Experience with St John's Wort (Hypericum perforatum) in children under 12 years with symptoms of depression and psychovegetative disturbances.

The value of an extract of Hypericum perforatum (St John's wort) for children with mild to moderate depressive symptoms was investigated for the first time in a multi-centre post-marketing surveillance study. One hundred and one children under 12 years were treated for a minimum of 4 weeks with an extension to 6 weeks with parental consent and medical practitioner recommendation. the dosage used ranged from 300 to 1800 mg per day. Compliance, tolerability and efficacy were assessed every 2 weeks by physicians and parents. Based on the data available for analysis, the number of physicians rating effectiveness as 'good' or 'excellent' was 72% after 2 weeks, 97% after 4 weeks and 100% after 6 weeks. The ratings by parents were very similar. There was, however, an increasing amount of missing data at each assessment point with the final evaluation including only 76% of the initial sample. Tolerability was good and no adverse events were reported. The results of this study suggest that Hypericum is a potentially safe and effective treatment for children with symptoms of depression.

A mobile system for recording examination data of the analysis of functional disorders of the masticatory system.

Simplifying and streamlining data access and recording tasks in medical settings is an important and successful application area for mobile computing technology. An interesting research topic in this area are user-interface design concepts that allow for an optimal integration of system operation into working situations where the user is tightly involved in interactions with his physical surroundings. We describe an ongoing project that aims at developing a mobile information system which uses pen-computers for recording data of the analysis of functional disorders of the masticatory system during examination. Long-term goal of this project is the design of an interaction concept that allows for an optimal integration of the system operation into the established examination procedures. A comprehensive questionnaire for the analysis of functional disorders of the masticatory system has been developed. This questionnaire then has been structured with respect to established examination procedures and coded into a pen-computer. Experiences with a first system prototype within the scope of a limited field trial show that our approach is viable and simplifies the recording task. Future work will concentrate on a further streamlining of the user interface by providing additional task-specific graphics interaction techniques and by a detailed study of usage patterns.

Effect of cell density on growth regulation of human glomerular epithelial cells. Inhibition of growth by dbcAMP and cAMP-elevating agonists.

Glomerular epithelial cells (GEC) play an important role in the development of focal glomerular sclerosis. A variety of growth factors and the local cellular environment contribute to growth regulation and development of GEC. To understand whether responsiveness of GEC to growth factors might be modulated by cell density, we investigated the influence of epidermal growth factor (EGF) on cell proliferation, as well as the role of transforming growth factor beta (TGF beta) on growth modulation in human visceral GEC in culture plated at different cell densities. Proliferation of cells was determined by [3H]thymidine incorporation. EGF and serum exhibited a dose-dependent stimulation independent of cell density in culture. Addition of TGF beta in concentrations greater than 0.1 ng/ml to cells prestimulated with EGF (1 ng/ml) and plated at densities of 18,000 and 50,000 cells per cm2 was followed by a significant growth inhibition. In contrast, cells plated at 5,000 cells per cm2 were not inhibited upon stimulation by TGF beta in this concentrations range (0.1 and 1.0 ng/ml). Heparin markedly inhibited serum-stimulated cell proliferation in concentrations of 1, 10, and 100 U/ml. De-N-sulphated- and low molecular weight heparin as well as glycosaminoglycans and sulphated polysaccharides (chondroitin sulphate A, B, C, heparan sulphate, dextran sulphate, and hyaluronic acid) failed to inhibit growth. Furthermore, proliferation of human GEC was significantly inhibited by the cAMP analogue dbcAMP (0.1 and 1 mM) and the cAMP-elevating agonists cholera toxin (250 ng/ml) and forskolin (10 and 100 microM). 1,9-Dideoxyforskolin had no effect.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)