Diverse effects of stress and additional adrenocorticotropic hormone on digitalis-like compounds in normal and nude mice.

Digitalis-like compounds (DLC) are steroidal hormones that are synthesized in, and released from, the adrenal gland, whose regulation may be directed by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Increasing evidence points to antitumour properties of these compounds and we hypothesized that the establishment of tumours in athymic nude mice may be facilitated by an abnormal synthesis or secretion of DLC. To explore this hypothesis, DLC concentrations were determined in the plasma, and in adrenal and hypothalamic tissues of nude compared to normal mice under basal conditions, and 30 min after a stress stimulus (i.p. injection of 100 micro l saline) with or without additional adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) 1 micro g/per animal. Simultaneously, plasma corticosterone and serum adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) concentrations were analysed. The basal DLC concentrations were similar in the plasma and the hypothalamus of both strains, whereas the basal adrenal DLC concentration was significantly lower in the nude mice compared to normal mice. The stress stimulus induced in normal mice a significant increase in DLC concentrations in the adrenal gland, the plasma and the hypothalamus. However, in nude mice, it caused an increase only in the adrenal gland and the hypothalamus, whereas the plasma DLC concentration was not affected. In both strains, the administration of ACTH in addition to injection stress did not provoke a further increase in DLC concentrations while inducing a significant increase in plasma corticosterone concentration. Regardless of the applied stimulus, the nude mice expressed significant lower DLC concentrations in the adrenal gland and the plasma compared to normal mice. The low basal adrenal DLC concentration in nude mice and their impaired DLC response towards stress- and ACTH stimulation both support an involvement of DLC in tumorigenesis.

[Cardiologic rehabilitation. An orienting overview]. / Kardiologische Rehabilitation. Eine orientierende Ubersicht.

The European Society of Cardiology has dealt in detail with concepts of cardiological rehabilitation in 1992 and has published guidelines. According to the opinion of this society, the organization of cardiological rehabilitation can differ among the European countries considering the socio-economic structures, legal and insurance regulations as well as national traditions. Guidelines for the standards of cardiological rehabilitation have to be flexible and adaptable to the organization of each European country. According to the opinion of Müller-Fahrnow, the beginning of modern medical rehabilitation in the Federal Republic of Germany is clearly linked to the development of concepts for cardiological rehabilitation at the end of the sixties and beginning of the seventies with a holistic approach under consideration of a kinetotherapeutic and psychosocial focus. A countrywide introduction of the concept of the following curative treatment at the end of the seventies by the insurances contributed to a significant stabilization of the new qualities of rehabilitation and, again the cardiological rehabilitation played an important role (Müller-Fahrnow W., 1994). This paper demonstrates basic elements and structures of the cardiological rehabilitation in an orientating manner and contains conclusions about the future development.