Nasal congestion during pregnancy.

We define pregnancy rhinitis as nasal congestion in the last 6 or more weeks of pregnancy without other signs of respiratory tract infection and with no known allergic cause, disappearing completely within 2 weeks after delivery. In order to describe physiological variations of nasal obstruction during pregnancy, subjective scores and nasal as well as oral peak expiratory flow values were recorded daily in 23 pregnancies until 1 month after delivery. Scores were higher during early and late pregnancy than in the month after delivery.

Effects of soluble CD4 on simian immunodeficiency virus infection of CD4-positive and CD4-negative cells.

A soluble form of the CD4 receptor (sCD4) can either enhance or inhibit the infection of cells by simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) and human immunodeficiency virus. We investigated the basis for these varying effects by studying the entry of three SIV isolates into CD4-positive and CD4-negative cells expressing different chemokine receptors. Infection of CD4-negative cells depended upon the viral envelope glycoproteins and upon the chemokine receptor, with CCR5 and gpr15 being more efficient than STRL33.

A phenomenological study of fibromyalgia. Patient perspectives.

Objective: To describe the way in which the fibromyalgia patients understand the meaning of their illness.

Design: Qualitative, empirical phenomenological psychological method.

Setting: A collaborative transdisciplinary interview study of patients' described experiences of living with fibromyalgia.

NMR studies on the 46-kDa dimeric protein, 3,4-dihydroxy-2-butanone 4-phosphate synthase, using 2H, 13C, and 15N-labelling.

3,4-Dihydroxy-2-butanone 4-phosphate synthase catalyses the release of C-4 from the substrate, ribulose phosphate, via a complex series of rearrangement reactions. The cognate ribB gene of Escherichia coli was hyperexpressed in a recombinant E. coli strain.

Viral burden and disease progression in rhesus monkeys infected with chimeric simian-human immunodeficiency viruses.

To determine the role of viral burden in simian-human immunodeficiency virus (SHIV)-induced disease, cellular provirus and plasma viral RNA levels were measured after inoculation of rhesus monkeys with four different SHIVs. These SHIVs included SHIV-HXBc2 and SHIV-89.6, constructed with env, tat, rev, and vpu derived from either cell line-passaged or primary patient isolates of human immunodeficiency virus type 1; the viral quasispecies SHIV-89.

Changes in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 envelope glycoproteins responsible for the pathogenicity of a multiply passaged simian-human immunodeficiency virus (SHIV-HXBc2).

In vivo passage of a poorly replicating, nonpathogenic simian-human immunodeficiency virus (SHIV-HXBc2) generated an efficiently replicating virus, KU-1, that caused rapid CD4(+) T-lymphocyte depletion and AIDS-like illness in monkeys (S. V. Joag, Z.

Nasal symptoms and indices of nasal inflammation in flour-dust-exposed bakers.

Objective: To analyze whether indices of nasal airway inflammation in bakers were related to nasal symptoms and exposure to airborne flour dust.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed in 12 currently flour-exposed bakers. They were examined by nasal lavage (NAL), visual inspection, a test of mucociliary clearance, and nasal peak expiratory flow (nasal PEF).

Cancer treatment in Sweden--costs of drugs, inpatient and outpatient care from 1985 to 1996 and cost effectiveness of new drugs.

This study was carried out to investigate the direct costs for treatment of patients with cancer from 1985 to 1996 in Sweden, and to examine health economic effects of changes in treatment pattern. Material for the study was collected from official statistics and from published health economic evaluations of cancer treatment. Costs for inpatient care decreased during the period, while costs for outpatient care and drugs increased.

Nasal nitric oxide and its relationship to nasal symptoms, smoking and nasal nitrate.

Nitric oxide (NO) is produced in the nasal mucosa and in the paranasal sinuses. Increased nasal NO concentrations have been found in patients with asthma and/or rhinitis, and nasal NO has been suggested to be a marker of nasal inflammation. Measuring the stable end products of NO, nitrate and nitrite in nasal lavage fluid have been proposed as an indirect method for measuring NO concentration.

Increased serum levels of immunoglobulins, C-reactive protein, type 1 and type 2 cytokines in patients with mixed connective tissue disease.

It is controversial whether mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD) should be regarded as a distinct disease entity. In the present study, we investigated immunological parameters in patients with MCTD by studying serum levels of immunoglobulins, C-reactive protein (CRP) and cytokines and compared the results to the corresponding values in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and in healthy controls. Using the ELISA technique, serum levels of the cytokines interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma), interleukin-10 (IL-10) and tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) were investigated.

Doctors' attitudes to fibromyalgia: a phenomenological study.

Besides specific technical skills, successful encounters with patients require an understanding of the many ways in which patients may express themselves. This qualitative study reports on the clinical experiences of doctors when meeting patients with fibromyalgia (FM). Ten strategically chosen rheumatologists and 10 GPs in central Sweden were interviewed.

The envelope glycoprotein ectodomains determine the efficiency of CD4+ T lymphocyte depletion in simian-human immunodeficiency virus-infected macaques.

CD4+ T lymphocyte depletion in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)-infected humans underlies the development of acquired immune deficiency syndrome. Using a model in which rhesus macaques were infected with chimeric simian-human immunodeficiency viruses (SHIVs), we show that both the level of viremia and the structure of the HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein ectodomains individually contributed to the efficiency with which CD4(+) T lymphocytes were depleted. The envelope glycoproteins of recombinant SHIVs that efficiently caused loss of CD4(+) T lymphocytes exhibited increased chemokine receptor binding and membrane-fusing capacity compared with those of less pathogenic viruses.

Characterization of simian-human immunodeficiency virus envelope glycoprotein epitopes recognized by neutralizing antibodies from infected monkeys.

We characterized human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) envelope glycoprotein epitopes recognized by neutralizing antibodies from monkeys recently infected by molecularly cloned simian-human immunodeficiency virus (SHIV) variants. The early neutralizing antibody response in each infected animal was directed mainly against a single epitope. This primary neutralizing epitope, however, differed among individual monkeys infected by identical viruses.

Preparation and characterization of the recombinant selenomethionine analogue of insulin-like growth factor-I.

Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), a single-chain polypeptide consisting of 70 amino acids and 3 disulfide bridges, is a member of a class of growth factors that are involved in many proliferative and metabolic processes. To assist in solving the crystallographic three-dimensional structure, we have expressed a recombinant fusion protein precursor of IGF-I in a methionine auxotrophic strain of Escherichia coli grown in the presence of selenomethionine. An homogeneous preparation of selenomethionyl-IGF-I was then obtained by chemical cleavage of the fusion protein.

Methods of evaluating dental care costs in the Swedish public dental health care sector.

Twenty-six Swedish dental health care clinics participating in the intervention study "Evaluation of caries preventive measures" have been analysed with focus on costs, with the aim of demonstrating techniques suitable for evaluating direct dental care costs and also finding out whether charges are acceptable as a proxy for real costs. Three different approaches to calculating unit costs are discussed: average treatment time cost and two methods of different allocation of overhead cost. Average treatment time cost shows treatment time cost regardless of who (dentist, dental hygienist or nurse) provides the dental care.

New sterically stabilized vesicles based on nonionic surfactant, cholesterol, and poly(ethylene glycol)-cholesterol conjugates.

Monomethoxypoly(ethylene glycol) cholesteryl carbonates (M-PEG-Chol) with polymer chain molecular weights of 1000 (M-PEG1000-Chol) and 2000 (M-PEG2000-Chol) have been newly synthesized and characterized. Their aggregation behavior in mixture with diglycerol hexadecyl ether (C16G2) and cholesterol has been examined by cryotransmission electron microscopy, high-performance gel exclusion chromatography, and quasielastic light scattering. Nonaggregated, stable, unilamellar vesicles were obtained at low polymer levels with optimal shape and size homogeneity at cholesteryl conjugate/ lipids ratios of 10 mol% M-PEG1000-Chol or 5 mol% M-PEG2000-Chol, corresponding to the theoretically predicted brush conformational state of the PEG chains.

Mass spectrometry of peptides in neuroscience.

This review focuses on the contributions of modern mass spectrometry to neuropeptide research. An introduction to newer mass spectrometric techniques is provided. Also, the use of mass spectrometry in combination with high-resolution separation techniques for neuropeptide identification in biological samples is illustrated.

Cost-effectiveness analysis and capital costs.

Traditionally, economic evaluations in terms of cost-effectiveness analysis are based, explicitly or implicitly, on the assumption of constant returns to scale. This assumption has been criticized in the literature and the role of cost-effectiveness as a tool for decision making has been questioned. In this paper we analyze the case of increasing returns to scale due to fixed capital costs.

Serum level of placental growth hormone is raised in pregnancy rhinitis.

Objective: To describe any relationship between pregnancy rhinitis and weight gain or serum levels of estradiol, progesterone, placental growth hormone, or insulinlike growth factor I.

Patients: Twenty-seven nonsmoking healthy pregnant women aged 22 to 38 years (mean age, 28 years) who had no history of respiratory allergy or chronic nasal or sinus problems volunteered to enter the study. They had no nasal complaints at entry.

A study of some current methods for assessment of nasal histamine reactivity.

The aim of this study was to investigate the reactivity of the nasal mucosa of patients with pollen allergy compared to healthy controls, when challenged with histamine outside the pollen season. Assessments were made with symptom score, acoustic rhinometry, nasal peak expiratory and inspiratory flow (NPEF and NPIF) and rhinomanometry in order to find the most sensitive method for the purpose. Twenty-one patients with seasonal allergic rhinitis and 20 healthy controls were challenged with histamine dihydrochloride in increasing concentrations (0.

Long-term economic effects of team-based clinical case management of patients with chronic minor disease and long-term absence from working life.

Objectives: To examine the socio-economic effects of team-based clinical case management of patients with chronic minor disease bound for early retirement.

Design: Marginal analysis of programme costs and benefits to society compared with no-programme baseline of costs occurring in society due to productivity loss. Prospective patient data collection on admission, discharge, and at one year and five years after discharge to determine programme effectiveness.

Treatment of Alzheimer disease with tacrine: a cost-analysis model.

In a cost-analysis model, the effect on the costs of Alzheimer disease of tacrine (tetrahydroaminoacridine) treatment was studied. A model of the survival of the Swedish Alzheimer disease population was constructed in which the placement of patients with Alzheimer disease in care organization was assumed to be influenced by the use of tacrine. Based on this model, the cost analysis was performed.

Immunoglobulin V(H) usage during primary infection of rhesus monkeys with chimeric simian-human immunodeficiency viruses.

It has been suggested that naive immunoglobulins encoded by the V(H)3 gene family interact aberrantly with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) gp120 via a superantigenic epitope, causing initial expansion and eventual depletion of V(H)3-expressing B cells. However, this possibility has not been prospectively assessed during an AIDS virus infection. We determined V(H) family usage in rhesus monkeys during primary infection with chimeric viruses expressing HIV-1 envelopes on a simian immunodeficiency virus (SIVmac) backbone (SHIVs).

Two orphan seven-transmembrane segment receptors which are expressed in CD4-positive cells support simian immunodeficiency virus infection.

Clinical isolates of primate immunodeficiency viruses, including human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), enter target cells by sequential binding to CD4 and the chemokine receptor CCR5, a member of the seven-transmembrane receptor family. HIV-1 variants which use additional chemokine receptors are present in the central nervous system or emerge during the course of infection. Simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIV) have been shown to use CCR5 as a coreceptor, but no other receptors for these viruses have been identified.