Carotid intraplaque hemorrhage: the significance of neovascularity.

Renewed interest in the neovascularity of atherosclerotic plaques has followed the work of Imparato et al., which confirmed the importance of carotid intraplaque hemorrhage in the production of symptomatic extracranial vascular disease. We have studied the detailed histology of 91 carotid atheromatous plaques with particular regard to hemorrhage and neovascularity and have confirmed the findings of earlier investigators while observing degenerative changes (not previously reported) in these new vessels.

Semen parameters and fertilization of human oocytes in vitro: a multivariable analysis.

Semen parameters in 195 couples undergoing in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer were studied using multivariable analysis. Semen parameters that correlated most closely with reduced ability to fertilize apparently mature oocytes were a slow rate of foreward progression of sperm and the presence of excess numbers of white cells in semen. In men with semen parameters within the normal range, the hamster egg penetration assay (HEPA) test did not add additional predictive power.

Analysis of linear growth using a mathematical model. I. From birth to three years.

According to the "ICP-growth model" (ICP = Infancy, Childhood and Puberty components), linear growth during the first three years of life can be represented mathematically by a combination of a sharply decelerating Infancy component and a slowly decelerating Childhood component. Growth as measured by supine length is analysed for 191 longitudinally followed healthy infants using this model. The main aim is to devise ICP-based methods for biological and clinical applications.

Serological evidence of California serogroup virus activity in Oregon.

We wished to demonstrate evidence of the presence of California serogroup viruses in Oregon and to test for the presence of certain other arboviruses in large ungulates. Blood samples from black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus), mule deer (O. hemionus hemionus), and Roosevelt elk (Cervus elaphus roosevelti) from nine counties in Oregon were tested by serum-dilution plaque reduction neutralization for antibody to California serogroup viruses, including snowshoe hare, California encephalitis, and Jamestown Canyon, as well as to Cache Valley (Bunyamwera serogroup) and Klamath, an ungrouped rhabdovirus.

Morphological and biochemical properties of four members of a novel group of reoviruses isolated from aquatic animals.

The morphological, biochemical and growth characteristics of four members of the Reoviridae, three from the fish hosts, golden shiner (Notemigonus crysoleucas), chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) and channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) and one from American oyster (Crassostrea virginica), were compared. Electron microscopy of negatively stained virions revealed icosahedral particles approximately 75 nm in diameter composed of a double capsid. Complete particles had buoyant densities in CsCl of 1.

Neoplastic angioendotheliosis.

Neoplastic angioendotheliosis is a rare disease in which malignant cells are found within numerous blood vessels throughout the body in the absence of any detectable extravascular primary malignancy. The disorder has a propensity for clinical neurological involvement despite pathological evidence of systemic spread. To date 23 patients with neurological involvement have been described.

Direct imaging of paracrystalline phospholipid structure in the electron microscope.

A long chain amphiphilic molecule--the phospholipid 1,2-dihexadecyl sn glycerophosphoethanolamine--has been crystallized epitaxially so that the interlamellar molecular periodicity is parallel to the substrate and hence normal to the electron beam in the electron microscope. This has permitted the direct resolution of the 55.6 A lamellae in unstained crystals at room temperature.

Analysis of linear growth using a mathematical model. II. From 3 to 21 years of age.

The 'ICP growth model' (ICP = Infancy, Childhood and Puberty components) represents linear growth from 3 years of age to maturity by a combination of a slowly decelerating childhood component together with a sigmoid puberty component, the latter acting only during adolescence. Linear growth is analysed for 157 longitudinally followed healthy infants using this model. The main aim is to assess the ability of the ICP model to describe and evaluate individual growth patterns in healthy children with particular emphasis on the considerable individual variation in the timing of puberty and the shape of the pubertal growth spurt.

Pituitary afferents originating in the paraventricular organ (PVO) of the goldfish hypothalamus.

The diencephalon of nonmammalian vertebrates contains aminergic perikarya situated beneath the ependyma lining the third ventricle, known as the paraventricular organ (PVO). Catecholamines were visualized in the goldfish forebrain by formaldehyde-glutaraldehyde-induced fluorescence. Neuronal somata containing catecholamines were found in three paraventricular nuclei--the nucleus recessus posterioris (NRP), the nucleus recessus lateralis (NRL), and the nucleus posterioris paraventricularis (NPPv)--which may be considered to constitute the PVO of the goldfish.

ACTH-releasing activity of urotensin I and ovine CRF: interactions with arginine vasotocin, isotocin and arginine vasopressin.

The release of ACTH from superfused dispersed goldfish anterior pituitary cells was examined to determine if the neurohypophyseal peptides arginine vasotocin (AVT), isotocin (IST) or arginine vasopressin (AVP) potentiate the ACTH-releasing activities of the structurally homologous peptides urotensin I (UI) or ovine corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF). The ACTH-releasing activities of the neurohypophyseal peptides and UI or CRF were additive. AVT, IST or AVP failed to potentiate the ACTH-releasing activity of UI or CRF.

Intramedullary spinal cord glioma with intracranial seeding.

Two cases of intracranial dissemination of primary intramedullary spinal cord gliomas are reported, with a review of the literature. One patient had a post mortem confirmation and in the second, cerebral CT scan and CSF examination demonstrated the occurrence of intracranial dissemination. CSF protein was elevated on both patients and malignant cells were found late in only the one patient.

Activation of hypothalamo-hypophysial-interrenal system by urophysectomy in goldfish.

Plasma cortisol, pituitary adrenocorticotropin and arginine vasotocin (AVT) contents, and hypothalamic urotensin I (UI) and AVT contents were determined in urophysectomized goldfish (1 wk) with and without dexamethasone injections. Urophysectomy produced marked increases in plasma cortisol. These marked increases could not be observed in urophysectomized fish that received dexamethasone injections.

A methodology for evaluating size at birth.

Data from the Swedish Medical Birth Registration, 1977-78, were utilized to develop methods of calculating reference standards for evaluating size at birth. Using the clinical information available, a 'healthy' sub-group was extracted. The individual distributions of birthweight (BW), birth length (BL) and birth headcircumference (BHc) at each week of gestational age (GA) were modelled following some truncation of their ranges.

The fish neuropeptide urotensin I: its physiology and pharmacology.

Significant structural and biological homologies between urotensin I (UI), ovine hypothalamic corticotropin releasing factor (oCRF) and the frog skin peptide sauvagine (SVG) have been investigated and compared in fishes and mammals. In mammals, urotensin and the related peptides exert uniquely selective mesenteric vasodilatation, oCRF having approximately equal to 4% the activity of the other two. All three peptides are equipotent in stimulation of ACTH secretion in the rat in vivo and in vitro.

Fish cell lines: establishment and characterization of nine cell lines from salmonids.

Nine permanent cell lines have been established from five species of salmonids native to America's Pacific Northwest. With the exception of a hepatoma from an adult trout, the lines were derived from normal tissues of embryonic or juvenile fish. Cells were routinely grown in Eagle's minimum essential medium with 10% fetal bovine serum.

Cortisol inhibits the ACTH-releasing activity of urotensin I, CRF and sauvagine observed with superfused goldfish pituitary cells.

The structurally homologous peptides urotensin I, ovine CRF and sauvagine stimulate the release of immunoreactive ACTH from a superfused dispersed goldfish anterior pituitary cell column. The addition of cortisol to the superfusion buffer resulted, following a latent period, in a decrease in basal release of ACTH from the pituitary cell column and a diminution in the ACTH-releasing activities of urotensin I, CRF and sauvagine. The removal of cortisol from the superfusion buffer resulted in a slow recovery of basal ACTH release and a recovery of the ACTH-releasing activities of urotensin I, CRF and sauvagine.

Facilitation and inhibition of plasma cortisol following electrical stimulation of the goldfish forebrain.

To examine the role of forebrain structures in the control of ACTH release, electrical stimulation was performed in the brains of continuously respirated , immobilized goldfish in which endogenous ACTH release was suppressed with dexamethasone. Three active areas of the forebrain were identified. Electrical stimulation for 5 min resulted in elevations of plasma cortisol 15 min following stimulation of the nucleus preopticus (NPO) or of the nucleus tenia (NT) but a decrease in plasma cortisol following stimulation of the nucleus lateral tuberis (NLT).

Delayed onset of regular respiration and subsequent development.

A comprehensive survey carried out at birth, data on mortality and a 5 year follow-up covering medical, educational and sociological aspects of child development were available for singleton births born in one week of April 1970. The survey at 5 years of age included 12363 children, 79.6% of the surviving cohort.

Factors associated with delayed onset of regular respiration.

In a population of 16333 singleton births born in one week of April, 1970, 4.4% failed to establish regular respiration within 3 min of birth. A follow-up at 5 years of age collected medical, educational and sociological information on 79.

Fatal migraine.

A 58-year-old woman, with a past history of classic migraine since youth, suddenly experienced blurred vision and flexor spasms of her left hand, followed by a right hemicrania and photophobia, similar to previous attacks of migraine. Within a few hours a progressive left hemiplegia and paralysis of left conjugate gaze developed. Severe right hemicrania continued.

The "quasi-thermal" mechanism for electron beam damage of n-paraffins.

Electron diffraction patterns from epitaxially grown microcrystals of n-hexatriacontane, which are slightly damaged by the electron beam, strongly resemble those from the same material when it is warmed just below the pre-melt hexagonal phase. The identity of these diffraction patterns, which display a marked attenuation of lamellar 001 reflections but much less alteration of the strongest reflections, implies that both processes occur via the induction of chain defects which, in turn, generate chain-end voids in the crystal packing. Such defects, however, need not be identical for the two events.

Urotensin I, a CRF-like neuropeptide, stimulates acth release from the teleost pituitary.

Intraperitoneal injections of urotensin I, a CRF-like neuropeptide isolated from the caudal neurosecretory system of the teleost Catostomus commersoni, ovine CRF and sauvagine all produced significant increases in circulating levels of plasma cortisol in goldfish in which endogenous ACTH secretion was suppressed with betamethasone. In vitro, urotensin I was 2-3 times more potent than CRF or sauvagine in stimulating ACTH release from a superfused goldfish anterior pituitary cell column. These results demonstrate that urotensin I stimulates ACTH release in the goldfish, which suggests that urotensin I or a urotensin I-like peptide may serve as a CRF in teleost fishes.

Plus ça change: predictors of birthweight in two national studies.

The 16 989 singleton births in one week of March, 1958, studied by the British Perinatal Mortality Survey, were subjected to an analysis of covariance, which showed that major factors associated with birthweight of the infant were: maternal height, history of smoking in pregnancy, parity and history of pre-eclampsia during the pregnancy. The same analysis was repeated on the data collected on 16792 singletons born 12 years later in one week of April, 1970 and studied by the British Births Survey. In spite of major changes in obstetric practice and in the maternal population, the same factors were shown to be highly significant and the magnitude of the associations had changed little.