Gender differences in suprathreshold taste scaling ability in an older population

Taste sensitivity was evaluated by suprathreshold scaling of six concentrations each of sodium chloride, sucrose, citric acid, and quinine hydrochloride. Magnitude estimation was used as the method of scaling. The study group was composed of 22 males and 19 females were either patients (institutionalized) or staff members of the Jewish Institute for Geriatric Care. Data from each patient were used to compute individual slopes and Y-intercepts of the log to log transformations for each solution sequence. The mean age of the persons who were institutionalized was significantly higher than that of the staff members. In addition, the mean age of the females was 10 years older than that of the males. The older adult males seemed to have impaired taste function that resulted in significant decreases in total perceived intensity of several taste solutions. No significant differences were shown in taste ability between the relatively healthy younger staff member subjects and the older, more infirm, institutionalized subjects.     

Rates of alcohol consumption and risk status among Australian university students vary by assessment questions

Introduction and Aims. Different self‐report methods tend to produce different estimates of alcohol consumption. The present study compares differences in rates and risk levels based on responses to a modified version of the Daily Drinking Questionnaire (m‐DDQ) and quantity‐frequency (QF) questions. Design and Methods. The sample comprised 2082 university students, 61% of whom were female and 39% male with a mean age of 23.5 years. An email containing an online link to a brief six‐question survey was emailed to students enrolled in participating faculties at the University of Wollongong, Australia. Current drinkers completed m‐DDQ and QF questions about alcohol consumption. Results. QF methods identified significantly lower estimates of consumption (Mean = 9.15, SD = 12.51) compared with m‐DDQ (Mean = 13.06, SD = 14.07). Allocation to risk categories based on the Australian Alcohol Guidelines were conducted for both the m‐DDQ and QF methods. Almost twice as many students were found to be drinking at levels considered risky using the m‐DDQ method compared with QF. In addition, the relative rank order of participants varied significantly between the two methods. Discussion and Conclusions. The m‐DDQ method identified higher rates of drinking and categorised almost twice as many individuals into risky categories of drinking compared with QF. Such variations have major implications for identification of risk groups in health promotion or prevention programs.[Utpala‐Kumar R, Deane FP. Rates of alcohol consumption and risk status among Australian university students vary by assessment questions. Drug Alcohol Rev 2009]     

Uses of streptomycin

Dr. Modell: The conference this afternoon was on the subject of the uses of streptomycin. The experiences with the sulfa drugs and penicillin have been put to good use in speeding up the steps necessary for the proper clinical evaluation of this new antimicrobial agent and now, only about three years after the first clinical reports on streptomycin, a formidable volume of information has accumulated concerning its actions and uses. The material is now available in a highly purified form. Since, however, it still contains some impurities, varying in amounts in different preparations, a biologic assay is applied to the different lots. It is less confusing to express dosage in units of weight rather than in biologic units and, therefore, the labels on the vials describe the contents in terms of Gm, of pure streptomycin base. Streptomycin is freely soluble in water. It is suitable for all the common routes of administration. Not enough is known about its absorption by oral administration and it does not seem to be useful for systemic action by the oral route. It is most commonly given by intramuscular injection in divided doses. A dose of 2 to 3 Gm. daily appears to be adequate for the majority of infections in which it is useful. Larger doses are likely to cause too high an incidence of toxic effects.Streptomycin is effective against most of the organisms which are inhibited by penicillin. In addition, however, it exerts a potent action against gram-negative organisms which are uninfluenced by penicillin. While bacteriologic experiments suggest a very wide field of usefulness for streptomycin, direct experience in the treatment of human diseases has greatly restricted the scope of its application. Experience thus far indicates that penicillin is preferable in those infections in which either of the drugs might be used because penicillin is non-toxic while streptomycin possesses toxic actions which are sometimes quite serious. There is also the fact that penicillin is administered in quantities measured in milligrams and streptomycin in quantities of grams and these large amounts of the drug are not practical for some of the special technics of administration such as suspension in wax and oil for delayed absorption. Thus far, streptomycin has been found especially useful in urinary infections caused by the Escherichia coli and some other, gram-negative bacterial infections of the urinary tract such as the Bacillus lactis aerogenes, Bacillus proteus and Bacillus pyocyaneus. It is highly effective in Friedländer's pneumonia, Hemophilus influenzae meningitis and tularemia. It has also been found effective in pneumonias, abscesses, peritonitis and other infections caused by the gram-negative bacteria frequently found in the urinary tract. It appears to be without value in virus infections. One of the most stirring aspects of streptomycin action is the observation that it cures certain forms of animal tuberculosis and the now well established clinical experience showing that it may check some forms of human tuberculosis, especially those in the exudative stage. There was considerable discussion in the conference concerning the details of its rôle in the therapy of human tuberculosis.Two other phases of streptomycin therapy received special consideration. There is some indication that different members of the same bacterial species show wide differences in susceptibility to streptomycin and it is now well established that for most infections, resistance to streptomycin is acquired quite rapidly, in a matter of days to weeks. This limits the application of the drug to brief courses of treatment and necessitates the use of fully effective doses, from the outset. The next point is the matter of toxicity. Streptomycin is not an innocuous drug. In addition to the various allergic drug reactions such as skin rash and fever, it may produce serious renal damage, it may affect the blood-forming organs and it exerts an action on the central nervous system involving the vestibular apparatus and the eighth nerve causing vertigo, tinnitus and impaired hearing, some of the effects becoming permanent. These effects are apt to occur after prolonged use of the drug, after three or four weeks. They are more frequent with the larger doses, doses larger than those usually necessary. One needs to keep them in mind, however, for the full scope of the applications of streptomycin has not yet been established and a good deal of exploration is still necessary to establish the full potentialities of streptomycin in human infections. In the present state of our knowledge, there is justification in giving streptomycin a trial in serious bacterial infections in which the other specific anti-microbial agents have failed. It is suggested that an in vitro test of the sensitivity of the organism may help to establish the indication for its trial in such cases.     

Staphylococcus aureus Bacteremia in Patients with Hematological Malignancies and/or Agranulocytosis

ABSTRACT. A total of 6 253 cases of Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia, including 274 (4.4%) endocarditis cases, were registered in Denmark in the period 1975–1984. Patients with hematological malignancies and/or agranulocytosis accounted for 479 of the bacteremia cases. The incidence of endocarditis in this group of patients was only 0.4% as compared to 4.7% in other patients with staphylococcal bacteremia (p<0.01). The lower incidence of endocarditis complicating bacteremia in these patients may justify a shorter course of therapy than usually recommended for suspected endocarditis. Patients with hematological malignancies and other patients with agranulocytosis had a higher mortality (49 and 46%, respectively) than other patients with S. aureus bacteremia (33%). The highest mortality was found in patients with multiple myeloma (71%, p<0.01), the lowest in patients with acute lymphocytic leukemia (28%, p<0.01). The higher mortality in these patients may indicate that empiric antibiotic regimens in granulocytopenic patients should include a specific anti-staphylococcal agent.     

Do Electrode and Lead Design Differences for Permanent Cardiac Pacing Translate into Clinically Demonstrable Differences? (Comparison of Sintered Platinum and Activated Vitreous and Porous Carbon Electrodes)

A randomized prospective study was undertaken to compare the electrical performances of three permanent, endocardial, tined pacing leads with different electrode designs--sintered platinum, vitreous carbon, and porous carbon. Ninety-nine patients received one of the leads (S80 31; 423S 32; S100 36). Acute R wave amplitude and ST elevation of the native endocardial electrogram, voltage threshold, impedance, and current flow at four pulse durations (0.25-1.0 msec) were measured. Voltage thresholds were measured noninvasively at each of four pulse durations at 2 days and 1, 3, and 6 months after implantation. No significant differences were found in sensing properties, or current flow at threshold at 0.5 msec pulse duration. The 423S lead had a significantly higher impedance at threshold and both a higher impedance and lower current flow at 5 V. No significant differences in threshold voltages were found between the three leads at any pulse duration, at any of the assessed times after implantation. Six-month thresholds for the S80, 423S, and S100 leads were 1.18 +/- 0.35, 1.17 +/- 0.29, and 1.06 +/- 0.38 V respectively at 0.5 msec pulse duration. Differences between 'high performance' pacing leads need to be of a greater order of magnitude before they can be exploited to give any real clinical advantage to patients.     

Designed polyanionic coiled-coil proteins: acceleration of heparin cofactor II inhibition of thrombin

Novel polyanionic proteins were designed to increase the rate of heparin cofactor II (HC) inhibition of α-thrombin, an essential protease in the coagulation cascade. Two α-helical coiled-coil proteins, a 62-residue dimer containing 8 Glu residues (E8C) and a 104-residue dimer containing 14 Glu residues (E14C), plus two 31-residue control peptides containing 8 Glu residues each (E8A and E8B), were chemically synthesized, structurally characterized and enzymatically assayed. Circular dichroic spectrophotometry indicated that both E8C and E14C formed stable two-chain α-helical coiled coils at pH 7 and 25 °C. The control peptides were only partially α-helical. E14C remained folded at 90 °C but E8C was half unfolded at 49 °C. Coiled-coil proteins E8C and E14C maximally accelerated by 35- and 33-fold, respectively, the rate of HC inhibition of α-thrombin. None of these compounds accelerated antithrombin inhibition of α-thrombin, and neither control peptide accelerated HC inhibition of α-thrombin. Acceleration of the HC inhibition of α-thrombin showed bimodal dependence on the concentration of the polyanionic protein, which is consistent with formation of a HC-coiled-coil-thrombin ternary complex. The results suggest that antithrombotic polyanionic α-helical coiled-coil proteins can be designed and synthesized and that the occurrence of secondary structure can be correlated with biologcal activity. © Munksgaard 1995.     

USE OF I.M. RANITIDINE FOR THE PROPHYLAXIS OF ASPIRATION PNEUMONITIS IN OBSTETRICS

Twenty patients who underwent elective Caesarean section receivedranitidine 150 mg by mouth 8–14 h, and 50 mg i.m. 90 min,before surgery. Intraoperative gastric aspiration resulted incontents with a pH > 2.5 and volume < 25 ml in all patients(mean pH 6.5 (SD 0.8); mean volume 9.0 (SD 7.2) ml). Sixty patientsin labour, who received ranitidine 50 mg i.m. 6-hourly, underwentemergency surgery. Half of this group received, in addition,a single preinduction dose of either 15 or 30 ml of sodium citrate0.3 mol litre^-1. A further 30 patients who remained unmedicatedduring labour and required emergency surgery received a preinductiondose of 15 or 30 ml of sodium citrate 0.3 mol litre^-1 alone.Ranitidine medication resulted in a mean aspirated gastric volumeof 31.4 (26.6) ml and pH of 5.3 (2.1); five of 30 patients hada pH < 2.5. The addition of sodium citrate 0.3 mol litre^-1resulted in gastric pH > 2.5 in all patients and a mean gastricvolume of 43.2 (38.3) ml. The group who received only sodiumcitrate 0.3 mol litre^-1 had a mean pH of 5.3 (1.1) and a meanvolume 122.7 (98.2) ml.     

Delta opioid receptor selective ligands; DPLPE-deltorphin chimeric peptide analogues†

Further efforts to correlate the topography of the bioactive structures of DPDPE and the deltorphins, two δ-opioid receptor active peptide families, are reported. A number of DPLPE-deltorphin chimeric peptides have been synthesized in which the C-terminal dipeptide δ-address of the deltorphins (-Val-GlyNH₂, -Nle-GlyNH₂) have been linked to the highly δ-opioid selective cyclic peptides DPDPE or DPLPE. These studies demonstrate that a major structural feature determining high potency of hybrid analogues is the chirality of the amino acid residue in position 5. The radioligand binding assays have revealed a decrease in potency (compared to DPDPE) at §-receptors when the C-terminal dipeptides were added to DPDPE. On the other hand, chimeric peptides of DPLPE with these same C-terminal dipeptides retained high δ-selectivity and affinity. Similar results were obtained using the mouse vas deferens (MVD) and guinea pig ileum (GPI) bioassays. The importance of the hydrophilicity of amino acids in positions 2 and 5 for δ-selectivity is consistent with the previous finding for DPLPE and DPDPE. On the other hand, the replacement of phenylalanine-4 with p-chlorophenylalanine-4 did not increase δ-selectivity as in DPDPE. These findings suggest that the δ-receptor interacts with hybridized enkephalins and deltorphins somewhat differently than with DPDPE.