Selection of serum deproteinization methods

Dentists are often called upon to perform painful procedures on children. This may present a management problem for the practitioner who is unfamiliar with accepted behavioural management techniques or prescribing analgesics for paediatric patients. This article will review techniques that may be used to guide a child patient's behaviour through painful procedures as well as addressing the need for post-operative analgesics in the paediatric population.     

Health status of the over 60 years of age population and its relationship with sociodemographic factors (ANCO Project)

OBJECTIVE: To describe the health status of a population over 60 years and to study their relationship with several socio-demographic variables. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study, population based. SETTINGS: A community. PARTICIPANTS: A randomized sample of 1,103 non institutionalized people over 60 years living in the city of Cordoba (Spain). MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: By mean of a personal interview at home we used the OARS-MFAQ-VE questionnaire. Low self-rated health was associated with the age, to be female sex, a low cultural background, and a low income. Only 5.2% of the study people do not suffered any illness and 56% state that their health problems are major problems for doing their current activities. 4.9% declared to have some degree of physical incapacity. 3.7% of elderly population has an important cognitive deficit. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of elderly people has good health. Age is related with a poor health. Women have more health problems than men.     

Cryptococcosis in tree shrews (Tupaia tana and Tupaia minor) and elephant shrews (Macroscelides proboscides)

OBJECTIVE: To determine the relation between metabolic and anthropometric parameters and circulating leptin concentrations in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). DESIGN AND PATIENTS: Correlation of fasting serum leptin concentrations with anthropometric measures and multiple metabolic parameters including insulin and glucose responses to a 2-hour 75-g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) in 85 women with PCOS (17-36 years, body mass index (BMI) 29.9 +/- 0.9 kg/m2, mean +/- SD) and 18 control women (25-47 years, BMI 25 +/- 1.7 kg/m2). Diagnostic criteria for PCOS: characteristic ovarian morphology on ultrasound plus at least two of (1) elevated serum testosterone; (2) elevated serum androstenedione; and (3) reduced serum SHBG concentrations. MEASUREMENTS: Concentrations of androgens, lipids, PRL, gonadotrophins, and leptin were measured in the baseline fasting blood sample from an OGTT. Insulin and glucose were measured throughout OGTT. Serum leptin concentrations were measured by radioimmunoassay. RESULTS: Log leptin levels in the PCOS group correlated significantly with BMI (r = 0.85, P < 0.0001) and with 8 other parameters including waist/hip ratio (r = 0.51, P = 0.0005). By stepwise regression analysis, only BMI (P < 0.0001) and plasma high density lipoprotein concentration (P = 0.02) were independently correlated with log leptin levels, both positively. There was no effect of fat distribution, as measured by waist/ hip ratio, on leptin concentrations. Comparison of control subjects to a BMI-matched subgroup of 55 PCOS subjects revealed significantly higher circulating concentrations of LH, testosterone, DHEAS, progesterone and androstenedione, and higher glucose and insulin responses to OGTT in the PCOS group. Leptin levels were not different between the PCOS subgroup and control group (14.8 +/- 1.3 vs 12.1 +/- 2.3 micrograms/l, mean +/- SE, P = 0.26) and the relation of BMI to leptin levels determined by linear regression analysis also did not differ between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that circulating leptin concentrations in women with PCOS, a condition characterized by hyperandrogenaemia, increased LH concentrations and insulin resistance, are strongly related to BMI and not independently affected by circulating levels of insulin, gonadotrophins or sex hormones.     

Site-specific endonucleases RspLKI and RspLKII from Rhodococcus species LK2 are isoschizomers of SphI and BamHI

Two site-specific endonucleases, RspLKI and RspLKII, have been isolated and purified to functional homogeneity from the soil bacterium Rhodococcus species LK2. RspLKI recognizes the 5'-GCATG decreases C-3' DNA sequence and RspLKII recognizes the 5'-G decreases GATCC-3' sequence (arrows indicate DNA cleavage sites). The isolated enzymes are class II site specific endonucleases and are isoschizomers of endonucleases SphI and BamHI, respectively.     

Resection of the right middle lobe and lingula for mycobacterial infection

BACKGROUND: In a series of 229 patients infected with mycobacterial organisms, we noted a specific female phenotype that involves isolated infections of the middle lobe and lingula. METHODS: Thirteen patients were found to have infections of the middle lobe, lingula, or both. All of them were infected with Mycobacterium other then Mycobacterium tuberculosis, all were women, 12 of the 13 were slender, and most had variable combinations of skeletal abnormalities. All underwent resection of the middle lobe, lingula, or both. RESULTS: There were no operative deaths. Only 2 patients have had reactivation requiring additional antibiotic therapy. All patients have had a decreased number of pulmonary infections in the postoperative period. Anatomic findings at operation included a complete major fissure and at least a partially complete minor fissure with middle lobe resections or an elongated lingula. CONCLUSIONS: Mycobacterial infection of the middle lobe and lingula is primarily a disease of asthenic women and is often associated with skeletal abnormalities and complete fissures or an elongated lingula. We recommend that surgical intervention be performed early once the condition is identified.     

Incorporating social support into a community-wide smoking-cessation contest

Exposure to foreign particles sometimes causes inflammatory reactions through production of cytokines and chemoattractants by phagocytic cells. In this study, we focused on macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) to evaluate its pathophysiological role in the phagocytic process. Immunohistochemical analysis of human pseudosynovial tissues retrieved at revision of total hip arthroplasty showed that infiltrating mononuclear and multinuclear cells were positively stained by both an anti-CD68 antibody and anti-human MIF antibody. For in vitro study, MIF was released from murine macrophage-like cells (RAW 264.7) in response to phagocytosis of fluorescent-latex beads in a particle dose-dependent manner. Northern blot analysis showed marked elevation of the MIF mRNA level in the phagocytic macrophage-like cells. Moreover, pretreatment of RAW 264.7 cells with rat recombinant MIF increased the extent of phagocytosis by 1.6-fold compared with the control. Taken together, these results suggest that MIF plays an important role by activating macrophages in autocrine and paracrine fashion to phagocytose foreign particles.     

Reaction time during cocaine versus alcohol withdrawal: longitudinal measures of visual and auditory suppression

Visual and auditory stimulus discrimination tasks, analogous to those used in the Reitan-Klove Sensory Perceptual Examination, were performed by 12 cocaine-dependent and 5 alcohol-dependent patients after 1 week, 3 weeks, and 3 months of verified abstinence. Sixteen control subjects, who were not substance-dependent, performed the same tasks after comparable intervals. During each task, either visual or auditory stimuli were presented in the left, in the right, or in both sensory fields. A simple key press was made to discriminate these conditions. Cocaine-dependent patients responded more slowly than control subjects during both tasks. The reaction-time slowing persisted across all three sessions, spanning a 3-month period of abstinence. There were no significant differences between the cocaine-dependent and control groups in response accuracy. In the context of other findings, these findings are interpreted as reflecting an enduring effect of prior cocaine dependence on motor as opposed to sensory functioning.     

Stress and the immune system: preliminary observations in rheumatoid arthritis using an in vivo marker of immune activity

This study measured volumetric liver blood flow and galactose clearance concurrently during orthotopic liver transplant in human subjects. Ultrasound transit time flowmeters measured hepatic artery and portal vein flow 1-3 h after reperfusion. Galactose (100 mg/min) was infused over 45-60 min to steady state for calculation of clearance. Mean +/- S.D. total volumetric flow was 1966 +/- 831 ml/min with portal flow contributing 86%. Mean galactose clearance was 1988 +/- 641 ml/min. There was a significant correlation (p < 0.05, r = 0.61) between volumetric total liver blood flow and galactose clearance. The data show that: (i) the newly transplanted liver is capable of metabolizing galactose within 1-3 h of reperfusion; and (ii) liver blood flow is high in the newly implanted liver. The clinical importance of this observation is that there is increased clearance of high first pass substances by the transplanted liver which may be of importance in patient management.     

Outbreak of serogroup C meningococcal disease associated with campus bar patronage

Between February 1991 and April 1992, eight undergraduates at a US residential university and one at a nearby 2-year college contracted serogroup C meningococcal disease. A case-control investigation with 20 controls per case, oropharyngeal carriage surveys, and multilocus enzyme electrophoresis (MEE) of serogroup C isolates were used to identify factors contributing to the outbreak. All eight sterile-site isolates from cases were closely related by MEE and were similar (though not identical) to the strain associated with the 1991-1992 epidemic of meningococcal disease in eastern Canada. Disease was associated with cigarette smoking (p = 0.012), recent patronage of campus-area bars (p = 0.034), estimated amount of time spent in campus-area bars (p = 0.0003), and, especially, recent patronage of one specific bar, bar A (p = 0.0006; odds ratio = 23.1, 95% confidence interval 3.0-571.5). In carriage surveys, 1,528 throat cultures taken from (primarily student) noncases yielded only five (0.3%) strains that were identical by MEE to those from cases. Two of these were found among 22 cultures obtained from bar A employees in spring 1992. Some cases in this outbreak may have followed transmission of the epidemic strain in bar A. Campus bar environments may facilitate the spread of meningococcal disease among teenagers and young adults.