Consumption of Dry Beans, Peas, and Lentils Could Improve Diet Quality in the US Population

The US Department of Agriculture's MyPyramid guidelines introduced a near doubling of the dietary recommendations for vegetables. These recommendations target specific subgroups of vegetables, including dry beans and peas. Dry beans and peas provide an array of nutrients and phytochemicals that have been shown to have beneficial health effects, yet consumption levels in the United States are quite low. Few studies have examined the influence of legume consumption on nutrient intakes. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess nutrient and food group intakes of dry bean and pea consumers compared to nonconsumers. Dietary intake data from the 1999-2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey for adults aged ≥19 years was used. Results show that on any given day only 7.9% of adults are consuming dry beans and peas; Mexican Americans or other Hispanics are more likely to be consumers than nonconsumers. Consuming approximately ½ c dry beans or peas resulted in higher intakes of fiber, protein, folate, zinc, iron, and magnesium with lower intakes of saturated fat and total fat. These data support the specific recommendation for dry beans and peas as part of the overall vegetable recommendation. Increased consumption of dry beans and peas—economical and nutrient-rich foods—could improve the diet quality of Americans.     

Amplification of the c-erbB oncogene is associated with malignancy in primary tumours of neuroepithelial tissue

Summary In various primary brain tumours of neuroepithelial tissue recombinant DNA techniques were used to demonstrate changes of the epidermal growth factor receptor gene, which is homologous to the c-erbB oncogene. Twenty-one of 40 grade III/IV tumours, but only 1 of 16 grade I/II tumours were found to contain amplified and/or rearranged c-erbB sequences. This highly significant difference suggest that c-erbB amplification, rearrangement, or both, are important steps in malignant transformation in a subset of patients with neuroepithelial tumours.     

Investigation of association of 13 polymorphisms in eight genes in southeastern African American Alzheimer disease patients as compared to age‐matched controls

Alzheimer disease (AD) is an emotionally devastating and exceptionally costly disease. Apolipoprotein E (APOE) is a major risk factor gene for AD regardless of age of onset or family history. However, this association may not be as strong or consistent in ethnic groups such as African Americans, raising the possibility of other modifier gene(s). In a group of African American AD patients, a significantly increased risk of AD was associated with two E4 alleles (OR = 5.6; 95% CI = 1.5–21.0) or one E4 allele (OR = 2.5; 95% CI = 1.3–5.0) when compared to E3/E3 genotype, and there was a significant lowering of age of onset for affecteds with E4/E4 genotype as compared to one E2 allele (P = 0.02) or all others (P = 0.03). We also found a significant increase in age of onset with the ?308 #2 (A) allele of TNF when compared to AD cases with no #2 allele. A significant increase in age was also demonstrated with the #2 allele (99 base pairs) of the microsatellite TNFa, located ～ 10.5 kb upstream of TNF. When these two alleles were combined with the TNF ?238G (#1) allele to give a haplotype, the significant increase in age was still demonstrated. Polymorphisms in the APOE promoter and six other candidate genes did not appear to demonstrate any significant association with our African American AD patients. Our results confirm the established association of APOE4 to AD observed in several ethnic groups, including African Americans. In addition, TNF appears to have some modifying effect in AD, primarily on age of onset, or it could be in linkage disequilibrium with a modifier locus nearby. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Results of a high-resolution genome screen of 437 Alzheimer's disease families

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a devastating neurodegenerative disorder of late life with complex inheritance. Mutations in three known genes lead to the rare early-onset autosomal dominant form of AD, while a common polymorphism (epsilon 4) in the gene encoding apolipoprotein E (APOE ) is a risk factor for more typical late-onset (>60 years) AD. A recent study concluded that there are up to four additional genes with an equal or greater contribution to the disease. We performed a 9 cM genome screen of 437 families with AD, the full National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) sample, which has been carefully ascertained, evaluated and followed by our group over the last decade. Performing standard parametric and non-parametric linkage analyses, we observed a 'highly significant' linkage peak by Lander and Kruglyak criteria on chromosome 19q13, which probably represents APOE. Twelve additional locations-on 1q23, 3p26, 4q32, 5p14, 6p21, 6q27, 9q22, 10q24, 11q25, 14q22, 15q26 and 21q22-met criteria for 'suggestive' linkage [i.e. two-point lod score (TLS) >/=1.9 and/or multipoint lod score (MLS) >/=2.2] in at least one of our analyses. Although some of these will surely prove to be false positives, these linkage signals should provide a valuable framework for future studies aimed at identifying additional susceptibility genes for late-onset AD.     

Enzyme-analogue built polymers, 4. On the synthesis of polymers containing chiral cavities and their use for the resolution of racemates

With the aid of a chiral template molecule functional groups could be placed in a highly crosslinked polymer in such a way that they are present in a chiral cavity in a given stereochemistry. By this method methyl, resp. 4-nitrophenyl α-D -mannopyranoside-2,3; 4,6-di-O-(4-vinylphenylboronate) ( 1a , resp. 1b ) were copolymerized to macroporous polymers from which the templates methyl, resp. 4-nitrophenyl α-D -mannopyranoside ( 2a , resp. 2b ) could be split off in return. It could be shown that such polymers with two boronic acid groupings within the chiral cavity possess a good ability for the resolution of racemates of the template used. In the case of the separation of the enantiomers of 2b separation factors up to 2,27 could be obtained. The overall optical enrichment in a chromatographic separation amounted to 87%.     

Permanent Postoperative Anosmia: A Serious Complication of Neurovascular Decompression in the Sitting Position

Summary  In posterior fossa surgery, the sitting position offers a number of advantages believed to outweigh complications such as air embolism and pneumatocephalus. For this reason, the sitting position is frequently used in neurovascular decompression for trigeminal neuralgia. Two years ago we reported on a previously undescribed complication: permanent postoperative anosmia. Following the recent occurrence of a second case, we conducted a nationwide survey to determine the frequency of this complication. Permanent postoperative anosmia following surgical procedures in the sitting position has been observed in 3 other institutions. In addition, the survey revealed that only 40% of German neurosurgeons still favor the sitting position for surgery of the posterior cranial fossa.  Considering that permanent anosmia severely reduces quality of life, and that it can be avoided by using another position, the sitting position for surgical procedures in the posterior fossa should be restricted to special cases (e.g., brain stem tumors).     

Double-pulse stimulation dissociates intrathalamic and cortical high-frequency (>400Hz) SEP components in man

Human somatosensory evoked potentials (SEP) contain high-frequency (600 Hz) wavelet bursts possibly reflecting repetitive population spikes in thalamocortical axons and/or postsynaptic responses. To dissociate thalamic and cortical burst components the recovery of intrathalamic SEP (derived from electrodes implanted for movement disorder therapy in seven patients) was compared with scalp SEP in six age-matched Parkinsonian patients and six healthy younger subjects. Upon electric median nerve double-pulse stimulation conditioned scalp bursts were found attenuated in both groups, more for 10ms than 20ms interstimulus intervals; moreover, intraburst frequencies decreased from 690Hz to 590Hz. By contrast, intrathalamic burst amplitudes and frequencies (around 1 kHz) remained largely stable. These dissociations indicate functionally distinct generator mechanisms for scalp and intrathalamic high-frequency SEP bursts.     

Liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometric assay for the quantitation in human plasma of the novel indenoisoquinoline topoisomerase I inhibitors,NSC 743400 and NSC 725776

Topoisomerase I (Topo I) is a recognized target for ovarian, lung, and colorectal cancer therapy. The FDA-approved camptothecin (CPT) Topo I inhibitors, topotecan and irinotecan are labile and their effects are rapidly reversible. The indenoisoquinoline topoisomerase I inhibitors, NSC 743400 and NSC 725776, have been developed as a new generation of Topo I inhibitors and are being advanced to clinical evaluation. To support the clinical development of NSC 743400 and NSC 725776, we developed and validated, according to FDA guidelines, LC–MS/MS assays for the sensitive, accurate and precise quantitation of NSC 743400 and NSC 725776 in 0.2 mL human plasma. After ethyl acetate extraction, separation was achieved with a Synergi Polar RP column and a gradient of 0.1% formic acid in acetonitrile:water. NSC 743400 and NSC 725776 eluted at approximately 3 min, and the total run time was 14 min. Detection consisted of electrospray, positive-mode ionization mass spectrometry. Between 3 and 1000 ng/mL, accuracy was 96.9–108.2% for NSC 743400 and 95.1–106.7% for NSC 725776, and precision was <11.4% for NSC 743400 and <5.9% for NSC 725776. Extraction recovery was >80% for both analytes, and ion suppression ranged from −46.7 to 5.7%. The use of isotopically labeled internal standards and a wash phase at the end of the run were necessary to achieve adequate assay performance. Protein binding in human plasma as assessed by equilibrium dialysis showed both indenoisoquinolines to be more than 98% protein bound.