A two-site model for the esterase and dehydrogenase activities of sheep liver aldehyde dehydrogenase.

Although aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) from sheep liver cytosol has a broad specificity, it will not oxidize the aldehyde group of glyoxylic acid which is in fact an inhibitor of the enzyme. The inhibition pattern is non-linear but competitive at high propionaldehyde concentrations (2-20 mM); however, a simple non-competitive pattern is observed at low (less than 100 microM) propionaldehyde concentrations (Ki = 1.6 mM).

Learning dynamic psychotherapy: a longitudinal study.

The authors investigated the evolution of psychotherapeutic skills over time in a group of psychiatric residents in their third year of training. A 29-item Supervisors Evaluation Scale measuring psychotherapy skills was developed. Each resident who began his or her clinical experience in conducting individual analytically oriented psychotherapy was rated by his or her supervisors on this scale toward the beginning of training and again 8 months later.

Proton release during the pre-steady-state oxidation of aldehydes by aldehyde dehydrogenase. Evidence for a rate-limiting conformational change.

A transient release of protons with an amplitude corresponding to one proton per active site has been observed for the oxidation of propionaldehyde, acetaldehyde, and benzaldehyde by sheep liver cytoplasmic aldehyde dehydrogenase at pH 7.6 with phenol red as indicator. At saturating substrate levels, the rate constants for the proton burst are in each case the same, and for acetaldehyde and propionaldehyde show the same dependence on the concentrations of the substrates, as the rate constants for the transient production of NADH reported previously [MacGibbon, A.

Mouse embryos and uterine epithelia show adhesive interactions in culture.

To investigate the cellular mechanisms in preimplantation adhesion of the mammalian blastocyst to uterine epithelium, it is essential to avoid the complexities of the maternal environment but at the same time prevent the introduction of competing artificial surfaces, to which embryos preferentially adhere. We demonstrate here that sealed vesicles of isolated uterine epithelium cultured together with blastocysts in hanging drops provide an optimum system for encouraging and observing the adhesive interactions. The responses of the embryonic and maternal cells were identical to those known in vivo.

Ultrastructure of encapsulation of Schistosoma mansoni mother sporocysts by hemocytes of juveniles of the 10-R2 strain of Biomphalaria glabrata.

Dynamic aspects of the cellular responses of juvenile (2-3 mm shell diameter) 10-R2 strain Biomphalaria glabrata to newly penetrated Schistosoma mansoni (NIH-Sm-PR-1 strain) were studied at the ultrastructural level. As early as 3 hr postexposure (PE), host hemocytes had contacted the parasite's surface and by 7.5 hr, had phagocytosed sporocyst microvilli and small pieces of underlying tegument.

Identifying schizophrenic patients who should not receive medication.

There is clinical research evidence that there exists a subgroup of schizophrenic patients who should not be treated with neuroleptics. To date there has been no reliable method of identifying these patients. Systematic predictive studies of different subjective experiences of schizophrenia are suggested as a method of elucidating who should or should not receive medication.

Psychotherapy skill profiles of psychiatric residents.

A survey of experienced clinicians has suggested that negative outcomes of psychotherapy may be related to misapplications or deficiencies of technique. The present study was, therefore, concerned with two questions: a) does the more competent psychiatric resident have a different profile of therapeutic skills from the less competent resident; and b) are the more competent residents more aware of their own behavior with patients than less competent residents? To answer these questions, a Supervisors' Evaluation Scale and a parallel Psychotherapy Self-Evaluation Scale were developed, and their reliability, content, and discriminant validities were established on the basis of their use with a group of psychiatric residents being supervised in an outpatient clinic. Results demonstrated that the more and less competent trainees, selected on the basis of global ratings, differed significantly on almost every item of the Supervisors' Evaluation Scale, but did not differ on most of the items of the Psychotherapy Self-Evaluation Scale.

Acromegaly and Cushing's syndrome associated with a foregut carcinoid tumor.

We report an 18-yr-old youth with a metastatic foregut carcinoid tumor, Cushing's syndrome, and hypersomatotropic gigantism. Administration of cyproheptadine caused a dramatic fall in urinary cortisol excretion and plasma ACTH levels associated with clinical remission of the Cushing's syndrome. GH secretion was not affected by cyproheptadine administration.

A reinvestigation of the purity, isoelectric points and some kinetic properties of the aldehyde dehydrogenases from sheep liver.

1. Cytoplasmic aldehyde dehydrogenase was shown to be free of contamination by the mitochondrial enzyme by isoelectric focusing. 2.

Mystical experience and schizophrenia.

Autobiographical accounts of acute mystical experience and schizophrenia are compared in order to examine the similarities between the two states. The appearance of a powerful sense of noesis, heightening of perception, feelings of communion with the "divine," and exultation may be common to both. The disruption of thought seen in the acute psychoses is not a component of the accounts of mystical experience reviewed by the author, and auditory hallucinations are less common than visual hallucinations in the mystical state.

Alcohol dehydrogenase polymorphism in the seaweed fly, Coelopa frigida.

Seaweed flies (Coelopa frigida) inhabit piles of decaying seaweed on the seashore. All populations so far studied have been found to be polymorphic at the alcohol dehydrogenase locus (Adh). This article reports an attempt to identify some of the forces of natural selection that may be maintaining this polymorphism First, the genetic determination of the rather complex isozyme system is described.

The medical care of patients with psychiatric illness.

A survey of psychiatric inpatient, outpatients, and consultation services of a large general hospital showed a high incidence of undiagnosed physical illnesses in psychiatric patients. The finding is consistent with that of other researchers and highlights the need for a comprehensive medical examination of all psychiatric patients. The authors discuss the clinical diagnostic interface between physical and psychiatric disorders, as well as medical complications of psychiatric treatment and the reaction of psychiatric patients to physical illness.

Macrophagelike hemocytes of resistant Biomphalaria glabrata are cytotoxic for sporocysts of Schistosoma mansoni in vitro.

When Schistosoma mansoni miracidia penetrate resistant individuals of the intermediate host snail Biomphalaria glabrata, the sporocyst is encapsulated by hemocytes (macrophagelike cells of the snail circulation) and killed. In our in vitro model the same fate requires only sporocysts and snail hemolymph. However, when cultured in plasma alone (cell-free hemolymph), sporocysts remain viable for more than 3 days, regardless of whether the plasma is from susceptible or resistant snails.

The carcinogenic effect of localized fission fragment irradiation of rat lung.

In a preliminary investigation of 'hot particle' carcinogenesis uranium oxide particles were introduced into the lungs of rats either by intubation of a liquid suspension of the particles or by inhalation of an aerosol. Subsequently the animals were briefly exposed to slow neutrons in a nuclear reactor, resulting in localized irradiation of the lung by fission fragments emitted from 235U atoms in the oxide particles. The uranium used in the intubation experiments was either enriched or depleted in 235U.

An inbred strain of rats with a high incidence of squamous-cell carcinomas of the mouth.

Intra-oral squamous-cell carcinomas occurred in over 50% of the HMT inbred strain of rats. In the outbred stock from which it was derived the incidence was 5% or less, both when inbreeding was begun and after the inbred strain was fully established. Various factors in food and husbandry which might have irritated the oral mucosa were investigated, but there was no signficiant evidence that they played any part in the high incidence of mouth tumours.

Therapists' recognition of psychopathology: a model for quality review of psychotherapy.

In this study 32 randomly selected psychiatric emergency room patients, who were in concurrent psychotherapy, completed the SCL-90 and a clinically oriented questionnaire. Their therapists independently rated the patients' degree of psychopathology on the nine SCL-90 symptom scales. Therapists were highly efficient in recognizing depression (94% of the cases) and anxiety (89%) but not psychotic (35%) and obsessive-complusive (16%) pathology.

Large group influence for decreased drug use: findings from two contemporary religious sects.

This paper reports on studies designed to clarify the role of large cohesive groups in effecting diminished drug use among their members. Subjects were drawn from two contemporary religious sects and data were obtained by administering self-report questionnaires under controlled conditions, in cooperation with the sects' leadership. Data which bear directly on changes in drug use are reported here.

Fatal cytomegalovirus bronchiolitis in a patient with Nezelof's syndrome.

A 4-year-old girl who had received a fetal thymus gland by intraperitoneal transplantation 41 months previously sustained acute, fatal bronchiolitis due to culture-proven cytomegalovirus despite the fact that a specific antibody response to this organism was detected. While the thymic transplantation had increased the number of circulating T lymphocytes and had permitted immune sensitization to delayed-hypersensitivity skin test antigens, there was still an incomplete state of T lymphocyte function. In particular, isolated lymphocytes failed to respond to stimulation with phytohemagglutinin at several concentrations and, more important, the pathologic examination demonstrated a severe anatomic deficiency of lymphoid tissue associated with T lymphocyte function.