Discriminant analysis of symptom pattern and serum antibody titres in humidifier related disease.

Background: The heterogeneous patterns of symptoms among factory workers exposed to aerosols from contaminated air humidifiers were analysed to assess the association between specific symptoms and the serum IgG antibody response to the humidifier water contaminants, and to test the ability of specific symptoms to predict this antibody response.

Methods: Symptoms from 88 factory workers were surveyed by a doctor administered questionnaire and compared with their serum IgG antibody titres to humidifier water contaminants quantified by enzyme immunoassay.

Results: The strength of association between individual symptoms and antibody showed that fever, shivering or chills, influenza-like symptoms, or headache were individually significantly associated with the presence and higher titres of antibody.

The metabolism and activation of 15,16-dihydrocyclopenta[a]phenanthren-17-one by cytochrome P-450 proteins.

The in vitro metabolism and activation to mutagens of 15,16-dihydrocyclopenta[a]phenanthren-17-one (CPP-17-one) were investigated using hepatic preparations from rats pretreated with prototype inducers of the cytochrome P-450-dependent mixed-function oxidases. Aroclor 1254-induced microsomes were the most effective metabolisers of this compound, the major metabolites being oxidation products of the bay region A ring. To a lesser extent hydroxylation of the non-aromatic D ring occurred, the products being the 15- and 16-hydroxyderivatives.

Elimination of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in meats by gamma irradiation.

Undercooked and raw meat has been linked to outbreaks of hemorrhagic diarrhea due to the presence of Escherichia coli O157:H7; therefore, treatment with ionizing radiation was investigated as a potential method for the elimination of this organism. Response-surface methods were used to study the effects of irradiation dose (0 to 2.0 kGy), temperature (-20 to +20 degrees C), and atmosphere (air and vacuum) on E.

Investigating optimal bull:heifer ratios required for estrus-synchronized heifers.

The objectives of this study were to determine 1) the effect of bull:heifer ratio on reproductive performance and associated costs and return on heifers in synchronized estrus and 2) the effect of estrus synchronization on reproductive performance and economic variables, in a multiple-sire, pasture breeding situation. Eight hundred yearling beef heifers and 28 mature, sexually experienced beef bulls were allotted to four treatments (two replicates per treatment) at bull:heifer ratios of 2 per 100 (1:50; Treatment 1), 2 per 100 (1:50; Treatment 2), 4 per 100 (1:25; Treatment 3), and 6 per 100 (1:16; Treatment 4). Treatment 1 (control) used nonsynchronized heifers, whereas heifers in Treatments 2, 3, and 4 were synchronized using the 33-d melengestrol acetate (MGA)-prostaglandin F2 alpha (PGF2 alpha) program.

Trimethylamine dehydrogenase of bacterium W3A1. Molecular cloning, sequence determination and over-expression of the gene.

The gene encoding trimethylamine dehydrogenase (EC 1.5.99.

A comparison of the seroepidemiology of chlamydial infection in pigeon fanciers and farmers in the U.K.

A detailed comparative seroepidemiological study of antibody responses was performed in 271 pigeon fanciers and 100 farmers. Overall 73% of pigeon fanciers had IgG antibodies at a titre greater than or equal to 16 to Chlamydia pneumoniae, 39% to Chlamydia psittaci, and 6.6% to Chlamydia trachomatis.

Suspected buttercup (Ranunculus bulbosus) toxicosis with secondary photosensitization in a Charolais heifer.

A presumptive diagnosis of buttercup toxicosis with photosensitization secondary to hepatotoxicity was made in an 18-mo-old Charolais heifer. The differential diagnosis included salmonellosis, aflatoxicosis, bovine virus diarrhea, internal parasite infestation, and plant toxicosis with either primary or secondary photosensitization. All these possibilities were excluded except buttercup toxicosis with photosensitization secondary to hepatotoxicity.

Haemodynamic changes in the Moncada model of atherosclerosis.

1. The application of a non-constricting silastic cuff to the rabbit common carotid artery (CCA; n = 5) results in intimal thickening within 7 days. 2.

Solid-state low-loss intracavity saturable absorber for Nd:YLF lasers: an antiresonant semiconductor Fabry-Perot saturable absorber.

We introduce a new low-loss fast intracavity semiconductor Fabry-Perot saturable absorber operated at anti-resonance both to start and sustain stable mode locking of a cw-pumped Nd:YLF laser. We achieved a 3.3-ps pulse duration at a 220-MHz repetition rate.

Effect of controlled-release salbutamol in predominantly non-reversible chronic airflow obstruction.

We conducted a multicentre, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel group study to determine the efficacy of controlled release salbutamol (SCR) tablets in clinically stable patients with predominantly non-reversible chronic airflow obstruction (CAO). Patients received either 8 mg SCR or matching placebo tablets twice daily for 6 weeks. Fifty-eight patients (30 on SCR and 28 on placebo) completed the study.

Effects of Heat and Ionizing Radiation on Salmonella typhimurium In Mechanically Deboned Chicken Meat.

Response-surface methodologies were used to examine the effects of gamma-irradiation temperature and dose preceded or followed by heating at 60°C for 3 min on the survival of Salmonella typhimurium in mechanically deboned chicken meat (MDCM). The effects of irradiation temperature and dose were significant. Heating the inoculated chicken meat before irradiation did not sensitize the bacteria to the effects of the ionizing radiation.

Quantifying serum antibody class and subclass responses by enzyme immunoassay in humidifier-related disease.

Antibody activity in the major classes and IgG subclasses against antigens in factory humidifier water was quantified by enzyme immunoassay (EIA) in 88 subjects who were exposed at work to the output from these contaminated humidifiers. Those with work-related symptoms had significantly higher mean titres than those who were symptom free, although values overlapped. The individuals with the highest IgG antibody titres also had the highest titres of IgM and IgA antibody, and these parameters did not discriminate between those with and without symptoms any better than the IgG titre.

New insights into peptidergic abnormalities in Hirschsprung's disease by wholemount immunohistochemistry.

In a pilot study previously reported, we showed that individual nerves could be traced in the different layers of the gut in Hirschsprung's disease (HD) using wholemount immunohistochemistry (WI). Little is known about the course of the important nonadrenergic, noncholinergic nerves containing neuropeptides in HD. Therefore, we studied the distribution of neuropeptides in 9 HD patients and 5 controls using WI.

Survival of Salmonella typhimurium ATCC 14028 on the surface of chicken legs or in mechanically deboned chicken meat gamma irradiated in air or vacuum at temperatures of -20 to +20 C.

Response-surface methodology was used to develop predictive equations for the response of Salmonella typhimurium ATCC 14028 on the surface of chicken legs or within mechanically deboned chicken meat (MDCM) to the effects of gamma radiation doses of 0 to 3.60 kGy (100 krad = 1 kGy) at temperatures of -20 to +20 C in air or vacuum. A streptomycin-resistant mutant was used in these studies to allow accurate estimations of the surviving salmonellae in the presence of residual normal flora.

Effect of ionizing radiation dose, temperature, and atmosphere on the survival of Salmonella typhimurium in sterile, mechanically deboned chicken meat.

The response to gamma radiation (0 to 3.60 kGy; 100 krad = 1 kGy) of Salmonella typhimurium was tested in otherwise sterile, mechanically deboned chicken meat (MDCM) in the absence of competing microflora. Response was determined at temperatures of -20 to +20 C and when the MDCM was packaged in vacuum or in the presence of air.

Brachial plexus neuropathy.

Brachial plexus neuropathy is a common syndrome that, although a distinct clinical entity, is often unrecognized. The illness is characterized by the acute onset of shoulder girdle pain without constitutional symptoms. The pain persists for 1 to 2 weeks, then subsides, with the development of weakness and atrophy in the affected muscles.