A direct physiological trade-off between personal and social immunity.

Recent work shows that organisms possess two strategies of immune response: personal immunity, which defends an individual, and social immunity, which protects other individuals, such as kin. However, it is unclear how individuals divide their limited resources between protecting themselves and protecting others. Here, with experiments on female burying beetles, we challenged the personal immune system and measured subsequent investment in social immunity (antibacterial activity of the anal exudates).

Reducing pathology test misuse.

Our laboratory serves a 450-bed acute care hospital in the rapidly growing Gold Coast region. The problem facing the department comprised an almost 10 per cent yearly increase in patient numbers in the face of budgetary constraints and pressure to increase efficiency. In January and February 1992 a vigorous effort was made to reduce pathology test numbers without compromising quality of patient care.

Norepinephrine turnover in various tissues at rest and during exercise: evidence for a training effect.

This study quantitates the sympathetic response to an acute bout of exercise in specific tissues recruited during exercise in Fischer 344 rats (National Institute on Aging, Bethesda, MD), as well as determining any associated training adaptations. After 10 weeks of treadmill running, significant improvements were found for both endurance time and running speed eliciting maximal response in trained animals compared to controls (477% and 57%, respectively). Norepinephrine turnover (NEt) was determined by the administration of alpha-methyl tyrosine (250 mg/kg), a competitive inhibitor of tyrosine hydroxylase.

Practice patterns of family physicians with 2-year residency v. 1-year internship training: do both roads lead to Rome?

Are there differences in patterns of practice between actively practising physicians who have been certified after a 2-year family practice residency and matched physicians without certification who have completed the standard 1-year internship? With the use of billing files prepared by the British Columbia Medical Association a group of 65 family practice certificants in active practice in British Columbia was compared with a control group of 130 internship trainees matched by year and school of graduation, category of billing (i.e., solo or group) and region.

Sympathetic response to exercise in various tissues with advancing age.

It was the purpose of this investigation to examine any age-related changes in norepinephrine turnover (NEt) in four tissues at rest and during exercise. Fischer 344 rats 6 (n = 20) and 25 mo of age (n = 20) were received from the National Institute on Aging. NEt was determined at rest, during 30 min of submaximal exercise, and at maximal exercise by administration of alpha-methyl-p-tyrosine, a competitive inhibitor of tyrosine hydroxylase.