The dental caries status and dental treatment patterns of 12-year-old children in Hong Kong

A randomly selected sample of 662 12-year-old Hong Kong children, 529 of whom were Southern Chinese and 133 non-Chinese, was clinically examined for dental caries. The DMFT values were 2.76 and 1.66 for the Chinese and non-Chinese children, respectively. The D component for the Chinese children was 2.12, while for the non-Chinese children it was only 0.45. Approximately 24.0% of the Chinese children had attended the dentist because they were in pain. Only 3.8% of the Chinese children had sought orthodontic or preventive treatment, compared with 24.0% of the non-Chinese children. Although these findings indicate the caries experience to be well below the FDI/WHO global goal for the year 2000, there is a great need to increase the level of dental awareness among Chinese children.     

Interaction of aristolochic acid with Vipera russelli phospholipase A2: its effect on enzymatic and pathological activities

Aristolochic acid, an alkaloid from the plant Aristolochia species, interacts with the major basic phospholipase A2 from Vipera russelli venom. It is an uncompetitive inhibitor with a Ki of 9.9 X 10(-4)M when phosphatidylcholine is used as substrate. The inhibition of direct and indirect hemolysis is higher compared to the inhibition of phosphatidylcholine hydrolysis. Edema-inducing activity of Vipera russelli phospholipase A2 is inhibited by aristolochic acid when injected either as a mixture or separately. Both i.m. and i.p. administration of aristolochic acid following phospholipase injection are equally effective in inhibiting edema. The alkaloid inhibits the edema-inducing activity as soon as it reaches the site, but does not aid in recovery. Aristolochic acid failed to inhibit other pathological activities of the enzyme.     

Standards of care for area mental health services

A provisional set of standards of care was derived from a quality assurance strand of a wider research project, which reported the development of evaluation strategies for area integrated mental health services (AIMHS). In contrast to most published standards, they apply to all facets of care in a comprehensive catchment area mental health service, whether clinical or functional, community or hospital based, urban or rural, or managed by the public, private or voluntary sectors. We review briefly existing sets of standards of mental health services and report the process of development of standards of care, each with sub-sets of performance indicators and examples. While the AIMHS standards and a companion quality assurance manual are still undergoing refinement, they offer a guide for mental health professionals to the provision of services, and a checklist to service-users of services that should be available to them at every stage of care in a mental health system.     

Trial of ketotifen in childhood asthma

An open trial of Ketotifen was conducted on 29 children suffering from asthma of varying duration. The drug was given orally in a dose of 1 mg twice a day. Children were followed up weekly for a period of 3 months. It was found beneficial (though the benefit was not statistically significant) in children having asthma of less than 2 years duration who were taking one drug regularly or were on occasional treatment. There was marginal effect in children taking salbutamol and theophylline together, but irregularly and no benefit in children taking prednisolone.     

Purification of a soluble tetrodotoxin-sensitive protein from the cytoplasmic fraction of bovine brain tissue

Highly purified protein inducing tetrodotoxin-dependent Na fluxes in liposomal membrane was obtained from the cytoplasmic fraction of the bovine brain. The protein was purified by anion-exchange chromatography on DEAE-Servacell and wheat germ agglutinin sepharose (WGA) followed by gel filtration on sepharose 4B. It is a high-molecular weight acidic glycoprotein; during denaturation under reducing conditions it forms 55 kD subunits. It is suggested that the tetrodotoxin-sensitive protein could be a soluble intracellular precursor of the voltage-dependent sodium channels.     

Peripheral circulatory changes in patients in the acute period of transmural myocardial infarct

Altogether 107 patients with transmural myocardial infarction were investigated by determination over time the volumetric blood flow rate in the forearm using a plethysmograph with mercury-rubber gages and A-V oxyhemoglobin difference. With relation to a degree of expression of acute heart failure all the patients were divided into 4 groups. Considerable volumetric peripheral blood flow rate changes were noted in the acute phase of transmural myocardial infarction. A degree of a decrease in the rate well correlated with expression of clinical signs of heart failure. Indices of A-V oxyhemoglobin difference also showed correlation with expression of acute heart failure growing with its increase. The combined determination of these indices, probably reflecting 2 tendencies (blood flow decrease and centralization), is of certain prognostic value.