Etiological study of low fertility in eastern Gaboon. I. Scheme and first findings (author's transl)

The etiological study conducted in 1975 in Haut-Ogooué and Ogooué-Lolo included 1,548 patients male and female. In the 21 investigated areas the patients were asked questions and examined by a medical team which took swabs so that bacterial, parastic, immunological and genetical assays could be carried out. The object of this article is to review the feasibility of such a local inquiry and state the first findings. Abnormalities of the epididymis are more commonly verified in non-fertile men. Microfilaremia is related to the presence of hydroceles and epididymis lesions. It shows more often in men with less than 3 children. The authors do not refer to any of physiopathology to explain these findings which need to be ascertained in further inquiries.     

Influence of copper in combination with other trace elements on the activity of trypsin (author's transl)

The activity of trypsin was determined by using N alpha-Benzoyl-L-arginin-p-nitroanilid (L-BAPA) as a substrate, and adding either the elements Cu, Zn, Fe, Ni, and Co alone or in combination with copper in the concentration range of 0.9 x 10(-7) to 0.9 x 10(-4) moles Men+/l. Cu and Zn don't elevate the activity of trypsin but if they are added separately in very small concentrations. They lower the activity at higher concentrations. The other trace elements elevate the trypsin activity over the whole concentration range investigated. When copper is used in combination with the other trace elements there is no additional effect on trypsin activity. Here activities are somewhere in between the values when elements are added separately. A competing effect for the bounding sites of the trypsin is supposed. In this way it is possible to explain the non-linearity of the turnover rate curves of the experiments with the combined trace elements.     

Accumulation kinetics of trichloroethylene and its metabolites during multiple exposures. A theoretical study (author's transl)

In attempting to establish an excretory TLV for trichloroethylene, the rates at which trichloroethylene and its metabolites accumulate in the body with increasing number of exposures and their plateau values attained after repetition of an infinite number of exposures were estimated theoretically with a mathematical model. After a single inhalation exposure to trichloroethylene is over, its concentration in the blood, x, and the amount of its urinary metabolites, [D]to, as a function of time t are expressed as a sum of three exponentials: (formula: see text). where A1-A3 and D1-D3 are constants depending on the inhaled air concentration of trichloroethylene, and alpha 1-alpha 2 and kA-K3 rate constants. When the same degree of exposure is repeated for n consecutive days, the blood concentration, t hours after the nth day's exposure, becomes (formula: see text). From the experimental results of a single human exposure reported previously, the concentration of trichloroethylene in the blood was predicted to change only to a negligible degree after repetition of an infinitive number of exposures, whereas the amount of total urinary metabolites was predicted to increase by twice as much as that excreted after the single exposure.     

Ciguatera fish poisoning in New Caledonia. Clinical and epidemiological aspects (author's transl)

The author studies the incidence of ciguatera fish poisoning on the public health in New Caledonia. He gives the results of a large scaled inquiry on the clinical and epidemiological aspects of the disease. The geographical distribution and the toxic species are discussed. It does appear that, though being not an acute medical problem, ciguatera is an important cause of morbidity in some tribus of the Pines and Loyalty Islands primarily, where the reef fish is the chief animal proteic resource.