A simple method for labeling lipids in the bile lipoprotein

A simple method is proposed for the specific radioactive labeling of phosphatidylcholines and cholesterol in the bile lipoprotein complex. It can be used for human and animal bile samples and results in labeling with the desired specific radioactivity and position. Experiments which determined the intermicellar concentration of lipid constituents suggested that incorporation of radioactive lipids could occur through small dialyzable structures termed mixed premicelles in therm odynamic equilibrium with the bile lipoprotein complex.     

Relative toxicity of pyrolysis gases from materials: Specific toxicants and special studies

Various aspects of Pyrolysis gas toxicity studies at the University of San Francisco are discussed. Animal response data can be used to establish patterns which would help identify specific toxicants by their mode of action. Reference time-concentration curves for individual gaseous toxicants can be used to permit deduction of importance of these toxicants in complex mixtures of toxic gases. These techniques can be used to identify cause and mechanisms of toxicity without significant additional cost. The versatility and economy of the basic test permits rapid survey of test variables to identify potential problem situations.     

Impact of comorbid depressive symptoms on neuropsychological performance in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

There is indirect evidence from previous research that several executive disturbances in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are mediated by comorbid depressive symptoms. For the present study, the authors investigated whether OCD patients with elevated Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD; M. Hamilton, 1967) scores would exhibit deficits in tasks sensitive to the medial and dorsolateral frontal cortex as well as other executive tasks. The 36 OCD patients were split along the median according to their HRSD scores and compared with matched control subjects. Patients with high HRSD scores performed significantly worse than control subjects and patients with low HRSD scores on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (J. Loong, 1990), the Trail-Making Test (TMT, Part B; R. M. Reitan, 1992), and the TMT difference score. Moreover, patients with high HRSD scores exhibited deficits on a (creative) verbal fluency task. It is suggested that comorbid depressive symptoms may have artificially inflated some executive deficit scores in previous studies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

T-cell malignancies in Brazil. Clinico-pathological and molecular studies of HTLV-I-positive and -negative cases

T-cell malignancies in Brazil have a high seroprevalence rate of HTLV-I antibodies. We have analyzed the disease features in 188 Brazilian patients with a T-cell disorder. These included 40 with T-lymphoblastic leukaemia or lymphoma (T-ALL/T-LbLy) and 148 with mature T-cell diseases: 5 T-prolymphocytic leukaemia, 53 adult T-cell leukaemia/lymphoma (ATLL), 54 cutaneous T-cell lymphomas, 29 pleomorphic T-cell lymphomas and 7 large granular lymphocyte leukaemia. The diagnosis was based on clinical, morphological and immunological features and HTLV-I serology. ATLL in Brazil has the same diseases features as in other endemic regions, the only apparent differences being: age, Brazilian patients being younger than Japanese, and ethnic grouping, one third of Brazilians being white Caucasians of European descent. We applied a scoring system based on the presence or absence of typical features associated with ATLL; hypercalcaemia, cell morphology, immunophenotype, histopathology and HTLV-I status, to see whether it may help in diagnosing cases of ATLL. All had high scores, whereas all other T-cell diseases scored low. Only 5 ATLL cases were HTLV-I-negative by serology, but they had otherwise typical features of ATLL, and their cells did not have HTLV-I proviral sequences by DNA analysis. Such cases suggest that ATLL may develop in a minority of individuals living in regions where it is endemic, without evidence of HTLV-I infection, and that other factors may contribute to the pathogenesis of the disease.     

L'imipramine dans le traitement par exposition de l'agoraphobie: Un examen critique de la littérature.

Reviews several studies on the use of imipramine and exposure-based methods for the treatment of agoraphobia. The overall results of this literature review indicate that combined imipramine–exposure treatment is superior to imipramine pharmacotherapy alone. A table listing authors, Ss, experimental conditions, measurement techniques, and results of 10 studies on agoraphobia is provided. (English abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Etude electrochimique de la corrosion d'acier massif et d'acier fritte,en milieu acide sulfurique,avant et apres chromisation

Chemical vapor deposition (C.V.D.) of chromium on bulk steel and on sintered steel, increases the corrosion resistance at first sight, if results of potentiokinetic polarisation in a normal sulfuric acid solution are only considered. Nevertheless a decrease of the polarisation resistance and a localized corrosion occur on chromised samples after a few hours of immersion in acid solution.     

Motor vehicle collision risk and driving under the influence of cannabis: evidence from adolescents in Atlantic Canada

OBJECTIVE: Employing a sample of 6087 senior students in Atlantic Canada, this paper examines the relationship between driving under the influence of cannabis (DUIC) and motor vehicle collision (MVC) risk. A series of models were analyzed adjusting for demographic characteristics, driver experience, and substance use. METHODS: Participants were drawn from the 2002/2003 Student Drug Use Survey in the Atlantic Provinces, an anonymous cross-sectional survey of adolescent students in the Atlantic provinces of Canada. Logistic regression techniques were employed in the analysis of unadjusted and adjusted models. RESULTS: Among senior students, the prevalence of DUIC in the past year was 15.1% while the prevalence of MVCs was 8.1%. The predictors of DUIC were gender, driver experience, use of a fake ID, and driving under the influence of alcohol (DUIA). The predictors of MVC were gender, driver experience, DUIC, and DUIA. CONCLUSIONS: These findings extend our knowledge of DUIC as a socio-legal and public health issue with implications on road safety. Effort must be placed on educating new drivers about cannabis use in the context of driving.