DNA damage from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons measured by benzo[a]pyrene-DNA adducts in mothers and newborns from Northern Manhattan, the World Trade Center Area, Poland, and China.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), of which benzo[a]pyrene is a representative member, are combustion-related environmental pollutants and include known carcinogens. Laboratory animal studies indicate that the dose of PAHs to the fetus is on the order of a 10th that to the mother and that there is heightened susceptibility to PAH-induced carcinogenesis during the fetal and infancy periods. Carcinogen-DNA adducts, a measure of procarcinogenic genetic damage, are considered a biomarker of increased cancer risk. Here we compare the levels of benzo[a]pyrene-DNA adducts as a proxy for PAH-DNA damage measured in maternal blood and newborn cord blood obtained at delivery in four different populations of mothers (total of 867) and newborns (total of 822), representing a 30-fold range of exposure to ambient PAHs. The populations include residents in Northern Manhattan, participants in a study of the effects of the World Trade Center disaster, residents in Krakow, Poland, and residents in Tongliang, China. Mean adduct concentrations in both maternal and cord blood and the proportion of samples with detectable adducts, increased across the populations [Northern Manhattan < World Trade Center (WTC) < Krakow < Tongliang], consistent with the trend in estimated ambient exposure to PAHs (P < 0.001). For mothers, the means in the respective populations were Northern Manhattan (0.21 adducts per 10(8) nucleotides), WTC (0.23 adducts per 10(8) nucleotides), Krakow (0.28 adducts per 10(8) nucleotides), Tongliang (0.31 adducts per 10(8) nucleotides); the corresponding means in the newborns were Northern Manhattan (0.23), WTC (0.24), Krakow (0.29), Tongliang (0.31). The percentage of mothers with detectable levels of adducts in the respective populations were Northern Manhattan (36.8%), WTC (57.5%), Krakow (72.9%), Tongliang (73.4%); the corresponding percentages among the newborns were Northern Manhattan (42.4%), WTC (60.6%), Krakow (71.1%), Tongliang (79.5%). Despite the estimated 10-fold lower PAH dose to the fetus based on laboratory animal experiments, the adduct levels in the newborns were similar to or higher than in the mothers. This study suggests that the fetus may be 10-fold more susceptible to DNA damage than the mother and that in utero exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons may disproportionately increase carcinogenic risk. The data support preventive policies to limit PAH exposure to pregnant women and children.     

Changing antibiotic sensitivity patterns in shigellosis.

Over five and a half months stool cultures were performed in 154 patients admitted with suspected bacillary dysentery to the Professorial Paediatric Unit of the Teaching Hospital, Galle. Thirty one patients had a positive stool culture; Shigella dysenteriae type 1 was isolated in 23 patients, and S flexneri in 8. In both groups the antibiotic sensitivity pattern was uniform, the only difference being S dysenteriae type 1 being resistant to nalidixic acid while S flexneri was sensitive. This antibiotic sensitivity pattern was different to that reported from Colombo during the same period. Complications were observed in some patients with S flexneri infection.     

Solitary bronchioloalveolar carcinoma: CT criteria

The computed tomographic (CT) scans of 30 patients with solitary bronchioloalveolar carcinoma were reviewed. Common features at CT included the peripheral or subpleural location of a pulmonary mass (25 cases), pseudocavitation (18 cases), heterogeneous attenuation (17 cases), irregular margins forming a star pattern (22 cases), and pleural tags (21 cases). Using these CT criteria, four independent observers attempted to identify cases of bronchioloalveolar carcinoma from a larger sample of lung cancers and benign lesions by categorizing a series of test cases into four probability categories. Although the bronchioloalveolar carcinomas were correctly ranked in the two highest probability categories 75% of the time (in 45 of 60 cases), there was considerable overlap with other lung lesions, particularly with adenocarcinoma and large cell undifferentiated carcinoma. However, even though the typical features of bronchioloalveolar carcinoma are not invariable or highly specific, they are characteristic enough to suggest the diagnosis.     

Variation in hypothalamic gonadotrophin-releasing hormone content, plasma and pituitary LH, and in-vitro testosterone release in a long-distance migratory bird, the garden warbler (Sylvia borin), under constant photoperiods

Changes in concentrations of hypothalamic gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH), pituitary and plasma LH, testicular mass, in-vitro release of testosterone, body mass and migratory activity were measured in male garden warblers (Sylvia borin) kept from November to June under a constant photo-period of 12.8 h. Under such conditions garden warblers gradually change from the photorefractory to the photosensitive state and gonadal recrudescence then occurs. Hypothalamic GnRH content was low from December to March, but increased in April to reach the highest levels in June. The spontaneous increase in GnRH was paralleled by increases in pituitary LH content, testicular mass and in-vitro testosterone release. Body mass decreased 1 month and nocturnal activity 2 months before the spontaneous increase in GnRH. Ovine LH increased in-vitro testosterone release over basal release at all times. The results suggest that in garden warblers (1) changes in hypothalamic GnRH content can occur under constant photoperiodic condition, (2) the gradual change from the photorefractory to the photosensitive state is not characterized by a gradual increase in hypothalamic content of GnRH (cf. starlings), and (3) Leydig cells are capable of testosterone release even during the photorefractory state.     

Reliable and easy identification of bacterial acute respiratory infections of childhood.

OBJECTIVES: To identify the causative bacteria in childhood acute respiratory infections (ARI) and to determine the usefulness of pus cell counts in differentiating between pathogenic and commensal bacteria, cultured from nasopharyngeal aspirates. DESIGN: Case control prospective study. SETTING: Outpatients' department and the paediatric unit at General Hospital, Colombo South. SUBJECTS: 200 children under 5 years with cough and difficulty in breathing for less than one week who had no history of antibiotic therapy for the current illness, and 50 healthy controls matched for age and sex. RESULTS: 56.5% of cases had bacterial infections. Branhamella catarrhalis (25%), Haemophilus influenzae (12.5%) and Streptococcus pneumoniae (10.5%) were the major pathogens identified. Pus cell counts were found to be significantly higher in cases than in controls (X2 58.28 df = 1 p < 0.001), and the pathogens were more often associated with pus cell counts of more than 10/field. CONCLUSIONS: 56.5% of children with ARI had bacterial infections. B catarrhalis seems to play a major role in childhood ARI. Examination of nasopharyngeal aspirates is a useful way to identify pathogens, provided microscopic examination for pus cells is performed together with culture.