"5-Amino-5"-deoxybutirosin, a semisynthetic analogue of butirosin A: antibacterial activity in vitro and in mice.

Aminodeoxybutirosin (AD-BTN), the 5''-amino-5''-deoxy derivative of butirosin (BTN), was synthesized to improve on the antibacterial activity of BTN by preventing bacterial enzymatic phosphorylation at the 5'' position. AD-BTN possesses the spectrum characteristic of BTN and gentamicin (GTM) and was active at low levels in vitro against a wide variety of gram-negative species including Pseudomonas aeruginosa, indole-positive Proteus and Serratia marcescens; its action was bactericidal against both light and heavy inocula, and it was not antagonized by human serum. AD-BTN was as active as GTM against GTM-sensitive P.

Major arterial hemorrhage: a complication of pancreatic pseudocysts and chronic pancreatitis.

Twelve patients (11 men, one woman), aged 18 to 68 years, had major arterial hemorrhage as a direct complication of pancreatic pseudocysts and chronic pancreatitis. Chronic alcoholism (11 patients) and blunt abdominal trauma (one patient) were the basis for pancreatic disease. Spontaneous hemorrhage occurred in eight patients.

Effect of Beta-sitosterol on cholesterol-cholic acid-induced gallstone formation in mice.

Beta-sitosterol has been shown to prevent gallstone formation in mice fed 1.2% cholesterol and 0.5% cholic acid (lithogenic diet).

Clinical determination of methemalbumin.

We developed an assay for methemalbumin in biological fluids by using diethylaminoethyl-Sephadex ion-exchange chromatography to separate this protein from interfering components, including hemopexin, transferrin, hemoglobin, and haptoglobin/hemoglobin complex. Initial screening of the samples requires measurement of A280/A405 ratios of the peak tubes of the isolated albumin fraction. Values exceeding 30 indicate that methemalbumin is absent, and no further work is required.

Acute cholecystitis.

The mortality rate for acute cholecystitis was 9.4 per cent. Those patients who underwent cholecystostomy had a mortality rate of 27.

Hepatic cell adenomas, spontaneous liver rupture, and oral contraceptives.

During the past decade, an increasing number of hepatic cell adenomas have been reported. Sppntaneous rupture, a life-threatening complication of this rare tumor, has been noted more frequently. Eight patients with hepatic cell adenomas have been treated at our center.

The results of cholecystostomy for the treatment of acute cholecystitis.

Six of 22 patients with acute cholecystitis who had a cholecystosomy died. All six deaths were attributed to cholangitis, none of the patients had undergone common bile duct decompression at the time of cholecystosomy. Cholecystostomy must be accompanied by choledochotomy in the treatment of acute suppurative cholangitis.