Clinimetrics of postural instability in Parkinson's disease

Judgement of the ability to recover balance after a sudden shoulder pull is used as a clinical measure of postural instability in Parkinson's disease. To further evaluate its merits, we compared this 'retropulsion test' with dynamic posturography in 23 Parkinson patients. Dynamic posturography involved 20 serial 'toe-up' support surface rotations, which induced backward body sway. We found a moderate correlation (Spearman's p = 0.54; P < 0.05) between the retropulsion test and body sway after platform rotations during the 'off' phase, but no correlation during the 'on' phase (Spearman's p = 0.43; P = 0.11). These results cast doubt on the use of the retropulsion test as a measure of postural instability in Parkinson's disease.     

High-frequency, spin-label EPR of nonaxial lipid ordering and motion in cholesterol-containing membranes

The EPR spectra of spin-labeled lipid chains in fully hydrated bilayer membranes of dimyristoyl phosphatidylcholine containing 40 mol % of cholesterol have been studied in the liquid-ordered phase at a microwave radiation frequency of 94 GHz. At such high field strengths, the spectra should be optimally sensitive to lateral chain ordering that is expected in the formation of in-plane domains. The high-field EPR spectra from random dispersions of the cholesterol-containing membranes display very little axial averaging of the nitroxide g-tensor anisotropy for lipids spin labeled toward the carboxyl end of the sn-2 chain (down to the 8-C atom). For these positions of labeling, anisotropic 14N-hyperfine splittings are resolved in the gzz and gyy regions of the nonaxial EPR spectra. For positions of labeling further down the lipid chain, toward the terminal methyl group, the axial averaging of the spectral features systematically increases and is complete at the 14-C atom position. Concomitantly, the time-averaged element of the 14N-hyperfine tensor decreases, indicating that the axial rotation at the terminal methyl end of the chains arises from correlated torsional motions about the bonds of the chain backbone, the dynamics of which also give rise to a differential line broadening of the 14N-hyperfine manifolds in the gzz region of the spectrum. These results provide an indication of the way in which lateral ordering of lipid chains in membranes is induced by cholesterol.     

Evaluation of the role of the Yersinia pestis plasminogen activator and other plasmid-encoded factors in temperature-dependent blockage of the flea

Yersinia pestis, the plague bacillus, has a plasminogen activator (pla) gene on the 9.5-kb plasmid pPla that is hypothesized to play a role in producing the foregut blockage in the flea vector that precedes transmission. In this study, however, Y. pestis that lacked pPla, the 70-kb virulence plasmid, or both plasmids, proved able to block Xenopsylla cheopis fleas normally. Blockage rates decreased with increasing environmental temperature for fleas infected with either wild type or pPla- Y. pestis. Thus, procoagulant ability of the Y. pestis pla gene product does not mediate blockage, nor does its ability to induce fibrinolysis at>28 degreesC account for failure to block at elevated temperatures. A Y. pestis strain that lacked all or part of the third plasmid of 110 kb, however, failed to colonize the flea midgut normally, indicating that one or more genes on the large plasmid may be required for vectorborne transmission.     

Comparison of electrical profiles from hot and cold implantations of zinc ions into GaAs

Hole concentration and mobility profiles have been measured as a function of dose for 450 keV zinc ions implanted into GaAs. For doses above 1014 ions/cm2 implanted at 200°C very broad profiles were obtained suggesting that significant indiffusion has occurred. However, much narrower profiles were obtained after implanting at room temperature. Peak hole concentrations were in the range 1018?1019 holes/cm3.     

A study of the vascular and acid-secretory responses of the rat gastric mucosa to histamine

1. The effects of histamine on gastric mucosal blood flow in the presence and absence of gastric acid secretion were studied in the rat. 2. Histamine, in doses greater than those required to stimulate maximal acid secretion, caused a small increase in mucosal blood flow per unit acid output. 3. When acid secretion was inhibited by methyl analogues of prostaglandin E2, histamine reduced arterial blood pressure and gave a dose dependent rise in mucosal blood flow. 4. When acid secretion was inhibited by the histamine H2-receptor antagonists, burimamide and metiamide, histamine still increased mucosal blood flow. 5. The use of H1-receptor antagonists to inhibit the histamine-induced hyperaemia was made difficult by their vasodilator actions. 6. The selective histamine H2-receptor agonist, 4-methyl histamine, had no effect on arterial blood pressure in doses which stimulated acid secretion. The increase in mucosal blood flow which accompanied the stimulation of acid secretion was inhibited by the anti-secretory prostaglandins and H2-receptor antagonists. 7. The selective histamine H1-receptor agonist, 2-pyridyl ethylamine, had no effect on acid output but increased resting mucosal blood flow. 8. These results suggest that histamine H2-receptors, primarily concerned with acid secretion, and H1-receptors concerned with vasodilatation are both present in the rat gastric mucosa.     

Effect of cetylpyridinium chloride on pathogenic fungi and Nocardia asteroides in sputum

The effect of cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC) on pathogenic fungi and Nocardia asteroides was studied. Sputa seeded with each of 11 organisms (Aspergillus flavus; Aspergillus fumigatus, Blastomyces dermatitidis, Candida albicans, Coccidioides immitis, Cryptococcus neoformans, Geotrichum candidum, Histoplasma capsulatum; Nocardia asteroides, Paracoccidioides brasiliensis, and Sporothrix schenckii) were treated with CPC and kept for 2, 5 and 9 days. The CPC reagent used (0.5% CPC and 0.5% sodium chloride) is one the Mycobacteriolgoy Branch at the Center for Disease Control added to sputa before shipping them to laboratories for recovery of mycobacteria. None of the organisms tested survived this treatment, and none was recovered on mycological or mycobacteriological media. Seeded sputa containing these organisms were also tested with a second CPC reagent (0.02% CPC and 0.5% sodium chloride) and held for 2, 5 and 9 days. A few colonies of A. flavus, A. fumigatus, and N. asteroides were recovered from these samples. Neither the morphology of the fungi nor their stainability by the fluorescent antibody method was affected by treatment with the reagent containing 0.5% CPC. However, the background material in smears from the 0.5% CPC-treated samples retained the conjugate, and this made weakly fluorescing organisms more difficult to detect. The 0.5% CPC treatment did not alter the morphology of N. asteroides or its ability to be stained with Kinyoun acid-fast stain.     

Oral and intramuscular phenytoin

After presenting the topographical and pathological basis for the habitual luxation of the shoulder joint, our experience with the Bankart-Müller operation on 38 of our own patients was described. The results are characterized as very good, particularly two years and longer after the operation.     

Immunocytochemical studies on Schistosoma mansoni. II. Soluble cercarial antigens in cercarial and schistosomules

The localization of soluble, cercarial antigen preparation (CAP) in cercariae and schistosomules of Schistosoma mansoni was performed at the light and electron microscope levels using the unlabeled antibody method. Reaction produce was observed associated with the contents of the pre- and postacetabular glands and with the filamentous coat of mature cercariae. No reaction product was observed associated with the glycoacalyx of schistosomules. However, several schistosomules did retain remnants of their filamentous coats and reaction product was observed associated with those remains. CAP components were also observed in the area surrounding the intrasporocyst cercariae.