Advances in enzymatic transformation of penicillins to 6-aminopenicillanic acid (6-APA).

This article elaborates on the important recent developments in the enzymatic transformation of penicillins to 6-aminopenicillanic acid (6-APA), which is the basic raw material for the industrial production of semisynthetic penicillins such as amoxycillin and ampicillin. Particular emphasis is placed on the improvements in purification, stability, and immobilization of the enzymes, (i.e.

Stigma, racism or choice. Why do depressed ethnic elders avoid psychiatrists?

Background: Knowledge of mental health service users views is important in service planning, to ensure access for everyone and in particular for those in minority groups. Depression is common in older people and it has been suggested that ethnic elders may be more vulnerable to mental illness. This study therefore explored and compared the views of White British (WB) and Black African-Caribbean (BC) older people on depression as an illness, avenues of help and the place of mental health services.

A systems approach to improving error reporting.

The reporting of medical errors or near misses within a healthcare organization is one process that has been long overlooked. With strong leadership as its foundation, Baylor Health Care System addressed multiple systems and processes of technology, education, communication, learning, feedback, rewards, and recognition to demonstrate significant improvements in cost reduction, employee satisfaction, and the number of errors reported.

Role of MAP kinase pathways in primitive neuroectodermal tumors.

Mitogen-activated protein kinase and Phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase/Akt-mediated signaling pathways play a major role in controlling cell proliferation, differentiation and cell death. Phosphorylation and dephosphorylation of their specific Thr/Tyr residues is critical in determining their activity. We determined the expression pattern and activity of MAP kinases and Akt in Primitive Neuroectodermal Tumors (PNETs).

Antitumor activity of a human cytotoxic T-cell line (TALL-104) in brain tumor xenografts.

Malignant glioma in adults and primitive neuroectodermal tumors/medulloblastomas in children are the most common malignant primary brain tumors that either respond poorly to current treatment or tend to recur. Adoptive therapy with TALL-104 cells-an IL-2-dependent, major histocompatibility complex nonrestricted, cytotoxic T-cell line-has demonstrated significant antitumor activity against a broad range of implanted or spontaneously arising tumors. This study investigates distribution of systemically and locally administered TALL-104 cells and their efficacy in effecting survival of a rat model of human brain tumor.

Age-related differences in acute physiologic response to focal traumatic brain injury in piglets.

Introduction: The goal of the present study was to determine whether age-related differences in the acute physiologic response to scaled cortical impact injury contribute to differences in vulnerability to traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Methods: Heart rate (HR), mean arterial pressure (MAP), brain temperature (BrT) and cerebral blood flow (CBF) were measured in 22 piglets (7 of age 5 days, 8 of age 1 month, 7 of age 4 months) at baseline and for 3 h following scaled cortical impact injury.

Results: There were no age-dependent variations from baseline in HR, MAP or BrT following injury.

Resistance to TRAIL-induced apoptosis in primitive neuroectodermal brain tumor cells correlates with a loss of caspase-8 expression.

TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) is a potent inducer of apoptosis in adult malignant glioma and various other human solid tumor models but not in normal tissues. To characterize the TRAIL death pathway in childhood primitive neuroectodermal brain tumor (PNET), 8 human PNET cell lines were tested for TRAIL-induced apoptosis. TRAIL-sensitivity of the PNET cell lines was correlated with mRNA expression levels of TRAIL, its agonistic (TRAIL-R1, TRAIL-R2) and antagonistic (TRAIL-R3, TRAIL-R4) receptors, cellular FLICE-like inhibitory protein (cFLIP), caspase-3 and caspase-8.

Maturation-dependent response of the piglet brain to scaled cortical impact.

Object: The goal of this study was to investigate the relationship between maturational stage and the brain's response to mechanical trauma in a gyrencephalic model of focal brain injury. Age-dependent differences in injury response might explain certain unique clinical syndromes seen in infants and young children and would determine whether specific therapies might be particularly effective or even counterproductive at different ages.

Methods: To deliver proportionally identical injury inputs to animals of different ages, the authors have developed a piglet model of focal contusion injury by using specific volumes of rapid cortical displacement that are precisely scaled to changes in size and dimensions of the growing brain.

Hair removal with a non-coherent filtered flashlamp intense pulsed light source.

Background And Objective: To evaluate the effects on disruption of hair growth of the non-coherent filtered flashlamp intense pulsed light (IPL) source.

Materials And Methods: Twenty-eight sites on 23 patients with Fitzpatrick type I-III were enrolled using a single treatment IPL followed for three months post-treatment. Another 56 on 48 patients with Fitzpatrick skin types I-V randomly enrolled for two treatments one month apart and followed for six months.

Periorbital skin resurfacing using high energy erbium:YAG laser: results in 50 patients.

Objective: To evaluate Erbium:YAG regional periorbital laser resurfacing clinically and histologically.

Study Design/materials And Methods: Photographic evaluation before and after Erbium:YAG resurfacing with histologic evaluation of depth of injury.

Setting: Group private single specialty practice.

A role for Pak protein kinases in Schwann cell transformation.

Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), a common autosomal dominant disorder caused by loss of the NF1 gene, is characterized clinically by neurofibromas and more rarely by neurofibrosarcomas. Neurofibromin, the protein encoded by NF1, possesses an intrinsic GTPase accelerating activity for the Ras proto-oncogene. Through this activity, it is a negative regulator of Ras.

Proton spectroscopy of suprasellar tumors in pediatric patients.

Objective: Magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography provide good anatomic detail of suprasellar tumors in pediatric patients but are not able to predict histology in many cases. Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy provides metabolic data that may add to diagnostic specificity. We preoperatively performed localized proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy on pediatric patients with suprasellar tumors and correlated the results with the histological findings.

PUVA-induced phototoxicity: incidence and causes.

Background: Phototoxicity is the most significant short-term adverse effect of PUVA therapy.

Objective: We attempted to determine the incidence and possible causes of phototoxicity of sufficient degree to cause interruption of treatment.

Methods: A retrospective study was conducted of 16,506 PUVA treatments given to 414 patients in two treatment centers.

Structure Determination and Anti-Inflammatory Activity of some Purine Complexes.

Organomercury(II)-purine derivatives of the type, p-MeOC(6)H(4)HgL(1) (I), p-NO(2)C(6)H(4)HgCl(L(2))(II), p-MeC(6)H(4)HgCl(L(3))(III) and p-NO(2)C(6)H(4)HgCl(L(3))(IV) [ HL(1) = theophylline, L(2) = theobromine, L(3) = caffeine] have been synthesised and characterised on the basis of spectral studies (IR, UV, (1)H & (13)C NMR). The complexes have been screened for anti-inflammatory activity.

Organomercury (II) complexes with anti-carcinogenic agents. II. Anti-neoplastic activity.

Organomercury(II) complexes of the type, p-MeOC6H4HgL1 (I), p-NO2C6H4HgL2 (II), p-MeOC6H4HgL3 (III) and p-MeC6H4HgL4 (IV) (HL1-6-mercaptopurine, HL2-6-thioguanine, HL3-5-fluorouracil, L4-phenyldithiocarbazate) have been screened against the following cell panels: leukemia, non-small cell lung cancer, small cell lung cancer, brain cancer, melanoma, ovarian cancer and renal cancer. The variation in anti-neoplastic activity has been correlated with the structural parameters of the complexes.

Organomercury (II) complexes with anti-carcinogenic agents. I. Synthesis and characterization.

A few organomercury (II) complexes involving anti-carcinogenic ligands have been synthesized. The compounds are of the type p-MeOC6H4HgL1 (I), p-NO2C6H4HgL2 (II), p-MeOC4H4HgL3 (III) and p-MeC6H4HgL4 (IV) (HL1-6-mercaptopurine, HL2-6-thioguanine, HL3-5-fluorouracil, L4-phenyldithiocarbazate). Their composition has been determined from elemental analysis.

Organomercury(II) complexes of kojic acid and maltol: synthesis, characterization, and biological studies.

A number of organomercury(II) complexes of kojic acid (HL1, I) and maltol (HL2, II) of the type p-XC6H4HgL1 (III) and p-XC6H4HgL2 (IV) [X = Me, MeO, NO2] have been synthesized and characterized. [formula: see text] Conductance measurements indicate the nonelectrolyte behavior of the complexes. From IR and UV studies, the bonding modes of the ligands to the organomercury(II) moieties have been elucidated.

The impact of automated blood pressure devices on the efficiency of clinical trials.

By reducing measurement error, automated blood pressure (BP) devices should enhance the precision of BP estimation and thereby decrease sample size requirements in clinical trials of BP-lowering therapy. Enhanced precision would be particularly relevant to clinical trials assessing the efficacy of nonpharmacological therapies. In the present investigation, resting (clinic) BPs by the Dinamap 8100 (a stationary device) and the Accutracker II (an ambulatory device) were as precise as manual BPs given an equal number of observations by each method.