Translocation of Mg2+-dependent phosphatidate phosphohydrolase between cytosol and endoplasmic reticulum in a permanent cell line from human lung.

Incubation of A549 cells with digitonin for 4 min resulted in the release of over 90% of the lactate dehydrogenase activity into the medium. Approximately 80% of the Mg2+-dependent but only 7% of the Mg2+-independent phosphatidate phosphohydrolase activity was released in the presence of digitonin. Pretreatment of the cells with oleate reduced the efflux of the Mg2+-dependent phosphatidate phosphohydrolase activity to approximately 5% of total.

Primary cytomegalovirus infection in pregnancy. Incidence, transmission to fetus, and clinical outcome.

We studied 16 218 pregnant women from two income groups to determine the incidence of primary cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection and its consequences for the offspring. In the high-income group, 64.5% of the women were seronegative for CMV and 1.

Stimulation of lipogenesis by insulin in swine adipose tissue: antagonism by porcine growth hormone.

The effects of physiological (1, 10 ng/ml) and pharmacological (1,000 ng/ml) concentrations of insulin (INS) and porcine growth hormone (pGH) on lipid metabolism were determined in short-term (2 h) and long-term (26, 50 h) incubations of swine adipose tissue. The short-term effects of three different commercial sources of bovine serum albumin (BSA) on adipose tissue metabolism were also evaluated. Two of the three BSA preparations were found to be unsuitable for inclusion in the short-term incubation buffer because they caused a stimulation of lipid synthesis in adipose tissue and masked the stimulatory effects of insulin.

Antagonism of insulin action in cultured pig adipose tissue by pituitary and recombinant porcine growth hormone: potentiation by hydrocortisone.

The effects of physiological levels of pituitary porcine GH (ppGH) and recombinant pGH (rpGH) on lipogenesis in pig adipose tissue incubated with insulin and hydrocortisone (HC) were measured in short term (2-h) incubations and after long term culture (50 h). HC (50 ng/ml) had no effect on lipogenesis in 2-h incubations; however, HC and insulin (10 ng/ml) maintained the lipogenic capacity of cultured tissue at rates comparable to those in fresh adipose tissue. Neither ppGH nor rpGH (1 and 10 ng/ml, respectively) had any effect in short term incubations.

Embryogenesis and plant regeneration of Medicago spp. in tissue culture.

Ten cultivars and breeding lines from two species of alfalfa (Medicago media and M. sativa) were screened for their ability to produce embryos and plantlets from the root and hypocotyl under three different tissue culture protocols. The three protocols differed in basal salt composition, vitamins, hormones and cytokinin additions.

Mg2-dependent phosphatidate phosphohydrolase of rat lung: development of an assay employing a defined chemical substrate which reflects the phosphohydrolase activity measured using membrane-bound substrate.

An assay of pulmonary phosphatidate phosphohydrolase activity has been developed that employs a chemically defined liposome substrate of equimolar phosphatidate and phosphatidylcholine. Enzyme assays employing this substrate resolved two distinct activities based upon their requirements for Mg2+. Assays were performed in the presence and absence of 2 mM MgCl2 and the Mg2+-dependent phosphatidate phosphohydrolase activity calculated by difference.

Dietary sodium and arterial blood pressure: evidence against genetic susceptibility.

Thirty five subjects with both parents in the top third of their age specific blood pressure distributions and 31 subjects with both parents in the bottom third of their blood pressure distributions restricted their intake of sodium for eight weeks while taking part in a double blind, randomised crossover trial of supplements of sodium and placebo. A comparison of two periods of four weeks at different intakes of sodium showed no differences in blood pressure in either the groups as a whole or the subgroups who complied best with the diet and tablets. In the compliant subgroups mean urinary sodium excretions were above 120 mmol(mEq) and below 50 mmol/day.

Alterations in the distribution and activity of transglutaminase during tumour growth and metastasis.

Transglutaminase activity and subcellular distribution have been examined in both normal and tumour tissue. Subcellular fractionation of rat liver demonstrated a bimodial distribution for transglutaminase between the particulate (approximately 40%) and cytosol (approximately 60%) fractions. Isolation of enriched plasma membrane fractions indicated the presence of membrane associated transglutaminase activity which co-distributed with that of 5'-nucleotidase and Na+/K+-ATPase.

The role of Mg2+-dependent phosphatidate phosphohydrolase in pulmonary glycerolipid biosynthesis.

Rat lung microsomes washed with increasing concentrations of NaCl show a displacement of protein from microsomes to the wash supernatant. Among the proteins removed from the microsomal surface was the Mg2+-dependent phosphatidate phosphohydrolase, while the Mg2+-independent activity remained associated with the microsomes. The Mg2+-dependent activity could be quantitatively assayed in the wash supernatant.

Epidural analgesia and instrumental delivery.

In patients given epidural analgesia who had singleton vertex vaginal deliveries the normal delivery rate was 57%, compared to 80% in all this group. The increase in instrumental delivery rate could partly be accounted for by parity (primigravidae are over-represented in the epidural group), by obstetric and medical indications for epidurals, and by the need for sitting top-ups to relieve perineal pain. There remained a small population of patients in whom epidurals may have contributed to the need for instrumental delivery.

Dietary sodium restriction for mild hypertension in general practice.

Eighteen patients with stable mild hypertension (mean blood pressure 144/93 mm Hg) restricted their sodium intake for eight weeks while taking part in a double blind randomised crossover trial of slow sodium and placebo tablets. Mean 24 hour urinary sodium excretion was 143 mmol(mEq) during the period on slow sodium and 87 mmol during the period on placebo. Five patients were unable to reduce their sodium intake below 120 mmol, but the others had a mean 24 hour urinary sodium excretion of 59 mmol during the period on placebo.

Evaluation of optically projected x-ray images from an elastomer-based ionographic system.

In ionographic imaging, the ions produced in a high-pressure, high-Z gas are normally collected on an insulating foil. If a deformable dielectric gel is used as a collecting electrode, then the electrostatic image can be visualized by optically projecting the gel deformation onto a screen. In the present work, we have evaluated the imaging performance of such an ionographic system in terms of its sensitivity and resolution capabilities.

Effects of in vitro incorporation of cholesterol and cholesterol analogues into rat platelets.

Cholesterol and analogues of cholesterol bearing shorter side chains were incorporated into rat platelet membranes by incubation with sterol-rich liposomes in vitro. Cholesterol-enriched platelets showed increased aggregability to collagen compared with controls. Platelets containing the cholesterol analogues pregn-5-en-3 beta-ol and chol-5-en-3 beta-ol were even more sensitive to aggregation and could aggregate spontaneously on stirring.

Congenital cytomegalovirus infection: The relative importance of primary and recurrent maternal infection.

We studied the incidence of primary and recurrent cytomegalovirus infection in 3712 pregnant women--2698 of middle to high income and 1014 of low income--to determine whether there were differences in the effects on the fetus. In the higher-income group, 1203 women (45 per cent) did not have antibodies to cytomegalovirus and were therefore susceptible to primary infection, as compared with 179 women (18 per cent) of low income. Congenital infection occurred more often (1.

Temperature-dependent effect of edetate disodium on neomycin stability.

When heated at temperatures in excess of 100 degrees, the stability of neomycin in aqueous ophthalmic formulations was improved by the addition of edetate disodium (0.01%). As the exposure temperature was reduced, the degree of stability enhancement diminished until the effect was reversed, and addition of edetate disodium was detrimental to neomycin stability in solutions stored at 30 degrees.

All our royal yesterdays.

Edinburgh's Royal Infirmary has played an important part in Scotland's medical history. When it opened in 1729 it was to become the largest in the United Kingdom. Now, 250 years later, it enjoys an unparalled reputation of housing all that is best in British medicine.

Ageing Britain: we must not drag our feet.

One of the essential ingredients for an active old age is healthy, comfortable feet, but there are not enough trained chiropodists to serve existing demand and the DHSS' projected three per cent growth in chiropody services won't do anything to change this.

Dynamic nuclear-medicine image display system using standard multiformatter images.

There is much interest in visualizing dynamic physiological function using nuclear-medicine techniques. In particular, these methods are used in cardiac studies, but it is likely that many other functions will be better visualized with cinematographic-type displays. A new instrument is described which takes a sequence of images, records on a single sheet of film by standard formatting devices and, by means of digitally controlled mirrors, projects them in rapid sequence onto a screen to produce the dynamic movie display.

A technique for the handling and dispensing of Xe-127: concise communication.

Xenon-127, which provides photon energies better suited to the Anger camera and reduces radiation dosage to the patient compared with Xe-133, has become commercially available from Brookhaven Laboratories. Its higher cost and longer shelf-life require improved handling and dispensing of shipment ampoules containing gas of high specific activity. The technique described permits individual doses to be prepared for gaseous administration, or dissolved in saline for i.

Specificity and inhibition studies of Armillaria mellea protease.

The action of Armillaria mellea protease has been evaluated on a number of polypeptide substrates. It has been shown to split the Pro7-Lys8 bonds in both native and oxidised lysine-vasopressin and the Ser11-Lys12 bond in glucagon. No other splits were detected in these substrates.

A simple isodose plotter using a rectilinear radioisotope scanner.

An inexpensive isodose plotter is described which uses major items already present in most radiology departments. A rectilinear scanner provides scanning motions and plotting table and two electrometers are used to measure the currents from silicon diodes used as reference adn probe detectors. A simple box of electronics, incorporating an integrated ratio circuit and 13 integrated circuit comparators, interfaces the electrometers to the scanner's printing mechanism.