[The brain is not only a central organ, but also a target of stress-related events. During chronic stress, many somatic and psychiatric disorders could be initiated by the decreased allostatic or adaptive abilities of the individual. The brain is involved in the regulation of stress-related events via hormones, neuropeptides, monoamines and cytokines. A number of endocrine diseases or hormonal changes are associated with behavioural, vegetative and emotional alterations, which occasionally lead to psychological disturbances, for example depression. The endocrine background is also reflected by the medical treatment of psychiatric patients, as demonstrated by the use of selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitors, and estrogen or levothyroxine substitution therapies. The psychiatric disorders presented here, such as the various forms of depression and eating disorders (anorexia and bulimia nervosa) are highlighted because of their frequencies and lifethreatening nature. By describing these disorders, we wish to aid their early diagnosis and treatment and to help incorporate them into everyday clinical practice.]

[Although Hans Selye is mostly known for his discovery & development of the stress concept, he also introduced the first physiologically sound, structure-activity classification of steroids that was also based on the chemical structure of steroids in 1943. He not only introduced the names of glucocorticoids & mineralocorticoids but discovered the anti- & pro-inflammatory properties, respectively, of these steroids in animal models. Furthermore, he not only described the first stress-induced gastric ulcers in rats (1936) & characterized the first human ‘stress ulcers’ during the air-raids in London during World War II (1943). Thus, Selye was a much more productive & creative scientist than it is generally considered.]

[Glucocorticoid hormones may have dual action on the stomach: physiological gastroprotective and pathological proulcerogenic one. In physiological conditions, even in acute stress situations, glucocorticoids have an adaptive effect on the stomach and, therefore, are gastroprotective. The findings that we review in this article suggest that glucocorticoids released during acute stress are naturally occurring protective factors that play an important role in maintenance of the gastric mucosal integrity.]

[Our aim is to review the radiologic literature of lung cancer of 2004 and some remarkable publications from 2003. There are three main groups in the recent publications dealing with lung cancer’s radiology. The first group comprises those reviews and metaanalyses which focus on the overall utility and reliability of routinely applied modalities such as CT and MRI. In the second group we find original articles reporting on the experience with new modalities. This group is dominated by publications dealing with positron emission tomography and the first clinical results of combined PET-CT technology. In the third part we review those articles dealing with lung cancer screening. Radiological lung cancer screening is in the focus of interest again, mainly due to the introduction of low-dose CT which is undoubtadly the most sensitive radiological modality for the early detection of lesions, however, its clinical utility is debated. The papers referred are basically sceptic, but this is not the end, because controlled long term follow-up studies are still in progress. Part of the publications report on the first clinical results of new methods, while others give valuable additional data regarding the performance of “well established” radiological modalities.]

Background - To investigate contribution of glucocorticoids to the maintenance of gastric mucosal integrity during stress we predominantly used ulcerogenic stress models. Using these models we demonstrated that glucocorticoids released in response to the ulcerogenic stimuli attenuated their harmful action on the gastric mucosa. Purpose - In the present study we hypothesized that mild stressors does not damage the gastric mucosa due to gastroprotective action of glucocorticoids released in response to these stressors. Methods - To verify the hypothesis the effects of normally non-ulcerogenic mild stimuli (15-30 min cold-restraint) on the gastric mucosal integrity have been studied under the circumstances of inhibition of the hypothalamic-pituitaryadrenocortical axis in rats. The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis was inhibited by: 1) fast inhibitory action of metyrapone, inhibitor glucocorticoid synthesis; 2) fast inhibitory action of NBI 27914, the selective antagonist of cortricotropin- releasing factor receptor type 1; 3) delayed inhibitory action of a single pharmacological dose of cortisol injected one week before the onset of stress stimulus. Results - Each of these pretreatments significantly decreased 15-30 min cold-restraint-produced corticosterone levels: 37.2±1 vs 22.5±1.2 (p<0.05) after metyrapone; 52.1±0.9 vs 41.4±1 (p<0.05) after NBI, and 64.2±4.2 vs 16.7±1.5 (p<0.05) after cortisol pretreatment. The inhibition of stress-induced corticosterone rise resulted in an ap - pearance of gastric lesions after the onset of these mild stressors in rats. Conclusions - The results suggest that in rats with inhibited stress-induced corticosterone rise normally non-ulcerogenic stimuli are transformed into ulcerogenic ones and confirm the hypothesis. The findings further support for the point of view that glucocorticoids released during acute stress are gastroprotective factors.