The early clinical manifestations of Lyme disease.

Lyme disease, caused by a tick-transmitted spirochete, typically begins with a unique skin lesion, erythema chronicum migrans. Of 314 patients with this skin lesion, almost half developed multiple annular secondary lesions; some patients had evanescent red blotches or circles, malar or urticarial rash, conjunctivitis, periorbital edema, or diffuse erythema. Skin manifestations were often accompanied by malaise and fatigue, headache, fever and chills, generalized achiness, and regional lymphadenopathy.

Treatment of the early manifestations of Lyme disease.

During 1980 and 1981, we compared antibiotic regimens in 108 adult patients with early Lyme disease. Erythema chronicum migrans and its associated symptoms resolved faster in penicillin- or tetracycline-treated patients than in those given erythromycin (mean duration, 5.4 and 5.

Clinical pathology of experimental stephanuriasis in pigs.

Haematology and serum aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase activities were studied during the migration phase of Stephanurus dentatus in the livers of experimentally infected pigs. There was no evidence of anaemia but total leucocyte counts were raised and peripheral eosinophilia began 2 to 3 weeks after infection. Peak eosinophilia occurred 6 to 7 weeks after infection and levels were still elevated at 20 weeks.

Effect of AT1727 on growth and metastasis of murine tumours.

AT1727 was tested on 5 different murine tumour systems. Compared with its analogue, razoxane, AT1727 was less effective at multiple low doses against sarcoma 180 and L1210 leukaemia. A single high-dose treatment with AT1727 was, however, more active than razoxane.

A double-blind controlled trial of metronidazole suppositories in children undergoing appendicectomy.

A total of 133 children, aged 16 months to 15 years (mean 6.7 years), with presumptive acute appendicitis, was included in a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of the short-term (72 hour) use of metronidazole suppositories as prophylaxis against post-operative infection. There was no significant difference in the incidence or severity of wound infection or post-operative intra-abdominal sepsis between the metronidazole-treated and placebo groups.

The effect of praziquantel on calcium in Hymenolepis diminuta.

Praziquantel (PZ) at concentrations down to 5 x 10(-8) M induced a rapid contraction of Hymenolepis diminuta musculature. This effect was accompanied by a strong inhibition of 45Ca2+ incorporation which showed some dependence on Ca2+ concentration. Ca2+ efflux experiments showed that PZ markedly stimulated the release of Ca2+ from tapeworms preloaded with 45Ca2+, with the effluxed Ca2+ being derived from a small fast pool and a larger slow pool.

Differential immune reactivity of tumour-intrinsic and peripheral-blood lymphocytes against autoplastic colorectal carcinoma cells.

Peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) were obtained from 13 patients and tumour-intrinsic lymphocytes (TIL) from 20 patients with colorectal cancer. The PBL were separated on a Ficoll-Isopaque gradient and the TIL by digestion of the tumour with collagenase-DNase. Both PBL and TIL were passed through nylon-wool columns and the eluted cells were co-cultured for 2 h with 51Cr-labelled tumour cells from the same patient.

Anthelmintic treatment of prepatent stephanuriasis with flubendazole, levamisole and disophenol and the effects on liver-specific serum enzymes.

Haematological parameters and liver specific serum enzymes were examined in pigs during the first 12 weeks of liver migration of larvae following experimental infection with 1000 infective Stephanurus dentatus larvae. No significant changes in total red blood cell counts, packed cell volume, or haemoglobin content were observed. Total white blood cell counts and circulating eosinophils rose rapidly from days 5 and 19 after infection, respectively.

Fatal tension pneumoperitoneum due to aerophagy.

A case of fetal tension pneumoperitoneum following gastric perforation due to aerophagy is described. Comment is made on the probably pathogenesis.

Nitrous oxide emissions from an irrigated cornfield.

During the 1978 growing season, nitrous oxide (N(2)O) emissions from a typical well-managed northern Colorado field of corn (Zea mays L.) totaled approximately 2.6 kilograms of nitrogen per hectare, or about 1.

Growth and effect of chlamydiae in human and bovine oviduct organ cultures.

Organ cultures of 10 Fallopian tubes were inoculated with a genital strain of Chlamydia trachomatis and seven were infected. Infection was enhanced by centrifuging the organisms on to the tissues, larger numbers of organisms being reisolated from the tissues after this procedure. There was evidence of chlamydial multiplication because the number of organisms which were recovered from the tissues three to five days after inoculation had increased.

Rodent zoonoses in North Queensland: the occurrence and distribution of zoonotic infections in North Queensland rodents.

A study of potentially zoonotic infections was carried out on 351 rodents trapped in north-eastern Queensland. Their ecosystems included towns, agricultural and livestock areas, wookland and rainforest. Nine serotypes of salmonellae were obtained from asymptomatic carries in predominantly settled locations.

The responses of Renshaw cells and spinal interneurones of the rat to L-glutamate and L-aspartate.

A comparison of the potencies of L-glutamic and L-aspartic acids as excitants of Renshaw cells and of interneurones monosynaptically innervated from the dorsal roots in the spinal cord of the rat has been made. Both groups of cells were more sensitive to glutamate than to aspartate, and three different non-parametric statistical tests showed that the two populations were indistinguishable. The results differ qualitatively from those obtained in the cat, and for the Renshaw cells from another study in the rat.