ACUTE CALCIFIC PERIARTHRITIS ASSOCIATED WITH TRANSIENT HYPOCALCAEMIA SECONDARY TO HYPOPARATHYROIDISM

Acutely painful calcific periarthritis of the shoulder is describedin a woman with idiopathic hypoparathyroidism. The episode wasclosely associated with a transient fall in serum calcium. KEY WORDS: Periarthritis, calcific, Hypoparathyroidism     

Dermatitis rhabditidosa in an 11-year-old girl

Rhabditiform larvae of Rhabditis (Pelodera) strongyloides caused pruritic lesions in an 11-year-old girl, and persisted for 2 1/2 months. Larvae were found in skin scrapings from the child and in the family dog's hair.     

INFLUENCE OF PYRIDOXAL 5'-PHOSPHATE ON ETHANOL-INDUCED CHANGES IN HISTAMINE CATABOLISM IN THE GUINEA PIG

In guinea pigs, chronic intragastric administration of a 20%ethanol solution for 18 days (in increasing doses from 5 to10 g/kg/day) leads, on the 18th day, to an enhancement of histaminelevel in the liver and the small intestine by up to 170% and180% respectively. In these tissues the rate of histamine oxidativecatabolism was depressed by about 20%. Histamine N-methyltransferaseactivity, as well as the level of acetylhistamine were not affected.Pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (2 mg/animal/day) tended to normalizeboth histamine levels and the rate of histamine oxidative catabolism.     

New Antibiotics in the Treatment of Pelvic Infections

Many new antibiotics are being released to the drug market. This article broadly classifies the newly released antibiotics into several groups in order to condense the mass of information concerning them into a readily available format. This format will enable nurses to recall easily the important information from each group when the need arises.     

ASSESSMENT OF DIAZEPAM LOADING DOSE THERAPY OF DELIRIUM TREMENS

The efficacy of the diazepam loading dose method of treatmentof delirium tremens was assessed in comparison with the traditionaltherapy. The experimental group and the control group comprised51 and 45 patients respectively. The clinical institute withdrawalassessment for alcohol (CIWA-A) scale was applied to assessthe intensity of the symptoms. Diazepam doses in the experimentalgroup oscillated from 40 to 210 mg (mean 86.9±47.2 mg).The control group was receiving diazepam and other psychotropicdrugs in divided doses. In the experimental group deliric symptomswere present from 2 to 24 h (mean 6.9±4.8 h), and inthe control group from 2 to 123 h (mean 33.8±25.7 h).The results show a large efficacy of the loading dose methodcorresponding to substantial reduction of the psychosis duration(fivefold in comparison to the control group). The method provedto be safe, with no significant complications.     

Poor maternal weight gain between 28 and 32 weeks gestation may predict small-for-gestational-age infants

Summary. In a retrospective analysis of 158 women considered to have had normal, low-risk pregnancies, 30 gave birth to infants with a birth-weight less than the 10th centile for gestation. These 30 women had a significantly poorer mean increase in weight (0·99 kg) between 28 and 32 weeks gestation than the other 128 women (1·95 kg) who gave birth to infants with birthweights above the 10th centile for gestation. There was no statistically significant difference in booking weight, overall weight gain or other variables associated with low birthweight between the two groups of women which suggests that poor maternal weight gain specifically between 28 and 32 weeks gestation may predict small-for-gestational-age infants.     

STUDIES ON THE MECHANISM OF LYMPHOCYTE TRANSFORMATION INHIBITION IN SARCOIDOSIS

SUMMARY.— Phytohaemagglutinin (PHA)-stimulated peripheral lymphocyte transformation was significantly inhibited in all cases of active sarcoidosis of the respiratory system.
The inhibition affected even the earliest stages of transformation, as was shown by the markedly depressed percentage of first mRNA and the DNA-synthesizing cells in cultures.
The inhibition was independent of how far the disease had advanced (the phase of the disease) but was clearly correlated with its activity (stage). During remission the level of PHA-stimulated transformation rose by a statistically significant margin.     

Development of Fish Peritoneal Macrophages as a Model for Higher Vertebrates in Immunotoxicological Studies: I. Characterization of Trout Macrophage Morphological, Functional, and Biochemical Properties

Development of Fish Peritoneal Macrophages as a Model for HigherVertebrates in Immunotoxicological Studies. I. Characterizationof Trout Macrophage Morphological, Functional, and BiochemicalProperties. ZELIKOFF, J. T., ENANE, N. A., BOWSER, D., SQUIBB,K. S., AND FRENKEL, K. (1991). Fundam. Appl. Toxicol. 16, 576–589.The immune defense mechanisms of fish are not as well characterizedas those of mammals but seem to be related and similarly competent.Because of this, there is an increased interest in the immuneresponses of fish as models for higher vertebrates in immunotoxicologicalstudies. Prior to such studies, baseline criteria for specificcomponents of the immune response needed to be established.For this study, we have examined trout macrophage morphologyusing light and scanning electron microscopy, phagocytic activity,random and stimulus-directed migration, and superoxide anionradical (^{dot}) production for resident and lipopolysacharide (LPS) or Aeromonas salmonicidae-elicited rainbowtrout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) peritoneal macrophages (M). Followingperitoneal lavage, >89% of the cells were M as determinedby differential counts and nonspecific esterase staining. Immunizationwith LPS and A. salmonicidae increased M number {small tilde}5and 13-fold, respectively, and overall size. Trout M were phagocyticallyactive engulfing serum opsonized latex particles and were mobile,migrating both randomly and in a directed fashion towards formyl-methionine-L-leucine-L-phenylalanine(FMLP) and trout serum-derived complement fragment C5a. Concentrationsof FMLP (100 nM) and C5a (0.01–1%) effective for attractingtrout M are the same as those used to attract rabbit M. Residenttrout M produced negligable quantities of-(^{dot}) following stimulation with 1 µg/ml phorbol myristate acetate;Aeromonas-elicited M produced (^{dot}) in a time-dependen manner which peaked after 60 min at 2.9 nmolper 2 ? 10₅ cells and then declined. The results of this studyprovide a data base for future toxicological studies with troutperitoneal M and indicate the usefulness of this system forimmunotoxicological studies.