Significance of enteric gram-negative bacilli in the throat.

Pharyngeal micro-organisms of 131 Australian and Malaysian children and adults were compared by analysis of aerobic culture of throat swab specimens. Enteric Gram-negative bacilli were commonly isolated in small numbers from Malaysian adults whether they had sore throats (28%) or not (36%), but were detected in only 9% of Australian adults without sore throats and in only 12% and 4% of Malaysian children with and without sore throats respectively. In other respects microbiological findings were similar in the different groups of subjects studied.

Distribution of rats infected with Rickettsia tsutsugamushi (scrub typhus) in an edge habitat.

No focalization of rats (Rattus tiomanicus and R. argentiventer) infected with Rickettsia tsutsugamushi could be discerned over a 500 m trapping transect at the border between a forest and lalang grass (Imperata cylindrica). R.

Potent reversible anticholinesterase agents. Bis- and mono-N-substituted benzoquinolinium halides.

A number of bis- and mono-N-substituted benzoquinolinium salts and their analogues were prepared and evaluated as inhibitors of acetylcholinesterase (AcChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE). These compounds were also used to help identify some of the morphologic characteristics of the surface at or near the active sites of the cholinesterases. The shape, size, configuration, and conformation of the onium moieties of the quaternary ammonium compounds were found to be the important factors in their anticholinesterase activity.