Magnetization-prepared MR angiography with fat suppression and venous saturation.

Magnetization-prepared magnetic resonance (MR) angiography (MPMRA) is an inflow-based two-dimensional (2D) imaging sequence in which a preparation phase precedes rapid image acquisition. For maximal blood/tissue contrast, an inversion-recovery preparation nulls signal from static tissue. If needed, a second inversion suppresses signal from fat. Fully magnetized blood flows in after the inversion pulse(s), providing high signal intensity. The centric phase-encoding order, which ensures that the initial contrast is reflected in the image set, requires the use of a modified venous saturation technique. The sequence is described and its performance assessed with regard to (a) depiction of in-plane flow, (b) fat suppression, and (c) venous saturation. Phantom and volunteer studies showed good performance in all three areas. MPMRA images, acquired in just 2-4 seconds per image, had a blood/tissue contrast-to-noise ratio nearly twice that of standard 2D time-of-flight MR angiograms, acquired in 5-7 seconds. The technique is promising for restless patients and in anatomic areas plagued by motion degradation.     

Negative and depressive symptoms in suicidal schizophrenics

The aim of this study was to determine the value of positive, negative and depressive symptoms, and of the dexamethasone suppression test (DST), in differentiating schizophrenics with and without a history of suicide. Fifty-seven hospitalized patients with schizophrenia were assessed at the end of a neuroleptic free interval with the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD), and with a dexamethasone challenge. Suicide attempters were significantly more likely to meet criteria for major depression than nonattempters. Scores on the HRSD differentiated the two groups whereas the sums of positive and negative symptom items from the BPRS did not. DST a.m. and p.m. cortisol values differentiated suicide attempters from nonattempters and HRSD scores correlated significantly with cortisol levels. This study confirms the importance of depressive symptoms in schizophrenic patients with a history of suicide. Assessment of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in schizophrenia may also provide useful information.     

Isobutyramide, an orally bioavailable butyrate analogue, stimulates fetal globin gene expression in vitro and in vivo

Summary. Clozapine, a novel antipsychotic drug that is particularly effective in treatment-resistant schizophrenia, causes severe agranulocytosis of unknown aetiology in approximately 0·8% of U.S. patients. We evaluated potential toxic mechanisms of drug-induced agranulocytosis. Clozapine, the two major metabolites N-desmethylclozapine and N-oxide clozapine, and five other clozapine derivatives were screened for toxicity to normal haemopoietic precursors. For all compounds except N-des-methylclozapine, toxicity to CFU-GM, BFU-E and CFU-GEMM occurred at concentrations at least 10 times the normal serum levels reported in unaffected patients. In contrast, the LD₅₀ for N-desmethylclozapine was 2·5 μg/ml for CFU-GM, 3·2 μg/ml for BFU-E, and 2·4 μg/ml for CFU-GEMM, only 3–6 times the normal serum concentration. Bone marrow from patients with acute clozapine-induced agranulocytosis was not more sensitive to clozapine or N-desmethylclozapine than bone marrow from normal donors. These studies suggest that N-desmethylclozapine, the major metabolite of clozapine, is itself toxic or is further metabolized to an unstable compound which is toxic to haemopoietic precursors of both myeloid and erythroid lineages.     

Racemization studies in peptide synthesis through the separation of protected epimeric peptides by reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography

Separation of protected epimeric peptides, Z-Gly-Xaa-Xbb-OMe (where Xaa and Xbb = chiral amino acid residues), by reversed-phase HPLC was utilized for studying racemization in peptide synthesis. Thus, the following factors which might affect the extent of racemization during the coupling by the carbodiimide method were investigated: the combination of amino acid residues to be coupled, coexisting tertiary amine salts, and the relative configuration of the amino acid residues. The following points were revealed: the combination of bulky residues at the coupling site results in extensive racemization in a polar solvent such as DMF, the amine hydrochlorides cause less racemization than the p-toluenesulfonates in DMF, and the influence of relative configuration differs depending on the solvent and the individuality of the amino components. Furthermore, the racemization-suppressing effect of some additives in the carbodiimide method was reevaluated by employing the same procedure.     

A ten-year follow-up on stage II Malignant Melanoma patients treated postsurgically with newcastle disease virus oncolysate

Newcastle disease virus oncolysate was examined as an adjunctive immunotherapeutic agent in the postsurgical management of 83 cases of Stage II malignant melanoma. At this time, all the patients have been under observation for at least 10 years, and over 60% are alive and free of recurrent disease. Older studies in the United States report postsurgical survival figures for Stage II cases of 5-15%. More contemporary studies indicate a 33% survival at 10 years. The unusual disease-free survival periods in the present study, including exceptional survivals in 21 patients with head and neck disease and six cases with cerebral metastases, suggest a unique role for the administration of Newcastle disease virus oncolysate in the management of Stage II malignant melanoma patients.     

肝炎病人生活质量调查分析(附142份健康状况调查)

目的 :调查病毒性肝炎对病人的工作、学习、生活、情绪、社交等方面的影响。方法 :采用“简明健康状况调查表 (中文版 )SF - 36”对肝炎病人及部分健康人进行调查。调查分为两组 ,A组为肝炎病人与健康对照比较组 ,肝炎病人和健康人各 32人。B组为肝炎病人保肝治疗前后比较组 ,肝炎病人 39人 ,治疗前后各 39份答卷。结果 :肝炎病人 10 0 %对上述调查都有一定或较大影响 ,平均每个病人对表中 36项调查有影响的占83 33%。而 32例健康对照中 ,只有 6个人平均每个人对表中 36项调查有影响的只占 16 6 7%。结论 :两组比较有显著性差异 (P <0 0 1)。B组病人 ,保肝治疗前 ,平均每个病人对表中 36项调查有影响的占 84 6 1% ,而保肝治疗后 ,此比例为 5 8 97% ,两组比较有显著性差异 (P <0 0 5 )。同时还报告了肝炎不同的临床类型和病原学类型其调查结果的不同。肝炎病人的生活质量比健康人明显下降。而经过保肝治疗后病人的生活质量较治疗前提高。不同类型的肝炎病人其调查结果有所不同。     

Results of liver transplantation in acute liver failure caused by viral hepatitis

Abstract Fulminant liver failure due to acute viral hepatitis is the most common emergency indication for liver transplantation. The postoperative course is highly correlated with the type and duration of infection. The complication rate is lowest in fulminant hepatitis B patients and highest in subacute hepatitis C/NANB patients.     

Genetic analysis of carcinogen enhancement of type 5 adenovirus transformation of cloned fischer rat embryo fibroblast cells

Pretreatment of CREF cells with methyl methanesulfonate (MMS) before infection with the host-range cold-sensitive type 5 adenovirus (Ad5) mutant H5hr1 results in a dose-dependent carcinogen enhancement of viral transformation (CET). The properties of CET observed with H5hr1, which include both an MMS dose-dependent enhancement in the number of transformed foci and an increase in transformation frequency after correction for cell toxicity, are not observed in carcinogen-pretreated wild-type (wt) Ad5 (H5wt)-infected CREF cells. This study was conducted to determine the role of the viral E1A and E1B transforming genes of H5hr1 in mediating the unique CET phenotype of H5hr1. Coinfection of MMS-pretreated CREF cells with H5wt or H5sub309 (which displays a wt Ad5 phenotype) and H5hr1 resulted in a suppression of the unique CET phenotype that was directly related to the multiplicity of infection with wt Ad5. Suppression of the unique H5hr1 CET phenotype was also apparent in MMS-pretreated CREF cells coinfected with H5hr1 and an Ad5 mutant expressing either a wt 13S E1A-encoded 289 amino-acid (aa) protein and an intact wt E 1B gene or a wt 13S E1A-encoded 289-aa protein and a 22S E1B-encoded 495-aa protein. In contrast, the unique H5hr1 CET phenotype was not suppressed in MMS-pretreated CREF cells coinfected with H5hr1 and Ad5 or Ad2 mutants expressing either a wt 12S E1A-encoded 243-aa protein and both wt E1B gene products or an intact wt E1A gene and a wt E1B 13S-encoded 175-aa protein. That genetic changes in both the E1A and E1B viral regions of H5hr1 were required to induce the unique CET phenotype was also indicated by the inability of a recombinant Ad5 containing the 0—4.5 map-unit region of H5hr1 and the 4.5–100 map-unit region of H5sub309 to display the H5hr1 unique CET phenotype. Direct confirmation of the requirement for both gene regions of H5hr1 to mediate its unique CET was obtained by generating CREF cells stably expressing a wt Ad5 E1A 13S-encoded 289-aa protein and a wt E1B 22S-encoded 495-aa protein. In these CREF transformants (which displayed a CREF-like morphology), transformation by H5hr1 was not reduced, but the unique CET phenotype after MMS pretreatment was eliminated. These results suggest that alterations in both the 13S-encoded E1A and 22S-encoded E1B gene products of H5hr1 contribute to its unique CET.     

Comparison of plasma cortisol and corticosterone in the dexamethasone suppression test for melancholia

The suppression of plasma corticosterone (B), measured by radioimmunoassay (RIA), was compared to simultaneous suppression of plasma cortisol (F), measured as total corticoids by a competitive protein binding (CPB) assay, in the overnight dexamethasone suppression test (DST). Baseline plasma B concentrations in IO control subjects were 4.04 ± 1.07 ng/ml (X ± S.D.) at 0800 hr and 1.51 ± 0.68 ng/ml at 1600 hr. Post-dexamethasone 1600 hr B levels in the controls were 0.46 ± 0.29 ng/ml. An early escape of plasma B (> 1.2 ng/ml), like that of F (> 5 μg/dl), during the overnight 24 hr 1.0 mg dose DST was noted in patients with melancholia (endogenous depression).Half-hourly catheter samples in a normal subject stimulated to escape from dexamethasone suppression showed that in general, plasma B concentrations parallel plasma F concentrations over a 12 hr period. Repeated weekly DSTs on two patients with different psychiatric diagnoses resulted in B: F correlations of 0.74 and 0.60. Overall agreement between B- and F-DST outcomes in all categories tested at 1600 and 2300 hr was 93%; the agreement in the melancholic and non-endogenous depressed groups was 100%.Post-dexamethasone, both B and F were suppressed 55–60% below the criterion level in controls. In those patients who escaped from dexamethasone suppression, the percentage increase in plasma B above the criterion level was significantly greater (+ 55%) than the corresponding percentage change in plasma F. Most patients with borderline abnormal F-DSTs (3.5–4.9 μg/dl) exhibited clearly abnormal B-DSTs (> 1.2 ng/ml). We conclude that the use of dexamethasone suppression of plasma B (using 1.2 ng/ml as the abnormal criterion value) is an additional indicator of an abnormal DST in depressed patients.     

Studies on Fc Receptor Bearing T Cells in Infectious and Immunological Diseases of Children: Part 1. Fc Receptor Bearing T Cells in Rubella and Other lnfectious Diseases

Receptors for the Fc portion of IgG (FcR) has been demonstrated on a small population of T cells using various reagents such as aggregated IgG and erythrocyte-antibody rosette. The immunological role of T cells bearing the FcR (Ty cells) is still unestablished, but the possibility to be suppressor and/or killer has been suggested. In the present study, Ty cells were detected by using double rosette formation consisting of sheep red blood cell (SRBC) and chicken erythrocyte sensitized with IgG (chick-EA). In order to clarify the effects of virus on T cells, the ratio of Ty cells to total T cells was estimated in cases of infectious diseases and discussed. The ratio of Ty cells to total T cells was increased in cases of rubella and measles, however, did not show significant difference in cases of bacterial and mycoplasma infections. This may suggest that the Ty cells reflect the appearance of killer to the virus infected target cells, which is known as one of the important host defence mechanisms against viral infection. The haemagglutination inhibition (HI) antibody titer of rubella and the ratio of Ty cells examined on the 14th day of illness showed statistical inverse correlation (n=22, p<0.05). This may suggest that the Ty cells function as suppressor in vivo, at least on the 14th day of illness.