Clinical trials in head injury.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) remains a major public health problem globally. In the United States the incidence of closed head injuries admitted to hospitals is conservatively estimated to be 200 per 100,000 population, and the incidence of penetrating head injury is estimated to be 12 per 100,000, the highest of any developed country in the world. This yields an approximate number of 500,000 new cases each year, a sizeable proportion of which demonstrate significant long-term disabilities.

Evaluation of a new polyacrolein microsphere (acrobead) protein A column: an in vitro study using the blood of patients with immune thrombocytopenia or malignancies.

The present study describes the use of a new polyacrolein microsphere (acrobead) protein A column. This method enables immunomodulation by the perfusion of whole blood. The efficacy of the column and its adverse effects following perfusion of blood of patients with immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) or malignancies were investigated.

Detection of genotoxic substances in cancer patients receiving antineoplastic drugs.

A short-term bacterial mutation test, the SOS Chromotest, has been used to detect the excretion in urine of genotoxic metabolites of antineoplastic drugs administered to cancer patients. In this test, the damage to the DNA of the test bacteria is expressed by the production of beta-galactosidase, which can be quantitatively assessed and is proportional to the concentration of the drug. Kinetic curves of excretion for adriamycin, bleomycin, dacarbazine, cis-platinum and vincristine and their mixtures have been constructed from standard curves relating the intensity of the beta-galactosidase response to the concentration of drugs dissolved in normal urine.

Detection and quantitation of aflatoxin B1 in orange juice by SOS-Chromotest.

A new method for the detection and quantitation of aflatoxin B1 in liquids is described. The method is based on the SOS Chromotest, in which damage caused by aflatoxin B1 to the DNA of suitably engineered E. coli induces beta-galactosidase.

Simulation of calcium homeostasis: modeling and parameter estimation.

The system that regulates plasma calcium in the bird has been formalized into a model based on a series of differential equations and solved by computer simulation. Bone, kidney, and intestine have been considered as the control subsystems, with parathyroid hormone and 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol as the regulating hormones. The parameters used in the simulation model have been computed either from published results or by specifically designed experiments described here.