INTERMITTENT POSITIVE PRESSURE BREATHING—A Clinical Evaluation of Its Use in Certain Respiratory Diseases

A series of patients with chronic respiratory insufficiency were treated with intermittent positive pressure breathing, which was combined with administration of bronchodilator drugs of the epinephrine series. Spirographs were made before and after treatment. The series included patients with chronic bronchitis and emphysema, fibrosis of various kinds, senile emphysema and bronchogenic carcinoma.Although the majority showed objective improvement, a significant proportion in all groups did not, and some were made worse, apparently on a basis of check valve mechanisms unresolved by the bronchodilator drug. In cases in which the method benefited the patient, the benefit was greater than that obtained with bronchodilator drugs alone.     

“Capillary Permeability” in Patients with Collagen Vascular Diseases

“Capillary permeability” to serum albumin has been measured in patients with collagen vascular diseases by a method which compares the dilution of intravenously injected ¹³¹I-human serum albumin and ⁵¹Cr-R.B.C.s. The results indicate an increased capillary permeability comparable to that which occurs in patients with extensive inflammatory skin disease. We suggest that this increased capillary permeability may be the cause of the episodes of oedema which occur in patients with collagen vascular diseases such as disseminated lupus erythematosus, systemic sclerosis, dermatomyositis, polyarteritis nodosa, and rheumatoid arthritis. “Spontaneous periodic oedema” may be the presenting feature of collagen vascular disease and is due to increased capillary permeability.     

Special Issue on“Biomarkers for Diseases”

<正>The journal Genomics ProteomicsBioinformatics(GPB)is now inviting submissions for a special issue(to be published in the fall 2015)on the topic of‘‘Biomarkers for Diseases’’. As an emerging index,disease biomarkers have demonstrated the potential application in     

Special Issue on“Biomarkers for Diseases”

<正>The journal Genomics ProteomicsBioinformatics(GPB)is now inviting submissions for a special issue(to be published in the winter of 2015)on the topic of‘‘Biomarkers for Diseases’’.As an emerging index,disease biomarkers have demonstrated the potential application in diagnosis and prognosis.The detection of the disease indicators at molecular level,DNA,     

Special Issue on “Biomarkers for Autoimmune Diseases”

<正>The journal Genomics ProteomicsBioinformatics(GPB)is now inviting submissions for a special issue(to be published in the summer of 2015)on the topic of‘‘Biomarkers for Autoimmune Diseases’’.Autoimmune diseases(AIDs)are the third most common category of disease after cancer and heart disease and affect more than 5%of the general population.AIDs result     

The Place of Choline Acetyltransferase Activity Measurement in the “Cholinergic Hypothesis” of Neurodegenerative Diseases

The so-called “cholinergic hypothesis” assumes that degenerative dysfunction of the cholinergic system originating in the basal forebrain and innervating several cortical regions and the hippocampus, is related to memory impairment and neurodegeneration found in several forms of dementia and in brain aging. Biochemical methods measuring the activity of the key enzyme for acetylcholine synthesis, choline acetyltransferase, have been used for many years as a reliable marker of the integrity or the damage of the cholinergic pathways. Stereologic counting of the basal forebrain cholinergic cell bodies, has been additionally used to assess neurodegenerative changes of the forebrain cholinergic system. While initially believed to mark relatively early stages of disease, cholinergic dysfunction is at present considered to occur in advanced dementia of Alzheimer’s type, while its involvement in mild and prodromal stages of the disease has been questioned. The issue is relevant to better understand the neuropathological basis of the diseases, but it is also of primary importance for therapy. During the last few years, indeed, cholinergic replacement therapies, mainly based on the use of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors to increase synaptic availability of acetylcholine, have been exploited on the assumption that they could ameliorate the progression of the dementia from its initial stages. In the present paper, we review data from human studies, as well as from animal models of Alzheimer’s and Down’s diseases, focusing on different ways to evaluate cholinergic dysfunction, also in relation to the time point at which these dysfunctions can be demonstrated, and on some discrepancy arising from the use of different methodological approaches. The reviewed literature, as well as some recent data from our laboratories on a mouse model of Down’s syndrome, stress the importance of performing biochemical evaluation of choline acetyltransferase activity to assess cholinergic dysfunction both in humans and in animal models. Special issue article in honor of Dr. Frode Fonnum.