Cigarette smoking enhances increased urine albumin excretion as a risk factor for glomerular filtration rate decline in primary hypertension.

Background: Subjects with severe compared with mild primary hypertension are at greater risk for decline in glomerular filtration rate (GFR), but additional risk factors are poorly defined.

Methods: Seventy-five subjects referred for assistance with blood pressure control ("severe") and 150 not-referred hypertensive subjects ("mild") were prospectively followed for 7 years. The primary outcome was the change in calculated GFR during follow-up as predicted by various clinical parameters, including urine albumin excretion measured as urine albumin (mg)-to-creatinine (g) (alb/cr) ratio.

Frequent alterations of specific reiterated DNA sequence abundances in human cancer.

An in-gel renaturation method allows the visualization, quantitation, and initial characterization of reiterated DNA restriction fragments (RRFs) without prior possession of their probes. Using this method we analyzed EcoRI restricted DNAs from ten human tumors, paired normal tissues from these patients, ten unpaired tumors, and 26 noncancer patients. Frequent qualitative and quantitative differences in the relative radioactive intensities of all or specific RRFs in the DNA from different individuals have been observed.

Glutamate and malate dehydrogenase activities in Joseph disease and olivopontocerebellar atrophy.

The activities of brain glutamate dehydrogenase and malate dehydrogenase were not statistically different in samples from patients with autosomal dominant olivopontocerebellar atrophy or Joseph disease compared with control subject samples. These two enzymes are thus not involved in the pathogenesis of these two separate dominantly inherited diseases.

Diagnosis of Colorado tick fever virus infection by enzyme immunoassays for immunoglobulin M and G antibodies.

An immunoglobulin M (IgM) capture enzyme immunoassay technique was adapted for the detection of antibody to Colorado tick fever virus in sera from 84 individuals for whom diagnosis had been confirmed by virus isolation or neutralization test. Titers were compared with those for IgG and neutralizing antibodies in these Colorado tick fever cases. IgM antibody titers were higher than neutralizing antibody titers, but neither appeared until 1 to 2 weeks after the onset of illness.