Characterization of a protein found in cells infected with the spleen focus-forming virus that shares immunological cross-reactivity with the gp70 found in mink cell focus-inducing virus particles. Previously we detected an antigen in cells infected with the spleen focus-forming virus (SFFV) with a radioimmunoassay specific for the gp 70's of murine leukemia mink cell focus-inducing (MCF) viruses. This antigen has now been characterized in competition radioimmunoassays with limiting dilutions of antibody and in pulse-labeling studies under conditions of antibody excess. Both methods of analysis indicate that the SFFV-encoded antigen is a glycoprotein with a molecular weight of approximately 52,000. The gp52 shared immunological reactivity and methionine-containing tryptic peptides with the gp70 of a Friend MCF virus and was expressed on the surface of SFFV-infected cells as well as in the cytoplasm. The gp52 could be detected (i) in fibroblastic cell lines from several species when these cells were infected with SFFV; (ii) in several established erythroleukemic cell lines; and (iii) in the spleens of mice recently infected with SFFV. Although it shared immunochemical properties with the gp70 of Friend MCF virus, the gp52 could be distinguished from the MCF gp70 (i) by its apparent lack of group and interspecies immunological determinants compared with MCF virus-derived gp70's; (ii) by its failure to be released from cells infected with SFFV or SFFV plus helper virus; (iii) by its molecular weight; and (iv) by tryptic peptide analysis. The results indicate that SFFV codes for an MCF gp70-related gp52 which is apparently no longer a virion structural protein like the MCF gp70 from which it was originally derived.


Biosynthesis of an unglycosylated envelope glycoprotein of Rous sarcoma virus in the presence of tunicamycin. Cells stably infected with Rous sarcoma virus were treated with tunicamycin to prevent the glycosylation of the precursor (pr92gp) to the two viral envelope glycoproteins gp85 and gp35. Pretreatment of the cells for 4 h with the antibiotic resulted in a 90% reduction in [3H]mannose incorporation into total cellular glycoproteins, intracellular viral glycoproteins, and released virus particles. Protein synthesis and virus particle formation were not significantly affected by the treatment. A new polypeptide made in the presence of the drug was identified by immunoprecipitation of pulse-labeled cell lysates with monospecific anti-gp85 and anti-gp35 sera. This polypeptide, migrating on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels as a molecule of 62,000 daltons (pr62), contained no [3H]mannose, was labeled with [S35]methionine and [3H]arginine, could not be chased into the higher-molecular-weight glycosylated form, and contained the same [3H]arginine tryptic peptides as pr92gp. The unglycosylated pr62 was still detectable 2 h after the pulse labeling of the cells. The lack of glycosylation of pr62 did not seem to reduce its stability. No clear evidence for the incorporation of this molecule or its cleavage products into viral particles could be obtained. To code for an envelope polypeptide of 62,000 daltons, only about 1,500 nucleotides or 15% of the total coding capacity of the virus are needed.


Phosphonoformate inhibition of visna virus replication. Phosphonoformate (PFA) inhibits multiplication of visna virus in sheep choroid plexus cells; a 50% reduction of virus yield was obtained by 20 to 80 microM PFA. Morphological changes, such as syncytial formation and cell degeneration, could be reversibly prevented by PFA. Cell growth was not significantly affected at 500 microM PFA, although prolonged treatment with 2 mM PFA did arrest cell growth. Cell-free reverse transcriptase activity primed with various synthetic template-primers was inhibited about 90% in the presence of 100 microM PFA. The results from kinetic experiments suggested that reverse transcriptase was utilized early but not late in the infection cycle. A structurally related substance, phosphonoacetate, did not inhibit visna virus multiplication and had no inhibitory effect on reverse transcriptase activity at a concentration of 500 microM.


Optimal conditions for synthesis of long complementary DNA product with Moloney murine leukemia virus. Studies are described on the interrelationships between divalent metals, dNTP's and PPi in determining the properties of complementary DNA (cDNA) product from the in vitro reverse transcriptase reaction with detergent-treated Moloney murine leukemia virus. In spite of the several-fold greater amount of cDNA product with Mn2+ than with Mg2+, net yield of high-molecular-weight cDNA was much greater with Mg2+ thant with Mn2+. This held true, as well, for the reactions containing excess dNTP or dNTP plus PPi, both of which (as has been reported for Mg2+) promote synthesis of high-molecular-weight cDNA product. Hif total dNTP concentration remained important for maximum high-molecular-weight product with Mg2+ and was not replaced by simply providing dNTP in excess over Mg2+. Under the conditions tested here, addition of PPi did not further increase cDNA product size with Mg2+ when compared with dNTP in excess over Mg2+. Extent of degradation of the RNA template during the incubations was correlated with the size of cDNA product.


Radioimmunoassays for the 36,000-dalton glycoprotein of murine mammary tumor viruses demonstrate type, group, and interspecies determinants. Mouse mammary tumor viruses (MMTVs)  contain distinct membrane glycoproteins of 52,000 daltons (gp52) and 36,000 daltons (gp36). We report here the development of new radioimmunoassays for gp36, using gp36 purified by hydrophobic chromatography and gel filtration. These assays demonstrate that gp36 has both type-specific and group-specific antigenic determinants. The virus-coded nature of these determinants was shown by utilizing different MMTVs grown in the same feline cell line. Interspecies determinants on gp36 were demonstrated by the observations that (i) MC-MTV (a virus isolate from the Asian rodent Mus cervicolor, and morphologically identical to MMTVs) competed, with an altered slope, in the gp36 radioimmunoassay, and (ii) antisera raised against MC-MTV immunopreciptitated 125I-labeled gp36. The detection of gp36 in spontaneous mammary tumors of several strains of mice also facilitates further studies on the replication of MMTVs and the host's immune response to MMTV-mediated oncogenesis.


Simultaneous purification of murine mammary tumor virus structural proteins: analysis of antigenic reactivities of native gp34 by radioimmunocompetition assays. All the structural proteins (gp47, gp34, p27, p23, p16, and p12) of the murine mammary tumor virus (MuMTV) were simultaneously purified utilizing alkylagarose chromatography as the initial fractionation step. Least-hydrophobic MuMTV polypeptides (p23, p16) and the slightly hydrophobic p27 were separated from moderately hydrophobic proteins gp47 and p12 by passage through octylimino (C(8))-agarose; the gp47 and p12 could be removed from the matrix by elution with ethylene glycol, whereas the most hydrophobic MuMTV protein, gp34, was eluted using nonionic detergent together with ethylene glycol. Subsequent purification steps involved ion-exchange or gel filtration chromatography. The resulting protein preparations appeared near-homogeneous on analysis by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate. Recoveries of MuMTV proteins, based on their approximate individual contribution to total virus protein, ranged from about 20% for gp47 to greater than 100% for the minor structural component p23, the major phosphoprotein of MuMTV. Antiserum against purified C3H MuMTV gp34, together with purified, radioiodinated gp34, was used to develop a radioimmunoassay which showed that from 13 to 14% of total MuMTV protein by weight is gp34. Using this assay system, the group-specific antigenic reactivity of gp34 was also demonstrated. When solubilized preparations of C3H, RIII, and GR MuMTV's were used as competing antigens in gp34 radioimmunoassays with anti-C3H MuMTV serum, both group- and type-specific differences in antigenic reactivity were found.


Specific neutralization of defective spleen focus-forming virus in Friend virus complex by rat antiserum. The spleen focus-forming virus (SFFV), a rapidly transforming, replication-defective virus in Friend virus (FV) complex that is readily neutralized by antisera directed against its helper virus, was examined for the presence of SFFV-specific antigens. Antisera prepared in Fisher rats against an SFFV-infected Fisher rat embryo fibroblast line (SFFV-FRE) neutralized SFFV effectively, but not Friend-associated murine leukemia virus (F-MuLV) whether the latter was tested alone or was mixed with SFFV in the FV complex. In contrast, serum from mice immunized with SFFV-infected nonproducer mouse cells had little or no neutralizing activity against SFFV. Both absorption and immunoprecipitation studies indicate that the SFFV-specific antigen is immunologically related to xenotropic murine leukemia virus antigens. The role of both SFFV- and F-MuLV-specific antigens in the neutralization of SFFV suggests that this defective virus could be an antigenic mosaic and that viruses in the FV complex may participate in a undirectional form of phenotypic mixing.


Characterization of the 5'-terminal structure of simian virus 40 early mRNA's. RPC-5 reverse-phase chromatography has been used to isolate fragments of simian virus 40 DNA generated by appropriate digestions with restriction endonucleases. Ten specific DNA fragments, mapping successively in a counterclock-wise direction from 0.67 to 0.515 on the simian virus 40 genome, were each hybridized to cytoplasmic mRNA obtained during the early phase of simian virus 40 infection. Primer extension methods with reverse transcriptase were used to characterize the 5' ends of two species of viral mRNA which were fractionated on sucrose gradients. Analysis of the complementary DNA products demonstrated the presence of two different spliced structures of simian virus 40 early mRNA's, both of which had the same 5'-end sequences (AUU), located at residues 18 to 20 on the viral genome. The mRNA for small-t contained a segment 588 bases in length (residues 18 to 605) spliced to residues 672. A 66-nucleotide segment rich in adenine-thymine was spliced out of this mRNA. The mRNA for large-T contained a segment 308 bases in length (residues 18 to 325) which is also spliced to residue 672. A 346-base segment was spliced from this mRNA. The results suggest that there are two levels for control of genetic expression. One would be the regulation of initiation of transcription at a common promoter; the other involves post-transcriptional splicing.


Cell surface location of simian virus 40-specific proteins on HeLa cells infected with adenovirus type 2-simian virus 40 hybrid viruses Ad2+ND1 and Ad2+ND2. HeLa cells infected with the nondefective adenovirus type 2-simian virus 40 hybrid viruses Ad2+ND1 or Ad2+ND2 were analyzed for cell surface location of the SV40-specific hybrid virus proteins by indirect immunofluorescence microscopy. Two different batches of sera from SV40 tumor-bearing hamsters, serum from SV40 tumor-bearing mice, or two different antisera prepared against purified sodium dodecyl sulfate-denatured SV40 T-antigen, respectively, were used. All sera were shown to exhibit comparable T- and U-antibody titers and to specifically immunoprecipitate the SV40-specific proteins from cell extracts of Ad2+ND2-infected cells. Whereas analysis of living, hybrid virus-infected HeLa cells did not yield conclusive results, analysis of Formalin-fixed cells resulted in positive cell surface fluorescence with both Ad2+ND1- and Ad2+ND2-infected HeLa cells when antisera prepared against sodium dodecyl sulfate-denatured SV40 T-antigen were used as first antibody. In contrast, sera from SV40 tumor-bearing animals were not or only very weakly able to stain the surfaces of these cells. The fact that the tumor sera had comparable or even higher T- and U-antibody titers than the antisera against sodium dodecyl sulfate-denatured T-antigen but were not able to recognize SV40-specific proteins on the cell surface suggests that SV40 tumor-specific transplantation antigen may be an antigenic entity different from T- or U-antigen.


Virus production by Abelson murine leukemia virus-transformed lymphoid cells. Cell lines obtained by in vitro transformation of bone marrow with Abelson murine leukemia virus (A-MuLV) can be divided into three classes: producers, releasing reverse transcriptase-containing particles and infectious virus; nonproducers, releasing no viral particles; and defective producers, the most common phenotype, releasing particulate reverse transcriptase in the absence of infectious virus. When such cell lines were analyzed 1 to 2 weeks after their isolation, however, all produced infectious virus. Because these cell lines were carried in culture, many ceased to release infectious virus but produced defective virions. One defective producer, SWR4, has been extensively studied. The particles it produces have the same density as that of virions of Moloney murine leukemia virus (M-MuLV). The particles contain no 35 to 70S RNA, as determined by analysis of [3H]uridine-labeled particles, and exhibit no endogenous reverse transcriptase activity. Although the reverse transcriptase enzyme is of normal size, the major structural protein of the defective virions has a molecular weight of 28,000 (p28), in contrast to the p30 of M-MuLV, and no viral glycoprotein was evident. The defective particles do not appear to arise either from the helper virus or from Abelson virus. An alteration of the protein of the helper virus is an unlikely source of p28 because particles produced by lymphoid cells transformed with another strain of M-MuLV as helper (M-MuLV-TB) contained p28 with an unaltered cleavage pattern, although M-MuLV-TB p30 differs from M-MuLV p30. The A-MuLV genome lacks the capacity to code for the reverse transcriptase virions. Clones of fibroblasts infected with A-MuLV only occasionally produce defective particles. The defective particles therefore probably arose from an endogenous virus that is preferentially expressed in the class of lymphoid cells transformed by A-MuLV. This interpretation implies that the majority of A-MuLV-transformed lymphoid cells completely lose expression of the helper virus genome.


Electron microscopic stereological analysis of the normal human prostate and of benign prostatic hyperplasia. Normal and benign hyperplastic prostatic tissue was studied by quantitative electron microscopic measurements. Quantitative morphological procedures provide values for volume, surface, number of tissue and cellular components within human prostatic tissue. When a comparison is made of the stereological data of the glandular cell of benign prostatic hyperplasia to that of the normal human prostate no statistically significant difference in the relative volumetric amount of the cell organelles is indicated. An attempt was made to characterize the fine structure of the smooth muscle cells of the stromal area (fibromuscular) in normal and benign hyperplastic prostatic tissue. In benign prostatic hyperplasia a significant increase in the relative amount of organelles in the smooth muscle cell was found, indicating an activation of these cells. Light microscopic analysis has revealed that benign prostatic hyperplasia is primarily a stromal disease.


Light microscopic stereological analysis of the normal human prostate and of benign prostatic hyperplasia. Normal prostate glands from 6 men less than 30 years old and enucleated tissue of benign prostatic hyperplasia were analyzed by stereological methods. Studies on the relative volumetric amount of fibromuscular (stromal) and glandular areas of the gland reveal no statistically significant difference between the inner and outer parts of the normal prostate and between the inner part of the normal prostate and benign prostatic hyperplasia. However, in benign prostatic hyperplasia there is a significant increase in the volumetric amount of the fibromuscular tissue and a decrease in the glandular area compared to the outer part of the normal prostate and the whole normal prostate (sum of the inner and the outer parts). These stereological data are discussed with respect to the pathogenesis of benign prostatic hyperplasia.


Search for blocking factors in sera of patients with prostatic cancer. Sera from patients with carcinoma of the prostate were screened for the presence of blocking factors by measuring the inhibition of phytohemagglutinin-induced blastogenesis of normal lymphocytes. The blastogenic index obtained in cancer sera is not significantly different from that obtained in sera of patients with benign prostatic hypertrophy (control group). Determination of alpha-2-globulins in the cancer sera by cellulose acetate electrophoresis revealed slightly elevated levels in patients with metastatic disease but it did not correlate with the inhibitory blocking activity of the serum.


[Glaucoma - its nature, significance, treatment. Slide show with sound (51 slides, sound track cassette)]. A slide show is presented on primary glaucoma made for the instruction of laymen. The slide show should provide information for patients, but first of all it is meant to be a help for preventive measures.


[The indications and the efficiency of x-ray therapy of the eyelid tumours (author's transl)]. A short introduction deals with the frequency, the distribution and the histology of eyelid-tumors. Then the indication, the technics and the efficiency of X-ray therapy is discussed. Only malignomes of the early stage of TU I and TU II that are made sure by histological research may be treated by an experienced X-ray therapist. It is pointed to the importance of cooperation and the common planning between ophthalmic-surgical and X-ray therapeutics centers and the oculist. Observing the correct indication and technics we reached 97% of 5 years healing by X-ray therapy with our material of malign tumours of the eyelid in the early stage of TU I and TU II.


Management of symptomatic tetralogy of Fallot in the first year of life. The surgical management of symptomatic tetralogy of Fallot in infants is debatable. The question of total correction versus palliation and the type of palliative procedure remain controversial. During the past 4 years, 30 infants, aged 1 day to 12 months (mean 5.6 months) with symptomatic tetralogy of Fallot underwent either total correction (21 infants) or palliation by relieving the pulmonary stenosis with a right ventricular outflow tract patch (nine infants). The ratio of diameter of the right pulmonary artery to diameter of the ascending aorta (PA/Ao ratio) was calculated from the anteroposterior cineangiogram of all patients. There were three operative deaths in the total correction group; two of these occurred in infants with PA/Ao ratios less than 0.3. One death occurred in the 19 patients undergoing total correction with PA/Ao ratios greater than 0.3 (mortality rate 5.3%). All nine infants undergoing right ventricular outflow tract patching had PA/Ao ratios less than 0.3, and one operative death occurred in this group. Four patients who had right ventricular outflow tract patching have had repeat cardiac catheterization 2 to 15 months postoperatively. All four have shown symmetrical enlargement of the pulmonary arterial tree and significant increases in their PA/Ao ratios.


Pulmonary atresia with intact ventricular septum. Sixteen-year experience. Infants with pulmonary atresia and intact ventricular septum (PA-IVS) usually require urgent surgical intervention. Thirty patients with this anomaly, seen at the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center between 1962 and 1978, had palliative operations, 26 within the first 3 days of life. Six underwent a closed pulmonary valvotomy alone, with no survivors; six had only a systemic--pulmonary artery shunt, with three early survivors. Because of this experience, 17 had a combined procedure of valvotomy and shunt, with 14 early survivors. One patient recently underwent a definitive right ventricular outflow patch procedure with cardiopulmonary bypass. Eight patients subsequently have had corrective open-heart procedures, with five patients surviving from 2 to 10 years. A unicusp aortic homograft was used for repair in five and a Hancock valved conduit in three. Four patients are presently awaiting operation. We conclude that the initial surgical management of these critically ill infants must not only increase pulmonary blood flow but in addition provide an opportunity for right ventricular growth. Thus we continue to advocate the combined procedure of a valvotomy plus a shunt to provide adequate palliation. Repeat catheterization should be performed within a year to confirm the adequacy of the valvotomy, since this is essential to maximal right ventricular enlargement and to allow for definitive correction at a later date.


T and B lymphocytes in patients with acute anterior uveitis and ankylosing spondylitis, and in their household contacts. During episodes of acute anterior uveitis, patients had a T-lymphopenia and a temporary increase in B-lymphocytes. The T-lymphopenia was not present in patients investigated early in their first attacks, and it persisted after the patients recovered clinically. In household contacts of patients with uveitis, there was a temporary T-lymphopenia. A similar degree of T-lymphopenia was present in patients with ankylosing spondylitis who had not had uveitis, but not in their household contacts. In patients with spondylitis, there was no greater reduction of T-cells when they had episodes of uveitis. In all groups of subjects studied, T-lymphopenia could be abolished, in vitro, with thymosin, a bovine thymic-hormone estract. The finding of T-lymphocyte depletion in the contacts of uveitis patients, as well as in the patients themselves, suggests that there may be lateral transmission of an infective agent (or agents) in the households during (or before) attacks of uveitis.


Double-blind comparison of methadone and placebo maintenance treatments of narcotic addicts in Hong Kong. In a double-blind study carried out between 1972 and 1975 in Hong Kong 100 heroin addict volunteers were initially admitted to hospital for two weeks for stabilisation on 60 mg of methadone before being assigned at random to two groups: one group received methadone (range 30--130 mg, average 97 mg/day); those in the other group had their dose of methadone reduced at the rate of 1 mg/day and were then maintained on placebo. All subjects were provided with a broad range of supportive services. After thirty-two weeks 10% of the controls were still on treatment, compared with 76% of those receiving methadone. At the end of the three-year project, only 1 of the original 50 placebo subjects still turned up for treatment (2%), whereas the retention-rate (proportion still on treatment) for methadone subjects was 56%. Subjects who had dropped out of the study and were readmitted for methadone treatment under known conditions had the same retention-rate as the original treatment group.


Effects of disodium dichloromethylene diphosphonate on Paget's disease of bone. 19 patients with Paget's disease were treated orally for 6 months with disodium dichloromethylene diphosphonate. 1600 mg/day (10 patients) significantly reduced urine hydroxyproline, serum alkaline phosphatase, urine calcium, and the number of pagetic bone osteoclasts. Tetracycline double labelling revealed undisturbed bone mineralisation. There was improvement on quantitative bone-scans and bone pain diminished. There was a transient increase in parathyroid hormone level in 13 of the 19 patients during treatment, which was associated with a high serum 1,25 (OH)2D3. No adverse clinical side-effects have been observed and biochemical remission has persisted for 9 months.


Long-term effects of captopril (SQ14 225) on blood-pressure and hormone levels in essential hypertension. Captopril, an orally active angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor, was effective in the long-term reduction of blood-pressure in 17 patients with essential hypertension. The addition of hydrochlorothiazide produced a further hypotensive effect, and the combined treatment produced satisfactory control of the blood-pressure for eight months. Captopril prevented and reversed the secondary hyperaldosteronism and hypokalaemia induced by simultaneous diuretic administration, thus eliminating the need for potassium supplements. The fall in plasma-angiotensin-II and urinary aldosterone and rise in angiotensin I and plasma-renin provide biochemical evidence that captopril inhibits ACE in vivo. No change in circulating venous bradykinin levels could be detected. The hypotensive action of captopril is not mediated by changes in blood-bradykinin but may involve inhibition of the renin-angiotensin and kallikrein-kinin systems locally within the kidneys or blood vessels.


Improved sexual function in male haemodialysis patients on bromocriptine. The effect of bromocriptine on sexual activity was studied in male haemodialysis patients in a single-blind placebo controlled trial with random cross-over. At a dose of 2.5 mg bromocriptine twice day, plasma-prolactin concentrations were consistently reduced, while sexual function as assessed by a questionnaire was markedly improved. At the doses used, side-effects, particularly hypotension, were common, but bromocriptine helped to restore sexual function in dialysed patients.


Steroid treatment of male subfertility caused by antisperm antibodies. 47 subfertile men with significant titres of antisperm antibodies were treated with one of two steroid regimens. The results were assessed by changes in sperm-counts and in serum antibody titres and by subsequent pregnancies. 15 oligozoospermic men were treated with prednisone 5 mg three times a day for 3--12 months. Sperm-counts became normal in 10 men and 4 of their wives became pregnant. 14 men with normal sperm-counts received the same treatment: antibody titres fell slightly and 3 of their wives became pregnant. 18 other men with normal sperm-counts were given one or more courses of methylprednisolone 96 mg/day for 7 days. There was a more pronounced fall in antibody titres in these men, and 7 of their wives became pregnant. Testicular biopsies in 3 men with high titres of antibodies and very low sperm-counts which became normal with prednisone showed adequate spermatogenesis; however, focal round-cell infiltration of seminiferous tubules was observed in 1 case. It is suggested that a steroid-responsive immune orchitis can occur spontaneously in man, and may contribute to the infertility of men with antisperm antibodies.


Risk of ectopic pregnancy and duration of use of an intrauterine device. A number of investigations have shown that accidental pregnancies occurring in long-term users of an intrauterine device (IUD) are more likely to be ectopic than those occurring in short-term users. An analysis of data collected in the Oxford-Family Planning Association contraceptive study, strongly suggests that the earlier findings are attributable to the progressive reduction in the frequency of intrauterine implantation with duration of IUD use. The absolute risk of ectopic pregnancy in IUD users was found to remain fairly constant with duration of use at about 1.2 per 1000 women per annum.


Cell number and cell size: organ growth and development and the control of catch-up growth in rats. One of the most important hypotheses for the control of catch-up after nutritional growth restriction relates developmental vulnerability to an early phase of cell multiplication, rather than to a later phase of growth of cell size. A re-examination of growing tissues, however, does not show the expected sequence of growth events, and the former hypothesis is therefore not supported.


Adrenal steroids and the development of osteoporosis in oophorectomised women. To explore the possibility that the wide variation in bone loss among oophorectomised women might be due to differences in adrenal androgens or their biosynthetic pathways, 18 women (10 with very fast and 8 with very slow bone loss) were selected. Serum levels of nine adrenal steroids, including the major androgens and cortisol, were measured under basal conditions and after overnight suppression followed by acute corticotropin stimulation. In addition, basal serum oestrone, oestradiol, dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate, sex-hormone-binding-globulin, corticosteroid binding globulin, and urinary free cortisol were measured. The only significant differences found were that women who lost bone rapidly had significantly higher urinary free-cortisol excretion (p less than 0.001) and a paradoxically diminished cortisol response to corticotropin. These data make it unlikely that endogenous adrenal androgens or oestrogens are a major factor in preventing bone loss after cessation of ovarian function; cortisol by its catabolic effect, however, may be a significant factor in causing osteoporosis.


A glycoside-hydrolase inhibitor in treatment of dumping syndrome. BAY g 5421, a glycoside-hydrolase inhibitor, produced symptomatic improvement in ten patients with the dumping syndrome. 100 mg BAY g 5421, given before a 50 g sucrose meal, produced pronounced attenuation of both hyperglycaemic and hypoglycaemic phases of plasma glucose levels; and it greatly reduced the rise in plasma levels of gastric inhibitory polypeptide and insulin. Gastric emptying, studied simultaneously by an isotopic method, showed little difference between tests, suggesting that the improvement achieved was not mediated by slowing gastric emptying.


Hyponatraemic hypertensive syndrome with renal-artery occlusion corrected by captopril. Malignant hypertension with severe hyponatraemia, hypokalaemia, depletion of sodium and potassium, and elevated blood levels of renin, angiotensin I, angiotensin II, aldosterone, and arginine vasopressin developed in a woman with renal-artery occlusion. Plasma angiotensin II was disproportionately high in relation to exchangeable sodium. Captopril, by inhibiting conversion of angiotensin I to angiotensin II, further elevated the blood levels of renin and angiotensin I but corrected all other abnormalities. Unilateral nephrectomy was subsequently curative.


Detection of herpes-simplex viral genome in brain tissue. Herpes-simplex virus type (HSV-1) nucleic-acid sequences were detected by in-situ hybridisation in thin sections of brains from mice which had been inoculated 24 weeks previously with HSV-1. These mice were not ill, and infectious virus could not be recovered from them. HSV-1 sequences were also present in brain smears from 3 of 4 elderly patients who had died with chronic psychiatric illness and neuropathological changes but not in smears from 2 patients who had had acute psychotic episodes and minimum abnormal histology. Adenovirus type 7 nucleic-acid sequences were not detected in these human specimens.


Use of partial cardiopulmonary bypass during the anhepatic phase of orthotopic liver grafting. Femoro-femoral partial cardiopulmonary bypass has been used in two patients under going orthotopic liver allografting who had severe cardiovascular disturbances on trial clamping of their venae cavae. Flows of 2-3 litres/min resulted in satisfactory cardiovascular control during the anhepatic phase in each ase. A third patient who tolerated caval clamping withstood the grafting without bypass. Having bypass available for use in critical cases could increase the safety of orthotopic liver transplantation.


Randomised comparative studies in the treatment of cancer in the United Kingdom: room for improvement? The basic details of randomised clinical studies in cancer treatment under way in the United Kingdom were ascertained in a postal survey. The cancers of major interest were those of lung, breast, colon and rectum, and lymphomas and leukaemias. In general, only a small proportion of cancer patients are entered into clinical studies; and most of the individual studies aim for a small number of patients, with patient entry over a long period.


Bites by the carpet viper in the Niger Valley. 60 people who had been bitten by the carpet viper, Echis carinatus, were seen in four months at Zungeru Health Centre, in North West Nigeria, where snake-bite patients have recently occupied 10% of beds. Health statistics greatly underestimate the frequency, morbidity, and mortality of snake bite in the rural tropics and further studies will probably confirm other areas endemic for E. carinatus within its vast distribution zone. Regular supplies of effective antivenom are crucial to gain a community's confidence in conventional, as opposed to traditional, treatment. Paramedical staff in a rural clinic can be trained in the definitive management and treatment, including successful antivenom therapy, of most snake-bite patients.


[Lysis of Micrococcus lysodeikticus protoplasts by gramicidin S derivatives]. Gramicidin S derivatives with the substituted amino groups of ornithines (carbamoylgramicidin and diacetylgramicidin) possess nearly the same level of the lytic activity when acting on Micrococcus lysodeikticus protoplasts in a 1 M sucrose solution as the original antibiotic. The lytic activity of gramicidin S and these derivatives considerably increases in a solution of sucrose in phosphate buffer. The dependence of the lytic activity of gramicidin on its concentration is of a complex character: two "peaks" of activity and a region of "nonlyzing" concentrations. The lytic activity of gramicidin derivatives with substituted amino groups directly depends on the concentration. When gramicidin S acts upon the intact cells of M. lysodeikticus, it impair with the permeability of their membranes and causes a loss of compounds absorbing at 260 nm; the derivatives with the substituted amino groups change the permeability of the cellular membranes only to a slight extent.


Staphylococcal nuclease reviewed: a prototypic study in contemporary enzymology. IV. The nuclease as a model for protein folding. This is the last in a series of four articles in which the chemical, enzymological and crystallographic work on Ribonucleate (deoxyribonucleate)-3'-nucleotidohydrolase, EC 3.1.4.4 (staphylococcal nuclease, micrococcal nuclease) will be reviewed and correlated. This article discusses the use of the nuclease as a model system for the study of the mechanisms and energetics of the folding-unfolding reaction in proteins and for the study of the interrelationships between amino acid sequence and three-dimensional structure.


Interaction of alpha 2-macroglobulin with L-asparaginase. Obvious protection of the catalytic activity of Esch. coli L-asparaginase by alpha 2-macroglobulin (alpha 2M) was observed under conditions otherwise propitious to the dissociation of the tetrameric molecule into inactive subunits, i.e. very diluted enzyme solutions or the presence of either SDS or urea. The degree of protection depended on enzyme and alpha 2M concentrations respectively, and on the preincubation time of the alpha 2M-enzyme mixture prior to substrate addition. The formation of a catalytically active complex between alpha 2M and L-asparaginase was confirmed by gel filtration on a Sephadex-G column and by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The fact that the migration distance of the active complex corresponded to the migration of alpha 2M and the absence in that case of a migration band corresponding to the intact molecule suggest that complexing of the enzyme with alpha 2M prevented its dissociation into subunits and thus its inactivation. Addition of alpha 2M to the already dissociated enzyme molecule did not restore its catalytic activity. Alpha2-macroglobulin was shown to have an inhibiting effect on the proteolytic activity of almost all proteases and no effect on their esterolytic activity. Furthermore, it prevents the inhibition of esterolytic activity by some natural compounds. The effect of alpha 2M on other types of catalytic activity has not been investigated enough to afford a generalization of the possible role of this macroglobulin in the control of enzyme activity in the body. This paper reports the results of an in vitro study of the effect of alpha 2M on the catalytic activity of an important amidase, i.e. L-asparaginase (L-asparagine amidohydrolase 3.5.1.1), which in recent years has been used in the treatment of acute lymphocytic leukemia in children.


Human alpha-fetoprotein/AFP/ I. Isolation of homogenous AFP from cord blood serum. The AFP from human cord blood was isolated by means of affinity chromatography with the use of antibodies as ligands and by gel filtration. The preliminary purification was achieved by affinity chromatography on CNBr-Sepharose 4B coupled with anti AFP-antibody. Further purification was obtained by the use of immunoadsorbent with anti-human serum protein antibodies. Final purification was achieved by gel filtration on Sephadex G-200. Homogeneity of the purified AFP was demonstrated by means of gel filtration, polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, isoelectric focusing and immunoelectrophoresis.


Effect of N2 on the mutagenic and lethal activities of ICR-170 in Neurospora crassa. The nature of the N2 effect for ICR-170, i.e., the greater mutagenic and lethal activities of this agent in the presence of N2 than O2, has been studied at the ad-3 region of Neurospora crassa. The characteristics of the N2 effect for ICR-170 were that (1) the N2 effect with ICR-170 was displayed in conidia when N2 was administered during, but not before or after, ICR-170 treatment, (2) the highly increased mutagenic and lethal activities of ICR-170 in the presence of N2 were due to an anoxic condition rather than to the presence of N2 per se, (3) the high killing activity of ICR-170 under N2 was due largely to increased cytoplasmic inactivation, (4) the N2 effect was a general phenomenon at the ad-3 region of N. crassa, and (5) the highly ICR-170-induced mutation in conidia under N2 was attributable to an actual enhancement in the mutagenic activity of ICR-170 rather than to selective killing. With regard to the mechanisms of the N2 effect with ICR-170, results indicate that this effect (1) was not due to more extracellular oxidative degradation of ICR-170 molecules in the presence of O2, or to a greater uptake of ICR-170 by conidia under N2, but (2) was due to the inhibition of conidial respiration under an anoxic environment.


The relation between chemically induced sister-chromatid exchanges and chromatid breakage. Studies of classical chromosome aberrations and sister-chromatid exchanges (SCES) suggest independent mechanisms for the two events despite some common features. Examination of chromosome breakage caused by X-rays, visible light, and viruses has shown that few chromatid breaks are accompanied by SCEs at the sites of breaks. No similar observations were available for chemically induced breaks, but it has been reported that rat chromosomes exposed to dimethylbenzanthracene (DMBA) contained a preponderance of both aberrations and SCEs in certain specific regions, implicating a common process in their formation. These conclusions were drawn from a comparison of breaks induced in vivo with SCEs induced in vitro. However, we used 7 chemical mutagens to induce both chromatid breaks and SCEs in "harlequin" chromosomes of cultured rat and Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells and found that 25% of the 914 breaks scored were associated with SCEs. The proportion of breaks accompanied by SCEs is related to the overall SCE frequency and falls into the range predicted on the basis that breaks and SCEs occur independently. The reported association between sites for SCEs and aberrations also reflects secondary factors, such as induction of SCEs and aberrations during DNA synthesis in late replicating regions of the chromosomes.


Hyperthermic enhancement of chromosome damage and lack of effect on sister-chromatid exchanges induced by bleomycin in Chinese hamster cells in vitro. Chinese hamster cells, M-3, were treated with BLM (1--4 micrograms/ml) for 30 min to 1 h at 37 degrees or 43 degrees C. After treatment, the cells were reincubated at 37 degrees until recovery. The material treated at 43 degrees showed increased damage expressed as chromosome and chromatid-type breaks and exchanges. Since the amount of BLM entering the cell at 37 degrees is supposedly similar to that which enters the cell at 43 degrees, the enhanced damage is the result of true synergism, and not the facilitation of the drug's entry into the cell.


Sister-chromatid exchanges in human lymphocytes exposed during Go to four classes of DNA-damaging chemicals. Human lymphocytes were treated prior to mitogenic stimulation with varying concentrations of 6 cytostatic drugs representing 4 classes of DNA-damaging chemicals. Afterwards the cells were washed to remove residual chemical and cultured in the presence of bromodeoxyuridine for analysis of sister-chromatid exchanges (SCEs). A dose-related increase in SCEs was observed in cells exposed during Go to the alkylating chemicals mitomycin C, chlorambucil, and thiotepa, while significant increases in SCEs were not noted in cultures exposed to methotrexate, cytarabine, or bleomycin. These findings suggest that not all classes of clatogenic chemicals which induce SCEs in proliferative cells substituted with BUdR are capable of inducing long-lived lesions in the DNA of Go lymphocytes that can lead to SCE formation.


Gamma globulins of CSF and serum in multiple sclerosis: isoelectric focusing on polyacrylamide gel and agar gel electrophoresis. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and serum from 139 patients with MS were analyzed with electrophoresis on agar gel (AGE) and isoelectric focusing (IEF) on polyacrylamide gel. In both methods, 82 percent of the patients had abnormal patterns of oligoclonal IgG bands in the gamma globulin and alkaline regions. With IEF, 10 percent of the serum samples contained faint bands corresponding to the bands in CSF. Most of the bands were found in the cathodal part of the alkaline IEF region, but there was no correlation with clinical characteristics. Each patient seems to have a special band pattern which does not change throughout the disease. The gamma-trace protein was seen in 77 percent of the patients on IEF and in 29 percent on AGE. On IEF it appeared at two positions, at pH 8.0 and 9.3, but about 10 other bands were seen in the "normal" alkaline CSF region, making the band pattern of IEF more difficult to interpret than that of AGE. This limits the routine clinical value of IEF, even if the high resolution capacity of this method is useful in research.


Psuedotumor cerebri and insecticide intoxication. Three patients with headache and increased intracranial pressure had elevated blood, serum, and adipose levels of the organochlorine insecticide chlordecone (Kepone). These patients were among 23 employees who suffered from chronic chlordecone intoxication resulting from industrial exposure. In our three patients, investigations eliminated an intracranial mass or other known causes of psuedotumor cerebri. In all three patients, the capacity for cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) absorption was assessed by graded infusions into the subarachnoid space, and was found to be impaired even when papilledema was minimal.


[Surgical treatment of cancer of the pancreas]. A series of 145 patients with cancer of the pancreas is presented. Radical surgery was performed in 23 cases. An assessment is made of anatomical and clinical factors likely to interfere with the results of surgery, particularly radical surgery. The mean survival after palliative operations was 5.5 months and after duodenocephalopancreatectomy 16.1 months. After resection, operative mortality as a whole was 21.6%, though in the last 5 years it had fallen to 8.8%. Actuarial survival after 1 yr was 56.3% and after 2 yr 18.8%. The average duration of the symptom picture was long due to the difficulty of making an early diagnosis. This has an adverse influence on the operability of cancer of the pancreas. On average, survival after resection was less in cases with infiltration of the lymph nodes, but not in those with extension of the neoplasia to neighbouring organs, such as the duodenum. The results of radical management were much the same as those reported in the literature and are regarded as unsatisfactory, even though better than those achieved with palliative surgery. Their improvement is discussed in the light of the technical features of duodenocephalopancreatectomy. It is felt that extensive lymphadenectomy is required and that this should be planned and performed in accordance with strict anatomical and surgical criteria.


[Personal experience in 121 cases of palliative operations in abdominal oncological surgery]. The Authors analyse 121 cases of patients affected by abdominal malignant tumors, who underwent a palliative operation. Although the number of the examinated cases is small, it appears clear that the longest survival requires, when possible, the removal of most of the malignant tissue. This seems to be in accordance with the results reported by the literature.


[Palliative treatment of esophageal carcinoma. Personal surgical experience]. Malignant tumours of the oesophagus cannot always be handled radically; in personal clinical experience, only a third of patients suffering from oesophageal carcinoma have been subjected to radical oesophagectomy. The purpose of palliative treatment is to suppress dysphagia and restore possibly natural, adequate feeding. As for techniques, intraluminal catheterization by the combined endoscopic and gastrotomic route has been personally preferred to surgical bypass and gastrostomy whose palliative value should be confined to cases in which no other technique can be used. Good results have been obtained with catheterization and patients have been able to feed themselves naturally without noting the ineluctability of their disease.


Detection by antihapten antibodies of liver-bound compounds related to azocarcinogens or their metabolites. The localization of known azocarcinogens and metabolites such as p-aminoazobenzene and N-methyl-p-aminoazobenzene bound to components of liver cells of rats fed single or multiple doses of 3'-methyl-p-dimethylaminoazobenzene has been determined with the use of antibodies raised against p'-azo-p-aminoazobenzene and p'-azo-N-monomethyl-p-aminoazobenzene in the indirect fluorescent antibody procedure. These 2 antisera reacted with liver cells of rats fed 3'-methyl-p-dimethylaminoazobenzene, p'-amino-p-aminoazobenzene, p'-amino-N-monomethyl-p-aminoazobenzene and N-methyl-p-aminoazobenzene. The results obtained in this study suggest that both major and minor metabolites of azocarcinogens have common antigenic determinants.


[Immunochemical study of the specific antigens of human amniotic fluid]. Four specific antigens (trophoblastic beta 1-globulin, placental lactogen, alpha 1- and alpha 2-globulins of human placenta) were identified using antisera to the native amniotic fluid. Five antigens with the mobility of prealbumins, alpha 1-globulins, alpha 2-globulins and beta 2-globulins which bear no resemblance with the previously studied antigens were identified using antisera to the acid fraction of the amniotic fluid. Both the prealbumins and alpha 2-globulin were found in the blood serum of foetuses of different age and of newborn infants; these proteins were absent from the blood serum of pregnant women and donors. They received the names of embryonic prealbumine 1, embryonic prealbumine 2 and embryonic alpha 2-globulin. The protein with the mobility of alpha 1-globulins was found in the amniotic fluid of foetuses and in the blood serum of pregnant women only and received the name of amniotic alpha 1-globulin. The concentration of the antigens in question was studied in the developing foetuses and in the blood serum of pregnant women at different stages of pregnancy.


Plasmodium berghei - infected red cells sorted according to DNA content. A cell-sorting method is described for the analysis and separation of red blood cells in Plasmodium berghei-infected mouse blood based on their DNA content. This method involves a selective uptake of the bis-benzimidazole dye 33258 Hoechst, a DNA-binding dye, by red blood cells containing parasites. Infected blood is incubated at 37 degrees C with the dye then washed at 4 degrees C to remove unbound dye. Uninfected cells are then non-fluorescent at the characteristic wavelengths for 33258 Hoechst excitation and emission, whereas parasitized cells display fluorescence intensities in approximately direct proportion tothe number of parasite nuclei (i.e. amount of parasite DNA) within the cell and can be sorted accordingly. Providing cells were incubated in a complex nutrient medium during dye uptake at 37 degrees C, the sorted parasite-infected cells produced lethal P. berghei infections when injected into BALB/c mice. The dye-labelling technique is simple and sufficient red blood cells at various stages of infection can be collected for biochemical or immunochemical studies by cell sorting.


Diastropic dwarfism: a histochemical and ultrastructural study of the endochondral growth plate. Chondro-osseous tissue from five patients with diastropic dwarfism was studied by histologic, histochemical, and electron microscopic methods. The major abnormalities observed were: 1) irregular distribution of chondrocytes undergoing degeneration in the resting cartilage; 2) abnormal distribution of collagens in the resting cartilage; 3) a spectrum of fibrous matrix lesions in the resting cartilage which ranged from focal areas of aggregated collagen fibrils to large cystic lesions in which intracartilagenous ossification occurred; and 4) shortened, irregular cellular columns within the growth plate which were occasionally disrupted by matrix lesions extending from the resting cartilage. These alterations in chondro-osseous morphology have not been observed in any of the other skeletal dysplasias examined to date and appear to be pathognomonic for this disorder.


A randomized combination chemotherapy trial, with and without adriamycin, in squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. One hundred seventeen patients with advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck were treated and placed randomly between two combination protocols, one with adriamycin and the other without. Responses (more than 50% tumor regression) were 67% overall with 63% responding to the combination without adriamycin and 82% responding to the protocol containing it. The increase in the response rate seen with the addition of adriamycin was not statistically significant. The degree of response to chemotherapy was reduced by prior radiotherapy.


[II. Etiological classification of the small bowel diseases (author's transl)]. A new classification of the small bowel diseases is proposed according to - the physiopathology; - the anatomo-pathology; - the etiology. In this second part, the ethiological classification is developed. One may distinguish the post-surgical lesions, congenital defects, the side-effects of drugs and the vascular lesions. Allergy and infection are especially studied. The main problems which may be solved in a next future are: the mechanism of chronic infections, the biochemical pathology and especially the normal and pathological immunology.


Sequence of 200 nucleotides at the 3'-terminus of the genome RNA of vesicular stomatitis virus. The sequence of 200 nucleotides at the 3'-terminus of the genome RNA of vesicular stomatitis virus, Indiana serotype, was determined by adding a poly(A) tract to the 3'-terminus of genome RNA, then using the poly(A) as a binding site for a primer to initiate reverse transcription of the RNA, and analysing the complementary DNA sequence by the dideoxynucleoside triphosphate chain termination method. Proceeding 3' to 5', the genome RNA sequence consisted of a sequence complementary to the leader RNA, followed by the sequence AAA, followed by a sequence complementary to the 5'-extremity of N protein mRNA. These results are discussed in terms of leader RNA function, mechanism of transcript processing at the junction between leader RNA and N mRNA, and N mRNA structure.


Early psychosomatic pathology.

Early psychosomatic pathology. Early life vicissitudes and care, which are physical and concrete variables in their occurrence, but which are stored in the infant's mind in terms of relationships and emotional interplay, are basic for development in terms of body as well as of psychic orientation. Just as in psychic growth the interplay continues in the child's investment in the outside world (object), in the physical growth distorted early relationships, possibly deviated by the infant's physiological immaturities, interfere with the child's total health, and may lead to early psychosomatic pathology.


Production of slides of CT images using an EMI multi-format imager and a Delcomat copier. A method of reproducing 35 mm slides from CT images is described which is suited to a department with access to a Delcomat film copier.


Multilingual illustrative pregnancy posters and the 10 day rule. Multilingual illustrative posters requesting information as to possible pregnancy were introduced to the X-ray Department of the Royal Northern Hospital. A subsequent reduction in accidental foetal radiation was observed.


[Goodglass and Kaplan's test in patients with language difficulties due to thalamic lesions (author's transl)]. Two out of three patients with language difficulties from ischemic, tumoral, or hemorrhagic lesions of the left thalamus were studied by means of Goodglass and Kaplan's test. Results were compared to those obtained by using the same test in a patient with a hemorrhagic lesion in the posterior ramus of the left internal capsule, but no thalamic lesion. They demonstrate the autonomy of the clinical picture of "thalamic aphasia" as described in several cases reported in the published literature. The suggestion is made that the term, aphasia, can be applied to these cases as long as care is taken when defining them.


The weight of the human prostate.

The weight of the human prostate. The weight of the prostate proper was determined in an autopsy series comprising 205 cases. The dissection technique of Tisell & Salander made it possible to delimit the prostate proper from non-prostatic tissue. The mean weight of the "normal" prostate in adult men was about 11 grams (range 7--16). This weight as well as the water content did no change with age. Individuals who died after protracted disease had lower prostatic weight. The presence of periurethral adenomas was associated with a higher weight of the prostate proper.


[Questions to television from psychopathology]. Progress is expected in psychopathological diagnosis by using audiovisual procedures. Nowadays, a valid psychopathology concept should be broadly planned and the important method of description as well as understanding procedures should be considered. For such a model of psychopathology it seems appropriate to investigate the different psychopathological phenomenons as expression of a disturbed communication ability. Concerning this outlook, new strategies are to be developed or procedures of other disciplines are to be adapted for the psychopathological research. It seems attractive to anticipate aid from structuralistic and information-theoretical issues for the breaking of yet substancially less good apperceived facts. The interest hereby concentrates upon the relationship between verbal and averbal phenomenons and upon better criteria for an interpretation of the phenomenons as an expression of the subjective experience of the psychiatric patient as well as of his/her communicative competence. In order to use audio-visual techniques successfully, an orientation in specfic, originary particularities of the different methodological assessments is required. The way and extent of such problems can be demonstrated for the study of psychopathological phenomenons by the importance of the camera guide, the selection, the enlargement of a sequence, and the combination of different parts of an interview. The criteria of a field-specific TV-methodology must first be elaborated for the majority of the questioning. The user of audiovisual methods not only has to consider the special needs of the psychic ill, but also has to face critically the seduction ways of this potential medium.


Factor VIII: new clinical and genetic aspects. Factor VIII is a complex molecule comprising a series of homologous oligomers with biological activity related to primary haemostasis (factor VIII related antigen/Willebrand factor; FVIIIRAg/WF). The structure or distribution of these oligomers is abnormal in von Willebrand's disease (vWd). The oligomers are associated with, or contain, a lower molecular weight entity with procoagulant activity (factor VIIIC) which has distinct antigenic determinants and is reduced or abnormal in haemophilia. Recessive and dominant forms of vWd have been recognised but two families are described each with features of both dominant and recessive inheritance; this is of importance in genetic counselling. Results of a new immunoradiometric assay for factor VIIIC antigen showed reduced levels in vWd and haemophilia and it was absent in 3 of 6 samples from fetuses of obligate carriers of haemophilia. The potential use of this assay for the prenatal diagnosis of haemophilia is described.


4S RNA is present in regenerating optic axons of goldfish. Regenerating optic axons of goldfish were loaded with [3H]RNA by injecting [3H]uridine into the eye and allowing time for the radioactivity to be delivered to the optic tectum. The axons were subsequently removed from the tecta by cutting the optic nerve and allowing the optic axons in the tectum to degenerate. Analysis of tectal [3H]RNA by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis showed a selective loss of tritiated 4S RNA and not ribosomal RNA from the denervated tecta. These results support the hypothesis that regenerating optic axons of goldfish grow back into the tectum carrying 4C but not ribosomal RNA.


Intracavitary uses of colloids.

Intracavitary uses of colloids. Pleural and peritoneal effusion secondary to primary malignancy is a significant problem in the management of the cancer patient. Respiratory embarrassment and discomfort associated with the formation and collection of fluid in the chest and abdomen are among the most distressing symptoms encountered as a result of malignant disease. The guidelines for treatment should be based on respiratory symptoms, and with the understanding that the procedure is palliative. Both surgical and medical forms of treatment have been used. These include thoracostomy-tube drainage alone or with the instillation of antimicrobial agents. Pleurectomy is effective but should be reserved for situations in which conservative approaches have failed. Antitumor agents, such as nitrogen mustard, are effective but toxic. The mode of action of antineoplastic agents is related to their ability to cause pleural sclerosis and obliterate the pleural space. Systemic chemotherapy and external beam radiation are rarely effective. The intracavitary application of radioactive colloids has been used since 1945. Colloidal radioactive gold Au 198 has been replaced by the pure beta emitter, colloidal chromic phosphate P 32. Instillation of a colloidal suspension of radioactive phosphorus represents a significant and effective palliative therapeutic modality for malignant effusion.


Radioisotope therapy in bone and joint disease. The short range tissue destruction of beta-emitting radioisotopes can be utilized in painful metastatic disease of the skeleton by employing a radionuclide that is specifically metabolized in or adjacent to these lesions. Sodium phosphate P 32 has been used for this purpose for the past 25 yr. It uptake in skeletal tumor and in osteoblastic new bone adjacent to tumor can be markedly increased by pharmacologic stimulation using androgenic steroids, or during rebound deposition after a course of parathyroid hormone. Although efficacy in terms of subjective pain relief is high, more objective signs of success are often lacking, and survival, while more confortable, is not prolonged. Marrow depression is the most significant side effect. A beta-emitting, bone-seeking isotope, 89Sr, may have a better therapeutic/toxic ratio, and should receive further trial. Radiation-induced necrosis has also been applied, though more hesitantly, to the proliferative, destructive, but nonmalignant synovium in rheumatoid disease. Here, a number of colloidal preparations, most commonly 198Au, have been employed. Again, relief of symptoms, particularly recurrent joint effusions, is quite high, although the basic disease process is not reversed. The major hazard here appears to be leakage of material to regional lymph nodes, resulting in irradiation of circulating lymphocytes. Although chromosomal damage can be detected when such cells are then cultured, the actual consequences of this, if any, are not presently known. Both shorter-lived (165Dy) and longer-lived (32P) larger-size colloids are being evaluated, which may prove safer in this regard than 198Au.


Results of systemic-to-pulmonary artery anastomosis for tricuspid atresia with reduced pulmonary blood flow. Fifty-six patients with tricuspid atresia and decreased pulmonary blood flow received a systemic-to-pulmonary artery anastomosis as a preliminary operation. Thirty-five had a Waterston shunt, 12 a Blalock-Taussig anastomosis, and nine various other procedures. The age at operation ranged from 2 days to 10 years (median 4.5 months). Pulmonary atresia was present in eight newborn infants. Four patients (7%), all less than 3 months old, died in hospital from persistent servere hypoxia despite the palliative procedure. By actuarial methods, 93% of the survivors were alive at and after one year (longest follow-up:9.8 years), while 83% had not required further palliation at and after four years from the first operation. None of the patients subsequently restudied had raised pulmonary pressure or resistances, and in most of them the pulmonary arterial tree was deemed adequate for the Fontan operation.


[Four cases of benign hepatic tumors associated with oral contraception (author's transl)]. The authors have observed 4 cases of benign liver tumors associated with oral contraception. These lesions have been revealed by pains or abdominal tumors, and have been treated by surgery, or not treated. The relations between tumors livers and pill are studied. These tumors are probably frequent and can give acute complications such hemorrhage and perhaps cancer.


[A case of pulmonary hemosiderosis associated with rhumatoid arthritis with LE cells (author's transl)]. In a three and a half old girl, we have noticed the apparition: first, of on idiopathic pulmonary hemosiderosis; then, five months later, of a rheumatoid arthritis with LE cells and antinuclear antibodies of very difficult detection. The meaning of this articular involvement is discussed: rheumatoid arthritis with LE cells, or rheumatoid arthritis marking the beginning of a systemic lupud erythematosus. The literature concerning the association of an hemosiderosis and a connectivite is reviewed.


Histochemical methods for dissociated muscle fibers. Skeletal or cardiac muscle fibers can be separated by brief (3--5 second) dissociation of formalin-fixed pieces with a Willems Polytron (Brinkmann Instrument Co.). Such separated fibers are useful for demonstration of abnormal accumulations of lipids, carbohydrates, proteins and minerals in metabolic diseases. Staining techniques for demonstration of various stored materials include: 1) toluidine blue at pH 2.8 for acid mucopolysaccharide in skeletal muscle fibers in Pompe's glycogenesis 2, 2) one-step trichrome stain for nemaline myopathy and for abnormal mitochondria in X-linked infantile cardiomyopathy, 3) periodic acid-methenamine silver stain for glycolipid-containing lysosomes in I-cell disease (mucolipidosis 2), 4) Sudan black B stain for lipid in skeletal muscle fibers in Reye's syndrome, infantile lactic acidosis, Leigh's infantile subacute necrotizing encephalopathy and Jansky-Bielschowsky late infantile ceroid lipofuscinosis, 5) iron stain for iron in cardiac and skeletal muscle fibers in thalassemia with advanced hemosiderosis, and 6) autofluorescence for "ceroid" in skeletal muscle fibers in Jansky-Bielschowsky disease.


The assessing of acidophilia with Biebrich scarlet, ponceau de xylidine and woodstain scarlet. Horobin and Bennion stated in 1973 that the bonding of Biebrich scarlet at an alkaline pH is hydrophobic as the isomers of Biebrich scarlet (ponceau de xylidine and woodstain scarlet) do not stain at that pH. If correct this would negate the use of Biebrich scarlet as proposed by Spicer and Lillie in 1961 as a measure of acidophilia. We have found all three isomers to stain similarly at an alkaline pH. Goldstein stated in 1963 that Biebrich scarlet saturated with urea stained elastic fibers only faintly or not at all. This we confirmed; we also found that the staining of other acidophilic structures (Paneth cell granules, sperm heads, etc.) was blocked. If only hydrogen bonding and not ionic bonding is blocked in an aqueous dye solution saturated with urea then the exact meaning of alkaline Biebrich scarlet staining is unknown.


Affinity of chronic erythremic myelosis erythroblast nuclei for gold chloride. Erythroblasts from patients with chronic erythremic myelosis (Di Guglielmo Syndrome) showed unique purple punctate nuclear staining after exposure to gold chloride. Presence of indole-containing material in the nuclei of these cells may account in part for the cytochemical reaction.


Pyridine-silver methods for the study of optic axons in retinal whole mounts. The optic fibers in the retinas of diverse species may be selectively stained and viewed en bloc in the embryonic and adult states. Treat the eye as follows: 1) 50% pyridine for at least 16 hr, 2) distilled water 3--4 hr, 3) 20% H2O2 until the eye is a light brown, 4) 95% ethanol overnight, 5) 1.5% AgNO3 for 2--6 days at 37 C, 6) in water, remove the vitreous, then direct 0.25% pyrogallic acid in 1.25% formalin against the retina for 2--5 secs until the optic fibers are reduced to a coffee-copper color (1--4 minutes), 7) dissect the retina and mount flat on a glass slide, 8) cover with glycerin, apply a coverslip, and fix in place with nail polish. Variants for particular species are given. The technique offers an advantage over Golgi and methylene blue methods which tend to stain only a small percentage of fibers and frequently do not work at the earliest stages of development.


A combined silver and cholinesterase method for studying exact relations between the pre- and the postsynaptic elements at the frog neuromuscular junction. Combination of Karnovsky's cholinesterase staining with silver impregnation of axons (modified Bodian's technique) offers a new means of studying the relation between the pre- and postsynaptic elements in the frog neuromuscular junction. The method can be applied to whole muscles so that synapses of individual superficial muscle fibers which have previously been investigated by electrophysiological techniques can be identified after staining. In this way synaptic activity can be correlated with such synaptic features as number of axon branches, length of the occupied synaptic gutter, axonal sprouts, etc. The distinction between occupied and unoccupied parts of the synaptic gutters is useful when studying reinnervation, regression, or growth of a synapse.


A new method of preparing insects for scanning electron microscopy. Acidified 2,2-dimethoxypropane (DMP), used as an alternative to regular fixation and dehydration methods for insects, was found to be the only successful means of preparing the sugarbeet root maggot larva, Tetanops myopaeformis (Röder) (Diptera:Otitidae), for the scanning electron microscope. No morphological changes were evident when DMP treated sugarbeet root maggot adults were compared to fresh (unfixed) adults and glutaraldehyde-osmium tetroxide fixed adults. The method has been used with success on several gropus of insects. Acidified CMP is quickly hydrolyzed by water in tissue to acetone and methanol. DMP is advantageous in that it penetrates water impermeable cuticles rapidly and saves several steps and time in the fixation and dehydration process.


Histochemical demonstration of enzyme activities in plastic and paraffin embedded tissue sections. Histochemical staining for enzymes is usually performed on frozen sections. This report lists the longer incubation times required to demonstrate esterase, acid phosphatase, beta-galactosidase, and cytochrome oxidase in plastic embedded and ruotine paraffin embedded tissues. The sections embedded in plastic, i.e. water soluble methacrylate (Polyscience's JB-4) and cut at 2 micrometers, were far superior to frozen sections and paraffin embedded sections both in tissue detail and in the localization of the histochemical reaction product.


[Slide audiotape series for dental health education]. The authors report of the successful demonstration of a synchronized slide audiotape series on the subject of caries prophylaxis to 200 pupils from the forms 7-9. One month after the presentation of the synchronized slide audiotape series, the authors stated a positive change (as compared to the initial situation) in the children's health-related behaviour. The comparison of the results from quizzes after the demonstration of this series and after a simple verbal instruction, respectively, proved the superiority of the audiovisual instruction. It is pointed to various possibilities of using this synchronized slide audiotape series.


The development of Onchocerca ochengi (nematoda: filariodea) to the infective stage in Simulium damnosum s.l. with a note on the histochemical staining of the parasite. Onchocerca ochengi, an intradermal filarial parasite of cattle in Africa, was shown to develop normally to the infective stage in a member of the Simulium damnosum complex, almost certainly S. sanctipauli. The development of the parasite in the thoracic musculature and head of the fly was completed in 6 days at an ambient temperature of 25-30 degrees C. The larvae were very similar in rates of development, morphology and distribution to those of the human parasite O. volvulus in the same vector. No histochemical differences were found in the enzyme staining of O. ochengi distinct from the pattern described earlier for O. volvulus.


[Effect of gramicidin on the potassium conductance of an isolated frog muscle fiber]. The antibiotic gramicidin A (1.10(-6) M) increases the K+ conductance of normal and detubulated frog skeletal muscle fibres in isotonic K2SO4 solution to a steady-state level, which is reached in 6--9 min, and corresponds to 8058 +/- 1669 and 5767 +/- 902 Om-1. 10(-6)/cm2, resp. There is no correlation between the initial K+ conductance and the value of the steady state of gramicidin A-induced conductance (r = 0.24). According to the dimer hypothesis, the dissociation rate constant of the garmicidin channels was found to be 0.006 +/- 0.0001 sec-1. This result supports the suggestion of a higher stability of gramicidin channels in muscle compared to the bimolecular lipid membranes.


[Evaluation of the antigenic structural changes in the rat liver after a single carcinogenic exposure]. A single injection of hepatocarcinogen (4-dimethylaminoazobenzene) to rats resulted in antigenic rearrangement in rat liver, typical of hepatocellular tumors, whereas the treatment with a non-carcinogen isomere (4-diethylaminoazobenzene) did not have the same effect. It is assumed that antigenic rearrangement in hepatocytes caused by 4-dimethylaminoazobenzene might be due to its carcinogenity.


Gastrin-histamine as a normal sequence in gastric acid stimulation in the rabbit. In a suspension of isolated gastric glands the effect of secretagogues on the oxyntic cells can only be detected by direct stimulation. An indirect stimulus like gastrin inducing one type of cell to liberate histamine which then acts on the oxyntic cells will not be detectable because of the very high dilution of the liberated substance. Thus the isolated gland preparation presents a means by which two steps in a sequential stimulation can be separated. There is no evidence that gastrin acts directly on the oxyntic cells but it does liberate histamine in a dose-effect relationship, which would in an intact stomach give histamine concentrations sufficient to effectively stimulate the acid secretion. Thus in the rabbit histamine seems to be a normal physiological mediator for gastrin stimulation.


[Use of 5-bromodeoxyuridine for determining the duration of cell cycle phases]. The method of differential staining of sister chromatids by means of 5-bromdesoxyuridine (BDU) was used to determine duration of the cellular cycle and its phases in a cell culture of Chinese hamster. The mitotic cycle lasted for 16 hrs, G1 for 5 hrs, S for 8 hrs and G2 for 3 hrs. These values do not differ from those obtained by the autoradiography. The given method permits quicker determination of the cellular cycle phases duration as compared with the autoradiography method.


Role of preoperative urography in benign prostatic hyperplasia. The excretory urograms of 184 consecutive patients admitted to hospital with a diagnosis of benign prostatic hyperplasia who subsequently underwent prostatectomy were reviewed to determine the usefulness of preoperative urography. Of 184 urograms reviewed, 10 were normal, 136 showed changes consistent with benign prostatic hyperplasia, and 38 revealed other abnormalities. Twenty-seven of 184 urograms (14.7 per cent) revealed significant pathologic conditions requiring further consideration, investigation, or treatment, of which 23 would not have been suspected without this radiologic examination.


Use of streptokinase instead of surgical interference for the treatment of urinary clot retention. The value of streptokinase in treating 14 patients with bladder clot retention was studied. The fibrinolytic action of this proteolytic enzyme was successful in dissolving the clots in 13 of the 14 patients.


[Analysis of the reasons for the refusal of surgical treatment among esophageal cancer patients]. Data on 544 patients with esophageal cancer are reported. The main reasons of their refusing the radical treatment were as follows: 1) a considerable local tumor proliferation (31.8%); 2) senile age, concomitant diseases, a general poor condition of patients (25.6%); 3) the presence of distant metastases (11.4%); 4) location of a tumor in the jugular or upper thoracic esophagus for which palliative radiotherapy was performed, but in some cases a palliative surgery (9.7%); 5) fear of surgery (15.4%); 6) no reason (6.4%).


[Surgical treatment of cancer of the hepatic duct]. The authors experience with 96 patients treated for cancer of the hepatic porta arising from the hepatic duct is discussed. The most resultant technics of investigation in this pathology are retrograde endoscopic cholangio-cholecystography (in 30 patients) and transjugular cholangiography (in 3 patients). Thirteen patients were radically operated upon, they were subjected to a circular resection of the common bile duct the site of hepatic ducts branching with subsequent hepaticojejunostomy. It is believed that a higher degree of resectability in tumors of this zone may be possible on account of perfection of early diagnosis and widening of an extent of surgery.


[Pharmacological properties and antitumor activity of a preparation diiodo-benzo-tepa in experiments]. Experimental data on the pharmacokinetics, toxicity, antitumor activity of the antitumor drug diiodo-benzo-TEPA are reported.


Chemotherapy of disseminated testicular cancer. Dramatic improvements have been made in recent years in treatment of disseminated testicular cancer. Germ-cell neoplasms, even when advanced, are potentially curable by modern chemotherapy. Although disseminated testicular cancer is a rare disease, it is highly treatable, and primary physicians, internists and urologists should have some knowledge of its management.


[An urodynamic study of patients with benign prostatic hypertrophy treated conservatively with phytotherapy or testosterone (author's transl)]. Conservative therapy of benign prostatic hypertrophy comprises the administration of oestrogens, gestagens, androgens and anti-androgens. Phytodrugs, which contain an extract of Sabal serrulatum or Pygeum Africana as active substance are without side effects and are, therefore, being used increasingly. 74 patients with irritable or obstructive bladder symptoms due to benign prostatic hypertrophy were treated with a phytodrug (Sabal serrulatum) or with testosterone throughout a period of three months. In group one (20 patients given phytodrugs and 10 patients given testosterone) clinical symptoms and measurements of residual urine, residual urine quotient, bladder capacity, micturition pressure and maximum urethral closure pressure were recorded at the beginning and at the end of therapy. In group two 28 patients were treated with the phytodrug in the first and third months with an intervening placebo trial lasting four weeks and 16 patients were given testosterone. Clinical symptoms and uroflow and residual urine only were charted in this group. None of the patients in either group showed an improvement in the urodynamic parameters of obstruction, but all patients felt a subjective alleviation of their symptoms.


[Biochemical and coagulation-physiology examinations before and after amniocentesis in early pregnancy]. In 46 women the alpha1-fetoprotein content, the soluble fibrin monomer complexes (LFMK), and the coagulation status were determined in the maternal serum at the beginning of the second trimester before and after amniocentesis. Increases of AFP by more than 100% of the original level pointed to fetomaternal microtransfusion, the quantity of which was calculated by means of a formula. Overall coagulation tests did not show any change after the puncture. A moderate LFMK increase was seen (p less than 0.05), which, however, was not clearly correlated with the AFP increase.


[Detection of humoral antibodies to species-specific and group ornithosis antigens in the dynamics of the infection]. The time course of antibody production to group- and species-specific antigens of ornithosis agent was studied by complement fixation (CFT) and hemagglutination-inhibition (HI) tests. In rabbits after a single intravenous inoculation of the ornithosis agent, antibody to the homologous species-specific antigen appeared in the peripheral blood 3--5 days after inoculation and reached maximum levels during the 1-st week, and to the group-specific antigen could be detected 3--5 days after inoculation but reached maximum titers only 3--4 weeks later. In practical serological diagnosis of ornithosis and other chlamydia infections, the group antigen is used which gives retrospective diagnosis at 10--14 days or later. The results of the study suggest that the use of CFT with the species-specific antigen will not only differentiate ornithosis from other chlamydial infections but also will permit early serological diagnosis of ornithosis.


Alpha-feto protein in the serum of patients with primary gastric cancer and liver metastases. The authors presented a patient with primary gastric cancer and liver metastases. They permanently observed the AFP concentrations before, during and after cytostatic therapy. At the same time they examined possible sites of AFP production. It is supposed that AFP neo-synthesis takes place in the secondary site with participation of altered liver cells. In such cases it is important to watch the AFP values, and this is also necessary when the primary source of the secondary liver cancer is not known. Cytostatic drugs act only in a palliative way i.e. AFP concentrations drop to a lower level and the patient feels temporarily better.


The extrinsic innervation of the abdominal organs in the female rat. The extrinsic innervation of the abdominal organs in neonatal and adult female rats is described. Mainly an in toto acetylcholinesterase method was used; moreover, formaldehyde-induced fluorescence and acetylcholinesterase were demonstrated in sections. The major splanchnic nerve has its origin in the ninth and tenth thoracic sympathetic trunc ganglia. In the major splanchnic nerve a suprarenal ganglion is present. Sometimes the minor splanchnic nerve, arising from the tenth thoracic ganglion, joins the distal part of the suprarenal ganglion. The left and right major splanchnic nerves join the left and right celiac ganglia in the plexus. The left celiac ganglion is always bigger than the right one. The celiac plexus and the celiac inferior mesenteric plexus are joined by the intermesenteric plexus. Para-aortic nerves, originating in the caudal part of the thoracic sympathetic truncs, also join the abdominal prevertebral plexuses. The lumbar splanchnic nerves, not symmetrical in their origin, join the prevertebral plexuses and give off branches to the abdominal organs. The suprarenal glands receive bundles of nerve fibers, sometimes ganglionated, from the suprarenal ganglion. The kidneys are innervated from the celiac plexus, the upper lumbar splanchnic nerves and the intermesenteric plexus. The ovarian nerves are derived from the celiac plexus, the intermesenteric plexus and the upper lumbar splanchnic nerves. Bundles of nerve fibers run from the suprarenal ganglion in the celiac plexus in the direction of the suspensory ligament of the ovary. In many respects this description is at variance with existing literature on the autonomic innervation in the rat. These differences with the standard literature are relevant to those workers engaged in experiments on the sympathetic innervation of abdominal viscera.


Superficial anastomoses of blood vessels in the human heart. We investigated superficial interarterial, intra-arterial, arterio-venous and veno-venous anastomoses in 100 hearts from men and women taken at random who died at 20-85 years of age. By means of careful dissection and injection into the blood vessels of a differently stained 12% solution of vinilit in acetone, we studied the number and localization of the anastomoses and their appearance. Interarterial anastomoses, i.e. anastomoses between the ramification of the left and the right coronary artery, were detected in 33 hearts. Intra-arterial anastomoses, i.e. anastomoses between the ramifications of one and the same artery, were seen in 5 hearts. Arterio-venous anastomoses were found in 39 hearts. Veno-venous anostomoses were found in 49 hearts. The veno-venous anastomoses display a great many variations, being commonly the regular finding in human veins.


Partial purification of MS specific brain antigens. The present study was devoted to an immunochemical elucidation of antigenic similarities and differences between cytoplasmic and microsomal fractions of six multiple sclerosis (MS) and seven non-MS brain autopsy specimens. The antigenic composition of the samples studied was traced by crossed immunoelectrophoresis using antibodies made by immunization of rabbits with the corresponding fraction. The following data were obtained: 1. A measles antigen (defined as an antigen formed in vero cells during measles infection) and two specific antigens have been purified more than 3000-fold from MS brains by means of molecular filtration and DEAE cellulose chromatography. 2. All three antigens have a molecular weight between 10(5)-10(6) daltons and isoelectric points between 3.5-6.0. 3. Measles antigen has also been found in three out of seven non-MS brains, however, it did not stimulate antibody formation in rabbits in contrast to measles antigen of MS brain. The significance of the above-mentioned data is discussed in view of the immunological abnormalities previously found in MS patients. It cannot be excluded that the antigens found represents one or more viral antigens.


Genetic basis of multiple sclerosis: HLA antigens, disease progression, and oligoclonal IgG in CSF. The HLA antigens B7 and Dw2 occurred at elevated frequencies in 105 multiple sclerosis (MS) patients (49 and 47%, respectively), compared to healthy controls (29 and 30%), especially in MS patients with oligoclonal CSF-IgG (51 and 50%), in cases with CSF-IgG index values above 1.5 (64 and 64%), and in those with the most malignant course of the disease (47 and 59%). Normal or only slightly elevated frequencies of B7 and Dw2 were found in MS patients without oligoclonal CSF IgG (35 and 29%), normal CSF-IgG index (43 and 39%), and the most benign course (42 and 37%). No correlation was found between the HLA type and measles virus antibody titers in serum or a measles virus antibody response within the CNS.


Plasma estriol, progesterone, cortisol, placental lactogen and alpha-fetoprotein in a pregnancy with an anencephalic fetus followed from the seventh week till term. Concentrations of total estriol, progesterone, cortisol, human placental lactogen and alpha-fetoprotein were measured in maternal venous plasma at regular intervals from the seventh week of pregnancy until term in a woman with an anencephalic fetus. Except for the first trimester, during which the values were in the lower normal range, the concentration of estriol was constantly subnormal. The "physiological" rise in cortisol levels was absent. Progesterone and HPL were both within the low normal range. The levels of alpha-fetoprotein were transiently raised during the 13th--25th weeks of pregnancy.


Effect of pregnancy zone protein on leucocyte migration inhibition, lymphoycte transformation and rosette formation by lymphocytes. Pregnancy zone protein from pregnancy serum and control preparations from male serum were tested in lymphocyte transformation tests, in a system for rosette formation by T and B lymphocytes and in leucocyte migration inhibition tests using PPD-induced inhibition. PZ-protein preparations caused a dose dependent inhibition of lymphocyte transformation after stimulation with PHA, PPD and MLC. Inhibition was most pronounced in the PHA-system. In the rosette tests there was a tendency for T lymphocytes to bind fewer SRBC after incubation with PZ-protein while no effect on B rosettes was observed. In contrast, PPD-induced inhibition of leucocyte migration was abrogated effectively by PZ-protein, but not by corresponding fractions from male serum.


Examination of parotid saliva for antibodies reacting with Streptococcus mutans, lipoteichoic acid and peptidoglycan by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Human parotid saliva was investigated for the presence of IgA antibodies reacting with Streptococcus mutans, lipotechoic acid (LTA) and peptidoglycan. By using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, ELISA, it was shown that the salivas of 12 subjects contained antibodies reacting with S. mutans serotype c and d and with LTA. Six salivas were tested against peptidoglycan but these tests indicated only low levels of antibodies. Absorption of saliva with whole cells of S. mutans inhibited the homologous reaction by up to 87% and the reaction with LTA by up to 52%. Also prior treatment of saliva with LTA caused a decrease in the salivary IgA reaction with LTA and with whole cells of S. mutans. Addition of peptidoglycan to saliva did not markedly affect the salivary IgA reaction with S. mutans. The data show that LTA may be responsible for part of the salivary IgA reaction with whole cells of S. mutans. The significance of LTA in this reaction may vary between different subjects and for different serotypes of S. mutans.


Specificity of antipyrogenic immunity.

Specificity of antipyrogenic immunity. The specificity of antipyrogenic immunity as well as the structural differences of the Enterobacteria responsible for pyrogenicity have been studied. Strains S. minnesota Re 595 and S. typhimurium SL 1102 as well as glycolipids obtained from them, further E. coli 083 and E. coli F 576 as well as the LPS extracted from them were used in the experiments. In conformity with the results of chemical analysis it was found that the method reflected exactly the antigenicity of the receptors responsible for pyrogenicity. Alterations of the antipyrogenic immunity may indicate that the structure of the single endotoxins responsible for pyrogenicity are different in antigenicity.


Antigenic relationships between strains of influenza B virus. An immunological relationship between strains of influenza B virus, considerably differing from one another in haemagglutination inhibition (HI) and virus neutralization (VN) tests, was established. The relationships were also evaluated based on the ability of influenza B viruses to replicate in the lungs of mice immunized with strains possessing antigenically distinct haemagglutinin. There was no substantial difference in the protection of animals immunized with homologous or heterologous strains. Studies on the character of the immunological response of men convalescent after influenza B infection or after vaccination showed an antibody increase to both the epidemic virus and chronologically remote viruses considerably differing in antigenic properties. The data obtained suggest that influenza B viruses isolated from 1940 to 1975 belong to one antigenic subtype.


Cross-neutralization tests on sheep pox, goat pox and contagious pustular dermatitis viruses. In cross-neutralization tests in cell cultures, sheep pox and contagious pustular dermatitis (CPD) hyperimmune sera did not cross-react in the heterologous system. But goat pox hyperimmune serum neutralized both sheep pox and CPD viruses revealing a one-way serological relationship of goat pox virus with both sheep pox and CPD viruses.


Transcatheter occlusive therapy of genitourinary abnormalities using isobutyl 2-cyanoacrylate (Bucrylate). Transcatheter occlusive therapy was performed with isobutyl 2-cyanoacrylate (Bucrylate) in 14 patients with a variety of genitourinary abnormalities. Bucrylate was found to be a valuable agent when used to: (1) occlude vessels with very slow flow; (2) occlude vessels in patients with coagulopathies; (3) occlude high flow arteriovenous fistulas; (4) perform superselective vessel occlusion; and (5) produce permanent vessel obliteration. Bucrylate was used effectively in this group of patients and was used without complications or evidence of histotoxicity.


Histoenzymologic study of hyalocytes in tissue culture. The mitochondrias of the hyalocytes contain lactic dehydrogenase but no glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, so that only aerobic respiration is possible. Among the lysosomal enzymes, acid phosphatases and beta-glucuronidase are found, the latter facilitating the turnover of the hyaluronic acid. There is no galactosidase, as the hyaluronic acid of the vitreous does not contain galactose.


The use of a micro-computer in anaesthetic teaching. The use of a relatively inexpensive microcomputer in computer-assisted learning is described. Circuits have been developed to allow slides to be shown during the course of a computer-assisted learning presentation, and also to allow the computer to control the delivery of an audiotape slide lecture.


The dose-dependent fate of enzymatically active and inactivated tritiated methylated pancreatic elastase administered intratracheally in the hamster. Hamsters were intratracheally instilled with saline solutions containing a high dose (145 to 220 micrograms) or a low dose (1.3 to 1.5 micrograms) of 3H-methylated pancreatic elastase or N-acetyl-(L-alanyl)3-L-alanine chloromethyl ketone-inactivated 3H-methylated pancreatic elastase. Only the lysyl residues of the elastase molecule were methylated and radiolabeled in a nonlabile manner. The 3H-methylated elastase preparation exhibited esterolytic and elastolytic activity, spectral properties, and emphysema-inducing properties indistinguishable from those of unmodified pancreatic elastase. There was no detectable hemorrhagic or emphysematous reaction with the inactivated 3H-methylated elastase, and this material was cleared from the lungs 11 times faster than the corresponding enzymatically active high dose of 3H-methylated elastase and 18 times faster than the corresponding enzymatically active low dose of 3H-methylated elastase. There were correspondingly higher amounts of radioactivity in the urine of hamsters treated with the inactivated elastase. All of the 3H radioactivity recovered from the urine was associated with epsilon-N-methyllysyl and epsilon-N,N-dimethyllysyl residues. Significant levels of radioactivity were found in the cells, primarily alveolar macrophages, lavaged from the lungs. The low dose of enzymatically active elastase caused neither detectable hemorrhage nor emphysema, both of which were associated with the high dose. At 144 days significant radioactivity (1,200 cpm) remained in the lungs of animals treated with high or low doses of enzymatically active elastase, whereas virtually no radioactivity (100 cpm) was found in the lungs of those treated with high or low doses of inactivated elastase. The data presented support the hypothesis that the formation of elastase complexes with alpha 1-protease inhibitor and alpha 2-macroglobulin is associated with the slower clearance and the retention of significant amounts of radioactivity in the lungs. Some of the residual radioactivity found in the hamster lungs might represent enzymatically active elastase complexed with alpha 2-macroglobulin and might offer an explanation for the progressive nature of emphysema induced by a single dose of elastase.


[Patterns of variations for air concentrations of some pollutants]. Patterns of diurnal variations for the air concentration of some pollutants emitted from motorvehicles are presented. Primary pollutants (carbon monoxide, nitric oxide and reactive hydrocarbons) and secondary pollutants (ozone and nitrogen dioxide) are continuously monitored since 1974. Different typical patterns have been obtained in the winter and in the summer season. The values of r for 14 regression curves calculated for couples of primary pollutants are in the range from 0.73 to 0.95, indicating their common source. Diurnal patterns obtained for summer and winter are discussed in the light of photochemical atmospheric processes Values for the ratio NO/NO2 are higher than 1 in the winter season; the same ratio is lower than 1 in summer, from 13 to 24 hours.


[The effects of gammaglobulins in resistant epilepsies. A preliminary study (author's transl)]. The effect of injections of gammaglobulins 16 Mérieux (1 ml/kg) was studied in 9 patients aged from 1 to 35 years suffering from epilepsy resistant to conventional anticonvulsant treatment. Different types of epilepsy were studied to try to discover a possible indication as a function of the type of epilepsy. Results were assessed according to the patients' behaviour, the frequency and severity of clinical fits, the results of psychological tests, and EEG tracing recorded over long periods of time. Recordings were repeated every 2 to 3 weeks. Favourable results were observed in 7 cases with: --an increased rate of sleeping and waking EEG tracings, --a reduction in the percentage of paroxysms whatever the wakefulness stage, --alterations in the percentages of some sleep stages. The possible mechanisms of action of IgG are discussed.


Palliative pulsion intubation in oesophageal carcinoma. Peroral pulsion intubation for the palliation of dysphagia due to oesophageal carcinoma was performed on 652 patients. The mortality was 16%, failure rate 3%, and hospital stay 3 days. Advanced disease and the presence of oesophagorespiratory fistula is not a contraindication to intubation.


[Isolation of the membranes of Actinomyces sp. 26-115, a producer of actinomycin C]. A summation fraction of the membranes of Actinomyces sp. 26-115 was obtained as a result of lysis of its protoplasts in a hypotonic medium. The qualitative content of protein, lipids, phospholipids, nucleic acids, glucosamine and muramic acid was determined in the membranes at various stages of the organism development. Phosphatidylcholine is the main component of phospholipids in this organism. Intracellular actinomycin was found inside the protoplasts. Electrophoregrams of the microprotoplasts and membranes are presented. Actinomycin was also detected in the membranes. Still, it is not clear whether it is a component of the membrane or it is adsorbed on the membrane during the process of its isolation. The final conclusion on the relationship between the membrane and localization of actinomycin in the cell requires further investigation.


An acellular vaccine from Pseudomonas aeruginosa: homologous and crossed protection between serogroups according to Habs' classification. Homologous and cross-reactions were studied in 16 strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa belonging to different O serogroups according to Habs' classification. By slide agglutination, cross-reactions were rare between the strains of two or three serogroups: O2, O5 and O16; O1 and O9; O7 and O8; O13 and O14. Experiments of cross-protection have been performed in mice inoculated with acellular vaccines prepared from the 16 studied strains. A high homologous protection was observed with all the 16 strains, which is in favour of existence of an O serogroup-specific immunity. However, it exists some cross-protective reactions between the serogroups. This cross-protection allows to reduce the numbers of strains for a polyvalent vaccine. A classification of P. aeruginosa into 8 classes of related serogroups (A to H) is proposed which could be a basis for an antigenic classification of P. aeruginosa.


[Chemotherapy of skin tumors of the head and neck]. The authors report on the therapeutic results performed in the 126 skin tumors with three different chemotherapic schedules: a) Endovenous Bleomycin (BLM); b) Combined schedule with BLM, Methotrexate (MTX), Cyclophosphamide and Corticoid; c) Local BLM infiltration. There were 42,8 % of complete remission and 87,2 % of responsiveness (effectiveness). The best response rates were achieved in not advanced tumors. Local BLM infiltration has shown the best response rates 63,9 % being this schedule performed mainly in not advanced tumors. Overdosage of local infiltration may produce tissue necrose. Response rates for squamouscell carcinoma and basal cell carcinoma were alike. BMEM therapy presents the best results in the squamous cell carcinoma and the BLM infiltration in the basal cell carcinoma. There were 24 % of recurrence from the complete remissions.