Auditory and academic performance of children with unilateral hearing loss.

Since the data provided in the literature concerning unilateral hearing loss in children are still lacking, we decided to study a group of subjects suffering from unilateral sensorineural deafness that has developed during the first 12 years of life. One hundred and fifteen subjects out of 150 answered a questionnaire that intended to investigate at what age the disorder developed, how it was recognized, its possible causes and a subjective evaluation of the difficulties encountered because of the hearing deficiency. In a second stage of the research, more detailed case history data were obtained on 30 children who satisfied more stringent selection criteria.

Pharmacokinetics and organ distribution in rats of a low molecular weight heparin.

Fluorescein-labelled low molecular weight heparin (OP/LMWH) pharmacokinetics and organ distribution were studied in the rat after intravenous administration at doses of 3 and 15 mg/kg. The pharmacokinetics of labelled OP/LMWH was dose-dependent like heparin, however, the anticoagulant activity such as anti-Xa was more prolonged. The rapidity of the disappearance of the fluorescence was quicker than the biological activity.

Immunohistochemical study of basement membrane antigens in bronchioloalveolar carcinoma.

Bronchioloalveolar carcinoma (BAC), not yet completely defined as a biologic entity, has recently been classified into two different types. Immunohistochemical investigations, aimed at characterizing basement membrane (BM) behavior in the two types of BAC, revealed different distribution patterns. The first (Type I BAC) showed a linear staining for laminin and Type IV collagen similar to normal lung.

Behaviour of basement membrane antigens in gastric and colorectal cancer. Immunohistochemical study.

Eighty gastric and colorectal lesions including cases of dysplasia and carcinoma were studied by immunohistochemical techniques to investigate the behaviour of laminin, type IV collagen and fibronectin. Their distribution was examined on frozen and formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded samples. In the same lesions, interruption, fragmentation and absence of basement membrane (BM) antigen-staining were observed.

Detection of extracellular matrix antigens (fibronectin, laminin, type IV in collagen) in paraffin embedded sections by avidin-biotin-peroxidase complex labelling.

An avidin-biotin-peroxidase labelling method was applied to frozen sections and to routine-fixed, paraffin-embedded sections, and compared with immunohistochemical results of stromal antigen detection (type IV collagen, laminin and fibronectin) obtained in parallel on different neoplasias. Lung, breast and gastrointestinal tract tumors were studied. Superimposable sections were obtained from cryostat and formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded specimens (previously digested by pepsin).

Impairment of polymorphonuclear leucocyte function during therapy with synthetic ACTH in children affected by epileptic encephalopathies.

Therapy with synthetic ACTH (zinc tetracosactide) in children affected by epileptic encephalopathy is often associated with a large number of infectious complications. We studied the phagocytic activity of polymorphonuclear leucocytes (PMN) in 9 children with West or Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, measuring PMN superoxide anion production during the phagocytosis of particles of Zymosan and after phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) stimulation. The test was performed before, during and after therapy with zinc tetracosactide (0.

Early gastric cancer. Clinico-pathological analysis of 125 cases of early gastric cancer (EGC).

The frequency and the pathological findings of 125 early gastric cancers (ECGs), and particularly of small and minute lesions, were evaluated in a retrospective study of 839 surgical specimens of gastric carcinoma. Sixty two ECGs were believed to have risen from gastric epithelium, 27 from areas of intestinal metaplasia, and 3 from cardio-pyloric mucosa. The remaining lesions showed mixed histological patterns.

Raman spectroscopy and order in biological systems.

The Raman spectra in the low 5-200 cm-1 frequency region of metabolically active E. coli cells have been analyzed to determine whether they are indicators of a possible in vivo underlying order by applying standard concepts derived from the Raman spectroscopy of crystalline systems with varying degrees of order. The analysis suggests that in-vivo space-time ordered structures involving amino acids associated with DNA exist since the low frequency lines of metabolically active cells can be assigned to lines seen in the spectra of crystals of given amino acids known to associate with DNA early in the lifetime of a cell.

[Nutrition of the very low birth weight newborn infant (less than 1500 g). Experience with a formula for the premature infant].

After a short review on the topic of nutrition of very low-birth-weight infants, particularly the very small preterms, results are reported on a trial with an adapted milk for prematures. Subjects involved had a gestational age of 28-34 weeks and weighed less than 1500 g thus representing a sample of very low birth weight babies. By using levels of MCT in the milk, a protein quota of 3, 15 g/Kg/day with 40/60 casein whey-protein ratio, an electrolyte content slightly higher than in most adapted formulas (for fullterm babies) and low osmolarity, good results were obtained for body weight growth, length, head circumference and subcutaneous fat.

Synergistic interaction of bactericidal drugs and a factor present in serum ultrafiltrate.

Ultrafiltrate of serum of guinea-pig and man contains a factor which interacts synergistically with cephaloridine, kanamycin, and nalidixic acid against Escherichia coli. The factor on its own is not bactericidal. Gel filtration showed that the main peaks of the fractions with biological activity correspond to a MW of about 200.

Effect of non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs on some biological activities dependent on complement activation.

The paper presents the results of a study on the action of five non-steroidal antiinflammatory agents (phenylbutazone, indometacin, acetylsalicylic acid, niflumic and flufenamic acids) on two biological activities which are dependent on complement activation: opsonization of bacteria and membrane damage, the latter evaluated both with the classic immunohemolytic system and with a bactericidal assay. The three biological assays differ for complement sequences involved. Flufenamic and niflumic acids showed high inhibitory activity in the lytic assays.