Respiratory tract infections due to different rhinovirus serotypes and the influence of maternal antibodies on the clinical expression of the disease in infants.

Rhinoviruses were isolated from nasopharyngeal secretions of 49 children hospitalized because of severe respiratory tract infection. The isolates were typed using 90 type-specific antisera. No obvious relation between certain serotypes and the severity of illness was found. Serum samples were drawn from all children simultaneously with the nasopharyngeal secretions and screened for the presence of type-specific neutralizing antibodies. Children aged 1 week to 6 months had higher neutralizing antibody titers and revealed a lower degree of morbidity than older children. The decline of neutralizing serum antibodies with increasing age was correlated with a higher incidence of severe disease in those aged 7-12 months. Nevertheless, also in this age group children with mild clinical courses of disease were observed despite a low concentration or an absence of neutralizing serum antibodies. This indicates that not only neutralizing serum antibodies, but other factors also influence the clinical expression of RHV-induced disease.     

Histologic analysis of tissue response to bucrylate-pantopaque mixture

A toxicologic-pathologic study of isobutyl-2-cyanoacrylate (Bucrylate) was carried out first in dogs and then in humans whose arteriovenous malformations were infused with this embolic agent. The canine specimens obtained at 7, 18, 28, and 147 days after embolization showed the development of a mild histiocytic giant cell reaction, which evolved to end-state sclerotic arteritis. The response was confined to the vessels and did not involve contiguous parenchymal tissues. Ten human specimens, obtained from 1 hr to 7 years after treatment, showed a similar bland reaction with no evidence of suppuration or premalignant changes.     

Health lifestyles and self-direction in employment among American men: A test of the spillover effect

This paper examines whether American males with a high degree of control over their work situation pursue healthy lifestyles and rate their physical health more positively than those who score low on occupational self-direction. That is, are persons who control their work more likely to also try to control their health through living in a particularly healthy manner? We found that there was no support for a spillover effect from high occupational self-direction to enhanced participation in health lifestyles or more positive self-rated health. The findings suggest health lifestyles have spread throughout occupational work groups in the U.S. and support research that maintains such lifestyles have spread across social strata in America.     

Autophagic degradation of protein generates a pool of ferric iron required for the killing of cultured hepatocytes by an oxidative stress

Pretreatment of cultured hepatocytes with the ferric iron chelator deferoxamine prevents the killing of the cells by tert-butyl hydroperoxide (TBHP). Incubation of the deferoxamine-pretreated hepatocytes in a serum-free medium containing only 0.25 nM iron restored the sensitivity of the cells to TBHP within 4 to 6 hr. An amino acid-free medium accelerated the restoration of sensitivity in parallel with an enhanced rate of degradation of 14C-prelabeled protein. By contrast, inhibitors of the autophagic degradation of protein, including chymostatin, 3-methyladenine, benzyl alcohol, colchicine, oligomycin, and methylamine, inhibited the restoration of sensitivity of deferoxamine-treated hepatocytes to TBHP in parallel with their inhibition of protein degradation. With chymostatin, 3-methyladenine, benzyl alcohol, and colchicine, there was a parallel dose dependency of both the inhibition of protein turnover and the inhibition of the restoration of sensitivity to TBHP. Ascorbic acid, known to specifically retard the autophagic degradation of ferritin, inhibited the restoration of sensitivity to TBHP without effect on the general rate of protein turnover. None of the agents studied had any protective effect on the toxicity of TBHP for hepatocytes that were not pretreated with deferoxamine. These data indicate that the autophagic degradation of protein generates a pool of ferric iron required for the killing of cultured hepatocytes by TBHP.     

Inappropriate Vancomycin Prescribing Based on Criteria from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Increasing reports of vancomycin resistance have raised concerns about the future effectiveness of this drug in treatment of critically ill patients with gram-positive infections. Due to these concerns the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently published criteria that delineate the prudent use of vancomycin. Using these criteria, we attempted to determine the appropriateness of vancomycin prescribing patterns at our institution. A retrospective chart review was performed for 135 hospitalized patients treated between May 1993 and April 1994. Inappropriate empiric vancomycin use was documented in 81 (60%) of these patients. When culture results were available, 28 (21%) patients inappropriately received the drug. Results of this study are similar to those of other studies of vancomycin use in hospitals based on non-CDC criteria. If CDC criteria are to have a positive impact on physicians' vancomycin prescribing patterns, significant educational efforts will be required.     

Current concepts on monoclonal gammopathies

This is a review of the monoclonal gammopathies, including a discussion of cause. The role of T lymphocytes and B lymphocytes is presented. The recognition of a monoclonal protein in the serum and urine is presented in detail.
The frequency of benign and malignant monoclonal gammopathies is provided. A long-term follow-up of 241 patients with apparently benign monoclonal gammopathy is examined closely. In this series, multiple myeloma, macroglobulinaemia, amyloidosis, or related disorders developed in 22% of the 241 patients with long-term disease. The median duration from the recognition of the monoclonal protein until the development of serious disease was approximately eight to ten years.
The differentiation of benign from malignant monoclonal gammopathics is examinad in detail. The point is made that paticnu must be folld indefinitely because malignancy may develop more than 20 years later. The association of monoclonal gammopathies with other apparently unrelated diseases discussed. (Aust NZ J Med 1992; 22: 291–302.)     

Alloplastic ligament replacement. A study of the biological fixation of 5 non-resorbable materials

The long-term stability of alloplastic ligament prostheses depends on various parameters, on including the quality of the biologic fixation in the bone tissue. Biomechanical and histological tests were therefore performed to examine the stability obtained with five different alloplastic and non-resorbable ligament substitute materials following stress-free implantation into the distal femur and proximal tibia of Wistar rats. The materials were: a filament of the PTFE ligament prosthesis, PTFE suture material (Goretex), polyethylene terephthalate (Mersilene), polyethylene (Braun-Dexon) and polybutylene terephthalate (Miralene). The materials used were all of USP-1 quality. Extraction trials of the implants 32 weeks later did not show any differences between the PTFE materials, such as polyethylene and polyethylene terephthalate, whereas a significantly lower value was found for polybutylene terephthalate. The fixation involved connective tissue exclusively with all the materials tested except for PTFE. PTFE not only induced tight and direct bony contact externally, within the material itself extensive formation of new bone was also found. PTFE was found to be the most histocompatible material, while polyethylene terephthalate led to the most pronounced foreign-body-type reactions.