On the possibility of total ozone variability as a precursor for major earthquakes in Greece

Recent analysis of satellite data revealed that earlier claims that the variations of total ozone content could be considered as a promising precursor for earthquake prediction are questionable. Here, we show that in order to identify the parameters (time, epicentre and magnitude) of an impending earthquake, satellite data should be combined with ground-based measurements of other physical properties like the Earth's electric field variations.     

Literature: a vehicle for emotional connection between clinician and client.

Nurses have used literature in a variety of ways to increase understanding of the problems and dilemmas of their patients. Literature can be used in psychotherapy when a patient either selects a literary work to discuss or writes his or her own work. Incorporation of literature into psychotherapy offers opportunities for discussion that yield important information about the patient as he or she explores conscious and unconscious issues.     

High density lipoproteins, but not other lipoproteins, provide a vehicle for sterol transport to bile.

Unesterified cholesterol (UC) that is taken up by the liver from lipoproteins is rapidly mixed by exchange with liver UC. Thus, it is not possible to quantitate the transport of UC from different lipoproteins into bile using radiolabeled UC. However, plant sterols do not exchange with UC and are secreted in bile with the same kinetics as UC. To compare the contribution to bile of sterols from different lipoproteins, we perfused isolated rat livers with VLDL, LDL, and HDL that were obtained from patients with hereditary phytosterolemia and were rich in plant sterols. After 30-min recirculating perfusions, hepatic concentrations of plant sterols were not different after different lipoproteins were perfused. However, biliary plant sterol secretion was markedly different: with the perfusion of either VLDL or LDL there was no increase in plant sterols in bile, but with perfusion of HDL, the secretion of plant sterols was increased two- to threefold (P = 0.0005). The increase in biliary plant sterols was detected 5-10 min after HDL was added to perfusates and was similarly large for each of three individual plant sterols that was tracked. Results show that when sterol transport from lipoproteins into bile can be determined, only HDL provides a vehicle for UC elimination in bile that is consistent with its putative function in reverse cholesterol transport.     

Distribution, blood transport, and degradation of antidiuretic hormone in man.

The distribution, blood transport, and metabolic clearance of physiological concentrations of antidiuretic hormone were studied in 10 hydrated normal subjects with radioiodinated arginine vasopressin (125I-AVP). At 37 degrees C no binding of 125I-AVP to plasma proteins could be demonstrated, but some metabolites were associated with plasma proteins. 125I-AVP was rapidly distributed into a space approximating the extracellular fluid volume. Metabolic breakdown products became demonstrable within minutes after injection. The mean metabolic clearance rate of 125I-AVP was 4.1 ml/min/kg and the mean plasma half-life 24.1 min. Renal clearance had a mean value of 80 ml/min and accounted for 27% of the total metabolic clearance. It is concluded that in man antidiuretic hormone circulates as a free (non-protein bound) peptide, diffuses readily into the extracellular fluid space, and is metabolized within minutes. A plasma half-life of 24 min is consistent with the duration of antidiuresis after hormone administration or release.     

The forms and transport of plasma cobalamins in normal man and in myeloproliferative states.

Seven patients with MP and four controls were injected with 0.04 to 0.05 microgram of [57Co] cyanocobalamin i.m. or i.v. in order to study the shift of binding with time and the conversion of one Cbl to another. The initial pattern of binding reflected the proportion of the apo forms of TC II and R binders. In MP there was more initial binding of the injected Cbl to R-type binders and less to TC II. During the first 48 hr after intake, the injected Cbl remained mostly as cyanocobalamin. Some adenosylcobalamin appeared transiently in both control and MP subjects. Radioactive methylcobalamin did not appear in the circulation until after 48 hr, and the conversion of cyanocobalamin to methylcobalamin within the circulation was greater in MP subjects. Serum from some subjects converted small amounts of cyanocobalamin to all other forms in vitro by a heat-stable, extracellular property which was abolished by dialysis of the serum. This property of serum could have accounted for the early conversion to adenosylcobalamin but not, at least as an in vitro phenomenon, to the late appearance of methylcobalamin. Although the expected increases and abnormal patterns of R binders were observed in MP, these abnormalities could not be correlated with the increased conversion to plasma methylcobalamin. During the first 6 hr after injection the R binder-Cbl designated as alpha 2-R-Cbl disappeared from the circulation at a rate faster than that of alpha 1-R-Cbl. Subsequently the alpha 2 and alpha 1 components of R binder-Clb cleared at the same rate, and this rate was the same for both control and MP subjects.     

Bacteria: a major pathogenic factor for anastomotic insufficiency.

The aim of this study was to determine the influence of bacteria on the development of anastomotic insufficiency following gastrectomy in the rat. Fifty-seven male Wistar rats were randomly assigned to three groups and subjected to gastrectomy. Group I (n = 20) was orally inoculated with 10(9) Pseudomonas aeroginosa organisms on postoperative day 1. Group II (n = 20) served as the control group. Group III (n = 17) was decontaminated with 320 mg of tobramycin, 400 mg of polymyxin B, and 500 mg of vancomycin per liter of fluid administered from preoperative day 7 to postoperative day 10. Swabs from the oropharynx and rectum were cultured and analyzed daily for gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. Surviving animals were sacrificed on postoperative day 10. All animals were autopsied immediately following death. Anastomotic insufficiency was defined as a histologically proven transmural defect at the suture line. Along with an effective reduction of pathogenic bacteria colonizing the oropharynx, the rate of anastomotic insufficiency could be reduced significantly, to 6% in decontaminated animals compared with 80% in controls (P < 0.001 by Fisher's exact test). Inoculation of group I animals with P. aeruginosa led to an increase of anastomotic insufficiency up to 95% and a significant increase in mortality (P < 0.05). We conclude that bacteria play a major role in the pathogenesis of anastomotic insufficiency following gastrectomy in the rat.     

DepoFoam technology: a vehicle for controlled delivery of protein and peptide drugs.

A major challenge in the development of sustained-release formulations for protein and peptide drugs is to achieve high drug loading sufficient for prolonged therapeutic effect coupled with a high recovery of the protein/peptide. This challenge has been successfully met in the formulation of several peptide and protein drugs using the DepoFoam, multivesicular lipid-based drug delivery system. DepoFoam technology consists of novel multivesicular liposomes characterized by their unique structure of multiple non-concentric aqueous chambers surrounded by a network of lipid membranes. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate that DepoFoam technology can be used to develop sustained-release formulations of therapeutic proteins and peptides with high loading. DepoFoam formulations of a protein such as insulin, and peptides such as leuprolide, enkephalin and octreotide have been developed and characterized. The data show that these formulations have high drug loading, high encapsulation efficiency, low content of free drug in the suspension, little chemical change in the drug caused by the formulation process, narrow particle size distribution, and spherical particle morphology. Drug release assays conducted in vitro in biological suspending media such as human plasma indicate that these formulations provide sustained release of encapsulated drug over a period from a few days to several weeks, and that the rate of release can be modulated. In vivo pharmacodynamic studies in rats also show a sustained therapeutic effect over a prolonged period. These results demonstrate that the DepoFoam system is capable of efficiently encapsulating therapeutic proteins and peptides and effectively providing controlled delivery of these biologically active macromolecules.