The state mental hospital in transition: A review of principles

It is proposed here that the state hospitals will, through a transitional experience, become true community-oriented treatment facilities with the full range of services associated with a comprehensive community mental health center. The state hospital will have to continue to act in the role of a chronic disease hospital. It will have to continue to care for and innovate new treatment techniques for the hard-core refractory group of patients who suffer from persistent and severe disorganization of personality and severe asocial behavior due to psychotic causes. Even here one should be careful in the use of terms like chronic and intractable. Rehabilitation programs for these patients may in fact turn out to be feasible and the state hospitals may be the research centers where these solutions are found.     

Increased platelet adhesion and aggregation in hypertensive patients: effect of atenolol.

Fourteen patients with established hypertension followed a double-blind crossover-styled trial to study the effects of 100 mg/day atenolol compared to placebo. Atenolol was found to be an effective antihypertensive agent, reducing both systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Hypertensive patients appear to have increased in vitro platelet adhesion and aggregation. Atenolol significantly reduced platelet adhesion, but had little effect on aggregation. This may be important in contributing towards the now-recognised cardio-protective effect of the beta-adrenoceptor blocking agents. Blood chemistry and haematological parameters were unchanged; but whereas plasma cholesterol and plasma triglyceride levels remained normal, there was a significant fall in plasma high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. Side effects were very few.     

Cellular response in humans following vaccination with gripax influenza virus

Cellular response of peripheral blood lymphocytes to influenza antigens was measured in a group of young nurse-student volunteers (17–24 years old), following vaccination with a formol-inactivated trivalent influenza vaccine (Gripax). Cord blood lymphocytes (controls) did not react with any of the antigens. This excluded the possibility of any nonspecific mitogenicity of viral antigens. Viability of the cells was indicated by their responsiveness to phytohemagglutinin (PHA). Prior to immunization antigenic recognition to circulating strains (A/England (H₃N₂) and B/Hong Kong) was found in about 44% of the vaccinees; recognition of the recent strain A/USSR (H₁N₁) was found in only 10.5%. Following vaccination, approximately 80% of the subjects exhibited cellular response to all three vaccine strains. This includes the negative subjects, who showed an approximate 70% rate of conversion. There was no correlation between the antibody state and cellular response prior to and following vaccination as gathered from matched data of each participant.