RT-PCR analysis and stress response capacity of transgenic gshI-poplar clones (Populus x canescens) in response to paraquat exposure.

Stress response capacity (Fv/Fm at 690 nm and F690/F735 at Fmax) of untransformed hybrid poplar, Populus x canescens (P tremula x P alba), and two transgenic lines overexpressing gamma-ECS (gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase) either in the cytosol (cyt-ECS) or in the chloroplast (chl-ECS) was studied in response to the herbicide paraquat (4.0 x 10(-9) to 4.0 x 10(-6) M) for 21 days.

Hormonal changes in brain dead patients.

Thirty neurologically impaired (Glasgow Coma Score less than 7) patients were evaluated to determine if changes in serum levels of thyroid hormone, cortisol, insulin, or lactate suggest that replacement therapy is needed before removal of organs for donation. Serum levels of free thyroxine (fT4), thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), reverse T3 (rT3), cortisol, insulin, and lactate were monitored in 16 patients before and after brain death and in 14 additional patients who were similarly compromised but did not become brain dead. Low fT3, normal fT4, and normal or high rT3 as found in most patients were consistent with a variant of the euthyroid sick syndrome although TSH was elevated in some patients.

Electrically produced artificial ventilation.

The induction of inspiration by delivering a burst of short-duration stimuli to body-surface electrodes is over a century old. The authors have used the term electroventilation to describe the technique. Inspiration can be produced with stimuli applied to electrodes placed bilaterally at the base of the neck, over the phrenic nerve motor points.