Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to S Wolfson.
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False consensus, or the tendency to overestimate the extent to which others share one's own attitudes and behaviors, was investigated in a study of 348 university students classified as non-drug users, cannabis-only users, or amphetamine + cannabis users. Participants estimated the prevalence of cannabis and amphetamine use among students. Cannabis and amphetamine users made significantly higher estimates of cannabis use among students than did nonusers, whereas amphetamine users gave significantly higher estimates of amphetamine use than nonusers and cannabis-only users. Correlations between estimates of use among friends and other students were significantly positive for both drugs. The results suggest that students are motivated to overestimate the commonality of their own position on drug use and that their estimates may also be influenced by selective exposure.
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A growing body of data suggests that cancer therapy may be improved and toxicity reduced by administration of antineoplastic agents and cytokines at carefully selected times of the day. The time-dependent effects of each of the drugs have been documented, but not their mutual time dependencies. In the present studies we sought to determine the best time for granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) administration after carboplatin treatment. Carboplatin was injected in different groups of ICR mice at four different circadian stages for 5 consecutive days. Mice were synchronized with an alternation of 12 h of light (from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.) and 12 h of darkness. After the last injection, peripheral WBCs of three mice from each group were counted every 4 h over a 24-h period. Bone marrow toxicity was estimated with the mean 24-h WBC count. The most severe leukopenia occurred in the group injected at 3:00 p.m. - 9 h after light onset. The second set of experiments evaluated the time-dependent effect of G-CSF when singly injected or given after carboplatin injections for 5 days only at 3:00 p.m. G-CSF was injected into various groups on days 8 and 9 at the same four different circadian stages. On the 10th day after the first injection, peripheral WBCs of three mice from each group were counted every 4 h over a 24-h period. Time-dependent effects were observed when G-CSF was injected as a single agent. When G-CSF was given at various times to the group with the most severe carboplatin-induced leukopenia, peripheral WBC count recovery was monitored at all injection times; it reached its highest level (exceeding even that of the control) when G-CSF was injected at 3:00 a.m. Dosing times of both chemotherapy and growth factor are relevant for optimization of carboplatin's hematologic tolerability.
A technique for treating chronic nasal obstruction using the Kaplan PenduLaser 115 with the OptoProbe to perform inferior turbinectomy is described. The procedure is simple and safe and the results are excellent.
Most fragile X patients have a significant increase in the number of CGG repeats in the FMR1 gene. Two patients were described with a deletion and one patient with a point mutation in the FMR1 gene. We describe 5 patients with a fragile X or Martin-Bell phenotype. Two brothers were discordant for the region containing the FMR1 gene; if there is a common cause for the mental retardation this is not located in the FMR1 gene. In the other 3 patients the expression of the FMR1 gene was found to be normal and no abnormalities were noted in the FMR1 mRNA. No amplification was found in the GCC repeat which is associated with the fragile site FRAXE. We conclude that the Martin-Bell phenotype can also be caused by mutations outside the FMR1 gene.
We carefully ascertained deaths for a cohort of 744 patients who had undergone noninvasive testing for lower extremity peripheral arterial disease (PAD) in a university affiliated, community hospital. Using a ratio of the ankle and brachial blood pressures (ABI) of less than 0.85 as the criteria, the relative risk (RR) for total mortality associated with PAD was 2.36 (95% CL = 1.60, 3.48) after adjusting for baseline covariates in a proportional hazards model. There was a strong trend for increasing risk with decreasing ABI (P less than 0.0001). Specific causes of death for which survival was directly related to the magnitude of ABI were myocardial infarctions, and deaths other than vascular disease and cancer. There was no relationship between ABI and the risk of mortality from cancer. The mortality experience of those with normal ABI was very similar to that of the general U.S. population (age adjusted RR = 1.14, 95% CL = 0.78, 1.61), whereas the risk for those with an ABI less than 0.4 was markedly elevated in comparison to the U.S. population (RR = 4.49, 95% CL = 3.52, 5.64). Our results suggest that the relatively technically simple measure of the ratio of ankle to brachial blood pressures, if low, carries a very poor prognosis and should prompt investigation and treatment of atherosclerotic disease in other vascular systems.
Few reports on panic disorder in children are available, despite the retrospectively documented onset in childhood of about 20% of the cases of adult panic disorder. The authors report on six prepubertal children, aged 8 to 13 years, who met DSM-III-R criteria for adult-type panic disorder. Hyperthyroidism, cardiologic, and respiratory problems were excluded as well as abuse of caffeine or other drugs. The first panic attack occurred between 5 to 11 years of age, with an average interval of 3 years between onset of the disorder and diagnosis. Mitral valve prolapse was documented in two cases. Family history was always positive for panic disorder. Although not common, panic disorder should be considered in children with school phobia and positive family history. As it is in adults, mitral valve prolapse may be associated with panic disorder in children.
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Spontaneous whole blood platelet aggregation (SWBPA) was examined in a case-control study, comparing a consecutive series of IDDM subjects (n = 30) to age, and sex matched controls. Subjects were free of platelet altering medications. Platelet aggregation was measured by the percent fall in single platelet count after 15 minutes of both shaking (SK) and magnetic stirring (ST). IDDM subjects showed a significantly greater percent fall in SK (means = 12.1) and ST (means = 34.0) compared to controls (SK means = 8.4, p less than 0.01; ST means = 24.3, p less than 0.05). Long-term repeat testing on 15 subjects (diabetics and non-diabetics) up to 4 months apart showed a correlation of 0.7 for SK, p less than 0.01 but only 0.4 for ST. In a further series of IDDM subjects (n = 176) those with macrovascular disease (n = 27) showed significantly greater percent fall in SK (p less than 0.05), and ST (p less than 0.05). We conclude that SWBPA is a simple useful epidemiological technique (shaking being more repeatable than stirring) which relates to both diabetes and macrovascular disease.
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Recordings were taken from single neurons in the hippocampus and dentate gyrus of rats during walking and urethane anesthesia. Firing histograms for these cells were constructed as a function of the phase of the concurrent extracellularly recorded hippocampal slow wave theta rhythm. Care was taken to be sure of the site of recording of the theta rhythm and its phase with respect to a reliable reference, so that comparisons of the phases of firing could be made across animals. The firing of most of these neurons is deeply modulated as a function of the phase of the theta rhythm. This is true whether the theta rhythm occurs during walking or during urethane anesthesia, but for some types of cells the mean phases of firing are different in the two types of theta rhythm. During walking, pyramidal cells and interneurons in all hippocampal subregions and dentate granule cells have a maximum probability of firing near the positive peak of the theta rhythm recorded in the outer molecular layer of the dentate (dentate theta). During urethane anesthesia, the maximum firing probability for interneurons in CA1 and for dentate granule cells occurs near the negative peak of the dentate theta, while the phases of maximum firing for pyramidal cells and interneurons in CA3 and CA4 become widely distributed. The phases of maximum firing of pyramidal cells in CA1 are, if anything, more narrowly distributed around the positive peak of the dentate theta during urethane anesthesia than during walking. These differences in the firing of hippocampal cells during walking and urethane anesthesia represent some of the differences in cellular mechanisms distinguishing two kinds of hippocampal theta rhythm.
A study of Eustachian tube measurements in infants and children is presented. The study included 33 Eustachian tubes from normal temporal bones and 10 Eustachian tubes from temporal bones harbouring acute otitis media. The temporal bones underwent histologic serial sectioning. The lumen of the Eustachian tube's first portion, i.e. the pharyngeal part, was measured with the aid of a grid mounted on a microscope. These measurements show: A. The Eustachian tube lumen grows and enlarges to a small extent with age. B. Each age group presents a considerable variation in the range of area of the lumen comparable with the natural biological distribution. C. No statistical difference was found between the size of the pharyngeal portion of the lumen of the Eustachian tube from temporal bones which had acute otitis media and those coming from non-pathological ears. This comparison took into consideration age and physiological distribution. These findings are similar to our earlier findings regarding the isthmic region.
We measured the eustachian tubes in temporal bones taken from infants and children. These specimens included eustachian tubes from 35 normal temporal bones and 13 temporal bones containing acute and secretory otitis media. All temporal bones were serially sectioned for histological studies. The lumen of the third portion of each eustachian tube (i.e., the pre-isthmus or the physiological isthmus) was measured with the aid of a grid mounted on a microscope. These measurements showed: (1) the eustachian tube lumen grows and enlarges to a small degree with age; (2) each age group has a considerable variation in the size of the lumen which is compatible with natural biological distribution; (3) no statistical differences were found in the size of the pre-isthmus lumina of those eustachian tubes from temporal bones showing acute or secretory otitis media when compared with the lumina of eustachian tubes in non-pathological ears.
The size of the eustachian tube lumen of the pre-tympanic segment in infants and children from birth up to two years is presented. The material consisted of serially sectioned 28 eustachian tubes of normal temporal bones and 13 eustachian tubes of temporal bones harboring acute and secretory otitis media. The size of the eustachian tube lumen was measured with the aid of a millimetric grid mounted on a microscope. These measurements have shown that: there is no increase in the lumen size of the pre-tympanic region of the auditory tube from birth to two years of age. Each age group presents a considerable range in luminal size, compatible with a natural biological distribution. No obstruction of the eustachian tube lumen was encountered in any of the pathological specimens. There is no significant statistical difference between the lumen size of the pre-tympanic region coming from normal temporal bones as compared to those from temporal bones with acute or secretory otitis media.
A study of Eustachian tube measurement in infants and children is presented. The study included 33 Eustachian tubes from normal temporal bones and 10 Eustachian tubes from temporal bones harboring acute otitis media. The temporal bones underwent histologic serial sectioning. The lumen of the first portion of the Eustachian tubes, i.e., the pharyngeal part, was measured with the aid of a grid mounted on a microscope. These measurements show: A) the Eustachian tube lumen grows and enlarges to a small degree with age; B) each age group presents a considerable variation in the range of the area of the lumen compatible with natural biological distribution; C) no statistical difference was found in the size of the pharyngeal portion of the lumen of the Eustachian tube from temporal bones which have acute otitis media when compared with lumens of the pharyngeal portion of Eustachian tubes coming from non-pathological ears.
Two weeks after appendectomy a right hemicolectomy was performed on a 35-year-old man because of an ileocolic intussusception. The appendiceal stump was the leading point of the intussusception. Ileocolic intussusception is a very rare complication after appendectomy. The clinical symptoms, diagnostic features, and mode of treatment are discussed.