[Specific effects of selective anxiolytic afobazole on the cardiovascular system].

Experiments in narcotized rats showed the new selective anxiolytic afobazole, a derivative of 2-mercaptobenzimidazole, to cause a small bradycardia with almost no effect on the important parameters of heart hemodynamics and cardiac performance such as the arterial pressure, cardiac output, and mean aorta blood flow acceleration. Afobazole decreased the rate of ventricular fibrillations during 7-min occlusion followed by 3-min reperfusion of the left coronary artery in narcotized rats. Afobazole administered in rats for 21 days under conditions of experimental myocardial infarction had no effect on the pump and contractile cardiac functions. The drug normalized the reaction of mean aorta blood flow acceleration to the volume load suppressed by myocardial infarction, which was indicative of an increase in the adaptive capacity of myocardium.

[Effects of zatebradine on the course of experimental myocardial infarction under long-term treatment conditions in rats].

A long-term (21 days) administration of the specific bradycardic agent zatebradine to rats with experimental myocardial infarction led to a decrease in the intensity of necrotic changes in the cardiac muscle as evaluated from the ECG-recorded QS complex incidence rate. Morphological studies provided evidence for reduced intensity of the dystrophic processes in myocardium. Under these conditions, the drug did not affect the pump and contractile heart functions. At the same time, zatebradine normalized the reaction of mean aorta blood flow acceleration to volume load (which was inhibited at myocardial infarction), that is, prevented the development of latent heart failure. Zatebradine restored the infarction-decreased norepinephrine (NE) level in cardiac muscle and increased NE content in hypothalamus and brainstem. Along with that, the ratios of deoxyphenylacetic acid/dopamine and homovanillic acid/dopamine were reduced.

[Specific bradycardic drug zatebradin: cardiac rhythm variability, antifibrillatory, and antiischemic effects].

The results of experiments on narcotized cats and rats showed that the drug zatebradin produces a specific bradycardic action by reducing the heart rate and the double product, while virtually not influencing vitally important parameters of the heart activity such as the cardiac output and the mean acceleration of the aorta blood flow. The drug reduced the rise of ST segment recorded in multiple epicardial ECG leads made in narcotized cats during a 5-min occlusion of the anterior descending branch of the left coronary artery. Zatebradin was found to increase the cardiac rhythm variability in narcotized rats and decrease the rate of ventricular fibrillations during a 7-min occlusion with the subsequent 3-min coronary artery reperfusion.

Castleman's disease presenting as a midline neck mass.

We report the case of a 13-year-old girl who presented with a painless midline submental mass. Excision biopsy confirmed Castleman's disease of the hyaline-vascular type. This unusual condition needs to be considered in the differential diagnosis of masses arising in the neck.

[Rhabdoid meningioma: a potentially aggressive new variant]. / Rhabdoid meningeoma: potenciálisan agresszív új variáns.

Rhabdoid meningioma is a recently recognized clinicopathologic entity characterized histologically by cytoplasmic aggregates of intermediate filaments, and clinically by the propensity of such tumors to pursue an aggressive course. The authors report on clinical, radiologic and pathologic findings in three cases of rhabdoid meningioma identified in a retrospective surgical series of 204 meningothelial tumors. Patients included two females, aged 39 and 55 years, and a 54-year-old male. In the first two cases the tumors were located on the right and left lesser sphenoid wing, respectively; in the third case, the right cerebellopontine angle was affected. All three neoplasms evolved on a background on transitional meningioma and were conspicuous for dis-cohesive tumor cells and suppression of syncytical architecture. Immunohistochemistry and ultrastructural examination confirmed the meningothelial origin of inclusion-bearing rhabdoid cells. Although none of the tumors showed evidence of histologic anaplasia and Ki-67 labeling indices remained inferior to 2%, infiltrative growth into adjacent brain was noted in all three cases. On follow-up ranging from 8 months to 6 years, the patients remained either disease-free or alive with nonprogressive residual tumor. On account of their clinical behavior, well-differentiated rhabdoid meningiomas will be accommodated in the category of atypical meningiomas (WHO grade II). Their pathogenesis is likely to involve disrupted cytoskeletal integration of cell motility and proliferation, of which the rhabdoid phenotype may possibly represent a morphologic correlate.

[The pattern of p53 oncoprotein expression in gastric cancer patients]. / A p53 onkoprotein elöfordulásának sajátosságai gyomorrákos betegekben.

The p53 gene mutation or p53 oncoprotein overexpression are the most common genetic alterations in human tumors. Its expression is known to be present in a number of tumors however, its prognostic value in gastric cancer is uncertain. The authors studied the pattern of p53 oncoprotein expression in 45 advanced gastric cancer cases. Statistically, the correlation between p53 expression and histologic type of the tumors was significant (p < 0.001): 84% of the intestinal type tumors showed positivity, in half of those (15/31, 48.3%) the positivity involved almost all of the nuclei. This is much higher than any other data in the literature. Moreover, significant correlation was found between tumor stages pT2-3 and p53 oncoprotein expression. There was no significant correlation between lymph node involvement, as one of the most important prognostic factors, and p53 expression. Their results show that the pattern of p53 gene mutation in these gastric cancer patients differs from international data, which might be caused by certain carcinogenic effects: e.g. nutritional customs characteristic of Hungary.

Cellular immune responses and lymphocyte populations in chronic hepatitis.

Cellular immune responsiveness was examined in chronic persistent hepatitis, chronic active hepatitis and alcoholic liver disease by the use of the lymphocyte transformation test in response to PHA and to allogenic liver mitochondria, inhibition of leukocyte migration, delayed-type skin tests and non-immunospecific granulocyte function tests. Lymphocyte markers, E and EAC rosette forming cells were used for the study of lymphocyte populations. The results have confirmed that the T-cell borne cell-mediated immune function is impaired in chronic active hepatitis, as also in a number of cases of chronic persistent hepatitis.