Using the Internet to engage youth in health promotion

A vector was selected for homologous recombination to generate mouse embryonic stem cell clones with disrupted platelet-derived growth factor A (PDGF-A) chain gene. A chimeric mouse with targeted PDGF-A gene has been created.     

When do health care decisions discriminate against persons with disabilities?

Recent interpretations of laws prohibiting discrimination against persons with disabilities indicate that these laws will play a greater role in health care decision making than previously anticipated. This article employs lessons from other areas of antidiscrimination law to examine these developments and to provide a framework for making health care decisions that are consistent with these new legal interpretations. This article addresses decisions in individual cases, treatment policies adopted by health care providers, and coverage programs of third-party payers, both public and private.     

Detection of bacteriocins of lactic acid bacteria isolated from foods and comparison with pediocin and nisin

A total of 663,533 colonies from 72 dairy and meat sources showed a detection rate of 0.2% for bacteriocin producers using direct plating techniques. A further 83,000 colonies from 40 fish and vegetable sources showed a detection rate of 3.4% for bacteriocin producers using selective enrichment procedures. A collection of seven purified isolates showing a different host spectrum of bacteriocin activity and with the ability to produce bacteriocins in broth culture were compared with nisin and pediocin (with respect to their inhibitory activity, determined by the critical dilution method), against various indicator bacteria in agar and broth. The sensitivity of Listeria species to various bacteriocins was influenced by the agar and broth test systems used. A Lactobacillus curvatus strain was found to be the most suitable indicator for quantitating antimicrobial effects of all the bacteriocins investigated in both agar and broth test systems. The bacteriocin-producing isolates were characterized by biochemical reactions and DNA restriction enzyme profiles and taxonomic identification revealed species of Lactobacillus, Carnobacterium and Lactococcus assigned on the basis of 16S rDNA sequences.     

Autologous hapten-modified melanoma vaccine as postsurgical adjuvant treatment after resection of nodal metastases

PURPOSE: To determine whether treatment with an autologous whole-cell vaccine modified with the hapten dinitrophenyl (DNP vaccine) is an effective postsurgical adjuvant treatment for melanoma patients with clinically evident nodal metastases. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Eligible patients had regional nodal metastases that were large enough (> or = 3 cm diameter) to prepare vaccine. Following standard lymphadenectomy, patients were treated with DNP vaccine on a monthly or weekly schedule. RESULTS: Of 62 patients with metastasis in a single lymph node bed (stage III), 36 are alive after a median follow-up time of 55 months (range, 29 to 76); the projected 5-year relapse-free and overall survival rates are 45% and 58%, respectively. Of 15 patients with metastases in two nodal sites, five are alive with a median follow-up time of 73 months. An unexpected finding was the significantly better survival of older patients; the projected 5-year survival of patients greater than 50 versus < or = 50 years was 71% and 47%, respectively (P = .011, log-rank test). The development of a positive delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) response to unmodified autologous melanoma cells was associated with significantly longer 5-year survival (71% v 49%; P = .031). Finally, the median survival time from date of first recurrence was significantly longer for patients whose subcutaneous recurrence exhibited an inflammatory response (> 19.4 v 5.9 months; P < .001). CONCLUSION: Postsurgical adjuvant therapy with autologous DNP-modified vaccine appears to produce survival rates that are markedly higher than have been reported with surgery alone. Moreover, this approach has some intriguing immunobiologic features that might provide insights into the human tumor-host relationship.     

Delayed development of amiodarone keratopathy in a corneal graft

An asymptomatic 26-year-old woman with mild macrocytic anemia (11.6 g Hb/dl) was studied. All biochemical parameters, bone marrow histology and cytogenetics were normal. The Ham's and sucrose tests were negative. A flow cytometric analysis revealed that CD55 and CD59 staining was absent in 20% and 21% of the granulocytes, but erythrocytes and CD34-positive bone marrow cells were CD55 and CD59 positive. Seven months after the initial study, the patient suffered an episode of hemoglobinuria, with mild anemia, moderate thrombocytopenia and a weak positive sucrose lysis test. A new flow cytometric analysis disclosed an increased percentage of CD55 and CD59 negative granulocytes and a 25% of erythrocytes with an intermediate pattern of fluorescence after CD59 labelling. At fourteen months, a population of CD55-deficient erythrocytes was detected and the Ham's test became positive. The present report is, to our knowledge, the first case of smoldering paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria in a patient with no previous aplastic anemia, or evident pancytopenia. The diagnosis was established by flow cytometry of peripheral blood granulocytes, with apparently phenotipically normal progenitor cells in an early stage of the disease. Flow cytometry appears to be a useful tool in our knowledge of paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria evolution.     

Immunopathogenesis of canine aural haematoma

Data are presented from 15 dogs with aural haematoma. The series included six Labrador retrievers and four golden retrievers and the mean age was 8.0 +/- 3.02 years. Five dogs had evidence of pruritic skin disease and five further cases had other concurrent disease. Haematology and serum biochemistry were normal in 12 and 13 of the 15 dogs, respectively. All dogs were Coombs' negative and serum antinuclear antibody had negative or low titres in all the 11 cases tested. Histopathological examination of biopsies from the affected ears revealed variable degrees of erosion of auricular cartilage with fibrovascular granulation tissue filling the cartilage defects. There was minimal perichondral inflammation. The biopsies were studied by immunohistochemistry for deposition of immunoglobulin G (IgG), immunoglobulin M (IgM) and complement C3. In one dog there was basement membrane zone deposition of IgG and in another there was focal interepithelial deposition of both IgG and IgM. The findings of this study do not support an autoimmune pathogenesis for canine aural haematoma, but suggest that an early immunological event may underlie the observed cartilage erosion.     

Influence of dopamine on GABA release in striatum: evidence for D1-D2 interactions and non-synaptic influences

Serum samples of mice infected with 80 cercariae of Schistosoma mansoni for different time periods (2-20 weeks) were used in this study. It was observed that the concentrations of serum total cholesterol and triacylglycerol decreased significantly (P < 0.001, P < 0.0001 respectively) in infected as compared to control mice starting from the fourth week post infection. Similarly, the concentration of serum high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) decreased significantly (P > 0.001) in infected as compared to control mice. However, the serum lipoproteins profile was variable at different stages of infection. On the other hand, the liver weight increased significantly (P < 0.0001) in infected as compared to control mice starting from the sixth week post infection. These changes might be attributed to several metabolites released by S. mansoni which affect the host hepatic tissue resulting in decreased synthesis of these parameters and their release into the circulation.     

Aversive stimulation during the stress-hyporesponsive period does not affect the number of corticotroph cells in neonatal male rats

Immunohistochemistry was used to evaluate the effects of neonatal handling and aversive stimulation during the first 10 days of life on the number of corticotrophs in the anterior lobe of the pituitary of 11-day-old male Wistar rats. Since adult rats handled during infancy respond with reduced corticosterone secretion in response to stressors and with less behavior inhibition in novel environments, we assumed that neonatal stimulation could affect pituitary morphology during this critical period of cell differentiation. Three groups of animals were studied: intact (no manipulation, N = 5), handled (N = 5) and stimulated (submitted to 3 different aversive stimuli, N = 5). The percentage of ACTH-immunoreactive cells in the anterior lobe of the pituitary (number of ACTH-stained cells divided by total number of cells) was determined by examining three slices per pituitary in which a minimum of 200 cells were counted by two independent researchers. Although animals during the neonatal period are less reactive to stress-like stimulation in terms of ACTH and corticosterone secretion, results showed that the relative number of ACTH-stained cells of neonatal handled (0.25 +/- 0.01) and aversive stimulated (0.29 +/- 0.03) rats was not significantly different from intact (0.30 +/- 0.03) animals. Neonatal stimulation may have a differential effect on the various subpopulations of corticotroph cells in the anterior pituitary.     

Reflex vascular responses to alterations in abdominal arterial pressure and flow in anaesthetized dogs

The existence of abdominal arterial baroreceptors has long been controversial. Previously difficulties have been encountered in localizing a stimulus to abdominal arteries without affecting reflexogenic areas elsewhere. In these experiments, using anaesthetized dogs, the abdomen was vascularly isolated at the level of the diaphragm, perfused through the aorta, and drained from the inferior vena cava to a reservoir. Changes in abdominal arterial pressure were effected by changing the perfusion pump speed. During this procedure the flow back to the animal from the venous outflow reservoir was held constant. Increases and decreases in abdominal arterial pressure resulted, respectively, in decreases and increases in perfusion pressure to a vascularly isolated hind-limb and in some dogs also a forelimb. Responses were significantly larger when carotid sinus pressure was high (120-180 mmHg) than when it was low (60 mmHg). Responses were still obtained after cutting vagus, phrenic and splanchnic nerves, but were abolished by spinal cord lesion at T12. These experiments provide evidence for the existence of abdominal arterial baroreceptors. The afferent pathway for the reflex vasodilatation appears to run in the spinal cord.     

Immunohistochemical localization of novel CART peptides in rat hypothalamus, pituitary and adrenal gland

CART peptide specific polyclonal antisera were raised in rabbits. The antisera were raised to CART peptide fragments that span most of the predicted CART protein. The specificity of each antisera was demonstrated by blockade of immunostaining by the immunizing peptide but not by the other CART peptide fragments. In the hypothalamus and pituitary of colchicine and noncolchicine treated rats, immunostaining was observed in cell bodies, fibers and varicosities. Clusters of cells were also stained in the adrenal medulla. It is noteworthy that cellular immunostaining was only found in areas previously shown to express CART mRNA. These findings indicate the presence of CART peptide(s) in the hypothalamus, pituitary, and adrenal gland. Furthermore, we also present evidence for the possible processing of the CART pro-peptide into smaller peptide fragments. These neuroanatomical findings suggest a role of CART peptides in hypothalamic, pituitary and adrenal function.