Finally, a central place to evaluate nursing systems

Nurses now have a central place to check standards and evaluate systems. The Nursing Information and Data Set Evaluation Center develops, disseminates and evaluates nursing practice sets used by vendors. This center, established by the American Nurses Association, ensures that interventions and outcomes related to nursing diagnosis are appropriate and accurate.     

Progesterone protects against lipid peroxidation following traumatic brain injury in rats

Large scale use of lysozyme for periplasmic release has been impeded by the cost of the pure enzyme and its subsequent presence as a contaminant in later downstream processing steps. In this paper, we discuss the use of lysozyme for pilot scale recovery of a periplasmic enzyme from E. coli. The effects of concentration of sucrose, lysozyme and cells on periplasmic enzyme release were examined. Lysozyme concentration can be reduced 5-fold from previous reports and a reduction in sucrose concentration from 20 to 15% (w/v) allows an improvement in centrifugal harvesting by reducing viscosity. High levels of release were still achieved using this technique and further improvements in yield were obtained by optimising other components of the releasing mixture. Results show that some release is still achieved in circumstances where no lysozyme use is possible. Results also indicate that a substantial proportion (up to 70%) of lysozyme remains bound to the cellular debris after its action and is removed with this material.     

Mitogenic effect of retinoid X receptor agonists in rat liver

Thirty-nine acrylates and methacrylates that had been used in dental resin materials were evaluated by a cytotoxicity test, and the relationships between their structures and cytotoxicity were studied to predict cytotoxic levels of dental resin materials in order to develop new low-toxic resin materials. All the acrylates evaluated were more toxic than corresponding methacrylates. In both the acrylates and methacrylates, a hydroxyl group seemed to enhance cytotoxicity. Dimethacrylates with 14 or fewer oxyethylene chains showed similar cytotoxicity while dimethacrylates with 23 oxyethylene chains showed lower cytotoxicity. The cytotoxicity ranking of monomers widely used in dental resin materials was bisphenol A bis 2-hydroxypropyl methacrylate (bisGMA) > urethane dimethacrylate (UDMA) > triethyleneglycol dimethacrylate (3G) > 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) > methyl methacrylate (MMA). In acrylates, methacrylates, and ethylmethacrylates with either substituents, the lipophilicity of substituents affected their cytotoxicity, and an inverse correlation between IC50 and logP was observed. These results will be useful in developing new resin materials with low toxic monomer compositions.     

Energy relaxation in GaInAs/AlInAs heterojunctions and GaAs/AlGaAs multiple quantum wells

We have studied electron energy relaxation in GaInAs/AlInAs heterojunctions and GaAs/AlGaAs multiple quantum wells using mobility measurements as a function of electric field and temperature, in the range 3K to 300K. The results in the range 3 to 20K show a power loss rate which is dependent on (T_e − T_l), suggesting that the energy relaxation occurs through acoustic phonon scattering. At electron temperatures greater than 20K, the experimental results are modelled using a standard expression for polar optical phonons. This modelling yields 30meV and 31meV for the polar optical phonon energy in GaAs and InGaAs respectively.     

Action of prostanoids on the emetic reflex of Suncus murinus (the house musk shrew)

Several prostanoids were investigated for a potential to induce emesis in Suncus murinus. The TP receptor agonist 11alpha,9alpha-epoxymethano-15S-hydroxyprosta-5Z,13E-dienoic acid (U46619) induced emesis at doses as low as 3 microg/kg, i.p. but the DP receptor agonist 5-(6-Carboxyhexyl)-1-(3-cyclohexyl-3-hydroxypropyl) hydantoin (BW245C) was approximately 1000 times less potent. The emetic action of U46619 (300 microg/kg, i.p.) was antagonized significantly by the TP receptor antagonist, vapiprost (P<0.05). EP (prostaglandin E(2), 17-phenyl-omega-trinor prostaglandin E(2), misoprostol and sulprostone), FP (prostaglandin F(2alpha) and fluprostenol) and IP (iloprost and cicaprost) receptor agonists failed to induce consistent emesis at doses up to 300-1000 microg/kg, i.p. Fluprostenol reduced nicotine (5 mg/kg, s.c.)-but not copper sulphate (120 mg/kg, intragastric)-induced emesis; the other inconsistently emetic prostanoids were inactive to modify drug-induced emesis. The results indicate an involvement of TP and possibly DP and FP receptors in the emetic reflex of S. murinus.     

The soluble alpha-mannosidases of Drosophila melanogaster

The alpha-mannosidases are implicated in both the catabolism of carbohydrates and the N-linked glycosylation pathway in insects, but little is known of the biochemistry of these glycosidases. In order to study the soluble alpha-mannosidases of Drosophila melanogaster we have used artificial fluorogenic substrates for detection of activity in situ following non-denaturing gel electrophoresis. This approach also permitted examination of the mannosidases present in different tissues and the sensitivity of the enzymes to known mannosidase inhibitors. Fluorogenic substrates were also used to determine the pH optima of partly purified mannosidases. We report that D. melanogaster contains several soluble alpha-mannosidase activities. Acidic mannosidases were detected in the gut, fat body and haemolymph of third-instar larvae. The major activity detected in larval guts was a neutral mannosidase presumed to be involved in digestion.     

Neutrophil attractant protein-1 and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 in human serum. Effects of intravenous lipopolysaccharide on free attractants, specific IgG autoantibodies and immune complexes

We recently found that normal human sera contain IgG antibodies against two chemoattractants, neutrophil attractant protein-1 (NAP-1/IL-8) and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), as well as immune complexes of these proteins. Intravenously administered LPS was reported to cause a sharp rise in serum NAP-1 concentration. Our study was designed to determine if LPS also caused an increase in MCP-1 and to measure associated changes in concentrations of antibody and immune complex. LPS caused a rise to peak within 2 to 3 h in serum concentrations of free NAP-1 and MCP-1, followed by an almost equally rapid fall toward base-line levels by about 5 h postinjection. MCP-1 concentration in sera from the 11 subjects rose to a peak of 330 +/- 52 pM. The peak value for NAP-1 was 80 +/- 11 pM. In 10 of the 11 subjects, free IgG autoantibody to MCP-1 decreased from a mean pre-LPS value of 1820 +/- 660 pM to a mean low of 53% of the respective initial values. Corresponding data for IgG anti-NAP-1 were a pre-LPS concentration of 216 +/- 7 pM, which decreased to a mean low of 44% of the respective initial values. The finding in some subjects of a rapid rise in free antibody after the nadir suggests the possibility of acute regulation of autoantibody secretion rates. Although the results suggested that LPS-induced chemoattractant combined with free antibody, serum concentrations of MCP-1-IgG or NAP-1-IgG did not increase, which points to an as yet unknown mechanism for trapping and elimination of the immune complexes.     

Periodontal considerations in an overdenture population

Three variable microsatellite loci have been isolated from the American lobster, Homarus americanus. In a population sample from the Gulf of Maine, the effective numbers of alleles (Ne) for the two most variable loci were 16.33 and 13.19, respectively. Reduced variability at all three loci was seen in the European lobster, H. gammarus, for which the maximum Ne was 4.00. The reduction in variability in H. gammarus is consistent with a bottleneck event. Inheritance analysis using H. americanus demonstrated segregation of codominant alleles and the absence of linkage. Null alleles were observed at two loci in inheritance studies. This study demonstrates that microsatellite loci should be useful in studying the population structure of clawed lobsters.     

Assessment of pseudarthrosis in pedicle screw fusion: a prospective study comparing plain radiographs, flexion/extension radiographs, CT scanning, and bone scintigraphy with operative findings

Tribal warfare is a way of life in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. In earlier times direct confrontation with bushknives and axes, and shooting with bows and arrows were common. In recent years there have not been as many instances of direct confrontation with bushknives and axes, but the use of bows and arrows is on the rise. Since 1993, guns have been increasingly used, with devastating results. In 1993, 18 deaths were reported from tribal warfare in one area of the Southern Highlands Province, especially from gunshots, while in 1994, 24 deaths were reported from another area. A five-year review of tribal fight admissions to Mendi Hospital, from 1990 to 1994, showed an increase in the number and proportion of gunshot wounds; there were none in 1990-1992 but they constituted 18% of tribal fight injuries in 1993 and 33% in 1994.