Anticonvulsant drug concentrations in epileptic patients

Using Wistar stain male rats, it has been shown that 2 atmospheric pressures associated with oxygen saturation, together or singly for 90 minutes daily for successive 46 days, resulted in no significant change on the ratio of testes to body weight. No significant change was observed in the incorporation of 3H-thymidine into testes and pituitary glands between the pressure-treated groups and the control group.     

Medullary carcinoma of the thyroid

Medullary carcinoma is an unusual malignant neoplasm. The cell of origin is considered to be the C-cell which is derived from the ultimobranchial body and neural crest. The tumor is solid and has characteristic amyloid in the stroma. The lesion usually presents as a neck mass, and multicentricity is not unusual. In some patients diarrhea may be an important presenting symptom. Serum calcitonin is typically elevated and is important in the diagnostic confirmation. About 10 percent of the cases are part of a familial endocrine syndrome which includes pheochromocytomas, mucosal neuromas, and other endocrine gland adenomas. Frequent multicentricity and early cervical lymphatic and systemic metastases necessitate total thyroidectomy and radical neck dissection. Prognosis varies from a rapid demise to long term survival.     

Neural basis for the genesis and control of digitalis arrhythmias

The author discussed the increase in the frequency of traumatic paralyses of the ocular muscles, and reported 6 cases of inferior oblique muscle paresis caused by local blunt or sharp traumas (haematoma, contusion, rupture, incarceration) and one case of traumatic Brownian pseudo-paralysis. The localisation of the injuries in 3 cases was on the inferior temporal part and in the other 3 cases on the superior part of the bulbar conjunctiva. Atypical horizontal deviation and characteristic vertical deviation, torsion and torticollis were observed in the majority of cases. One patient recovered spontaneously. 3 patients became asymptomatic after correction by prisms and one after recession of contralateral superior rectus muscle. The symptoms remained unchanged in the case of a "blow out" fracture (in spite of operation) and a Brown's syndrome (without treatment).     

Tricyclic antidepressants. Prolonged plasma levels after overdose

Twenty-four patients hospitalized for overdose of a tricyclic antidepressant were monitored clinically, and serial plasma-drug measurements were taken for up to 144 hours. Six of 24 patients had maximum antidepressant plasma levels greater than or equal to 1,000 ng/ml, and their plasma levels at 96 hours ranged from 170 to 1,280 ng/ml. Patients ingesting substantial tricyclic overdoses may remain medically unstable for days. When high tricyclic levels persist, accurate psychiatric assessment is often impossible.     

Advanced renal cell carcinoma: treatment with xenogeneic immune ribonucleic acid and appropriate surgical resection

Herein we describe the first clinical treatment of renal cell carcinoma in humans with xenogeneic immune ribonucleic acid. Twelve patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma have been treated by appropriate operations to remove tumor bulk followed by specific passive immunotherapy. Xenogeneic specific immune ribonucleic acid was prepared from the spleen of normal sheep that had received 4 weekly injections of a homogenate of renal cell carcinoma. Results indicate that 1) xenogeneic specific immune ribonucleic acid can safely be given to humans without local or systemic toxicity, 2) there is a suggestion of clinical benefit, since only 2 patients have had progression of known metastases during treatment with immune ribonucleic acid and 3) xenogeneic immune ribonucleic acid can enhance the immune response to renal cell carcinoma, as demonstrated by in vitro lymphocytoxicity tests.     

Platelet density and size: the interpretation of heterogeneity

Platelets have been separated according to buoyant density using a colloidal silica-polyvinylpyrrolidone system and subjected to electronic sizing. All density populations were found to be heterogeneous in size, the most dense platelets ranging from less than 3 fl to greater than 21 fl in both man and rat. Light platelet fractions contained no platelets greater than 13 fl in either species. Cohort labeling with [75Se]selenomethionine showed no indication of significant change in platelet buoyant density with ageing; greater specific activity found in young, dense platelets appears to be related to increased protein synthetic activity shown in vitro and likely to occur also in their precursor megakaryocytes. It is postulated that dense, intermediate and light platelets are released synchronously by the three different ploidy classes of megakaryocyte, that varying density indicates differing structural characteristics and presumably differences in function. The present findings do not deny the possibility that platelets decrease in size with ageing but if such occurs, it is not associated with a significant change in platelet buoyant density.     

Breast-feeding protects against respiratory syncytial virus infections

Eight out of 115 infants admitted to hospital with respiratory syncytial (RS) virus infection had been breast-fed compared with 46 out of 167 controls; this difference was statistically significant. Twenty-one specimens of human colostrum were examined, and all contained RS virus neutralising activity. Specific IgA and IgG were detected in 18 specimens, whereas IgM was detected in none. The titre of IgA antibody was usually higher and correlated more closely to the titre of neutralising activity than that of IgG. Infants inhale milk feeds and regurgitate them through the nose, and the IgA collecting in the respiratory tract might protect against severe respiratory infection. Alternatively, if severe RS virus illness is a sign of hypersensitivity to the virus breast-feeding might protect the infant from an early sensitising infection.     

NMR evidence against covalent attachment of an aldehyde ''transition-state'' analogue to alpha-chymotrypsin

The growth responses of an acetate-utilizing isolate of Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens to CO2, acetate and pyruvate were determined using a chemically-defined medium. Carbon dioxide was essential for growth and both acetate and pyruvate increased growth. 14C from [I-14C]pyruvate appeared predominantly in formate and lactate. These results, together with those obtained with enzyme preparations, indicated pyruvate synthase, pyruvate-CO2 exchange and pyruvate formate lyase to be active.