Landlordism, Rent Regulation and the Labour Party in mid-twentieth century Britain, 1950-64.

This article examines the politics of private renting in 1950s and early 1960s Britain, through the radical approach taken by Labour Party towards private landlords. Through setting the radical aims of Labour in a mid-twentieth-century context of decrepit housing, rising rents and sluggish public housing programmes, Labour's rationale in arguing for the 'abolition' of the private landlord is more transparent. This article takes a chronological approach, investigating what actions Labour actors took, at local and national level, and what effect this had on the wider housing market.

Sensitivity and specificity of CT scanning for determining the number of internally concealed packages in 'body-packers'.

Introduction: If package counts on abdominal CTs of body-packers were known to be accurate, follow-up CTs could be avoided. The objective was to determine the accuracy of CT for the number of concealed packages in body-packers, and the reliability of package counts reported by body-packers who admit to concealing drugs.

Methods: Suspected body-packers were identified from the emergency departments (ED) database.

Fixed prosthodontics: time to change the status quo?

The majority of indirect restorations placed in the United States are currently made by conventional procedures in 2 or more appointments, including standard impressions using VPS or polyether, use of dental laboratory technicians to make the restorations, and conventional cementation procedures. The likelihood of rapid change to digital impressions and/or in-office milling is not predicted. However, some dentists have changed to making digital impressions and sending the information to specific dental laboratories to have the crowns fabricated.

New technology: mandatory, elective, or hype?

If you were to buy all of the technologies that are currently advertised as being important, it would be financially stressful. In addition, you may not find that you would use all of them with equal enthusiasm. In our opinion, some new technologies are mandatory for current practice, while others are primarily elective.

The truth about small-diameter implants.

SDIs that are treatment planned correctly, placed and loaded properly, and are within a well-adjusted occlusion, are working in an excellent manner for the patients described in this article. It is time for those practitioners unfamiliar with SDIs and their uses to discontinue their discouragement of this technique. SDIs are easily placed, minimally invasive, and a true service to those patients described.

Has resin-based composite replaced amalgam?

The major health organizations in the world continue to accept amalgam use, but the "amalgam war" of the 1800s is still going on. The end is not in sight. There is little disagreement that amalgam serves well and, although controversial, it appears to have minimal to no health hazards.

Surveillance-detected hepatic metastases from colorectal cancer had a survival advantage in seven-year follow-up.

Purpose: Colorectal cancer is a common cause of cancer-related death. The liver is the most common site of distant metastases and the most amenable to potentially curative surgery. The aim of this study was to determine whether hepatic metastases detected by surveillance following colonic resection were associated with higher resectability rates and to determine whether there was any impact on survival rates.

Induction of a putative monooxygenase of crabs (Carcinus spp.) by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

As part of a programme to develop biomarker assays for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in marine invertebrates, two species of crabs, Carcinus maenas and Carcinus aestuarii were exposed to benzo(a)pyrene (B(a)P) or crude oil. Microsomes were prepared from the midgut gland (hepatopancreas), examined by gel electrophoresis and Western blotting and assayed for B(a)P monooxygenase activity. In early experiments there was evidence of protein degradation and results were inconsistent and inconclusive.

Comparisons of diet and biochemical characteristics of stool and urine between Chinese populations with low and high colorectal cancer rates.

In an investigation of the roles of diet and stool biochemistry in human colorectal carcinogenesis, 24-hour food, urine, and stool samples were collected from randomly selected participants from two populations with a fourfold difference in colorectal cancer risk: Chinese in Sha Giao, People's Republic of China (low risk), and Chinese-Americans of similar ages in San Francisco County, Calif, in the United States (high risk). The findings supported the hypotheses that colorectal cancer risk is increased by the consumption of high-fat, high-protein, and low-carbohydrate diets and is associated with high levels of cholesterol in stool as well as increased daily outputs of 3-methyl-histidine and malonaldehyde in urine. However, risk does not increase with low stool bulk and low total stool fibers.

Separation and quantitation of fatty acids, sterols and bile acids in feces by gas chromatography as the butyl ester-acetate derivatives.

A system allowing the separation and quantitation of individual species of fecal fatty acids, sterols and bile acids in a single chromatographic step is described. The system is based on the butylation of carboxyl groups and acetylation of free hydroxyls of the compounds in fecal lipid extracts, followed by their resolution by temperature-programmed gas chromatography. As the butyl ester-acetate derivatives, fatty acids, sterols and bile acids elute separately and with no overlap on a variety of chromatographic columns, obviating the need for prior separation of each class by thin-layer or column chromatography.

Cellular toxicity of fecal water depends on diet.

To determine whether concentrations of potentially toxic lipids in the aqueous phase of human stool are responsive to changes in dietary fat, calcium, and fiber, 20 male volunteers were placed on a high-fat, low-calcium, low-fiber or a low-fat, high-calcium, high-fiber diet for 4 days. To assess toxicity of the fecal fractions, we examined the ability of fecal supernatants to lyse human erythrocytes. Bile acid concentrations in fecal water from the low-fat group were reduced significantly from 180 +/- 60 microM to 100 +/- 70 microM; in the high-fat group, increased from 190 +/- 60 microM to 250 +/- 100 microM.

Sustained feeding or fasting affects levels of glucagon (IRG) in porcine plasma, gut and pancreas.

Arterial glucagon levels are elevated in fed pancreatectomised pigs and the source was sought by measuring the hormone in arterial, portal, hepatic and renal venous blood, and in gut tissues. Pigs which were starved for 48 hours (basal) were compared with sham operated or pancreatectomised pigs which were fed or starved for 7 days post operatively. Feeding of sham operated pigs caused a uniform increase in IRG 3485, while starvation resulted in a decreased portal IRG 7000.

Investigation of the role of micellar phospholipid in the preferential uptake of cholesterol over sitosterol by dispersed rat jejunal villus cells.

The uptake of radioactive cholesterol and sitosterol by rat jejunal villus cells was examined using mixed micellar solutions containing sodium taurocholate, equimolar mixtures of the two sterols, and a variety of phospholipid types. The addition of phospholipid to the incubation solutions reduced the cellular absorption of both sterols and gave rise to uptake kinetics that were linear with time. In the presence of egg yolk phospholipid, uptake of the sterols by villus cells occurred with a modest preference for cholesterol over sitosterol.

The rate of uptake and efflux of phosphatidylcholine from human erythrocytes depends on the fatty acyl composition of the exchanging species.

The rate of uptake of radioactive phosphatidylcholine molecules of different fatty acid composition in intact erythrocytes as facilitated by a phosphatidylcholine-specific transfer protein has been studied. When trace amounts of radiolabeled phosphatidylcholine molecules are present in donor vesicles consisting of egg phosphatidylcholine and cholesterol, the transfer of the radiolabeled species depends strongly on their fatty acyl composition: dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine is transferred at the lowest rate, 1-saturated-2-unsaturated species are transferred faster and the highest rate is observed for dioleoyl phosphatidylcholine. Transfer of the various phosphatidylcholine molecules was measured furthermore using donor systems in which the bulk phosphatidylcholine was varied in its fatty acyl composition.

Calcium enhances the hemolytic action of bile salts.

The lysis of human erythrocytes by bile salts in buffer containing isotonic saline was dramatically enhanced by the addition of 5-10 mM calcium chloride. All bile acids tested showed this effect, with a marked increase in lysis occurring at 0.75 mM for deoxycholate, 1 mM for chenodeoxycholate, 2.

Molecular species composition of membrane phosphatidylcholine influences the rate of cholesterol efflux from human erythrocytes and vesicles of erythrocyte lipid.

The efflux of [3H]cholesterol from prelabelled human erythrocytes having modified phosphatidylcholine compositions was measured during 24-h incubations in the presence of unlabelled acceptor liposomes composed of equimolar amounts of egg phosphatidylcholine and cholesterol. The cells were modified by replacement of part of the native phosphatidylcholine with either dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine, palmitoyloleoylphosphatidylcholine or dilinoleoylphosphatidylcholine catalyzed by phosphatidylcholine-specific transfer protein from bovine liver. The results indicated that the efflux of [3H]cholesterol was faster from erythrocytes in which the dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine content was increased from 7 to 25% of the total, than from cells enriched in palmitoyloleoylphosphatidylcholine or dioleoylphosphatidylcholine.

Changes in specific immunoglobulins after various forms of portal diversion in the rat.

This study was designed to investigate further the hyperglobulinaemia which followed portal or splenic venous diversion but not mesenteric venous diversion. It was observed that levels of IgG and IgM were elevated from 3-6 weeks after portacaval shunt, portacaval transposition or splenacaval shunt. IgA levels were increased after all forms of portal venous diversions including after mesentericocaval shunt.

Acyl selectivity in the transfer of molecular species of phosphatidylcholines from human erythrocytes.

This report describes the molecular species composition of phosphatidylcholines (PC) transferred from human erythrocytes to acceptor vesicles composed of cholesterol and single PC species in the presence of PC-specific transfer protein from bovine liver. The compositions of the PC isolated from the vesicles were determined by capillary GLC as the diacylglycerol trimethylsilyl ethers. The cellular PC species appearing in the acceptor vesicles were enriched in unsaturated species and showed a low content of dipalmitoyl PC compared to untreated erythrocytes.

Transhepatic changes in insulin and glucagon following partial hepatectomy in the pig.

In this study, glucose levels decreased after partial hepatectomy in the pig. This was associated with a decrease in insulin and an increase in glucagon levels. An added dextrose infusion resulted in hyperglycemia and appropriate responses in insulin and glucagon.

Critical role of ring structure in the differential uptake of cholesterol and plant sterols by membrane preparations in vitro.

To determine the role of the ring structure in the differential absorption of sterols, we have used rat jejunal brush border vesicles and erythrocytes to examine the uptake of cholesterol, campesterol, and sitosterol following successive chemical degradations of rings A and B. The cell and membrane preparations were incubated with the sterols and sterol analogues (about 30 micromolar each) dissolved in 7 mM sodium taurocholate and 0.6 mM egg phospholipid.