Day activity centres - work for people with intellectual disabilities: a norwegian perspective.

Background: Although there is a broad political consensus in Norway that the government should uphold the principles of "full employment" and "work for all", the majority of people with intellectual disabilities in Norway spend their days in segregated work arrangements or at day activity centres.

Objective: The aim of the current study was to explore what constitutes work and work roles for people with intellectual disabilities and severely limited verbal communication abilities who attend a day activity centre.

Method: A qualitative ethnographic research design was adopted, and the data were gathered through observing the participants and through conducting conversational interviews with the staff members and the participants with intellectual disabilities.

Immune cells in peripheral lymph and skin of patients with obstructive lymphedema.

Lymph stasis in the extremities caused by interruption of lymphatics or insufficient lymph propulsion is often complicated by recurrent skin infections. To shed further light on this subject, we studied the phenotypical and functional characteristics of cells in peripheral lymph and skin of patients with obstructive lymphedema. Compared with controls, patients with secondary lymphedema displayed a high concentration of lymphocytes and erythrocytes in peripheral lymph, sometimes increased numbers of B cells, increased density of Langerhans cells in the epidermis and occasionally in the skin papillary layer, strong expression of class II antigens on skin endothelial cells and mononuclear infiltration around blood vessels, and margination of granulocytes in skin blood vessels.

Effect of local hyperthermia on lymph immune cells and lymphokines of normal human skin.

The effects of 3 h lasting local hyperthermia on immune cell traffic through the normal human skin to afferent lymphatics, cell phenotypes, responsiveness, and stimulatory properties were studied in eight men. Cells were harvested from lymph drained from foot skin. Heating the skin in a water bath of 44 degrees C (skin temperature 2 mm under the surface 39 degrees C) evoked an augmented traffic of mononuclear cells to lymph with preponderance of large, macrophage-like, Ia-positive cells, among them Langerhans cells.

Epidermal cell thymocyte activity factor/interleukin 1 (ETAF/IL)-like activity in lymph drained from normal human skin.

Lymph derived from human skin contains lymphocytes which have a high rate of spontaneous blastic transformation in culture and are highly responsive to lectins. This phenomenon suggests that either a subpopulation of highly responsive lymphocytes is extravasated into skin, or skin tissue fluid and lymph contain humoral factors co-stimulating lymphocytes upon contact with tissue antigens. We sought to determine whether human prenodal lymph drained from normal leg skin possesses lymphokine activity.

Influence of surgery on the responsiveness of blood lymphocytes in patients with advanced cancer.

The effect of surgery on peripheral blood mononuclear cell responsiveness to mitogens and suppressor cell (SC) activity assessed in a concanavalin A (ConA) assay were studied in patients with stage 0 and stage III-IV cancer. Patients were exposed to a similar surgical trauma the same type of anaesthesia, and to no pre- and early postoperative radio- or chemotherapy. A more pronounced postoperative decrease in the lymphocyte count, responsiveness to phytohemagglutinin (PHA) and ConA, and in the SC activity was found in the nonadvanced than advanced cancer group.

Identification of interleukin-1 in normal human lymph derived from skin.

Interleukin 1 was isolated from human lymph drained from normal skin. The lymph was separated by gel filtration chromatography on Spherogel TSK SW 2000 column. IL-1 activity was found in three fractions: greater than 70 kD, 13-16 kD and 5-5.

Does serum protein binding inhibit tissue penetration of antibiotics?

Accumulated data on the penetration of 15 antibacterial agents into peripheral human lymph are reviewed. The major factor determining extravascular penetration is the level of serum protein binding. The penetration ratios of extravascular and serum levels diminish gradually as the level of protein binding increases.

The effect of pretreatment with thio-TEPA and cytosine arabinoside on megakaryocytopoiesis in rats given a sublethal dose of thio-TEPA.

The present study was performed on rats, mainly to examine the so-called priming effect on megakaryocytopoiesis. One group of animals received 2 or 4 mg thio-TEPA or 200 mg cytosine arabinoside/kg body weight (the pretreatment) 2.5 days or 8 days prior to a dose of 10 mg thio-TEPA/kg body weight (the challenge dose).

Extravascular penetration of highly protein-bound flucloxacillin.

The pharmacokinetics of intravenously administered flucloxacillin (2.0 g to five volunteers) are described. The passage of flucloxacillin to peripheral lymph and suction skin blisters was monitored.

Glycogen content and PAS staining pattern of human megakaryocytes.

The glycogen content of human megakaryocytes was studied using a quantitative method. Smears of bone marrow from 13 individuals were stained with the modified PAS reaction with and without prior treatment with alpha-amylase. The intensity of the reaction was determined by microspectrophotometry in 50 megakaryocytes from each individual.

Penetration to peripheral human lymph of clavulanic acid and ticarcillin.

An intravenous dose of 3.0 g ticarcillin and 0.2 g clavulanic acid was given to 11 healthy human volunteers in whom peripheral lymph, serum and urine were monitored for 8 h.

Pharmacokinetics of oral co-trimazine and the penetration of its components sulfadiazine and trimethoprim into peripheral human lymph.

Five healthy informed male volunteers received oral doses of 820 mg sulfadiazine (SDZ) plus 180 mg trimethoprim (TMP) (co-trimazine) every 24 h. Concentrations in serum, peripheral lymph from the leg and urine were determined after the first dose, and on the 4th day to reflect approximate steady-state conditions. TMP was assayed microbiologically and unchanged SDZ by high-pressure liquid chromatography.

Lymphatic drainage from subcutaneous tissue in the foot and leg in the sitting human.

To determine how fast lymph is drained from the foot in the sitting, completely relaxed position, we injected 99mTc-labelled human serum albumin subcutaneously between the first and second toe of both feet in three subjects sitting with legs down. Radioactivity appeared in the calf within the first 30 s, in the thigh within 1 min and in the blood between 2 and 5 min after injection. A scintigram of the calves showed distinct strands of activity.

Changes in lymphoid cell distribution after intraperitoneal administration of 32P colloids.

The effect of intraperitoneal administration of 32P colloids on the distribution of T lymphocyte subpopulations and monocytes was studied using monoclonal antibodies and a flow cytometry technique. Thirty-nine patients with ovarian carcinoma without residual tumor after primary operation were examined either before the administration of 260 to 370 MBq of 32P, 4 to 6 days after therapy, or 4 to 10 months after therapy. A significant reduction of circulating OKT4+ (T helper) cells occurred after therapy, and the reduction lasted throughout the observation period.

Decreased suppressor cell activity after surgery.

The effect of surgery on suppressor cell (SC) activity assessed in a ConA assay and concentration of OKT8+ cells in peripheral blood were studied in 16 patients with stage 0 cancer of uterus. An evident decrease in the number of freshly obtained OKT8+ and cultured for 20 hr with ConA OKT8+ cells and subsequently a drop in whole blood suppressor activity were found in the immediate postoperative period. The recovery of SC activity but not of OKT8+ cell level was observed on day 5.

Temocillin penetration of peripheral lymph.

An intravenous dose of temocillin 1g was administered to 5 healthy human volunteers from whom peripheral lymph, serum and urine were monitored for 12 hours. The concentrations after 1 hour were 14.3 mg/L in lymph and 58.

Immunological characteristics of cells entering the liver with portal blood.

The mononuclear cell populations were characterized phenotypically and functionally in the splenic, mesenteric, portal, sinusoidal, and hepatic venous blood. We found higher concentrations of mononuclear cells in splenic than mesenteric and portal blood; splenic blood contained high numbers of cells with Fc, C3b receptors and surface immunoglobulin and OX8+ (cytotoxic/suppressor) cells. Liver sinusoidal blood was enriched, compared with inflowing portal blood, in cells with Fc, C3b receptors and surface immunoglobulin, OX+8 cells, and natural killer and killer cells.

Influence of operative trauma on circulating blood mononuclear cells: analysis using monoclonal antibodies.

The influence of operative trauma on the quantity and proportion of cooperating mononuclear cells in peripheral blood of patients with stage 0 uterine cancer who underwent hysterectomy was studied using monoclonal antibodies. The percentage of OKM1+ cells (monocytes) had increased on day 1 by 12.4%, on day 3 by 24.

Penetration of antibiotics to tissues and infected foci.

There is proportionality between the area under the curve of concentrations in serum and the area under the curve in tissues and other extravascular foci of the body. A high peak area under the serum curve - PAUC - establishes high extravascular concentration levels in tissues, operation areas and infected sites. Most antibiotics are able to produce satisfactory antibacterial levels in interstitial tissue fluid regardless of serum protein binding.

Natural killer (NK) cell cytotoxicity in athymic (nude) rats.

The in vitro and in vivo natural killer (NK) cell activity of congenitally athymic, nude (ATH) rats and of normal, euthymic (EUTH) rats was compared. We found: a) a higher level of in vitro NK cell activity in blood, spleen and lymph nodes of ATH rats compared with their heterozygous littermates, b) in the spleen the number of NK lytic units per organ was not higher in ATH compared with EUTH whereas it was significantly higher in lymph nodes, c) a lack of age-dependence of in vitro NK cell activity tested in culture with heat inactivated fetal calf serum, d) a higher rate of in vivo elimination of target tumor cells in 4-week ATH rats compared with EUTH rats, e) an age-dependent decrease in the rate of in vivo target cell elimination in both groups, and finally, f) an age-dependent increase in the inhibitory effect of autologous serum on NK cell activity in vitro in both groups. These findings show that the blood and lymphoid organs of athymic rats contain a substantially higher proportion of NK cells, active both in vitro and in vivo against K562 tumor cells, than their euthymic littermates.