Prophylactic long-term oral tocolysis of multiple pregnancies

After admission to hospital for bed rest, 200 women with multiple pregnancies were randomly allocated to receive either 4 mg of salbutamol orally five times daily, or to receive no drug. After an average of 6 weeks treatment, no difference between the experimental groups could be detected with respect to duration of gestation, birthweight or any other of the outcomes of pregnancy observed.     

Characterization of nephropathy induced by immunization with high molecular weight dextran

Background. Injection of DEAE dextran into Lewis rats can produce proteinuria and has been reported as a model of IgA nephropathy. Methods. Cationic diethyl aminoethyl (DEAE) dextran of molecular weight 500 KDa was injected into male Lewis rats. After a pre-immunization period of 3 weeks, the animals were divided into two groups: group 1 (n=14) received daily i.v. injections of 3.5 mg of antigen, group 2 (n=14) was injected with 1.5 mg three times per week for a total period of 6 weeks. I.v. treatment was initiated with gradually increasing doses of DEAE dextran in both groups for 1 week, after which the maintenance dose was reached. Results. We observed the appearance of proteinuria in a nephrotic range after 5 weeks of i.v. injections in group 1 (urinary excretion: 332±83 mg/24 h, controls: 53±14 mg/24 h). In group 2, the proteinuria was almost equal to protein excretion of healthy rats of the same weight (67±20 mg/24 h). The serum and urine creatinine were normal. By light microscopy of kidney biopsies, the presence of focal and segmental proliferation of mesangial cells after 6 weeks of i.v. injections was identified. Immunohistochemistry revealed no deposition of IgA, IgM, IgG, or C3. Using anti-ED1 antibodies, there was no evidence of interstitial infiltration of monocytes/macrophages after 6 weeks of i.v. injections. Staining for proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) did not show the presence of proliferating cells either in glomeruli or in the interstitium. Staining with FITC-WGA lectin revealed focal and segmental loss of the negative charge in the capillary wall. By electron microscopy there was deposition of dextran in the basal membrane and segmental and focal damage of the podocyte foot processes. As the chemokine RANTES may be involved in glomerular injury, we examined the kidneys of proteinuric and non-proteinuric rats for the presence of RANTES. By indirect immunofluorescence only the proteinuric rats showed RANTES deposition in mesangium. Conclusions. Injection of rats with DEAE dextran leads to dose-dependent proteinuria without deposition of immune complexes but with podocyte damage. This is associated with local expression of the chemokine RANTES which may play a role in proteinuria of glomerular disease.     

Cost-effectiveness analysis of guidelines for antihypertensive care in Finland

Background  

Hypertension is one of the major causes of disease burden affecting the Finnish population. Over the last decade, evidence-based care has emerged to complement other approaches to antihypertensive care, often without health economic assessment of its costs and effects. This study looks at the extent to which changes proposed by the 2002 Finnish evidence-based Current Care Guidelines concerning the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of hypertension (the ACCG scenario) can be considered cost-effective when compared to modelled prior clinical practice (the PCP scenario).     

Myelin basic protein antibodies in catatonic schizophrenia

Myelin basic protein (MBP) antibodies were determined by solid-phase radioimmunoassay in the serum and cerebrospinal fluid of 10 patients with catatonia, 10 patients with other forms of schizophrenia, and 10 psychiatrically healthy controls. The mean counts per minute (cpm) value of serum anti-MBP antibody of the catatonia group was significantly higher than that of the patients with other forms of schizophrenic psychoses (p less than .05). No significant differences were observed among the cpm values of the CSF specimens from the three patient groups. The hypothesis of a central virus-induced immunologic aberration in catatonic schizophrenia is discussed.     

Behavioral and enzymatic interactions between benzyl alcohol and ethanol.

Acute IP injection of benzyl alcohol but not benzaldehyde (0.5 g/kg) caused aversion to voluntary drinking of 5% ethanol solution by male rats with preference to ethanol. Benzyl alcohol noncompetitively inhibited hepatic alcohol dehydrogenase of rats maintained for a short term on 5% ethanol compared to control. The results suggest an adverse interaction between benzyl alcohol and ethanol underlying the observed aversion to ethanol.     

Solid-phase radioimmunoassay of IgA, IgG, and IgM antibodies to human rotavirus.

A solid-phase radioimmunoassay (RIA) has been developed for the detection of human rotavirus-specific IgA, IgG, and IgM antibodies. Nebraska calf diarrhea virus grown in LLC-MK2 cell cultures in the presence of trypsin was directly adsorbed onto polystyrene balls, and antibodies that attached to the virus-coated balls were detected by subsequent binding of 125I-labeled antibodies specific to human alpha, gamma or mu chains of human Iga, IgG, or IgM immunoglobulins. A total of 116 serum specimens from 58 adult patients were tested. Binding ratios between the positive and the negative serum varied between 5 and 15, occasionally being 20 or more in the IgA and IgG assays, but rarely exceeding 3 in the IgM assay. The RIA was found to be more sensitive in detecting antibodies to rotavirus than the complement fixation (CF) test, the RIA titers obtained being 50--100 times as high as the CF titers. The method described offers a possibility of evaluating the immune response to human rotavirus and of detecting recent infection.     

Serological evidence that dry heating of clotting factor concentrates prevents transmission of non-A, non-B hepatitis

A new test for antibodies specific for an agent causing non-A, non-B hepatitis (NANBH) was used to screen 45 children with coagulation disorders who received factor concentrates. It was found that the test results correlated with clinical evidence of NANBH and that heat treatment of concentrates (80 degrees C for 72 hours) appears to have prevented transmission of NANBH.     

Apolipoprotein B gene DNA polymorphisms are associated with macro- and microangiopathy in non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus

Ukkola O, Savolainen MJ, Salmela PI, von Dickhoff K, Kesäniemi YA. Apolipoprotein B gene DNA polymorphisms are associated with macro-and microangiopathy in non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. Clin Genet 1993: 44: 177–184. © Munksgaard, 1993 The relationship between diabetic macroangiopathy or microangiopathy and apolipoprotein B (apoB) polymorphism was studied in 139 male and 129 female patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes (NIDDM) mellitus, comprising consecutive patients with poor diabetic control (HBA1 13.2%\pm2.7 (SD)) referred to our hospital. Plasma cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations were higher in the patients who were homozygous for the X2 allele (presence of Xba I cleavage site). Patients with the X1 allele (absence of Xba I cleavage site) tended to have a higher frequency of macroangiopathy, although the differences were not statistically significant. There was no difference in the prevalence of microangiopathy between the groups. In subjects with only an R1 allele (= R +; homozygous for the presence of EcoR I cleavage site) the prevalence of coronary heart disease (CHD) was observed to be high (61.9%) as compared to the subjects possessing an R2 allele (= R —; homozygous or heterozygous for the absence of the EcoR I cleavage site) (46.7%; p<0.02). When the polymorphisms Xba I (subjects homozygous for the absence of the cutting site = X +; subjects homozygous or heterozygous for the presence of the cutting site = X —) and EcoR I were combined, the prevalence of macroangiopathy was observed to be high in X + R + (80.0%) as compared with X + R- (44.2%), X-R+ (56.8%) and X-R- (50.0%) (p<0.03). The prevalence of macroangiopathy tended to be particularly high in patients with the apoprotein E4 allele (phenotype E4\4 or E4/3), combined with either X+ or R +. Our findings suggest that variation at the apoB locus is one of the factors involved in predisposing diabetic patients to the development of arterial disease. As in previous studies the effect of the variation at the apoB gene on circulating lipid levels was observed. The data also support a role for the e4 allele of the apolipoprotein E gene as an important determinant of macroangiopathy in NIDDM.