The natural history of insomnia: focus on prevalence and incidence of acute insomnia.

Despite Acute Insomnia being classified as a distinct nosological entity since 1979/1980 (ASDC/DSM III-R), there are no published estimates of its prevalence and incidence or data regarding transition to chronic insomnia or remission. This lack of data prevents an understanding of: a) the pathogenesis of insomnia and b) when and how treatment should be initiated. The aim of the present study was to provide such data from two community samples.

Differing causes of pregnancy loss in type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

Objective: Women with type 2 and type 1 diabetes have differing risk factors for pregnancy loss. We compared the rates and causes of pregnancy loss in women with type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

Research Design And Methods: We utilized prospectively collected data on all pregnancies in a 20-year period (1986-2005) from a single center with a high prevalence of type 2 diabetes.

Admissions to neonatal intensive care unit following pregnancies complicated by gestational or type 2 diabetes.

Background: When gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is diagnosed in a population with a high prevalence of unrecognised type 2 diabetes mellitus (type 2 DM), the rate of neonatal morbidity is not clear. There is also a paucity of data reporting neonatal outcome in women with recognised type 2 DM.

Aim: To describe, in a population with a high background prevalence of type 2 DM, neonatal morbidity in infants of women with GDM and type 2 DM admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

Pain during awake nasal intubation after topical cocaine or phenylephrine/lidocaine spray.

Although several local anaesthetic techniques are described for nasal analgesia during awake intubation, there has been little attempt to evaluate their effectiveness. We examined pain scores associated with nasal intubation in a randomised cross-over study of 25 volunteers. Local anaesthesia consisted of topical aerosol spray using either cocaine 5% or Co-phenylcaine Forte (a proprietary mixture of phenylephrine hydrochloride 0.

Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy in women with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.

Aims: Hypertensive disorders in pregnancy are common in women with Type 1 diabetes and can be associated with adverse fetal outcomes, but little is known about hypertension in pregnancy in women with Type 2 diabetes. The aim of this study was to compare the incidence and outcomes of, and risk factors for, hypertension in pregnancy in women with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.

Methods: One hundred consecutive singleton pregnancies in women with Type 2 and 100 in women with Type 1 diabetes were studied.

Congenital anomalies in the offspring of women with type 1, type 2 and gestational diabetes.

Aim: To determine the frequency of major congenital anomalies in the offspring of women with gestational diabetes (GDM), classified according to their postpartum glucose tolerance status.

Methods: A prospective study of pregnancies in women with Type 1 diabetes (n = 221), Type 2 diabetes (n = 317) and GDM (n = 1822) between 1985 and 2000 (15 years). Congenital anomalies were detected by antenatal ultrasound or postnatal examination.

All trans retinoic acid enhances human LAK activity.

All trans retinoic acid has various effects on normal and malignant cells. Lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) activity can be derived from T lymphocytes and natural killer cells. This study shows that all trans retinoic acid significantly enhances this activity by increasing production of tumour necrosis factor and gamma interferon, which results in enhanced expression of the p55 part of the interleukin 2 receptor.

Alteration in human mononuclear leucocytes following space flight.

Reduced in vitro mitogen-stimulated proliferative responses have routinely been observed from astronauts' mononuclear leucocytes following space flight. This study investigated the effect of space flight on subpopulations of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 30 shuttle astronauts prior to launch, upon landing and 3 days after flight. The total number of peripheral blood leucocytes, granulocytes and monocytes were increased after space flight (5.

Insulin-like growth factor-I binds selectively to human peripheral blood monocytes and B-lymphocytes.

Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) is a potential modulator of responses to a variety of immunological challenges. Previous studies have suggested that specific IGF-I receptors are present on peripheral blood leukocytes, including polymorphonuclear leukocytes, lymphocytes, and monocytes. We sought to determine what type of IGF receptor was present on peripheral blood mononuclear cells and which types of cells possessed these receptors.

Human mononuclear cell function after 4 degrees C storage during 1-G and microgravity conditions of spaceflight.

Future space missions of long duration may require that autologous leukocytes be stored in flight for infusion to restore normal immune competence in crewmembers. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMNCs), as leukocyte concentrates in autologous plasma and 2% dextrose, were stored in the microgravity conditions provided by the U.S.

Operation Everest II: alterations in the immune system at high altitudes.

We investigated the effects on immune function after progressive hypobaric hypoxia simulating an ascent to 25,000 ft (7620 m) over 4 weeks. Multiple simultaneous in vitro and in vivo immunologic variables were obtained from subjects at sea level, 7500 ft (2286 m), and 25,000 ft during a decompression chamber exposure. Phytohemagglutinin-stimulated thymidine uptake and protein synthesis in mononuclear cells were reduced at extreme altitudes.

Immunological analyses of U.S. Space Shuttle crewmembers.

We have previously reported changes in the immunoresponsiveness of "T" lymphocytes following space flight. Additional data collected before and after 11 Shuttle space flights show that absolute lymphocyte numbers, lymphocyte blastogenic capability, and eosinophil percent in the peripheral blood of crewmembers are generally depressed postflight. These responses resemble those associated with physical and emotional stress and may not be related to flight per se.

Composition of bronchopulmonary secretions from patients with bronchiectasis.

Pulmonary function tests were carried out on 17 patients with bronchiectasis and six indices were selected to grade severity. Average concentrations of nine plasma proteins were determined by quantitative immunoelectrophoresis in specimens of sputum and serum from each patients. Wide patient-to-patient variation in concentration was encountered which appeared to follow a continuous progression unrelated to clinical severity.

Agglutinins to bacteria in Crohn's disease.

Sera from patients with Crohn's disease were tested for antibodies against organisms which are thought to cause inflammatory bowel disease in animals, or have been implicated in human Crohn's disease. Control sera were collected from healthy individuals and patients with ulcerative colitis. Sera from Crohn's disease and controls failed to agglutinate Clostridium colinum or Campylobacter sputorum subsp.

Screening for cystic fibrosis in the newborn by meconium analysis.

During a 4-year routine screening programme for cystic fibrosis (CF) 15 464 specimens were examined for raised meconium albumin levels by a test strip method and by electroimmunoassay. The incidence of false-positive results was about 5 per 1000 specimens in either test. This could be reduced by 90% by determining the ratio of albumin : alpha-1-trypsin inhibitor (a ratio below 2.

Effect of storage and heat on antimicrobial proteins in human milk.

Human milk, after storage and pasteurisation at 73 degrees C for 30 minutes at a milk bank, was found to have little surviving IgA, IgG, lactoferrin, lysozyme, and C3 complement. Accurate pasteurisation at 62.5 degrees C produced a loss of 23.

Screening for cystic fibrosis by analysis of serum protein in faeces.

Faecal specimens from 51 infants free of cystic fibrosis (CF) and from 9 infants with the disease were analysed for albumin and alpha1-antitrypsin content. Faeces from infants with no CF had a mean albumin content of less than 0-1 mg/g dry weight and a mean albumin: alpha1-antitrypsin ratio value of less than 0-1. Faeces from infants with CF had, with one exception, an albumin content of more than 2-0 mg/g dry weight and a ratio value greater than 3-0.

Screening for cystic fibrosis by analysis of meconium for albumin and protease inhibitors.

A qualitative method of detecting elevated meconium protein concentration was compared with a method of determining meconium albumin concentration by electroimmunoassay since elevated meconium protein levels can indicate pancreatic insufficiency caused by cystic fibrosis. Between 5 and 10 per 1000 healthy infants passed meconium specimens that gave a false positive reaction with the Boehringer Mannheim test strip and contained a greater than expected concentration of albumin. It was possible to exclude pancreatic insufficiency in all of these children by determining the ratio, albumin : alpha1-antitrypsin in meconium and subsequent faecal specimens, since it was found that values of this ratio in excess of 2.

Soluble proteins of bronchopulmonary secretions from patients with cystic fibrosis, asthma, and bronchitis.

The concentrations of nine plasma proteins were determined by quantitative immunoelectrophoresis in sputum specimens from 29 patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) and from 24 patients with severe asthma and chronic bronchitis. The results suggested that the population of CF patients could be divided into two groups in spite of an absence of difference in clinical status between the groups. Average concentrations of seven plasma proteins in sputum of group I CF patients were identical with those in sputum of patients with bronchitis, but the average concentrations of six of these proteins in sputum from group II CF patients were higher than those in specimens from the bronchitic patients and were similar to corresponding concentrations in sputum from patients with asthma, all of whom were examined while in status asthmaticus.