Fructose-1,6-diphosphatase deficiency in Israel.

The clinical and biochemical data on nine patients belonging to six families with fructose-1,6-diphosphatase deficiency are reported. Two of the six families were Jewish, three were Moslem Arabs and one was of Druze origin. All patients had had neonatal hypoglycemia, lactic acidosis and an abnormal fructose or glycerol loading test.

Differences in professional activities, perceptions of professional problems, and practice patterns between men and women graduates of Jefferson Medical College.

Differences between men and women graduates of one medical school in practice patterns, professional activities, and problems were investigated. A questionnaire was mailed in 1986 to 600 physicians, randomly selected from 1,102 who had graduated from Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University between 1977 and 1981. Four hundred fifty (364 men and 86 women) responded (75%).

Clastogenicity of PvuII and EcoRI in electroporated CHO cells assayed by metaphase chromosomal aberrations and by micronuclei using the cytokinesis-block technique.

The clastogenicity of two restriction endonucleases with almost equal cutting frequencies: PvuII, generating blunt-ended DNA double-strand breaks (dsb) and EcoRI, generating cohesive-ended dsb, has been measured after treatment of electroporated CHO cells with these enzymes. Chromosome damage was assessed by the micronucleus cytokinesis-block technique, and for certain electroporation voltages by analysis of metaphase preparations. As has been found in previous studies, PvuII was found to be more effective in causing chromosomal damage than EcoRI, indicating the greater importance of blunt-ended dsb in chromosome aberration induction.

Geographical patterns of male circumcision practices in Africa: association with HIV seroprevalence.

To ascertain whether male circumcision might explain some of the geographical variation in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) seroprevalence in Africa, we investigated the association between the practice of male circumcision at a societal level and HIV seroprevalence. Male circumcision practices for over 700 African societies were identified, and HIV seroprevalence in general adult populations from 140 distinct locations in 41 countries was obtained. In locations where male circumcision is practised, HIV seroprevalence was considerably lower than in areas where it is not practised.

Transition dynamics of HIV disease in a cohort of African prostitutes: a Markov model approach.

The progression of HIV-related disease from infection to death is represented as a staged Markov model. Transitions between stages are considered reversible. The model is fitted to data from a cohort of African prostitutes by means of maximum likelihood.

Hexose uptake and transport in polymorphonuclear leukocytes from patients with glycogen storage disease Ib.

Neutrophil functions and glucose metabolism are known to be impaired in glycogen storage disease (GSD) Ib patients. The uptake of nonmetabolizing glucose analogues into polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) of GSD Ib patients was studied. 2-Deoxyglucose (2-DOG) and 3-O-methylglucose are transported across the cell membrane by facilitated diffusion mediated by the glucose transporter.

The fallacy of impoverishment.

Several recent studies have challenged the assumption that Medicaid requires impoverishment. Although two-thirds of the elderly poor are not covered by Medicaid, many nursing home Medicaid recipients retain sizeable assets, which pass to their heirs without repayment of public costs. The magnitude of asset spenddown is much smaller than previously believed.

Muscle glycogenosis.

This review describes clinical, biochemical and genetic features of the four inborn errors affecting muscle glycogen breakdown, namely deficiencies of phosphorylase, phosphorylase kinase, amylo-1,6-glucosidase and acid alpha-glucosidase. They are characterized by a wide spectrum of clinical manifestation, affecting age of onset, clinical features, progress of disease and tissue involvement. Biochemically, variability of all four enzyme deficiencies is evident in terms of differences in residual enzyme present in tissues, and in the presence or absence of enzyme protein.

Impact of single session post-partum counselling of HIV infected women on their subsequent reproductive behaviour.

During an ongoing study investigating the impact of maternal HIV infection on pregnancy outcome at a large maternity hospital in Nairobi, Kenya, asymptomatic HIV positive women who had recently delivered were informed of their HIV sero-status and counselled by a trained nurse regarding contraception and reproductive behaviour in a single session. Both HIV infected women and a comparison group of uninfected women matched for pregnancy outcome were followed up after an interval of one year. Contraceptive use, condom use and pregnancy rates were similar in both groups.

First plasma wave observations at neptune.

The Voyager 2 plasma wave instrument detected many familiar plasma waves during the encounter with Neptune, including electron plasma oscillations in the solar wind upstream of the bow shock, electrostatic turbulence at the bow shock, and chorus, hiss, electron cyclotron waves, and upper hybrid resonance waves in the inner magnetosphere. Low-frequency radio emissions, believed to be generated by mode conversion from the upper hybrid resonance emissions, were also observed propagating outward in a disklike beam along the magnetic equatorial plane. At the two ring plane crossings many small micrometer-sized dust particles were detected striking the spacecraft.

Immunoglobulin kappa gene expression after stable integration. I. Role of the intronic MAR and enhancer in plasmacytoma cells.

Rearranged MOPC41 immunoglobulin kappa gene constructs have been stably introduced into cultured S194 mouse plasmacytoma cells to investigate the effects of deleting the intronic enhancer and/or matrix association region (MAR) on gene expression. Intact single-copy kappa genes containing 1.5 kilobase pairs of upstream and 8.

Cardiac involvement in glycogen storage disease type III.

Twenty patients with enzymatically proven glycogen storage disease type III (GSD III) aged 3-30 years underwent cardiological evaluation. Seventeen showed subclinical evidence of cardiac involvement in form of ventricular hypertrophy on ECG. Of 16 patients in whom an ECG examination was performed, 13 had abnormal echocardiographic features.