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F R Jeri

Publications and source records attributed to F R Jeri.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

Analysis of the dynamic mutation in the SCA7 gene shows marked parental effects on CAG repeat transmission.

The gene for spinocerebellar ataxia 7 (SCA7) includes a transcribed, translated CAG tract that is expanded in SCA7 patients. We have determined expansions in 73 individuals from 17 SCA7 kindreds and compared them with repeat lengths of 180 unaffected individuals. Subjects with abnormal expansions comprise 59 clinically affected individuals and 14 at-risk currently unaffected individuals predicted to carry the mutation by haplotype analysis. For expanded alleles, CAG repeat length correlates with disease progression and severity and correlates inversely with age of onset. Increased repeat lengths are seen in generational transmission of the disease allele, consistent with the pattern of clinical anticipation seen in these kindreds. Repeat lengths in expanded alleles show somatic mosaicism in leukocyte DNA, suggesting that these alleles are unstable within individuals as well as between generations. Although dynamic repeat expansions from paternal transmissions are greater than those from maternal transmissions, maternal transmission of disease is more common, suggesting germline or embryonic effects of the repeat expansion.

Adolescent↗

Plasma cocaine concentrations during cocaine paste smoking.

Cigarettes containing cocaine paste were administered to experiences volunteer smokers in Peru, and plasma concentrations of cocaine were measured. Cocaine concentrations as high as 462 ng/ml were obtained after only three minutes of smoking cocaine paste. Subjects titrated their rate of consumption so as to achieve remarkably constant plasma concentrations during the smoking period. Areas under curve (AUC), adjusted for dose, were approximately 70% that obtained with oral or intranasal administration of cocaine to different subjects in previous experiments.

Adult↗

Further experience with the syndromes produced by coca paste smoking.

Cocaine base or white coca paste was smoked heavily by 188 patients who came to four hospitals of Lima, Peru. The length of hospitalization varied from two days to six months. All patients were admitted because coca paste smoking had become a serious problem for their health or for social adjustment. Coca paste was smoked mixed with tobacco or marihuana. The main symptoms were anxiety mingled with euphoria and a rapidly developing compulsion to continue smoking. Frequently the patients developed irritability, illusions, hallucinations. When the use of the drug was heavy and continued for many hours or several days, the patients developed successively four stages of psychological reaction: euphoria, dysphoria, hallucinosis, and acute paranoid psychosis. The main symptoms and signs of all of these phases are discussed.

Adolescent↗

Coca-paste smoking in some Latin American countries: a severe and unabated form of addiction.

Coca paste is an intermediary product in the chemical extraction of cocaine from coca leaves. Abusers smoke coca paste in a dried form, which contains from 40 to 91 per cent cocaine. Over the past 10 years, this pattern of drug abuse has attained epidemic proportions in some Latin American countries, particularly in Bolivia, Colombia and Peru. Addiction to coca paste develops in a few months and has serious health, social and economic consequences. The problem is particularly acute in Latin American countries because of the high doses of coca paste involved. The smoking of coca paste causes four distinct successive phases of mental disorder: euphoria, dysphoria, hallucinosis and paranoid psychosis. It can produce severe intoxication, prolonged or relapsing psychosis and, in some cases, death. Cocaine has been found in the blood of coca-leaf chewers, coca-paste smokers and users of cocaine hydrochloride. Excessive coca-paste smoking is often resistant to therapeutic interventions and there is a high rate of relapse after treatment and rehabilitation.

Adolescent↗