Transthoracic Doppler echocardiography of normally originating coronary arteries in children

Transthoracic Doppler color flow and spectral velocity patterns of normal coronary arteries in children have not been well studied. We designed this study to evaluate coronary artery flow velocity characteristics in normal and hypertrophied hearts. Sixty-eight children with optimal two-dimensional echocardiographic images of the left coronary artery (LCA) and right coronary artery (RCA) were prospectively studied. The heart was normal in 45 children, and 23 had left and/or right ventricular hypertrophy assessed by echocardiography (mean age 5.8 versus 5.2 years, p = NS). Color flow signals were detected in the LCA in 63(92%) of the 68 children studied, and pulsed Doppler spectral waveforms were recorded in 47 (69%). The latter were recorded in 26 (58%) of 45 normal children and in 21 (91%) of 23 children with left ventricular hypertrophy. Diastolic RCA flow signals were detected mostly in those with right ventricular hypertrophy (10 of 10). Higher levels of LCA maximum diastolic velocity (42 +/- 23 versus 24 +/- 6 cm/sec, p = 0.0004), increased diastolic flow (16 +/- 15 versus 6 +/- 4 ml/min, p = 0.01), and delayed time to peak diastolic velocity expressed as a percentage of diastolic spectral duration (38% +/- 14% versus 20% +/- 8%, p = 0.0001) were observed in children with left ventricular hypertrophy than in those in normal children. A strong correlation was present between Doppler-derived LCA flow and left ventricular mass/m2 (r = 0.7, p = 0.001). In normal hearts, LCA spectral velocity pattern did not change with increasing age, but the time velocity integral became progressively larger, resulting in a strong correlation with weight (p < 0.001, r = 0.78). This study demonstrates (1) LCA flow signals can be detected and quantitated in the majority of children with and those without left ventricular hypertrophy. (2) Left ventricular hypertrophy is associated with increased LCA flow, higher diastolic velocity, and delayed peak diastolic velocity. (3) RCA flow signals are mostly detected when there is right ventricular hypertrophy. Studies on larger groups of patients are needed to further confirm our observations and to enhance understanding of coronary artery flow reserve.     

On the possible contributions of psychology to knowing what is moral.

Comments on N. Haan's (see record 1983-22367-001) desire to bring the evidence of psychological research to bear on the task of determining what is moral. The present author suggests that such a task should be accompanied by a recognition of the uses and limits of psychological evidence in discussion on moral philosophy. Thus, psychological research tools may be used to evaluate the consequences of a particular moral system, but caution must be exerted in any generalization based on such results. (3 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Plastics in automobiles at SITEV '81

In the March 1981 edition of Materials in Engineering (P149) D. Charlesworth ‘Potential use for plastics in Automobiles’, reviewed in terms of materials properties and processing methods the advantages and limitations of plastics in comparison with metals. In order to convince car makers of the potential of plastics, materials suppliers and component manufacturers develop prototype parts which are publicly displayed, often for the first time, at motor shows. The most important of these shows is the International Exhibition of Suppliers to the Vehicle Industry (SITEV). SITEV '81 took place in Geneva and the more significant new applications of plastics to automobile components are reviewed and their likelihood of adaption by the automotive industry assessed in this article by Dr. N.A. Waterman who is a consultant on materials selection to the plastics and automotive industries.     

Diversification of Neu differentiation factor and epidermal growth factor signaling by combinatorial receptor interactions

The ErbB family includes two receptors, ErbB-1 and ErbB-3, that respectively bind to epidermal growth factor and Neu differentiation factor, and an orphan receptor, ErbB-2. Unlike ErbB-1 and ErbB-2, the intrinsic tyrosine kinase of ErbB-3 is catalytically impaired. By using interleukin-3-dependent cells that ectopically express the three ErbB proteins or their combinations, we found that ErbB-3 is devoid of any biological activity but both ErbB-1 and ErbB-2 can reconstitute its extremely potent mitogenic activity. Transactivation of ErbB-3 correlates with heterodimer formation and is reflected in receptor phosphorylation and the transregulation of ligand affinity. Inter-receptor interactions enable graded proliferative and survival signals: heterodimers are more potent than homodimers, and ErbB-3-containing complexes, especially the ErbB-2/ErbB-3 heterodimer, are more active than ErbB-1 complexes. Nevertheless, ErbB-1 signaling displays dominance over ErbB-3 when the two receptors are coexpressed. Although all receptor combinations activate the mitogen-activated protein kinases ERK and c-Jun kinase, they differ in their rate of endocytosis and in coupling to intervening signaling proteins. It is conceivable that combinatorial receptor interactions diversify signal transduction and confer double regulation, in cis and in trans, of the superior mitogenic activity of the kinase-defective ErbB-3.     

A study — Early warning fire detection performance in the hospital patient room

These experiments, which represent fire situations in a hospital patient sleeping room, clearly indicate that a door frame-mounted detector provides one of the best locations for optimum detector response in this occupancy. Identification of air motion as the single most important factor influencing reaction time of early warning detection devices emphasizes the need to evaluate smoke and ionization detectors under actual conditions of use. Note: Mr. Waterman is Senior Research Engineer, Safety Research, IIT Research Institute; Mr. Degenkolb is a practicing Fire Protection Engineer from Glendale, California; Mr. Stickney, Oregon State Fire Marshal at the time this paper was written, is now retired.     

Lanosterol 14alpha-demethylase (CYP51) and spermatogenesis

CYP51 is the only gene of the cytochrome P450 (P450, or CYP) superfamily that is expressed in prokaryotes and eukaryotes. In animals, the gene product, P45014DM, catalyzes the lanosterol 14alpha-demethylase reaction, an essential step in cholesterol biosynthesis. P45014DM serves a housekeeping role, and it was surprising to find the highest level of CYP51 expression in the testes. This is a result of very high-level CYP51 expression in postmeiotic, haploid spermatids and results in elevated P45014DM activity in these cells. It is proposed that the elevated level of 14alpha-demethylase activity leads to production of signaling sterols by haploid germ cells, although the function of such sterols in males is unknown.     

Psychosocial development in adulthood: A 22-year sequential study.

Data supporting the notion of adult personality stability are challenged by the present findings, in which developmental change was demonstrated using the Eriksonian-stage-based Inventory of Psychosocial Development (A. Constantinople, 1969). A sequential design over the ages 20–42 was used on 2 cohorts of college students and alumni originally tested in 1966 and 1976–1977 (ns in 1988?=?99 and 83, respectively), and a 3rd cohort of college students in 1988–1989 (n?=?292). Results of longitudinal, cross-sectional, and sequential analyses challenged ideas about personality stability, with evidence of increasingly favorable resolutions of the early Eriksonian psychosocial stages up through the oldest age studied. There was evidence of a trend over the past decade toward less favorable resolution of ego integrity vs despair. The findings were interpreted in terms of developmental change processes during the adult years interacting with culturally based environmental effects on psychosocial development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Posttraumatic stress disorder among female juvenile offenders

OBJECTIVE: To assess cardiorespiratory, tissue oxygen and hepatic nicotine adenine dinucleotide hydride (NADH) responses to graded hypoxia. DESIGN: Prospective, controlled, randomized study. SETTING: University laboratory. ANIMALS AND INTERVENTIONS: 18 anaesthetised Sprague-Dawley rats spontaneously breathing either 21% (controls), 12.5% or 10% inspired oxygen concentrations (6 rats per group). MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: All animals in the 21 and 12.5% O2 groups survived the 3-h study period, compared to only 1 in the 10% O2 group. In this latter group, mean arterial pressure and renal blood flow fell immediately with hypoxaemia, whereas aortic blood flow was maintained until the preterminal stages. Critical cellular hypoxia was suggested by an increasingly severe base deficit, an initial rise then a preterminal fall in hepatic NADH intensity and premature death in all but 1 animal. Hepatic NADH fluorescence intensity was unchanged in control animals but showed a progressive rise in the 12.5% O2 group, accompanied by a small though static increase in arterial base deficit. No significant differences were seen in arterial and tissue partial pressure of oxygen between the 12.5 and 10% O2 groups. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates major differences in cardiorespiratory, hepatic NADH and outcome responses to small variations in the degree of hypoxic hypoxia. The fall in NADH fluorescence intensity presages impending death and is likely to reflect failure of cellular metabolic processes.     

Allyl fluoride copolymers

Allyl fluoride can be copolymerized with vinyl chloride, vinyl acetate, ethyl acrylate, or SO₂ using free radical types of initiation. The copolymerization of allyl fluorida with vinyl chloride is comparable to the free radical initiated copolymerization of propylene with vinyl chloride. The allyl fluoride-vinyl acetate couple tends to form completely random copolymers, the reactivity ratios of the monomers being close to unity.