Blood pressure levels in diabetes mellitus

Levels of fasting plasma glucose, body mass index, serum total lipids, serum total cholesterol, serum triglycerides and blood pressure of 177 Libyan diabetic patients were determined. The respective mean values were 212.4 +/- 5.6 mg/dl, 26.6 +/- 0.45 kg/m2, 825.7 +/- 20.5 mg/dl, 176.4 mg/dl, 144 +/- 5.8 mg/dl and 135.3 +/- 1.7/83 +/- 0.89 mm Hg. The mean levels of all variables except plasma glucose are significantly higher in the female patients than their male counterparts. Correlations were present between blood pressure levels and age/body mass index/serum total lipids. There was a significant correlation between systolic pressure levels and the duration of diabetes. Serum cholesterol and serum triglyceride levels correlated with diastolic blood pressure levels only.     

Mentors: beacons of hope

Mentoring is an old idea that works. Research has shown that mentoring is one of the five short-term imperatives for reversing the high dropout rate of high school students. Mentoring is a powerful way to provide adult contacts for youths who receive little guidance in their schools, homes, communities, and workplaces. Supportive one-on-one relationships provide youths with the opportunity to explore career paths and broaden their horizons. Adult mentors serve as beacons of hope for young people adrift in an uncertain world.     

Using a rotating suction debridement instrument with power generator in endonasal paranasal sinus surgery

Necrotizing fasciitis is rare in the orofacial region, with fewer than 20 cases reported in the literature. Extension of the disease process to involve the underlying bone has not been previously reported. A patient is presented in whom destruction of superficial skin and fascia, necrosis of a portion of the mandible, and involvement of the parotid gland complicated reconstruction.     

Prenatal care in Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, 1993]

The urinary excretion of 2-hydroxyphenylacetic acid (2HPAA) was studied in human volunteers after oral and parenteral doses of coumarin. The presence of 2HPAA in the urine was confirmed by gas chromatography mass spectroscopy (GC MS). Mass spectra of reference material and samples are presented. The determination of 2HPAA was carried out by GC with flame-ionization detection. Prior to analysis samples were extracted into ethyl ether and the analytes were derivatized with trimethlyphenylammonium hydroxide. A calibration range from 0.3 to 150 micrograms ml-1 was established using 3-hydroxyphenyl acetic acid (3HPAA) as an internal standard. On average less than 10% of the coumarin administered were excreted into the urine in the form of 2HPAA.     

Molecular basis for prokaryotic specificity of magainin-induced lysis

Magainins and mastoparans are examples of peptide antibiotics and peptide venoms, respectively. They have been grouped together as class L amphipathic helixes [Segrest, J.P., et al. (1990) Proteins 8, 103-117] because of similarities in the distribution of Lys residues along the polar face of the helix. Class L venoms lyse both eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells whereas class L antibiotics specifically lyse bacteria. The structural basis for the specificity of class L antibiotics is not well understood. Sequence analysis showed that class L antibiotics have a Glu residue on the nonpolar face of the amphipathic helix; this is absent from class L venoms. We synthesized three model class L peptides with or without Glu on the nonpolar face: 18LMG (LGSIWKFIKAFVGGIKKF), [E14]18LMG and [G5,E14]18LMG. Hemolysis, bacteriolysis, and bacteriostasis studies using these peptides showed that the specificity of lysis is due to both the presence of a Glu residue on the nonpolar face of the helix and the bulk of the nonpolar face. Studies using large unilamellar phospholipid vesicles showed that the inclusion of cholesterol greatly inhibited leakage by the two Glu-containing peptides. These results cannot be attributed to changes in the phase behavior of the lipids caused by the inclusion of cholesterol or to differences in the secondary structure of the peptides. These results suggest that eukaryotic cells are resistant to lysis by magainins because of peptide-cholesterol interactions in their membranes that inhibit the formation of peptide structures capable of lysis, perhaps by hydrogen bonding between Glu and cholesterol. Bacterial membranes, lacking cholesterol, are susceptible to lysis by magainins.