Identification of a potent adipocyte-specific enhancer: involvement of an NF-1-like factor.

The molecular basis for adipocyte-specific gene expression is not known. We have demonstrated that while short (-168) segments of the 5'-flanking sequence of the adipocyte P2 gene containing AP-1- and C/EBP-binding sites can direct expression of a heterologous gene in cultured adipocytes, they cannot support tissue-specific expression in a transgenic mouse. We have therefore analyzed larger segments of the aP2 5'-flanking region by transfection into adipocytes and have found an enhancer at -5.

Dental treatment needs in an elderly population.

A random sample of 1,019 adults 65 years of age and older, living in their own homes, consented to a clinical dental examination and an interview. Eight hundred nine subjects were dentate and 210 were edentulous. Each dentate person was examined for caries and periodontal conditions, as well as a separate determination of restorative and extraction treatment needs.

University of North Carolina caries risk assessment study. III. Multiple factors in caries prevalence.

The baseline caries experienced of approximately 5,000 children in South Carolina and Maine was used as the dependent variable in caries risk assessment analyses. Clinical, microbiologic, and demographic factors served as independent variables in a multivariate relationship to caries through regression and discriminant function analyses. Four factors--number of dental visits by the child in the past year, presence of white spot lesions, and both the urgency of need for restorative care and the future caries increment predicted by the examiner--associated significantly and consistently with caries prevalence in primary and permanent teeth of first and fifth graders at both study sites.

Evaluating and influencing periodontal diagnostic and treatment behaviors in general practice.

Providers' periodontal diagnostic and treatment behaviors were assessed in 34 practices in two North Carolina counties. Regularly attending patients had a low prevalence of gingival pocketing on index teeth, moderate attachment loss, and fairly prevalent bleeding and calculus. Treatment frequency and patient knowledge were generally adequate, but the notation of periodontal status in the patient record was insufficient.

A fat-specific enhancer is the primary determinant of gene expression for adipocyte P2 in vivo.

The murine gene for adipocyte P2 encodes an adipocyte-specific member of the family of intracellular lipid binding proteins. The region upstream from the start of transcription of this gene has been found to contain binding sites for the transcription factors c-jun/c-fos and C/EBP (CCAAT/enhancer binding protein) and several short sequence elements found in other adipocyte gene promoters, termed fat-specific elements. To identify DNA sequences that were responsible for the high level of transcription of the gene for adipocyte P2 in vivo, we made a series of transgenic mice containing 168 base pairs (bp), 247 bp, 1.

Antidepressant effect on memory in depressed older persons.

There is evidence from the clinical and experimental literature that the elderly may be more susceptible to the anticholinergic side effects associated with antidepressant drugs. Fifty-four elderly depressed subjects participated: 27 were taking antidepressants and 27 were unmedicated controls matched for severity of depression, age, and education. The medicated subjects showed a mild, but statistically significant, deficit on a set of six measures of memory performance.

The University of North Carolina Caries Risk Assessment Study. II. Baseline caries prevalence.

Baseline clinical dental examinations were conducted on 5,233 children in grades 1 or 5 from the areas surrounding Aiken, SC, and Portland, ME, as part of a longitudinal study being conducted to predict children at high risk to dental caries. Mean caries levels in the Aiken area were nearly twice those of the Portland area. Black children experienced slightly more disease than whites.

Examiner agreement between hygienists and dentists for caries prevalence examinations.

Dentists have been used as examiners in caries prevalence examinations almost exclusively. Only rarely have dental hygienists been reported as examiners in these types of studies. This article describes the degree of agreement for prevalence data (DMFT, dmft) and specific caries prediction information collected by hygienist-screeners and dentist-examiners.

Localization of unseen visual stimuli by humans with normal vision.

Thirty university students were shown tachistoscopically presented stimuli (half contained an open circle at one of six locations, half were blanks) at four durations. Short durations and a pattern mask reduced subjects' ability to detect the stimuli. For trials on which the subjects reported that the circle was absent, they nevertheless guessed the exact locations of the targets significantly better than chance.

Mouth asymmetry during speech of epileptic patients who have undergone carotid amytal testing.

Asymmetry in the opening of the two sides of the mouth during speech has been suggested as an observable correlate of lateralization of cerebral speech motor control. For 24 epileptic patients who suffered speech disturbance only during left hemisphere carotid amytal anesthetization, 22 showed the expected greater opening of the right side of the mouth during a repetition task. However, all four of the patients who suffered speech disturbance following only right hemisphere anesthetization, and 8 of the 11 "bilateral speech" patients, also showed greater opening of the right side of the mouth.

Bilateral bifid mandibular condyles. Report of three cases.

Bilateral bifid mandibular condyles are a rare anomaly that had previously been described only by Hrdlicka in material from skull collections. We present here three cases of bilateral bifid mandibular condyles in patients who sought treatment for other reasons. The radiographic appearance of this anomaly and its embryology are discussed.

An evaluation of 6 dentifrice formulations for supragingival anticalculus and antiplaque activity.

A 4 week, double blind clinical trial was conducted to assess the antiplaque/anticalculus activity of test dentifrices containing varying levels of zinc citrate. Subjects were divided into 6 groups, 4 experimental, 1 positive control and a placebo group. All subjects only brushed at home using the placebo control during study weeks 1 and 3.

Comparative effects of a 4-year fluoride mouthrinse program on high and low caries forming grade 1 children.

This paper presents the comparative effectiveness of fluoride mouthrinse (FMR) on high and low caries forming children after a 4-yr exposure to weekly rinse beginning in the first grade. Over 1200 grade 1 children drawn from both fluoride deficient and fluoridated sites were divided into treatment and concurrent, longitudinal control groups. After 4 yr these children were stratified according to caries increment; those above the 75th percentile were considered high caries formers, all others were designated low caries formers.

Comparative effectiveness of flossing and brushing in reducing interproximal bleeding.

This study assesses the comparative effectiveness of three types of dental floss and toothbrushing in reducing interproximal bleeding sites, measured by stimulation with wooden interdental cleaners using the interdental bleeding index assessment method. The 119 adult subjects with gingival inflammation were randomly assigned to one of four groups at the beginning of a supervised 2 week clinical trial. The toothbrushing only group achieved a 35% reduction in bleeding sites and the three flossing groups all demonstrated dramatic reductions of about 67%.

Repair of O6-methylguanine, O6-ethylguanine, O6-isopropylguanine and O4-methylthymine in synthetic oligodeoxynucleotides by Escherichia coli ada gene O6-alkylguanine-DNA-alkyltransferase.

Self-complementary oligodeoxynucleotides have been synthesized containing O6-methylguanine (O6meG), O6-ethylguanine (O6etG), O6-isopropylguanine (O6iprG) and O4-methylthymine (O4meT). They anneal in solution to give double-stranded DNA. These double helices have been used as substrates for the DNA repair protein O6-alkylguanine-DNA-alkyltransferase coded for by the ada gene of Escherichia coli.

Clinical periodontal status of regularly attending patients in general dental practices.

Periodontal status of regular patients of general practitioners in the United States is unknown. A project assessing the effectiveness of continuing professional education in altering provider behavior and patient periodontal health provided the opportunity to clinically examine 1092 patients in the offices of 36 general practitioners. These regularly attending patients were selected by a random start systematic sample of patient records.

Dichotic listening indices of right hemisphere semantic processing.

A new dichotic listening technique, based on a psychophysical threshold procedure and providing ordinal scale measurement of lateral asymmetry, was used to investigate variation in the size of right-ear advantage for verbal vs manual response modalities across three semantic categories of stimuli in 60 right-handed males. For manual responders, abstract words elicited a significantly greater right-ear advantage than did concrete words, while emotional words elicited a non-significant left-ear advantage. Verbal responders showed no significant difference in the size of right-ear advantage across stimuli.

Abdominal cryptococcoma in AIDS: a case report.

Cryptococcosis is a recognized opportunistic pathogen in the acquired immune deficiency syndrome. Although central nervous system infection and disseminated cryptococcosis is common in acquired immune deficiency syndrome, localized infection is rare. We present a case of massive retroperitoneal and mesenteric adenopathy in a male homosexual patient with acquired immune deficiency syndrome with clinical and radiologic features suggestive of lymphoma.

Effect of ventricular function on the exercise hemodynamics of variable rate pacing.

To determine the effect of ventricular function on the exercise hemodynamics of variable rate pacing, 16 selected patients underwent paired, double-blind, randomized exercise tests in single rate demand (VVI) or variable rate (VVIR) pacing modes. Ejection fraction and cardiac index were determined by two-dimensional and Doppler echocardiography at baseline and during peak exercise. Baseline ejection fraction ranged from 14 to 73% and was less than 40% in 6 patients (Group 1) and greater than or equal to 40% in 10 patients (Group 2).

Is interhemispheric transfer related to handedness and gender?

Interhemispheric transfer was assessed by five motor, tactile and visual tasks which required the 48 subjects to compare stimuli presented simultaneously on both sides of the body midline. Non-right-handers performed significantly better than consistent right-handers on one motor and one tactile task. Females out-performed males on the visual task and on one tactile task.

Role of angiotensin II in renal hemodynamic functions during the initial stages of acute ureteral obstruction.

This investigation examines the role of Angiotensin II in renal hemodynamic functions during acute unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) in a dog model. An electro magnetic flow probe was utilized to assess renal blood flow while the arteriovenous extraction technique of technetium 99m DTPA was utilized for the assessment of changes in filtration fraction and glomerular filtration rate. The effects of Angiotensin II receptor blockade on renal hemodynamic functions during acute UUO was evaluated in six dogs and compared to acute ureteral obstruction without receptor blockade in seven dogs.