The turnover of blood glucose and plasma free fatty acids in the rat after acute carbon disulphide intoxication

The turnover of plasma free fatty acids and blood glucose has been measured in starved rats exposed to inhalation of carbon disulphide (2 mg/l) for 15 hr overnight. Measurements were made following single intravenous injection of [U-¹⁴C]palmitic acid or of [5-³H]glucose and [U-¹⁴C]glucose in groups of exposed and control rats. CS₂ intoxication leads to a small but significant decrease in the rate of utilization of plasma free fatty acids and it is suggested that decreased availability of plasma free fatty acids leads to the increased catabolism of amino acids and the relatively large increase in urea production which is seen in starved CS₂-treated rats. Increased urea production is not associated with an increase in the absolute rate of production and utilization of blood glucose as measured using [5-³H]glucose. There is an increase in the fractional turnover of blood glucose, but this is accompanied by a small hypoglycaemia in starved CS₂-treated rats. The fraction of glucose carbon which is recycled is unchanged in treated rats. A comparison has been made between fed and 24 hr-starved rats in their response to exposure to CS₂ (2 mg/l) for 4 hr. The results indicate that in contrast to starved rats, plasma free fatty acid utilization increases when fed rats are exposed to CS₂ and there is no increase in urea production. Inter-relationships between these effects are discussed.     

Carcinoma of the duodenum: its preoperative diagnosis.

Carcinoma of the duodenum, although uncommon, can be diagnosed by direct visualization, photography of the tumour and biopsy by the fibre-duodenoscope. The duodenoscopic examination may not only distinguish carcinoma of the duodenum from pancreatic carcinoma, ampullary carcinoma and secondary tumour from an adjacent organ but will also enable a correct diagnosis to be made early in the course of the disease. It is therefore suggested that duodenoscopy and biopsy will increase the resectability and 5-year survival rate.     

A SKIN-GRAFT ENHANCING ANTISERUM WHICH RECOGNIZES TWO NEW B-CELL ALLOANTIGENS DETERMINED BY THE MAJOR HISTO-COMPATIBILITY LOCUS OF THE MOUSE

A mouse alloantiserum, raised by immunizing B10.D2/n mice with B10.M spleen, has been found to retain cytotoxic activity against a proportion of lymph node cells even after exhaustive absorption with B10.M red blood cells. Titration and absorption with a number of strains showed that the absorbed serum retained antibodies against two new specificities. The absorbed serum gave significant enhancement of B10.M skin grafts on B10.D2 and reacted mainly with B cells.     

A comparison of intent-to-treat and per-protocol results in antibiotic non-inferiority trials

While the intent-to-treat (ITT) analysis is widely accepted for superiority trials, there remains debate about its role in non-inferiority trials. It is often said that the ITT tends to be anti-conservative in the demonstration of non-inferiority. This concern has led to some reliance on per-protocol (PP) analyses that exclude patients on the basis of post-baseline events, despite the inherent bias of such analyses. We compare ITT and PP results from antibiotic trials presented to the public at the FDA's Anti-infective Drug Advisory Committee from 1999 to 2003. While the number of available trials is too small to produce clear conclusions, these data did not support the assumption that the ITT would lead to smaller treatment difference than the PP, in the setting of antibiotic trials. Possible explanations are discussed.     

Associations among risk factors, individual resources, and indices of school-related asthma morbidity in urban, school-aged children: a pilot study

This paper presents a conceptual model including examples of risk and resource factors associated with indices of school-related asthma morbidity (eg, missed sleep, participation in activities, school absences) in a group of urban, school-aged children with asthma from ethnic minority backgrounds. Specifically, the current longitudinal study examines relations between a contextual risk factor (ie, family life stressors), an asthma-related risk factor (ie, asthma symptoms), individual resources (ie, attention, children's problem-solving beliefs, and self-esteem), and aspects of asthma morbidity that have been shown to have an impact on children's academic performance. Participants of the study included 31 mother-child dyads from low-income, inner-city neighborhoods. Results of hierarchical regression analyses revealed that after controlling for risk factors (ie, asthma symptoms and family life stressors) at baseline, children's individual characteristics (ie, children's problem-solving beliefs and self-esteem) functioned as resource factors for some indices of asthma-related functioning (school absences, participation in activities, and missed sleep) at follow-up (1 year later). Results suggest that contextual and individual risk and resource factors should be further explored in studies including larger samples of urban children with asthma in order to help guide the development of preventive interventions in school-based and health care settings.     

Direct mapping of β-adrenergic receptors in the rat central nervous system by a novel fluorescent β-blocker

dl-N-(2-Hydroxy-3-napthyloxypropyl)-N′-dansylethylenediamine, dansyl analogue of propranolol (DAPN) is a novel fluorescent β-adrenergic antagonist with high affinity to β-receptors. The distribution pattern of DAPN fluorescence was studied in the rat central nervous system subsequent to its intravenous administration to living rats. DAPN distinctly labels specific regions and cells in the central nervous system (CNS). Highly dense DAPN fluorescence was observed in the pyramidal cell layer of the hippocampus, the granule cell layerof the dentate gyrus, the basal layers of the piriform cortex and the neocortex, the cerebellar Purkinje cell layer, and the spinal α-motoneurons. Pretreatment of control rats withdl- andl-propranolol markedly decreased the intensity and density of DAPN fluoresence in the tissue sections, whereas prior administration ofd-propranolol had almost no effect. Pretreatment with large doses of reserpine did not alter the pattern of DAPN fluorescence. These findings were identical to those observed with another fluorescent β-blocker, 9-aminoacridino-propranolol (9-AAP). Our data suggest that fluorescent β-adrenergic antagonists may be used in vivo for the direct probing of the β-receptors within the mammalian CNS.     

Identification of hippocampus-related candidate genes for Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a complex multifactorial disease in which many genetic and environmental factors are involved. We performed an association study using 376 AD patients and 376 control subjects. We studied 35 single nucleotide polymorphisms in 35 genes that were significantly downregulated or upregulated only in the AD hippocampus compared with control and found that 9 single nucleotide polymorphisms were associated with AD. Our data indicated that single nucleotide polymorphisms could highly reflect differences in gene expression. Furthermore, an intronic polymorphism (+9943T/C) in POU2F1 was most significantly associated with AD (p = 0.0007). Our results suggest that POU2F1 is a candidate gene for AD.     

Smoking cessation a byproduct of EEG telemetry monitoring

Smoking is a common problem in epilepsy patients. The inpatient video-EEG monitoring (VEEG) unit provides a unique and conducive environment for epilepsy patients to participate actively in a smoking-cessation program. The restrictions and confinement to the telemetry bed impose a forced abstinence from smoking. It has been suggested that patients who are hospitalized may be more receptive to smoking-cessation advice. We report two patients who were successfully able to quit smoking after admission for VEEG.