Temporal and spatial variation in the fouling of silicone coatings in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

An antifouling or foul-release coating cannot be globally effective if it does not perform well in a range of environmental conditions, against a diversity of fouling organisms. From 1996 to 1998, the field test sites participating in the United States Navy's Office of Naval Research 6.2 Biofouling program examined global variation in the performance of 3 silicone foul-release coatings, viz.

Amino acid metabolism in liver disease.

The impairment of transsulphuration during methionine degradation in hepatic failure can be counteracted by treatment with S-adenosylmethionine. Regarding the pathogenesis of hepatic encephalopathy, no convincing evidence exists for tryptophan, glutamine or glutamate being involved. Portal-systemic shunting-induced hyperammonaemia may reduce plasma branched-chain amino acids.

Fatal liver failure associated with valproate therapy in a patient with Friedreich's disease: review of valproate hepatotoxicity in adults.

Purpose: Valproate (VPA)-associated hepatotoxicity is usually considered a problem of young children with polytherapy, mental retardation, and underlying metabolic defects.

Methods: An adult patient with fatal liver failure during treatment with VPA is presented, and a review of the literature on other adult patients is given.

Results: A 29-year-old female patient with Friedreich's ataxia and partial seizures with acute liver failure during VPA treatment is reported.

A survey of present levels of radiocesium in Swedish pulp mill liquors and the implications for wood radiocesium transfer factors.

Assessments of the impact from radioactive fallout on the pulp industry and the accumulation processes for radionuclides in such industries, using wood and water as primary raw materials, have been conducted in previous studies. Hitherto, there is a general lack of data on present levels of radioactivity in pulp mill liquors apart from the few mills studied by Nilsson (1992); Ravila and Holm (1992); Manjón et al. (1996); Krosshavn et al.

The prognostic value of the QT interval and QT interval dispersion in all-cause and cardiac mortality and morbidity in a population of Danish citizens.

Aims: To evaluate the prognostic value of the QT interval and QT interval dispersion in total and in cardiovascular mortality, as well as in cardiac morbidity, in a general population.

Methods And Results: The QT interval was measured in all leads from a standard 12-lead ECG in a random sample of 1658 women and 1797 men aged 30-60 years. QT interval dispersion was calculated from the maximal difference between QT intervals in any two leads.

Determination of the 243 Cm/244 Cm ratio alpha spectrometry and spectral deconvolution in environmental samples exposed to discharges from the nuclear fuel cycle.

The presence of curium nuclides in irradiated nuclear fuel is well known, as is their occurrence in environmental materials exposed to liquid waste discharges from reprocessing plants and to fallout following the Chernobyl accident. Knowledge of the 242 Cm/244 Cm and 243 Cm/244 Cm atom ratios can be a useful tool for characterizing a source-term and assessing the burn-up history of nuclear fuel. Here, a practical technique, based on high-resolution alpha spectrometry and spectral deconvolution, is described by which the 243, 244 Cm multiplet can be resolved at the low activities typical of most environmental samples.

Role of cysteine and glutathione in signal transduction, immunopathology and cachexia.

Abnormally low plasma cystine levels have been found in the late asymptomatic stage of HIV infection and several other diseases associated with progressive loss of skeletal muscle mass. The phenomenon is commonly associated with a low NK cell activity, skeletal muscle wasting or muscle fatigue and increased rates of urea production. In its extreme form, the negative nitrogen balance leads to overt cachexia and is associated with severe debilitation and psychological stress.

Metamorphic-Signal Transduction in Hydroides elegans (Polychaeta: Serpulidae) Is Not Mediated by a G Protein.

Evidence from larvae of hydrozoans, gastropods, and barnacles suggests that G protein-coupled receptors mediate induction of settlement and metamorphosis in response to environmental cues. We examined responses of larvae of the serpulid polychaete Hydroides elegans to neuropharmacological agents to determine if G protein-coupled receptors or their associated signal-transduction pathways regulated induction of metamorphosis by bacterial cues. Larvae of Hydroides elegans metamorphose rapidly and in high proportions when exposed to bacterial biofilms.

Diagnostic studies of abortion in Danish dairy herds.

Diagnostic findings in 218 aborted bovine foetuses are reported. The materials were examined in a matched case-control study of 69 Danish dairy herds with a sudden increase in the number of abortions and a corresponding 69 control herds. Foetuses aborted during the subsequent 6-month period were examined to identify the cause of abortion if possible.

Role of cysteine and glutathione in HIV infection and other diseases associated with muscle wasting and immunological dysfunction.

The combination of abnormally low plasma cystine and glutamine levels, low natural killer (NK) cell activity, skeletal muscle wasting or muscle fatigue, and increased rates of urea production defines a complex of abnormalities that is tentatively called "low CG syndrome." These symptoms are found in patients with HIV infection, cancer, major injuries, sepsis, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, chronic fatigue syndrome, and to some extent in overtrained athletes. The coincidence of these symptoms in diseases of different etiological origin suggests a causal relationship.

Linkage between postabsorptive amino acid release and glutamate uptake in skeletal muscle tissue of healthy young subjects, cancer patients, and the elderly.

Several diseases of varying etiology that are commonly associated with the loss of skeletal muscle mass were found to be associated with a decrease in muscular glutamate and glutathione levels and in glutamate uptake in the postabsorptive state. In view of the Na+ dependency and insulin responsiveness of glutamate transport we studied the postabsorptive glutamate exchange in more detail. Our study demonstrates a linkage between glutamate uptake and the export of other amino acids, suggesting that protein catabolism and the resulting coexport of amino acids plus Na+ substitute for insulin as a driving force for the Na+ gradient in the postabsorptive state.

Cystine levels, cystine flux, and protein catabolism in cancer cachexia, HIV/SIV infection, and senescence.

Patients with skeletal muscle catabolism (cachexia) fail to conserve the skeletal muscle protein and release large amounts of nitrogen as urea. Previous studies suggest that the threshold for the conversion of amino acids into other forms of chemical energy and the concomitant production of urea are regulated by the plasma cystine level and hepatic cysteine catabolism. Studies of plasma amino acid exchange rates in the lower extremities now show that healthy young subjects regulate their plasma cystine level in a process that may be described as controlled constructive catabolism.

Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunting (TIPS) with balloon-expandable and self-expanding stents: technical and clinical aspects after 3 1/2 years' experience.

Purpose: To evaluate prospectively our experience with transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) using four different metallic stents.

Methods: Between November 1991 and April 1995, 57 patients (41 men and 16 women; age 35-72 years, mean 54 years) underwent the TIPS procedure. Techniques for portal vein localization before and during TIPS were fluoroscopy, computed tomography (CT) studies, wedged hepatic venography, arterial portography, and ultrasound.

Hyperammonemia-induced depletion of glutamate and branched-chain amino acids in muscle and plasma.

Background/aims: Exogenous hyperammonemia is known to decrease the plasma levels of branched-chain amino acids (BCAA). To investigate whether changes in intracellular amino acid concentrations of muscle are associated with and may, at least in part, mediate this effect, experiments were carried out on a total of 60 male Wistar rats.

Methods: Five groups were formed in a randomized manner.

Elevated venous glutamate levels in (pre)catabolic conditions result at least partly from a decreased glutamate transport activity.

Abnormally high postabsorptive venous plasma glutamate levels have been reported for several diseases that are associated with a loss of body cell mass including cancer, human/simian immunodeficiency virus infection, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Studies on exchange rates in well-nourished cancer patients now show that high venous plasma glutamate levels may serve as a bona fide indicator for a decreased uptake of glutamate by the peripheral muscle tissue in the postabsorptive period and may be indicative for a precachectic state. High glutamate levels are also moderately correlated with a decreased uptake of glucose and ketone bodies.

[Transjugular intrahepatic portasystemic shunt. A new therapeutic method in portal hypertension].

Over the last three years, 53 patients underwent transjugular portosystemic shunting (TIPS). 49 patients were treated successfully (92.5%).

Dietary protein restriction and the progression of chronic renal insufficiency: a review of the literature.

It is well known that dietary protein restriction can delay the appearance of uraemic symptoms and give symptomatic relief in patients with chronic renal failure. During the last decade, several investigators have argued that protein restriction instituted at an early phase in renal disease may influence the rate of progression of renal failure favourably. Animal experiments have given strong evidence that, in the case of nephron loss, high dietary protein promotes further loss of renal function.

The effect of dialysis on radiocaesium in man.

Dialysis is used for cleaning the blood in patients with end-stage renal disease. The most common methods are hemodialysis (HD) and peritoneal dialysis (PD). Dialysis patients might constitute a critical group because of poor elimination of radioactive elements ingested.

[Alcoholic ketoacidosis].

Alcoholic ketoacidosis is an acute metabolic disorder that occurs in ethanol abusers who because of gastritis or other concurrent illness stop eating and drinking and vomit repeatedly. This causes dehydration and ketoacidosis with little or no hyperglycaemia and glucosuria. A case of severe alcoholic ketoacidosis is presented and the literature on alcoholic ketoacidosis is reviewed.

[The yellow nail syndrome].

The yellow nail syndrome is the combination of slow growing yellow discoloured nails, lymphoedema and pleural effusion. The symptoms are supposed to be due to impaired lymphatic drainage. It is a rare clinical condition: through the last 30 years only about a hundred cases have been reported.