Changes in the attitudes towards psychiatry among Spanish medical students during training in psychiatry

Background: To gain an understanding of the process of recruitment, studyingchanges in attitudes and views towards psychiatry among Spanish medical studentsduring their fourth academic year.Methods: A 33-item questionnaire was administered to 48 medical students before andafter having completed training in psychiatry. Comparative data analysis was carried outusing the Wilcoxon test.Results: The comparison showed that there was a reduction in the number of studentsreporting that “psychiatrists abuse their legal power”, that “for most specialists in thisarea, psychiatry was not their preferred choice” and that “those students interested in psychiatryare regarded as odd or peculiar”. However, the view that “psychiatry is an expandingfrontier of medicine” decreased among the students. The percentage of students consideringpsychiatry as a future career rose from 4.2% to 10.4% after training.Conclusions: The students’ opinions change with the experience of training in psychiatryand become more realistic. Alongside these changes in attitudes, there is an increasein the proportion of students willing to consider psychiatry as a future career, whichsuggests that there is no reduction in vocations for psychiatry among Spanish students (AU)

Hydrogen bonding interactions between indole and benzenoid-pi-bases.

The NH-pi interactions of indole with benzene, naphthalene, phenanthrene, toluene, m-xylene, and mesitilene, in carbon tetrachloride solutions, have been studied by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The experiments, carried out on the NH stretching band of indole, prove the formation of 1:1 complexes in which the NH bond of indole is engaged. The NH frequency shifts are independent of the number of rings in the base, but they progressively increase as the electron density is enhanced by methylation. The association constants increase with the increase of both, the number of rings and the methyl groups on the base. At higher base concentrations, further shifts on the free NH and associated bands indicate the formation of 1:2 complexes, which suggest hybride NH-pi and van der Waals interactions between one indole ring and two benzene acceptor molecules.

Hydrogen bonding NH/pi interactions between betacarboline and methyl benzene derivatives.

In the presence of benzene, toluene, m-xylene, mesitylene and durene, the pyrrolic NH stretching band of betacarboline, 9H-pyrido[3,4-b]indole, and its 1-methyl derivative, harmane, in tetrachloroethane diminishes in intensity while a new red-shifted band grows up. The shifts of the associated bands increase linearly with the pi-electron density of the substrates. These spectral changes are attributed to the formation of 1:1 molecular association complexes between the betacarbolines and the benzenoid substrates. The complexes are stabilized by the hydrogen-bonding interaction between the pyrrolic NH group of betacarboline and the pi-delocalized electrons of the benzene derivatives. The influence of these NH/pi hydrogen-bonding interactions in the fluorescence spectra of betacarboline is discussed.

A spectroscopic study of the molecular interactions of harmane with pyrimidine and other diazines.

FTIR, UV-vis, steady state and time-resolved fluorescence measurements show that harmane (1-methyl-9H-pyrido/3,4-b/indole) interacts with pyrimidine and its isomers pyrazine and pyridazine in its ground and lowest singlet states. The mechanisms of interaction are dependent on both the structure of the diazine and the nature of the solvent. Thus, in a low polar solvent such as toluene, harmane forms ground state 1:1 hydrogen-bonded complexes with all the diazines. These complexes quench the fluorescence of harmane and diminish its fluorescence lifetime. Conversely, in buffered (pH 8.7) aqueous solutions, pyrimidine behaves differently from the other diazines. Thus, whereas pyrimidine only interacts with harmane in its ground state, pyrazine and pyridazine also interact in the excited state. The harmane-pyrimidine ground state interaction is an entropic controlled process. Therefore, we propose the formation of pi-pi stacked 1:1 complexes between these substrates. Association constants for the different types of complexes and quenching parameters are reported.

A fluorescence study of the molecular interactions of harmane with the nucleobases, their nucleosides and mononucleotides.

Fluorescence binding studies of harmane to the elemental components of the nucleic acids were undertaken to investigate the origin of the interaction between the drug and DNA. Most of the tested substrates have been found to induce hypochromism in the absorption spectrum of harmane and to quench its fluorescence. The quenching process induced by the nucleobases and their nucleosides is mainly due to the formation of ground state 1:1 complexes. However, in the case of the mononucleotides a dynamic quenching component is also observed. This quenching component is likely due to the excited state interaction of harmane with the phosphate group of the nucleotides. UV-vis spectral changes and quenching measurements have been used to quantify the ground state association constants of the complexes and the quenching rate constants.

A spectroscopic study of the hydrogen bonding and pi-pi stacking interactions of harmane with quinoline.

A spectroscopic (UV-vis, Fourier transform IR, steady state, and time-resolved fluorescence) study of the interactions of the ground and excited singlet states of harmane (1-methyl-9H-pyrido/3,4-b/indole) with quinoline has been carried out in cyclohexane, toluene, and buffered pH=8.7 aqueous solutions. To analyze how the number of rings in the substrate influences these interactions, pyridine and phenanthridine have also been included in this study. In cyclohexane and toluene 1:1 stoichiometric hydrogen-bonded complexes are formed in both the ground and the excited singlet states. As the number of rings of the benzopyridines and the solvent polarity increase hydrogen-bonding interactions weaken and pi-pi van der Waals interactions become apparent.

Partition coefficients of indoles and betacarbolines.

Partition coefficients for substituted indoles and betacarbolines were determined in octan-1-ol/water and cyclohexane/water. A comparative study of the results in both systems allows us to discuss the effects played by the different molecular structures, substituents, and aromaticity on the distribution properties of these compounds. In particular, the hydrogen-bond donor (HBD) and hydrogen-bond acceptor (HBA) properties of these solutes were characterized and compared with those of structurally related compounds. The Abraham solute descriptors were estimated and partition coefficients (log P) calculated and compared with the experimental values. The results show that the HBD properties are similar for indoles and betacarbolines, and the HBA capacity, as expected, is significantly enhanced by the contribution of the extra pyridinic or piperidinic ring in betacarbolines. The effects of the substituent groups are presented in relation to their contribution to the distribution properties of the compounds studied.

Molecular associations of flavins with betacarbolines and related indoles.

The interactions of a set of structurally selected betacarbolines (BC), (9H-pyrido[3,4-b]indoles) and indoles (IND) with two representative flavins (FN): riboflavin (RFN) and flavin mononucleotide (FMN) have been investigated by absorption and fluorescence spectroscopies. Spectral results provided evidence on the formation of 1:1 non-fluorescent molecular complexes, whose stability constants and other related thermodynamic parameters have been estimated from Stern-Volmer quenching analysis. The FMN complexes are somewhat more stable than the RFN complexes. The stabilities of the IND and BC complexes for a given FN follow approximately the order IND approximately tetrahydro BC < dehydro BC < fully aromatic BC. Protonation of the pyridinic nitrogen atom of BCs has a destabilizing effect, which is more pronounced for fully aromatic than for tetrahydro derivatives. The influence of structural factors on the stability of the complexes has been discussed and, aided by theoretical AM1 calculations, a qualitative model for the structure (stacking) and binding forces (cooperative localized charge transfer and dispersion forces) of the complexes has been proposed.

Fluorescence of harmol, harmalol and 2-hydroxycarbazole in concentrated hydroxide solutions.

Room temperature electronic absorption and fluorescence spectra of harmol, harmalol and 2-hydroxycarbazole have been obtained in concentrated aqueous potassium hydroxide solutions. The appearance of a new fluorescence band for all these compounds in media of H- greater than 16, has been ascribed to the emission of excited dianions formed by deprotonation. Acidity constants have been estimated from the Föster-Weller method.

Controlled proteolysis of ammonia-dependent carbamoyl-phosphate synthetase I from Syrian hamster liver.

Ammonia-dependent carbamoyl-phosphate synthetase I (carbon-dioxide: ammonia ligase (ADP-forming, carbamate-phosphorylating), EC 6.3.4.16; formerly EC 2.7.2.5) isolated from hamster liver mitochondria is comprised of identical 160 kDa polypeptide chains. Controlled proteolysis by elastase sequentially cleaved this molecule into a small number of specific fragments. The first cleavage led to a complete loss of enzymatic activity and the formation of a 145 kDa species that was subsequently degraded into 83 kDa and 62 kDa fragments. Very different results were obtained when proteolysis was carried out in the presence of saturating ATP, MgCl2, NH4Cl, and the activator N-acetyl-L-glutamate. These ligands stabilized the molecule 8-fold against elastase digestion. Moreover, only small amounts of the 145 kDa species were generated. Instead, the molecule was initially cleaved into a fully active 120 kDa species and a 40 kDa proteolytic fragment. The same species were found in limit digests conducted in the presence and absence of ligands, indicating that only the sequence of elastase cleavages differed. Comparison of digests conducted in the presence of each ligand alone and in combination, showed that while NH4Cl and N-acetyl-L-glutamate were necessary for maximal stabilization of the molecule, the altered digestion pattern was produced specifically by MgATP. The MgATP-induced change in digestion pattern correlated well with the steady-state ATP saturation curve, suggesting that the production of the 120 kDa species resulted from ATP binding to the active site. The effect of MgATP on the proteolysis of carbamoyl-phosphate synthetase I was not the result of an alteration in oligomeric structure, but the protection of two elastase cleavage sites. The results were interpreted on the basis of the primary structure recently determined elsewhere.

Direct determination of inorganic phosphorus in serum with a single reagent.

Estimation of inorganic phosphate in serum based on the formation of "molybdenum blue" may be simplified by eliminating the reduction stage. The yellow complex formed by the reaction of phosphate with molybdate in an acid medium is measured at 390 nm. The yellow complex behaves in accordance with Beer's law over a wide concentration range (to at least 80 mg of P per liter in the initial sample); its molar absorptivity at 390 nm is 2.51 X 10(3) L mol-1 cm-1. Sensitivity is increased in the presence of a detergent (triethanolamine lauryl sulfate), which is also used to dissolve the proteins. Because only one reagent is used (a stable combination of, per liter, 20 mmol of sodium molybdate, 82 mmol of nitric acid, and 100 mg of the detergent), the method is simple and rapid. We describe a manual procedure and an automated one. Within-run precision was 1.9%, and day-to-day precision less than 7%. Results by the automated method compare favorably (r = 0.96) with those obtained by Drewes's method (Clin Chim Acta 39: 81-88, 1972).