Relationship between carbohydrate tolerance,insulin secretion,and insulin sensitivity of isolated fat cells from obese protodiabetics

Summary Six normal weight subjects without any heredity of diabetes (group 1), 3 obese subjects with normal (group 2) and 9 with pathological carbohydrate tolerance (group 3) were characterized by a 2-h glucose infusion test. Adipose tissue fragments were obtained from the abdominal wall by surgical biopsy under intracutaneous anesthesia. Adipocytes were isolated by collagenase digestion and incubated in buffer containing [1-¹⁴C] glucose and different concentrations of insulin. The metabolic effect of insulin was expressed as percent increase above control¹⁴CO₂ production. Maximal CO₂ raised to 207±25% and 154±9% in groups 1 and 2, respectively. These values were significantly higher than in obese subjects displaying a pathological carbohydrate tolerance (group 3; 119±6%). A negative correlation was found between blood glucose levels and biological activity of insulin on adipocytes. The results suggest that insulin sensitivity of target tissue seems to play an important role in the development of carbohydrate intolerance. These investigations have been carried out within the medical research project ‘Diabetes mellitus and disturbances of lipid metabolism’, Ministry of Health, GDR.     

In Vitro Induction of Lymphokine-Activated Killer (Lak) Activity in Patients with Neuroblastoma

Therapy of disseminated neuroblastoma remains an unsolved problem in pediatric oncology. Therefore, new therapeutic approaches have to be developed for this malignancy. In this paper, we investigated the possibility of the in vitro generation and expansion of lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cells in patients with disseminated neuroblastoma. Although the patients had very low Natural Killer (NK) activity, it was possible to induce LAK activity in peripheral mononuclear lymphocytes (PMNC) by incubation with Interleukin-2 (IL-2). Moreover, the PMNCs could be expanded up to 50-fold in the presence of Interleukin-2 while maintaining or even increasing their LAK activity. The target cells were neuroblastoma cell lines and, in one case, autologous neuroblastoma cells. Additionally, it was possible to induce LAK cell activity against autologous neuroblastoma cells in bone marrow-derived mononuclear cells.     

Delirium metabolicum and rigid involutional depression in older age]

A melancholic-schizophrenic mixed psychosis is described in a 64-year-old man. It was diagnosed as a 'rigid (or catatonic) involutional depression' (Medow, 1922), showing besides hypochondriacal, nihilistic and micromanic delusions, a transient delusional syndrome of 'Delirium metabolicum' (Mendel, 1902), with zo-anthropy. An attempt was made to avoid the differential diagnostic classification of that clinical picture into involutional melancholia (296.0) and paranoid psychosis of involutional age (197.1) which, as in so many psychoses of the older age groups, is quite inadequate. Thus the psychopathological phenomena of the psychosis, which after all are the only reliable data, were attributed on the one hand to the senile deterioration and slight but demonstrable arteriosclerosis of the brain, and on the other hand, to the conspicuous premorbid characteristics which correspond to an anankastic psychopathy with a depressive-inadequate basic mood. It was considered as likely that the Delirium metabolicum represented an exogenous (organic) psychotic syndrome, and that the precipitation of the psychosis as well as its development into an enfeebled endstate was due to an organic brain lesion, while the catatoniformpsychomotor phenomena and the melancholic stupor were crystalisations of traits in the premorbid personality.     

The changing prevalence of drug-resistant Escherichia coli clonal groups in a community: evidence for community outbreaks of urinary tract infections

A multidrug-resistant clonal group (CgA) of Escherichia coli was shown to cause half of all trimethoprim-sulphamethoxazole (TMP-SMZ)-resistant urinary tract infections (UTIs) in a college community between October 1999 and January 2000. This second study was conducted to determine the fate of CgA. Urine E. coli isolates from women with UTI, collected between October 2000 and January 2001, were tested for antibiotic susceptibility, O serogroup, ERIC2 PCR and DNA macrorestriction patterns using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. The proportion of UTIs caused by CgA declined by 38% (P<0.001) but the prevalence of resistance to TMP-SMZ did not change. Six additional clonal groups were identified and these were responsible for 32% of TMP-SMZ-resistant UTIs. The temporal decline in the proportion of UTIs caused by CgA provides evidence that CgA caused a community outbreak of UTI. The fluctuation and occurrence of other E. coli clonal groups in this community suggest that a proportion of community-acquired UTIs may be caused by E. coli disseminated from one or more point sources.     

Das trockene Auge

The etiology of dysfunctional tear syndrome ("dry eye") is multifactorial and complex. Recent evidence suggests an important role of androgens in regulating tear film secretion onto the ocular surface. In addition, inflammatory processes of the ocular surface seem to be the common final pathway of all chronic forms of dry eye. Novel concepts of pathogenesis and state-of-the-art diagnostic tools are discussed. In vivo confocal microscopy allows quantification of ocular surface inflammatory cells. This is of increasing importance for evaluation of anti-inflammatory treatments in dry eye patients.     

Blood flow in intestinal absorption models

Up to the present, ten models have been proposed or applied to analyze the relationship between blood flow and intestinal absorption. The conceptions of these models and their basic and final equations are described. In addition, their relationship to the first-order rate constants used in the models not explicitly including the blood flow rate is elucidated. Usually a curvilinear (concave curvature) relationship between the blood flow rate and the absorption rate is predicted by the models. This similarity of the curves is the reason that in many cases several models are compatible with the experimental data.