Molecular analysis of the retinoblastoma (RB1) gene in acute myeloid leukemia patients

Patient 1: A 48-year-old man was admitted to Osaka Red Cross Hospital because of fever and dyspnea. Laboratory examination revealed pancytopenia, liver dysfunction and hematostatic abnormality. Chest radiographs obtained on admission revealed ground-glass opacity in both lung fields, and an analysis of arterial blood showed severe hypoxemia (PaO2:46.8 Torr). Pulse therapy with methylprednisolone was started. Although the hypoxemia subsided and radiographic findings rapidly improved, pancytopenia persisted. Examination of bone marrow aspirate revealed mature histiocytes with marked hemophagocytosis. Amplified Mycobacterium tuberculosis direct tests of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, sputum, urine, and bone marrow were all positive, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis was cultured from sputum and urine. Although the patient was taking antituberculous agents, his pancytopenia persosted. Treatment with etoposide induced remssion. Patient 2: A 19-year-old woman was admitted to Osaka Red Cross Hospital because of prolonged cough and fever. Laboratory examination revealed leukocytosis, liver dysfunction, and hematostatic abnormality. Serologic tests provided conclusive evidence of Mycoplasma infection and a CRP test was strongly positive. Chest radiographs obtained on admission revealed infiltration shadows in the middle and lower lung fields on both sides, with left pleural effusion. An analysis of arterial blood showed hypoxemia (PaO2: 54.2 Torr). Examination of bone marrow and pleural effusion samples revealed mature histiocytes with marked hemophagocytosis. Although treatment with antibiotics and pulse therapy with methylprednisolone was started, the patients respiratory functions deteriorated. Endotracheal intubation was performed. Therapy with etoposide induced remission. Hemophagocytic syndrome associated with Mycoplasma infection and tuberculosis appears to be exceedingly rare. In these 2 cases, it was difficult to achieve remission with therapy for the underlying infections, but etoposide treatment was effective.     

Screening test to detect meat adulteration through the determination of hemoglobin by cation exchange chromatography with diode array detection

To determine the effects of globin moiety denaturation and pH on the ability of metmyoglobin (MetMb) to undergo reduction, MetMb isolated from porcine hearts was denatured in 8.5M urea. Both native and denatured MetMb solutions were serially reduced with Na₂S₂O₄ (0, 7.5, 15, 18.75, 22.5, 26.25, 30, 30.75, and 45 umol). Reduction was conducted at pH 5, 5.2, 5.4, 5.6, 6, 6.2, 6.4, 6.6, and 7. After reduction, absorbance was determined at 635 nm and the percent of the original MetMb which was reduced was calculated. The average percent MetMb reduced from the native and denatured forms was 35 and 25%, respectively. pH significantly influenced the percentage of MetMb reduced, especially when pH was <6. If the MetMb was denatured prior to reduction, the influence of pH on its ability to undergo reduction was slight. The percentage of denatured MetMb reduced was higher at pH 7 than at all other pHs. High pH enhanced the ability of MetMb to undergo reduction; while low pH decreases it. Low pH may have denatured the native globin moiety.     

Person€nvironment intersections: Everyday settings and common trait dimensions.

Intersection of personality dimensions (adjustment, likeability, self-control, social inclination, intellectance, and dominance) and taxonomy of everyday settings were examined. In Studies 1 and 2, Ss recalled situations relevant to each personality dimension. Judges categorized into six nondomicile (academic, athletic, business, play, religious, and streets) and six domicile (bedroom, eating room, living room, dormitory room, fraternity or sorority house, and outside house) categories. Trait/setting profiles converged across two methods and two regions. In Study 3, Ss rated visibility of each trait dimension in each setting. Interactions show some settings seen to allow more expression of some traits. Main effects show some settings seen as more generally illuminative, and some traits as more generally visible. Similarities in trait/setting profiles across three studies are discussed; joint importance of situational constraint and public observability in a setting's relevance to display of traits is considered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Maternal immunization to Gov system alloantigens on human platelets

BACKGROUND: Immunization to platelet alloantigens can occur during pregnancy or after the transfusion of blood components. Platelet alloantibodies can cause neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia and posttransfusion purpura. Transfusion-induced alloimmunization to a novel platelet alloantigen system, Gov, expressed on the 175-kDa glycosyl phosphatidylinositol-anchored platelet glycoprotein, CD109, was previously described. This report describes three unrelated patients who were alloimmunized to Gov(a) or Gov(b) during pregnancy. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Platelets were typed by using radioimmunoprecipitation for HPA-1a, -3a, -5a, -5b, Gov(a), and Gov(b) and by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism for HPA-1a, -1b, -3a, and -3b. Maternal sera were screened for platelet antibodies by using radioimmunoprecipitation and the antigen capture assay. RESULTS: Patients 1 and 2 were investigated after the diagnosis of neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia in their children, and alloantibodies specific for Gov(b) and Gov(a), respectively, were detected in maternal serum. Serum from patient 3, who had mild idiopathic thrombocytopenia purpura with no detectable autoantibody, was found to contain alloantibodies to Gov(b) and to HPA-5b, presumably as a result of immunization during pregnancy. Platelet typings confirmed that the patients were at risk for alloimmunization to the respective antigen. CONCLUSION: This report of three cases of maternal alloimmunization to antigens in the Gov system indicates that immunization can occur via placental transfer of antigen and that Gov system alloantibodies may be associated with neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia.     

Pyran derivatives. XX. 2-Aminochromone benzo-fused derivatives with antiproliferative properties

The N-substituted 2-aminochromones 1 and their benzo-fused derivatives 2-4 described herein were mostly prepared by treating the corresponding (methylthio) derivatives 10-13 with an excess of the proper amines. Only the morpholino derivatives 3d and 4c were obtained from the reaction of the ethyl 3-morpholino-3-oxopropanoate/POCl3 reagent with 1-naphthol or 1-methyl-2-naphthol, respectively. The amino derivatives 1-4, as well as their methylthio analogues 10-13, were tested in vitro for their inhibitory activity on the infectivity of T2 bacteriophage, on the macromolecular synthesis in Ehrlich cells and on the clonal growth capacity of HeLa cells. Several of the angular or linear aminonaphthopyranones 2 and 3 or 4, respectively, and the (methylthio) derivatives 10, 11 and 13 induced a significant inhibition of DNA synthesis, but usually a clearly lower inhibition of clonal growth. Only the linear 2-amino-10-methyl-4H-naphtho[2,3-b]pyran-4-ones 4a and 4b significantly inhibited the clonal growth in HeLa cells and T2 bacteriophage infectivity, respectively.     

Personality and free association.

Expectations of how personality differences relate to response to the free associative task of the patient in psychoanalysis were identified in the theory of psychoanalysis and on the basis of a few direct and many more indirect empirical studies, using an experimental analogue of the psychoanalytic interview. Study I used 40 college student Ss; Study II, using 60 similar Ss, was a replication and extension (20 Ss had multiple rather than single interviews). All Ss were administered a series of clinical personality and laboratory tasks. The tasks most clearly related to 3 attributes of free associative response were perception of Reversible Figures and certain Rorschach variables. These relationships were only partially confirmed when the criterion was 5 free associative interviews instead of 1. Contrary to expectations, little or no difference was found in associative performance among college students, schizophrenic, and nonschizophrenic patients (Study III). (19 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correlation effects and magnetization processes in hard-drawn iron-nickel alloys

The problem of the magnetic anomalies of some hard-drawn iron-nickel alloys is considered, taking into account the effect of the irreversible jumps of the Bloch walls during magnetization. The effects of the correlation between walls are discussed in relation to the change of the mean area of the walls under different physical conditions. It is shown that the model of the coercive force involving the theory of the homogeneous random functions may be used.     

Motivational conflict and vocational development.

Presents a classification of the sources of motivational conflicts found in college students seeking counseling for vocational problems and their application to 82 vocational counseling cases. The major classification categories of synthetic difficulties, identity problems, gratification conflicts, change orientation, and overt pathology were derived from case notes and recent emphasis on a developmental approach to vocational choice that emphasizes personality development and treats successive choice points as transitional periods in a continuous process. Since the vocational choice task involves negotiating an integration of operating identity (needs, identification, skills, impulse-defense styles, and values) with occupational roles, the classification of motivational conflicts as a source of difficulty in vocational indecision offers a useful method for explicating issues in vocational-choice counseling. Applications to differential counseling processes are discussed. (l7 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Trace metals in the marine bivalve Macoma balthica in the westerschelde estuary, The Nertherlands. Part 3: Variability of the role of cytosol in metal uptake by the clams

Tellinid clams Macoma balthica were sampled every 2 months for 2.5 years at two locations from the Westerschelde estuary (The Netherlands) and submitted to in vitro short-term exposure to Cd, Cu and Zn. Total and heat-stable cytosolic metal concentrations have been measured before and after exposure to study the effects of the sampling season on metal uptake by the bivalve. We observed much higher uptakes of Cd and, to a lesser extent, Cu in winter than in summer, while Zn appears to be constantly regulated. These phenomena are amplified in the cytosol, especially for Cd, a non-essential element, for which the concentrations after exposure can reach 35–45 μg·g⁻¹ (dry wt.) in winter, but only a maximum of 0.5 μg·g⁻¹ in summer, all natural values being between 0.01 and 0.1 μg·g⁻¹ on average. The contents (μg) of the various elements, either at the total or at the cytosolic level, are not constant, hence showing that the seasonal body weight fluctuation of the clams (dilution or concentration effect) is not the only parameter responsible for the metal uptake variability. Furthermore, we have shown that the proportion of cytosolic metal is not constant, but increases with the absolute cytosolic concentration up to 35–40. Therefore, the cytosolic phase of the cells plays a growing role in Cd, Cu and Zn storage as long as their total concentration increases.