תוצאת חיפוש

חיים עינת, גואנג צ'ן, חוסייני מנג'י 

המעבדה לפסיכופתולוגיה מולקולתית, המכון הלאומי לבריאות הנפש, המכונים הלאומיים לבריאות, בתיסדה, מרילנד

במהלך העשור האחרון התמקדו החוקרים בחקר המחלה הדו-קוטבית (Bipolar disease) במעבירים שניוניים ותוך-תאיים, בהקדישם פחות תשומת לב לתיאוריות מוקדמות יותר הקשורות לאמינים ביוגניים. עדויות רבות שהצטברו מצביעות על מעורבות אפשרית של החלבון קינאזה C (PKC) ושל הנתיבים התוך-תאיים הקשורים בו בפתולוגיה של המחלה הדו-קוטבית.

הסקירה הנוכחית נועדה להציג את העדויות המצביעות על מעורבותו של PKC, בדרגת הפעילות או בפיזור של בטסיות הדם ובמוח, שהיו סגוליות לחולים במחלה דו-קוטבית בהשוואה לבריאים ובהשוואה לחולים במחלות נפש אחרות. טיפול ממושך בליתיום ובוולפרואט, התרופות המקובלות למחלה דו-קוטבית, גרם לירידה ברורה בפעילות PKC בתאים שמקורם באדם ובבעלי-חיים. טיפול במעכבי PKC בבעלי-חיים גרם לשינויים בהתנהגויות כמו-אפקטיביות, כולל ירידה בהשפעותיהם של חומרים מעוררים וירידה בהתנהגויות כמו-הדוניסטיות (שתי ההתנהגויות הללו מקובלות כדגמים להתנהגות דמוית-מאניה בבעלי-חיים). בניסוי המבוקר היחיד בחולי מאניה בבעלי-חיים). בניסוי המבוקר היחיד בחולי מאניה שדווח עליו בספרות הרפואית הודגמו תוצאות מעודדות, שכן טיפול בטמוקסיפן, המעכב PKC, גרם לירידה ברורה ומהירה יחסית בתיסמונת המאנית.

ממחקרים בכל הרמות האפשריות – החל מהמולקולה, המשך בתא ובאורגניזם החי ועד לחולה- מצטברות עדויות המצביעות על המעורבות של PKC ושל הנתיבים התוך-תאיים הקשורים בו במחלה דו-קוטבית. בהתאם, חלבון זה נראה כמועמד מבטיח במאמצים לפיתוח תרופות חדשות וממוקדות יותר לטיפול בלוקים במחלה דו-קוטבית.

אלינה וייסמן (1), עינת אלרן (2), שלמה גבעוני (3), ליאון פולס (4), בועז תדמור (1)

(1) ענף רפואת אב"כ, צה"ל, (2) המח' לגינקולוגיה, תל-השומר, (3) המח' לגסטרואנרולוגיה, שניידר, (4) פיקוד העורף, צה"ל

חומרי-הדברה המכילים זרחנים אורגניים נמצאים בשימוש נרחב. הרעלה מזרחנים אורגניים עלולה להתרחש לאחר חשיפה לא מבוקרת של העור ודרכי-הנשימה לחומר הרעיל.

מובא בזה דיווח על שמונה פועלים לא-מנוסים, שעבדו עם חומרי-הדברה שהכילו זרחנים אורגניים, ללא אמצעי מיגון. והודגמו בנפגעים סימנים בדרכי-העיכול, הזעה, ריור, כיווץ אישונים וטישטוש ראייה. חולה אחד לקה בחולשה קשה, בפסיקולציות, בחוסר התמצאות ובישנוניות. בכל הנפגעים היתה רמת התסס אצטילכולי-אסטראזה בדם נמוכה. כל הנפגעים טוהרו במקלחות הפנימיות של חדר-המיון. הנפגעים אושפזו בבית החולים וטופלו באטרופין ובטוקסוגונין. בעקבות הטיפול השתפר מצבם והם שוחררו כעבור 48 שעות.

זיהוי קליני של ההרעלה נעשה עם הגעת הנפגע הראשון; הוזעקו כונני המיון, המחלקות לרפואה פנימית, הנהלת בית החולים והאחות האחראית – שגייסה אחיות מהמחלקות השונות לסיוע בחדר המיון.

אירוע זה ממחיש את החשיבות של טיפול בזרחנים אורגניים על ידי צוות מאומן ומנוסה, ואת חשיבות המיגון למניעת הרעלות.

בנוסף, מדגיש מקרה זה את החשיבות של תירגולי בתי החולים להעלאת המודעות והמוכנות של צוות בית החולים בזיהוי מהיר ובהערכות לטיפול בנפגעים אלו.

Animal Models of Psychiatric Diseases: Possibilities, Limitations, Examplesand Demonstration of Use

Haim Einat, RH Belmaker

Beer Sheva Mental Health Center, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel

Animal models of psychopathology serve as a central tool for psychopharmacologists in their attempts to develop new, more efficient medications for psychiatric disorders, and in the efforts to explore the mechanisms of conventional and novel drugs. The development of efficient models for psychiatric diseases is complicated since the mechanisms of the disorders are not clear, major parts of the diagnosis depend on verbal communication with the patient and many of the symptoms are expressed mainly through the subjective experiences of the afflicted individual.

Inspite of these difficulties, effective models were developed for most psychiatric diseases. The development of such models is based on their validation in three different dimensions: face validity - behavioral similarities between the model and the disorder; construct validity - similarities between the mechanisms related to the model and a mechanistic theory of the disease; predictive validity - that the model response to the conventional medications that are effective in the disease and will not respond to drugs that are not effective in the disease.

The present paper presents three known models of depression; each induced in a different way and therefore represents a group of models:

*     Reserpine-induced hypoactivity - represents the group of pharmacologically induced models.

*     Forced swim test - represents the group of behaviorally induced models.

*     Flinders Sensitive Line - represents the group of genetically induced models.

The use of these models in an attempt to examine the range of action of a new potential antidepressant and its mechanisms of action is demonstrated with a recent set of experiments with inositol.

Traumatic Brain Injury: The National Trauma Registry*

Einat Peles, Vita Barell, Valentina Boyko, Arnona Ziv, Giora Kaplan

Health Services Research Unit, Ministry of Health, Sheba Medical Center Tel-Hashomer

Background: Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) has been established as a category in reporting systems. Uniform data systems case definition has been suggested for hospital discharge data surveillance systems cases based on ICD-9-CM diagnostic codes. These include fractures and specific mention of intracranial injuries such as contusion, laceration, hemorrhage, and concussion. Inspection of data from the Israel National Trauma Registry suggested that two diagnostic groups of very different severity and outcome were being unjustifiably combined.

Aim: To evaluate the validity of categorizing TBI into two discrete groups, using the presence of specific mention of intracranial injury and/or loss of consciousness for more than one hour as the definition of definite TBI. Possible TBI includes skull fractures with no mention of intracranial injury and/or concussion with no loss of consciousness.

Methods: The study population includes all traumatic injuries admitted to hospital, dying in the ER or transferred to other hospitals and recorded in the 1998 Trauma Registry in all 6 level I trauma centers in Israel and two level II centers.

Results: The significant difference in severity between groups supports the validity of sub-dividing the TBI classification into definite and possible subcategories. As a result, we obtain two different severity groups without measuring specific severity scores which are limited in the reporting system.

Conclusion: The groups were significantly different in severity, hospital resource use, immediate outcome, demographic and injury circumstances.

*           Level I: Rambam, Beilinson-Schneider, Sheba, Ichilov (Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center), Hadassah Ein Karem and Soroka.

            Level II: Hillel Yaffe and Kaplan

Evaluation of Clinical Findings in Occupational Health Examinations

Rafael Carel, Eynat Scheiner

Dept. of Occupational Medicine, Kupat Holim, Negev Region and Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheba

Findings in occupational health examinations of a regional service are analyzed. The service provides pre-employment, surveillance and work-capacity evaluations for about 150,000 workers from many types of work-sites and occupations. The average number of pre-employment examinations (during 1993-97) was 4,800/year, and there were relevant pathological findings in about 6.6%. Most findings involved the respiratory (11%) and cardiovascular systems (10%) or eyes (10%).

The average annual number of surveillance system examinations was 10,750. There were relevant findings in about 16%, mainly of the respiratory system (17%) and noise-induced hearing damage (about 80%).

Work-capacity examinations constituted about 35% of the work-load (9,250 examinees/year). In 53% a significant health problem affecting an individual's job performance was identified. Pathological findings were found in the musculoskeletal (21%), cardiovascular (7.5%), respiratory (3%), and neurological systems (2%).

Occupational health examinations can identify areas in which prevention and intervention or cooperation with other medical specialties are indicated, as well as specific topics requiring further training of occupational physicians.

Superficial Skin Necrosis in Short Bowel Syndrome

Arie Eisenman, Rafael Enat

Dept. of Medicine B, Rambam Medical Center and Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, The Technion, Haifa

Short bowel syndrome causes a complex of symptoms due to compromise of small intestinal nutrient absorption. A 60-year-old woman underwent major resection of the small intestine due to a road accident 3 years ago. The sole manifestation of short-bowel-syndrome was superficial skin necrosis due to vitamin K deficiency. She was asymptomatic for a long time, until treatment with antibiotics further intensified initially subclinical malabsorption.

It is not clear why there had been no other symptoms and why the main impact was on the fibrinolytic system rather than the coagulation system, as is usually the case. It is recommended that patients after major resection of the small intestine be closely monitored for coagulation function if an oral antibiotic is prescribed.

Transcatheter Closure of Atrial Septal Defects: Initial Clinical Applications

Shahar Zimand, Einat Birk, Mira Frand, Patricia Benjamin, Julius Hegesh

Dept. of Pediatric Cardiology, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer and Schneider Medical Center, Petah Tikva

The incidence of congenital heart defects is 0.8% of live-born infants. Of these 13% are ostium secundum atrial septal defects (ASD) which can be successfully repaired by open heart surgery with less than 1% mortality. However, morbidity associated with cardiac surgery is universal. Transcatheter closure of ASDs was introduced 2 decades ago to decrease surgical complications, hospital stay and cost. Few devices have undergone clinical trials but all of them have been associated with instances of failure and complications. The most important mechanism for acute failure was selection of cases with too large a defect or selection of a defective device. In the past decade great progress has been made with the aid of transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) and modifications of the device. We present our experience in our first 5 patients. They ranged in age from 4 to 27 years; the ASD diameter was 11-15 mm and the device diameter was 17-33 mm. All transcatheter closures were performed on the same day without any complications, and all patients were discharged home after 2 days of hospitalization. We conclude that transcatheter occlusion of ASDs up to 15 mm is feasible, relatively safe and effective. This transcatheter method appears to be a viable alternative to surgery for some patients with secundum atrial septal defects.

First Year's Experience of the Post, Operative Cardiac Care Unit, Schneider Children's Medical Center

O. Dagan, E. Birk, J. Katz, B. Vidne

Cardiothoracic Pediatric Service, Schneider Children's Medical Center, Petah Tikva

In the past 10 years there has been a growing preference for early, complete correction of congenital heart disease. The first year of operation of this cardiac unit is described. 216 operations were performed: 15% in the neonatal age group and 35% in the newborn to l-year-old groups; 2% were palliative procedures. Mortality was 4.9%. Average stay in the ICU was 3.2  days, with a median of 2.25. Average length of ventilation was 35 hours, with a median of 17.5. Complications were: diaphragm paralysis in 13 (6%), 2/3 of which were recurrent operations; in 2 patients (0.9%) we had to plicate the diaphragm. There was severe neurological damage in 2, which deteriorated to brain death in 1. There was peripheral, reversible neurological damage in 4 (1.8%), and acute renal failure in 3%, with half of them requiring dialysis. 75% of these children died and there was superficial infection in 4.1%, deep wound infection in 1.3%, bacteremia in 4.1%, superior vena cava syndrome in 3 (1.3%) and chylothorax in 2 of them (0.9%). 1 patient (0.45%) required a ventricle-peritoneal shunt after acute viral meningitis. We are encouraged by our results to offer early complete correction to all children with congenital heart disease.

Radiotherapy of Localized Prostatic Carcinoma

Eliahu Gez, Yael Netzer-Horowitz, Einat Waiman, Raphael Rubinov, Yoram Cohen, Abraham Kuten

Northern Israel Oncology Center and Oncology Dept., Rambam Medical Center and Lin Medical Center, Haifa; and Soroka Medical Center, Beer Sheba

112 patients with localized prostate cancer, clinical stage A2-C, were treated by definitive radiotherapy between 1982-1988. Radiation volume encompassed the prostate, seminal vesicles and pelvic lymph nodes. The 10-year actuarial survival figures were: overall 51%; stage A2 87%; stage B 50%; stage C 36%; well differential tumors 67%; moderately differentiated 50%; poorly differentiated 32%; patients with local tumor control 55%; and patients with minimal local control 36%. It is concluded that external beam irradiation is effective in localized prostatic cancer. Stage and grade are prognosticators of survival.