Vécu des adolescents dont l''un des parents est cérébrolésé : étude préliminaire

OBJECTIVE: To explore the impact of brain injury of a parent on adolescent behavioural and emotional symptoms and personal experience. PATIENTS AND SETTING: Eleven adolescents from 13 to 18 years old with a brain-injured parent with cognitive impairment. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Multiple case report. Assessment of anxiety and depression on the R-CMAS scale and the BDI. Qualitative analysis of a semi-structured interview and of the family drawing. RESULTS: Pathological scores on the R-CMAS scale involved 36% of the cases and the BDI, 45%. Impulsivity involved 36% of cases, difficulties in learning at school 73%, and somatic symptoms 45%. Feeling of loneliness involved 64% of cases and difficulty for the adolescent to speak about feelings in the family 82%. The symbolic position of the brain-injured parent was maintained in all cases. In 45% of cases, the parent was unable to recognize the adolescent, and in 55%, some characteristics of the adolescent were linked to the illness of the parent. A feeling of insecurity pervaded all cases. The family drawing revealed abnormalities in the bodily representation of the family members, especially a lack of hands or a representation of amputated hands in 91% of the cases and unsteadiness of the family members, also represented as ghosts in 82% of cases. CONCLUSION: Living with a brain-injured parent increases depression disorders, a feeling of loneliness and insecurity in adolescents. The inability for the adolescent to recognize parent's personality and the identification with caracteristics of the parent due to the illness is worrying. Abnormalities in the bodily representation of the family members and their unsteadiness are characteristic signs.     

Criteria for the standardization of Salmonella mutagenicity tests: results of a collaborative study. III. The influence of the composition and preparation of the minimal medium in the Salmonella mutagenicity test

The influence of factors connected with the preparation of the minimal medium for the Ames test has been investigated. Faulty sterilization procedures can lead to the generation of toxic and/or mutagenic by-products in the minimal medium. Changes in histidine concentration affect not only the number of spontaneously arising colonies on the plate, but also the number of induced mutants. Although the number of spontaneous mutants increases slightly with increasing histidine concentration, the influence on the number of induced mutants depends on the nature of the mutagen tested.     

Mucin-like carcinoma-associated antigen defined by three monoclonal antibodies against different epitopes

Three monoclonal antibodies [MAb], b-8, b-12, and b-15, have previously been shown to react with mammary carcinomas and with a restricted set of cells in normal human tissues [C. St?hli et al., Experientia (Basel), 41: 1377-1381, 1985; H. R. Zenklusen et al., Virchows Arch. Abt. A Pathol. Anat., 413: 3-10, 1988]. They are shown here to recognize the same high molecular weight acid soluble glycoprotein antigen. Lectin binding, biolabeling, and deglycosylation experiments demonstrate that it contains O-linked carbohydrate side chains with sialic acid and hexoses including fucose, galactose, and/or galactosamine but little if any mannose. These properties, typical of mucin-like glycoproteins, agree with the antigen expression on mucin-secreting epithelial surfaces (H. R. Zenklusen et al., Virchows Arch. Abt. A Pathol. Anat., 413:3-10, 1988). The antigen is thus named mucin-like carcinoma-associated antigen (MCA). The three MAb are shown to bind to three different epitopes on MCA. Two of these epitopes (MCA-b-8 and MCA-b-15) are O-linked carbohydrates, and one (MCA-b-15) contains sialic acid. The epitope MCA-b-12 is of peptide nature. Of various two-site sandwich enzyme immunoassays composed of different combinations of the three MAb, the one with MAb b-12 in both positions is selected for a serum assay. Analyses of tumor patients' sera demonstrate that this MCA enzyme immunoassay can be of use as a tumor marker assay for mammary carcinomas. The parameter MCA enzyme immunoassay is shown to differ from other parameters described in the literature.     

An evaluation of instant and regular coffee in the ames mutagenicity test

High concentrations of “home brew” and instant coffee induced. revertants 2–3-fold the spontaneous level with the Ames Salmonella tester strain TA 100 but not with the strains TA 98, TA 1535, TA 1537 and TA 1538. This borderline effect, which may also have been due to non-mutagenic interactions (false positives) occurred only at bactericidal levels of coffees and was completely abolished in the presence of the microsomal “metabolic activation system”. Negative results were obtained in host-mediated assays when mice received up to 6 g instant coffee/kg body weight. An extrapolation in respect of possible carcinogenic risks is dubious.     

Analysis of mutagenic heterocyclic amines in cooked beef products by high-performance liquid chromatography in combination with mass spectrometry

Mutagenic activity detected in beef extracts and in fried beef heated for varying periods of time was purified and then analysed by high-performance liquid chromatography in combination with mass spectrometry (LC-MS). The major mutagenic component found in all of the beef products was identified as 2-amino-3,8-dimethylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoxaline (MeIQx) followed by lesser amounts of 2-amino-3-methylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoline (IQ) and 2-amino-3,4,8-trimethylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoxaline (4,8-DiMeIQx). Identification and quantification of mutagens were achieved by the use of deuterium-labelled analogues. Measured levels of MeIQx and 4,8-DiMeIQx in different batches of beef extract were in the range 11.7-52.2 and 0-11.2 ng/g, respectively, and in beef heated at 275 degrees C for 5-15 min the values of MeIQx and 4,8-DiMeIQx were in the range 2.7-12.3 and 0-3.9 ng/g, respectively. The levels of IQ found in beef extracts were 0-36.8 ng/g and in fried beef the amounts were estimated at 0.3-1.9 ng/g. The method of purification is rapid, requiring only XAD-2 adsorption followed by an acid-base liquid partition against ethyl acetate and blue cotton treatment (trisulpho-copper-phthalocyanine) prior to LC-MS analysis. Because of the sensitivity of LC-MS, mutagens present in cooked beef can be detected at the low parts-per-billion-level and as little as 10 g of cooked beef was required for analysis.