Relationship between childhood infections and measured intelligence

The possibility that some of the common childhood infections lead to unrecognized impairments of neurological function was examined in 43 820 Birmingham children whose intelligence was assessed in the 11-plus examination. Mean verbal reasoning scores were lower for children who had had measles or pertussis than for those who had had neither of these diseases. However, since attack rates and measured intelligence are related inversely to social class, the lower scores of children with measles and pertussis may be due to class differences which are not eliminated completely by standardization for maternal age and birth order. Mean scores were a little higher for children who had had rubella than for those who had not, and it is suggested that this difference may be due to more frequent reporting of the disease by the more intelligent mothers.     

An evaluation of procedures used in staging carcinoma of the cervix

A review of 227 cases of invasive carcinoma of the cervix was undertaken to determine the efficacy of procedures using in the staging of this disease. All patients had a pretreatment chest radiography and intravenous pyelogram. 96.5% had pretreatment cystoscopy, 98.6% had pretreatment proctoscopy, and 92% had a pretreatment barium enema. These patients were retrospectively staged on the findings of physical examination only. Each additional procedure was then evaluated by comparison with the initial staging. Cystoscopy and chest film findings each would have changed the clinical stage in fewer than 1% of cases, barium enema in 1.4%, and proctoscopy in 2.2%. No patient had a positive barium enema without a positive proctoscopy, while two patients had positive proctoscopies with negative barium enemas. The overall yield of positive findings by pretreatment intravenous pyelography was 7.3%. Lymphangiography, although inconsistently done, yielded positive findings in all stages. Chest radiographs, intravenous pyelography, proctoscopy, and lymphangiography are recommended as part of the pretreatment workup of patients with carcinoma of the cervix. Routine barium enema is no longer recommended, and cystoscopy is only recommended in patients with clinical stage IIB disease or greater.     

Intersubject variation of warfarin binding to protein in serum of normal subjects

The protein binding of warfarin was determined in the serum of 18 normal adult subjects (8 males and 10 females). A statistically significant negative correlation between free fraction of warfarin and albumin concentration was found. The free fraction of warfarin in the serum of women was significantly larger than that in the serum of men, apparently due to the lower albumin concentration in the serum of women.     

The effect of high sugar intake on the esterification of dihydroxyacetone phosphate by rat liver microsomes

Rat liver microsomes were used as an enzyme source to study dietary-induced changes in the rate of dihydroxyacetone phosphate esterification. Rats were fed (1) 75% glucose or fructose diets for various time intervals, or (2) fed a fractose diet for six days and then a chow diet. Both the glucose and fructose diets produced a 2--3-fold increase in total and neutral glycerolipid formation from dihydroxyacetone phosphate measured in the presence of ATP, palmitate, CoA, and NADH. The increased rate of dihydroxyacetone phosphate esterification and a simultaneous rise in serum triglyceride level in rats fed fructose was rapidly reversed when chow was substituted for the fructose. The results indicate that an increased rate of dihyroxyacetone phosphate esterification may contribute to the acceleration of endogenous glycerolipid biosynthesis noted under these dietary conditions.     

Effects of low-intensity ultrasound on the central nervous system of primates

The brains of anesthesized squirrel monkeys were exposed to 2.25 to 5 MHz ultrasound at low intensities (average power from 3 mW/cm2 to 0.9 W/cm2). The exposure produced evoked potentials recorded by EEG electrodes chronically implanted in the midline parietal region. Computer analysis of the waveforms showed that ultrasound produced a transient upward shift in both the peak frequency and in its amplitude. Complete adaptation occurred with 3 min of continuous exposure to either CW or pulsed irradiation.     

Comparison of Different Mechanical Methods for the Modification of the Egg White Protein Ovomucin,Part B: Molecular Aspects

It is indispensable to modify the physical properties of egg white prior to a fractionation of the included bio-functional proteins. It was already demonstrated that this can be realized with mechanical devices. However, until now, it was not clear by which kind of molecular changes this is accompanied. Thus, this study reports on the molecular changes in egg white proteins induced by various mechanical treatments (high-pressure homogenizer, colloid mill, toothed disc dispersing machine). Evaluation criteria were the particle size of the long-chain protein ovomucin, the content of thiol groups, and disulfide bridges in egg white as well as the amount of free lysozyme. In general, it was shown that these treatments led to changes in the molecular structure and that the obtained modifications were more pronounced the higher the applied energy was. In detail, it was found that the applied mechanical forces in the experimental range of this study were able to disrupt strong covalent bonds in the fibrillar protein ovomucin. Additionally, the bio-functional protein lysozyme that is partly entrapped in the natural egg white structure was released by the applied forces. Summing up, this study generates comprehensive knowledge concerning the underlying mechanisms that enable the release of lysozyme as well as the use of egg white for fractionation processes.     

Investigation of Chlorpyrifos and Its Transformation Products in Fruits and Spices by Combining Electrochemistry and Liquid Chromatography Coupled to Tandem Mass Spectrometry

The identification of transformation products (TPs) of pesticides in food is a crucial task difficult to tackle, due to the lack of standards. In this work, we present a novel methodology to synthesize five main TP standards of the insecticide chlorpyrifos (CPF) and to investigate their occurrence in selected fruits and spices. TPs were electrochemically (EC) synthesized using a boron-doped diamond electrode (BDD) and identified by EC coupled online to mass spectrometry, LC-MS/MS, and high-resolution mass spectrometry. CPF and its TPs were analyzed in the food samples by LC-MS/MS on multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) after dispersive solid-phase extraction. A good recovery of 83–103% for CPF and 65–85% for TPs was obtained. Matrix effects, which cause signal suppression, ranged between 81 to 95% for all targeted analytes. The limit of detection and quantification for CPF were 1.6–1.9 and 4.9–5.7 μg/kg, respectively. Among investigated samples, CPF was determined in fresh lemon (104 μg/kg), fenugreek seed (40 μg/kg), and black pepper (31 μg/kg). CPF content in all samples was lower than the EU maximum residue level (MRL). The most frequently detected TPs were diethylthiophosphate and diethylphosphate. Other TPs, CPF oxon and trichloropyridinol, were also detected. Hence, EC is a versatile tool to synthesize TP standards which enables the determination of contaminants and residues in foodstuffs even if no commercial standards are available.