Special care for newborns at a community hospital: a 5-year experience

Anthralin has been a consistently effective drug for the treatment of psoriasis for more than 80 years, but has not enjoyed common use in the United States because of the unwanted side effects of irritation and staining. New treatment methods such as short-contact therapy and innovative vehicle formulations minimizing these problems have allowed anthralin once again to be used effectively in psoriatic treatment programs. We review these newer adaptations and suggest that the enduring modality deserves an important place in the topical armamentarium.     

Long-term extracellular matrix metabolism by cultured human osteogenesis imperfecta osteoblasts

BACKGROUND: While the side effects of oral glucocorticoids are well recognised there is debate about the systemic effects of high doses of inhaled glucocorticoids such as beclomethasone dipropionate and how these compare with the effects of oral prednisone. AIMS: To compare the effects of different doses of oral prednisone and inhaled beclomethasone dipropionate (BDP) on changes in circulating leukocytes. METHODS: Changes in different subsets of circulating leukocytes were measured as an index of the systemic effects of inhaled BDP and oral prednisone. We compared the effects of inhaled placebo and 500 and 1000 micrograms of inhaled BDP with oral placebo and 2.5, 5 and 10 mg of prednisone in eight healthy volunteers. Leukocyte numbers were measured before and four hours after each dose of medicine. RESULTS: Compared with inhaled placebo, 1000 micrograms of inhaled BDP led to a significant increase in neutrophils as a percentage of the total white count (p < 0.05) and a significant decrease in the total lymphocyte number (p < 0.05) and in the number of CD4 lymphocytes (p < 0.05). For 1000 micrograms BDP the increase in the % neutrophil count was 8.55% (95% CI 5.17 to 11.93) and the fall in lymphocyte numbers was -0.14 x 10(9)/L (95% CI 0.06 to -0.34) while 2.5 mg prednisone led to an increase in the % neutrophil count of 9.31% (95% CI 5.82 to 12.80) and a fall in lymphocyte numbers of -0.07 x 10(9)/L (95% CI 0.05 to -0.19). CONCLUSIONS: The systemic effects of 1000 micrograms inhaled BDP and 2.5 mg of prednisone are similar.     

Naloxone-induced pituitary-adrenal activation does not differ in patients with depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, and healthy controls

Light-activated psoralens can covalently modify DNA and are widely used to study nucleic acid secondary structure and mutagenesis. Sequence specificity can be added to the photoaddition reaction by attaching the psoralen to an oligonucleotide designed to recognize a double-stranded DNA binding site through formation of a triple helix. We have previously used this strategy to study targeted psoralen modification of a triplex binding site within the bacterial supF gene carried in viral genomes. In the present work we report the targeting of psoralen photoadducts in vitro to a specific site in the genome of a transgenic mouse. Both 10 base and 16 base oligonucleotide-psoralen conjugates were capable of sequence-specific modification of genomic mouse DNA, while a truncated 8 base conjugate was not. Light activation was necessary, and a dose dependence was demonstrated for target site modification and mutagenesis. The 10 base conjugate rapidly found its target, with sequence-specific binding occurring after just 10 min incubation in the presence of mouse DNA. The ability to target psoralen photoadducts within mammalian genomes may prove useful in the study of chromatin structure and DNA repair. Moreover, this work may lead to potential in vivo applications of targeted psoralen modification.     

Density dependence of pulmonary resistance: correlation with small airway pathology

The density dependence of maximal expiratory flow is not an effective test of the site of airway narrowing in obstructive lung disease. We hypothesized that the density dependence of pulmonary resistance (DD,RL) would be more closely related to the degree of airway narrowing and peripheral airway pathology in smokers. We measured maximal expiratory flow at 50% vital capacity (V'max50) and lung resistance (RL) breathing air and 80% helium-20% oxygen, and calculated density dependence of V'max50 and RL in 40 patients who had moderate airflow obstruction and in 10 normal subjects. We compared the density dependence of RL and V'max50 with the degree of airway obstruction and bronchiolar pathology scores in 27 patients with resected lung specimens. There were no differences in DD of V'max50 or RL between normal subjects and patients, and no relationship between the degree of obstruction or the bronchiolar pathology score and the DD of these measurements. There were significant relationships between V'max50, RL and the bronchiolar pathology scores. In conclusion, lung resistance and maximal expiratory flow are related to the severity of peripheral airway pathology, but there is no relationship between the severity of obstruction or the severity of peripheral airway pathology and the density dependence of maximal expiratory flow or lung resistance.     

Effects of pyriproxyfen on engorged females and newly oviposited eggs of the lone star tick (Acari:Ixodidae)

Engorged females and 1- to 3-d-old eggs of the lone star tick, Amblyomma americanum (L), were exposed to 9 treatments of pyriproxyfen (4, 8, and 16 micrograms/cm2) in glass vials at exposure periods of 7 d, 14 d, and continuous at each dosage level. Treatment of newly engorged females did not affect the number of females ovipositing, but the number of eggs oviposited decreased as dosage and exposure time increased. Complete inhibition of egg hatch occurred at all treatment levels except that of the lowest dosage and exposure time where 99.9% inhibition was observed. Egg masses from treated females contained eggs that turned a dark amber color and imploded, retained normal shape and color without visible evidence of embryogenesis, or had developed embryos that were unable to emerge. Treatments of 1-to 3-d-old eggs were effective in reducing hatch and larval survivorship to 25 d after emergence only at the continuous exposures of dosages of 4, 8, and 16 micrograms/cm2. Larvae emerging from eggs treated at the lower dosage rates of 0.2 and 0.02 microgram/cm2 were as successful in feeding on chickens and subsequently molting as acetone treated control ticks.     

More accurate simulations at faster rates [graphics]

The author discusses what has occurred in computer graphics during the past two decades and what will occur in the future. He covers increases in model complexity, the continuing quest for photorealism, progressive rendering algorithms, progressive modeling systems, physically based light reflection models, elimination of display lists, migration from polygon algorithms to pixel algorithms based on the true geometries, and separating sampling from discretization