Abrupt lithium discontinuation in manic-depressive patients

Prophylactic lithium was abruptly discontinued (under double-blind conditions and using placebo) in 18 manic-depressive patients for 15 days. Following lithium withdrawal tremor of hands, polyuria, general muscular weakness, polydipsia and dryness of mouth were significantly reduced. No withdrawal symptoms were noted. Three patients relapsed within 4 days of lithium discontinuation. The questions arising from these findings are discussed and the possibility of a rebound phenomenon produced by lithium is considered.     

The importance of behavioural studies in conservation biology

The exciting research developments in animal behaviour over the last two decades have had a negligible impact on conservation. I list 20 subjects in which the study of animal behaviour can make a significant contribution to conservation. Behaviour may in itself be worth conserving. I also suggest how behavioural ecologists could become more involved in conservation. Copyright 1998 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.     

The effects of metformin on glycemic control and serum lipids in insulin-treated NIDDM patients with suboptimal metabolic control

The edentulous ridge expansion has been introduced in recent years to reestablish an appropriate alveolar ridge width. This technique consists of the placement of implants in the space formed after the dislocation of the buccal plate in a labial direction. In guided bone regeneration, the quantity of bone regenerated under the membranes has been demonstrated to be directly related to the amount of the space under the membranes. This space can diminish as a result of membrane collapse. To avoid this problem, a new technique of edentulous ridge expansion, which involved the use of a titanium mesh barrier to protect the regenerating tissues and to achieve a rigid fixation of the bone segments, was used in association with autologous bone in 25 patients. At second-stage surgery in all patients, it was possible to see tissue, under the mesh, that had the macroscopic characteristics of mature bone and was superficially covered by a thin soft tissue layer. The microscopic examination showed that all autologous bone particles were embedded in newly formed bone. The use of a rigid mesh can assist bone regeneration in non-space-making defects, since it probably does not interfere with the blood flow to the underlying tissues because of the presence of microholes within the mesh.     

检测原始记录在质量管理体系中的重要性

根据质量管理体系对检测原始记录的要求,结合济钢实验室检测原始记录的运行状况,对检测原始记录的重要性、检测原始记录的基本要求、检测原始记录的管理知识、填写检测原始记录时容易出现的错误等进行描述,纠正检测人员对检测原始记录的模糊认识,使检测原始记录进行规范化管理,符合质量管理体系的要求。     

Need for dietary control by caloric restriction in rodent toxicology and carcinogenicity studies

The conditions under which laboratory animals are maintained can powerfully influence the results of toxicological studies utilized for risk assessment. Nutrition is of importance in toxicological bioassays and research, because diet composition and the conditions under which it is fed can affect the metabolism and activity of xenobiotic test substances and alter the results and reproducibility of long-term studies. It is known that ad libitum (AL) overfed sedentary laboratory rodents suffer from an early onset of degenerative disease and diet-related tumors that lead to poor survival in chronic bioassays. AL-fed animals are not well-controlled subjects for any experimental studies. Examination of study-to-study variability in food consumption, body weight, and survival in carcinogenicity studies for the same strain or stock of rodents shows tremendous laboratory-to-laboratory variability. However, a significant correlation between average food (calorie) consumption, adult body weight, and survival has been clearly established. The use of moderate dietary restriction (DR) results in a better controlled rodent model with a lower incidence or delayed onset of spontaneous diseases and tumors. Operationally simple, moderate DR significantly improves survival, controls adult body weight and obesity, reduces age-related renal, endocrine, and cardiac diseases, increases exposure time, and increases the statistical sensitivity of these expensive, chronic bioassays to detect a true treatment effect. A moderate DR regimen of 70-75% of the maximum unrestricted AL food intake is recommended as a nutritionally intelligent, well-established method in conducting well-controlled toxicology and carcinogenicity studies.     

The importance of nutrition for cancer patients

Good nutrition and nutritional therapy are important for cancer patients before, during and after treatment. The goal for the dietary advices and the nutritional therapy is to maintain or improve the nutritional status of the cancer patients. This seems to have beneficial effects on the oncological therapy. To achieve good results by using nutritional therapy in cancer treatment, a close collaboration between nutritionists, doctors and nurses will be important. The National Nutrition Council initiated in 1996 a working group in order to provide recommendations for diet and nutritional therapy in cancer patients. The group performed a literature review and studied the practice of nutritional therapy in Norwegian hospitals using a mailed questionnaire answered by 33 (72%) hospital departments. This paper gives a summary of this work.     

The effect of dietary fiber in tube-fed elderly patients

Diarrhea is a common problem with potentially serious consequences for elderly tube-fed patients. A review of the literature indicates that diarrhea has been associated with the use of antibiotics, low blood albumin concentration, and a lack of fiber in the diet. This study documents the observed effect of dietary fiber on the incidence of diarrhea in 50 tube-fed patients. Over a 3-week period, patients who received fiber-containing formula had fewer liquid/loose stools than patients who received fiber-free formula. Nurses who care for elderly, tube-fed patients can help to improve outcomes by advocacy and interdisciplinary collaboration with registered dietitians and primary providers and by teaching assistive staff the importance of accurate recording of bowel function.     

The importance of local control in the conservative treatment of breast cancer

The purpose of this study was to examine the meaning of local control, especially on survival, in breast cancer patients treated by lumpectomy with or without radiotherapy. We analyzed the survival results of four major published randomized trials that compare conservation surgery with or without radiation using three different statistical approaches: p-values, confidence intervals, and Bayesian techniques. All four trials report statistically significant increased local control and improved survival for the irradiated patients. Survival based on p-values and confidence intervals shows statistical significance for long-term follow-up of the NSABP-B06 trial, but not for the other trials, probably because of small sample sizes and short follow-up. At 10 years, the overall survival rates for the NSABP-B06 were 65% and 71% for lumpectomy alone or with radiation respectively. Interpreted in a Bayesian framework, the expected advantage in 10-year survival was 6% (the mean of NSABP-B06 10-year survival) with an 83% probability that the 10-year survival difference may lie between 2% and 10%. An 85% probability that 3% of patients will survive at 10 years because of irradiation translates into a 30% reduction in annual odds of death several years after treatment in stage I good prognosis patients and 15% in stage I poor prognosis patients. Analysis of the randomized trials comparing lumpectomy with or without radiation indicate a clear improvement in survival for the irradiated patients associated with increased local control. Combination of improved survival with the reduced psychological and economic costs associated with local recurrence argues well for the inclusion of radiation for many breast cancer patients.     

The effects of administering lithium carbonate on the balance of Na, K and water in manic-depressive patients

Eleven patients in remission from manic-depressive illness were studied by means of metabolic balances before and after the administration of lithium carbonate. Lithium caused a sharp diuresis of isotonic saline and a smaller excretion of potassium over the course of two days. During the subsequent two days there occurred a compensatory retention of Na, K and water. These short-term changes were not associated with any significant alteration in the patients' mood. There was no significant and systematic retention of Na, K or water over the 14 days of Li administration. The recovery of Li was measured simultaneously. During the first week only a proportion of the administered Li was recovered in the urine and faeces, suggesting that a gradual distribution of Li throughout its body space was occurring. After the first week, nearly all the administered Li was recovered, indicating an equilibrium with an even distribution of the ion throughout its body space. This equilibrium was more complete at this early stage in those patients who had been given a smaller dose of lithium carbonate.     

Warned reaction times of manic-depressive patients with and without lithium.

To assess the performance of manic-depressive patients and normal controls, a warned reaction time task was employed with 20 normal control Ss and 36 manic-depressive outpatients in the free, hypomanic, and depressed states, with and without maintenance levels of lithium carbonate. A warning light appeared at a variable interval preceding a light to which the S responded with a keypress. All Ss received both a regular and an irregular series with warning intervals of 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16 sec. In the regular series, blocks of intervals followed every other interval equally often. Manic-depressives were uniformly slower than controls in both series at all intervals. Maintenance levels of lithium facilitated reaction times particularly at the longer intervals in the irregular series. Depressive as well as hypomanic states tended to yield faster reaction times than the free state. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The importance of covariate selection in controlling for selection bias in observational studies.

The assumption of strongly ignorable treatment assignment is required for eliminating selection bias in observational studies. To meet this assumption, researchers often rely on a strategy of selecting covariates that they think will control for selection bias. Theory indicates that the most important covariates are those highly correlated with both the real selection process and the potential outcomes. However, when planning a study, it is rarely possible to identify such covariates with certainty. In this article, we report on an extensive reanalysis of a within-study comparison that contrasts a randomized experiment and a quasi-experiment. Various covariate sets were used to adjust for initial group differences in the quasi-experiment that was characterized by self-selection into treatment. The adjusted effect sizes were then compared with the experimental ones to identify which individual covariates, and which conceptually grouped sets of covariates, were responsible for the high degree of bias reduction achieved in the adjusted quasi-experiment. Such results provide strong clues about preferred strategies for identifying the covariates most likely to reduce bias when planning a study and when the true selection process is not known. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clinical and metabolic studies in children of diabetic-mothers

Children of diabetic mothers are a high-risk group. The perinatal mortality and the malformation frequency of the newborns as well as the psychosomatic, somatic and speech development during childhood until the age of 15 were statistically significantly influenced by quality of metabolic compensation, toxaemia and urinary tract infections during pregnancy. To evaluate the diabetogenic risk in children of diabetic mothers metabolic follow-up studies were performed. A statistically significant insulin-high-response without disturbed carbohydrate tolerance was seen in 25% after intravenous glucose infusion and in 28% after oral glucose load. 17% exhibited a paradoxical growth hormone reaction, while the intravenous glucose tolerance and the insulin secretion was in the normal range. Both symptoms could be early diabetic signs in children of diabetic mothers. The oGTT had pathological results in 18% and the glucose infusion test in 8%.     

The metabolic characteristics of patients with multiple sclerosis

A comprehensive clinical and biochemical evaluation has been carried out in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Measured in the patients' blood were levels of cholesterol, triglycerides, malonic dialdehyde, and superoxidedysmutase activity. The interrelationship revealed between the above measures provides a deeper insight into the mechanisms of pathometabolism in MS.     

The surgical risk factors in patients with nonmalignant space-occupying lesions of the liver and the importance of immunological studies in assessing their extent

Results of surgical treatment of benign new growths of the liver (BVML) depend not only on timely diagnosis of local growth but on precise analysis of surgical risk factors (SR) as well as accurate definition of its significance. The proposed classification helps to evaluate factors of SR in these patients. Results of the investigation showed that in majority of patients (94.7%) with BVML without complications immune system was were not suppressed. The fact may be considered as a favourable sign, demonstrating potential immunologic safety of patients in definite period of BVML development. Patients with lowered parameters of immunologic status made up a group of a high risk to develop inflammatory and septic complications in postoperative period. Definite correlation between the extent of immunodeficiency and frequency of postoperative complications has established the necessity of action to prevent the provocation of immunological status disturbances.     

The importance of recent neuropsychological and neurophysiological studies for social psychiatry]

Antimicrobial cationic peptides are an important component of the innate defenses of all species of life. Different peptides may have antibacterial, antiendotoxic, antibiotic-potentiating or antifungal properties, and so they are being developed for use as a novel class of antimicrobial agents and as the basis for making transgenic disease-resistant plants and animals.     

The importance of studies of the glycosaminoglycans in the peripheral blood leukocytes of patients in the diagnosis of the phases of chronic myeloleukemia]

To elucidate new diagnostic markers of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) phases, we investigated quantitative and qualitative composition of glycosaminoglycans (GAG) of leukocytes from peripheral blood of 72 patients. Chronic CML phase was characterized by elevated GAG levels (2 times compared to normal values), weakening of anionic properties of chondroitin sulfate (CS) and high amount of heparan sulfate (HS). In CML transformation in the progressive phase overall concentration of GAG grew still higher, GAG fraction composition changed. In the blast crisis there was a sharp fall in the overall GAG, new electrophoretic fractions emerged. In the myeloid variant of the crisis an additional GAG component appeared (GAG-m), whereas in the lymphoid variant another component was found (GAG-1). It is suggested that the number and composition of GAG in peripheral blood leukocytes may serve markers of CML phase.