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Treatment with thioridazine has been associated with electrocardiographic abnormalities, and there are individual case reports of fatal cardiac arrhythmias in patients taking thioridazine. Thioridazine or its metabolites can cause T-wave changes, but there is no evidence for a causal relationship between exposure to thioridazine and the occurrence of arrhythmias. In this study, the authors administered up to 6.7 mg/kg of thioridazine intravenously to macaque monkeys. Two of the animals had minimal T-wave changes immediately after the thioridazine injections and premature ventricular contractions a week later. The premature beats disappeared immediately after the next injection of thioridazine was administered. The authors suggest that when thioridazine has minimal effects on the T-wave, it may have both antiarrhythmic and arrhythmic activity. This could explain why cardiac arrhythmias have not been demonstrated in patients receiving regular, frequent doses of thioridazine, and suggests that arrhythmias may occur more frequently in patients with minimal T-wave changes.

The effects of i.v. N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) were studied on arterial blood pressure, rectal temperature, pupil size and the electroencephalogram of the rabbit. DMT altered these parameters in a dose-related manner causing increased blood pressure, hyperthermia, pupilary mydriasis and activation of the electroencephalogram. Pretreatment with the monoamine oxidase inhibitor, iproniazid, prolonged the effects of DMT, while pretreatment with chlorpromazine or methiothepin attenuated these actions of DMT.

Investigated the empirical validity of the MacAndrew Alcoholism Scale as a measure of alcohol abuse and a bipolar personality dimension, hypothesized by MacAndrew (1979) to mediate addiction-proneness among males, in a sample of N = 160 adolescent male offenders, who were classified according to pattern of alcohol intoxication. Classification accuracy was comparable to studies of adult males, e.g., 75% correct, but only 53.1% correct for marijuana use. There were significant personality differences (as measured by the California Psychological Inventory) between true positives and false negatives. As predicted, the true positive group resembled the Emotional Extraversion (Secondary Psychopathy) character orientation. Contrary to predictions, the false negative group did not resemble the Emotional Introversion (Dysthymic or Neurotic) character orientation, although they were more inhibited, less angry, and less inclined to antisocial acts than were true positives. Some observed differences in reported uses of alcohol were unexpected, e.g., true positives were more inclined to drink when they were coping with feelings of inadequacy, dysphoric affect, or interpersonal problems. Some limitations of the test when used with young males were discussed.

Adenosine deaminase (ADA) activity was studied in tumor tissue, spleen, and bone marrow of animals bearing a transplantable murine renal carcinoma. Tumor tissue and splenic ADA specific activities were elevated in these animals when compared to controls although splenic specific activity subsequently declined with increasing tumor burden. Marrow ADA specific activity was the same in tumor bearing animals as in controls regardless of variations in tumor size. Studies of this enzyme may offer insight into salvage pathways of purine biosynthesis thereby suggesting exploitable targets for chemotherapy.

To study the biologic behavior and natural history of this rare but challenging tumor faced by oncologists, a clinicopathologic study of 42 patients with histologically proven adrenal cortical carcinoma from Roswell Park Memorial Institute (1929--1977) was done. These constituted .04% of all cancer cases and 0.2% of all autopsy cases. Age range was 3--74 years with median of 53 years; female to male ratio was 1.5 to 1. Clinical manifestations were: abdominal mass (36%), metastatic disease (30%), hormonal excess (17%) and weakness with lethargy (17%). Nine of ten functioning tumors were seen in female patients. Tumors arose in left adrenal in 26 patients, right adrenal in 12, and in four the site could not be determined because of bilateral presence of cancer. Median duration of symptoms was six months. At diagnosis, 52% had distant metastases, 41% had locally advanced tumor and 7% had tumor confined to adrenal. Sixteen patients underwent "curative" resection. Tumor diameter ranged from 1--30 cm with median of 10 cm. Of 28 patients who received different chemotherapeutic regimens, three (11%) had objective response; four of ten patients had objective response to radiation therapy. Overall median and five-year survival rates were 14 months and 24%. Prolonged survival (P less than .05) was noted in women, patients who had "curative" resection, a disease-free interval of more than 12 months, and tumor size greater than 10 cm diameter. Patients with functional tumors had longer median survival than those with non-functional ones (28 vs. 12), but P value was greater than .05. A second primary cancer was noted in 22.4% of cases, breast and lymphoma being the most common. At autopsy in 31 patients, the most common metastatic sites were retroperitoneal lymph nodes 68%, lung 71%, liver 42%, and bone 26%. To improve survival, an aggressive surgical approach is recommended to extirpate the tumor with involved organs and retroperitoneal lymph nodes. Adrenal carcinoma should be suspected in patients with metastatic cancer with an occult primary.

One hundred and fifteen patients with penile cancer were treated at Roswell Park Memorial Institute from 1952 to 1975. A full follow-up is reported and factors involving the prognosis are analyzed. Although the clinical error of staging was near 30%, the lymphography results suggest that this study may result in added improvement in preoperative staging. Early diagnosis, adequate surgical resection, and lymph node dissection will improve the survival significantly. When dealing with an individual patient the prognosis is poor when any one or more of the follow factors are present: the lesion involves the shaft; there is a positive margin at the surgical resection; total penectomy is necessary to obtain tumor-free margin; lymphography is positive for tumor involvement of lymph nodes; lymph node dissection has not been performed; positive lymph nodes are found on surgical exploration. The good prognostic factors include: a lesion confined to the glans and partial penectomy is sufficient to obtain a tumor-free margin of resection; no clinical evidence (including lymphography) of lymph node invovlement; performance of lymph node dissection. The histological grading of the tumor should not influence the clinical decision for treatment in our opinion at this time, based on our current results. Further prospective studies of different factors involved in etiology, diagnosis, and treatment of penile cancer are suggested.

A technique for the semiautomatic calculation of left ventricular volumes from multigated blood-pool tomograms (MGBPT) was tested in a series of 12 patients undergoing contrast ventriculography within 48 hr of gated tomography. The parameters necessary for the calculation of volume were developed in a chest phantom study performed with a series of 99mTc-filled balloons representing the right and left ventricles. The images were analyzed for volume using a percentage of peak count-threshold of the left ventricular balloon. This technique resulted in a correlation of r = 0.99 of the calculated to the true phantom volumes (y = 0.87x + 27.4, p less than 0.01, s.e.e. = 7.87 ml). The patient studies were recorded at 16 frames/cardiac cycle at each of 60 angles over a 360 degree rotation. Reconstructed data were presented in an endless loop cine format producing a set of sequential "beating tomographic slices" in the transverse, apical four-chamber, short-axis, and long-axis oblique views. Measurements of end systolic volume (y = 0.79x + 30, r = 0.93, p less than 0.001, s.e.e. = 24 ml), end-diastolic volume (y = 0.63x + 60, r = 0.94, p less than 0.0001, s.e.e. = 20 ml) and ejection fraction (y = 0.88x - 0.02, r = 0.92, p less than 0.001, s.e.e. = 0.08) determined from the semiautomated volume method correlated well with those determined by left ventricular contrast angiography. A qualitative comparison of MGBPT, planar imaging, and left ventricular angiography in 12 patients revealed that the visual assessment of wall motion using the 16-frame tomographic slices had significant advantages over planar and single plane angiographic data in the identification of inferior, basal, and septal wall motion abnormalities as well as the extent of involvement by aneurysm formation. A quantitative comparison of wall motion in the long-axis oblique view of the MGBPT to the RAO 30 degree ventriculogram (y = 0.74x + 8.7, r = 0.82, p less than 0.0001, s.e.e. = 14%) confirmed the qualitative similarity of these two views. We conclude that MGBPT is promising as a method for accurately measuring left ventricular volumes and assessing regional wall motion.

Blood coagulation changes induced by sequential oral contraceptive (OC) therapy were studied. 112 healthy women volunteers were monitored over a 2-year period while on a regimen of sequential OC therapy (50 mcg ethinyl estradiol daily from Day 5 through 14 and 50 mcg ethinyl estradiol plus 1 mg morethindrone acetate on Day 15 through 25). The treated group showed marked increases toward hypercoagulability in the Hicks and Pitney thromboplastin generation time screening test at 3 and 9 months, Factor 5 at 9 months, Factor 8 at 3 and 9 months, and fibrinogen at 3 months. Decreases from base lines were seen in antiplasmins at 24 months and in alkaline phosphatase at all intervals (3, 9, and 24 months). It was suggested that the decrease in serum antiplasmin indicates a compensatory tesponse in the fibrinolytic system to the hyperactivity of the coagulation system.

Ein neuer Naturstoff, 6-Ethyl-5-hydroxy-2, 7-dimethoxynaphtochinon ist ausH. toruloidea isoliert worden. Dieses Produkt wurde fruher bei der Methylierung des 6-Ethyl-2, 5, 7-trihydroxynaphtochinons, welches bei der Reduktion des Spinachroms A mittels Natrium Borhydrid anfiel, erhalten.

A great many special methods for the statistical analysis of sensitivity or quantal response data have been developed during the past century. This paper demonstrates that many of these techniques can be considered in the light of non-linear regression methods which have been made more tolerable in recent years with the prevalence of high-speed computers.

While serum creatine phosphokinase (CPK) may be slightly elevated following major uncomplicated surgical procedures, the use of electrocoagulation of tissues gives rise during the first 7 hr postoperatively to CPK activity which is as markedly increased as in those patients who sustain intraoperative myocardial infarction.

Das Cycloheximid wird vonCunninghamella blakesleeana in sein Acetat verwandelt. Ferner wurden Ergosterin-Peroxid, das Anhydrid von Leucin-Prolin, sowie Thymin aus diesem Kulturansatz isoliert.

To evaluate the effects of chlormadinone acetate upon the coagulation of blood and fibrinolysin systems, 35 healthy, young women voluntarily using some form of birth control were studied. 10 women who served as controls used intrauterine devices; 25 women took either a progestin-estrogen (1 mg norethindrone acetate and 1 mg mestranol) combination or a synthetic progestational agent (0.5 mg chlormadinone acetate) on a coded, double-blind basis. Platelet counts, thrombelastograms, and plasma assays were performed prior to and after 3 and 6 months of treatment. After 3 months, those taking progestin-estrogen showed a highly significant increase toward hypercoagulability in Quick time, Factors II, VII, and X, and increased levels in the thromboplastin generation time (TGT), Factors V and IX, and plasminogen. At 6 months all levels remained elevated except for TGT. Those on chlormadinone acetate had only a slightly significant change toward hypercoagulability in Quick time and Factor VIII, an increase in Factor IX, and a decrease in Factor X. In the control group only TGT was elevated. The progestin alone induced only minimal changes in comparison to the marked rises accompanied with progestin-estrogen therapy.

The best available expression of defective transport of vital nutrients to the tissues is excess lactate (XL). This is most simply derived from the measured lactate concentration in blood minus the measured pyruvate concentration multiplied by the ratio of the normal levels of lactate and pyruvate, all values expressed in millimoles per liter, as follows: (XL = L-LNP/PN) The normal values specified with kits provided internationally by Boehringer Mannheim Corporation of Western Germany for enzymatic determination of blood lactate and pyruvate is 1.2 and 0.06 mmol per liter, respectively. Nomograms facilitating estimation of excess lactate from this ratio of 20, as well as the traditionally used ratio of 10, are herein presented.

Thirty-eight patients with adrenal adenocarcinoma were reviewed. Two of 23 males and 8 of 15 females had a functioning tumor (P less than 0.005). The most striking finding in this review was the variation in survival according to histologic grade. The median survival from histologic diagnosis was for grade I tumors 54 months, for grade II tumors 26 months, for grade III tumors 1 month. The difference in survival between patients with grade I or II tumors and those with grade III tumors was significant (P less than 0.001). The majority of the patients with grade III tumors were admitted with clinical evidence of disseminated disease and died within 1 month. Among the patients with well-differentiated tumors, five who received surgical treatment of their recurrence had a median survival of 51 months, whereas seven patients who received no surgical treatment had median survival of 20 months following first recurrence (0.05 less than P less than 0.10).