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ResumenSe interrogó a 30 pacientes hospitalizados varones dependientes de alcohol sin trastorno depresivo concurrente, 13 de ellos con antecedentes familiares positivos de dependencia de alcohol en un familiar en primer grado (AFP), sobre su deseo y hábitos de consumo con respecto a cigarrillos, café y dulces mientras estaban en un tratamiento hospitalario de tres semanas después de la deshabituación de alcohol. Seis semanas después del alta del hospital, se evaluó de nuevo a los pacientes en cuanto a la recaída. Once pacientes (36,6%) habían recaído en el seguimiento. Los que recayeron eran más jóvenes que los que se abstuvieron. Los días hasta la recaída correlacionaban negativamente con la intensidad del deseo de beber alcohol, el deseo de fumar cigarrillos y con un consumo más alto de cigarrillos. Los pacientes con AFP no recaían antes pero tenían un deseo más fuerte de beber café y comer dulces y tenían un consumo más alto de café.

Thirty male alcohol dependent inpatients without concurrent depressive disorder, 13 of them with a positive family history of alcohol dependence in a first degree relative (PFH), were questioned about their desire and consumption habits with respect to cigarettes, coffee, and sweets while on a three-week inpatient treatment after detoxification from alcohol. Six weeks after discharge from hospital, the patients were reassessed for relapse. Eleven patients (36.6%) had relapsed at follow-up. Relapsers were younger than abstainers. The days until relapse correlated negatively with intensity of desire to drink alcohol, desire to smoke cigarettes, and with a higher consumption of cigarettes. PFH patients did not relapse earlier but they had a stronger desire to drink coffee and eat sweets and had a higher coffee consumption.

Aims: To test whether the risk of relapse in alcohol dependence is predicted by the subjective experience of cue exposure (CE) and/or cortisol reactivity to alcohol cues. Methods: Salivary cortisol and self-ratings of 'tension' and 'desire to drink' were measured in 32 detoxified alcohol-dependent inpatients during CE sessions conducted in the first and third week of motivation enhancement therapy. Subjects completed the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and the Abbreviated Alcohol Expectancy Questionnaire (B-AEQ) towards the end of the inpatient treatment to measure emotional self-awareness and the expected positive effects of alcohol. Results: Six weeks after the end of the inpatient treatment, 15 patients were abstinent. Relapse was verified or was presumed for 17 patients. Those who had relapsed had shown an attenuated response to CE in the third week as an inpatient but did not differ from abstainers in terms of subjective reaction to cues. Subjective ratings of CE were not related to salivary cortisol or relapse but showed several associations with factors one and two of the TAS-20. The expectancy of enhanced social contacts by using alcohol (factor 1 of the B-AEQ) correlated negatively with the decline in salivary cortisol during the CE session in the third week of treatment. Subjective ratings of CE correlated with Alexithymiascores. Conclusions: Alcoholic patients who use alcohol to enhance their social contacts typically lack hypothalamo-hypophyscal-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) reactivity in the early period of abstention. They are at an increased risk of early relapse and perhaps use alcohol to increase cortisol secretion again.

Modification of orthopaedic prostheses by the incorporation of a biocompatible coating is attractive due to the attributes that arise from the biomaterial design of the interface. Hydroxyapatite (HA) is a favoured ceramic that has served functionalities such as enhancing fixation and stabilisation of the implant. The HA can be termed as “intelligent” because it responses to the physiochemical environment and adapts itself accordingly. There has been a great deal of clinical case histories and scientific discovery that have elucidated the mechanisms that enable HA coatings to perform successfully. However, there is a major link missing in this fundamental research, i.e. establishing a relationship between the processing parameters by which a coating is manufactured and the corresponding performance. Thus, the current work addresses this major issue by looking at the design criteria for HA biomaterial coatings. The prime issues that are addressed include (1) the relationship of the thermal spray devices and the manufacturing parameters to the so-formed phase structure, (2) limitations of thermal spray methods in achieving an appropriate HA coating that may exhibit specific functionalities, (3) the creation of specific phases via thermal spray methods and the importance of positioning these phases at specified locations within the coating, and (4) the nature of porosity that is created by a thermal spray method and how manufacturing parameters influence this microstructural characteristic.

A primary goal in modern orthopaedics is increasing the rate and long-lasting anchoring of implants in the human body. Hydroxyapatite, having a chemical structure and chemistry that is identical to bone, significantly enhances the on growth and subsequent ingrowth of natural bone material. Nevertheless some aspects of the performance of hydroxyapatite coatings have not been investigated sufficiently; for example the in vivo, long-term behaviour of the material, including the time-dependent dissolution accompanied by changes of mechanical properties have been poorly documented. The current study creates an idealized, virtual microstructural coating model that examines the time-dependent behaviour and properties of hydroxyapatite coatings. The analyses examine time vs. dissolution dependencies that reflect in vivo behaviour.

— Aims: to investigate a possible association of cortisol stress response during early abstention with relapse. Methods: Thirty-six alcohol-dependent males, half of them with a comorbid anxiety disorder, and 15 healthy controls were exposed to a standardized psychosocial stress test. Thirty-one of the patients were assessed for relapse 6 weeks after discharge. Results: The relapsers showed almost no cortisol responses in the stress test. Comorbid anxiety disorder influenced neither stress response nor relapse. Conclusions: During early abstention from alcohol, reduced stress-responsivity of the hypothalamo–pituitary–adrenocortical axis seems to be connected to early relapse.

Wir wissen heute aus einer Vielzahl von epidemiologischen Studien, das bei Alkoholabhangigen eine erhebliche Komorbiditat besteht. Dabei ist das Ausmas an Komorbiditat um so hoher, je spezieller die untersuchte Stichprobe gewahlt wird. So fanden Wittchen et al. (1992) eine Lebenszeitpravalenz von 32% Komorbiditat unter Alkoholabhangigen in der Allgemeinbevolkerung, wahrend Tomasson und Vaglum (1995), die die Alkoholabhangigen in alkoholspezifischen klinischen Einrichtungen naher untersuchten, eine Lebenszeitpravalenz fur Komorbiditat fanden, die in etwa doppelt so hoch war (Abb. 1). Arolt und Driessen (1996) untersuchten die Patienten in einem Allgemeinkrankenhaus in Lubeck auf psychiatrische Storungen und fanden mit einer Lebenszeitpravalenz von 41% Pravalenzwerte, die zwischen den beiden anderen Studien lagen.

A great variety of different antimicrobial chemotherapeutics is available for the treatment of urinary tract infections. Influencing the course of chronic diseases is a problem because recurrent diseases may result in disturbances of renal and bladder functions as well as in irreversible damages of the renal parenchyma. The present investigations are expected to clarify whether an effective prevention of reinfection in patients with chronically recurrent urinary tract infection is possible by a regular administration of L-methionine (Acimethin).33 female patients were included in the examinations. Following acute disease, 23 females (aged: 47.4 +/- 13.3 years) were treated with 3 x 1 tablet of Acimethin (L-methionine) daily over a period of 26 months. Ten female patients (aged: 47.4 +/- 12.2 years) taking 1 tablet of Nevigramon (nalidixic acid) three times daily over 21.6 months served as a control group. Before starting treatment and in the middle of the therapy period control examinations were performed and following the last drug administration so as to assess the therapeutic result.No acute infection occurred during L-methionine treatment. All parameters of inflammation (leucocyte count, C-reactive protein, blood sedimentation rate, alpha 2-globulin concentration) were in the normal range; no impairment of renal function was observed. Although L-methionine, i.e. nalidixic acid, did not yield any significant changes in the range of bacteria, the adherence of uropathogenic microorganisms to the cells of the urinary tract was reduced. Before L-methionine treatment, the average load of the uroepithelial cells was 95.9 +/- 73.6 bacteria per cell. When the observation period was completed, 51.2 +/- 56.4 bacteria per cell were registered (p0.03). During nalidixic acid treatment, the rate of adherence was reduced from 74.0 +/- 88.4 to 34.4 +/- 37.8 bacteria per cell (p0.25). During L-methionine treatment, no Escherichia coli strains that are able to produce hemolysin or to form aerobactine were found. Among agents adhering to uroepithelial cells, however, an increase in their ability to produce mannose-resistant hemagglutination was conspicuous.L-methionine is suitable to prevent reinfection with chronic urinary tract infection. The therapeutic result is essentially due to its influence on bacterial cytoadherence. In contrast to the established recommendations concerning the prevention of reinfection by the use of antibiotics and sulphonamides selecting resistant strains during long-term treatment, nothing is known about the development of resistance to L-methionine.

A flavour profile analysis has been developed for the evaluation of carbon dioxide extracts of marjoram. On the basis of the commercial quality of various proveniences of marjoram a first flavour profile was established. Components which decisively influence the flavour were examined for the determination of relevance factors. The taste profile is the basis for the calculation of the quality coefficient as measure of the sensory quality. The expert profile as a theoretical model is based on optimum intensities of individual taste components. Differences from the expert profile are considered by corrected intensities and lead to a decrease of the quality coefficient. The method used for the development of a high pressure extraction technology is quite suitable for the characterization of marjoram extracts as well as for the evaluation of commercial marjoram samples.

In 16 patients with a chronic renal insufficiency at the stage of the compensated retention and 13 test persons of the chronic haemodialysis programme determinations of the total calcium and of the ionized calcium fraction as well as investigation of the intestinal calcium absorption by means of the isotope 47Ca were performed. In these cases the influence of vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol) and vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) on these parameters of the calcium metabolism was compared. Under the treatment with vitamin D a normalization of the serum calcium levels concerning the total calcium concentration as well as with regard to the ionized calcium fraction was achieved; this effect took place parallel to the improvement of the intestinal calcium absorption. Vitamin D3, had a more favourable effect than vitamin D2. The necessary doses are below 40,000 U a day.