Clinical presentation of herpes zoster in a Singapore hospital

The purpose of the study was to give a histological picture of the different skin regions of the mammary gland in mares. Special emphasis on the dark coating in the sulcus intermammarius was given. As a result, the dark pigmented udder skin can be subdivided into the skin of the Corpus mammae, the sulcus intermammarius and the teat skin. In the sulcus intermammarius the whole epidermis was considerably thicker than usual, especially the stratum corneum (up to 70 layers of cornified layers) and the stratum spinosum. In general, the squamous keratinocytes were unusually large. The histological preparations of the coating revealed a stratum corneum instead of a supposed secretion of the sebaceous glands. The dermal papillae ended immediately below the stratum corneum.     

Formation of Mg3Si2O5(OH)4 Nanotubes under Hydrothermal Conditions

The formation of nanotubes of magnesium hydrosilicate Mg₃Si₂O₅(OH)₄ with a chrysotile structure is investigated. It is found that the nanotubes of magnesium hydrosilicate Mg₃Si₂O₅(OH)₄ are formed through different mechanisms depending on the initial state of reactants, the composition of the hydrothermal solution, and temperature. It is shown that the rate of formation of nanotubes is determined by the stability of intermediate compounds, the chemical composition of the reaction mixture, and the synthesis temperature.     

Oral ondansetron for the control of cisplatin-induced delayed emesis: a large, multicenter, double-blind, randomized comparative trial of ondansetron versus placebo

PURPOSE: To investigate the efficacy and safety of oral ondansetron in the control of cisplatin-induced delayed emesis in patients who do not require rescue antiemetic therapy for acute emesis. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Five hundred thirty-eight chemotherapy-naive patients who received cisplatin chemotherapy (> or = 70 mg/m2), and who were not rescued for acute emesis, were eligible to be randomized to receive one of the three oral regimens to control delayed emesis. Group I received placebo on days 2 to 6; group II received ondansetron 8 mg twice daily on days 2 and 3 and placebo on days 4 to 6; group III received ondansetron 8 mg twice daily on days 2 to 6. All patients received intravenous ondansetron (0.15 mg/kg every 4 hours for three doses) for the control of acute emesis on day 1. The number of emetic episodes on days 2 and 3 combined (days 2/3, when incidence and severity of delayed emesis were expected to be greatest) was considered the primary measure of efficacy. RESULTS: Patients who received odansetron had significantly fewer emetic episodes on days 2/3, 4, and 5 than those who received placebo (P < or = .002 on each day). Additionally, significantly more patients who received ondansetron had a complete plus major response (C+MR; < or = two two emetic episodes) than those who received placebo on days 2/3 (56% v 37%, P = .001), 4 (94% v 85%, P = .005), and 5 (98% v 88%, P = .006). Patients who received ondansetron had significantly less nausea on day 2/3 when day-1 nausea was used as the baseline score (P = .025). Patients who received ondansetron also had significantly less nausea on day 4 (P = .042) and the results approached significance on day 5 (P = .066). CONCLUSION: Oral ondansetron had a significant effect in the control of cisplatin-induced delayed emesis and nausea in patients who had not required rescue antiemetics during the acute emesis period. The control of delayed nausea and vomiting was most notable in the immediate 2 days following cisplatin administration, with the clinical difference narrowing between the two treatment arms on subsequent days.     

Activation of BK(Ca) channel via endothelin ET(A) receptors in porcine coronary artery smooth muscle cells

It has been demonstrated previously that endothelin-1 stimulates the Ca2+-activated K+ (BK(Ca)) channel activity in porcine coronary artery smooth muscle cells. The purpose of the present study was to delineate the endothelin receptor subtype involved in this action. In receptor binding studies, [125I]endothelin-1 was shown to bind to the homogenate of porcine primary coronary artery smooth muscle cells in a single class of binding sites with K(D) and Bmax values of 73 pM and 99 fmol/mg protein, respectively. Furthermore, endothelin-1 and endothelin-3 displaced the binding of [125I]endothelin-1 to these cells with respective IC50 values of 70 and 17000 pM, a 240-fold difference in potency. The effects of endothelin-3 on the activity of the BK(Ca) channel in porcine coronary artery smooth muscle cells were examined using the cell-attached patch-clamp technique. Similar to endothelin-1, endothelin-3 also exhibited a bell-shaped concentration-response curve. A maximal increase of 95% in channel open-state probability (Po) was induced by 100 nM endothelin-3 as compared with the 320% increase in Po by 1 nM endothelin-1. Thus, endothelin-1 was about 100-fold more potent and 3.4-fold more efficacious than endothelin-3 in this action. Both the receptor binding and the electrophysiological results suggest that the effects of endothelins on the BK(Ca) channel are mediated through the endothelin ET(A) receptor subtype.     

The relaxation of the neutral state of manganese in gallium arsenide

Results of investigations of the longitudinal magnetic relaxation of the neutral state of the Mn⁰ center in GaAs are presented. Relaxation mechanisms were determined from the broadening of the electron-spinresonance line in the temperature range of 3.4–8.2 K and from the variation in the nuclear relaxation rate in the range of 36–310 K. The nuclear relaxation investigation demonstrates that the electron relaxation is governed by the interaction between lattice vibrations and local vibrations of the center. This allows one to represent the electron relaxation at low temperatures as the consequence of anharmonicity of local vibrations of the electron dipole moment of the Mn⁰ center.     

Sequential addition of temperature-sensitive missense mutations into the PB2 gene of influenza A transfectant viruses can effect an increase in temperature sensitivity and attenuation and permits the rational design of a genetically engineered live influenza A virus vaccine

We have previously described a strategy for the recovery of a synthetic influenza A virus wild-type (wt) PB2 gene (derived from influenza A/Ann Arbor/6/60 [AA] virus) into an infectious virus. It was possible to introduce an attenuating temperature-sensitive (ts) mutation at amino acid residue 265 of the AA wt PB2 gene and to rescue this mutant gene into infectious virus. Application of this new technology to influenza A virus vaccine development requires that multiple attenuating mutations be introduced to achieve a satisfactorily attenuated virus that retains the attenuation (att) phenotype following replication in vivo. In this report, we demonstrate that putative ts mutations at amino acids 112, 556, and 658 each indeed specify the ts and att phenotypes. Each of these mutations was introduced into a cDNA copy of the AA mutant mt265 PB2 gene to produce three double-mutant PB2 genes, each of which was rescued into an infectious virus. In general, the double-mutant PB2 transfectant viruses were more ts and attenuated in the lower respiratory tracts of hamsters than the single-mutant transfectant viruses, and the ts phenotype of two of three double-mutant PB2 transfectant viruses was stable even after prolonged replication in the upper respiratory tracts of immunocompromised mice. Two triple-mutant PB2 transfectant viruses with three predicted amino acid substitutions resulting from five nucleotide substitutions in the cDNA were then generated. The triple-mutant PB2 transfectant viruses were more ts and more attenuated than the double-mutant PB2 transfectant viruses. These results indicate that sequential introduction of additional ts mutations into the PB2 gene can yield mutants that exhibit a stepwise increase in temperature sensitivity and attenuation compared with the preceding mutant(s) in the series. Furthermore, the level of temperature sensitivity of the transfectant viruses correlated significantly with the level of attenuation of these viruses in hamsters. Although the triple-mutant PB2 transfectant viruses were attenuated in hamsters, intranasal administration of these viruses elicited a vigorous serum hemagglutination-inhibiting antibody response, and this was associated with resistance of the lower respiratory tract to subsequent wt virus challenge. These observations suggest the feasibility of using PB2 reverse genetics to generate a live influenza A virus vaccine donor strain that contains three attenuating mutations in one gene. It is predicted that reassortant viruses derived from such a donor virus would have the properties of attenuation, genetic stability, immunogenicity, and protective efficacy against challenge with wt virus.     

Use of X-Ray Thickness Gauges in Manufacturing Rolled Non-Ferrous Metals

A technique of taking into account modifications of the chemical composition of alloys in measuring the thickness of rolled non-ferrous metal products by X-ray thickness gauges is described. The possibilities and perspectives of using RIT10 X-ray thickness gauges in rolling mills with a wide assortment of treated non-ferrous metals and their alloys are demonstrated. The accuracy reached in measurements of tested objects of different thicknesses and chemical compositions is estimated and factors affecting the accuracy of device readings are indicated.