Distribution of protein tracers in the nervous system of the crayfish (Astacus astacus L.) following systemic and local application

Summary A study was made on the penetration and cellular uptake of two protein tracers, albumin labelled with Evans blue (EBA) and horseradish peroxidase (HP), in the nervous system of the crayfish following systemic and local administration. Followingsystemic injection, EBA did not diffuse freely from the cerebral vessels into the brain parenchyma. When the tracers werelocally applied on the surface of the ventral nerve cord their penetration into the nervous parenchyma was to some extent restricted by the nerve sheath. However, unlike the perineurium of vertebrate peripheral nerves, which acts as an efficient diffusion barrier, the crayfish nerve sheath allowed the diffusion of small amounts of tracers into the ganglia. The tracers could more readily penetrate into peripheral nerves in the vicinity of ganglia. Inside the ganglion the tracers spread in extracellular spaces, between glial cell membranes and reached the neuronal surfaces. The proteins were taken up by pinocytosis in glial cells, and also in axons.     

Reduction of high cholesterol levels associated with younger age and longer education in a primary health care programme for cardiovascular prevention

OBJECTIVE: To study possible social predictors for reduction of hyperlipidaemia in subjects offered lifestyle intervention in primary health care after an opportunistic screening. SETTING: Primary health care in Sollentuna, Sweden. DESIGN: Follow-up study of changes in high lipid levels in men and women aged 20-60 years participating in a voluntary screening and cardiovascular prevention programme. SUBJECTS AND MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: A total of 1904 individuals had a follow-up visit registered after a mean of 466 days. Men and women with raised lipid levels (serum cholesterol = 6.5 mmol/l, and/or triglycerides = 2.3 mmol/l) at baseline were compared with normolipidaemic participants. Data on social characteristics such as education, occupation, marital status, and income were collected from national censuses. Associations between socioeconomic factors and changes in lipid levels were studied. RESULTS: Men and women with hyperlipidaemia were generally (p < 0.001) older (men 6-8 years, women 8-10 years) and less educated than normolipidaemic subjects. Significant predictors for reducing hypercholesterolaemia were younger age, OR 0.97 (0.95-1.00) for increasing age, and longer education, OR 0.47 (0.24-0.91) for low education (<9 years). Foreign-born subjects were more likely to achieve a high success rate in reducing hypercholesterolaemia, OR 3.43 (1.00-11.8), than the Swedish-born. No significant predictors were detected for reduction of high triglyceride levels. CONCLUSION: A successful reduction of high cholesterol levels was associated with younger age and longer education in a primary health care-based programme for cardiovascular prevention.     

Differences in beliefs between patients and pharmaceutical specialists regarding medications

OBJECTIVE: To investigate beliefs concerning medication among patients and pharmaceutical specialists (3 or 5 years of higher education). METHOD: The Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire (BMQ)-General, which assesses beliefs about medicines in general, was used. RESULTS: For the analyses, 141 (response rate 82%) and 136 (response rate 79%) questionnaires from the patients and pharmaceutical specialists, respectively, were included. The results showed a statistical significant difference between patients and pharmaceutical specialists in beliefs about medicines. Whereas the patients expressed a more negative attitude about medicines (stronger beliefs about medicines as being harmful and less favourable) the pharmaceutical specialists expressed the contrary. However, the pharmaceutical specialists had stronger concerns regarding over-use of medicines as compared to the patients. CONCLUSION: Patients and pharmaceutical specialists expressed different views regarding medications. To achieve concordance in the pharmaceutical care process, pharmaceutical specialists need to exchange information about patients' experiences and not take for granted that they share their views regarding medications. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: The pharmaceutical specialists should elicit the patient's concerns about the prescribed medications and be aware of that non-adherence is often the result of the patients making rational decisions about their treatment.     

Bacteriuria in patients with indwelling urethral catheter in Owerri Municipality, Nigeria

Objective:Bacteriuria in patients with indwelling urethral catheter in Owerri Municipality of Imo State,Nigeria was studied.Methods: A total of 500 early morning mid stream urine samples from patients admitted in different hospitals within the Municipality.The samples were microbiologically analysed using cultural methods on different isolation media.Results: A total of 220 isolates were identified.Identification tests showed the presence of Escherichia coli(10%),Staphylococcus aureus(9.0%),Klebsiella Sp.(7.0%),Proteus Sp.(5.8%),Streptococcus faecalis(4.0%),Pseudomonas aeruginosa(3.8%),Citrobacter Sp.(2.8%) and Enterobacter Sp.(1.6%).Samples obtained from patients aged 71-80 years had the highest incidence of bacteria.A total of 120(48.0%) of the isolates were obtained from female patients.Out of these 12.0% were identified as Escherichia coli.Result,further show that long duration catherized patients of up to 29 days and above have more bacteriuria infection than short term indwelling catheter.Conclusion: These findings have greatly implicated indwelling catheter as a major cause of bacteriuria in catheterized patients.     

Human parvovirus B19-induced epidemic acute red cell aplasia in patients with hereditary hemolytic anemia

From March to August 1984, 26 patients with hereditary hemolytic anemia in northeastern Ohio developed acute, profound red cell aplasia. The patients included 14 males and 12 females 2 to 23 years old, with sickle cell anemia (20 cases), hemoglobin SC-disease (4 cases), sickle- beta-thalassemia (1 case), or hereditary spherocytosis (1 case). All had an acute onset of severe reticulocytopenia and anemia and prodromal symptoms of illness including fever, abdominal symptoms, headache, and arthralgias. Twenty-two received transfusions. Reticulocytosis occurred spontaneously within 2 to 14 days of presentation. In five acute-phase sera, 10(8) to 10(12) viral particles/mL were detected by electron microscopy. Human parvovirus B19 DNA was demonstrated in high concentration by hybridization in the same five acute-phase sera and in low concentration in sera of eight additional patients. The five highly viremic sera inhibited erythroid colony formation in vitro. B19- specific IgM was detected in sera of 24/26 patients, and B19-specific IgG in 21 of 22 patients tested. Our results indicate that human parvovirus B19 was the etiologic agent in this large epidemic of life- threatening acute red cell aplasia in patients with hereditary hemolytic anemia.     

Functional development of the visual system in normal and protein-deprived rats. VIM. Post-natal development of optic nerve axons

Protein deprivation results in a persistent impairment of transmission of impulses from the specific cortical projection within the visual cortex. In order to evaluate changes in subcortical structures during pre-weaning development, a study was made on number, calibre and myelination of optic nerve axons in control (C) and protein-deprived (PD) rats 5, 12, 20 and 30 days of age. Protein deprivation was induced by giving rat mothers a diet containing 7% protein by weight (control diet 14%, during gestation and lactation. The cross-sectional area of the nerve was measured on a digitizer. Between 3000 and 4000 axons collected from 7–13 field areas sampled by a random, systematic procedure from a cross-shaped area of the nerve were counted and measured. Between 5 and 12 days after birth, the number of axons was reduced by 50% in C rats. The total number of optic nerve axons was not significantly different in PD compared to C rats, indicating that protein deprivation does not affect the formation or naturally occurring nerve cell death of retinal ganglion cells. At all ages examined there were significant reductions in the number of axons larger than 0.52μm as well as the number of myelinated axons. The rates of growth/maturation and myelination of axons in C rats and PD rats suggested that the reductions seen in PD rats up to 20 days of age may represent a developmental delay of approximately 4 days. At 30 days, a delay or a distortion of development may be present. The retarded development of optic nerve axons is discussed in relation to delays, distortions and deficits during visual system maturation in protein-deprived rats.     

Prediction of membrane-protein topology from first principles

The current best membrane-protein topology-prediction methods are typically based on sequence statistics and contain hundreds of parameters that are optimized on known topologies of membrane proteins. However, because the insertion of transmembrane helices into the membrane is the outcome of molecular interactions among protein, lipids and water, it should be possible to predict topology by methods based directly on physical data, as proposed >20 years ago by Kyte and Doolittle. Here, we present two simple topology-prediction methods using a recently published experimental scale of position-specific amino acid contributions to the free energy of membrane insertion that perform on a par with the current best statistics-based topology predictors. This result suggests that prediction of membrane-protein topology and structure directly from first principles is an attainable goal, given the recently improved understanding of peptide recognition by the translocon.