Solubility of radionuclides in ash from the incineration of animals.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to G Gross.
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In one out of 22 cases of histologically diagnosed bowenoid papulosis, we could detect human papilloma virus (HPV) capsid antigen in paraffin sections fixed with formalin by means of the peroxidase-antiperoxidase (PAP) test; there were no positive findings regarding biopsies taken from Bowen's disease. Southern blot hybridization technique revealed HPV 16 DNA in 8 out of 10 cases of bowenoid papulosis; there was one positive identification out of 5 cases of Bowen's disease.
Increased dopaminergic activity has been postulated to be one of the main causes of schizophrenia. To evaluate this hypothesis further, the interrelation between dopamine, prolactin, thyrotropin (TSH) and L-thyroxine was studied by determining their concentrations in the serum of ten acutely ill schizophrenic patients exhibiting distinct stages of process activity and ten healthy subjects. The level of dopamine was elevated in the sera of schizophrenic patients, whereas the levels of prolactin, TSH and L-thyroxine were decreased. On the basis of these results we hypothesize that 1. increased dopaminergic activity affects pituitary secretory function, and 2. decreased beta-adrenergic activity may be a consequence of decreased thyroid hormone concentration in plasma.
2 cases of acanthosis nigricans associated with an adenocarcinoma (signet ring cell carcinoma) of the stomach and a metastasizing small-cell carcinoma of unknown origin are reported. In both cases the skin lesions preceded the diagnosis of the carcinoma by months and acanthosis nigricans maligna was suspected by onset and localization of the dermatosis. There was no evidence of a papillomavirus etiology of the warty skin lesions. Virus particles could not be demonstrated either in ultrathin sections or in buffer extracts. Virus-specific DNA was not detectable after CsCL-ethidium bromide gradient centrifugation and cellular DNA did not hybridize under stringent or relaxed conditions with 32P-labelled human papillomavirus 6 or human papillomavirus 8 DNA.
In view of the postulated etiological role of specific papillomaviruses in human genital cancer, early detection and treatment of papillomavirus-related lesions are requested. Since so far in the genital region papillomaviruses have been associated clinically only with condylomata acuminata, now they are detectable in a spectrum of morphologically and biologically different lesions of the external genitalia and of deeper mucosal sites such as the uterine cervix, the anal mucosa and the urethra. They consist in true condylomata acuminata, giant condylomas (Buschke-Löwenstein tumors), condylomata plana and the so-called pigmented papular lesions, the histology of the latter frequently exhibiting significant cellular atypia that may progress to carcinoma in situ. In the following brief survey morphological, etiological and therapeutical aspects of these diseases are presented.
A 24-year-old male drug-dependent patient with perianal exophytic condylomata acuminata is reported. An increased production of papillomaviruses could be demonstrated by means of electron microscopy and immunocytochemistry (peroxidase-antiperoxidase technique). This is in contrast to earlier investigations of exophytic condylomata acuminata, which revealed characteristically small amounts of mature papillomavirus particles. The basis for the different form of papillomavirus infection of the anogenital region in this drug-dependent patient is discussed.
32P-labelled DNA of HPV 16 which has been isolated and molecularly cloned from a cervical carcinoma (Dürst et al., 1983) was used to screen the cellular DNAs obtained from 20 different biopsies of Morbus Bowen or Bowenoid papulosis, respectively, by Southern blot analysis. Under conditions of differing stringency for the hybridization, HPV 16 DNA or related sequences were identified in 6 out of 10 cases of Morbus Bowen (4 out of 5 from a genital localization) and in 8 out of 10 biopsies from Bowenoid papulosis. One additional case of the latter disease contained DNA sequences of an HPV type not yet classified. There is evidence for the presence of another HPV DNA in two of the HPV-16-positive tumors. A large number of normal genital tissue samples were negative for HPV DNA.
Certain recently developed antidotes of the bispyridinium type, commonly called "H-oximes" (HGG 12, 21, 42, 52, 65, 70, 89, and HGG 90) have been investigated as to their effects on muscarinic and nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. These compounds clearly discriminate between these two types of receptors being more potent inhibitors of the muscarinic receptor with inhibitory constants in the micromole range. (The corresponding values for the nicotinic receptor are in the range of 0.1 mM.) However, the inhibitory potency in the binding assay does not correlate with the ED50 values obtained against soman in mice. The site of antidotal action therefore appears not to be the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor. Binding to the muscarinic receptors may partially contribute to the effects against soman in vivo.
Persisting human papilloma virus (HPV) 2 induced common warts of a chronic lymphatic leukemia patient were orally treated with aromatic retinoid Ro 10-9359 (Tigason). Clinically, the lesions improved rapidly. Virus-specific cytopathogenic effects (CPE), virus particles and viral DNA were no longer detectable. Therapy was discontinued because of the development of a liposarcoma, which led to a complete relapse of the cutaneous lesions. HPV-2 specific parameters, CPE and viral DNA, were restored. Comparison of the restriction enzyme cleavage patterns revealed that warts before and after therapy contained the same HPV-2 subtype. The implications of the observation on the effect of Tigason on virus-induced papillomas are discussed.
From the Bonn study including 502 patients followed up an average 22.4 years after onset of schizophrenic disease diagnosed according to the criteria of K. Schneider, we selected 113 cases of schizo-affective, schizophreniform, and cycloid psychoses in accordance to the definitions given by Kasanin, Retterstøl, Angst, and Leonhard. These psychoses have a better prognosis than the whole sample: characteristic residues are seen more rarely, complete remissions and noncharacteristic residues more frequently. This group of psychoses differs from the whole sample in the hereditary taint, too: the morbidity risk with affective psychoses and with schizophrenic psychoses in first- and second-degree relatives is higher than in the total sample of the Bonn study. In spite of the better prognosis and other differences described in the paper, we believe that these results do not justify the classification of schizo-affective and related disorders as an independent disease group. Between these different subtypes of schizophrenia only a differential typology and not a differential diagnostic is possible.
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The present study was undertaken to compare efficacy and duration of action of fenoterol and isoetharine in patients who subjectively required urgent therapy. Analysis of the resulting data showed that in this population fenoterol had a longer duration of action and was more effective at the later time periods.
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Transfer of a 36-kilobase piece of human DNA containing the beta-interferon (IFN-beta) gene into mouse Ltk-cells leads to transient expression of human interferon even without an exogenous inducer. A low level of human interferon expression is also found in most stable clones containing the transferred DNA. With double-stranded RNA or Newcastle disease virus (NDV) as inducer, human interferon expression is greatly increased. The induced transcript is identical to normal human IFN-beta mRNA. Neighbouring genes contained on the transferred DNA are co-induced but are not essential for the production of human interferon in mouse L cells.
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Three groups of schizophrenic diseases which cannot be differentiated with regard to psychopathological cross-section syndromes were investigated by psychological tests: one group (22 cases) of reversible postpsychotic basic stages and two groups of pure residual syndromes with an average duration of disease of 9.3 years (20 cases) and 17.5 years (21 cases). All three groups revealed findings deviating significantly from the norm. The pathological values were most marked in the performance scale of HAWIE (Hamburg-WAIS), which in all groups showed a significant lowering of performance compared with verbal scale (which corresponds approximately to the premorbid intelligence level), in "KVT" and in measures of sensory-motor reaction time by "Wiener Reaktionsgerät", less in "Benton test" and in examination with "Schreibdruckwaage". Reversible postpsychotic asthenic basic stages could not be significantly differentiated in psychological tests from pure residual syndromes which were comparable with regard to sex and age at the onset of the disease and--in the pure residues group of 1980--with regard to age and school success. The decrease of performance in the reaction test, in the concentration test of Abels, and in the averbal part of HAWIE correlated with symptoms and factors which were found with the help of "Frankfurter Beschwerdefragebogen" in the same patients. This positive correlation was more distinct in the reversible postpsychotic basic stages than in pure residues. The findings support the global hypothesis that the deficiencies of schizophrenic stages with a component of reversible or irreversible pure potential reduction are based on disturbances of perception and interpretation of information. Also that there are no fundamental differences between cerebro-organic or psychosyndromes of schizophrenic diseases determined by the dynamic and cognitive disorders of pure deficiency.
Earlier clinical pneumoencephalographic studies showed a subgroup of schizophrenics that have small and dysplastic cerebral ventricles as well as a subgroup with a "pure defect", i.e., a slight internal brain atrophy. In echoencephalograms of pure and mixed residual schizophrenic syndrome patients, a significantly higher average transverse diameter of the third ventricle was demonstrated compared to that in patients with complete remissions. Correlations cannot be expected between certain groups of disease, e.g., epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, or schizophrenia on the whole, and pneumoencephalographic (PEG) and CT findings. Only schizophrenics with distinct signs of pure defect that had persisted for at least 3 years revealed deviations from normal by CT and PEG, but those with irreversible fixed deformations of personality structure ("Strukturverformungen" [9,10]) did not. In patients who were 50 years of age or less with psychic reactive and psychopathic personality disorders, CT showed an average third ventricle diameter of 4.2 mm (range 2-6 mm). Of 117 schizophrenics (average age 35.5 years), only 28% revealed pathological CT changes. However, of 36 schizophrenics with pure residual syndromes 69% showed pathological CT findings that always concerned the third ventricle, rarely the lateral ventricles, and in no case the cortex. The average transverse diameter of the third ventricle in this subgroup with pure defect was 7.6 mm, as compared to 4.6 mm in the subgroup of schizophrenics with complete remission. There was no increase in size with increasing years until the 50th year in schizophrenics, as well as in the control group of variations of psychic being (neuroses and psychopathic personality disorders).
Several neuroleptic drugs enhance the release and the turnover of noradrenaline in the central nervous system and in peripheral organs. The present study demonstrates the effect of long term treatment (18 days) with atypical neuroleptic drugs (clozapine, thioridazine, and sulpiride) on beta-adrenoceptor density in the cerebral cortex and in the myocardium of rats. 1. Clozapine and thioridazine significantly reduced the number of 3H-dihydroalprenolol (DHA)-binding sites by 24 and 21%, respectively, in a crude cortical membrane fraction, and by 28 and 24% in myocardial membranes. 2. Sulpiride failed to alter the maximal number of binding sites in the cortex and in the myocardium. 3. The affinity of 3H-DHA to its binding sites remained unchanged by treatment with neuroleptic drugs. 4. Desipramine, which is known to reduce cerebral beta-adrenoceptors during chronic administration, was tested as reference compound. It proved to be more effective in this regard than clozapine and thioridazine in the cortex, but failed to reduce 3H-DHA binding in the myocardium. 5. Acute treatment with desipramine, clozapine, and thioridazine had no effect on 3H-DHA binding in the cerebral cortex. The decrease in beta-adrenoceptor density after long term treatment with neuroleptics may be ascribed to an increased concentration of noradrenaline at the receptor site due to antagonism at presynaptic alpha 2-adrenoceptors and inhibition of noradrenaline reuptake.