Relationship between renal mass and atrial natriuretic peptide release. 1. Paradoxical effect of unilateral nephrectomy on serum atrial natriuretic peptide in rats.

Serial serum atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) determinations were performed in 15 uninephrectomized Charles River rats and in 15 sham-operated control animals during the 60 days following surgery. In a second group of 7 control and 7 uninephrectomized animals, housed in metabolism cages, serum ANP, body weight, 24-hour urine volume, osmolality and sodium excretion were serially measured. In a third group of uninephrectomized and control rats the effect of acute salt loading 24 h, 6 and 60 days after surgery on serum ANP was studied.

RADCOM: a computerized translation device for use during fluoroscopic examination of non-English-speaking patients.

We developed and have implemented RADCOM (RADiology COMmunicator), a computerized speech-based language translator for use during fluoroscopic examination of non-English-speaking patients. It is controlled completely by voice commands issued into a headset microphone. The system output is digital audio via a small speaker, in the native language of the patient.

Measles vaccine failures: lack of sustained measles-specific immunoglobulin G responses in revaccinated adolescents and young adults.

The measles-specific antibody responses of seronegative adolescents and young adults were evaluated after revaccination. Of 1650 previously vaccinated healthy volunteers between the ages of 10 and 30 years, 4.4% were found to be seronegative for measles antibodies and 9.

The wisdom of hindsight.

This essay is a highly personalized account of some of the important conceptual contributions to immunology. I have asked myself, "What were the ideas that caught my attention and how and by whom were they presented?" I have learned that most of what immunologists have called concepts deal with too small a slice of the subject. They are essentially inductive extrapolations from one experiment to a possible next step.

Apert's syndrome (acrocephalosyndactyly) in a patient with hyperhidrosis.

Apert's syndrome, also known as acrocephalosyndactyly, is a rare type of premature craniofacial synostosis characterized by the clinical triad of cranial and facial malformations along with syndactyly of the hands and feet. Acne vulgaris involving atypical sites such as the upper extremities constitutes the dermatologic hallmark of this rare genodermatosis. We report a patient who demonstrates the classic findings of Apert's syndrome.

Effects of zolpidem, codeine phosphate and placebo on respiration. A double-blind, crossover study in volunteers.

The effects of zolpidem, codeine phosphate and placebo on respiration were evaluated in a double-blind, randomised, crossover study involving 12 healthy men. Single oral doses of zolpidem 10 or 20 mg, codeine phosphate 60 mg or placebo were administered in the morning. Each treatment was separated by a washout period of at least 72 h.

Nursing home aides' work and family connections.

In order to maintain a productive workforce, organizations must acknowledge that many employees, particularly nurse aides, perform full-time care giving, both on and off the job. Competing demands between work and family can affect job performance, quality of care and bring on burnout.

A theory of the ontogeny of the chicken humoral immune system: the consequences of diversification by gene hyperconversion and its extension to rabbit.

The immune system's repertoire is generated in two stages: Stage I results in a small size high copy number repertoire that is diversified by "mutation" to result in a large size low copy number repertoire referred to as Stage II. The Stage I or high copy number repertoire is derived from information stored directly in the genome by two mechanisms. (a) The copy-cassette mechanism: the Ig-locus has one rearrangeable V gene segment which acts as recipient for controlled gene conversion in cis from a set of donor V gene segments that results in a family of subunits, L and H.

Expression of pregnancy-specific beta 1-glycoprotein genes in hematopoietic cells.

The presence of PSG in blood cells has been demonstrated by immunohistochemical staining. However, the origin of those proteins is not known. This report examines the expression of the PSG genes in different types of freshly isolated blood cells.

Inhibition of rate of tumor growth by creatine and cyclocreatine.

Growth rate inhibition of subcutaneously implanted tumors results from feeding rats and athymic nude mice diets containing 1% cyclocreatine or 1%, 2%, 5%, or 10% creatine. The tumors studied included rat mammary tumors (Ac33tc in Lewis female rats and 13762A in Fischer 344 female rats), rat sarcoma MCI in Lewis male rats, and tumors resulting from the injection of two human neuroblastoma cell lines, IMR-5 and CHP-134, in athymic nude mice. Inhibition was observed regardless of the time experimental diets were administered, either at the time of tumor implantation or after the appearance of palpable tumors.

The sign of Leser-Trélat associated with adenocarcinoma of the rectum.

The authors report a case of the sign of Leser-Trélat occurring in a patient with primary adenocarcinoma of the rectum. The patient demonstrated the sign several months before the internal malignancy was discovered. Although the majority of patients with the sign have an underlying adenocarcinoma of the gastrointestinal tract, relatively few cases have been reported with the rectum as the primary site.

Renal mononuclear cells secrete a factor triggering mesangial cell proliferation.

Thirty-six Charles River rats underwent left unilateral nephrectomy and 18 counterparts had sham nephrectomy. After 48 h the kidneys of all animals were removed, and renal mononuclear cells (RMNC) harvested. The RMNC were cultured in RPMI 1640 medium supplemented with either 20% fetal calf serum or sera procured from sham operated rats, or from nephrectomized animals.

Effect of dietary manipulations on glomerular filtration rate of mice offspring of nephrectomized mothers.

We have previously reported that mice, offspring to uninephrectomized mothers, have greater than normal kidneys with supernumerary glomeruli. In this study we assessed glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in 40 mice offspring of nephrectomized mothers and 40 mice offspring of sham-nephrectomized animals aged 7 weeks. Each group was divided into 4 equal subgroups according to the following dietary manipulations: regular, high protein, high salt and high protein/high salt.

What is the selective pressure that maintains the gene loci encoding the antigen receptors of T and B cells? A hypothesis.

The dominant view is that the gene loci encoding the B cell antigen receptor (BAr) or the T cell antigen receptor (TAr) specify a vast array of combining sites. The 'germline' repertoire is estimated to be > 10(10) by multiplying numbers of subunit complements by DN-region variability. This implies that the germline can be maintained by a selection imposed by all or most of the antigenic universe.

Seed Dormancy in Red Rice : VIII. Embryo Acidification during Dormancy-Breaking and Subsequent Germination.

Exposure of dehulled, dormant red rice (Oryza sativa) seeds to dormancy-breaking treatments (10 mm sodium nitrite, 20 mm propionic acid, 30 mm methyl propionate, 40 mm propionaldehyde, or 70 mmn-propanol) induced tissue pH acidification during chemical contact at least 12 h before visible germination. During chemical contact, the onset of embryo acidification occurred before or coincident with the chemical contact interval necessary for subsequent germination. Upon seed transfer to H(2)O following chemical contact, embryo pH also decreased coincident with visible germination.

Chromosome ends in Chironomus pallidivittatus contain different subfamilies of telomere-associated repeats.

Tandemly repeated 340 bp sequences, TA repeats, are present in seven of the eight pairs of chromosome ends in Chironomus pallidivittatus, being absent from the telocentric left end of chromosome four. We have previously shown that the family of TA repeats consists of four main subfamilies. One subfamily is composed of a master unit and the other three contain derived units, each of which has a small region where the master sequence is highly mutated.

Frequency of certain urgent eye problems in an emergency room in Massachusetts.

The frequency and cost of emergency room care for certain ocular problems was surveyed. Superficial eye problems accounted for 2.67 percent of patients reporting to the emergency room, while 0.

Telomere-associated repeats in Chironomus form discrete subfamilies generated by gene conversion.

In dipteran insects the most distal telomere-associated DNA known to exist consists of long, complex tandem repeats. We have classified the 340-bp tandemly arranged repeats in Chironomus pallidivittatus. The repeats are distributed in a small number of subfamilies.

Comparison of methods for the determination of unbound triiodothyronine in pregnancy.

Objective: To study the changes in unbound T3 concentration in the first trimester of pregnancy.

Design: We measured serum unbound T3 concentration before and after termination of pregnancy.

Patients: Twenty-six clinically euthyroid women.

Improving nursing home care through training and job redesign.

Nursing assistants have the primary contact with older residents of nursing homes. The Penn State Nursing Home Intervention Project's short-term longitudinal study assessed the single and combined effects of two interventions designed to affect nursing assistants' performance by increasing their knowledge and motivation: skills training and job redesign. Statistically significant differences in nursing assistants' knowledge were evident in comparisons between intervention and control sites, but performance was not improved.

The priming of cytotoxic T-cell precursors is strictly helper T cell-dependent.

Allogeneic chimaeras that utilize C.B-17 SCID mice (H-2d) as recipients of MHC mismatched bone marrow from C57B1/6 (H-2b) or SJL/J (H-2s) mice have been used to provide experimental evidence demonstrating the necessity for a direct interaction between an effector T helper and the cytotoxic T-cell precursor in order to generate cytotoxic effector T cells specific for the minor histocompatibility (H) antigens of DBA/2 (H-2d) mice. No effect of helpers specific for antigen-processed or not-presented on antigen-presenting cells could be observed.