Economic advantage of a community-based malaria management program in the Brazilian Amazon.

In the Brazilian Amazon, travel costs to centralized malaria clinics for diagnosis and treatment can approach 20% of one's monthly salary. A program was established in a mining town for community-based dipstick test diagnosis and treatment. An economic analysis was performed that compared expected costs under the old program to the observed costs of the new one. Data were obtained through interviews, government reports, clinic and hospital records, and community records. There was a 53% reduction (by 1,219 visits) of clinic visits but a doubling of malaria hospitalization admissions (to 191). The new program had an overall annual savings of $60,900 ($11.8K-$160K, sensitivity limits), a 77% reduction of the old program's cost. The benefit-to-cost ratio was 9:1, where benefits were patients' savings from travel and lost wages and costs were government drug, diagnostic, training, and monitoring expenses. A community-based program incorporating dipstick tests for malaria management can have economic advantages.     

三种食用油对小鼠脂质过氧化的影响及其意义

选用４月～６月龄的小鼠，分别饲以多不饱和脂肪酸含量下同的猪油，花生油及豆油，观察其对机体脂质过氧化的影响，结果发现，血浆及肝中脂质过氧化产物丙二醛仿猪油低于花生油组及豆油组，肝中超氧化物歧化酶含量前者高于后二者，有显著性关系，花生油组与豆油可增强机体脂质过氧化，而猪油则相反，故而多种食用油合理塔配应用有利于健康。     

Clinical observation on treatment of hyperthyoidism with integrated chinese medicine

Clinical and laboratory criteria were observed in 82 patients of hyperthyroidism treated with integrated Chinese medicine. Results showed that patients were recovered more rapid than the control group which were treated with Western medicine only. The serum free triiodothyronine, free tyroxin, total thyroxin, total triiodothyronine and reverse antitriiodothyronine of patients all went up beyond the normal range before treatment. After treatment, the number of patients with these abnormal criteria normalized in integrated therapy group was much greater than that in the control group.     

Subregional topography of capillaries in the dorsal vagal complex of rats: I. Morphometric properties

Cytoarchitectonic and neurochemical studies of the dorsal vagal complex in the caudal medulla oblongata of rats indicate the existence of distinct anatomical and functional compartments within its components. We applied morphometric methods to discern whether capillary networks differed quantitatively between subregions and zones of area postrema, nucleus tractus solitarii (NTS), and dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus nerve (DMN) of rats. Analysis of 11 subdivisions of area postrema identified both "true" (range in luminal diameter of 3-7.5 microns) and sinusoidal (luminal diameter greater than 7.5 microns) capillaries that, together, made the capillary density for most of area postrema 75% greater than that found in NTS and DMN (526/mm2 vs about 300/mm2). The rank order of true capillary density in area postrema along its rostracaudal axis was caudal greater than central greater than rostral, whereas the reverse order was true for sinusoidal capillaries. Dorsal (periventricular) and medial zones of area postrema throughout its rostrocaudal axis tended to have higher values for capillary density, volume, surface area, luminal diameter, and pericapillary space volume than lateral or ventral zones bordering NTS. Within 200 microns of obex, the ventral zone of rostral area postrema was distinct, having a relatively sparse capillary density that may indicate morphological specializations limiting blood-tissue communication in this subregion. There were no quantitative differences in capillary dimensions between DMN and three subnuclei of NTS. These studies add to extant evidence that the dorsal vagal complex is differentiated for specific functions. Area postrema, especially, has topographical diversity in its capillary organization that likely corresponds to complex roles in neuroendocrine, autonomic, and chemosensory mechanisms.     

A theoretical examination of the effects of gut wall metabolism,hepatic elimination,and enterohepatic recycling on estimates of bioavailability and of hepatic blood flow

A model including two eliminating compartments (the liver and the gastrointestinal mucosa) and a noneliminating compartment (the blood or central compartment) was developed to predict the effects of hepatic elimination, gastrointestinal mucosal metabolism, and the occurrence of enterohepatic recycling of a drug and its metabolites on the area under the blood concentrationtime curve (AUC). Several limiting cases where complete absorption or complete or nonexistent enterohepatic recycling of a drug and its metabolite occurred were only considered. Under linear kinetic conditions, the occurrence of hepatic elimination and enterohepatic recycling of a drug and its metabolite in the absence of intestinal mucosal metabolism should affect only the area under the curve and not the availability for both the intraperitoneal and the oral dose. In the presence of intestinal mucosal metabolism, the area under the curve should change with different routes of administration; a larger area, hence a higher availability, should occur after intraperitoneal administration than after oral administration of the drug. For a drug which is eliminated solely by the liver, apparent hepatic flow can be estimated by the dose divided by the difference in the area under the curve for an intravenous dose and the area under the curve for the same intraperitoneal or oral dose. In the absence of gastrointestinal mucosal metabolism, the presence of enterohepatic recycling of a drug and its metabolite should not affect the estimation of apparent hepatic blood flow. However, when gastrointestinal mucosal metabolism is present, there should be an overestimation of hepatic flow when AUC_i.p. and AUC_i.v. are used and a slight underestimation of hepatic flow when AUC_i.v. and AUC_p.o. are used.     

昆虫种群生命系统研究的状态方程

应用状态空间法研究系统的控制,不仅有利于把系统划分为若干组分或子系统对各种因子分别进行动态描述,同时更好地解决多输入和多输出的研究技术,因而有可能成为种群生命系统控制研究的重要手段。本文拟通过网络模型着重讨论适应于昆虫种群研究的状态空间方程的建立问题。     

Acute stress increases permeability of the blood-brain-barrier through activation of brain mast cells

Disruption of the blood-brain-barrier (BBB) is important in the pathophysiology of various inflammatory conditions of the central nervous system (CNS), such as multiple sclerosis (MS), in which breakdown of the BBB precedes any clinical or pathological findings. There is some evidence that relapsing-remitting MS attacks may be correlated with certain types of acute stressful episodes. Stress typically activates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis through the release of corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH), leading to production of glucocorticoids that down regulate immune responses. However, acute stress also has pro-inflammatory effects that appear to be mediated through activation of mast cells. Here we show that acute stress by immobilization increased permeability of rat BBB to intravenous 99Technetium gluceptate (99Tc). This effect was statistically significant in the diencephalon and the cerebellum, while it was absent in the cerebral cortex where there are not mast cells. Immobilization stress also induced activation of mast cells in diencephalon, the site where most mast cells are found in the rat brain. Both BBB permeability and mast cell activation were inhibited by the 'mast cell stabilizer' disodium cromoglycate (cromolyn). These results expand the pathophysiology of mast cells and implicate them in CNS disorders, that may possibly be induced or exacerbated by stress.