Studies of primate protein variation and evolution: microelectrophoretic detection.

Genetic variation at 16 protein and enzyme loci in Ceropithecus aethiops and several other primate species has been surveyed, using cellulose acetate microelectrophoresis. Resolution of several standard variant proteins is comparable to that achieved on starch gel or polyacrylamide gel. Although both intraspecific and interspecific variation was observed for some loci, the data generally support the concept that extracellular proteins are more likely to be polymorphic within a species, while intracellular proteins generally vary between species, if at all.

Acute symbiotic psychosis in a postoperative transsexual.

An unexpected complication of sex-reassignment surgery in a 23-year-old male-to-female transsexual is presented. Having been periodically depressed but never psychotic before surgery, the patient experienced an acute decompensation 3 days after operation. Symptoms of this time-limited illness included hallucinations and wish-fulfilling delusions, but most prominent was the demand to be in continuous contact with other people.

The genetics of specific reading disability.

Members of the immediate families of twenty children with specific reading disability were examined to determine the prevalence of reading disability within the families. A procedure was developed for identifying adults who may have compensated for a disability manifested more clearly in childhood. Forty-five percent of 75 first-degree relatives of the parents were affected and there was a significantly greater number of affected male relatives than females.

The functions of medical care.

Medical care has several important functions other than restoring or maintaining health. These other functions are assessment and certification of health status, prognostication, segregation of the ill to limit communication of illness, and helping to cope with the problems of illness--the caring function. Medical care serving these "paracurative" functions may legitimately be given indepedently, without associated curing or preventive intent of the provider of care.

Metabolic basis for recommending how to use alcohol.

The rational use of alcohol by healthy persons aims to achieve some degree of intoxication-the drug effect of alcohol. A pattern of drinking that does this while minimizing the undesired toxic effects of alcohol may be inferred from an analysis of the metabolism of alcohol and the mechanisms of its toxic effects. While the intoxicant effect of alcohol depends on the quantity in the circulatory blood level, the toxic effects, particularly in the liver, depend largely on the total dose and are independent of the speed of absorption into the blood.

A study of 104 cases of migraine.

An inquiry about present or past history of migraine has been made in a factory of 4,700 employees. The incidence of migraine among the 1,607 who replied to a questionnaire was found to be 4·9% for men and 13·2% for women. A family history of migraine was found in migraine sufferers six times more frequently than in non-sufferers, and a personal history of travel sickness was found three times more often in sufferers than non-sufferers.