Evidence supportive of a functional discrimination between photopic oscillatory potentials as revealed with cone and rod mediated retinopathies.

We report on a family where four of the eleven children presented with reduced visual acuities, a red-green deficit at the Farnsworth-Munsel FM 100-hue test, normal appearing fundi and unexpected electroretinographic findings. Light- (photopic) and dark- (scotopic) adapted electroretinograms (ERG) and oscillatory potentials (OPs) were obtained following an accepted standard protocol. The b-wave of their photopic ERG was significantly more attenuated than the a-wave due to the specific abolition of OP4, while the amplitudes of OP2 and OP3 were within the normal range, giving to the b-wave a truncated appearance reminiscent of that seen in congenital stationary night blindness (CSNB) with myopia.

SAPK2/p38-dependent F-actin reorganization regulates early membrane blebbing during stress-induced apoptosis.

In endothelial cells, H2O2 induces the rapid formation of focal adhesion complexes at the ventral face of the cells and a major reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton into dense transcytoplasmic stress fibers. This change in actin dynamics results from the activation of the mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase stress-activated protein kinase-2/p38 (SAPK2/p38), which, via MAP kinase-activated protein (MAPKAP) kinase-2/3, leads to the phosphorylation of the actin polymerization modulator heat shock protein of 27 kD (HSP27). Here we show that the concomitant activation of the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) MAP kinase pathway by H2O2 accomplishes an essential survival function during this process.

Analysis of hepatitis C virus isolates using molecular and serological typing methods.

This study comprised 100 persons with antibodies to hepatitis C virus (HCV), including 77 intravenous drug users (IVDUs). They were tested with serological HCV typing assays (Murex HCV serotyping 1-6 assay; Chiron RIBA HCV Serotyping SIA). Patients with a positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for HCV (n = 66) were tested with genotyping molecular assays (Inno-Lipa HCV II test; Sorin GEN-ETI-K HCV typing assay).

Analytical Formulas for Long-Range Energies of the 16 Omega(+/-)g,u States of Alkali Dimers Dissociating into M(ns) + M(np 2PJ).

Analytical formulas for long-range energies of the 16 Omega(+/-)g,u states of alkali dimers dissociating into M(ns) + M(np 2PJ) are displayed in terms of the long-range Cn coefficients for the 2S+1Lambda(+)g,u corresponding states, and including exchange interaction energy contributions. Corrections due to retardation effects for resonant-dipole interactions are also included. For values of the internuclear distance R large enough so that only Coulombic interactions in R-3 are nonnegligible, the variation with R of the long-range energy is seen to be different from the usually assumed C3/R3 form.

International health training in family practice residency programs.

Background And Objectives: This survey determined the extent of involvement in and support of international health training by family practice residency programs.

Methods: We mailed a 17-item survey about four areas of international health training (curriculum, faculty, financial support, and international health sites) to the 192 family practice residency programs that answered affirmatively to the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) 1996 survey question, "Does your program offer or encourage an elective in an international setting?"

Results: Of the surveyed programs, 75% (144/192) responded. Fifty-four percent of programs offered some form of international health curriculum, and 15.

HBV and HIV screening, and hepatitis B immunization programme in the prison of Marseille, France.

This study estimated the prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) serological markers among inmates and evaluated inmates' compliance with an HBV immunization programme. During the mandatory consultation at the sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinic of the Marseille Prison (HIV counselling, and syphilis/HIV screening), physicians offered serological testing (anti-HBs, anti-HBc, HbsAg, anti-HIV) and Engerix B vaccination to each entrant. The number participating in the survey is 391/411 (89%); 75% were aged 18 to 35 years and 79% were men; 42% reported having had multiple sexual partners during the last 12 months.

p38 MAP kinase activation by vascular endothelial growth factor mediates actin reorganization and cell migration in human endothelial cells.

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a potent chemotactic agent for endothelial cells. Yet the signalling pathways that modulate the motogenic effects of VEGF in vascular endothelial cells are still ill defined. In the present study, we found in primary cultures of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) that VEGF increased cell migration and induced a marked reorganization of the microfilament network that was characterized by the formation of stress fibers and the recruitment of vinculin to focal adhesions.

Lack of interaction between hepatitis C virus and alcohol in the pathogenesis of cirrhosis. A statistical study.

Background/aims: In several studies markers of hepatitis C virus infection have been shown to be present in alcoholic patients with cirrhosis. Our work was designed to test the likely hypothesis that this association is due to an interaction between hepatitis C virus and alcohol in the pathogenesis of cirrhosis.

Methods: We compared alcohol consumption and repartition of anti-HCV antibodies detected by an immunoblot recombinant assay in 101 male patients with cirrhosis and in 120 male controls.

[Perinatal spinal cord injuries].

Background: Injury to the spinal cord is still observed in the neonate. Its prognosis is poor.

Case Reports: The first neonate was delivered by cesarean section for breech presentation with hyperextension of the neck.

Persistent hepatitis C virus RNA replication in haemophiliacs: role of co-infection with human immunodeficiency virus.

In order to evaluate the evolution of transfusional hepatitis C in haemophiliacs, we performed a retrospective study of ALT levels and HCV viraemia with a RNA PCR assay in 57 patients. We found that the vast majority of HCV-infected patients remained viraemic (43/57 = 75%) and higher ALT levels correlated with HCV viraemia. Although indicators of the transfusional viral load (age, severity of haemophilia) and HBV co-infection did not correlate with HCV RNA replication, HIV seropositivity was strongly associated with persistence of HCV viraemia (23/25 = 92% in HIV-positive versus 20/32 = 62% in HIV-negative patients), without any correlation with CD4 counts.

Cellular localization of enzymatically active thrombin in intact human tissues by hirudin binding.

Cellular sites of coagulation activation within complex, intact tissues have been studied by immunohistochemical techniques. Hirudin, a specific and high affinity inhibitor of the active site of thrombin, together with antibody to hirudin were applied to sections of AMeX-fixed specimens of normal lung, kidney, placenta, freshly incised skin and unperturbed skin obtained at fresh autopsy; to rheumatoid synovial tissue; and to malignant tissue from a variety of tumor types. Staining for thrombin was observed selectively on pulmonary alveolar, rheumatoid synovial, and placental macrophages that express an intact extrinsic coagulation pathway.

Studies of possible mechanisms for the effect of urokinase therapy in small cell carcinoma of the lung.

Urokinase-type plasminogen activator has been administered by other investigators to patients with small cell carcinoma of the lung (SCCL) in an attempt to induce lysis of fibrin that is known to exist in the connective tissue stroma of this tumour type and that may support tumour growth. To study the fate of infused urokinase in this disease, a biopsy of a scalp metastasis was obtained from a patient with SCCL (entered on a phase I clinical trial of urokinase plus combination chemotherapy) immediately following urokinase infusion during the fourth course of therapy a time when this tumour mass had decreased to approximately 25% of its original size. Immunohistochemical procedures revealed abundant stromal fibrin in accord with previous observations from this laboratory.

A new application of an old method for respiratory mechanics measurements: the passive inflation method in newborn infants during pressure-controlled ventilation.

We have previously described a passive inflation method during constant inspiratory flow for measuring total respiratory elastance and resistance during mechanical ventilation in newborns. The simple method for measuring respiratory mechanics had been assessed during decelerating inspiratory flow obtained with pressure controlled ventilation (PCV). We report an application of this method to preterm and full-term mechanically ventilated newborn infants and a comparison with the occlusion method.

Evaluation of protein-denaturing immunoassays for avidity of immunoglobulin G to rubella virus.

Immunoassays have been recently developed that measure the avidity of IgG antibodies to complex microbial antigens and are suitable for serologic diagnosis of infectious diseases. In these avidity ELISAs, protein-denaturing agents are applied either as diluents of patient sera to prevent the immune complexing of IgG (diluting principle), or the preformed complexes are treated with the protein denaturants (eluting principle). We compared four protein denaturants previously used in such assays, in a diagnostic avidity ELISA for rubella IgG.

Tumor cell procoagulant and urokinase expression in carcinoma of the ovary.

Background: An association between cancer and increased blood coagulation has been observed for many years. Generally, there is an equilibrium between the coagulation system (fibrin deposition) and the fibrinolytic system (degradation of fibrin by enzymes). However, in malignant disease such as ovarian carcinoma, this equilibrium is disrupted, resulting in the abnormal activation of coagulation or hypercoagulability.

Transcription of the histone H5 gene is regulated by three differentiation-specific enhancers.

Histone H5, an early marker of the avian erythroid lineage, is expressed at low levels in early erythroid precursors and at higher levels in more mature cells. We show that the increase in H5 expression is due to transcriptional activation of the H5 gene following differentiation of precursor CFU(E). We have found and characterized two upstream enhancers, E1 (between -2233 and -1878 from the site of transcription initiation, +1) and E3 (between -1321 and -1163), and confirmed the presence of a downstream enhancer (C.

Prognostic value of early somatosensory evoked potentials in neonates with cystic leukomalacia.

Somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) were performed between 31 and 49 weeks postmenstrual age on 33 neonates with extensive cystic leukomalacia. 27 had periventricular leukomalacia (PVL), while six had deep white matter lesions. All but two of the 27 infants with PVL had a reproducible potential at discharge, being delayed in 11 and within the normal range in 14.

Anterior spinal artery syndrome mimicking infantile spinal muscular atrophy.

A baby with acute fetal distress and severe heart malformation presented with persisting hypotonia and muscle weakness. Clinical, electromyography, and muscle biopsy findings were compatible with anterior horn cell disease. Postmortem study showed widespread ischemic necrosis in the anterior gray matter of the spinal cord.

Distribution of tissue factor pathway inhibitor in normal and malignant human tissues.

Specific antibodies to tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI) were used in immunohistochemical procedures to determine the distribution of TFPI in normal and neoplastic human tissues. TFPI was restricted to megakaryocytes and the endothelium of the microvasculature in normal and abnormal tissues, but was not found in the endothelium of larger vessels or in hepatocytes. TFPI was also detected in macrophages in the villi of term placenta.

Understanding fear of contagion among physicians who care for HIV patients.

Background: Fear of contagion has been identified as a potential deterrent for primary care physicians who would otherwise care for HIV patients. This study examines physicians' fears of occupational HIV transmission and the ways that they cope with those fears.

Methods: Thirty community-based primary care physicians who were caring for HIV patients were interviewed about their experiences with HIV patients and the meanings they ascribe to those experiences.