Adverse event associated with methionine loading test: a case report.

The death of a control subject after an oral load of methionine for a study of the possible relationship between homocysteine and Alzheimer's disease is reported. The subject developed postload plasma concentrations of methionine far beyond those reported previously in humans given the usual oral loading dose of methionine (100 mg/kg body wt). Her preload plasma metabolite values rule out known genetic diseases that might predispose one to unusually high methionine concentrations.

Linking theory of mind and central coherence bias in autism and in the general population.

Three experiments investigated whether 2 characteristic aspects of the psychological profile of autism, theory-of-mind deficits and weak central coherence, might be functionally related. Experiment 1 showed that in the general population, performance on a proposed test of theory of mind was inversely related to speed on the Embedded Figures Test, a measure of central coherence bias. Experiments 2 and 3 confirmed that poor theory-of-mind performance was linked to weak central coherence among typically developing children and among children with autism; however, the correlations between these measures were reliable only after accounting for differences in individuals' verbal mental ages.

Iron supplementation for acute blood loss anemia after coronary artery bypass surgery: a randomized, placebo-controlled study.

Objective: To evaluate the use of oral iron replacement therapy as an effective treatment for acute surgically induced anemia.

Design: Double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial.

Setting: Perioperative acute care hospital and a surgery clinic for a single cardiothoracic physician group.

Lymphocyte subsets in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis: a longitudinal study of B lymphocytes and T lymphocytes.

Changes in lymphocyte subset populations may provide clues to the dysimmune mechanisms involved in relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). The lymphocyte subgroup CD4+ CD45RA+, thought to be responsible for the induction of suppression is decreased in some patients with MS compared to controls. A possible role for another lymphocyte subset, CD19+CD5+ lymphocytes, has been proposed in autoimmune diseases and multiple sclerosis (MS).

Hemoconcentration during cardiac arrest and CPR.

The objective of this study was to determine if hemoconcentration occurs during cardiac arrest and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). The design was an animal model of cardiac arrest and CPR performed at a research institute using six mongrel dogs. After the induction of cardiac arrest, animals were subjected to 4 minutes of ventricular fibrillation followed by 20 minutes of CPR.