal platelets still carried the GP IIb-IIIa antigens. This procedure enabled us to detect platelet-derived particles in platelet-rich plasma from thrombocytopenic patients.     

Urodynamic assessment and lateral urethrocystography. A comparison of two diagnostic procedures for female urinary incontinence

We compared urodynamic findings and results of lateral urethrocystography in 84 case. The aim of the study was to establish a possible correlation between anatomic findings and functional results. Clinically, a significantly greater increase in the normal axis of urethral inclination was noted in patients with a urodynamic diagnosis of stress incontinence than in patients with urge incontinence or for normal urodynamic findings. Lateral urethrocystography vis-à-vis urodynamic assessment proved to be a method having high sensitivity (91%) but low specificity. These two methods supply different but complementary data. Together with the patients' medical history, the assessment of their complaints, clinical vaginal examination, and clinical stress test, they offer valuable information for an efficient therapeutic concept.     

Syntactic language processing: ERP lesion data on the role of the basal ganglia.

The role of the basal ganglia in syntactic language processing was investigated with event-related brain potentials in fourteen neurologically impaired patients. Seven of these patients had basal ganglia lesions while 7 other patients primarily had lesions of the left temporo-parietal region excluding the basal ganglia. All patients listened to sentences that were either correct or included a verb argument structure violation. In previous experiments this type of violation elicited a biphasic pattern of an N400-P600 complex in young healthy participants. While the N400 may result from incorrect semantic-thematic role assignment, the P600 reflects the fact that verb information does not license the syntactic structure at present. Results of the patient experiment revealed a double dissociation: patients with left temporo-parietal lesions only show a P600, whereas patients with lesions of the basal ganglia showed no P600, but a negativity with extended duration that resembled an N400. The latter pattern not only confirms previous reports that the basal ganglia modulate the P600 but extends these results by showing that the N400 as a late semantic-thematic integration process appears partially modulated by the basal ganglia.     

Wirbelsäulenstabilisierung bei extraduraler Metastasenkrankheit Indikation und Verläufe bei 32 Patienten

Zweiunddrei?ig Patienten mit Metastasenkrankheit der Wirbels?ule, überwiegend von Mammakarzinomen und Plasmozytomen wurden über 41/2 Jahre operativ dekomprimiert und stabilisiert. Unter Einbeziehung von 5 früh Verstorbenen, betr?gt die mittlere überlebenszeit 9,5 Monate. Bei Entlassung der überlebenden aus station?rer Behandlung waren mit einer Ausnahme alle Patienten gehf?hig. In der Regel kamen Verbundosteosynthesen, bevorzugt der ventrale Zugang, zur Anwendung. Die pr?operative Embolisation war ein unverzichtbarer Bestandteil des Managements. Die operative Behandlung der Wirbels?ulenmetastasen ist eine segensreiche Methode, die in das gesamte Behandlungskonzept der bedauernswerten Patienten frühzeitig integriert werden sollte. Hochgradige Paresen oder Paralysen, insbesondere nach fudroyantem Verlauf, nicht kontrollierte Prim?rtumoren und spezielle Tumoren, z. B. das Bronchialkarzinom sowie gastrointestinale Karzinome, sind auch in der eigenen Serie indikatorisch eher kritisch zu sehen.      

Visual function in Huntington's disease patients and presymptomatic gene carriers.

Disturbances of visual cognition, visuomotor performance, and visual memory have been described frequently in Huntington's disease (HD). Early stage visual abnormalities could contribute to these deficits. We evaluated visual processing in 20 control subjects who were non-gene carriers at risk for HD, nine presymptomatic gene-positive subjects, and eight subjects with a recent diagnosis of Huntington's disease. Visual perceptual tests of contrast sensitivity and motion discrimination were used to probe early stage visual processing. Extraocular movements were evaluated in a neurologic examination, and the Digit Symbol test was used to test visual motor performance. Contrast sensitivity did not differ among the three groups. Motion discrimination was impaired in HD subjects but not in the presymptomatic gene carriers when compared to gene noncarriers. Among gene carriers, impaired motion discrimination performance was associated with poorer Digit Symbol performance and extraocular abnormalities. These findings suggest that the early stages of HD are associated with disturbances of motion perception as well as disruptions of visual motor and ocular motor performance.