Alcohol and the fetus in the west of Scotland.

Forty children with the fetal alcohol syndrome were identified in the west of Scotland. All were growth retarded and had abnormal facial features, and all those who were tested were found to have neurological or developmental abnormalities. Two children died of associated physical defects.

Effect of combined nitroglycerin and dobutamine infusion in left ventricular dysfunction.

The immediate therapy of severe left ventricular (LV) failure after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) frequently requires simultaneous preload reduction, pump output augmentation, and maintenance of systemic blood pressure. Therefore the effects of intravenous nitroglycerin (NG) and dobutamine (DB) were evaluated in 12 patients with severe LV failure following AMI. Nitroglycerin achieved salutary lowering of abnormally elevated LV filling pressure (23 to 14 mm Hg, p less than 0.

Femoral hypoplasia-unusual facies syndrome in infants of diabetic mothers.

Three children with the femoral hypoplasia-unusual facies syndrome are described. Two had the characteristic facial pattern of upslanted palpebral fissures, long philtrum with thin upper lip, micrognathia, and hypoplastic alae nasi. The other, an infant girl who died within 24 hours after birth, had a cleft lip, which distorted some of the other features.

Spin state and unfolding equilibria of ferricytochrome c in acidic solutions.

Equilibrium, stopped flow, and temperature-jump spectrophotometry have been used to identify processes in the unfolding of ferricytochrome c in acidic aqueous solutions. A relaxation occurring in approximately 100 microseconds involves perturbation of a spin-equilibrium between two folded conformers of the protein with methionine-80 coordinated or dissociated from the heme iron. The protein unfolds more slowly, in milliseconds, with dissociation and protonation of histidine-18.

Importance of neuroendocrine regulators of vascular tone and integral adrenoreceptor interaction during oral vasodilator therapy of severe congestive heart failure with prazosin.

The cardiocirculatory actions of the oral vasodilator prazosin were evaluated by cardiac catheterization, forearm plethysmography, echocardiography, treadmill exercise, and symptoms in patients with advanced long-standing congestive heart failure. The administration of oral prazosin (2-7mg) reduced forearm venous tone and forearm vascular resistance. Concomitantly, mean systemic arterial pressure and left ventricular filling pressure decreased, and the cardiac index increased.

Cardiocirculatory and myocardial energetic effects of prostaglandin E1 in severe left ventricular failure due to chronic coronary heart disease.

The cardiocirculatory actions of brief (69 +/- 5 minutes) infusions of prostaglandin E1 were evaluated in nine chronic coronary heart disease patients with severe left ventricular (LV) failure caused by previous myocardial infarction. Prostaglandin E1 infusion did not alter heart rate (HR) and produced modest declines in mean systemic blood pressure (BP) (85 +/- 6 to 76 +/- 5 mm Hg, P less than 0.025) and LV filling pressure (19 +/- 3 to 15 +/- 2 mm Hg, P less than 0.

The combination of nifedipine and propranolol in the management of patients with angina pectoris.

1 A double-blind cross over study was carried out to assess the effects of the combination of nifedipine and propranolol in 25 patients with chronic stable angina pectoris at beta-adrenoceptor blockade. 2 Efficacy was judged objectively by a standardized exercise protocol using a bicycle ergometer and subjectively by patient assessment of anginal attack rate. 3 The combination of nifedipine and propranolol was shown to be effective with an increase in exercise time to angina and an increase in physical work capacity expressed in terms of calculated maximal oxygen uptake (VO2 max).

On-line computer-assisted exercise mapping.

The ability of exercise ECG body surface mapping to detect the presence and distribution of coronary artery disease was investigated in 76 patients presenting with chest pain. The ECG data were recorded from 16 leads regularly placed over the left praecordium. All 16 leads were input simultaneously to a PDP8 computer and 8-second samples were stored at rest, at the termination of symptom-limited exercise, and in the recovery period.

Influence of stage of oestrous cycle on time of oestrus following cloprostenol treatment in the bovine.

The first of 2 injections of 0.5 mg cloprostenol (PG1 and PG2) eleven days apart was given to 19 Friesian-Hereford cross heifers between days 8-14 of their cycle (Treatment A) and 16 similar animals between days 0-4 (Treatment B). Oestrus show was monitored by Kamar Heat Mount detectors and vasectomised bulls with chin-ball markers.

The effects of methadone maintenance with opioid takers. A review and some findings from one British city.

Various benefits claimed for methadone maintenance in the treatment of opioid drug takers are reviewed. It is said to stop illicit drug use, maintain treatment contact, reduce morbidity, mortality and crime, and improve social adjustment. Little firm evidence is found to support these claims.

An NMR investigation of electron transfer in the copper-protein, plastocyanin.

1. The proton NMR spectra of oxidised and reduced French bean plastocyanin have been recorded on a 270 MHz pulsed spctrometer. 2.

Metabolic adaptation of the chick embryo to chronic hypoxia.

In a colony of white leghorn chickens maintained at 3,800 m successive generations exhibited an increasing hatchability of fertile eggs incubated at elevation of 3,100m. Embryonated eggs produced by the high-altitude-adapted line (WM) and by genetically similar but unselected stocks at sea level (D) were incubated at 3,100 m and at sea level, and the oxygen consumption was measured on individual eggs after the 17th day of incubation. At sea level, oxygen consumption rates of WM strain were less than that of SL stocks during late embryonic development.