Effect of moisture on and kinetic features of the ultrafiltration rate of dialysis membrane.
The kinetic features of ultrafiltration of cellulose dialysis membrane stored under various humidity and temperature conditions were studied to obtain basic information of shelf-life characteristics of dialyzers. The ultrafiltration rate (UFR) decreased with time and the UFR-time curve suggested that the UFR would approach a certain equilibrium value. This phenomenon could be simulated well by the following equation: UFR = a.b.t/(1 + a.t) + c, where a, b, and c are constants and t is time. The effect of moisture adsorption onto the membrane on the UFR is discussed. A hypothesis is that in the amorphous region of cellulose, adsorbed water molecules would serve as molecular crosslinks through hydrogen bonding, and as this would reduce size of fine pores in the amorphous region, the UFR decreases.
Kinetic Modeling of the Glucoregulatory System to Improve Insulin Therapy
For simulating glucose-insulin control systems with respect to application in an optimized therapy of insulin-dependent diabetes, a global transfer model was generated and supplemented with a structural model of the opened control circuit. The transfer characteristics within the established linear range of the intact system, which is identical with the range of euglycaemia, can be described by a 4th-order differential equation. A test strategy was developed to identify the state variables of the opened, i. e., of the diabetic, system and to determine by pole assignment those control constants of glucose-controlled insulin provision that are optimally adapted to a given set of state variables. The model system was verified by the prediction of plasma insulin and blood glucose reponses to various loads of glucose and/or insulin, by isotopic studies (U-14C-glucose) of glucose turnover, and by predicting the rates of absorption (i. e., of appearance within the distribution space) of orally administered glucose. The latter situations provide fields of application for this model strategy in addition to the main goal, namely, the individual optimization of control parameters for open-loop or closed-loop insulin therapy.
ISOLATION OF BOVINE PARAINFLUENZA-3 VIRUS IN CHICK EMBRYOS
Myxovirus parainfluenza-3 (SF-4 bovine strain) was first isolated in tissue cultures of embryonic bovine kidney (EBK) cells (Reisinger, Heddleston, and Manthei, J. Am. Vet. Med. Assoc. 135:147, 1959). This agent is antigenically and biologically related to the human HA-1 strain isolated previously by Chanock et al. in monkey kidney cells (Abinanti and Huebner, Virology 8:391, 1959; Abinanti et al., Proc. Soc. Exptl. Biol. Med. 106:466,1961). At present, both viruses are isolated and propagated in tissue cultures, and tissue-culture products are employed for most research purposes. This investigation indicates that bovine parainfluenza-3 virus can be isolated and produced in 14-day-old embryonated hen's eggs, and that the developing chick embryo is highly susceptible to parainfluenza-3 virus infection. Isolation of parainfluenza-3 virus in chick embryos was compared with isolation in tissue cultures. EBK tissue cultures, maintained in Earle's balanced salts (BSS) with 5.0% calf serum and 0.5% lactalbumin hydrolysate (Nutritional Biochemicals Corp., Cleveland, Ohio), were inoculated with 0.2 ml of nasal-swab material (nasal swabs suspended in 4.0 ml of BSS) from 14 calves with signs of shipping fever. After incubation at 36 C for 6 days, fluids from cultures not showing cytopathic effects were subcultured in fresh cells, and the remaining monolayers were examined for noncytopathic virus by the adsorption-hemagglutination (hemadsorption) test of Vogel and Sholokov (Science 126:358, 1957). Infectious fluids from positive cultures were retained for parainfluenza-3 virus identification. Embryonated hen's eggs (14 days old) were inoculated by the amniotic route with 0.1 ml of nasalswab material. After 4 days at 36 C, the amniotic fluids were harvested and tested for virus by inoculation of EBK cells. Parainfluenza-3 virus was identified by serum-neutralization tests in tissue cultures with immune rabbit serum prepared against the original SF-4 bovine virus isolate. Parainfluenza-3 virus was isolated from six nasal-swab suspensions in both EBK cells and 14-day-old chick embryos. Five embryonated eggs and an equal number of tissue cultures were inoculated with each suspension and, in all cases, eggs were infected more frequently than were corresponding tissue cultures inoculated with larger doses of the same material. The isolation of parainfluenza-3 virus from two samples was complicated in tissue cultures by the presence of infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) virus which also produces cytopathic effects in EBK cells. IBR virus did not interfere with the isolation of parainfluenza-3 virus in embryonated eggs and was not demonstrated in amniotic fluids 4 days after virus inoculation. Noncytopathic virus, demonstrable by hemadsorption, was not isolated. When three nasal-swab samples containing parainfluenza-3 virus were diluted 1:2 and 1:20 in BSS, virus was isolated from the lower concen-