Effect of hydroxylamine hydrochloride on the bacterium Shigella dysenteriae 1 and antigens isolated from them

A study was made into the functional status of hypophysis, adrenal cortex, ovaries, and thyroid gland in patients with kraurosis and leukoplakia vulvae. The above patients demonstrated profound disturbances in the system hypophysis-ovaries, that attest to the need for applying corrective therapies to treat the disturbed hormonal homeostasis.     

Properties of soluble and membrane intestinal hydrolases in Macaca rhesus monkeys

Evidence from several central nervous system (CNS) inflammatory disease models suggests that intrathecal complement synthesis may contribute to early inflammatory events in the brain. In this study, we examined the expression of the receptor for C5a (C5aR), a potent inflammatory and chemotactic factor, in the brains of transgenic mice with constitutive astrocyte expression of interleukin-3 (IL-3), a hematopoietic and immunomodulatory cytokine. By in situ hybridization, we demonstrated that cells infiltrating the cerebellar meninges, the cerebellum, and demyelinating lesions in the cerebellum were strongly positive for C5aR mRNA. By immunohistochemistry, the infiltrating cells expressing the C5aR were identified as macrophages based on staining with antibodies to the complement receptor type 3 and F4/80, a mouse macrophage-specific marker. In addition, some of the cells in cerebellar lesions were positive for the astrocyte-specific marker, glial fibrillary acidic protein, suggesting that a subpopulation of astrocytes in these lesions express elevated levels of the C5aR. Increased C5aR expression was also observed in cortical neurons in the occipital cortex and in pyramidal neurons in the cornu ammonis and subiculum of the hippocampus, at both the protein and mRNA levels. These data suggest that IL-3 may play an immunomodulatory role in C5aR expression on several cell types in the brain and that increased C5aR expression correlates with the pathology seen in this model. The transgenic mice used in this study provide a useful tool for characterizing the mechanism of regulation of the C5aR expression and for examining the functions of this chemotactic receptor in CNS inflammation.     

Application of free-flow electrophoresis for isolation and purification of proteins and peptides

Free-flow electrophoresis (FFE) has been applied to the separation and purification of a variety of proteins and polypeptides: bee venom, tumor necrosis factor, interleukin-1beta, interferon-gamma and superoxide dismutase. FFE at constant pH and conductivity of the carrying buffer is shown to be efficient at various separation schemes. In some cases, the method allows us to obtain proteins with a purity of more than 90% at a productivity of 20-30 mg/h. An electrophoretic apparatus with a new, multi-sectional construction of the electrophoretic chamber and a system for cross-displacement of carrying buffer in the chamber is described.     

Muscarinic elicitation of EEG asymmetry in freely moving rats

A method for determining whether structures distributed along a cell's membrane represent a random spatial distribution is presented in this paper. Two three-dimensional (3-D) images are acquired from one cell by wide-field digital imaging of cells which have been labeled with two different fluorescent antibodies. Prior to spatial analysis, a constrained regularized least squares restoration of the images is performed. This is followed by registration via fiducial markers (dual-labeled beads). A deformable model is then used to map data near the surface to the surface. Finally, each resulting data set is analyzed to determine whether it is spatially random. To do this, we generalize the test for complete spatial randomness of points in a plane, to test voxels distributed along a voxelized membrane in three dimensions. We also test whether the distribution of one protein is independent of the distribution of a second protein. The method is applied to compare the distribution of the protein kinase C to that of vinculin. Vinculin is a protein which anchors intracellular filaments to the cell's plasma membrane. It is also used as a (sparse) membrane marker for the deformable model. Protein kinase C facilitates molecular motors inside the cell. These may be associated with actin and myosin filaments.     

The Healing Web: implementation for education

Skating is a favourite sport in the Netherlands. Injury data on skating were collected from the emergency departments of 6 hospitals in the province of Friesland in the Netherlands during the Eleven Cities ice skating marathon over 200 kilometers in January 1997, with 16,688 participants. Among a total of 55 fractures, the maxillofacial skeleton had a relative high fracture frequency (n = 7; 13%), especially the zygomatic complex (n = 6); one patient had a mandibular fracture. An innocent-looking black eye, unilateral numbness of the upper lip and malocclusion following a skating accident merit full medical attention.     

Primary structure of gene H of cattle plague virus strain K]

The paper analyzes the standard legal and methodological assurance of the quality and safety of animal food raw materials and foodstuffs (meat, meat products, fish, shellfish, crayfish and their processing products) by the parasitic purity rates according the requirements under the Russian Federation's laws "On Sanitary and Epidemiological Well-Being of the Population", "On Protection of Consumer's Rights", "On Certification of Products and Services", those of SanPiN, such as 2.3.2.560-96 "Sanitary Requirements for the Quality and Safety of Food Raw Materials and Foodstuffs" and 3.2.569-96 "Prevention of Parasitic Diseases in the Russian Federation".     

Lipanor treatment of atherogenic hyperlipoproteinemia

AIM: The study of the hypolipidemic efficiency, safety and tolerance of ciprofibrate (lipanor) in therapy of atherogenic hyperlipoproteinemia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The trial included 14 hypertensive postmenopausal females, 14 patients with diabetes mellitus type II, 14 males with coronary heart disease and primary hyperlipoproteinemia (total cholesterol > 6.5 mmol/l, triglycerides < 4.5 mmol/l under low-cholesterol diet). Lipanor was given for 12 weeks in a daily single dose 100 mg in the morning. Lipids and other biochemical indices were measured in a fasting state after 1 and 3 months of lipanor treatment. RESULTS: After 1 month of lipanor treatment there was a 22-30%, 24-49% decrease in the level of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, respectively. High-density lipoprotein cholesterol increased by 16%. The hypolipidemic effect of lipanor persisted for 3 months during which triglycerides continued to fall (up to 38.5%). Lipanor was well tolerated, only one patient with diabetes mellitus had hyperactivity of creatine phosphokinase manifesting with clinical symptoms (the drug was discontinued). 3 patients developed mild side effects. Alkaline phosphatase activity inhibited in all the groups by 25-41%. CONCLUSION: Lipanor is a highly effective, safe hypolipidemic drug with good tolerance. It can be recommended for correction of atherogenic hyperlipoproteinemia in patients at high risk of atherosclerosis progression.     

Mobile genetic elements, chiasmata, and the unique organization of beta-heterochromatin

Beta-heterochromatin in Drosophila and the Syrian hamster share a similar DNA organization, few unique sequences, and scrambled repeats of mobile elements without tandem repetition. DNA in alpha-heterochromatin is tandemly repetitious, and we now show that the repeat unit can either contain or lack a mobile element. The tandem repeat organization of alpha-heterochromatin is presumably due to a concertina-like mechanism of unequal exchange between repeat units. Although both heterochromatin types are late replicating and can incorporate mobile retroposons, the sequence distinction between the two heterochromatins appears to be due to a property conferred by chiasmata upon the process of homologous recombination in beta-heterochromatin but not in alpha-heterochromatin. Chiasmata seem to suppress the concertina mechanism of unequal exchange and impart to beta-heterochromatin its nontandem, scrambled repeat organization.