The effect of converting from pravastatin to simvastatin on the pharmacodynamics of warfarin

Glycosylated amino acids and glycosylated human serum albumin reduce nitrite to nitric oxide under anaerobic conditions. The amount of nitric oxide produced was recorded by generation of nitrosoHb from deoxyHb. Without preincubation after the addition of sodium nitrite, glucose or a mixture of glucose with amino acid or serum albumin did not cause spectrophotometrically detectible transformation of deoxyHb into nitrosoHb. The generation of NO increased with an increase in content of colored "final" products of amino acid and serum albumin glycosylation in the incubation mixture. The incubation of blood plasma of patients with diabetes mellitus with nitrite also resulted in the increased production of NO as compared to blood plasma of healthy subjects. During the incubation of healthy subjects' blood plasma with nitrite a small amount of NO was produced. The removal of low-molecular-weight compounds was accompanied by a significantly decreased generation of NO by blood plasma.     

Rapid detection of epidemic strains of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus

Fifty methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) initial isolates obtained from patients hospitalized in the orthopedic clinic of the Frankfurt University Hospital and 150 methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) isolates were investigated in this study to determine whether the Slidex Staph-Kit is capable of differentiating between MRSA and MSSA owing to its unique performance characteristics. The Slidex Staph-Kit is a combined latex hemagglutination test designed to detect clumping factor, protein A, and a specific surface immunogen for S. aureus. Clumping factor-positive strains cause erythrocytes sensitized with fibrinogen to hemagglutinate, thereby resulting in visible red clumps. S. aureus strains deficient in clumping factor agglutinate latex particles sensitized with specific antibodies against surface proteins of S. aureus, thereby resulting in visible white clumps. Our results demonstrate that white clumping has a 99% specificity as well as a 98% positive predictive value for MRSA. Clumping factor-negative MRSA, which have been reported to occur in several countries, are epidemic in the Frankfurt area and account for 80% of all MRSA initial isolates in the orthopedic clinic of the Frankfurt University Hospital. Genotyping of all MRSA isolates by macrorestriction analysis of chromosomal DNA revealed that 83% of clumping factor-negative MRSA are closely related to the "southern-German" epidemic strain. This is the first study demonstrating the Slidex Staph-Kit's capability for identifying epidemic clumping factor-negative S. aureus strains as methicillin resistant even prior to antimicrobial susceptibility testing.     

Randomized controlled trial of effects of Escherichia coli antiserum on serum immunoglobulin G concentrations and morbidity and mortality rates in foals

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether administration of commercially available Escherichia coli antiserum to neonatal foals would affect serum IgG concentration or morbidity and mortality rates during the first 60 days of life. DESIGN: Randomized controlled trial. ANIMALS: 271 neonatal foals on 4 well-managed farms. PROCEDURE: Foals were randomly assigned to a treatment or control group. All foals were allowed to suckle colostrum normally. In addition, treatment-group foals were given E coli antiserum (10 micromilligrams) orally between 0 and 8 hours after birth. Serum samples were obtained between 18 and 36 hours after birth, and serum IgG concentration was determined. Foals were monitored for the first 60 days after birth, and causes of disease or death were recorded. RESULTS: Groups did not differ significantly in regard to breed, sex, month of birth, season of birth, age of dams, parity of dams, duration of gestation, or specific gravity of colostrum before suckling. In addition, groups did not differ significantly in regard to mean serum IgG concentration, prevalence of complete or partial failure of passive transfer of immunity, frequency or causes of disease, or frequency of death from infectious causes. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: In this group of foals on well-managed farms, administration of E coli antiserum did not alter serum IgG concentrations or morbidity and mortality rates during the first 60 days of life.     

Prevalence and predictors of sexual dysfunction in long-term survivors of marrow transplantation

PURPOSE: To describe the prevalence of sexual difficulties in men and women after marrow transplantation (MT), and to define medical, demographic, sexual, and psychologic predictors of sexual dysfunction 3 years after MT. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Four hundred seven adult MT patients were assessed pretransplantation. Survivors repeated measures of psychologic and sexual functioning at 1 and 3 years posttransplantation. RESULTS: Data were analyzed from 102 event-free 3-year survivors who defined themselves as sexually active. Men and women did not differ in sexual satisfaction pretransplantation. At 1 and 3 years posttransplantation, women reported significantly more sexual dysfunction than men. Eighty percent of women and 29% of men reported at least one sexual problem by 3 years after MT. No pretransplantation variables were significant predictors of 3-year sexual satisfaction for women. For men, pretransplantation variables of older age, poorer psychologic function, not being married, and lower sexual satisfaction predicted sexual dissatisfaction at 3 years (R2=.28; P < .001). Women who were more dissatisfied 3 years after MT did not receive hormone replacement therapy (HRT) at 1 -year posttransplantation and were less satisfied at 1 year, but not pretransplantation (R2=.35; P < .001). CONCLUSION: Sexual problems are significant in the lives of MT survivors, particularly for women. Although HRT before 1 year posttransplantation improves sexual function, it does not ensure sexual quality of life. Intervention for women is needed to apply hormonal, mechanical, and behavioral methods to prevent sexual difficulties as early after transplantation as possible.     

Visual selective attention after severe closed head injury

This study investigated the nature of selective attention deficits after severe closed head injury (CHI). Twenty participants with severe CHI (greater than 1 year postinjury) and 20 matched controls completed search and nonsearch visual selective attention tasks under conditions of low (Experiment 1) and high (Experiment 2) target-distractor similarity. In the search situations, participants searched visual displays that contained 1, 4, or 8 items for the targets. In the nonsearch situations, the location of the targets was visually cued with a peripheral arrow. The results revealed that in both the low and high target-distractor similarity search conditions. CHI participants required a longer time than controls to locate and identify the target. In contrast, in the nonsearch condition, CHI participants were able to successfully ignore irrelevant task information when target-distractor similarity was low. However, when target-distractor similarity was high, CHI participants had more difficulty than controls ignoring the irrelevant information. These results suggest that, in comparison to controls, CHI participants may be at a disadvantage in selective attention situations when visual search is required and when the discriminability between targets and distractors is difficult.     

Multiple sclerosis: in situ evidence for antibody- and complement-mediated demyelination

Blue light responses in higher plants can be mediated not only by specific blue light receptors, but also by the red/far-red photoreversible phytochrome system. The question of interdependence between these photoreceptors has been debated over many years. The availability of Arabidopsis mutants for the blue light receptor CRY1 and for the two major phytochromes phyA and phyB allows a reinvestigation of this question. The analysis of photocontrol of seed germination, inhibition of hypocotyl growth and anthocyanin accumulation clearly demonstrates that (i) phyA shows a strong control in blue light responses especially at low fluence rates; (ii) phyB mediated induction reactions can be reversed by subsequent blue light irradiations; and (iii) CRY1 mediates blue light controlled inhibition of hypocotyl growth only at fluence rates higher than 5 mumol m-2s-1 and independently of phytochrome A and B.     

Analysis of the association of a heat shock protein70-1 gene promoter polymorphism with myocardial infarction and coronary risk traits

In 12 depressed inpatients referred for bilateral electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), each patient was titrated at the first treatment session by using an ascending method-of-limits procedure with a step-wise increase in pulse frequency (frequency titration) or train duration (duration titration). At the second treatment session, seizure threshold was redetermined by using the method (frequency or duration titration) not used at the first treatment. Frequency or duration was maintained at the lowest level when the other parameter was titrated. Seizure threshold was significantly lower with duration titration (mean, 90 mC; SD, 27.3) than frequency titration (mean, 114 mC; SD, 35.6; p = 0.03). On average, patients in the duration-titration group required 1.2 (SD, 0.6) subconvulsive stimulations before a seizure was elicited, and patients in the frequency-titration group required 1.7 (SD, 0.9) subconvulsive stimulations before a seizure was elicited, a nonsignificant difference. These findings suggest that to elicit a seizure during ECT, increasing train duration may be slightly more efficient than increasing frequency. Basic and other clinical research findings indicate that increasing pulse width may be an inefficient way to elicit a seizure. Therefore the following sequence in the determination of seizure threshold is worth considering when using dose-titration or related techniques: the train duration should be increased first before increasing pulse frequency, and the decision to increase pulse width should be reserved for patients who do not seize at the maximal duration and frequency settings. Further empiric research is needed to establish the utility of this approach.     

The envelope glycoprotein ectodomains determine the efficiency of CD4+ T lymphocyte depletion in simian-human immunodeficiency virus-infected macaques

CD4+ T lymphocyte depletion in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)-infected humans underlies the development of acquired immune deficiency syndrome. Using a model in which rhesus macaques were infected with chimeric simian-human immunodeficiency viruses (SHIVs), we show that both the level of viremia and the structure of the HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein ectodomains individually contributed to the efficiency with which CD4(+) T lymphocytes were depleted. The envelope glycoproteins of recombinant SHIVs that efficiently caused loss of CD4(+) T lymphocytes exhibited increased chemokine receptor binding and membrane-fusing capacity compared with those of less pathogenic viruses. These studies identify the HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein ectodomains as determinants of CD4(+) T lymphocyte loss in vivo and provide a foundation for studying pathogenic mechanisms.     

Variations of cardiac cycle length in patients with coronary heart disease before and after aortic coronary bypass surgery

It is well known that variations in cardiac cycle length or heart rates may be used for noninvasive evaluation of autonomic cardiovascular control. The investigation uses an original procedure. The data for analysis of cardiac cycle length variations (CCLV) are those obtained regularly at follow-up intervals, random 24-hour Holter 2-lead ECG recordings for 5 sec, and simultaneously calculated continuous sequence of mean heart rate. With the procedure, the correlations of CCLV with the parameters reflecting the early postoperative status of patients with CHD, including acute myocardial infarction, acute heart failure, rhythm and conduction disturbances, as well as age, operative stress, concurrent diseases. The findings are of both diagnostic and predictive value at subsequent stages of CHD treatment.