The course of panic disorder (PD) is often prolonged, but factors that affect the social outcome have not yet been made clear. The aim of this study was to find predictors of outcome for patients with PD. The subjects were 65 outpatients (28 men and 37 women) with PD (DSM-III-R) who were treated at our hospital for more than 1 year. The factors affecting 1-year outcome were evaluated by multiple regression analysis. We found that the following were predictors of poor social outcome in PD: (1) severe agoraphobia at the first psychiatric examination and (2) long duration of illness before the first psychiatric consultation. Furthermore, the complication of hypochondriacal symptoms predicted a poor outcome for PD. Early attention to agoraphobia and hypochondriasis is essential for the treatment of PD, and early introduction to psychiatric treatment is recommended.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Effect of whole body hyperthermia on ischemia and reperfusion injury of rat intestine: real-time ATP change studied using (31)P-MRS.

We studied the effect of hyperthermia pretreatment on subsequent small intestinal ischemia and reperfusion (I/R) injury in the rat. Systemic hyperthermia has been reported to induce heat shock proteins (HSPs) in several organs [1-6]. We examined the expression of HSP72 in the small intestinal mucosa using Western blotting and immunohistochemistry. We monitored energy metabolism using magnetic resonance spectroscopy continuously during a 60-min ischemia and the following 120 min of reperfusion. Expression of HSP72 in the small intestine was significantly increased at 6-8 h after hyperthermia. Intestinal ischemia was induced by clamping the superior mesenteric artery. Heating of the rat conferred substantial resistance to the I/R injury. In the untreated rats, beta-ATP decreased during ischemia (37.1 +/- 15.5% of the pre-ischemic value) and recovered on reperfusion, but reached only approximately 50% of the pre-ischemic value after 120 min of reperfusion. However, beta-ATP in the pretreated rats was maintained during ischemia at significantly higher levels and on reperfusion reached approximately 80% of the pre-ischemic value. These results indicate that hyperthermia protects the rat intestine from the I/R injury by unknown mechanisms which may include the induction of HSPs.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗

PubMedDate not supplied

A decrease in the equilibrium constant for the binding of thyroxine to TBG in pregnant women.

The interaction between thyroxine (T4) and thyroxine-binding globulin (TBG) was examined in the serum of pregnant subjects and compared with that in normal serum. Serum T4, TBG capacity, and serum albumin concentrations were measured in serum from six normal and five pregnant subjects. The percent of free T4 (% free T4) was also measured by equilibrium dialysis against veronal buffer in which T4-binding by TBPA was completely abolished. Calculated values for the net equilibrium constant for the binding of T4 to TBG (KTBG) were significantly lower in serum from pregnant subjects (1.18 x 10(10) M-1) than in that from normal subjects (1.65 x 10(10) M-1). To assess the possibility that these findings were due to the presence of a dialyzable inhibitor of T4-binding in the serum from pregnant subjects, serum from normal subjects was dialyzed against that from pregnant subjects. In addition, serum from pregnant subjects was dialyzed against normal serum. KTBG was not altered after dialysis and no evidence of a dialyzable inhibitor of binding was found. The data suggest, therefore, that the TBG in the serum of pregnant women may have a lesser intrinsic affinity for T4 than that in normal serum.

Autoradiography↗