Mental confusion in the elderly.

Etiologies of confusion are discussed, including vascular, infectious, toxic-metabolic, tumorous, convulsive, and vitaminologic. Other diverse conditions are reviewed, including normal-pressure hydrocephalus.

Electron microscopy of network structures in thermally-induced globular protein gels.

Thin sections of heat-set proteins gels formed from bovine serum albumin, insulin, lysozyme, ribonuclease, and alpha-chymotrypsin, have been studied by transmission electron microscopy. Micrographs have been interpreted as showing protein networks with strands between one and two times as thick as the native protein diameters. Considerable differences in the persistence characteristics, and frequencies of cross-linking, of the strands are observed, and there are variations in network homogeneity over long distances which correlate well with changes in gel opacity caused by alterations in pH and ionic strength.

The effect of dietary crude fiber levels on rhesus monkeys during quarantine.

A study was conducted to determine the effect of dietary crude fiber level on intestinal disorders in the feral rheusus monkey (Macaca mulatta) during the first 60 days of the quarantine period. Three experimental baked diets containing 2.4%, 7.

Effect of crude fat and crude protein on reproduction and weaning growth in four strains of inbred mice.

Diets made from natural ingredients were fed to four inbred strains of mice (BALB/cAnN, C3H/HeN, C57BL/6N and DBA/2N) to study the effects of different concentrations of dietary crude protein, 18% and 24% with crude fat concentrations of 4%, 8%, and 12% on reproduction and weanling growth. The parameters measured included the number of litters and pups born, the number of litters and pups weaned, weanling mortality and weanling weight. Neither crude protein nor crude fat concentrations had significant effects on any of the reproductive parameters tested.

Mechanisms of cell adhesion: early-forming junctions between aggregating fibroblasts.

When cultured fibroblasts (16C) are mildly dissociated with EGTA or trypsin/EDTA, they aggregate rapidly. The formation of aggregates has been found to involve junctions of the gap and adhaerens types which are seen by electron microscopy within minutes of allowing cells to come together. The process of adhesion between freshly dissociated, transformed 16C fibroblasts is therefore organized and establishes its usefulness as a model for studying cellular interactions in relation to supracellular organization.

In vivo studies in C4-deficient guinea pigs.

Guinea pigs with a genetically determined total deficiency of the fourth component of complement have been studied for various in vivo immunological functions. Passive cutaneous anaphylaxsis, contact and delayed hypersensitivity, and the cellular exudative response to a foreign body were normal. These animals also have normal direct and reverse passive Arthus reactions which suggest that they possess a mechanism to bypass C4 and directly activate late-acting complement components.