Assessment of patient decision-making capacity in the context of voluntary euthanasia for psychic suffering caused by psychiatric disorders: a qualitative study of approaches among Belgian physicians.

Objective: In Belgium, people with an incurable psychiatric disorder can file a request for euthanasia claiming unbearable psychic suffering. For the request to be accepted, it has to meet stringent legal criteria. One of the requirements is that the patient possesses decision-making capacity.

Structure of the Haemophilus influenzae uvr-1+ gene: homology with other uvrC-like genes and characterization of the Haemophilus influenzae uvr-1 and uvr-2 mutations.

A 3.9 kb Haemophilus influenzae genomic DNA fragment was cloned in plasmid pUC9 that partially complemented the ultraviolet light sensitivity (UVs) of Escherichia coli uvrC mutant hosts. This fragment also complemented the UVs of H.

The sequence of the Haemophilus influenzae mutB gene indicates it encodes a DNA helicase II-like protein.

A 6.2-kb Haemophilus influenzae genomic DNA fragment which partially complemented both the mutator and ultraviolet light sensitive (UVs) phenotypes of the H. influenzae mutB1 mutant was isolated.

Cloning and characterization of the Haemophilus influenzae mutB gene.

The Haemophilus influenzae mutB+ gene complements Escherichia coli uvrD mutants. The E. coli uvrD+ gene complements H.

Cloning, characterization, and DNA base sequence of the high-level streptomycin resistance gene strA1 of Haemophilus influenzae Rd.

The high-level streptomycin resistance strA1 gene of Haemophilus influenzae Rd was cloned in plasmid pAT4 as a 2.1-kbp EcoRI insert. It was later replaced in pAT4 by the wild-type strA+ gene.

Cloning and characterization of the Haemophilus influenzae Rd rec-1+ gene.

The Haemophilus influenzae Rd rec-1+ gene was cloned from a partial chromosomal digest into a plasmid vector as a 20-kilobase-pair (kbp) BstEII fragment and then subcloned. The smallest subclone with rec-1+ activity carried a 3.1-kbp EcoRI fragment.

Isolation and characterization of a UV-sensitive mutator (mutB1) mutant of Haemophilus influenzae.

The mutB1 mutant of Haemophilus influenzae is very sensitive to UV radiation but only slightly sensitive to methylmethane sulfonate or N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine. Cultures of mutB1 cells contain high numbers of spontaneous mutants and show hypermutability after exposure to the latter mutagen. Normally high-efficiency transforming markers, as well as low-efficiency ones, transform mutB1 recipients at similarly low efficiencies.

Effect of glycerol on plasmid transfer in genetically competent Haemophilus influenzae.

The small plasmid pAT4 transformed at characteristically low frequencies those competent Haemophilus influenzae Rd strains that had no DNA homology with this plasmid. Transformation was increased up to 100 times, however, when the recipient cells were exposed to 30% glycerol before plating for transformants. Expression of plasmid resistance markers was then immediate.

Homology-facilitated plasmid transfer in Haemophilus influenzae.

The 8 kbp plasmid pAT4 transformed Haemophilus influenzae Rd cells at low frequencies. Transformation was increased up to 100 times, however, when the recipient cells carried a DNA segment in either their chromosome or in a resident plasmid that was homologous to at least part of plasmid pAT4. Linearized plasmid DNA molecules did not transform cells without DNA homology; they efficiently transformed homology recipients, but only when the cuts had been made in the region of shared homology.

Effect of glycerol on Haemophilus influenzae transfection.

Competent Haemophilus influenzae bacteria were exposed to purified phage HP1 DNA and then plated for transfectants (PFU). When 32% (final concentration) glycerol was added before plating, between 10- and 100-fold more transfectants were observed. Glycerol had no significant effect on transfection with DNA from single or tandem double lysogens.

Transfer of genetic information within a colony of Haemophilus influenzae.

Different Haemophilus cultures were mixed and then spotted onto an agar plate. These mixed colonies were incubated at 37 degrees C and then scored for the presence of recombinants. It was found that conjugative plasmids transferred very efficiently and quickly under these conditions, but only between cells of the same species.

Repair of methyl methane sulfonate-damaged phage by Haemophilus influenzae.

Seven mutants of Haemophilus influenzae strain Rd (mmsA-) have been isolated that are more sensitive to methyl methane sulfonate (mms) than recombination-deficient (recA-) mutants. The mutations cotransformed about 25% with the strA locus while the five studied clustered tightly; they are all probably allelic. The mutants are not sensitive to ultraviolet radiation, X-rays, or nitrous acid.

Addition, deletion, and substitution of long nonhomologous deoxyribonucleic acid segments by genetic transformation of Haemophilus influenzae.

A complete EcoRI digest of Haemophilus influenzae phage HP1 deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was mixed with incomplete digests of various H. influenzae R plasmids, sealed with T4 ligase, and transformed into an HP1 lysogen. Most of the chloramphenicol- and tetracycline-resistant transformants did not produce phage although they possessed all the phage genes examined.

Mechanism of additive genetic transformation in Haemophilus influenzae.

Transforming deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) preparations from Haemophilus influenzae Rd strains carrying a chromosomally integrated, conjugative, antibiotic resistance transfer (R) plasmid were exposed to ultraviolet radiation and then assayed for antibiotic resistance transfer on sensitive wild-type Rd competent suspensions and on similar suspensions of a uvr-1 mutant unable to excise pyrimidine dimers. No host cell reactivation of resistance transfer (DNA repair) was observed. Parallel experiments with ethanol-precipitated, heated, free R plasmid DNA preparations gave much higher survival when assayed on the wild-type strain compared to the survival on the uvr-1 strain.

Mechanism of Haemophilus influenzae transfection by single and double prophage deoxyribonucleic acid.

Whole phages HP1 and HP3, vegetative-phage deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), and single and tandem double prophage DNA were exposed to ultraviolet radiation and then assayed on a wild-type (DNA repair-proficient) Haemophilus influenzae Rd strain and on a repair-deficient uvr-1 strain. Host cell reactivation (DNA repair) was observed for whole-phage and vegetative-phage DNA but not for single and double prophage DNA. Competent (phage-resistant) Haemophilus parainfluenzae cells were normally transfected with H.

Bromouracil-induced mutagenesis in a mismatch-repair-deficient strain of Haemophilus influenzae.

Cells of wild-type Haemophilus influenzae and of a mismatch-repair-deficient mutant (hex-) were grown in a chemically defined medium containing either thymidine or 5-bromodeoxyuridine (BUdR). Spontaneous mutation frequencies to resistance against 3 antibiotics observed for the thymidine cultures were 10-30 times higher for the hex- mutant. The mutation frequencies observed for the BUdR hex- culture were increased by another 10 times while those for the wild-type suspension did not differ from the frequencies seen in the thymidine medium.

Tetracyclin-stimulated expression of ampicillin resistance in Haemophilus influenzae.

Tetracycline at a low concentration stimulated the expression of ampicillin resistance in certain strains of Haemophilus influenzae.

Chromosomally integrated conjugative plasmids are common in antibiotic-resistant Haemophilus influenzae.

Twenty-three highly antibiotic-resistant strains of Haemophilus influenzae and two of Haemophilus parainfluenzae without detectable large plasmids were examined for conjugative transfer of their resistance to H. influenzae strain Rd or to other strains. Very inefficient transfer was observed for 18 H.

A hex mutant of Haemophilus influenzae.

A mutant of Haemophilus influenzae which does not discriminate between low efficiency (LE) and high efficiency (HE) markers has been isolated. The mutant does not differ wild type in its sensitivity to ultraviolet radiation, methyl methanesulfonate (MMS) mitomycin C, and nitrous acid. Spontaneous mutation frequencies for three loci studied are 10- to 30-fold higher in the mutant than in the wild type strain.

Plasmid transfer in Haemophilus influenzae.

Twenty-nine strains of Haemophilus influenzae highly resistant to ampicillin, chloramphenicol, or tetracycline were examined for the presence of plasmids. Agarose gel electrophoresis of ethanol-precipitated cell extracts revealed large plasmids in 11 strains, of which 7 were conjugative. Plasmid transfer by conjugation between isogenic strains was quite efficient, but transfer between different serotypes was nearly always much more inefficient.

On the nature of nontypable Haemophilus influenzae.

193 Haemophilus cultures, including 71 nontypable H. influenzae isolates, were examined with respect to phage HP1 sensitivity, lysogeny for this and for other phages and for excretion of bacteriocins. Fifty of the 71 nontypable cultures were sensitive to phage HP1 but only three produced plaques.