Thioridazine and EKG anomalies

Acute i.v. infusion but not daily oral administration of thioridazine-HCl in the dog produced EKG anomalies similar to those reported in psychiatric patients taking this drug. Lack of EKG effects after thioridazine-5-sulfoxide infusion and presence of anomalies after thioridazine at equivalent doses suggests further evaluation of the relationship between reported plasma levels of thioridazine and its ring-sulfoxide in association with EKG changes.     

Close linkage of c-Harvey-ras-1 and the insulin gene to affective disorder is ruled out in three North American pedigrees

Affective disorder (AD) is one of the major forms of functional psychoses. Although the mode of transmission is uncertain, family, twin and adoption studies strongly suggest a genetic involvement. Because a basic biochemical abnormality is not known, direct analysis of the disease using a probe for the defective gene is not possible. However, a specific locus can be tested for its relevance to the aetiology of AD by genetic linkage, using restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs). Using probes for the c-Ha-ras-1 oncogene and the insulin gene, Gerhard et al. and Egeland et al. found convincing evidence for close linkage between these markers and a locus for AD in a large Old Order Amish pedigree. In an attempt to confirm this finding, we examined three bipolar pedigrees outside the Amish population. Our results indicate the absence of linkage from 0 to 15% recombination frequency between AD and the insulin gene-HRAS1 region in these pedigrees.     

Thermodynamic control by frequent quantum measurements

Heat flow between a large thermal 'bath' and a smaller system brings them progressively closer to thermal equilibrium while increasing their entropy. Fluctuations involving a small fraction of a statistical ensemble of systems interacting with the bath result in deviations from this trend. In this respect, quantum and classical thermodynamics are in agreement. Here we predict a different trend in a purely quantum mechanical setting: disturbances of thermal equilibrium between two-level systems (TLSs) and a bath, caused by frequent, brief quantum non-demolition measurements of the TLS energy states. By making the measurements increasingly frequent, we encounter first the anti-Zeno regime and then the Zeno regime (namely where the TLSs' relaxation respectively speeds up and slows down). The corresponding entropy and temperature of both the system and the bath are then found to either decrease or increase depending only on the rate of observation, contrary to the standard thermodynamical rules that hold for memory-less (Markov) baths. From a practical viewpoint, these anomalies may offer the possibility of very fast control of heat and entropy in quantum systems, allowing cooling and state purification over an interval much shorter than the time needed for thermal equilibration or for a feedback control loop.     

彩色多普勒超声在腹壁下动脉穿支选择中的应用

验证彩色多普勒超声对腹壁下动脉穿支血管术前探查的有效性,寻找腹壁下动脉穿支术前优势穿支的选择标准。利用彩色多普勒超声探查腹壁下动脉穿支皮瓣行乳房再造患者52例,重点记录穿支血管穿腹直肌前鞘点的体表投影、口径、血流信息,并通过分析比较以上信息,选择优势穿支。结果52例患者腹壁下动脉穿支穿腹直肌前鞘点于超声下均可显示,平均每侧下腹部3支,距脐平均(5.7±2.09)cm,其中条件适用于显微外科的穿支平均口径(0.95±0.32)cm,血流峰速平均约16.4 cm/s,阻力指数平均0.7。术中优势穿支采用率92.31%。说明高频彩色多普勒超声适用于腹壁下动脉穿支皮瓣术前血管探查,可精确指导穿支的术前选择,辅助手术方案制定以及皮瓣设计。     

Exclusion of linkage to 5q11-13 in families with schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders

Recently a linkage study on five Icelandic and two English pedigrees has provided evidence for a dominant gene for schizophrenia on 5q11-13 (ref. 1). In that study, families with bipolar illness were not included. Using the same probes, two similar but independent investigations on one Swedish pedigree and on fifteen Scottish families excluded linkage to schizophrenia. To evaluate whether the susceptibility gene on 5q11-13 is a common cause of schizophrenia in other populations, we examined five affected North American pedigrees using probes to the D5S39, D5S76 and dihydrofolate reductase loci. Two families in the present series had cases of bipolar disorder. We found that linkage can be excluded by multipoint analysis. These results, taken together, suggest that the disease gene on 5q11-13 does not account for most cases of familial schizophrenia.