The inhibition of cholesterol esterification by cyclandelate in transformed mouse macrophages.

Cyclandelate (trimethylcyclohexanyl mandelate) inhibited cholesterol esterification in a transformed mouse macrophage cell line (J774) with a concentration of approximately 20 microM being required for half-maximal inhibition. The intact drug was required for its inhibitory action since neither of its hydrolysis products, trimethylcyclohexanol and mandelic acid, caused any inhibition even at high concentrations. The drug entered the cells very rapidly with inhibition being apparent within the shortest time possible to measure esterification (15 min after drug addition).

A comparison of the amino acid sequence of the serine protease of the fish pathogen Aeromonas salmonicida subsp. salmonicida with those of other subtilisin-type enzymes relative to their substrate-binding sites.

The amino acid sequence of the so-called 70 kDa (actually 64 kDa) serine protease secreted by the Gram-negative fish pathogen Aeromonas salmonicida has been determined. It shows a high degree of homology with the complete sequence of other bacterial serine proteases which, with molecular masses of approximately 30 kDa, are less than half its size. This homology is particularly marked in regions adjacent to the catalytic triad Asp32, His64 and Ser221 of subtilisin BPN'.

Study of 500 patients attending an osteopathic practice.

The experiences of 500 consecutive patients presenting with a new episode of illness at a five practitioner osteopathic practice in an east midlands town is reported. The osteopath completed a structured questionnaire about each patient who then completed two symptom questionnaires, one before treatment and a second four months later. Questionnaires were completed by osteopaths for 495 patients (99.

The cloning and nucleotide sequence of the serine protease gene (aspA) of Aeromonas salmonicida ssp. salmonicida.

The gene for Aeromonas salmonicida serine protease has been cloned into phagemid pTZ18R in two restriction fragments, 2.0-kb PstI and 2.3-kb KpnI, of genomic DNA.

The inhibition of the oxidation of low density lipoprotein by (+)-catechin, a naturally occurring flavonoid.

(+)-Catechin inhibited the copper-catalysed oxidation of human low density lipoprotein (LDL) in a dose-dependent manner with complete inhibition at 20 micrograms/mL. The flavonoid at a concentration of 50 micrograms/mL also inhibited oxidation of LDL induced by the mouse transformed macrophage J774, human monocyte-derived macrophages and vascular endothelial cells isolated from human umbilical cords. LDL modified by copper-catalysed or cell-induced oxidation was endocytosed and degraded by human macrophages at a much greater rate than native LDL.

Effects of NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester or indomethacin on differential regional and cardiac haemodynamic actions of arginine vasopressin and lysine vasopressin in conscious rats.

1. Measurements of changes in renal, mesenteric and hindquarters haemodynamics or cardiac haemodynamics in response to i.v.

Newark Information Sharing Project: lessons for Medical Audit Advisory Groups.

This article describes one method of professional performance review which relies heavily on confidentiality and comparability. For the Newark Information Sharing Project, an association of five practices collected data for two years on registrations, workload, prevention, referrals, prescribing, and disease prevalence. After central collation, the averages and ranges were returned to the individual practices with their position confidentially indicated.

Resource allocation: a plea for a touch of realism.

The problem of resource allocation in health has stimulated much thought and research, in attempts to provide objective, rational methods by which necessary choices can be made. One such method was proposed in a paper in this journal. The authors argued for a utilitarian approach, which they claimed to demonstrate was acceptable to society at large.

Ubiquitin, cell stress and diseases of the nervous system.

Cells, including those of the nervous system, respond to damage by an increase in the synthesis of a family of proteins called 'stress proteins' which are amongst the most conserved gene products in evolution suggesting fundamental roles in cell metabolism. Stress-induced proteins have functions in normal cells, particularly for the importation of protein into membrane-limited organelles, and their up-regulation following stress is thought to be cytoprotective, by protecting proteins and organelles from damage. Ubiquitin is an important protein induced by cell stress.

The patterns of extracellular protein formation by spontaneously-occurring rifampicin-resistant mutants of Staphylococcus aureus.

Spontaneously-occurring rifampicin-resistant mutants of Staphylococcus aureus were isolated on 4% (w/v) Tryptone Soya Agar containing 4 and 40 times the m.i.c.

Inclusion bodies in motor cortex and brainstem of patients with motor neurone disease are detected by immunocytochemical localisation of ubiquitin.

Histological sections of cerebral motor cortex, brainstem, and spinal cord from 10 cases of clinically diagnosed motor neurone disease (MND) and 10 control cases were examined by conventional histology and immunocytochemical methods to localise ubiquitin. Intracytoplasmic inclusion bodies were identified in motor neurones of hypoglossal nuclei and appeared specific for MND. Similar inclusions were found in both large pyramidal cells and small neurones in the motor cortex, and were restricted to 4 cases having the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis form of MND with severe degeneration of corticospinal tracts.

The effect of glucose on the expression of extracellular protein genes by Staphylococcus aureus strain V8.

The bacteria from overnight cultures (20 h) of S. aureus V8 and exp negative mutant K6812-1, grown, aerobically, in 3% (w/v) Tryptone Soya Broth, at 37 degrees C, were resuspended in fresh medium, in the case of the parent strain +/- 1% (w/v) glucose, without change in bacterial density. During a 6 h incubation period there was an approximate doubling of bacterial density, to the same level, in each case.

Ubiquitin gene expression in brain and spinal cord in motor neurone disease.

A restriction fragment of the coding region of a human ubiquitin gene has been used in Northern analyses of RNA prepared from human motor cortex and anterior horn region of cervical spinal cord. The analyses show that there is a substantial increase (approximately two-fold) in the expression of a polyubiquitin gene in motor cortex and spinal cord from patients with motor neurone disease compared to these tissues from control cases. Polyubiquitin gene expression in other organisms is associated with physical or chemical cell stresses.