New aspects of US economic policy towards LDCs

President Carter assumed power in Washington in January, 1977. Since that time, many aspects of US foreign economic policy, especially those involving the less developed countries (LDCs), have been reviewed and some new approaches have been introduced. Foreign and concepts have been adjusted and the US has actively participated in the North-South Dialogue; it has also become increasingly involved in international economic including UN conferences

The dollar and special drawing rights

The IMF's Interim Committee recently for the first time discussed the creation of a “Substitution Account” to convert certain amounts of excess reserve currencies into SDRs. This issue is likely to be on the agenda of the next annual meeting of the IMF in the fall of this year. Prof. Feuerlein discusses the problems of such an account

Balance of payments dilemmas

An analysis of the recurring International monetary crises raises the question whether the monetary adjustments alone will be an adequate weapon to deal with them or whether additional none-monetary steps should also be taken

Some basic US conditions for a law of the sea treaty

Already in 1972 legislation for the exploration and subsequent exploitation of the resources of the deep ocean bed was first introduced in the USA. However, action was postponed each year in order to give the UN Law of the Sea Conference an opportunity to come forth with an acceptable treaty draft. This attitude changed drastically since the Sixth Session of the Conference in 1977. Professor Feuerlein explains the present US position and its background

Major causes of continued international payments instability

When the Bretton Woods system collapsed in December 1971 the expectation was that a reformed monetary system could be introduced within a year or two. The following article discusses the question why, contrary to this general expectation, the international instability in payments still exists and no end is in sight

Effects of abstinence on brain morphology in alcoholism: A MRI study

Chronic alcohol abuse leads to morphological changes of the brain. We investigated if these volumetric changes are reversible after a period of abstinence. For this reason 41 male and 15 female alcohol patients underwent MRI-scanning after in-patient detoxification (baseline) entering alcoholism treatment programs, and between 6 and 9 months later (follow-up), in a phase of convalescence. Additionally, 29 male and 16 female control subjects were examined. The MRI-scans were delineated and the resulting regions of interest, volumes of lateral ventricles and prefrontal lobes were expressed relatively to total brain volume. Compared to control subjects alcohol patients showed bilaterally decreased prefrontal lobes (11% reduction) and increased lateral ventricles (up to 42% enlargement). The extent of the ventricular increase was depending on patient’s additional psychiatric diagnosis, showing smaller lateral ventricles in patients with additional personality disorder. While at follow-up the size of prefrontal lobes remained unchanged, volumes of the lateral ventricles decreased (5–6% reduction) in alcohol patients with abstinence and improved drinking behavior, especially in patients that underwent only one detoxification. The extent of the ventricular enlargement correlated with the elevation of alcohol related laboratory measures (mean corpuscular volume, gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase). In conclusion this study confirms the hypothesis that alcoholism causes brain damages that are partially reversible. It should be analyzed in further studies with larger sample sizes, if complete brain regeneration is possible maintaining abstinence over a longer period

S100B and homocysteine in the acute alcohol withdrawal syndrome

Elevations of serum homocysteine levels are a consistent finding in alcohol addiction. Serum S100B levels are altered in different neuropsychiatric disorders but not well investigated in alcohol withdrawal syndromes. Because of the close connection of S100B to ACTH and glutamate secretion that both are involved in neurodegeneration and symptoms of alcoholism the relationship of S100B and homocysteine to acute withdrawal variables has been examined. A total of 22 male and 9 female inpatients (mean age 46.9 ± 9.7 years) with an ICD-10 diagnosis of alcohol addiction without relevant affective comorbidity were examined on admission and after 24, 48, and 120 h during withdrawal. S100B and homocysteine levels in serum were collected, and severity of withdrawal symptoms (AWS-scale), applied withdrawal medication, initial serum ethanol levels and duration of addiction were recorded. Serum S100B and homocysteine levels declined significantly (P < .05) over time. Both levels declined with withdrawal syndrome severity. Females showed a trend to a more intense decline in serum S100B levels compared to males at day 5 (P = .06). Homocysteine levels displayed a negative relationship to applied amount of clomethiazole (P < .05) and correlated with age of onset of addiction. No withdrawal seizures were recorded during the trial. As it is known for homocysteine, S100B revealed to decline rapidly over withdrawal treatment in alcoholism. This effect is more pronounced in female patients. S100B could be of relevance in the neurobiology of alcohol withdrawal syndromes. It may be indirectly related to the level of stress level or glutamatergic activity during alcohol withdrawal