A comparison of the anti-Staphylococcus aureus activity of extracts from commonly used medicinal plants.

Background: Resurgences of Staphylococcus aureus infection continue globally, with antibiotic resistance increasing dramatically, making these infections more difficult to treat. S. aureus epidemics impose public health threats, and economic burdens on health care costs worldwide, presenting challenges modern medicine struggles to control.

Nitrogen-to-protein conversion factors in animal feed and fecal samples.

Nitrogen-to-protein conversion factors were calculated for diets and fecal samples from three animal species fed low- or high-fiber diets. The conversion factors based on protein contents determined by amino acid analyses were calculated from total N (Kjeldahl analyses) and recovered amino acid plus NH3-N (amino acid analyses). Conversion factors based on protein contents determined by a fluorescamine assay for amino acids were also calculated from total Kjeldahl-N.

Isolation and characterization of a soybean lectin having 4-O-methylglucuronic acid specificity.

A new lectin from soybeans having specificity toward the extracellular 4-O-methyl-D-glucurono-L-rhamnans produced by certain strains of Rhizobium japonicum has been purified and characterized. Isolation was accomplished initially by isoelectric precipitation of contaminating globulins and subsequently by affinity chromatography on partially hydrolyzed glucuronorhamnan covalently coupled to amino-hexylagarose. Residual globulins were removed by adsorption of the lectin on concanavalin A-agarose and elution with methyl alpha-mannoside.

Inheritance of low linolenic acid content of the seed oil of a mutant in Glycine max.

Linolenic acid content of the oil from F1, F2, and F3 seeds was compared with the parental values from a cross between a soybean cultivar with high (7.0%) and a mutant line with low (3.4%) linolenate (18∶3).

Breast cancer skin test antigens of increased sensitivity prepared from vesicular stomatitis virus-infected tumor cells.

Crude membrane (CM) extracts were prepared from five cultured breast tumor lines (MDA-MB-157, MDA-MB-231, ZR75-1, HS0578T, and MCF-7) which had been infected with vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) to augment their antigenicity. In skin test trials, CM extracts of uninfected MCF-7 cells elicited positive response in 0 of 13 (0%) tests in breast cancer patients, while VSV-MCF-7 elicited positive responses in 11 of the same 13 patients (84.6%).

cis-Dichlorodiammineplatinum(II) and DTIC in malignant melanoma.

Twenty-nine patients with advanced malignant melanoma were randomized to receive DTIC at a dose of 200 mg/m2 iv on Days 1-5 and cis-dichlorodiammine-platinum(II) at a dose of 40 mg/m2 iv on Days 1 and 4, repeated every 4 weeks (group A), or the same drugs plus procarbazine at a dose of 75 mg/m2 orally daily on Days 1-8 and vincristine at a dose of 1.4 mg/m2 iv on Day 1 (group B). These drugs were generally well-tolerated, but five of 16 patients in group A and six of 13 patients in group B required dose modification for either hematologic or renal toxicity.

Renal malacoplakia.

A case of malacoplakia of the kidney is presented. The incidental finding of asymptomatic pyuria focused attention on the urinary system. Urologic evaluation concluded an avascular renal mass.

Altered nitrogenous pools induced by the azolla-anabaena azolla symbiosis.

The free amino acid and ammonia pools of Azolla caroliniana were analyzed by quantitative column chromatography on columns capable of separating all of the nitrogenous constituents normally found in physiological fluids. Comparisons were made of plants containing symbiotic algae and grown on nitrogen-free media, plants grown on media containing nitrate, and algae-free plants also grown on nitrate media. The major feature of the data was a very high level of intracellular ammonia found in plants which contain N(2)-fixing algal symbionts.

The "turban" nevoid basal cell syndrome. Current management with surgery, chemotherapy and immunotherapy.

"Turban" nevoid basal cell syndrome is a congenital disease that presents with multiple subepidermal epitheliomas, primarily on the scalp. Other secondary findings may be present such as cysts in the mandible and bifid synostotic rib. A combination of treatments proved beneficial in this disease.