One gram of L-tryptophan fails to alter the time taken to fall asleep.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to K Adam.
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Twelve men with severe and long-standing atopic eczema were admitted to a double-blind trial to establish the effects of trimeprazine tartrate, trimipramine maleate, and placebo on nocturnal scratching. Neither of the drugs altered the likelihood of a scratching bout beginning in wakefulness or in any stage of sleep. However, both drugs, especially trimipramine, made sleep less broken, and the reduced time spent in stage 1 of sleep accounted for a modest reduction in the overall amount of scratching during the night.
For 7 days 37 test rats received a casein diet with an extra of 6.6 mg 15N-excess in the form of ammonium acetate. From the eighth test day onwards 4 resp. 5 rats each received various protein sources under maintenance conditions (115 kcal/kg body mass0,75). The atom-% 15N-excess was determined in feces, blood liver and muscles (urine cf. 1st information). The endogenous quota of N in the feces was calculated as follows: (formula: see text). The numerical value of the TCA-soluble fraction of N in the total blood was corrected by the decrease of the atom-%15N' in the last 12 hours (time for the passage of the fecel matter from small intestines to excretion). Since the endogenously excreted N-amount varied greatly according to different feed, a scale is proposed as biologic value of food proteins, which exclusively refers to the metabolic fecal nitrogen (MFN) under conditions of maintenance (abbr. MFN-BV). A proposal for its definition is: (formula: see text). Above that, a total BV is suggested which also refers to maintenance metabolism. The total BV is calculated as follows: (formula: see text). The following values were ascertained for MFN-BV and total BV: casein = 80 and 82; complete egg=68 and 67; fish meal=61 and 86; Torula yeast=31 and 46; peas=41 and 43; soya (assay protein)=73 and 61; wheat=47 and 71; gelatin=64 and 42. Finally, the recommendation is given to include in feed tables real digestibility values for food proteins ascertained with the 15N method. In the above mentioned order the following values of the real digestibility of proteins were ascertained with the 15N method and classical methods: casein=98.2 and 97.2; complete egg=100.0 and 98.7; fish meal=96.9 and 93.4; Torula yeast=83.0 and 67.6; peas=97.1 and 85.6; soya (assay protein)=98.3 and 96.4; wheat=95.7 and 87.3; gelatin=99.1 and 96.0. *cf. 1st information Bergner et al. (1978)
Mature male albino rats (ca. 300 g body mass) received 10 diets with a varying lysine content (1.6 to 8.4 g/16 g N). In one partial test the animals were fed ad libitum and in another partial test they were kept in the state of maintenance by limiting the amount of the diet. After 7 feeding days the catabolisation of 14C-lysine into 14CO2 was measured and after 8 feeding days the 15N-excretion in urine after 15N-lysine doses was ascertained. Based on these characteristics typical of metabolism, which show increased catabolisation of the amino acid after the lysine requirement was met, the lysine requirement of a mature rat was determined as 3.5 to 4.0 g/16 g N in the diet. In conclusion, this shows that the lysine requirement in the state of maintenenace and of mature animals is considerably lower than during the period of growth.
Over a period of 7 days, 38 experimental rats were fed a casein diet with a supplementation of 6.6 mg 15N-excess (15N') in the form of ammonium acetate. From the 5th experimental day, groups of 4 or 5 rats each were fed, over 5 days, different protein carriers to meet the meintenance requirement (115 kcal/kg body weight 0.75). The 15N-excretion via the urine, in terms of % of N absorbed from the food protein, served as yardstick of protein quality under maintenance conditions. The least 15N-excretion rates were reciprocally relativated for this maximum value (reciprocal 15N excretion biological value). The least 15N-excretion values from the 2nd to the 5th experimental days allowed to establish the following order for protein quality under maintenance conditions: fish meal, casein, wheat, whole egg, soybean (assayprotein), yeast peas, gelatin. The very good quality of the wheat protein for the maintenance state is seen in relation with the high content of glutamic acid (33.5 g/16 g N) and aspartic acid (5.7 g/16 gN). The found lysine content of the wheat protein (3.1 g/16 g N) proved sufficient for maintenance conditions.
Male Wistar rats (weighing some 80 g at the start of the experiment) were fed diets containing maize gluten as protein carrier and which was supplemented with amino acids (except lysine) in such way that their concentrations came up to the requirement norms. Lysine was gradually supplemented this resulting in 10 diets of different lysine content (1.6-10.6 g lysine/16 g N). On the 7th experimental day, 4 animals of each group were labelled with 14C-lysine and subjected to 2-hour measuring of 14CO2-excretion. On the following day, the animals were injected i.p. 15N-lysine, the urine being collected over 24 hours to determine 15N-frequency in urine. Both 14CO2-excretion and 15N-frequency in urine were found to remain constant at a lysine content of the diet up to 4.5 g/16 g N and rose steeply from 5.8 g lysine/16 N on. Under the experimental conditions chosen the lysine requirement is deduced to be 5 g/16 g N. This method of lysine requirement determination is highly sensitive and exact because it covers the catabolization of the amino acids under study and not so parameters that are known to be influenced by other factors such as growth, N-balance, total N-conversion or CO2-formation. The method can also be applied to metabolic situations not connected with productive performances.
Four Merino Landrace wethers averaging 47.6 kg body weight were adapted to a semi-synthetic diet containing as the only N-source 60 g of IBDU per day. After the adaptation phase, on the 1 st experimental day the IBDU of the morning feed was given in 15N-labelled form (701 mg 15N-excess). After 2 1/2, 7 1/4, 12 and 24 hours the experimental animals were killed without having been fed again. The comparison of the IBDU-concentrations in the content of the rumen bottom with the residual rumen content did not allow to draw conclusions regarding IBDU-sedimentation at the bottom of the rumen. For the 15N-decline in the rumen content, a relationship was established following y = 76.3 - 2.62 (r = 0.96) (see fig. 2). In the order of killing times the following 15N-IBDU amounts were retrieved (% of intake): I = 15.6%, II = 24.1%, III = 3.3% and IV = 3.6%. 7 1/4 hours after starting the experiment, 40% of the 15N-labelled material were found in the rumen in the form IBDU; after 12 hours it came to 10%. Except for sheep I, 15N-urea was not found but in small amounts. Only sheep I and III revealed IBDU-traces in the abomasum, but in the small intestine of all sheep 2 to 6% of the amount taken in. This fact is explained with the endogenous influx of IBDU from the blood. An additional experimental sheep provided with a ligature at the abomasum entry, revealed that IBDU is absorbed from the rumen and allowed to enter the individual segments of the intestine in small amounts.
Attempted suicide is a behavioural pattern with complex psychological and sociological determinants, many of which have been extensively studied in recent years. The basic facts of its changing incidence, its demography, and its place within a broader spectrum of self-destructive behaviour are well established but authorities are still divided on many issues related to its aetiology, its function in the individual and the kinds of services required for its clinical management. (Kessel 1965, Anderson 1974, Weissman 1974, Henderson and Williams 1974). The study reported here was designed partly to define the characteristics of a group of patients for whom clinical services were being planned and partly as a pilot study to develop a methodology for a more extensive controlled study which we hope to carry out next year. The preliminary findings are sufficiently interesting to report now.
The sleep of eight volunteers (mean age 55) was recorded electrophysiologically while viloxazine 200 mg was taken daily for 3 weeks, preceded and followed by a week of matching blanks. The volunteers also made ratings of their feelings on visual analogue scales. Another 15 volunteers (mean age 34) took viloxazine 300 mg daily for 3 weeks, preceded and followed by 3 weeks of matching blanks, and they also made daily ratings of feelings. The drug diminished sleep duration and caused more frequent and longer transitions into wakefulness and drowsiness. Slow-wave sleep decreased and stage 2 increased. REM sleep was markedly reduced, especially initially, and there was a withdrawal rebound. Viloxazine impaired subjective concentration mood, and quality of sleep. Three volunteers, however, had striking mood elevation. The drug caused a small loss of weight, which correlated with gastrointestinal symptoms. Three older subjects experienced withdrawal vomiting and prostration. Viloxazine shares properties with imipramine and with amphetamines.
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2 experimental cows received isobutylidenedi urea added to a natural diet in amounts of 175 g (I) and 730 g (II) per day for a period of several weeks before the trial was started. On the 1st day of experiment the morning dose was labelled with 5.05 g of excess 15N. 8 hrs after the beginning of the trial of 15N level in the TCE soluble portion of blood plasma (TCE=trichloroacetic acid) increased and remained at an elevated level until the 36th hour of experiment. Similarly, the values for maximum urinary 15N concentrations were maintained for a prolonged period of time. Isobutylidenedi urea was excreted with the urine in rates related to its solubility. Only small percentages of the 15N intake were excreted in the TCE soluble portion of the milk (cow I: 0.03%; cow II: 0.05%). The 15N-labelling of milk protein provides evidence for the fact that nitrogen from IBDU is utilized for the synthesis of milk in the cows. The amount of urea in milk averaged 400 mg per litre. None of the milk samples tested contained IBDU.
Male Wistar rats (of 60 g live weight) allotted in 10 groups were fed diets with gradually increasing lysine levels ranging from 1.4 to 7.4 g lysine/16 g N. Feed intake was restricted so much that the experimental animals did not change their live weights during the last 3 days of the 8-day experiment period. On the 7th experimental day, 4 animals of each group were injected i.p. 14-C-L-lysine, the 14CO2-excretion being subsequently measured over a period of 2 hours. On the next day, 6 animals of each group were applied an i.p. injected of 15N-L-lysine, the urine being collected over the following 24-hour period to measure the 15N-frequency. Applying both labelling methods, an increased catabolisation of the amino acid was observed after the metabolically necessary lysine requirement had been covered. The methods are very sensitive and revealed, under the experimental conditions chosed, a lysine requirement coverage of about 3 g lysine/16 g N. The possibility of using also 15N-labelled compounds in the metabolism-oriented amino acid requirement determination is likely to facilitate the transfer of the methodology to farm animals and would thus allow to study the amino acid requirement of man. The metabolism-oriented amino acid requirement determination will likewise allow to estimate exact amino acid requirement data under conditions that cannot be rated on the basis of productive yields.
2 male sheep (weighing 45 kg and 44 kg) were fitted with a ruminal fistula and a jugular vein catheter and received isobutylidendi-urea for a 42-day period of adjustment. The diet contained 25% starch, 23.8% glucose, 29.0% cellulose, 10.0% straw, 1.7% sunflower seed oil, 4.3% isobutylidendi-urea, 5.6% minerals and vitamins. Each animal received 60 g of isobutylidendi-urea in daily amounts of 1.4 kg of the ration-4.4% of the total dietary N came from the straw. At the begin of the trial each sheep received 30 g of 14C15N isobutylidendi-urea (C1-siobutyl labelling) administered as a suspension. The animals were then placedin respiration cages. The peak of specific 14C activity in the expired air (including ruminal gas) was observed 2 hrs after the beginning of the trial. 18--30 hrs after the beginning of the trial the highest level of 15N incorporation into the TCE (trichloroacetic acid) soluble fraction of the ruminal fluid was noted resulting from the reflow of urea via the rumeno-hepatic circulatory system in the rumen. A high concentration of 15N was shown to be present, for prolonged period, in the TCE soluble fraction of the ruminal fluid (up to the 30 hr of experiment). The 15N concentration in the blood plasma (TCE soluble portion) was found to increase reaching a peak value 23 hrs after administration of the isotope. The highest level of 14C activity in this fraction appeared 1 hr after isotope administration. The 15N incorporation into the protein fraction of blood plasma reached a constant high level between the 29th and 47th hr of experiment. The highest 15N concentrations in urine were noted after 1 day. 3.5% of the administered dose of 14C activity and 23% of the supplied amount of N were excreted in the urine. 20% of the total amount of 15N excreted in the urine could be detected as 14C isobutyl residues. An excess of between 0.05 and 0.17 atom% of the isotopes were found in muscular tissue and in different organs of the sheep when these were slaughtered on the 7th day of experiment (liver: 0.17%, kidneys: 0.14%, muscle: 0.05%, heart: 0.08%). The results obtained in the present trial clearly indicate that ruminants are able to utilize nitrogen from isobutyldi-urea.
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The sleep of 10 volunteers with an average age of 57 years was recorded electrophysiologically before, during, and after nitrazepam 5 mg nightly for 10 weeks. Sleep was longer and less broken on the drug and no tolerance was obvious after two months' use. Withdrawal of the drug, however, caused sleep to be temporarily worse than before the drug had been taken. Slow-wave sleep was reduced by nitrazepam, but the accompanying secretion of growth hormone was not impaired.
Deliberate suggestion that an inert capsule was a sleeping pill was found not to influence subjective ratings of sleep quality or anxiety or the electrophysiologically recorded features of sleep in 10 volunteers aged 41-62 years.