Fallibility of plasma urea and creatinine as indices of renal function in diarrhoeic calves treated with conventional or nutritional oral rehydration solutions

The prevalence and severity of gingival overgrowth in organ-transplant patients medicated with cyclosporin are greater in patients concomitantly medicated with nifedipine; however, no relationship between the gingival overgrowth and any of the nifedipine pharmacological variables has been demonstrated. The study examined the effect of five nifedipine pharmacological variables (nifedipine dosage, plasma concentration and gingival crevicular fluid concentration, M1 metabolite plasma concentration and the nifedipine: M1 ratio). The effect of the nifedipine variables on the gingival overgrowth score were examined using univariate and multivariate regression analysis. Adjustment for the effect of other risk factors was made by adding the distribution of each of the nifedipine variables in turn to a stepwise regression model containing previously identified risk factors for this condition. Despite the high levels of nifedipine sequestered in the GCF, only the plasma concentration of nifedipine was identified as a risk factor for the severity of gingival overgrowth in these patients (P = 0.01) once adjusted for other known risk factors (R2 for the model = 55%).     

Alcohol consumption by young actively growing rats: a study of cortical bone histomorphometry and mechanical properties

Alcohol consumption by young actively growing rats has been previously demonstrated to decrease cortical and cancellous bone density, to reduce trabecular bone volume, and to inhibit bone growth at the epiphyseal growth plate. This study addresses the action of alcohol on cortical bone growth using histomorphometric techniques and on mechanical properties by three-point bending. Four-week-old, female Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into three groups. Alcohol-treated animals were fed a modified Lieber-DeCarli diet ad libitum containing 35% ethanol-derived calories, whereas the pair-fed animals (weight-matched to ethanol rats) received an isocaloric liquid diet in which maltose-dextrin-substituted calories were supplied by ethanol. Chow animals were fed a standard rat chow ad libitum. Femora were removed for analysis after 2, 4, 6, or 8 weeks on the diets. Cortical bone area, bone formation rates, and mineral apposition rates were reduced in the alcohol-fed animals. Bone stiffness, strength, and energy absorbed to fracture were significantly lower in the alcohol-fed animals. This distinctive alcohol effect was revealed to be caused by lower quality bone tissue as reflected by lower elastic moduli and yield strengths.     

Ultrastructural studies of the ileum neobladder

Of 101 women, 15-50 years of age, presenting with vaginal discharge, 34 had bacterial vaginosis and were randomly assigned to a seven-day course of oral treatment with either erythromycin (0.5 g b.i.d.) or metronidazole (0.4 g b.i.d.) in a single-blind, cross-over study. Treatment failure (> or = three clinical signs of bacterial vaginosis) occurred in 13 (81%) of 16 patients given erythromycin, as compared with three (17%) of 18 women treated with metronidazole (p < 0.001). Persistence of Gardnerella vaginalis, Mobiluncus species and/or Mycoplasma hominis was found in 14 of 16 patients treated with erythromycin, and in four of 16 patients treated with metronidazole. Treatment with metronidazole was successful (< or = two clinical signs of bacterial vaginosis) in eight of 10 cases of erythromycin treatment failure. Neither of two cases of metronidazole treatment failure was cured with erythromycin. At three-month follow-up of 31 women, persistence or recurrence of bacterial vaginosis was diagnosed in 11 cases (36%).     

Behavioural, neurochemical and neuroanatomical effects of chronic postnatal N-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester treatment in neonatal and adult rats

In the present study we evaluated the consequences of interference with nitric oxide synthesis during development on brain function and behaviour in later life. Rat pups received a daily injection of the nitric oxide synthase inhibitor N-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME, 25 mg/kg, s.c.) from postnatal day 0 to 24. At postnatal day 8 L-NAME-treated rats had enlarged and heavier stomachs, while body weights appeared to be reduced. The stomachs were not affected in size and weight anymore at postnatal day 24, whereas the body weights were still reduced by the L-NAME treatment, although they soon recovered after termination of the treatment. At four months-of-age, rats were tested in non-cognitive (open field) and cognitive (Morris water escape, two-way active avoidance) tasks. Open field behaviour of adult rats postnatally treated with L-NAME was not affected. In the water escape task there were no differences between the saline and L-NAME-treated rats in spatial discrimination learning and spatial reversal learning. Furthermore, postnatal L-NAME treatment did not have an effect on the acquisition of the two-way active avoidance task. Subsequently, we tested rat pups during the L-NAME treatment at postnatal day 19 through 24 in the open field and the two-way active avoidance task. L-NAME treatment appeared to increase the behavioural activity in the open field. There was no difference in behaviour in the active avoidance task between saline and L-NAME-treated rats. Biochemical and immunocytochemical studies showed that at postnatal day 8 the basal cyclic GMP level was reduced, while the cyclic GMP formation due to incubation with the nitric oxide donor sodium nitroprusside appeared to be increased in the hippocampus, striatum and frontal cortex of L-NAME-treated rats. Hence, nitric oxide synthase was inhibited whereas the soluble guanylyl cyclase activity may be increased in sensitivity. At postnatal day 24 basal cyclic GMP levels and nitric oxide-mediated cyclic GMP formation in the brain structures of L-NAME-treated rats had normal values again. Taken together, the findings of this study suggest that postnatal inhibition of nitric oxide synthase has profound neurochemical effects during development and may have short-lasting effects on non-cognitive behaviour, but it does not affect behaviour and brain function in later life.