Motor assessment of cocaine/polydrug exposed infants at age 4 months.

Fifty nondrug-exposed infants and 74 cocaine/polydrug-exposed infants were evaluated on the Movement Assessment of Infants (MAI). The test provides an assessment of risk for motor dysfunction at age 4 months. There was a significant difference in total risk scores between the two groups of infants with cocaine-exposed infants having higher total risk scores (p less than .0001). Categorical risk scores revealed significant differences between the infants in muscle tone, primitive reflexes, and volitional movement with cocaine-exposed infants scoring more poorly in each category (p less than .0001). The groups scored differently on 11 of the 49 MAI items in those categories. Placement of infants within previously established ranges of risk scores (0-7 = no risk; 8-13 questionable risk; greater than 13 = high risk) revealed a significant difference in distribution between the two groups (p less than .0001). Earlier studies of the effects of intrauterine drug exposure have not revealed significant differences in motor development. The MAI demonstrated differential assessments of risk for motor dysfunction between cocaine-exposed and nondrug-exposed infants.     

Reliability and predictive value of salivary theophylline levels

The reliability and accuracy of salivary theophylline levels as a predictor of serum theophylline levels was investigated in 28 hospitalized chronic asthmatics, free of other chronic diseases, on continuous aminophylline infusion for greater than 24 hours. Twenty paired blood and saliva theophylline levels from 12 patients (group 1) were used to develop a formula for predicting serum theophylline levels from salivary levels. Twenty-one paired blood and saliva theophylline levels from 16 patients (group 2) were used to test the formula obtained. The formula predicted the serum theophylline concentration within 1.51 microgram/mL in 76% of the samples and within 1.88 microgram/mL in 100% of the samples. There was an excellent correlation between the predicted and actual serum theophylline concentrations, r = .93; thus under controlled conditions of steady-state pharmacokinetics in patients free of other diseases, salivary theophylline levels can be used to accurately predict serum levels.     

Should balloon angioplasty and stents have any role in operative intervention for lower extremity ischemia?

p < 0.01). Cumulative combined primary patency at 1 year by life-table methods was 82 ± 10% in the staged group and 83 ± 9% in the simultaneous group (p= 0.79). Mean follow-up was 13 ± 6 months. There is a role for balloon angioplasty and stent placement in operative revascularization of ischemic limbs in selected patients: patency was similar to that produced with the staged approach while the length of stay was shorter. Intraoperative balloon angioplasty is safe and effective and stents permit a measure of control in assuring an optimal intraoperative postangioplasty result.     

Novel antibody coating of a magnetizable solid phase for use in enzyme immunoassays.

Novel kinds of magnetizable particles have been prepared using the interaction between the complexing groups of phosphonic acid and polyvalent metal ions on the surface of Fe3O4 particles. After modification of monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies by the bifunctional chelating agent 2-(4-diazophenyl)-1-hydroxyethane-1,1-bisphosphonic acid, antibodies were immobilized at a ratio of 5-10 mg antibody molecules per ml Fe3O4 particles without loss of immunological reactivity. Very sensitive and fast immunoenzymometric assays for the quantitative determination of human interferon-alpha 1 and mouse immunoglobulins were developed using such particles. The advantages of the method include immobilization of proteins on magnetizable carriers without chemical modification of the carrier and the short assay time compared to conventional immunoenzymometric assays.     

Diffuse intermyocardiocytic fibrosis in uraemic patients

At post-mortem we examined heart tissue of (i) 31 patients with uraemia not on dialysis, (ii) 42 patients on haemodialysis for less than 6 months, (iii) 60 patients on haemodialysis for more than 6 months, (iv) 16 patients after renal transplantation, and (v) 11 patients on CAPD. Patients with stenosing coronary lesions were excluded. Diffuse non-coronary intermyocardiocytic fibrosis, assessed by a score system in trichrome-stained sections, was found in 91% of chronically uraemic patients, but not in non-hypertensive, non-diabetic controls. The lesion was present even in non-dialysed uraemic patients; in dialysed patients its severity was related to the duration of dialysis; it was demonstrable even years after renal transplantation. On electron-microscopy, collagen fibres were seen, while beta 2-M amyloid was consistently absent. Logistic regression analysis showed that uraemia was a determinant of intermyocardiocytic fibrosis independent of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, anaemia, heart weight, and presence or absence of dialysis procedure.