The Course of Eating Disorders Involving Bingeing and Purging Among Adolescent Girls: Prevalence,Stability, and Transitions

Purpose

To quantify eating disorder (ED) stability and diagnostic transition among a community-based sample of adolescents and young adult females in the United States.

Turboprop: improved PROPELLER imaging.

A variant of periodically rotated overlapping parallel lines with enhanced reconstruction (PROPELLER) MRI, called turboprop, is introduced. This method employs an oscillating readout gradient during each spin echo of the echo train to collect more lines of data per echo train, which reduces the minimum scan time, motion-related artifact, and specific absorption rate (SAR) while increasing sampling efficiency. It can be applied to conventional fast spin-echo (FSE) imaging; however, this article emphasizes its application in diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI). The method is described and compared with conventional PROPELLER imaging, and clinical images collected with this PROPELLER variant are shown.     

Ferrocene-containing cationic lipids for the delivery of DNA: oxidation state determines transfection activity.

The ability of two redox-active, ferrocene-containing cationic lipids [11-(ferrocenylundecyl)trimethylammonium bromide (FTMA) and bis(11-ferrocenylundecyl)dimethylammonium bromide (BFDMA)] to transfect mammalian cells was investigated. This study sought to determine the range of conditions over which these lipids were capable of transfecting cells and whether the oxidation state of the ferrocenyl groups in these materials could be used to influence the extent of transfection. Experiments conducted in the COS-7 cell line demonstrated that reduced and oxidized FTMA were substantially cytotoxic and did not transfect cells. Subsequent experiments conducted using BFDMA and reporter plasmids encoding enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) and firefly luciferase demonstrated that BFDMA was able to transfect cells. However, the extent of transfection depended significantly upon both the concentration of BFDMA and the oxidation state of the lipid. Quantitative characterization of cytotoxicity and gene expression demonstrated that a window of concentration existed over which reduced BFDMA was non-cytotoxic and yielded high levels of transfection, but over which electrochemically oxidized BFDMA yielded very low (background) levels of transfection. Characterization of lipoplexes using dynamic light scattering demonstrated that reduced and oxidized BFDMA formed small aggregates (ca. 90 to 250nm) at concentrations of lipid ranging from 2 to 10 microM. Taken together, these results demonstrate that the oxidation state of BFDMA, which can be controlled electrochemically, can be used to control the extent of cell transfection. These results could form the basis of transfection procedures that exploit the redox behavior of ferrocene-containing lipids to achieve active spatial and temporal control over transfection using electrochemical methods.     

Acute necrotizing gastritis.

A 17-year-old man presented with signs of peritonitis. Laparotomy revealed gangrene of the stomach without obvious cause. The patient underwent total gastrectomy with esophago-jejunal anastomosis with formation of jejunal pouch. Bacterial culture of the peritoneal fluid grew Strept. pyogenes and E. coli. The patient was discharged on day 21 after a stormy postoperative course.     

Etanercept decreases tumor necrosis factor-α activity in chronic wound fluid

High levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), a pro-inflammatory cytokine, are present in the wound fluid of chronic nonhealing wounds. This leads to increased inflammation, cytokine expression, and ultimately results in impaired wound healing and tissue destruction. Etanercept is a recombinant fusion protein that consists of the soluble TNF receptor (p75) linked to the Fc portion of human IgG1. It is an effective inhibitor of TNF-alpha and has been shown to provide rapid and sustained improvement in rheumatoid arthritis by acting as a soluble receptor binding TNF-alpha and preventing its proinflammatory activities. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine whether Etanercept could inhibit TNF-alpha activity in chronic wound fluid. Wound fluid was collected from the venous leg ulcers of 16 different patients. The effect of Etanercept on TNF-alpha activity was evaluated using both a TNF-alpha bioassay and an enzyme-linked immunoassay. Etanercept was found to reduce the cytotoxic effect of chronic wound fluid on L929 fibroblasts by approximately 30% and neutralized TNF-alpha binding in the enzyme-linked immunoassay by up to 80%. Direct application of Etanercept to chronic wounds may therefore reduce the inflammatory activity of TNF-alpha, which could reduce the chronicity of venous leg ulcers and thus aid in the healing of these wounds.     

Antiproliferative, cytotoxic and apoptogenic activity of Indian toad (Bufo melanostictus, Schneider) skin extract on U937 and K562 cells.

The antiproliferative, cytotoxic and apoptogenic activities of Bufo melanostictus (Indian common toad) skin extract (TSE) on U937 and K562 leukemic cell line has been investigated. TSE significantly (P<0.001) reduced the time-dependent cell proliferation and decreased MTT values in U937 and K562 cells. TSE (IC50 doses) suppressed the proliferating cell nuclear antigen expression in both the cells. It was demonstrated that, TSE (IC50 doses) primarily arrested the U937 and K562 cells at G1 phase of the cell cycle. Confocal microscopy showed the altered fragmented nuclei and apoptotic bodies formation in TSE (IC50 doses) treated U937 and K562 cells. Membrane blebbing, cell surface shrinkage and perforation were observed through scanning electron microscope. TSE-induced DNA fragmentation in U937 and K562 cells was reflected in single-cell gel electrophoresis. TSE significantly (P<0.001) increase the length-width ratio of DNA mass as compared to control in comet assay. The flow cytometric analysis of annexin-V binding to the cancer cells further supported the apoptotogenic activity of TSE. The effect of TSE on normal human peripheral blood mononuclear cells viability and cytotoxicity was studied in culture and found to be less cytotoxic than on the U937 and K562 cells. The findings from the present study suggested that TSE might possess potent antineoplastic agent having antiproliferative, cytotoxic and apoptogenic activity against U937 and K562 myeloid leukemic cells.     

Rapid adenosine release in the nucleus tractus solitarii during defence response in rats: real-time measurement in vivo

We have measured the release of adenosine and inosine from the dorsal surface of the brainstem and from within the nucleus tractus solitarii (NTS) during the defence response evoked by hypothalamic stimulation in the anaesthetised rat. At the surface of the brainstem, only release of inosine was detected on hypothalamic defence area stimulation. This inosine signal was greatly reduced by addition of the ecto-5'-nucleotidase inhibitor α,β-methylene ADP (200 μM), suggesting that the inosine arose from adenosine that was produced in the extracellular space by the prior release of ATP. By placing a microelectrode biosensor into the NTS under stereotaxic control we have recorded release of adenosine within this nucleus. By contrast to the brainstem surface, a fast increase in adenosine, accompanied only by a much smaller change in inosine levels, was seen following stimulation of the hypothalamic defence area. The release of adenosine following hypothalamic stimulation was mainly confined to a narrow region of the NTS some 500 μm in length around the level of the obex. Interestingly the release of adenosine was depletable: when the defence reaction was evoked at short time intervals, much less adenosine was released on the second stimulus. Our novel techniques have given unprecedented real-time measurement and localisation of adenosine release in vivo and demonstrate that adenosine is released at the right time and in sufficient quantities to contribute to the cardiovascular components of the defence reaction.     

Medical and financial implications of discontinuing a statewide free insulin program involving 3,720 people

In 1981 a statewide program supplying free insulin to 3,720 patients of state health clinics was discontinued. We attempted to assess whether this action had an adverse effect medically and financially on those concerned. A computer randomized sample of 351 patients (9%) was studied by personal interview and questionnaire. Information obtained focused on certain events that occurred 18 months before and after the program ceased. Measurements used to determine medical impact were number of hospitalizations, emergency room and physician visits, changes in weight and glucose levels, and episodes of ketoacidosis. Financial impact was measured by cost of hospitalization and physician visits. Our results revealed no significant changes in any of the medical parameters studied except for fasting serum glucose levels above 300 mg/dl, which occurred less frequently after the free insulin program was discontinued. There were fewer hospitalizations, more visits to physicians, and no change in number of emergency room visits after discontinuance of the free program. The overall cost saving was estimated to be +883,558 for the 18-month study period, in addition to the +550,000 the plan had been costing the state.