Oesophageal ulcerations and plasma levels of different alprenolol salts: potential implications for the clinic

The ulcerogenic effect of five different salts of alprenolol were tested against placebo in a porcine oesophageal test model. The salts with high water solubility, such as the hydrochloride and the fumarate, gave rise to the highest plasma concentrations of alprenolol and evoked serious oesophageal lesions, while the salts with low solubility-the benzoate, maleate and sebacate-had no irritative effect on the oesophagus. The plasma levels of alprenolol were much higher following administration of alprenolol hydrochloride in the oesophagus than after an identical intraduodenal dose of the same salt possibly because of the avoidance of the first-pass degradation during oesophageal absorption.     

Low plasma zinc and androgen in insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus

Plasma zinc and pituitary and testicular hormone concentrations were measured in two groups of male adolescents. One group comprised insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus patients, aged 14-19 years; the other, as control, included 12 healthy youngsters aged 13-19 years. Plasma concentration of zinc, prolactin, testosterone, and dihydrotestosterone were lower in diabetics than in controls, whereas the ratios of androstenedione and androstenedione to testosterone + dihydrotestosterone were higher. Plasma FSH and LH were normal. These results suggest a diminished conversion of androstenedione to testosterone and relate zinc with the 17-beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase enzyme activity.     

Enzyme immunoassay for the determination of IgE antibodies specific to grass pollen allergens using monoclonal antibodies of the BL-IgE series. 2. Performance and results of a collaborative study to evaluate the test system

This paper describes performance and results of a collaborative study in which the solid-phase enzyme immunoassay was tested in order to determine specific IgE under practical conditions. All titres of specific IgE can be differentiated in a reproducible way with high significance.     

Effects of statistical noise and digital filtering on the parameters calculated from the impulse response function

Radiotracers are widely used for the investigation of organ perfusion and function. One of the quantitative approaches to analyze radiotracer data is the calculation of the impulse response function, which is obtained by deconvolution analysis of the time-activity curves measured over the organ. Since exactness of the calculated impulse response function depends both on the counting statistics and on the deconvolution algorithm applied, computer simulated time-activity curves were used to test the least squares deconvolution program based on the matrix regularization algorithm. Criteria of clinical importance (error in the calculated organ function parameters) and criteria of mathematical importance (deconvolution and reconvolution error) were investigated. For three typical impulse response functions f(t), it was found that: 1. In cases of noncompartmental vascular-capillary f(t)'s, a high degree of smoothing is preferable during deconvolution, in this way the error becomes systematic but controllable. 2. Noncompartmental vascular-tubular f(t)'s are noise sensitive, but fortunately, noise in the data can be held to a minimum. 3. Compartmenta f(t)'s need only a minimal degree of smoothing; their components can be identified in a second step using a multiexponential least squares fit.