AIDS and intravenous drug abusers.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to M W Adler.
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Sixty women patients experiencing a first attack of genital herpes were randomly treated with either oral acyclovir for 42 days or oral acyclovir for five days followed by placebo for 37 days. The median time to the first recurrence in patients receiving acyclovir for 42 days was 66.5 days compared with 24 days in those who received acyclovir for only five days (p less than 0.0001). This significant difference, however, was only observed for the treatment period. The frequency of recurrences was also reduced during the period of treatment in those who received prolonged treatment. During the subsequent follow up period, however, patients in both groups had a similar frequency of recurrences. Patients with infections due to herpes simplex virus type I (HSV I) had a significantly longer time to the first recurrence (p less than 0.001) and fewer recurrences (p less than 0.001) than those infected with HSV II, irrespective of treatment.
Homosexual practices might be expected to result in an increase in urinary tract infection in adult men. Midstream urine specimens were collected from 200 homosexual and 205 heterosexual men attending a clinic for sexually transmitted diseases. Three specimens from each group yielded more than 10(5) Escherichia coli per ml. The prevalence of urinary tract infection among homosexuals was therefore similar to that in the heterosexual population.
Morphine sulfate and amphetamine sulfate dilate the pupil of the conscious, unrestrained rat. To examine the mechanisms underlying amphetamine and morphine mydriasis, the pupil diameter of freely moving rats was measured from photographs taken before and after these drugs were administered s.c., i.c.v. or by instillation into the eye. Some rats received monoamine antagonists, sympathetic denervation, or adrenalectomy before drug administration. The results indicate that both amphetamine and morphine mydriasis are primarily due to centrally mediated inhibition of parasympathetic outflow, although for both drugs there may be a sympathetic component. Pharmacological evidence indicates that the mydriatic effect of a low dose of amphetamine is mediated by actions on both alpha-1 and alpha-2 adrenergic receptors, whereas only alpha-2 adrenergic receptors are involved in morphine mydriasis.
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The models currently used to assess antinociceptive efficacy in animals are far from ideal. Those procedures that detect both opioid agonists and mixed agonist-antagonists fail to differentiate between them unless the noxious stimulus is adjusted. Furthermore, changes in the sensitivity of the test often result in positive responses being elicited from agents that are either not analgesics or only weak ones, at best. The technique described in this report uses cold water as the noxious stimulus in rats. It is simple, requires no complicated instrumentation or training, correlates well with clinical efficacy in man, and allows separation of opioid agonists from mixed agonist-antagonists without detecting non-opioid agents.
The prevalence of antibody to HTLV-III has increased from 3.7% (4/107) amongst unselected British homosexual men attending a London sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinic during one week in March, 1982, to 21% (26/124) in those attending during one week in July, 1984. Seropositive men had a significantly higher prevalence of infection with hepatitis B virus than did seronegative men. 82% (27/33) of the seropositive men in 1984 were symptomless or had only local genito-urinary symptoms referable to the STD for which they were attending. The evidence suggests that HTLV-III was initially an imported but is now an endemic sexually transmitted agent. As of July, 1984, at least 2600 homosexual men in London would probably have been infected.
Pupillary effects of several opioids were examined as part of a broader in vivo study of multiple opioid receptors in the rat. Agonist activity, stereospecificity, and naloxone sensitivity were determined by methadone (Me), ethylketocyclazocine (EK), and N-allylnormetazocine (SKF 10,047), selected for their purportedly predominant actions at mu, kappa, and sigma receptors, respectively. After an acute, subcutaneous injection of each drug, pupil area and fluctuations in pupil size were measured by means of an infrared video pupillometer on line with a microcomputer data processing and storage system. Despite differences in the magnitude of the response, each opioid tested produced an increase in pupil size which was stereospecific, independent of behavioral responses to the drugs and, for 1-Me and 1-SKF 10,047, dose-related. Other differences among the opioids were found in their ability to induce fluctuations (1-Me and 1-EK) and a pendular nystagmus (1-SKF 10,047 only), and in their sensitivity to naloxone. Although 1.0 mg/kg naloxone completely reversed 1-Me-induced mydriasis, 10 mg/kg was needed to reverse 1-EK, and this dose only partially antagonized 1-SKF 10,047. These characteristic patterns of pupillary responses to opioids in terms of agonist activities and naloxone sensitivities indicate that the different opioid receptor types subserve different functions with respect to pupillary control.
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Pupil area in rats was continuously monitored by infrared pupillometry during morphine-induced (30 mg/kg i.p.) mydriasis and pupillary fluctuations. EEG records from all visual system areas as well as frontal cortex, amygdala and mesencephalic reticular formation show intermittent electrographic bursting to be simultaneous with miosis during the period of fluctuations. Mydriasis occurs at the cessation of each burst, but both of these events occur 1-3 seconds after an effect on respiration composed of a slight change in tidal volume and a 10% decrease in minute respiratory rate. The reason for the essential synchrony of the respiratory change, the cessation of global bursting and the change in parasympathetic input to the pupil is unknown.
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A postal survey of clinicians working in departments of genitourinary medicine in the United Kingdom was carried out to assess the accuracy of the routine surveillance system for penicillinase producing Neisseria gonorrhoeae (PPNG). A discrepancy was found between the number of cases that had been seen by clinicians and those notified to the Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre. The difference varied from 4% in 1979 to 23% in 1981. This increasing discrepancy presents problems for the control of PPNG strains, as the time when alternative strategies for the treatment of gonorrhoea should be implemented may go unnoticed.
Over the past 10 years there has been a pronounced increase in the number of cases of genital herpes seen in sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinics in the United Kingdom. The reporting system, however, does not differentiate between primary and recurrent infections, and consequently any increase in the number of patients reattending clinics with recurrent genital herpes would falsely inflate the statistics. A study of cases of herpes seen in the department of genitourinary medicine of this hospital in the two years 1972 and 1982 is presented. It showed that the proportion of patients attending with recurrent herpes had increased from 18% in 1972 to 31% in 1982. As a result of this, the 68% increase between 1972 and 1982 in the total number of cases of herpes seen in the clinic overestimates the real increase in the size of the problem, which is closer to 40%, based upon cases of primary herpes only. Modifications to the national recording system are necessary to overcome the problems highlighted by this study. These modifications could include classifying each case of genital herpes as primary, recurrent, or recurrent but not previously recorded, which would provide a more accurate picture of the size of the problem of genital herpes in the population.
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56 patients with frequently recurring genital herpes were treated in a randomised double-blind trial with either oral acyclovir 200 mg four times a day or placebo for 12 weeks. 29 patients received the drug and 27 the placebo. The mean recurrence rate per month of treatment was 1.4 in the placebo-treated patients and 0.05 in the acyclovir group. Median time to the first recurrence after the start of therapy was 14 days in the placebo group compared with 100 days in the acyclovir group. After the end of treatment the recurrence rate was similar in the two groups. Prophylactic oral acyclovir seems to be an effective treatment for patients with frequently recurring genital herpes.
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