Maternal iodine status and thyroid volume during pregnancy: correlation with neonatal iodine intake

Differences in pregnancy-associated alterations in thyroid volume and urinary iodine (UI) excretion have been attributed to geographical variations in dietary iodine intake. In this study, ultrasound-measured thyroid volume and UI excretion were assessed during the 3 trimesters of pregnancy, at delivery, and at 6 weeks postpartum. Urine specimens also were obtained from mothers and both breast- and formula-feeding infants at 3 days after delivery. Thyroid volume showed a significant increase (maximum 47.0%), compared with nonpregnant control values over the 3 trimesters of pregnancy, which occurred as early as the first trimester and was paralleled by increased UI excretion, followed in turn by a precipitous fall at delivery. UI excretion in breast-feeding neonates (100 +/- 6.8 micrograms/L) was significantly higher than in their mothers (76 +/- 5.6 micrograms/L; p < 0.01) but was significantly lower (43 +/- 3.5 micrograms/L) in formula-fed infants. The results suggest that in an area of moderate dietary iodine intake, UI loss during pregnancy may result in maternal thyroid enlargement. The ability of the breast to transport iodine compensates for this loss in breast-fed infants, but this protection may be lost in formula feeding.     

Childhood cancer and parental use of tobacco: deaths from 1971 to 1976

Parental smoking data have been reabstracted from the interview records of the Oxford Survey of Childhood Cancers (deaths from 1971 to 1976). Reported smoking habits for the parents of 2587 children who died with cancer were compared with similar information for the parents of 2587 healthy controls (matched pairs analysis). Maternal daily consumption of cigarettes and paternal use of pipes or cigars were unimportant, but there was a statistically significant positive trend between paternal daily consumption of cigarettes and the risk of childhood cancer (P < 0.001). This association could not be explained by maternal smoking, social class, parental ages at the birth of the survey child, sibship position or obstetric radiography. Relations between maternal consumption of cigarettes and birth weights suggested that (maternal) smoking data were equally reliable for case and control subjects. About 14% of all childhood cancers in this series could be attributable to paternal smoking. These data were combined with smoking data from two previously published reports from the Oxford Survey (deaths from 1953 to 1955, deaths from 1977 to 1981) to obtain further information on risks for different types of cancer and different ages at onset of disease. Paternal cigarette smoking emerged as a potential risk factor both for the generality of childhood cancer and for all ages at onset.     

Synchronization-Sensitive Frame Estimation: Video Quality Enhancement

Network transmission is liable to errors and data loss. In movie transmission, packets of video frames are subject to loss or even explicit elimination for many reasons including congestion handling and the achievement of higher compression. Not only does the loss of video frames cause significant reduction in video quality, but it could also cause a loss of synchronization between the audio and video streams. If not corrected, this cumulative loss can seriously degrade the motion picture's quality beyond viewers' tolerance. In this paper, we study and classify the effect of audio-video de-synchronization. Afterwards, we develop and examine the performance and appropriateness of the application of many client-based techniques in the estimation of lost frames using the existing received frames, without the need for retransmissions or error control information. The estimated frames are injected at their appropriate locations in the movie stream to restore the loss. The objective is to enhance video quality by finding a very close estimate to the original frames at a suitable computation cost, and to contribute to the restoration of synchronization within the tolerance level of viewers.     

Nitric oxide is present in exhaled breath in humans: direct GC-MS confirmation

The physiological role of nitric oxide (NO) is being investigated in many experimental and clinical settings. There is considerable evidence that NO is involved in the regulation of lung vascular function. In addition there are many studies reporting the beneficial effect of NO inhalation. NO formed from L-Arginine has been detected in exhaled breath using indirect mass spectrometry and chemiluminescence. Both methods provided good evidence for the presence of NO in breath samples but were not unequivocal. We therefore developed a method using gas-chromatography-mass spectrometry which allowed us to measure trace levels of NO in air and breath. Eight healthy volunteers supplied numerous breath samples for analysis. A clear peak for nitric oxide was observed in seven volunteers. The mean level was 13ppb (n = 7, range < 2 to 19ppb). This data is in good agreement with our previous data and unequivocally confirms the presence of nitric oxide in human breath.     

Coenzyme Q10 and adriamycin toxicity in mice

Pretreatment for four days with coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) significantly lowered the acute toxicity in female C3H/HeNCrlBR mice given moderately lethal (15.0 and 20.0 mg/kg) i.p. doses of adriamycin as well as in male ICR/Hla mice given 12.5 mg/kg i.p. adriamycin. In both strains of mice, CoQ10 pretreatment did not protect the mice at higher i.p. adriamycin dose levels. When adriamycin was administered by the clinically-used i.v. route, CoQ10 pretreatment did not reduce acute toxicity at moderately lethal doses in either strain. At higher i.v. adriamycin dose levels, CoQ10 pretreatment significantly enhanced acute toxicity. CoQ10 pretreatment did not alter the antitumor effectiveness of adriamycin (i.p. or i.v.) against the Dunn osteosarcoma.     

Increase of NAD(P)H:quinone reductase by dietary antioxidants: possible role in protection against carcinogenesis and toxicity

2(3)-tert-Butyl-4-hydroxyanisole (BHA) is one of several widely used antioxidant food additives that protect against chemical carcinogenesis and toxicity. The present report concerns the enhancement of dicoumarol-inhibited NAD(P)H:quinone reductase [NAD(P)H dehydrogenase (quinone); NAD(P)H:(quinone acceptor) oxidoreductase, EC 1.6.99.2] activity in mouse tissues in response to dietary administration of BHA. Cytosolic quinone reductase specific activity was increased significantly in 10 of 15 tissues examined from BHA-fed mice. The greatest proportionate increase, to 10 times control levels, was observed in liver. BHA also increased the quinone reductase activities of kidney, lung, and the mucosa of the upper small intestine severalfold. The increases of quinone reductase activities in liver and digestive tissues in response to BHA were comparable to the increases previously observed in glutathione S-transferase (EC 2.5.1.18) and epoxide hydratase (EC 3.3.2.3) activities. Quinones are among the toxic products of oxidative metabolism of aromatic hydrocarbons. NAD(P)H:quinone reductase exhibits broad specificity for structurally diverse hydrophobic quinones and may facilitate the microsomal metabolism of quinones to readily excreted conjugates. The protective effects of BHA appear to be due, at least in part, to the ability of this antioxidant to increase the activities in rodent tissues of several enzymes involved in the nonoxidative metabolism of a wide variety of xenobiotics.     

Detection of Salmonella in dry foods using refrigerated pre-enrichment and enrichment broth cultures: summary of collaborative study

A collaborative study was conducted to compare the productivity of refrigerated pre-enrichment and enrichment broth cultures with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration culture methods for detection of Salmonella. The refrigerated pre-enrichment and selective enrichment broth culture methods for detection of Salmonella in dry foods have been adopted first action by AOAC INTERNATIONAL.