The pharmacokinetics of pancuronium bromide in infants, children and adults

Laparoscopic retroperitoneal lymph node dissection is a new surgical procedure used to enhance staging in men with clinical stage I nonseminomatous germ cell tumors of the testis. The procedure has been performed in a limited number of patients at several centers with extensive laparoscopic experience. Laparoscopic retroperitoneal lymphadenectomy is a technically demanding procedure which can be successfully completed in the majority of patients. However, the risk of complications is greater than in patients who undergo standard open retroperitoneal lymph node dissection. The primary advantage of a laparoscopic approach is shortened hospitalization and rapid return to normal activity. The role of laparoscopy in the management of patients with testis malignancy has not been defined. The use of this staging procedure may help minimize the need for surveillance studies following surgery and may be best utilized in men with a lower likelihood of nodal metastases. Ultimately, prospective study in large groups of patients will be necessary to determine the role of laparoscopic retroperitoneal lymph node dissection in patients with testis cancer.     

Control of stroma-dependent hematopoiesis by basic fibroblast growth factor: stromal phenotypic plasticity and modified myelopoietic functions

The immunological agglutination reactions of physically absorbed F(ab')2 molecules onto anionic and cationic latex particles have been investigated by means of optical absorbance measurements. These measurements have been conducted under different conditions to determine the most influential factors. Surface F(ab')2 and BSA densities, particle concentration in the reaction medium and polyethylene glycol concentration are some of these factors. Sensitized cationic and anionic latexes differ considerably with respect to their colloidal stability and reactivity. As a general rule, the sensitized cationic latex has a relatively higher colloidal stability and hence, it provides reagents with a better optical response. Less than 0.025 microgram/ml of C-reactive protein has been detected using this particle enhanced optical immunoassay.     

The electrostatic problem for the SAW interdigital transducers inan external electric field. II. Periodic structures

For pt.I see ibid., vol.43, no.6, pp.1150-9 (1996). An exact solution of the electrostatic problem for calculating the surface charge and electric field distributions in an arbitrary periodic interdigital transducer (IDT) is given using the results of our companion paper. An arbitrary external electric field may be specified along the electrode structure with the unit cell containing one electrode, or several electrodes, of different widths. The potentials of the electrodes that may be specified are also arbitrary. It is shown that in the case without an external field, the solution includes all the known results as special cases. The case of shorted electrodes in the external electric field is investigated in detail. The surface charge and electric field distributions are calculated for a spatially harmonic external field with an arbitrary wavenumber. The results of the calculations are represented graphically for various ratios between the period of the electrode structure and the wavelength of the external field for the case of a unit cell containing one or two electrodes of different widths     

On the Possibility of Observing Third Sound on 3He

This paper focuses on the hydrodynamics of third sound on a superfluid ³ He film. We solve the hydrodynamical equations in the limit of thick films with weak interaction with the substrate. The surface tension at the free interface is shown to have a large effect on the third sound velocity and on the attenuation for frequencies larger than 1Hz. In the case of a diffusely scattering substrate a ripplon-like dispersion relation is found for this frequency range.     

Lactococcus lactis and stress

It is now generally recognized that cell growth conditions in nature are often suboptimal compared to controlled conditions provided in the laboratory. Natural stresses like starvation and acidity are generated by cell growth itself. Other stresses like temperature or osmotic shock, or oxygen, are imposed by the environment. It is now clear that defense mechanisms to withstand different stresses must be present in all organisms. The exploration of stress responses in lactic acid bacteria has just begun. Several stress response genes have been revealed through homologies with known genes in other organisms. While stress response genes appear to be highly conserved, however, their regulation may not be. Thus, search of the regulation of stress response in lactic acid bacteria may reveal new regulatory circuits. The first part of this report addresses the available information on stress response in Lactococcus lactis. Acid stress response may be particularly important in lactic acid bacteria, whose growth and transition to stationary phase is accompanied by the production of lactic acid, which results in acidification of the media, arrest of cell multiplication, and possible cell death. The second part of this report will focus on progress made in acid stress response, particularly in L. lactis and on factors which may affect its regulation. Acid tolerance is presently under study in L. lactis. Our results with strain MG1363 show that it survives a lethal challenge at pH 4.0 if adapted briefly (5 to 15 minutes) at a pH between 4.5 and 6.5. Adaptation requires protein synthesis, indicating that acid conditions induce expression of newly synthesized genes. These results show that L. lactis possesses an inducible response to acid stress in exponential phase. To identify possible regulatory genes involved in acid stress response, we determined low pH conditions in which MG1363 is unable to grow, and selected at 37 degrees C for transposition insertional mutants which were able to survive. About thirty mutants resistant to low pH conditions were characterized. The interrupted genes were identified by sequence homology with known genes. One insertion interrupts ahrC, the putative regulator of arginine metabolism; possibly, increased arginine catabolism in the mutant produces metabolites which increase the pH. Several other mutations putatively map at some step in the pathway of (p)ppGpp synthesis. Our results suggest that the stringent response pathway, which is involved in starvation and stationary phase survival, may also be implicated in acid pH tolerance.     

Diagnostic value of the study of caffeine elimination in chronic liver diseases

Data from the past few years have shown that as caffeine metabolizes solely in the liver, caffeine elimination can serve as a liver function test. We have collected data by monitoring 40 persons with liver diseases (11 chronic alcoholic hepatitis, 24 liver cirrhosis, 5 non-cirrhotic liver disease). Eight subjects served as controls. The patients with liver cirrhosis were classified according to the Child--Pugh scoring system. To determine caffeine elimination blood samples were collected before and at 3, 6, 9 and 12 hours after oral administration of 0.2 g caffeine. Fasting serum caffeine concentration and concentration 12 hours after administration, serum clearance, half life, peak concentration and volume of distribution have been compared. The respective values measured in patients with non-cirrhotic liver diseases did not differ significantly from the controls. The disappearance of caffeine was significantly decreased in cirrhotics. Our results demonstrated a good correlation between impairment of caffeine elimination and assessment of severity of liver disease by the Child--Pugh classification. Measuring serum levels in samples taken 12 hours after caffeine administration is a simple and useful method in the diagnosis of liver diseases at cirrhotic stage.     

The influence of semantic encoding on recognition memory in Alzheimer's disease

Within the framework of the distinction between episodic and semantic memory, it has been argued that these two memory systems are organised in a hierarchical way. The hierarchical hypothesis assumes that episodic memory is a specific subsystem of semantic memory and therefore implies that episodic memory cannot exist without semantic memory. If this hypothesis is correct, it should be expected that patients with impaired semantic memory also have impaired episodic memory. In the present study, two experiments investigated the influence of semantic encoding on recognition memory performance in a population of 20 patients with Alzheimer's disease and 18 normal controls. Both experiments assessed recognition memory for semantically-related items. In Experiment 2, but not in Experiment 1, subjects were explicitly instructed to make a semantic association between the items. Alzheimer's disease patients were impaired, compared to the normal controls, on the recognition memory performance of both experiments. The ability to make a semantic association between two items was significantly and positively correlated with the subjects' performance on the recognition tasks. A further analysis showed that patients who were impaired on the semantic association task did significantly worse on the recognition task of Experiment 2 than normal controls and patients who were unimpaired on the semantic association task. These findings are discussed in the context of memory deficits in Alzheimer's disease, and are interpreted as supporting the view that episodic memory for an item is affected by the level of semantic awareness of that same item.     

Decision by the Principle Board of the Polish Allergy Society

A review of isolates of Neisseria meningitidis and other laboratory evidence of meningococcal infection was carried out for the period 1990-1995. Thirty-three patients with evidence of meningococcal disease were identified over the six year period. Group B organisms were the most commonly identified, but an increase in Group C has occurred and is almost equal in number. Data from clinical, laboratory and public health sources should be centralized in a National Surveillance Centre.