Natural scrapie and PrP genotype: case-control studies in British sheep.

Natural scrapie in sheep is associated with polymorphisms of the PrP gene, particularly at amino acid codons 136, 154 and 171. This paper reports the results of nine scrapie case-control studies in Bleu du Maine, Herdwick, Merino x Shetland, Poll Dorset, Scottish Halfbred, Shetland, Soay, Suffolk and Swaledale sheep from British flocks affected by scrapie. In some outbreaks, scrapie was found to occur only in animals with at least one PrP allele encoding valine at codon 136 (V136), usually a relatively rare allele in healthy controls.

Establishment and evaluation of a statewide drug and alcohol specialist advisory service.

The New South Wales Drug and Alcohol Specialist Advisory Service aims to provide prompt, relevant and reliable advice on the clinical management of drug- and alcohol-related problems to health professionals throughout New South Wales. We gauged the performance of the Service against present indicators by interviewing 120 callers who had contacted the Service during its first two years. Accessibility and the quality of information provided were rated highly.

Pain and depression in acute traumatic spinal cord injury: origins of chronic problematic pain?

Objective: To examine the relationship between pain and depression over time during acute phases of traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI). Theoretical models of the pain-depression relationship provided the framework: (1) pain causes depression; (2) depression causes pain; (3) pain and depression are independent sequelae to SCI. Understanding the pain-depression relationship provides treatment implications and hypotheses for origins of chronic pain in SCI.

Techniques for measurement of oxygen consumption rates of hepatocytes during attachment and post-attachment.

Three techniques for measuring oxygen consumption rate (OCR) of cultured cells relevant to the development of bioartificial liver devices are reported. In an oxystat apparatus, HepG2 cells immobilised on Cytodex 3 microcarriers at a concentration of 10(6) cells ml-1 had a mean OCR of 0.7 nmol s-1/10(6) cells.

A noninvasive technique for detecting hypernasal speech using a nonlinear operator.

Speakers with a defective velopharyngeal mechanism produce speech with inappropriate nasal resonance (hypernasal speech). It is of clinical interest to detect hypernasality as it is indicative of an anatomical, neurological, or peripheral nervous system problem. There are various clinical techniques used to determine hypernasality.

Selective effects of pentamidine on cytosolic and granule-associated enzyme release from zymosan-activated human neutrophilic granulocytes.

Therapeutic concentrations (0.3-1.5 mgL-1) of pentamidine isethionate, normally obtainable in-vivo after parenteral administration of the drug, did not affect the in-vitro activity of the enzymes lysozyme, beta-glucuronidase or myeloperoxidase released from zymosan-activated human neutrophilic granulocytes.

Naphthalene black staining of granules of eosinophilic granulocytes: proposed mechanism of action using chemical blockade and computer graphics.

Histochemical staining of the granules of eosinophilic granulocytes and subsequent blockade of the reaction by alkaline benzyl was strongly suggestive that in its purified form, the diazo dye naphthalene black reacts with tissue sites containing high concentrations of arginine residues. Computer graphics modelling indicated that the sulfonate group of the dye reacts electrostatically with the guanidino functional group of arginine. This acid-base type reaction likely has a stoichiometric ratio of 2:1 in favor of the amino acid.

Increased incidence of intraventricular hemorrhage and developmental delay in cocaine-exposed, very low birth weight infants.

This study sought to determine whether very low birth weight (VLBW) infants (< 1500 gm) with fetal cocaine exposure differed from non-cocaine-exposed VLBW infants in incidence of neonatal medical complications and in later developmental outcome. Forty-one cocaine-exposed, VLBW infants, followed in a longitudinal study, were compared with 41 non-cocaine-exposed, VLBW infants of comparable race, social class, age, and incidence of bronchopulmonary dysplasia. Cocaine-exposed infants were identified on the basis of combined findings of maternal and/or infant urine immunoassay and on the basis of maternal self-report.

Nailfold capillary circulation in osteoarthritis.

Nailfold capillaries in 28 patients with OA affecting the distal interphalangeal joints were compared to 23 age- and sex-matched controls without OA. Patients with OA showed a significantly lower density of capillaries in their nailfolds and significantly more capillary morphological abnormalities including haemorrhage, 'drop out', dilatation and irregularity. There was a trend for OA patients to have warmer fingers with reduced finger to brachial blood pressure ratios.

The role of the dental hygienist in a multicultural society. Review of literature 1988-1993.

As Canada's population becomes increasingly more diverse, dental hygienists must face the challenge of providing culturally sensitive health care. This literature review provides a sample of cultural and professional beliefs/values, traditional oral hygiene practices and psycho-social determinants that can affect the delivery of dental health services. The paper concludes by addressing some of the personal, professional and research implications of multicultural diversity for the dental hygiene profession.

Radiation pneumonitis: a possible lymphocyte-mediated hypersensitivity reaction.

Objective: To determine if unilateral thoracic irradiation results in a lymphoid alveolitis in both irradiated and unirradiated lung fields.

Design: A prospective, nonrandomized study.

Patients: Women receiving postoperative radiotherapy for carcinoma of the breast were evaluated both before and 4 to 6 weeks after radiotherapy.

Changes in epithelial lining fluid albumin associated with smoking and interstitial lung disease.

Albumin is an important plasma protein which is useful in the assessment of in vivo membrane permeability in the lung. In subjects with interstitial lung disease (ILD) the relationship between albumin recovered from bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) and other markers of inflammatory activity may provide useful information of the pathogenesis of the disease process. Unfortunately, its measurement is hampered by the variable dilution in BAL fluid.

The differing patterns of interstitial lung involvement in connective tissue diseases.

Connective tissue disorders (CTD) have a relatively high incidence of pulmonary complications but their delineation has been hampered by difficulties inherent in the diagnostic techniques. One fresh approach to this problem is based on a clustering method that uses data from 8 separate investigations to cluster the patients into 4 distinctly separate categories representing normal nonsmoker, normal smokers, those with active interstitial lung disease and those with bronchiolitis. Using this method, a large group of patients with CTD have been examined to assess the nature and extent of their pulmonary complications.

Smoking-induced changes in epithelial lining fluid volume, cell density and protein.

Bronchoalveolar lavage has proved a useful research technique for recovering cellular and molecular contents of the lower respiratory tract. Because the recovered fluid is variably diluted, an accurate estimation of molecular and cellular concentrations can only be made if the epithelial lining fluid volume recovered is also known. It has been suggested that smoking may alter epithelial lining fluid volume by reducing clearance or by stimulating production and, thus, affect the interpretation of bronchoalveolar lavage studies.

An attempt to influence hypnotic and sedative drug use.

Objective: To assess the impact of a hospital based educational campaign on the prescription and use of hypnotic and sedative drugs.

Design: Two three-month cross-sectional surveys were performed. The first was to obtain a baseline evaluation of hypnotic and sedative drug use within the hospital, and the second was to evaluate the success of an educational intervention designed to promote more rational prescribing and use of these drugs.

Interstitial lung disease associated with connective tissue diseases. The use of statistical structure analysis in model development.

Interstitial lung disorders associated with the connective tissue diseases are thought to be quite common, but their precise analysis is fraught with difficulty because of the absence of a Gold Standard that, short of open lung biopsy, is not available. Analysis is hampered by the biologic variability in test results, large overlap between the normal and the disease population for individual tests, the confounding effect of smoking, and the complexities of viewing multidimensional data. In order to better define the pattern of the lung involvement, an entirely different approach has been adopted that is based on the use of graphic and clustering techniques to define the multivariate structure inherent in the data, then discriminant analysis to assign patients into distinct clusters.

A strategy for obtaining active mammalian enzyme from a fusion protein expressed in bacteria using phospholipase A2 as a model.

An active preparation of human phospholipase A2 (PLA2) was made after expression as an insoluble fusion protein in Escherichia coli. The new key elements required for PLA2 isolation were the maintenance of the fusion protein in solution after the initial solubilization and the use of a tryptophan cleavage procedure for regeneration of native PLA2 from the fusion protein. The fusion protein was composed of a beta-galactosidase leader peptide incorporating six consecutive threonine residues to aid in insoluble inclusion body formation, followed by a tryptophan adjacent to the N-terminus of PLA2.

Concentration-response relationships for salicylate-induced ototoxicity in normal volunteers.

1. Ototoxicity is a common and troublesome side-effect of high-dose aspirin treatment but there has been little previous study of the relationships between the degree of ototoxicity and the plasma concentrations of salicylate. 2.

Corticosteroid injection for osteoarthritis of the knee: peripatellar compared to intra-articular route.

Intra-articular injection of micro-crystalline corticosteroid is used to treat symptomatic osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee, but its duration of effect and efficacy are uncertain. From the observation that pain in OA of the knee can often be blocked by infiltration of the soft tissues at the patella margin with local anaesthetic, this study investigated an injection technique in which corticosteroid was infiltrated around the patella. Thirty-eight patients with radiologically demonstrable and painful OA of the knee were treated either with peripatellar or intra-articular methylprednisolone in a randomised double blind study.