Effects of aging on hepatic and pulmonary glutathione S-transferase activities in male and female Fischer 344 rats

The effects of aging on cytosolic glutathione S-transferase activities were evaluated with liver and lung cytosol from male and female Fischer 344 rats 3, 12, and 24 months of age. Age-related changes were tissue-, sex-, and substrate-specific. With liver and lung cytosol from both males and females, rates of metabolism of 1,2-epoxy-3-(p-nitrophenoxy)propane and p-nitrobenzyl chloride were lower in the old group than in the young group; however, patterns of decrease differed with tissue and sex. With 1,2-dichloro-4-nitrobenzene, metabolism was affected by aging only in liver and lung cytosol from males. Finally, with 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene, metabolic rates were altered during aging only with liver cytosol from females. However, the apparent Km was higher with liver cytosol from old males; those values from lung cytosol of males and liver or lung cytosol from females were unchanged. These data indicate that changes in the cytosolic glutathione S-transferase isozymes occurred during aging.     

Drinking and creativity: Objective and subjective effects

A literature characterized by considerable speculation but a paucity of empirical studies prompted this experiment on the relation between drinking and creativity. After being queried about how they believed alcohol would affect their creative performance, 40 male undergraduate social drinkers were assigned to one of four treatments in a balanced placebo design. Those actually receiving alcohol consumed a mixture containing .6 g of ethanol per kg of body weight. All subjects then completed the entire Figural portion and the Unusual Uses subtest of the Verbal portion of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking. Posttesting explored subjects' own evaluations of their creative products and the kinds of attributions they made about factors contributing to the outcomes. Results showed minimal effects of beverage manipulations on measured creativity even when a priori belief and concurrent mood scores were covaried. However, those individuals who thought they had received alcohol gave significantly more positive evaluations of their creative performances than did subjects who believed they were in the non-alcohol treatments. Subjects did not attribute changes in creativity to drinking. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings were discussed.     

Studies on the mechanism of potentiation of the acute toxicity of 2,4-D n-butyl ester and 2′,5-dichloro-4′-nitrosalicylanilide in rainbow trout by carbaryl

The acute toxicity of several xenobiotic substances to rainbow trout including 2,4-D n-butyl ester (2,4-DB) and 2′,5-dichloro-4′-nitrosalicylanilide (Bayer 73) has been shown to be potentiated by carbaryl. The effect seen with carbaryl was also observed when arecoline, a direct acting cholinergic agent was substituted for carbaryl. The potentiating effect of both carbaryl and arecoline was abolished by atropine. Carbaryl, at a concentration which potentiates 2,4-DB and Bayer 73, was found to increase the blood and total body concentrations of these compounds during exposures in water. Since carbaryl did not decrease the rate of elimination of 2,4-DB and Bayer 73 from preloaded fish, it appears that carbaryl may increase the acute toxicity of these compounds by increasing their uptake from water by trout. In addition to blocking the increase in acute toxicity seen with carbaryl and arecoline, atropine was also capable of blocking the increase in uptake of 2,4-DB and Bayer 73 produced by carbaryl and arecoline. It was concluded that carbaryl increases the acute toxicity of 2,4-DB and Bayer 73 by increasing the uptake of these compounds from water, possibly by effects on gill blood flow or permeability.     

Haemophilus (Corynebacterium) vaginalis septicemia

Thirteen patients with Haemophilus (Corynebacterium) vaginalis septicemia are reported. In 7 of the 13 patients, facultative or obligatory anaerobe bacteria were concomitantly isolated. In 11 of 13 cases, the bacteriologic studies of the presumed portal of infection revealed the presence of the organism or organisms subsequently isolated from the intravascular compartment.     

Assertion and non-assertion supported by arousal reduction

Subjects imagined assertive conflict situations and imagined responding in an assertive, aggressive or non-assertive manner. Plethysmographic data suggest that for non-assertive subjects non-assertive behavior is most arousal reducing; while for assertive subjects assertive and aggressive behavior is most arousal reducing. These findings are related to assertive training.     

Experimental facial edema: treatment with methylprednisolone

Because the face is an area rich in blood, swelling after technical manipulation in that area often becomes a serious problem. To determine the effectiveness of methyl-prednisolone therapy in controlling this often disabling problem, and experimental animal model was developed which would produce experimental facial edema in the piglet. This new, uncomplicated technique involves dissecting and raising the forehead flap, freeing the flap in the periorbital and supraorbital regions, and closing the wound in a single layer. At the termination of the procedure, randomly selected animals received 1 g of methylprednisolone intravenously and a control group was not treated.Visual observations by two qualified experts and photographic records were made 24, 48, and 72 hr postoperatively, and demonstrated that facial edema developed in 90% of the control group and in only 40% of the methylprednisolone-treated animals. When edema did occur in treated pigs, it was mild and of shorter duration in comparison with the controls.Our results suggest that 1 g of intravenous methylprednisolone, administered immediately following facial surgery, can decrease the incidence and degree of postoperative edema in patients without the complication of infection.     

Method of Managing the Small Aortic Annulus during Valve Replacement

In a series of 130 patients undergoing aortic valve replacement, 20 had the ascending aorta enlarged with a Dacron patch. Eight of these required division of the annulus with extension of the incision inferiorly to the anterior leaflet of the mitral valve. The resulting separation of the annulus allowed a larger size valve to be inserted. Glutaraldehyde-fixed porcine heterografts were used in all patients having the annulus enlarged. No deaths occurred in those patients having annular enlargement, and the postoperative studies show no evidence of mitral valve dysfunction.     

The classification of depression through cluster analysis

Cluster analysis research has the potential of clarifying the confusion currently extant in psychiatric classification. The paper reviews 11 studies that have used cluster analysis to create new classifications of depression. These studies consistently found a category of retarded/psychotic/endogenous depression. The validation studies by Raskin, Overall, Paykel, and their associates demonstrate the predictive validity of cluster generated classifications. Despite these favorable results, the cluster-analysis studies have had little impact on the literature about depression. The reasons for this lack of impact seem to be: (1) the unsolved statistical problems associated with cluster analysis, (2) the naive empiricism inherent in most of this research, and (3) the failure to be aware of the political nature of classificatory change.