Performance of skin biopsies by general practitioners.

Objective: To evaluate and appraise skin biopsies performed by general practitioners and compare their performance with that of hospital doctors.

Design: Retrospective analysis of histology records.

Setting: University hospital.

Lack of C-erbB-2 protein expression in pulmonary carcinoid tumours.

To determine if amplification of the C-erb-B2 proto-oncogene could be correlated with prognosis in carcinoid tumours, 49 pulmonary carcinoid tumours (26 typical, 23 atypical) were examined using a polyclonal antibody to the C-terminal peptide of the C-erb-B2 protein sequence. No C-erb-B2 gene product could be shown: the demonstration of C-erb-B2 does not seem to help, therefore, in determining diagnosis or prognosis in pulmonary carcinoid tumours.

Criteria to evaluate bone mineralization in cattle: II. Noninvasive techniques.

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the capabilities of dual photon absorptiometry (PA), radiographic photometry (RP), and ultrasound (U) to estimate bone mineral content (BMC) and bone strength of a group of bovine third metacarpals (McIII). Metacarpals were chosen for evaluating BMC and bone strength because of their accessibility and susceptibility to biomechanical stress. The right and left McIII of 14 Angus heifers (24 to 32 mo of age) were collected at slaughter and all soft tissues (including periosteum) were removed.

Criteria to evaluate bone mineralization in cattle: I. Effect of dietary phosphorus on chemical, physical, and mechanical properties.

Fourteen Angus heifers (210 +/- 6 kg initial BW) were allotted randomly to either a low P (LP: .12% P, DM basis) or an adequate P (AP: .20% P, DM basis) diet fed for 14 to 16 mo under drylot conditions on concrete floors to determine the influence of dietary P on chemical, physical, and mechanical properties of bone.

Dietary phosphorus concentrations related to breaking load and chemical bone properties in heifers.

Effects of dietary P on breaking load and chemical properties of bone were evaluated in growing beef heifers. Initially, 14 weaned Angus heifers received ad libitum a low P diet (.10% P dry basis) for 270 d.

Nucleolar organiser regions in normal, hyperplastic, and neoplastic endometria.

Nucleolar organiser regions (NORs) can be visualised by a silver stain that shows NOR-associated proteins as black intranuclear dots (AgNORs). NORs are loops of DNA that transcribe to ribosomal RNA, and the number of AgNORs is thought to reflect cellular proliferative activity. A study of AgNOR counts in normal, hyperplastic, and neoplastic endometria is reported.

Effects of alpha and beta adrenoceptor blocking drugs and ACE inhibitors on long term glucose and lipid control in hypertensive non-insulin dependent diabetics.

Long-term glycaemic control measured by glycosylated haemoglobin concentration was compared in hypertensive NIDD's taking placebo, alpha-blockers, beta-blockers (alone and in combination) and an ACE inhibitor (enalapril) each for 4 months. Alpha-blockade caused no deterioration in long-term glycaemic control in NIDD's. Beta-blockers caused a deterioration in glycaemic control in NIDD's (with some adverse effects on lipid profile).

p21 ras protein expression in benign and malignant human breast.

The ras oncogenes encode for GTP binding and GTPase active proteins of relative molecular mass 21,000 (p21ras) which are involved in the transduction of stimuli for cell proliferation. There have been conflicting reports about the detection and significance of expression of p21ras protein in human breast disease as determined by immunohistochemistry. The antibody Y13-259, which detects a single protein of Mr 21,000, has been applied immunohistochemically to frozen sections of normal, benign proliferative breast, fibroadenomas, and carcinomas.

Fetal calf serum-injected F1 mice spontaneously generate specific anti-parental cytotoxic T lymphocytes in in vitro culture.

Spleen cells from adult (BALB/c x AKR/J)F1 mice primed in vivo with fetal calf serum (FCS) can spontaneously generate anti-parental AKR/J cytotoxic T cells (CTL) in a 5-day in vitro culture containing 5% FCS. This response is distinguished by the following features: (i) it is anti-parental but not anti-self, and (ii) it has specificity for the Kk parental determinant as shown by mapping studies on a variety of targets and antiserum-blocking experiments. Although specifically elicited by FCS and mediated by FCS-induced T-helper cells, it is ascertained that this cytotoxicity is not directed against Kk components modified by absorbed FCS as shown by cold-target competition studies.

Evaluation of personal protection methods against phlebotomine sand flies including vectors of leishmaniasis in Panama.

Three personal protection methods were evaluated against phlebotomine sand flies in Panama. Skin applications of five selected repellents including deet (N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide) provided a mean coefficient of protection (CP) of 99.2% against the attack of at least three sand fly species.

The role of suppressor T cells in the expression of autoimmune haemolytic anaemia in NZB mice.

The course of haemolytic anaemia in NZB mice has been altered by injection of spleen cells from diseased mice into younger ones before the onset of clinical disease. Recipients greater than 6 weeks of age developed early-onset autoimmune disease, recipients less than 6 weeks of age developed early-onset autoimmune disease, recipients less than 6 weeks of age recovered from early induced disease and showed a delay in the onset of spontaneous disease as compared with untreated NZB mice. This delay was due to the induction in the young mice of splenic suppressor cells.