Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

F Benes

Publications and source records attributed to F Benes.

4 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1989

Relationships between brain CT scan findings and cortisol in psychotic and nonpsychotic depressed patients.

In this report, data are presented on pre- and postdexamethasone cortisol levels, neuropsychological testing, and computed tomography (CT) scan findings in 30 depressed patients (15 psychotic and 15 nonpsychotic). Particularly significant findings were observed when data from the unipolar subgroup (n = 22) were analyzed separately. Unipolar psychotic depressed patients had significantly larger (p less than 0.05) anterior pole and cella media ventricle-to-brain ratios (VBRs) and significantly greater (p less than 0.05) left and right inferior parietal brain "atrophy" than nonpsychotic depressed patients. Higher rates of Dexamethasone Suppression Test (DST) nonsuppression were observed in psychotic depressed patients and in patients with larger cella VBRs. Inferior parietal brain atrophy and large VBRs were also associated with greater cognitive impairment on psychometric testing. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Methaqualone.

Methaqualone is considered a sedative hypnotic drug with a pattern of pharmacological effects similar to those of barbiturates such as pentobarbital. It does have chemical similarities to the barbiturates but was, in fact, synthesized as part of an Indian program looking for antimalarial drugs (Brown and Goenechea, 1973). Methaqualone was selected for the focus of this study five years ago, because of its popularity as a euphoriant among casual recreational drug users in the Boston area. Methaqualone, instead of a barbiturate hypnotic, was therefore used to test our proposed methodology for the assessment of the abuse liability of sedative drugs. As one reviews the history of the clinical use and illicit abuse of methaqualone, it appears particularly unfortunate that a study of this sort was neither completed nor available to our Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) in 1965. It was at this time that the drug was approved for prescription use and placed in Schedule V, a schedule which essentially places no restrictions on the clinical use of a prescription drug (Falco, 1976). This paper will both review the development of methaqualone and present an experimental methodology for assessing its abuse liability under seminaturalistic conditions.

Adult↗
PubMed1973

Ultrastructural localization of phospholipid synthesis in the rat trigeminal nerve during myelination.

A method for the ultrastructural localization of acyltransferase enzymes involved in phospholipid metabolism has been applied to the developing rat trigeminal nerve. Determination of acyltransferase levels in the nerve indicated that a peak of activity occurs at the 8th day after birth with gradual declines of activity up to 15 days. Morphological surveys and determinations of cholesterol levels suggested that heavy myelin formation occurs in the nerve during this latter period. Fixed nerves incubated in a medium for localization of acyltransferases indicated deposition of reaction product associated with Golgi cisternae, intracellular smooth vesicles, and the plasma membrane of the Schwann cell in the incipient stages of myelin formation. Golgi-derived vesicles appeared to move toward the Schwann cell surface and fuse with the plasma membrane. Activity continued to be detectable in the plasma membrane of the internal mesaxon as long as cytoplasm was evident and mature myelin membrane was not yet formed. Cells in which myelin formation appeared advanced showed little or no enzyme marker. Consistent with cytochemical observations were biochemical determinations of acyltransferases which showed high levels of the enzymes in microsomes, while no activity could be detected in the myelin fraction. Acyltransferase reaction product was also observed in the Golgi apparatus of ganglion cell bodies, axoplasmic smooth vesicles, and the axolemma. Localization of acyltransferase enzymes in Schwann cells, ganglion cell bodies, and axons during development of the nerve is discussed in relation to membrane biogenesis in the nervous system.

Acyltransferases↗