Duration of the speech disfluencies of beginning stutterers

This study compared the duration of within-word disfluencies and the number of repeated units per instance of sound/syllable and whole-word repetitions of beginning stutterers to those produced by age- and sex-matched nonstuttering children. Subjects were 10 stuttering children [9 males and 1 female; mean age 4:1 (years:months); age range 3:2-5:1), and 10 nonstuttering children (9 males and 1 female; mean age 4:0; age range: 2:10-5:1). Mothers of the stuttering children reported that their children had been stuttering for 1 year or less. One 300-word conversational speech sample from each of the stuttering and nonstuttering children was analyzed for (a) mean duration of sound/syllable repetition and sound prolongation, (b) mean number of repeated units per instance of sound/syllable and whole-word repetition, and (c) various related measures of the frequency of all between- and within-word speech disfluencies. There were no significant between-group differences for either the duration of acoustically measured sound/syllable repetitions and sound prolongations or the number of repeated units per instance of sound/syllable and whole-word repetition. Unlike frequency and type of speech disfluency produced, average duration of within-word disfluencies and number of repeated units per repetition do not differentiate the disfluent speech of beginning stutterers and their nonstuttering peers. Additional analyses support findings from previous perceptual work that type and frequency of speech disfluency, not duration, are the principal characteristics listeners use in distinguishing these two talker groups.     

Fetal growth in hypertensive women]

The Authors examine the correlation between hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and fetal growth. The results of a study of 342 pregnancies, confirm a significant correlation between hypertension and fetal growth retardation. These findings, so evident in moderate and severe hypertension, have also been confirmed in cases of mild hypertension. The medical treatment also in the pregnancies with mild hypertension, and a larger utilisation of operative deliveries, determined a decrease in perinatal mortality and morbidity.     

Sustained eosinophil cationic protein release into tears after a single high-dose conjunctival allergen challenge

Background The appearance of eosinophils is a hallmark sign of the allergic late-phase response (LPR). Eosinophil cationic protein (ECP), a readily measurable product released from activated eosinophils, has so far not been evaluated in the ocular LPR. Objective Two sets of trials were performed in order to investigate changes of local and systemic eosinophil activity and their possible link with symptoms and hyper-reactivity in the allergic LPR in the eye. Methods In the first experiment, ECP was analysed in tears and serum and the clinical reaction was evaluated during a 72-h time–course after a single, high-dose allergen challenge out of season in one eye of 15 pollen-sensitized volunteers. In a second experiment, the hypothesis of an increased clinical response to an allergen challenge in an eye that had been provoked with allergen 48h previously was tested in nine sensitized individuals. Results In the first experiment, symptoms at 10 min and 2, 4, 6, 8 and 24 h significantly exceeded base line scores of the challenged eyes. Tear ECP was significantly elevated in challenged eyes compared to contralateral eyes at 6, 8 and 24 h. In addition, symptoms and ECP release correlated significantly at the 24-h evaluation. Serum ECP remained unchanged throughout the study period. In the second experiment, conjunctival hyperreactivity 48h after an allergen challenge was not confirmed. Conclusion ECP secretion occurs in the experimental ocular LPR and is in part associated with the magnitude of the clinical reaction, which suggests a truly pathogenic role of the activated eosinophil in pollen-induced allergic conjunctivitis.     

Effect of norethisterone acetate on serum lipid and lipoprotein parameters as well as on blood coagulation in female monkeys (M. fascicularis)

The effects of daily oral administration of a high dose of 10 mg norethisterone acetate (NET-Ac.)/kg/day over 14 weeks on serum lipid and lipoprotein parameters as well as on blood coagulation were investigated in female monkeys (M. fascicularis). Measurements of lipids and lipoprotein cholesterol were performed in weeks —5 and — 1 before treatment and in weeks 4, 8 and 12 after treatment. In addition, various blood coagulation and fibrinolytic parameters were determined in weeks 11–14 after treatment with NET-Ac. Furthermore, the serum levels of norethisterone (NET) were determined in order to monitor the real systemic compound exposure and revealed that C_max and AUC (0–3 h) values reached for norethisterone in this experiment in monkeys were about 25 times higher than those obtained after an oral contraceptive dose of NET-Ac. in women.

The results of lipid and lipoprotein cholesterol determinations showed decreases in serum total lipids, phospholipids, triglycerides and total cholesterol associated with similar decreases in HDL-, LDL- and VLDL-cholesterol fractions after NET-Ac.-treatment in monkeys. These effects were observed from week 4 onwards and maintained their magnitude up to week 12 after treatment. Since both HDL- and LDL-cholesterol fractions decreased, the HDL/LDL-ratio remained almost unchanged. Thus, the results obtained in this study after high-dose treatment with NET-Ac. in monkeys did not indicate any changes of lipid and lipoprotein parameters which in humans are supposed to be associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular lesions, namely a decrease in HDL- and increase in LDL-cholesterol fractions.

The results of blood coagulation and fibrinolytic parameters showed increased antithrombin-III and plasminogen levels besides minor changes in other parameters, thus indicating that NET-Ac. -treatment does not contribute to an increased risk of cardiovascular thrombotic events in the cynomolgus monkey.     

Development of an auxotrophic oral live Shigella flexneri vaccine

An oral live attenuated Shigella flexneri vaccine candidate strain was constructed by making it auxotrophic and dependent on aromatic metabolites not available in mammalian tissues. An aroD gene of Escherichia coli K12 strain NK 5131, inactivated by insertion in it of the Tn 10 transposon, was transduced using phage P1 into a virulent S. flexneri serotype Y strain (Sfl 1) isolated from a patient with bacillary dysentery. One of the transductant strains Sfl 114 was found to invade HeLa cells in vitro, to cause plaque formation in HeLa monolayers (i.e. maintain intracellular multiplication in vitro), but to be unable to cause keratoconjunctivitis in guinea-pig eyes. When the strain was fed to Macacca fascicularis monkeys it was well tolerated, excreted for 1-4 days, and found to elicit a local intestinal sIgA and serum IgA, IgM and IgG responses. Monkeys challenged with 100 ID50 dose (1 X 10(11) bacteria) of the virulent parent Sfl 1 strain were completely protected from development of diarrhoea. Coloscopy of the monkeys and the sampling of intestinal biopsies showed that the vaccine protected against the surface epithelial erosions and ulcerations seen in unimmunized monkeys. Killing of invading virulent shigellae apparently took place intracellularly in the mucosa suggesting that cellular immune mechanisms played a role in the elicited host defence. The constructed S. flexneri Sfl 114 strain has the properties of a promising shigella vaccine and will next be the subject of studies with human volunteers.     

Changing mortality patterns in Nauruans: an example of epidemiological transition.

An analysis of mortality data for the years 1982-5 was carried out for the Micronesian population (aged 15 years and over) of the central Pacific Island, Nauru. Among males, the most common causes of death were circulatory system disorders (33.3%), accidents (25.2%), and diabetes mellitus (12.1%). The majority of accidents occurred in the 15-34 year age group and involved motor vehicles. Among females, neoplasms (almost all lung and cervix) (22.4%), circulatory system disorders (20.7%), and diabetes mellitus (17.2%) were the most common causes of death. When accidents are excluded, 59.4% of deaths were in persons with diabetes. Compared with Australia, mortality rates in almost all age groups were at least five times higher for males and females for a comparable period. Nauruan life expectancy (39.5 years for men and 48.5 years for women) is one of the lowest in the world. These data confirm the high mortality associated with diabetes mellitus in Nauruans as evidenced in earlier studies. Modernization of this society through the affluence acquired by the mining of phosphate has led to serious public health problems relating to non-communicable diseases so that the mortality trends now mirror those of developed societies.