Dielectric response of aligned semiconducting single-wall nanotubes.

We report measurements of the full intrinsic optical anisotropy of isolated single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs). By combining absorption spectroscopy with transmission ellipsometry and polarization-dependent resonant Raman scattering, we obtain the real and imaginary parts of the SWNT permittivity from aligned semiconducting SWNTs dispersed in stretched polymer films. Our results are in agreement with theoretical predictions, highlighting the limited polarizability of excitons in a quasi-1D system.

Comparative measures of single-wall carbon nanotube dispersion.

Model composites of DNA-wrapped single-wall carbon nanotubes in poly(acrylic acid) are used to evaluate metrics of nanotube dispersion. By varying the pH of the precursor solutions, we introduce a controlled deviation from ideal behavior. On the basis of small-angle neutron scattering, changes in near-infrared fluorescence intensity are strongly correlated with dispersion, while optical absorption spectroscopy and resonant Raman scattering are less definitive.

High-resolution terahertz spectroscopy of crystalline trialanine: extreme sensitivity to beta-sheet structure and cocrystallized water.

High-resolution terahertz absorption spectra (0.06-3 THz) have been obtained at 4.2 K for three crystalline forms of trialanine [H2+-(Ala)3-O-].

Intrapleural therapy for malignant pleural effusions. A randomized comparison of bleomycin and tetracycline.

Between December 1985 and August 1988, there were 115 patients at 13 centers who were entered on a randomized comparison of tetracycline and bleomycin for treatment of malignant pleural effusions. Fifteen patients were not treated, primarily due to rapid progression of systemic cancer. Fifteen patients entered on a high-dose regimen of bleomycin (120 units) were excluded from this analysis (following early closure of that arm), leaving 85 patients randomized to low-dose bleomycin (60 units; 44 patients) or tetracycline (1 g; 41 patients).

Abolition of herpes simplex cytopathic effect after treatment with peroxidase generated hypothiocyanite.

HSV1 suspensions were pre-incubated in a lactoperoxidase thiocyanate oxidizing system before inoculation in MRC5 fibroblast cultures. This pre-treatment could either delay or even abolish the HSV1 cytopathic potentiality. The effect was found to be time-dependent.

[Antiseptic properties of saliva and metabolism of activated oxygen in neutrophils: comparison of the 2 enzymatic bactericidal systems and of their behavior in an acid environment].

Growth control of anaerobes in the oral cavity, is secured--among other means--by: 1) phagocytosis of opsonized bacteria; 2) synthesis of hypothiocyanite by the salivary peroxidase system. The former may be inhibited by bacterial acid byproducts. As for the salivary hypothiocyanite, it proved itself able of hindering in vitro the growth of bacterial strains known as customary periodontal pathogens.

Fluctuation of the biochemiluminescence from PMN leukocytes in a family with a high prevalence of severe periodontitis.

Rapidly progressive periodontal disease was found in three patients belonging to three different generations of the same family. Beyond the clinical inspection, blood examination allowed measurements of the luminol enhanced biochemiluminescence from the circulating PMN leukocytes. Abnormally low values were recorded in the affected individuals (75, 84 and 138 mVolts per 10(6) cells) whereas a sample of healthy individuals exhibited photonic values from 240 up to 910 mVolts per 10(6) cells.

Anaerobes and short-chain fatty acids in crevicular fluid from adults with chronic periodontitis.

Pathogeny of adult chronic periodontitis is still unclear. Bacteriological and chemical analysis of crevicular fluid have shown, in active sites of the disease, a simultaneous presence of anaerobes and their major by-product: short-chain fatty acids. The last can decrease "in vitro" the neutrophil intracellular pH, whenever these cells are incubated in an acid medium.

Protein kinase C deficiency in juvenile chronic myeloid leukemia: a case report.

Protein kinase C activity was assayed in morphologically differentiated and undifferentiated myeloid cells of a 13-month-old girl with chronic myeloid leukemia. A reduced protein kinase C activity was seen in the morphologically differentiated neutrophils, while the activity in the leukemic cells was higher to that of normal neutrophils from control subjects.

Inhibition of human polymorphonuclear leukocytes phagocytosis and protein-kinase-C activity by low pH concentrations.

PMN leukocytes from circulating blood, were investigated using the following parameters: chemiluminescence, superoxide generation, exocytic degranulation, lactoferrin, myeloperoxydase and protein-kinase-C activities. The results did not allow to point out any significative discrepancy between samples collected from either patients suffering of periodontal disease or healthy individuals. However, the phagocytic ability (as measured by light emission and superoxide production) was found to be severely inhibited in both instances, when PMN leukocytes were incubated in the presence of succinic acid.

Postchemotherapy resection of residual tumor in limited stage small cell lung cancer.

To determine the feasibility of post-chemotherapy resection of residual tumor in small cell lung cancer, 24 selected patients with limited-stage disease were evaluated for exploratory thoracotomy. All 24 patients achieved partial or complete clinical response to chemotherapy and were considered adequate medical candidates for surgical resection. Fifteen patients underwent a lobectomy or pneumonectomy, 13 of whom had residual tumor in the resected specimen.

Resection of thoracic and abdominal teratoma in patients after cisplatin-based chemotherapy for germ cell tumor. Late results.

Fifty-one patients with primary testicular (N = 46) or mediastinal germ cell cancer (N = 5) were treated from April, 1975, through May, 1981, and had teratoma resected from residual disease after cisplatin-based combination chemotherapy. All patients had normal serum markers before resection of pulmonary (N = 12), mediastinal (N = 5), thoracoabdominal (N = 8), supraclavicular (N = 1) or abdominal disease (N = 25). Teratoma was classified as mature teratoma (N = 29), immature teratoma (N = 15), or immature teratoma with non-germ cell elements (N = 7).

Teratoma following cisplatin-based combination chemotherapy for nonseminomatous germ cell tumors: a clinicopathological correlation.

From April 1975 through May 1981, 51 patients had teratoma resected from residual disease following cisplatin-based combination chemotherapy. All patients had normal serum markers before resection of abdominal (25), lung (12), mediastinal (5), thoracoabdominal (8) or other (1) disease. Teratoma was classified as mature in 29 cases, immature in 15 or immature with nongerm cell elements in 7.

Deoxythymidine and deoxycytidine incorporation into DNA in B leukemic cells.

Measurements of radioactive DNA after incubation of normal and B leukemic peripheral mononuclear cells, from c-ALL and CLL with labeled deoxythymidine (dTh) and deoxycytidine (dCt) showed that for dTh, incorporation into DNA was similar for normal and c-ALL cells but lower in B-CLL cells and that for dCt, incorporation was highest in c-ALL and lowest in CLL cells. These results contrast with those of dTh and dCt kinase activities; the former has been previously found elevated in c-ALL cells, and the latter is found, in the present study, similar in the three groups tested.

Purine enzyme levels in rheumatoid arthritis.

We studied purine metabolism in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), adenosine deaminase (ADA), 5'-nucleotidase (5'NU) and purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP) activities by measuring the circulating mononuclear cells of patients with RA and healthy controls. Patients had significantly lower levels of ADA and 5'NU but not of PNP than controls. The decreases could not be related to age, antiinflammatory therapy, decreased percentages of T cells or imbalance between major T cells subsets.

Enzymes of purine metabolism in B-chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

In order to study if enzymes of purine metabolism could be used as cell markers in B-chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL), the activities of adenosine deaminase (ADA), purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP), and 5'-nucleotidase (5'N) were repeatedly measured in blood mononuclear cells from B-CLL patients and were compared to those obtained in normal controls. Enzyme activities in patients were also compared to other biological parameters indicative of B-CLL to activities of ADA and PNP in erythrocytes. Results show that B-leukemic cells display abnormal enzyme patterns: subnormal ADA activity is characteristic; 5'N activity is depressed in 60% of the cases but increased in 15%.

Thymidine kinase and thymidine phosphorylase activities in various types of leukaemia and lymphoma.

Thymidine kinase (TK) isoenzymes and thymidine phosphorylase (TP) activities have been measured in peripheral mononuclear cells of patients with acute lymphoblastic and monoblastic leukaemia or B-chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, as well as in normal subjects, and also in lymph node cells from patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, with Hodgkin's disease and with benign adenopathies. TK1 isoenzyme activity was highest in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and in centroblastic lymphoma. Then in progressively decreasing order appeared the Hodgkin's disease values, the centroblastic centrocytic lymphoma values and the benign reactive lymph node cell values.

Methylthioadenosine phosphorylase and purine nucleoside phosphorylase in B-chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Enzymes of purine metabolism have potential utility as biological markers of normal lymphocytes and their neoplastic counterparts. The activity of two of them, methylthioadenosine phosphorylase (MTA phosphorylase) and purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP) were measured in peripheral mononuclear cells from 11 patients with B-chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) and compared with those obtained in cells from 10 normal volunteers. An inverse relationship between the two phosphorylases was demonstrated in patients, with higher MTA-phosphorylase and lower PNP activities than in control subjects.

The importance of one-stage median sternotomy and retroperitoneal node dissection in disseminated testicular cancer.

More than 350 patients with testicular germ cell cancer have been treated with cisplatin combination chemotherapy. Seventy-two with metastases to the thorax who had operation are discussed here. In a subgroup of 24 patients with additional retroperitoneal disease, a one-stage median sternotomy was performed in 18 patients, and a thoracotomy in 6, with retroperitoneal node dissection.

Erythrocyte glycolysis in protein-energy malnutrition.

Erythrocyte glycolysis has been studied in the anaemia associated with protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) in Kivu. Several results were compatible with a lowering of the mean age of the erythrocyte population, notably raised levels of glucose-6-phosphate, hexokinase, Na+-K+- adenosinetriphosphatases and potassium, and low sodium concentration. Non-significant differences were observed for glucose utilization, lactate formation, and for concentrations of fructose-6-phosphate, fructose-1,6-diphosphate, adenosine diphosphate and pyruvate kinase; there was no gross disturbance of cation transport.

In vitro study of the incorporation and transport of nonesterified fatty acids into the phospholipids of the red blood cell membranes of cystic fibrosis patients.

The in vitro incorporation and transport of plasma nonesterified fatty acids into phospholipids of red cell membranes have been studied in cystic fibrosis and healthy children. Red blood cells were labeled in vitro by an active "acyltransferase"-dependent incorporation of radioactively labeled nonesterified fatty acids. [3H]-Palmitic and [14C]-linoleic acid, bound to albumin, have been studied simultaneously because it has been shown before that the concentration of palmitic acid increases and the concentration of linoleic acid decreases both in the plasma nonesterified fatty acid fraction and in the various phospholipids of the erythrocyte membranes of cystic fibrosis patients.

Fanconi's anaemia. Simultaneous onset in 2 siblings and unusual cytological findings.

Fanconi's anaemia is reported in 2 siblings. The simultaneous onset of pancytopenia after possible exposure to common external agents suggest that both a frail genotype and environmental factors may be etiologically involved in the disorder. One of the children died after having developed a monoblastic leukaemia.

Oxidative haemolysis in protein malnutrition.

A study of the haemolytic anaemia observed in protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) in Kivu disclosed the following results. The in vitro resistance to oxidative aggressions of PEM patients' erythrocytes was decreased: when incubated with acetylphenylhydrazine, a higher percentage of the cells showed Heinz bodies, as compared with erythrocytes of local controls. Normal or increased activities were found for certain erythrocyte enzymes involved in the detoxification of activated oxygen: glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase and glutathione reductase.