[Differences in Attitudes of Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment Towards Early Diagnosis at a University Clinic and a Specialist Physician's Office]. / Unterscheiden sich die Einstellungen von MCI-Patienten einer Gedächtnissprechstunde von denen einer Versorgerpraxis?

AIM: To examine the attitude of patients with mild cognitive impairment to diagnostics under different healthcare settings. METHODOLOGY: A comparative survey was carried out of 38 patients at a university outpatient clinic and 91 patients at a specialist practice with regard to their attitudes towards early diagnosis of dementia and willingness to undergo CSF analysis. RESULTS: Willingness to undergo CSF analysis was higher among the patients at the university outpatient unit than those at the specialist practice (p = 0.040), and willingness to undergo early diagnosis was comparable high in both groups. CONCLUSION: Different attitudes of patients with mild cognitive impairment should be reflected in different healthcare settings.

Atmospheric burnup of the cosmos-954 reactor.

On 24 January 1978 the Russian satellite Cosmos-954 reentered the atmosphere over northern Canada. By use of high-altitude balloons, the atmosphere was sampled during 1978 up to an altitude of 39 kilometers to detect particulate debris from the reactor on board the satellite. Enriched uranium-bearing aerosols at concentrations and particle sizes compatible with partial burnup of the Cosmos-954 reactor were detected only in the high polar stratosphere.

Pharmacokinetics of 11-nor-9-carboxy-Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (CTHC) after intravenous administration of CTHC in healthy human subjects.

After cannabis consumption there is only limited knowledge about the pharmacokinetic (PK) and metabolic properties of 11-nor-9-carboxy-Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (CTHC), which is formed by oxidative breakdown from Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Despite widely-varying concentrations observed in smoking studies, attempts have been made to interpret consumption behavior with special regard to a cumulated or decreasing concentration of CTHC in serum. Ten healthy nonsmoking white male individuals received 5 mg CTHC intravenously over 10 min. Highest serum concentrations of CTHC were observed at the end of the infusion (336.8+/-61.7 microg/l) followed by a quick decline. CTHC concentration could be quantified up to 96 h after administration, with a terminal elimination half-life of 17.6+/-5.5 h. Total clearance was low (91.2+/-24.0 ml/min), with renal clearance having only a minor contribution (0.136+/-0.094 ml/min). This first metabolite-based kinetic approach will allow an advanced understanding of CTHC PKs data obtained in previous studies with THC.

Effects of in utero substance exposure on infant neurobehavior.

OBJECTIVE: This study had two objectives: (1) to assess infant behavior by using the NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale (NNNS), an assessment designed specifically for prenatally drug-exposed infants; and (2) to control for the effects of polydrug use involving alcohol, marijuana, and cigarettes on the neurobehavioral status of the newborn infant. METHODS: The subjects and controls in this study were full-term infants of appropriate gestational age with no medical problems. At 1 to 2 days of age, 20 infants exposed to cocaine, alcohol, marijuana, and cigarettes; 17 infants exposed to alcohol and/or marijuana and cigarettes; and 20 drug-free infants were evaluated by using the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Network Neurobehavioral Scale. The data were reduced to reflect clinically defined categories of neurobehavioral function and were analyzed by using analysis of variance and chi 2 statistics. RESULTS: Cocaine-exposed infants showed increased tone and motor activity, more jerky movements, startles, tremors, back arching, and signs of central nervous system and visual stress than unexposed infants. They also showed poorer visual and auditory following. There were no differences in how the examination was administered to cocaine-exposed and nonexposed infants. Reduced birth weight and length were also observed in cocaine-exposed infants. CONCLUSION: Differences attributable to cocaine-exposed infants were related to muscle tone and motor performance, following during orientation, and signs of stress. However, cocaine-exposed infants were not more difficult to test, nor did they require an alteration in the examination. Both neurobehavioral patterns of excitability and lethargy were observed. Findings may have been due to the synergistic effects of cocaine with alcohol and marijuana.

Electron multiplier-scintillator detector for pulse counting positive or negative ions.

A general-purpose ion detector has been developed for fast pulse counting in mass spectrometry. It consists of a six-stage electron multiplier joined to part of a scintillator detector. This novel arrangement combines the virtually noiseless pulse-amplification response of an electron multiplier with the bipolar voltage flexibility of a scintillator detector. The resulting hybrid detector is superior in performance to either an electron multiplier or a conventional scintillator detector. It is designed to detect a beam of positive ions or negative ions focused to a line image or to a spot at the focal plane of a mass analyzer. Background counting noise is less than 1 count/min when the detector is used in either the positive ion or negative ion detecting mode. Mass-resolved ions are post-accelerated through an electric field to give them an additional kinetic energy of 10 keV before they strike the ion-to-electron converter in the electron multiplier. This allows low-energy ions to be detected with an efficiency close to unity, over a range of ion masses from 1 amu up to several hundred amu. Randomly spaced pulses can be counted at rates from 0 Hz to 10 MHz. The design of the detector and its operating characteristics are discussed.

Intraday feeding patterns in infant rhesus monkeys and the effects of missing a meal.

During the first month of life, infant rhesus monkeys (N = 96) were fed 7 times a day for the first 21 days and were fed 6 times a day thereafter. Fifty monkeys were fed SMA, a formula designed for human infants (9% protein, 43% carbohydrate, and 48% fat); 46 were fed one of three laboratory-confected diets varying in the amount of protein and carbohydrates provided. Although the diets had differential effects on weight gain, overall daily consumption was practically unaffected. A characteristic pattern was evident soon after birth: The first meal of the day (8:00 AM) was one of the largest, and the following two meals were usually the smallest; the next peak spanned the 4:00 PM and 8:00 PM feedings. The meal following a missed meal was slightly larger than normal. To some extent, the large meal at 8:00 AM can be attributed to the 10-hr absence of food during the night, but the peak at 4:00 PM and 8:00 PM cannot be so accounted for. The adult bicuspid pattern of eating hence appears to develop very early in life.

Yoga and Physical Rehabilitation Medicine: A Research Partnership in Integrative Care.

Mind-body interventions, such as yoga, that teach stress management with physical activity may be well suited for investigation in both osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. In order to be considered as viable care options integrative studies need to offer a comprehensive design and include clinicians familiar with the disease process of the study populations. A review of the literature reveals a dearth of information related to the collaboration between yoga and physical rehabilitation medicine. This article discusses the collaboration with physical rehabilitation medicine to collect relevant pre- and post-intervention measures for an on-going pilot acceptability/feasibility yoga study for minority patients with osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis. An interdisciplinary clinical research team selected psychosocial and physical measures for a community sample of bilingual minority patients, not typically identified as practicing yoga. Sixteen female adults aged 40-63 years (mean =51) completed baseline physical assessments using single leg stance, functional reach test, time up and go test, timed up from the floor test and the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand measures. Baseline values show an average level of functional ability prior to beginning the intervention. Preliminary results indicate some improvement; however, selected measures may not have the sensitivity and specificity needed to identify significant change. In this study, combining interdisciplinary perspectives enhanced the quality of the research study design. The experience of this interdisciplinary clinical research team opens the discussion for future collaborations.

[AIDS problems in sex education in the schools of the Republic of Bavaria]. / AIDS-Probleme beim Sexualunterricht in der Schule im Freistaat Bayern.

To prevent the risk of infection, learn to speak about and accept safer sex and the use of condoms as early as possible. Take care of your partner and yourself. Most of the teachers are not prepared to teach boys and girls in a qualified way. Teach and learn to fight fear with facts: "Say No to fear! Don't give infection a chance! Don't die because of ignorance!"

Volumetric capillary cytometry: a new method for absolute cell enumeration.

This article describes a novel cytometry system that is capable of imaging, identifying, and counting populations of fluorescently labeled cells within a precisely known volume of unlysed whole blood contained in a precision capillary. The whole blood is reacted with dye-labeled antibodies directed at cell surface antigens. A red excitation source (helium-neon laser) is used to minimize auto-fluorescence and interference by blood components. A two-color fluorescence detection system is described, using the dyes Cy5 and Cy5.5, allowing the simultaneous detection and quantitation of two different types of surface antigens. Image processing techniques are used to identify cellular events in the image and to quantitate the fluorescent intensities in both color planes. The utility of this technique is demonstrated by performing absolute CD3+/CD4+ lymphocyte counts in whole blood, with minimal sample preparation, and with the blood sample completely contained in a disposable cartridge. A correlation study comparing this technique to flow cytometry gives a correlation coefficient of 0.98. In addition, the ability of this system to monitor reaction kinetics is demonstrated with a measurement of the rate of association of the anti-CD4 antibody onto the surface of CD4+ lymphocytes.

Prenatal diagnosis of supernumerary marker 15 chromosomes and exclusion of uniparental disomy for chromosome 15.

Supernumerary marker chromosomes (SMC) were identified in amniocytes from two unrelated fetuses. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) characterization of the SMC showed they were derived from chromosome 15; SMC(15). Parental karyotyping demonstrated the SMC(15) to be de novo in one fetus and paternally derived in the other. Previous reports showed that the presence or absence of the Prader-Willi/Angelman syndrome (PWS/AS) critical region, loci D15S11 and distal, in a SMC(15) was associated with an abnormal or normal phenotype, respectively. FISH analysis demonstrated both SMC(15) lacked the D15S11 locus. Because SMC(15) were found at an increased incidence in patients with PWS/AS, we performed methylation analysis at the SNRPN locus to exclude a deletion or uniparental disomy (UPD) of chromosome 15. Both probands showed biparental inheritance at this locus. Based on the FISH and molecular analyses, both fetuses were predicted to have a normal phenotype. The pregnancies were continued and both probands are phenotypically and developmentally normal. These cases illustrate the importance of a combination of family studies, FISH characterization and molecular analyses in SMC(15) identified prenatally. In particular, any chromosome 15 rearrangement identified at prenatal diagnosis should be considered a candidate for UPD15 studies.