Validation of a brief screening test for depression in the elderly.

This paper describes the clinical validation of the 10-question Short Zung Interviewer-assisted Depression Rating Scale (Short Zung I.D.S.

Investigation of the vagally induced changes in transmural potential difference in the ferret jejunum in vivo.

This study was designed to determine whether the non-cholinergic, non-adrenergic rise in transmural potential difference (PD), induced by vagal nerve stimulation is an efferent effect or one caused by the antidromic stimulation of afferent fibers. Unilateral left supranodose vagotomy was performed, which caused degeneration of efferent fibers within the vagus nerve, leaving the nodose ganglion, and consequently afferent cell bodies, undamaged. After stimulating the unoperated nerve there was an increase in jejunal motility, a rise in transmural PD and a fall in systemic blood pressure.

Vitrectomy and fluid infusion in the treatment of delayed suprachoroidal hemorrhage after combined cataract and glaucoma filtration surgery.

I report the successful treatment of one case of massive, delayed suprachoroidal hemorrhage that occurred after combined intracapsular cataract extraction and trabeculectomy. Significant vitreous incarceration in the filtration site and consequent vitreoretinal traction were present so that a limbal approach anterior vitrectomy was necessary before choroidal drainage could be accomplished safely. An infusion of balanced salt solution through a limbal infusion cannula was employed during vitrectomy and also during drainage of suprachoroidal blood.

Renal transplantation and pregnancy.

Renal transplantation is usually accompanied by an improvement in reproductive function. The possibility of conception in women of childbearing age emphasizes the need for counseling, and couples who want a child should be encouraged to discuss all implications, with the advice based on strict guidelines. If a recipient becomes pregnant, she must be monitored as a high-risk patient.

Water homeostasis and vasopressin release during rodent and human gestation.

Body tonicity decreases during both human and rodent gestation, manifested by a decrease in Posm of approximately 10 mosm/kg. In humans, the decrease in the osmotic threshold for thirst may precede decrements in the arginine vasopressin (AVP) secretory threshold by several weeks, whereas the metabolic clearance rate of AVP appears markedly increased in the third trimester. The cause of these osmoregulatory changes are unclear, since through 1986 we have been unable to implicate placental extracts, estrogens, progesterone, prolactin, angiotensin II, and certain endorphins in the decreased Posm observed during rat pregnancy.

Kidney function in pregnant women.

In pregnancy, glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and effective renal plasma flow (ERPF) increase to levels approximately 50% to 80% above nonpregnant levels. The increments occur shortly after conception and persist throughout the second trimester, with some reduction in late pregnancy. There is no accelerated growth akin to compensatory hypertrophy.

Inhibition of synaptic transmission in the hippocampus by cholecystokinin (CCK) and its antagonism by a CCK analog (CCK27-33).

The actions of CCK-8 and putative CCK-8 antagonists were examined on synaptic transmission in the hippocampal slice preparation. CCK-8 (10(-7) M) caused a reversible depression of postsynaptic responses of the Schaffer collateral-CA1 synapse. CCK-mediated depression was unaffected by proglumide (10(-3) M) but was antagonized by a CCK analog (CCK27-33).

Evaluation of enzyme inhibitors of pregnancy associated oxytocinase: application to the measurement of plasma immunoreactive oxytocin during human labour.

The presence of the human placental enzyme, oxytocinase, in blood samples taken during pregnancy causes major methological problems in the radioimmunoassay for plasma oxytocin. Inadequate inhibition of the enzyme activity may lead to spuriously high or low values of plasma oxytocin. This study systematically investigates a variety of enzyme inhibitors.

Proglumide, a cholecystokinin antagonist, increases gastric emptying in rats.

Injection of cholecystokinin (CCK) reduces food intake and delays gastric emptying. We have previously shown that endogenous CCK also reduces food intake. This may be achieved by a delay in gastric emptying.

The relationship between gastrointestinal motility and secretion.

Few studies have addressed specifically or systematically the question of whether motility and secretion within the gastrointestinal tract are linked and if so by what mechanisms. The evidence for such a relationship is discussed in this review and we conclude that increased motor activity of the stomach is frequently associated with increased acid and pepsin secretion. Similarly, an increase in small intestinal motility is accompanied by elevated fluid and electrolyte secretion.

The first-step transfer-DNA injection-stop signal of bacteriophage T5.

Bacteriophage T5 is different from most phages in that its DNA is injected in two steps during infection. The region containing the injection stop signal (iss) has been cloned and sequenced and found to contain numerous large repeats and inverted repeats which may be part of the iss. The most impressive of these are the 31-bp repeat units (rb) which are present three times in 99 bp.

Vectors with restriction site banks. V. pJRD215, a wide-host-range cosmid vector with multiple cloning sites.

The construction of a new wide-host-range, restriction-site bank, cosmid-cloning vehicle (pJRD215) is described. The wide-host-range properties and the ability to be transferred by conjugation, extend genetic engineering to those Gram-negative species that cannot be transformed. The vector permits the cloning of genes from Gram-negative bacteria using a complementation screening procedure in a mutant host.

A 'phase-shift' fusion system for the regulation of foreign gene expression by lambda repressor in gram-negative bacteria.

A 'phase-shift' translation fusion vector was constructed in which mutually compatible restriction sites BamHI, BclI and BglII are positioned in such a manner that the cut point is in a different reading frame, immediately following the ATG start codon and ribosome-binding site of the lambda cro gene. The lambda cro gene is expressed from promoter pR and controlled by a thermosensitive (cI857) lambda repressor. The usefulness of the expression vector was demonstrated using a galK gene lacking the ATG start codon and fusing this to the pR promoter and ATG start codon of the lambda cro gene, resulting in cI857-regulated expression of galactokinase.

Sodium hyaluronate exchange in posterior chamber lens implantation.

A method for replacing sodium hyaluronate with balanced salt solution (BSS) at the end of cataract surgery is described. The technique is performed by using an automated irrigation/aspiration machine and three substance exchanges: sodium hyaluronate for BSS, BSS for air, and air for BSS. The objective of the technique is to protect the corneal endothelium from intraocular-lens-induced trauma and to keep the lens in the bag.

Response of jejunal mucosa to electrical transmural stimulation and two neurotoxins.

We examined the mucosal response to endogenous neurotransmitters released from enteric nerves of guinea pig jejunum in vitro by 5 s of electrical transmural stimulation (TS). After TS, a rise in short-circuit current (Isc) occurred that peaked by 60 s and returned to base line by 3-6 min. The Isc response was associated with Cl- movement toward the luminal side of the tissue.

Acute intraoperative suprachoroidal hemorrhage in extracapsular cataract surgery.

The incidence of acute intraoperative suprachoroidal hemorrhage (AISH) was studied in 2,839 consecutive extracapsular cataract extraction cases operated by nucleus expression and phacoemulsification. Twenty-five eyes (0.9%) were identified with this complication.