Social support and pregnancy:I. Factorial structure and psychosocial correlates of perceived social support

Abstract In a questionnaire survey among 1329 first-trimester pregnant women, social support providers were divided by factor analysis into husband, 'premarital network' (parents and friends) and 'postmarital network' (children and mother-in-law), while social support contents were divided into 'given' (emotional, informational and instrumental support) and 'giving' (nurturing opportunity and general confiding). The husband was most frequently nominated by the woman as the support provider in both of these categories. Multiple regression analyses revealed that a husband's poor 'given' support was predicted by the presence of premenstrual irritability, a lower level of the woman's own education, her smoking habits and past experience of pregnancy termination, while a husband's poor 'giving' support was predicted by current older age, smoking habits and past experience of delivery.     

Cyclic peptides

In order to explore the route for cyclization of linear oligopeptide containing a ΔAla (α, β-dehydroalanine) residue, AM-toxin II was synthesized. As a preliminary experiment, synthesis of [L-Phe³] AM-toxin II, containing L-Phe in place of L-App (L-2-amino-5-phenylpentanoic acid), was attempted. Cyclization of H-L-Phe-ΔAla-L-Ala-L-Hmb-ONSu in pyridine at 3 mM concentration yielded a mixture of cyclic dimer and cyclic polymers. Cyclization of H-L-App-ΔAla-L-Ala-L-Hmb-ONSu under the same conditions gave similar results; however, cyclization at 0.3 mM concentration yielded a mixture of desired cyclic monomer and cyclic dimer. An appreciable amount of cyclic monomer was isolated from the mixture. Characteristic features of the monomer were identical to those of natural AM-toxin II.     

Reappraisal of Inhibition and Summation with a Single Conditioning Stimulus in Man

A noncapturing conditioning stimulus is known to exert inhibitory effect on a subsequent suprathreshold stimulus, while summation occurs rarely in man. The present study was conducted to revaluate whether conditioning stimulus at a relatively low intensity produced inhibition and summation in man. Thirteen patients with various arrhythmias, 47 +/- 19 years old, were studied. Basic ventricular driving stimuli (S1S1 = 600 msec), a conditioning stimulus (Sc), and extrastimulus (S2) were introduced from a catheter electrode. Sc at an intensity of twice the late diastolic threshold inhibited suprathreshold S2 from evoking a response in all 13 patients. The ScS2 interval producing inhibition was from 11 +/- 4 to 38 +/- 26 msec. When Sc preceded S2 by 5 msec, effective refractory period was shortened by 16 +/- 7 msec in 7 of 13 patients, a phenomenon of summation. The present study demonstrates that inhibition and summation are common phenomena with a single conditioning stimulus at relatively low intensities.     

Contact Sensitivity to Polychloroparaxylene-Coated Cardiac Pacemaker

Poly-chloroparaxylene (parylene) is widely used as a material for cardiac pacemaker coating. Contact sensitivity to parylene was proven by patch test. Wrapping the pacemaker in a polytetrafluoroethylene sheet prior to implantation prevented further skin reactions.     

An immunocytochemical study of changes in the human erythrocyte membrane skeleton produced by stretching examined by the quick-freezing and deep-etching method

A quick-freezing and deep-etching method in combination with erythrocyte splitting was used to examine the cytoplasmic aspect of whole-mount human erythrocyte membranes. Various external forces induced alterations in membrane skeletal organisation during the splitting procedure. The initial change was elongation in the peripheral part of the membrane skeleton, examined by immunostaining with a monoclonal antispectrin antibody. Under severe stretching conditions, a linear rearrangement of filamentous components was evident; these were disposed parallel to the rim of the erythrocyte, while the central part of the concavity exhibited a more compacted structure. These changes resulted in a different distribution of membrane skeletal components between central rigid and peripheral flexible areas in biconcave erythrocytes. It is suggested that the reversible membrane skeletal changes in the flexible areas which resist the external forces are important for maintaining the normal framework of biconcave human erythrocytes.     

Evaluation of the Efficacy of Endoscopic Treatment for Gastric Cancer Considered in Terms of Long-term Prognosis

Abstract: A comparative evaluation was made between the efficacy of endoscopic treatment in 116 cases with that of surgical treatment in 59 cases. Both groups were treated at Yamagata Prefectural Central Hospital during a period from July 1978 up until December 1989. All of the patients had single mucosal adenocarcinoma of a well differentiated type which were not accompanied by ulcer or ulcerative scar with their maximum diameter of foci being less than 20mm. A curve of the survival rate of both groups as of June 30, 1990 was prepared using the Kaplan-Meier method, and significance in the statistic difference between the two groups was examined using the logrank test. There was no significant difference noted in the results of both groups. This demonstrated that endoscopic treatment can bring about a long-term prognosis which is comparable to that of surgical treatment.     

Cyclic peptides. XVIII. Syntheses of AM-toxin I analogs containing bulky L-amino acid residues instead of an L-alanine*

In order to investigate the influence of the alanine residue at position 1 of AM-toxin I (cyclic tetradepsipeptide) on necrotic activity for apple leaves, three analogs, [l -2-aminobutanoic acid¹] AM-toxin I, [l -leucine¹] AM-toxin I and [l -phenylalanine¹] AM-toxin I, were synthesized by the conventional method for peptide synthesis. Spectra of ¹H-n.m.r., u.v. and CD of the analogs were similar to those of natural AM-toxin I. The analogs showed appreciable biological activity including host-specificity, indicating that considerable variation in the size of side chain at position 1 is allowed for the induction of necrotic activity.     

Cyclic peptides

Four cyclic dehydrodipeptides, cyclo (-Δaminoacyl-L-Ala-), in which aminoacyl is Phe, Apb (2-amino-4-phenylbutanoic acid), App (2-amino-5-phenylpentanoic acid) and Aph (2-amino-6-phenylhexanoic acid), were prepared by condensation of cyclo (-N-Ac-Gly-N-Ac-L-Ala-) with the corresponding aldehydes. Among them, the yield of cyclo (-ΔApb-L-Ala-) was exceptionally low. Each compound was hydrogenated in the presence of Pd black at various temperatures and chiral induction in hydrogenation was evaluated. Low chiral induction at high temperature (50d?) was observed in the case of cyclo (-ΔPhe-L-Ala-). Optically pure L-Apb, L-App and L-Aph were obtained from the corresponding cyclic dehydrodipeptides, respectively, by hydrogenation and subsequent acid hydrolysis.