An apparatus for indirect measurement of perceived distance. Two methods of measuring perceived distance are contrasted. One of these, called a direct method, accepts the observer's direct response to perceived distance as a valid measure of the distance perceived. The other, called an indirect measure, uses the observer's direct response to a perception that is not perceived distance but which has a known relation to perceived distance in order to calculate the distance perceived. There are indications that the direct measure of perceived distance provided by the verbal report sometimes will be modified by cognitive factors. A procedure and apparatus for an indirect measure is suggested which is likely to be free of the cognitive effects found in verbal reports of distance. This apparatus adjusts the distance around which the line-of-sight to the object pivots as the head is moved laterally. The pivot distance at which no apparent motion of the object occurs with head motion is a measure of the perceived distance of the object.


Necker cube reversal: sensory or psychological satiation? 24 students, 5 male and 19 female, were used in a repeated-measures factorial design to test two theories of Necker cube reversal. It was hypothesized that cubes with complete contours and high figure-ground contrast would reverse at faster rates than cubes with incomplete contours and low contrast if a sensory satiation theory (Köhler & Wallach, 1944) is valid, but at the same rate if the satiation of an orientation theory (Orbach, Ehrlich, & Health, 1963) is correct. High contrast was achieved with black contours on white grounds and vice versa, low contrast with gray contours on black and white grounds. Cubes with complete contours, and stimuli in which only the eight corners of the cube were visible through 18-mm holes superimposed upon the complete cube, provided the contour variable. The results showed a higher reversal rate for cubes with complete contours but no contrast effect. The results were interpreted as supporting a sensory satiation theory.


Transcendental Meditation and fine perceptual-motor skill. 30 college male meditators had a 20-min. meditation followed by a 6-min. waking phase prior to 5-min. continuous practice on the pursuit rotor task. This was followed by a 4-min. rest then a further 2-min. of pursuit rotor practice. A similar group of college males who were non-meditators (N = 30) followed the same procedures except that instead of meditating they sat quietly for the initial 20-min. period. The expectations that Transcendental Meditation would (a) facilitate learning and performance; (b) cause less within-subject variability; and (C) cause less reactive inhibition, (c) cause less reactive inhinition, were not upheld by the results. With the exception of performance, which was significantly lower for the meditators, the two groups were no different. Thus, it appears that certain reported physiological and psychological benefits that are attributed to the practice of Transcendental Meditation (such as less anxiety, greater consistency, more awareness, altertness, and attention) are not manifested in the present behavioral test of perceptural-motor function. In fact, in terms of performance, the meditators seemed to be at a disadvantage.


Amount of verbal information and ear-differences in 5- and 6-year old boys and girls. Tow experiments were performed. The first was to determine the effects of varying the amount of information in verbal instructions presented monaurally on differences between ears and sex in 5-yr.-old boys and girls. Verbal instructions were given for the performance of a visual-motor task. The results indicated that the amount of verbal information affects ear-asymmetry in girls and not boys. The second experiment was performed to determine the effects of varying the amount of verbal information in verbal instructions presented monaurally on differences between ears, sexes, and reading ability of 6-yr.-old boys and girls. The findings indicated that above average readers performed better than below average readers. Ear-asymmetry was observed across sex and reading abilities for sentences containing 7 and 8 stimulus attributes. No ear-asymmetry was observed in sentences containg 9 stimulus attributes. The results appear to support the progressive lateralization hypothesis which states that ear-asymmetry is dependent on task conditions. The results also support sex differences in the development of brain lateralization.


Visual serial search across number and letter sets. To discover whether visual serial search time for numbers differed significantly from time for letters, a repeated-measurements design was used with 24 undergraduate women. Performance on number targets 0 to 9 was significantly moe rapid than performance on the letter targets A to J, I to R, or Q to Z. By controlling confounding effects due to redundancy, the possibility that the outcomes might be related to the balance of linear and curvi-linear target features was strengthened.


Effects of postinatal stress on visual and auditory evoked potentials. Maturation of visual and auditory evoked potentials (mainly the P3 wave) of 10 controls and of 10 infants exposed to recurrent postnatal stressful events (crying spells lacking organic basis) have been compared. The sourse of maturation of P3 waves may serve as indicator of growth and nature of cognitive processes (including perception). Recurrent srying spells seemed to delay appearance of visual P3 wave, prolonged its latency, and delayed appearance of visible differences in the shape of visual P3 wave upon exposure of the subjects to different visual experiences. A compensatory increase of maturation of the auditory P3 wave appeared. The results suggest that recurrent exposure to stressful events during the early postnatal period may delay the ability of the memory banks of auditory engrams with unusual contents (including memory traces of stresses), a potential basis for future auditory hallucinations.


Music preference as a factor of music distraction. The present study is an experimental analysis of music preference as a factor of music distraction measured by the Stroop tests. Significant differences were found amoung groups given, most preferred music, least preferred music, and no music (quiet). Each group of 10 subjects were randomly chosen from 42 screened subjects. Performance was better without music and better with most preferred than with least preferred music. The results were not consistent with those previously found for the effects of noise upon Stroop test performance.


The 'golden section': an artifact of stimulus range and demand characteristics. Rectangles haveing different ratios between the lengths of their sides were presented in three different ranges: with the golden section either (a) the next to most elongated rectangle, (b) the middle rectangle, or (c) the next to shortest rectangle. Each of 90 subjects had to pick the rectangles they liked best from all three ranges. This basic procedure was run under three different conditions: (a) subjects did not know the stimuli before, (b) subjects knew them from a foregoing psychophysical experiment, (c) the same, with reinforcing the golden section. The rectangles at both extremes of each range were chosen first most often under the first two conditions, whereas the golden section was chosen most often under the last condition. The conclusion is that preference for the golden section is an artifact of the stimulus range and of the demand characteristics of the experimental procedure rather than of any intrinsic aesthetic quality.


An audiovisual test of divided attention. A description is given of an audiovisual reaction time task, performance of which was maximal after 15 min. practice and which lasted at this level for 1 wk. Sensitivity of the test was shown in an adverse effect of inhalation of traces of anesthetic gases. Comparing responses to auditory and visual stimuli, the control auditory reaction times were faster but were lengthened more in the presence of anesthetics than were the visual ones. This test may be useful in other studies of subtle depressant drug effects.


Influence of pretest waiting time and duration of induction on kinesthetic aftereffect. The influence of pretest hand-resting time and induction time on kinesthetic aftereffect was determined for 22 males and females. Aftereffect was assessed with the apparatus of Koehler and Dinnerstein (1947). Three separate tests of aftereffect were administered. Each was preceded by either a 10-, 20-, or 30-min. hand-resting period. Significant differences in aftereffect were not found between pretest conditions. Scores were also determined for varying induction times at each pretest condition. Induction periods totaling 90-, 180-, and 300-sec. were used. Aftereffect was significantly less pronounced following 90 than 180 sec. of induction for the 10-and 20-min. pretest conditions but was the same following 90, 180, and 300 sec. of induction for the 30-min. condition. Results indicated that less than 300 sec. of induction could be used regardless of the duration of the pretest period. However, because the internal validity of the 180-sec. score was significantly better than the 90-sec. score, it was concluded that at least 180 sec. of induction were needed.


Poggendorff illusion as a function of orientation of transversal and parallel lines. Adult human subjects (8 male, 8 female undergraduates) with normal vision were required to judge various orientations of the Poggendorff illusion. The transversal and parallel line-segments of the illusion were manipulated to produce the orientations to be judged. Minimum illusion occured when the transversal line-segment was oriented 90 degrees with respect to true vertical or true horizontal. Magnitude of illusion increased as the transversal line-segment deviated from these positions. The findings suggested that there is a stability of horizontal and vertical orientations. In addition, the hypothesis that visual acuity plays a role in the perception of the Poggendorff illusion was proposed.


Stimulus length and orientation variables interact in peripheral motion perception. To determine the effects of stimulus length and orientation on the perception of motion, 5 experienced subjects responded with a simple reaction to accelerating lines in peripheral vision while fixating on a reference cross at the center of a cathode-ray tube. Three experimental variables were involved: (a) line length, (b) direction of motion, and (c) orientation of the line with respect to the motion. Simple reaction time (RT) was significantly longer for vertical than for horizontal motion and for lines oriented in-line with the direction of motion than for lines oriented perpendicular to the direction of motion. A significant interaction was found between line length and orientation. The results show that the generalization that RT is shorter for small objects than for large objects must be modified in terms of the orientation of the object.


Music preference as a factor of music distraction. The present study is an experimental analysis of music preference as a factor of music distraction measured by the Stroop tests. Significant differences were found among groups given, most preferred music, least preferred music, and no music(quiet). Each group of 10 subjects were randomly chosen from 42 screened subjects. Performance was better without music and better with most preferred than with least preferred music. The results were not consistent with those previously found for the effects of noise upon Stroop test performance.


On interocular transfer of the movement aftereffect in indivuals with and without normal binocular vision. The duration of the movement aftereffect was measured in twenty-four normally binocular subjects and in eighteen subjects who lacked steropsis as a consequence of childhood strabismus. Aftereffects were generated monocularly and binocularly, and compared to those which occurred after adaption of one eye and testing with the other. Normal subjects were categorized on two indices of eye dominance, which involved sighting and rivalry tests. The monocular-aftereffect durations were slightly longer when the dominant eye was use, and interocular transfer from the dominant eye to the nondominant eye was greater than the transfer in the reverse direction; however, these differences were not statistically significant. The results from the strabismic subjects suggested that they fell into two distinct groups: one group (seven of the eighteen subjects) experienced no interocular transfer in either direction; the group did yield some interocular transfer, and it was generally greater after adaptation of the dominant eye and testing the nondominant eye than in the reverse direction. Six of the seven subjects who failed to show any transfer still had misalignment of the visual axes, but this was not the case in any of the subjects exhibiting transfer.


Infant's reaction to changes in orientation of figure and frame. Five groups of five-month-old infants observed the same horizontal arrangement of a three-element stimulus placed in a rectangular frame during a series of habituating trials. These trials were followed by either (i) additional exposure to the familiarized standard, (ii) a tringular rearrangement of the three stimulus elements, (iii) oblique rotation of the three elements, (iv) oblique rotation of the three elements and the frame, or (v) oblique rotation of the frame alone. The infants were responsive to all changes in the spatial arrangement of the three elements and to the rotation of the frame, but were less responsive to the change in the frame. The two effects were not additive.


Steroscopic discrimination in infants.

Steroscopic discrimination in infants. The ability to make discrimiations of binocular disparity was investigated in 2-month-old infnats by two methods: (a)fixation preference between patterns differing in the disparity they contained, and (b)recovery from habituation of high-amplitude sucking when there was a change in disparity in the visual reinforcer. The stimuli were random-dot steregrams. The results for both mthods indicated that at least some infants of this age could perform steroscopic discriminations and that both techniques were feasible for development for longitudinal studies of steroscopic vision.


Spatial constraints on focused attention: beyond the right-side advantage. The subjects listened to one of two simulataneous synthetic speech syllables delivered independently over two loudspeakers. When the loudspeakers were situated at 90 degrees to the left and to the right, right-side advantage was found. When one loudspeaker was situated in front of the subject in the median plane, and the other at one of several azimuthal positions around him an advantage of the frontal position was observed in all cases. On the other hand, performance on the nonfrontal message was affected significantly by its position. The pattern of performance which is presumably to cerebral dominance, an advantage of sources situated in front of the subject over those at his back, and possibly an advantage of sources near the median plane over more remote ones.


[Problems raised by the production of spatial models by blind children: an experimental study]. The ability to reproduct two-dimensional and threee-dimensional spatial models was tested in eighteen blind children, aged seven to eleven with two tasks (block design test and stick test). Performances and strategies were compared with those of seeing children. The results failed to show any important specific errors in blind children; despite blindness some children reached levels of performance as good as those of seeing children, while others completely failed to follow instructions. All such effects were independent of age. The problem is raised of the psychological conditions of space representation, independent of the afferences through which space is perceived.


Pigeons learn the concept of an "A".

Pigeons learn the concept of an "A". Pigeons learned to discriminate between "A"S and "2"s in eighteen different typefaces. They subsequently showed excellent transfer to twenty-two typefaces that they had not previously seen; one pigeon was tested with handwritten letters and responded correctly to them also. Pigeons' responses to "A's and "2's with parts removed suggested that their performance was controlled by several features, none of which alone could be considered necessary or sufficient. A test in which birds were shown other letters of the alphabet supported this conclusion. It appears that the original discrimination was learned as what Ryle calls a "polymorphous concept".


Orientation of the diamond and the square. Two experiments show that the young child copies or places diamond and square shapes in alignment with the surrounding frame. The results are related to the difficulty exhibited by young children in drawing diamonds versus squares.


Intergration and interruption in the masking of form by form. Paris of geometric forms of equal area were presented, one form after another, with interstimulus intervals t ranging from 0 to 250 ms. The subject's task in experiment 1 was to recognise both stimuli. Identification of the form presented first (backward masking) across all values of t was of a nonmonotonic nature, with greatest impairment at values of t from 30 to 60 ms. Identification of the second form presented (forward masking) increased monotonically with increasing t. Different forms were recognised with different effectiveness across all values of t where masking took place. The results are interpreted on the basis of a multiple-stage processing model which assumes interaction between stimuli at different levels at different values of t. In experiment 2 the subject's task was to detect the presence or absence of a predesignated form. This condition yielded monotonic functions for both backward and forward masking. An explanation in terms of attention-dependent masking is given.


Riemannian geometries of variable curvature in visual space: visual alleys, horopters, and triangles in big open fields. Luneburg's model for computation of the curvature K of visual two-dimensional space (horizontal visual surface) was tested with equidistant and parallel alleys in large open spaces. Forty-six subjects used stakes to produce 406 experimental alleys of variable sizes (from 5 x 1 to 240 m x 48m). The results show that, contrary to results obtained under laboratory conditions with small alleys and light spots, the individual curvature of visual space does not have negative constant value. K varies in the interval - 1 to + 1 in ninety computed settings: K greater than 0 (N = 38); K less than 0 (N = 52). Therefore the Lobachevskian gemetry currently attributed to visual space ought to be replaced by a Riemannian geometry of variable curvature. Moreover K is an individual function dependent on the size of the alley (distance from the subject), and visual perception would be better understood as scale-dependent. Independently of Luneburg's model we have tested the constancy of the curvature hypothesis in experiments with horopters and visual triangles. The results obtained invalidate Luneburg's hypothesis also.


Psychohysical hallucinations of orientation and spatial frequency. After inspection of vertical sinusoidal gratings at least three distinct types of subjective or "hallucinated" patterns can be seen on a uniform test field. One type, here called horizontal streaming (H), is already well-known from the work of MacKay. A second type (V) looks like aroughly sinusoidal grating about 1-5 octaves above the adapting spitial frequency. Under optimal conditions a second vertical component appears at about 2 octaves below the adapting frequency. The third category of aftereffect consists of diagonal lines (D) at two orientations (about +/-40 degrees from vertical). The spatial-frequency band at these two orientations appears to be fairly broad, but roughly similar to the adapting frequency. The duration and strength of D increased, while V declined, at higher adapting spatial frequencies. D and V were increasing functions of adapting contrast, while H appeared abruptly only after the highest adapting contrast. H, D, and V are thus all functionally distinct. A schematic model of cortical organization is proposed to account for these phenomena. Pattern channels selective for a given orientation are grouped together with movement channels selective for the orthogonal direction. Antagonism between channels within such "modules" accounts for the streaming effect (H). Inhibition between modules tuned to different orientations and spatial frequencies accounts for the D and V effects: after adaptation of channels in one module, neighbouring module(s) are released from inhibition to produce a spurious response which is seen as a grating-like object in the adapted part of the visual field. During flickering adaptation a "halluncinated" lattice can be seen superimposed on the adapting grating. It apparently consists of Fourier components more remote from the adapting pattern than D and V are. This disinhibitory effect is strong confirmation of the inhibitory model. The regular and highly organized matrix of channels implied by these experiments may constitute a cortical hypercolumn conducting a coarse, piecewise Fourier transformation of the retinal image.


Pleuropneumonia caused by Haemophilus parahaemolyticus. An attempt to control the disease at two progeny testing stations by serological blood testing followed by removal of the seropositive animals and their litter mates. The complement fixation test was employed at two progeny testing stations in an attempt to avoid outbreaks of contagious pleuropneumonia, caused by Haemophilus parahaemolyticus. Pigs were isolated immediately after arrival at the testing stations and blood samples taken for serology. Test groups with seropositive animals were not admitted to the testing station. The sanitation scheme proved successful, in that acute outbreaks were avoided at both stations and the frequency of chronic pleuritis at slaughter fell from appr. 12 per cent to appr. 6 per cent (Station A) and from appr. 8 per cent to appr. 1 per cent (Station B). Accordingly, the complement fixation test may be of value in diagnosing subclinical infections and thus in the control of Haemophilus parahaemolyticus pleuropneumonia.


[Incidence of MMA after prostaglandin-induced parturition (author's transl)]. In a sowherd suffering from high incidence of MMA which demanded an intensive postparturient treatment to reduce baby pig mortality the effect on postparturient diseases of induction of parturition with Prostaglandin was examined. After treatment of 19 sows on day 112 of gestation with 12.5 mg Prostaglandin, parturition in 15 sows took place on an average of 25 hours after injection; the gestation period was 113.1 +/- 0.5 days. Three sows that did not respond to the treatment farrowed 3-6 days after treatment and one sow farrowed few hours after treatment. In a non-treated identical group of animals the gestation period averaged 113.4 +/- 1.5 days. No difference was found between the two groups concerning number of stillborn pgis, baby pig mortality within first eight days of life, incidence of MMA or intensity of postparturient medical treatment.


[A simple flotation and McMaster method (author's transl)]. A simple and hygienic flotation and McMaster method is described (cf. Fig. 1): The faeces sample (3-5 gm) is mixed with flotation fluid (40-60 ml) in a disposable plastic cup (cup I) and a circular piece of gauze, with a diameter equivalent to twice the height of the cup plus the diameter of its base, is placed over the cup. By a similar cup (cup II), with the bottom cut off and slits made in the side, the gauze is pressed down in cup I. By this procedure the faeces suspension will be filtered through the gauze and appear in cup II. After 10 minutes some drops after transferred from the surface of the filtrate to a slide by means of a test tube, which is dipped to the bottom of the filtrate and quickly moved over to the slide. The optimal procedure was worked out with faeces containing faeces containing eggs of Ostertagia ostertagi. Saturated sodium chloride with 50 g glucose per 100 ml was found to be a suitable flotation fluid for demonstrating eggs of commonly occurring parasites, e.g., trichostronglyids and ascarids. The described flotation technique is more efficacious than the one hitherto employed. The technique is usable also in connection with a McMaster method: 4 gm. faeces are suspended in 56 ml flotation fluid. Immediately following filtration, filtrate is transferred to a McMaster counting chamber by means of a Pasteur pipette.


Pleuropneumonia of swine caused by Haemophilus parahaemolyticus. Studies on the protection obtained by vaccination. Sixty-six pigs were vaccinated with formaldehyde-killed 24-hour or 6-hour culture of H. parahaemolyticus with Freund's incomplete adjuvant (1:1 or 3:1) or 15 per cent Alhydrogel. The vaccine was injected subcutaneously when the pigs were 9 weeks old. A booster injection was given 2 weeks later. Two weeks after the booster injection the pigs were challenged by intranasal inoculation of 10(10) organisms. The efficacy of the vaccine was evaluated by clinical observations and autopsy findings. Vaccines with Alhydrogel adjuvant: With 24-hour culture 25 per cent of the pigs were protected. With 6-hour culture the protection reached 67 per cent. Vaccines with Freund's incomplete adjuvant: With 24-hour culture 67 per cent of the vaccinates were protected. With 6-hour culture 90 per cent were protected. It is concluded that a 6-hour culture of H. parahaemolyticus is superior to an older culture in immunizing power. Vaccine with Freund's incomplete adjuvant caused severe local reaction with persistent granuloma formation. For that reason it is questionable whether this vaccine will be accepted for field use. H. parahaemolyticus could be found in the respiratory tract, also of animals that were protected by vaccination. Further studies on the significance and duration of the carrier state in this infection are required.


Experience of the efficacy of equine influenza vaccinations. In 1974, a very extensive influenza/A/equi 2 epidemic broke out in the Finnish horse population. To study the efficacy of influenza vaccinations a questionnaire was sent after the epidemic to all Finnish veterinarians. The answer material was selected to contain only stables which had had clinically typical cases. The material consisted 234 unvaccinated and 629 vaccinated horses. In the latter group 466 horses were vaccinated adequately. The results of the study showed that of the unvaccinated horses 212 (91%) and of the adequately vaccinated horses only 42 (9.4%) contracted clinically typical influenza. On the other hand, in the group of horses vaccinated irregularly or only once before the epidemic the disease prevalence was about the same as for the unvaccinated animals. Thus, the equine influenza vaccines used in Finland had a surprising good efficacy if they were used according to instructions.


[Value of the fractionation of serum immunoglobulins for the diagnosis of rubella infection in pregnant women. Critical study]. The authors present the results of fractionation by ultracentrifugation in the identification of rubella antibodies in 20 vaccinated children and 389 pregnant women suspected of having rubella. Testing for specific IgM was constantly positive when an exanthematous disease was seen in association with a significant increase an antibody level as measured by standard techniques, making questionable the reed of fractionation under such circumstances. By contrast, however, the shortest delay in collection of the first sample of serum renders fractionation essential. Alone, it made possible the diagnostic of rubella in patients in whom the first serum, although collected within 3 to 5 days after the rash, had the same antibody level as a second serum collected later. Whilst fractionisation requested for contact only without rash did not reveal specific IgM, positive results were obtained rarely in sera with a high antibody level on routine examination. The very uncertain significance of these last results, the frequency of cases of recent rubella with very modest antibody levels and the occasional finding of duodtful results, render the authors highly sceptical as to the value of fractionisation in the presence of a high serum level on routine examination in a pregnant woman.


[A phonomecanographic test of hyperthyroidism]. Systolic intervals may be studied by phonomechanography. This provides data regarding the function of the left ventricle. In the absence of any problem of intraventricular conduction or valvular lesion, such information is particularly valuable. Thyroxine impregnation, whetHer active directly and/or by catecholamine hypersecretion, results in cardiac hyperkinesia which is reflected not only by tachycardia but also a shortening penetration time and contraction of the ventricular muscle. This shows itself within systole as a change in the relation between the duration of the pre-ejection phase (PPE) and the ejection phase. The first decreases whilst the second remains normal and their ratio changes, PPE/E changes from a normal value of 0.34 +/- 0.04 to 0.25 +/- 0.03. These tests are not only of value in diagnosis but also make it possible to observe the effects of treatment. It is certain that a true phonomechanographic syndrome of cardiac hyperkinesia may be described. The commonest, though not the only, aetiology is hyperthyroidism.


[Death or absence of the father. Its role in the genesis of psychotic process happening between 15 and 25 years]. A retrospective study of the case records of 215 patients developing an acute or chronic psychotic process between the ages of 15 and 25 years indicated that the father had died or disappeared during childhood in 25% of cases, a figure of 7% being found for a control group - a highly significant statistical difference. By contrast, there was no statistically significant difference in the disappearance of the mother between the two groups. The date of death (or disappearance) of the father occurred at three particular periods - at birth, towards the age of 5 and at 11 or 12 years. The authors' discussion concerns the convergence of the results of this statistical approach of the past history of psychotic patients with certain psychodynamic interpretations of psychosis.


Ring current shielding effects in nucleic acid double helices. Values of ring current shielding in parts-per-million have been calculated for double helical nucleic acids in the A-RNA (RNA-11), A' -RNA (RNA-12) and B-DNA geometries. Atomic coordinates determined previously from x-ray diffraction of fibers were used to calculate the positions of protons relative to both nearest and second nearest neighboring bases, including those on the complementary strand. The magnitude of the diamagnetic shielding was then calculated for each aromatic ring. From these calculations tables were constructed for use in determining the shielding expected for carbon-bound and ring nitrogen-bound protons of any double helical nucleic acid sequence. The results are compared with available experimental data for several oligonucleotides and with previous ring current shielding calculations where differences of up to 0.4 ppm are found.


DNA-dependent RNA polymerases from Artemia salina. Subunit structure of polymerase II. RNA polymerase II from larvae of the brine shrimp, Artemia salina, was highly purified by two cycles of DEAE-cellulose chromatography followed by centrifugation through discontinuous sucrose gradients. Gradient fractions were subjected to elctrophoresis is polyacrylamide gels containing sodium dodecyl sulfate. The subunit structure of RNA polymerase II was determined by quantitative comparison of the polypeptides and enzyme activity present in each gradient fraction. The enzyme contains one copy of each of four subunits with estimated molecular weights of 170,000, 130,000, 36,000 and 24,000. The total molecular weight agrees well with the molecular weight estimated for the native enzyme by density gradient centrifugation.


Nucleosomes in metaphase chromosomes.

Nucleosomes in metaphase chromosomes. Previous studies of the structure of metaphase chromosomes have relied heavily on electron micrography and have revealed the existence of a 10-nm unit fiber that is thought to generate the native 23-30-nm fiber by higher order folding. The structural relationship of these metaphase fibers to the interphase fiber remains obscure. Recent studies on the digestion of interphase chromatin have revealed the existence of a regularly repeating subunit of DNA and histone, the nucleosome that generates the appearance of 10-nm beads connected by a short fiber of DNA seen on electron micrographs. It was therefore of interest to probe the structure of the metaphase  chromosome for the presence of nucleosomal subunits. To this end metaphase  chromosomes were prepared from colchicine-arrested cultures of mouse L-cells and were subjected to digestion with stayphylococcal nuclease. Comparison of the early and limit digestion products of metaphase chromosomes with those obtained from interphase nuclei indicates that although significant morphologic changes occur within the chromatin fiber during mitosis, the basic subunit structure of the chromatin fiber is retained by the mitotic chromosome.


Duplex structure formation between oligo(dA)'s and oligo(dT)'s generated by thymine-specific interaction with netropsin. The formation of oligomeric duplex molecules in the presence of the antibiotic netropsin in the series p(dA)n-p(dT)n is demonstrated using low-temperature CD measurements. Addition of Netropsin to mixtures of oligomers generates the same type of CD spectra as observed for poly(dA)-poly(dT) and maintains the duplex structure at temperatures at which base pairing of free oligomers is thermodynamically unstable. The shortest chain length forming a netropsin complex by thymine-specific interaction with the oligopeptide is represented by p(dA)4-p(dt)4. Studies with sequence isomers show that adjacent thymine residues strongly favour the complex formation with the oligopeptide.


[Demonstration total brain infarct with radioisotope angiography]. In the field of organ transplantation and in brain death patients where intensive-care measures may seem superfluous, the demonstration of cessation of cerebral blood flow by X-ray angiography is generally agreed to be the diagnostic procedure of choice to prove irreversible loss of cerebral function. There are, however, certain drawbacks involved in X-ray angiography. Arterial puncture is necessary. Furthermore, the procedure can be time-consuming, thus making the continuation of adequate intensive-care measures more difficult. At the same time the circulatory condition may worsen causing hypoxic damage to the organ to be transplanted. In the present paper, the authors report on 13 patients with clinical signs of brain death where cessation of cerebral blood flow was demonstrated atraumatically by intravenous radioisotope angiography (RIA) using a multicrystal gammacamera (Baird Atomic) and the bolus-injection technique with 99m Tc-pertechnetate. Nine patients had severe brain injuries, 2 patients had brain tumours, 1 patient had encephalitis and 1 patient had suffered prepartal thrombosis of the sinus sagittalis. In all patients EEG recordings were isoelectric. At the time when the RIA was performed systolic blood pressure had decreased to 62-85 mmHg (x = 71 mmHg), while body temperature had declined to 31-36,5 degrees C (x = 34 degrees). According to the present results, which were all confirmed by subsequent bilateral carotid X-ray angiography, total brain infarction is unequivocal when the following criteria are satisfied using RIA: 1. when the radioisotope bolus flows along the common carotid arteries but does not proceed any further than to the base of the skull or around the scalp structures, 2. when, at the moment when the radioactivity outlines the scalp structures, neither the intracranial arteries nor the capillary bed or the venous sinuses are visible, 3. when the time-activity curves across the hemispheres show simply a plateau of low count rate without the activity peak typical for cerebral tracer circulation and 4. when the activity peak, typical for venous outflow, is missing from the time-activity curves for the cervical areas. In 12 patients with extremely reduced cerebral blood flow it was demonstrated that the RIA findings were clearly different from those obtained at brain death. Moreover, not one of 438 other patients undergoing RIA exhibited the same features which were associated with brain death. The authors conclude that RIA involves the same degree of safety as X-ray angiography in the diagnosis of total brain infarction but is superior to the latter when the diagnostic procedure has to be performed quickly, thus reducing the risk of any further damage to a prospective donor organ.


In vitro determination of unbound and total iron-binding capacity in serum by radioiron using a new ion exchange strip. A simplified method for the in vitro determination of TIBC and UIBC in serum using 59Fe was subjected to quality control in the laboratory and clinically studied in duplicate determinations of 185 sera of an unselected patient population. The data obtained were investigated by statistical means (regression, correlation, variance analysis). The precision of the method was evaluated step by step. The results indicate that the radiochemical determination of TIBC values is equivalent to the "indirect" one (UIBC + SI) as far as accuracy is concerned. Advantages of the radiochemical method are discussed.


Significance of renal visualization during bone scanning in Paget's disease. In 17 of 26 patients with extensive, symptomatic Paget's disease poor renal visualization was noted on bone scanning with 99mTc-diphosphonate. Renal function was normal in all patients. The intensity of the renal image proved to be inversely related to the extent and metabolic activity of the Pagetic process. This finding supports the hypothesis that in Paget's disease the balance between skeletal and renal extraction of circulating tracer amy be displaced in favor of the former.


[Thyroid hormones and thyrotropin in liver and kidney insufficiency]. In 22 patients with hepatic or renal insufficiency the serum concentrations of trijodothyronin, thyroxine and thyrotropin and also the T4-binding capacity of TBG were determined. The mean serum T3 concentration was found to be significantly lower in patients with hepatic coma when compared with euthyroid subjects. In the cases of renal insufficiency the serum T3 concentrations were in the normal range. Due to hormone loss through dialysis however, the mean value of the T3 concentrations was slightly lower than the average concentration of normal subjects. The obtained results agree with those of our earlier studies which showed that there are significant differences between liver artery and vein T3 concentrations in serum, whereas no such differences could be ascertained between serum concentrations in renal artery and vein. On the basis of these findings it is assumed that conversion of T4 into T3 occurs predominantly in the liver.


[Albumin kinetics in superior mesenteric artery shock in rats]. 1. After 1-hour-tourniquet of the arteria mesenterical superior of the rat the result is a loss of intravasal fluid into the small intestine. After 2-hour-tourniquet the loss of fluid into the samll intestine can be higher than the volume of plasma circulating at the start of the experiment. During therapy with plasma substitute on base of gelatine (Haemaccel) the volume of content of the small intestine increases further. 2. After 1-hour-tourniquet the content of intravasal albumin is diminished by 26%, after 2-hour-tourniquet by 46%. Under therapy with a plasma substitute the loss of intravasal albumin increases further. 3. After 1-hour-tourniquet a transient accumulation of albumin was found in the wall of the samll intestine which was reduced after 2-hour-tourniquet. 4. The intravasal albumin is excreted in the small and the large intestine. After 1-hour-tourniquet 46% of excreted albumin was found in the small intestine after 2-hour-tourniquet 61%. It can be demonstrated, that under replacement with plasma substitute the result is mainly an "albumin dilution effect". The wall of the small intestine becomes permeable to high-molecular weight substances with an average molecular weight below 60.000. An effective therapy with the plasma substitute of the AMS-shock should, therefore, contain carrier substances with a molecular weight higher than 60.000.


Absorbed radiation dose from radionuclidic impurities in several 123I-labeled radiopharmaceuticals. The radiation dose to patients from RISA, sodium iodohippurate, and rose bengal labeled with commercially available 123I and its accompanying radioimpurities has been studied. The extra radiation dose to target organs was found to range from 29% to 97% that due to 123I alone when the radiopharmaceutical is administered at calibration time. Additional delay in the time of administration increases the relative impurity dose.


Lung morphology in experimental uremia.

Lung morphology in experimental uremia. The investigations were performed on 15 dogs with experimental uremia, but free of overhydration and circulatory insufficiency. Parahilar lungs areas showed numerous atelectatic foci, the peripheral part--conpensatory marginal emphusema. Light microscopy revealed a decreased number of granular cells, electron microscopy the "empty" appearance of the lamellar structures, and decrease or absence of the Hale-positive layer of alveolar lining film. The inhibition of cells controlling the alveolar surgace tension seems to be crucial in the pathomechanism of development of uremic lung lesions.


Serum insulin, pancreatic glucagon and growth hormone levels in response to intravenous infusion of L-arginine in patients with recently detected juvenile diabetes. The secretion of insulin, glucagon and growth hormone was determined in the serum of patients with recently diagnosed juvenile-type diabetes (10 patients) during stimulation by intravenous infusion of L-arginine and was compared with the results found in a group of five healthy persons. The value of the insulinemia was significantly lower in the diabetics as compared with the healthy controls. Serum glucagon levels were higher in all diabetics when fasting and after L-arginine administration as compared with the controls but a significant difference was observed only at the peck of secretion (5 min after L-arginine administration). Growth hormone concentration was slightly higher in the diabetics after secretory stimulation than in the controls, particularly at the peak of secretion (30 and 45 min) but the difference was statistically no significant.


Scanning electron microscopy in medico-legal investigations of hair. The appearance of the hair surface as revealed by scanning electron microscopy is described. Intact human and animal hair, hair after shot and hair treated with thermic energy were the subject of investigation. The authors paid attention to numerous details of the pictures obtained due to high resolving power of scanning electron microscope.


Secretion of growth hormone in the insulin test in various forms of diabetes. In 25 diabetics and 8 controls the insulin hypoglycemia test was performed with subsequent determination of growth hormone secretion by the radioimmunoassay method. The rise of the growth hormone level began earlier and persisted longer in diabetics as compared with controls. Juvenile diabetes was associated with a rapid secretory response of the hormone while in maturity-type diabetes the release of growth hormone in response to stimulation was excessive but delayed. A somewhat lower secretory response was found in diabetes lasting over 5 years as compared with short-lasting diabetes. The observed phenomena were not related to the absolute blood glucose level. Although the phenomenon of growth hormone hypersecretion remains yet to be explained, it seems, however, to be secondary to carbohydrate metabolism disturbance and insulin disorders.


Secretion of growth hormone in the insulin test, and the development of diabetic microangiopathy. Serum growth hormone (HGH) was determined in: 1) diabetics without retinopathy, 2) diabetics with retinopathy and normal creatinine clearance. In diabetes without retinopathy the HGH was higher than in controls, while in the group of cases with retinopathy the HGH level was significantly lower than in the group without vascular changes and in the control group. Cases with retinal vascular changes and reduced creatinine clearance had a significantly higher HGH level as compared with the group with normal clearance, and the dynamics of HGH secretion in the group with reduced clearance differed from those in the remaining groups. This pattern of HGH secretion in the studied groups showed a connection between raised HGH level and impairment of renal function developing when vascular changes appear in diabetics.


Hyperlipoproteinemia (acc. to Fredrickson's classification) in patients with myocardial infarction and imminent infarction. In 500 cases (379 men and 121 women) of ischemic heart disease, including 428 patients with myocardial infarction and 72 -- with imminent infarction, blood lipid levels were determined. Blood samples were taken on fasting, by the end of hospitalization, from patients with myocardial infarction on the 18th-21st day of disease, and from those with imminent infarction after cessation of pain. In 152 patients (30.4%), including 87 with infarction and 65 with imminent infarction, disturbances in the blood lipid pattern were found and classified according to Fredrickson. When expressed as percentage against the material of 152 patients with blood lipid disturbances, type II A was found in 103 cases (67.8%), type II B -- in 25 cases (16.4%), and type IV -- in 24 cases (15.8%). When calculated against the whole material of 500 patients, type II A accounted for 20.6%, type II B -- for 5%, and type IV -- 4.8% of cases.


Prognostic value of central venous pressure in acute myocardial infarction. The investigations were carried out in 296 patients with myocardial infarction (238 men and 58 women) aged 24-91 years, admitted to an intensive care unit on the 1st or 2nd day of the disease. In all patients the catheter for determination of central venous pressure was introduced into the right atrium through the cephalic vein the the first 100 cases, and through the subclavian vein in 196 cases. The catheter was kept in the atrium for 3-4 days. Values of c.v.p. between 50 and 120 mm Hg were accepted as normal.


Effect of inderal on insulin secretion, glycemia and FFA concentration in normal subjects and diabetics. In 20 cases of adult-type diabetes and in 10 healthy controls insulinemia, glycemia and free acids concentration were determined under basal conditions, after glucose load and after administration of inderal and glucose. After intravenous injection of inderal basal insulinemia fell in controls but this fall was statistically not significant, while in diabetics no evident changes of insulinemia were observed. Following inderal injection and oral glucose a statistically significant drop in insulinemia was observed in controls but not in diabetics. In both groups inderal injection was without any significant effect on glycemia before as well as after glucose load. In both groups a significant decrease occurred in the level of free fatty acids and inderal had no effect on it.


Prognostication of the results of immunosuppressive treatment by means of logical dendrite. A logical dendrite was designed for establishing indications for immunosupressive treatment; it was applied in a group of 51 patients with rheumatoid arthritis. A nomogram was constructed for calculation of the expected therapeutic result, on the grounds of the indications, proposed duration of treatment and drug dosage. Comparison of the calculated and actual clinical results of treatment showed that in over 80% of cases the actual results were either consistent with or better than the expected ones. The application of prognostication seems to be particularly useful in the case of long-term treatment with highly toxic agents.


Reaction of lymphocytes to phytohemagglutinin in vitro in hereditary microspherocytosis. The authors report results of investigations on PHA-stimulated blastic transformation of lymphocytes in hereditary microspherocytosis. In 25 patients with this disease including 12 splenectomized cases and 13 non-splenectomized ones a significant decrease of the blastic and mitotic indexes was observed in relation to a control group of 20 subjects. No statistically significant differences were noted, however, between the cases before and after splenectomy. The results indicate that splenectomy is not the only factor impairing blastic transformation in these patients. The authors suggest that in microspherocytosis changes exist not only in the erythrocyte membrane, but that similar changes in the lymphocyte cell membrane may impair the response to phytohemagglutinin (PHA).


Cytochemical studies of peripheral blood granulocytes and lymphocytes in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. Using cytoenzymatic methods the activity of acid and alkaline phosphatase, non-specific esterase and glycogen content in peripheral blood cells were analyzed. A statistically significant rise in the activity of these enzymes was demonstrated in granulocytes and lymphocytes and a low level of glycogen in lymphocytes. Following prednisone treatment a statistically significant decrease was observed in the activity of studied enzymes and a rise in glycogen content.


Effect of antiphlogistic steroids on urinary hydroxyproline excretion in systemic lupus erythematosus. Total hydroxyproline excretion in 24-hour urine was determined in 20 cases of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) before and during treatment. Additionally the excretion of hydroxyproline was determined in 14 patients receiving steroids for various other diseases (endocarditis, thrombocytopenia, acute leukemia, apofocal polyarthritis, ischialgia, spastic bronchitis, pleuritis and Dressler's post-infarction syndrome). The normal hydroxyproline value was established in 40 healthy persons. The normalization of pathologically increased hydroxyproline excretion in patients with SLE during treatment with prednisone in doses from 1.0 to 1.35 mg/kg/daily was associated with remission of clinical symptoms. Large doses of prednisone in pathological processes not primarily affecting connective tissue increased the 24-hour excretion of hydroxyproline and small doses of prednisone had no effect on hydroxyprolinuria.


Experimental studies on the growth of cultured epithelium and endothelium of rabbit cornea exposed to low temperature. On the basis of the investigations performed it was shown that cryoapplication of the cornea by the original Krwawicz's method influences temporarily the proliferative and migratory ability to epithelial and endothelial corneal cells in tissue culture. The endothelium is more sensitive to the action of low temperature and recovers its normal dynamics of growth 10--12 days after application of cold while the epithelium requires for this only 4--5 days. The ability of migration, DNA synthesis and mitosis in conditions of tissue culture of the corneal epithelium and endothelium, after their exposure to low temperature, are not abolished, but they are suppressed for a longer period than the duration of the described histopathological lesions.


Allergic alveolar diseases. Problems in diagnosis and management. One of the diagnostic possibilities to consider when a patient presents with cough, fever, dyspnea, or pulmonary infiltrates is hypersensitivity pneumonitis. Some of the problems encountered in diagnosis of diffuse lung disease are illustrated in two case reports. In one of the cases, interstitial pneumonitis of insidious onset was attributed to inhalation of thermophilic organisms in moldy silage. In the other, the outstanding pathologic feature was bronchiolitis obliterans, and circumstantial evidence pointed to a home humidifier as the source of the problem.


Lung biopsy through the flexible fiberoptic bronchoscope. Peripheral lung lesions are a difficult diagnostic problem. The technique of forceps lung biopsy through the flexible fiberoptic bronchoscope provides potential access to the entire lung. Experience to date documents the procedure's safety and high yield of helpful information.


Office gynecology: fibroids-when not to operate. The mere presence of uterine fibroids is not, since qua non, an indication for their surgical removal. Knowing when not to operate is probably more important for the physician than knowing when to operate. It is easy to fall into diagnostic and therapeutic traps when uterine fibroids are known to be present, especially when they occur concomitantly with a condition such as irregular uterine bleeding, infertility, or pregnancy. The contributions of such conditions to problems in diagnosing and managing fibroids must be kept in mind by the prudent physician; a decision in favor of medical rather than surgical management is often best.


Pediatrics: cervical adenopathy in children. Cervical adenopathies are common in children. The four categories, based on clinical findings are acute unilateral adenitis, acute bilateral adenitis, subacute (chronic) adenitis, and cervical node cancers. Most cases of acute pyogenic adenitis-both unilateral and bilateral-respond well to early antibiotic treatment. Penicillin is the drug of choice unless Staphylococcus aureus is thought to be the infecting organism. S aureus is trated with dicloxacillin or erythromycin. Subacute adenitis due to cat scratch fever usually resolves spontaneously. Nodes due to infection with atypical mycobacteria require excision. Because cervical node cancer is usually asymptomatic, excision and pathologic study should be done for any cervical node persistently enlarged without apparent reason.


Therapy of the hyperlipidemias.

Therapy of the hyperlipidemias. Although the diagnosis of hyperlipidemia is somewhat arbitrary, in that the upper limits of normal are not universally agreed upon, it is clear that the risk of atherosclerosis increases with plasma cholesterol concentration; it may also increase in hyperglyceridemia. We take 220 mg/100 ml as the upper limit of normal for plasma cholesterol and 140 mg/100 ml as the upper limit for triglycerides. Treatment of hyperlipidemia is aimed at reducing the risk of atherosclerosis or arresting its course. Alteration of diet is the first step. If maximal diet therapy does not lower plasma lipids to acceptable levels, drug therapy is added. The decision to treat hyperlipidemia with drugs should be based on a careful weighing of risk vs. benefit for each patient. Because of the rapid change in our knowledge of both the risks and the benefits of therapy, that decision must be reviewed and updated at regular intervals.


[Effects of dextran, gelatine and homologous plasma on circulation in shock caused by severe anemia in the dog]. Irreversible shock is produced in 28 anaesthetized mongrel dogs by withdrawal of erythrocytes and substitution by dextran, gelatine or plasma to an average Hb of 4.5g%. In contrast to other shock models cardiac output and perfusion pressure are not decreased by this preparation. In order to maintain arterial blood pressue above 90 mm Hg significantly more gelatine than dextran or serum has to be infused. There is no difference in hemodynamic responses after treatment with dextran or gelatine respectively. Both groups treated with colloidal solutions have the same survival rate of 38%. In the serum substituted dogs, however,survival rate is significantly greater (83%). Very likely this is due to a greater buffer capacity preventing severe acidosis, which is observed in the animals treated with colloidal solutions.


[Radioimmunological estimation of cardiac glycoside concentration in the plasma]. Radioimmunoassay is a simple method for estimating the concentration of cardiac glycosides in the blood. The technique is described. An condition of the accuracy of the estimation is that the drug levels in blood and tissue have reached equilibrium, since only then will the blood concentration accurately reflect the drug level in the tissues. The therapeutic plasma levels are 0.7 to 2.0 ng/ml for digoxin and 10-30 ng/ml for digitoxin. Indications for estimating the plasma glycoside levels are reviewed; they include suspected digitalis poisoning or intolerance, interaction of glycosides with other drugs and suspected negligence on the part of the patient to take the prescribed dose.


[Porphyria and anesthesia. A case report and a short review (author's transl)]. The most important facts for the anesthesiologist about porphyria are presented on the basis of an own case. The acute abdomen with unusual accompanying symptoms (tachycardia, neurologic and psychic disorders) should rise suspicion of possible porphyria. The clinical diagnosis is most important for the anesthesiologist, because barbiturates may cause fatalities in 50% of the cases. Halothane should be avoided, too. Every suspected case should be carefully investigated including the family. The symptomatic therapy of the severe porphyria-attack is presented in short.


[Radiological lung changes after thoracoabdominal surgery in the lateral decubitus position (author's transl)]. Radiological changes that may occur in the depenent lung when surgery is performed in the lateral position are generally of a transient nature; they disappear when the position of the patient is changed after the operation, but may, in some cases, be demonstrable post-operatively as atelectatic areas. From the second post-operative day onwards, and reaching a peak on the 5th post-operative day, there is an increased incidence of ventilatory disturbances and infiltrations. The course and distribution of these pulmonary disturbances point to post-operative immobilization in the recumbent position as the main causal factor.


[Surgical removal of a cerebral arterial aneurysm complicating renal failure; anaesthesiological and post-operative problems (author's transl)]. A case of cerebral arterial aneurysm associated with renal failure is reported which was treated by surgery. The anaesthesiological and post-operative problems are discussed. Surgery of the aneurysm is urgently indicated in these cases on account of the increased risk of subarachnoid haemorrhage due to heparinization during haemodialysis. Pre-operative replacement of haemodialysis by peritoneal dialysis is advisable to facilitate the treatment of cerebral oedema, maintain the electrolyte and water balance and ensure adequate post-operative enteral and parenteral feeding. The choice of anaesthetic technique, the use of controlled hypotension, the treatment of hypertensive crises, laboratory tests and the post-operative care of these cases are discussed. Experience has shown that from the anaesthesiological point of view there is no contra-indication to neurosurgery or vascular surgery in cases of renal failure provided adequate precautions are taken.


[Guillain-Barre syndrome in children].

[Guillain-Barre syndrome in children]. Twenty two cases of Guillian-Barré syndrome were studied at the Children's Hospital of the City of Morelia (State of Michoacán, México), in a four-year period; such that number represents tow out 1 000 of the patients hospitalized in that length of time. The subject of this paper is to get acquainted with the clinical features of this syndrome in this part of the country, to establish the usefulness of the study of the spinal fluid and to know the evolution of the disease in relation to the treatment with corticoids. In all of our twenty two cases, there were coincidental features with the ones reported by others; eventhough, the statistics of this syndrome in the childhood are few. The dissociation between the amounts of albumin and the count of cells in the spinal fluid confirms the diagnosis, but its abscence is not enough to exclude it. Apparently, the clinical evolution of this disease is not modified by ths use of corticoids. Finally, the most moderns etiopathogenic concepts of this syndrome are reviewed as well as its probable etiological association with the infectious mononucleosis virus (Epstein-Barr's virus).


Phenol extraction of 28 S ribosomal RNA from rat liver cytoplasm. A simple and reproducible phenol method for the isolation of 28 S ribosomal RNA from rat liver cytoplasm, free from poly(A)+/-RNA is described. The procedure is based on the observation that at lower pH of the homogenate (pH 5.5) 28 S ribosomal RNA is extracted, while 18 S ribosomal RNA remains in the interphase layer.


Comparison of methods for separating proteins using bisalbuminemia as a model. Sera from bisalbuminemic chicken-turkey hybrids contain two albumins in equal amounts. These are observed as inherited electrophoretic variants and originate from the respective chicken and turkey parents. Sera from the hybrid birds served as a model system by which fractionating and indentification procedures for evaluating serum albumin variants were compared. The two albumins in the hybrid were isolated with preparative polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) and starch block preparative electrophoresis. Isoelectric focusing of the hybrid albumins resulted in the isolation of the turkey albumin. Interference of ampholines prevented the complete isolation of the chicken albumin. The two albumins in the hybrid have identical molecular weights and cannot be identified by sedimentation coefficient, gel filtration behavior, or sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). Because of the close relatedness the chicken and turkey albumins in the hybrid cross reacted with rabbit anti-hybrid serum as well as with rabbit anti-chicken anti-turkey sera.


Interference by divalent metals in the preparation of soluble intestinal alkaline phosphatase with n-butanal. Certain factors were found to prevent quantitative recovery of soluble alkaline phosphatase from homogenates of chick duodenal mucosa during treatment with n-butanol. Divalent cations such as calcium, manganese and lead interfered when present at 0.1-0.2 mM. Magnesium and zinc were found to reduce enyme recovery when present at 1.0 mM during extraction. These metals had little effect on enzyme activity per se, whether added to the homogenates or enzyme extracts before dilution for assay. However, lead acetate may have a protective or activating effect on phosphatase, at 0.1-10 mM. Other factors affecting the recovery of enzyme activity after butanol solubilization are the state of dilution and pH of the homogenate and individual animal variation.


The binding of asparagine, glutamine and homoserine to human erythrocytes containing hemoglobins S and CS and to soluble hemoglobins S and CS. Tritium labeled asparagine binds to oxyhemoglobin S and to a mixture of hemoglobins C and S in the molar ratio of 3.38:1 and 8.2:1 respectively. From the dialysis equilibrium studies it appears that labeled asparagine does not bind to oxy- or deoxy- hemoglobin A nor to deoxyhemoglobin S. The constant for equilibrium association of asparagine for oxyhemoglobin S is 7.38 x 10(7) M(-1) and for oxyhemoglobin CS 4.8 X 10(4) M(-1) at 23 degrees C. Tritium labeled asparagine is bound to oxyhemoglobin S and CS sufficiently strongly to prevent dissociation under the conditions of gel electrophoresis at pH 9.50. The protein with and without bound asparagine, glutamine or homoserine, is indistinguishable in molecular net charge and size by the criteria of quantitative polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE). Also there were no significant differences in mobility between hemoglobin S and hemoglobin C in the presence and absence of asparagine, glutamine and homoserine as detectable in agar coated cellulose acetate electrophoresis at pH 6.3.


[Diabetes mellitus, arterial hypertension and serum levels of renin]. Plasmatic renin levels were measured in 17 adults patients with diagnosis of diabetes mellitus and systemic arterial hypertension. None of them was under antihypertensive therapy. The results obtained showed lessening of renin levels in 13 cases, normal levels in two cases, no valuable results in one and Significative increase in other. Renal biopsy was performed in 8 patients and in all cases nephropathies were demonstrated; only one of them had normal renin levels. We have concluded that more than 75% of our cases were hyporeninemic hypertensive patients. Our findings are according with other medical papers that have been published before. Finally, we try to explain the mechanisms upon which theorethical causes are based.


[Serum lipids and electrophoresis of lipoproteins in the normal newborn infant]. The levels of plasma lipids and the values of the different electrophoretic fractions of lipoproteins were measured in cord blood of 300 new borns selected at random. The value found are expressed as me +/- S.D. (limits X +/-2s) and were the following: total cholesterol 80.4 +/- 17.5 (limits 45-115) mg./100 ml., LDL cholesterol (by precipitation) 33+/-11 (limits 11-55) mg./100 ml., betalipo-protein (by immunodifusion) 142.7+/-26.4 (limits 90-195) mg./100 ml. and triglycerides 35+/-13 (limits 9-61) mg./100 ml. The figures for the different electrophoretic fractions of lipoproteins were expressed in per cent of the total area and were the following: betalipoproteins 42.9+/-10.3 (limits 22-63%), prebetalipoproteins 3.09+/-2.79 (limits 0-8.6%) and alphalipoproteins 53.8 +/- 9.5 (limits 35-73%). The beta/alpha ratio was 0.91+/-0.33 (limits 0.25-1.6).


Management of metastases to the lymph glands of the neck. The survival rate of matched pairs of patients, one patient in each pair being submitted to prophylactic neck dissection, the other to a policy of "wait and see" has been measured: there was no significant difference in the survival rates of the two groups. Surgery for most patients with a gland in the neck gives better results than radiotherapy, and can produce satisfactory results with such procedures as supraglottic laryngectomy to epiglottic tumours and replacement with the deltopectoral flap for tonsillar tumours. On the other hand, surgery is probably contraindicated for patients with antral carcinoma and a gland in the neck, whom it rarely cures. Surgery does not increase the survival of patients with bilateral glands in the neck (except those with supraglottic tumours) and its contraindicated. Surgery can prolong the survival of patients with nodes fixed to the skin, the mandible or the external carotid artery, and may occassionally cure such patients.


The epidemiology of disasters.

The epidemiology of disasters. Over the last few years there  has been an increasing awareness that some kind of disaster management should be possible. The emphasis is now moving from post-disaster improvisation to predisaster preparedness. The League of Red Cross Societies has increasingly encouraged predisaster planning in countries at risk. A new United Nations agency - United Nations Disaster Relief Office (UNDRO)- has been set up with headquarters in Geneva. Coordination and exchange of information between agencies engaged in disaster relief are becoming the rule rather than the exception, and a number of groups have started with the specific objective of making professional expertise available to disaster management. A number of private initiatives have been taken, meetings have been organized, research centers set up, and research projects launched. The study of disasters needs to be approached on a multidisciplinary basis, the more so since the health component is only one part of the broad disaster problem and, perhaps not the major one. Social scientists, psychologists, administrators, economists, geographers, have been or are conducting a number of studies on natural disasters. These studies have provided new insights and have proved most useful in preparing for disasters and increasing the effectiveness and acceptance of relief operations. This is a vital and challenging field, wide open for research. It is now time for epidemiologists and community health scientists to enter the fray and provide much needed information on which a rational, effective and flexible policy for the management of disasters can be based.


Immune responses to mycobacteria in mice and men. This paper contains discussion of a number of mechanisms which may explain the suppression of the cell-mediated immune response during the phase of dissemination of mycobacterial infection in mice and men. However, it is not yet possible to evaluate the relative importance of these mechanisms, or even to say which are the causes and which are the consequences of that disseminaton.


Synthesis of some quinazolone derivatives structurally related to certain sedatives and hypnotics. The preparation of certain 3-substituted derivatives of 3.4-dihydro-2-methyl-4-oxoquinazoline is described. The synthesis fo a quinazolone-barbituric acid derivative, in which the two constituting moieties are separated by methylene groups, was achieved by reacting 3-[B-haloethyl]-3.4-dihydro-2-methyl-4-oxoquinazoline with sodio malonic ester and subsequent cyclization of the ester so formed with urea. Attempts to introduce the alpha-glutaryl group at the position 3 of the quinazolone ring system via different routes were unsuccessful.


The application of ferrihydroxamic complexes to photocolorimetric determination of drugs. Part 2: Quantitative determination of calcium pangamate (vitamin B15) and its calcium gluconate mixtures. A quantitative method for calcium pangamate (Vitamin B15) and calcium gluconate determination, separately and in mixture, is proposed on the basis of the ferric hydroxamate procedure. The method may also be applied to the determination separately and in mixture, is proposed on the basis of the ferric of both preparations in mixture with various other substances which are not converted into lactone from in acid medium, and which the ferric hydroxamate procedure fails to develop.


The cyclodesulphurization of thio-compounds. Part 12: A new simple method for the synthesis of N-alpha-substituted benzimidazoles from thiourea derivatives. A new facile method has been established for the synthesis of N-alpha-substituted benzimidazoles by cyclodesulphurization of various N-[2-amino]-phenyl-N'-alkyl, -aryl and -aralkylthiourea derivatives with mercuric salts. Besides mercuric chloride, the use of mercuric oxide and mercuric acetate was successful for the first time in effecting ring closure of thio-compounds. The attempted use of acid condensing agents showed phosphoryl chloride to be less efficient than mercuric salts in conducting the cyclization reactions and led to poor yields of cyclized products.


Spectrophotometric determination of certain volatile oils. Part 1: Assay for phenols in volatile oils of clove and thyme. A differential spectrophotometric method was described for the assay of thyme and clove oils. The method is based on the relative absorbance measurement of the thymate or eugenate anions to the respective molecular thymol or eugenol in alcoholic medium. The results of the differential method, compared with those of the conventional method, are more accurate.


A preliminary study of the physical stability of tablets prepared from powders stored under tropical conditions. A study has been made of the effects of storing powders under tropical conditions before compression on the physical stability of the tablets prepared from them, as measured by changes in tablet weight, volume and hardness. Significant changes in stability have been observed and these have been related to the different degrees of moisture uptake by the powders during storage. In addition, the initial powder storage conditions have been shown to be important when considering the best method of tablet manufacture with respect to tablet stability.


Influence of phosphoserine on the performance of rats on the rotarod. The anti-fatigue effect of phosphoserine, L-serine and a mixture of sodium phosphate and L-serine has been studied in rats. Phosphoserine orally administered induced a statistically significant anti-fatigue effect in rats of both sexes submitted to a training test by rotarod, with 14 sessions in 3 days. Furthermore, phosphoserine was utilized better than the mixture of sodium phosphate and L-serine, whereas L-serine alone induced no effect. Therefore the effect of phosphoserine seems to be due to the phosphoryl bond.


Effects of caffeine and ethanol on the blood-brain barrier in rats. In rats, pretreatment with caffeine or ethanol shortens the duration of the harmine tremor and decreases the brain concentrations of this alkaloid. Caffeine and ethanol do not influence the plasma concentration of harmine, its plasma protein binding and its cerebral concentration at the termination of the tremor. The findings are regarded as indicative of a reduction by caffeine and ethanol of the blood-brain barrier permeability to harmine.


The structure-action relationship and kinetics of some naloxone and naltrexone derivatives. The isolated longitudinal muscle preparation (with attached Auerbach plexus) of the guinea pig ileum was used to investigate the structure activity relationship and kinetics of some naloxone and naltrexone derivatives and that of cyclazocine. The agonist used for the investigation of the antagonistic effect of these compounds was 6-azidomorphine (AM). AM was found to be an about 20 times more potent agonist than morphine. In contrast to cyclazocine, which also was found to be approximately 15 times more potent agonist than morphine, naloxone had no demonstrable agonistic activity and naltrexone and the various naloxone and naltrexone derivatives had only insignificant agonistic activity with ED50/Ke ratios ranging from 2,000 to about 120,000. All compounds tested were competitive reversible antagonists of AM. 6-Methylene substitution caused an approximate 50 and 100% increase of the antagonistic activity of naloxone and naltrexone, respectively, and decreased the duration of action of naloxone. 3-Acetate or 3-nicotinate substitution decreased potency and had no effect on the duration of naloxone action. There is a correlation between tachyphylaxis observed on the inhibition of longitudinal muscle contraction and antagonist activity of narcotic agonists.


Effect of bombesin, a natural tetradecapeptide, on myoelectrical and mechanical activity of isolated, ex vivo perfused, canine stomach. Electrical and mechanical activity were recorded from the canine stomach, isolated and ex vivo perfused with homologous blood. The action of Bombesin, a natural tetradecapeptide, was compared with the action of pentagastrin, methacholine and electrical stimulation on the electrical and mechanical activity of this isolated preparation. All drugs used and vagal stimulation resulted in premature control potentials, uncoupling of the normal phase locked pattern of electrical control activity, appearance of response activity and appearance of mechanical reaction. These responses were blocked or decreased by atropine, tetrodotoxin and hexamethonium. It appears that the neural release of acetylcholine is implicated in the mechanism of action of Bombesin gastrointestinal motility.


In vivo and in vitro studies on the effect of tetrahydropapaveroline and salsolinol on COMT and MAO activity in rat brain. Studies were made on COMT and MAO activity in rats 2, 4, 6, 12 and 24 h after intraperitoneal treatment with 8 and 60 mg/kg doses of tetrahydropapaveroline (THP), and 10 and 20 days after treatment with 8 mg/kg/day. Results suggested COMT activity inhibition only after 2 h of treatment. Experiments were also performed on THP and salsolinol methylation capacity in vitro. Results showed that both alkaloids use COMT enzymes for methylation and can also act as competitive inhibitors of COMT and MAO activity.


Effect of glucagon on myoelectrical and mechnical activity of the isolated homologous perfused porcine stomach. Totally isolated whole porcine stomachs, perfused extracorporeally with homologous blood, were used for recording gastric electrical and mechanical activity. Hormones Hormones were administered into the arterial system of the isolated organ. Pentagastrin, methacholine and electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve induced premature control potentials with uncoupling of the normal, phase-locked, pattern of electrical control activity and also produced electrical response activity and mechanical reaction. When glucagon was infused a progressive decrease of frequency of the cycles of electrical control activity was observed. Glucagon also abolished electrical response activity and mechanical activity, if they were present prior to hormone infusion. When pentagastrin, methacholine or electrical stimulation were applied during the infusion of glucagon, the responses to these stimulants were decreased or absent. The inhibitory action of glucagon was dependent on the duration of infusion of this hormone and lasted for 30-45 min after the infusion was discontinued. During infusion of glucagon the mean gastric arterial perfusion pressure and gastric peripheral vascular resistance were reduced.


Effects of diphenhydramine, naphazoline and m-amino-alpha(1-aminoethyl)benzyl alcohol dihydrochloride on the nasal mucosa determined by impedance method: a simple method for evaluation of nasal decongestant. A simple, new method was devised for evaluating nasal decongestants. In anesthetized dogs, two needle electrodes were inserted bilaterally into the superficial mucosa of the nasal wings. An impedance plethysmorgraphy provided with a DC output was used to measure impedance between the two electrodes. When 1% histamine solution was sprayed into a nostril focusing on the inside mucosa of a nasal wing, impedance decreased markedly and thereafter recovered to a control level within 1-1.5 h. Comparable responses were obtained when the same solution was sprayed into the opposite nostril. The drugs to be tested were administered intravenously or topically between these two histamine application. Intravenous administrations of diphenhydramine (0.5 mg/kg) and m-amino-alpha)1-aminoethyl) benzyl alcohol dihydrochloride (0.1 mg/kg) inhibited the histamine effect completely. Pretreatment with naphazoline administered topically also inhibited impedance changes cause by histamine application. Local appliations of acetycholine (10%) and bradykinin (0.1%) did not change nasal impedance significantly in any instances.


Effects of ethanol on compound action potential and refractory periods of toad sciatic nerve. The action of ethanol on compound action potential, refractory periods and chronaxia are analyzed in 28 isolated sciatic nerves of toads. 85 mM ethanol increases the compound action potential and decreases the refractory periods. 342 and 513 mM ehtanol decrease the compound action potential and increase the absolute and relative refractory periods. These biphasic effects are discussed in relation with changes in Na+ and K+ permeabilities and to the greater sensitivity of thin fibers to the chemicals.


Alkali metal ions and ethanol narcosis in mice. The effect of an equimolar dose of LiCl, RbCl or CsCl on the depressant action of ethanol (ETOH) was studied as a function of duration of ETOH-mediated narcosis in mice. The alkali metal ions were administered acutely or semi-chronically prior to the administration of a narcotic dose of ETOH. Semi-chronic treatment with RbCl or CsCl resulted in decreased duration of ETOH-mediated narcosis, which was persistent for 5 days after discontinued administration of RbCl and CsCl. Conversely, a prolongation of ETOH-produced narcosis in Li-treated mice occured only when ETOH was shortly administered after sub-chronic regiments of LiCl. Semi-chronic treatment with an equimolar dose of LiCl, RbCl or CsCl produced little changes in the specific activities of liver alcohol and aldehyde dehydrogenase. It is concluded that both Rb+ and Cs+ possess antidepressant properties and might be useful agents in negating the depressant action of ETOH and/or some of its toxic manifestations.


Relative lipolytic activities of selected catecholamines in the mouse. The adipokinetic activities, relative to isoproterenol as 1,000, in sedated, phenoxybenzamine pretreated unfasted mice were: norepinephrine 540, epinephrine 330, N-t-butylnorepinephrine 130, isoetharine 30 and N-cyclopentylbutanefrine 10. These relative activities correlate (r=0.88) with the medians of some previously defined beta1-adrenoceptor activities, but not (r=less than 0.1) with the medians of some previously defined beta2-adrenoceptor activities. These findings are in accord with the previously suggested view that an alpha, beta1-, beta2-, adrenoceptor concept is in better accord with experimental evidence that is an alpha- and beta-adrenoceptor one.


Splanchnic vascular responses to the infusion of prostaglandins A1, A2 and B1. The effects of PGA1, PGA2 and PGB1 on the vasculature of the liver and small intestine were studied in 73 dogs. Infusions were made into a branch of the superior mesenteric artery, the hepatic artery, portal vein or femoral vein. They decreased systemic arterial pressure and dilated the hepatic arterial and prehepatic splanchnic (small intestinal) vascular beds, PGA being most active. Dilator response was not decreased by beta-adrenergic blockade. Compounds appear to be inactivated by liver and decreased systemic pressure less when infused directly into liver circulation. Dilator response was transient, particulary in small intestine, and abated or even converted to constriction when infusion was continued for a period of time. Intrahepatic portal venous vasculature appeared to be constricted by PGA.


Assessment of methodology in single-dose studies of digoxin bioavailability. Eight healthy males received 0.75 mg of digoxin by ten modes of administration in a single-dose multicrossover bioavilability study. Digoxin concentration in multiple blood samples drawn after each dose and in six consecutive 24-hour urine collections were used to calculate the areas under the 4-, 8-, and 24-hour serum concentration curve (A-4, A-8, A-24), and the excretion of digoxin during 1 day (U-1) and 6 days (U-6) following each dose. All five methods of assessment gave very similar information on bioavailability. Individual values of A-4 and A-8 were highly correlated (r=0.973) and had similar variability. A-24 was more variable than A-4 and A-8, and was not as well correlated with either. U1- and U-6 were highly correlated (r=0.944), and had nearly identical variability which was less than that of any of the area measures. Thus, urinary excreation data provides more reliable and reproducible information about completeness of absorption of digoxin than data based upon serum concentrations. Extending the period of urine collection beyond 1 day or the blood sampling period beyond 4 or 8 h does not enhance the reliability or usefulness of digoxin bioavailability studies.


Electrophysiological studies of 6-(N,N-diethylamino)-Hexyl-3,4,5,-Trimethoxybenzoate on ventricular muscle and conduction system. The agent, 6-(N,N-diethylamino)-hexyl- 3, 4, 5,-Trimethoxybenzoate (TMB-6) which relaxes smooth and skeletal muscle by interfering with intracellular Ca ++ availability was tested for its electrophysiological effects on canine cardiac Purkinje fibres and feline papillary muscles. In both tissues the drug causes a decrease in resting membrane potential and action potential amplitude as well as spontaneous rate in Purkinje fibres, and an increase in stimulus needed to reach threshold. The minimum effective dose for both tissues was similar at 7.32 x 10-5 M. The drug effects were reversible in both tissues upon removal of the TMB-6. The Ca++ -dependent action potentials of canine cardiac Purkinje fibres were also inhibited by TMB-6 at dose range of 7.32 x 10-5 -24.4 x 10-5 M. Because of its electro physiological effects of threshold, automaticity and "slow response" action potentials and its reversibility, TMB-6 could become a useful antiarrhythmic drug.


The effect of denervation upon the in vitro incorporation of adenosine-8-3H into 3H-adenine nucleotides in the guinea-pig vas deferens. After denervation of the guinea-pig vas deferens (1, 2, 4 and 8 days) there is a profound fall in the endogenous levels of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) initially to 54% of control at day 1, with a subsequent rise to 80% by day 8 post-operatively. Theoretically, alterations in the synthetic rate of ATP formation or its utilization could account for the changes in endogenous ATP concentration. These possibilities were evaluated in the present study. Using an in vitro incubation system and adenosine-8-3H as a precursor, experiments demonstrated the feasibility of labeling the synthetic pathway primarily as 3H-AMP, 3H-ADP and 3H-ATP with the latter nucleotide constituting the largest fraction. This incorporation into 3H-nucleotides was linear with time up to 30 min and was dependent on the concentration of adenosine-8-3H used. Studies on the incorporation of adenosine-8-3H at 1, 2, 4 and 8 days after denervation showed no difference in the ability of innervated and denervated vasa deferentia to accumulate total 3H-nucleotides, although there was an alteration in 3H-AMP metabolism in the denervated tissue. Possible explanations for the alteration in 3H-AMP metabolism are discussed. A change in the rate of utilization rather than a change in rate of synthesis, is suggested as an explanation for the alterations in ATP content observed after denervation.


The effect of aminophylline on pentagastrin-induced secretion and motor activity of totally isolated canine stomach perfused extracorporeally. Totally isolated canine stomachs, perfused extracorporeally with homologous blood of living oxygenerator-dogs, were used for the study of gastric secretion. Aminophylline and pentagastrin were infused into the gastric arterial system separately or combined. Aminophylline, infused alone, did not stimulate gastric secretion. However when aminophylline was administered during the infusion of pentagastrin, it significantly augmented the action of this peptide on gastric acid secretion. Aminophylline did not alter myoelectrical and mechanical response to pentagastrin nor did it affect the myoelectrical activity of the nonstimulated stomach. Gastric arterial perfusion pressure and gastric peripheral resistance were reduced during infusion of aminophylline alone or in combination with pentagastrin.


The reversal of clonidine-induced hypotension by protriptyline and desipramine. The present paper deals with further studies on the interaction between clonidine and tricyclic antidepressants. The pronounced central hypotensive action of 1 mug clonidine/kg, administered into the left vertebral artery of chloralose-anaesthetized cats was readily reversed by protriptyline (300 mug/kg), infused via the same route shortly after the development of the maximum hypotensive effect of clonidine. In earlier studies it has been demonstrated that pretreatment with tricyclic antidepressants significantly diminishes the central hypotensive action of clonidine. This interaction has been presumed to occur at the level of central alpha-adrenoreceptors, where clonidine would be the agonist and tricyclic antidepressants the antagonist. The present findings suggest that a competitive antagonism at the central level, which can occur in either sense, may be involved.


Different toxic effects of ouabain and 16-epi-gitoxin on Purkinje fibres and ventricular muscle fibres. Action potentials of isolated Purkinje fibres and ventricular muscle fibres of canine hearts treated with ouabain and 16-epi-gitoxin were recorded by microelectrodes. Under the influence of both glycosides, Purkinje system fibres became inexcitable earlier than ventricular muscle fibres. Being exposed to 0.125 muM ouabain and 2.5 muM 16-epi-gitoxin, both Purkinje and ventricular muscle fibres became poisoned in the same time as ventricular muscle fibres exposed to 0.1 muM ouabain and 1.5 muM 16-epi-gitoxin. At the lower 16-epi-gitoxin concentration Purkinje fibres had 2.5 times the survival time of that exposed to the lower ouabain concentration. Compared to 16-epi-gitoxin the inexcitability of Purkinje fibres after ouabain remained irreversible. The semisynthetic glycoside 16-epi-gitoxin exerts a weaker effect on the specialized conducting system.


Antinociceptive and stimulant effects of morphine after chemical sympathectomy. The modifications produced by 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) on the analgesic and toxic effects of morphine have been studied in mice and cats. After intracerebral injections of 6-OHDA, mice had a lower threshold for morphine-induced convulsions. Morphine analgesia assayed by the phenylquinone test was apparently antagonized in the 6-OHDA pretreated mice, but the 6-OHDA mice showed more reactivity to the phenylquinone. Intraventricular injection of 6-OHDA in cats produced an acute syndrome with mydriasis, bradycardia, bradypnea, hypothermia and EEG slowing, which subsided after several days, 6-OHDA was successful in blocking the morphine mania, but the animals died within 24 h.


Management of adult poliomyelitis patients in the Solomon Islands. An account is given of a realistic rehabilitation service for the treatment of crawling adult poliomyelitic patients in an area of the developing world. A classification of the crawling patterns encountered is presented. The simple methods by which rehabilitation was carried out for 120 patients are described. Methods consisted of surgery to straighten and align the lower limbs when necessary, the fitting of inexpensive appliances, and the teaching of crutch walking. At long-term review, 80 percent of the patients had responded satisfactorily to treatment. Rehabilitation in an economically and medically poor country can be justified.


Electromagnetic field interference and cardiac pacemakers. The physical and physiological effects of electromagnetic field interference on 440 patients with cardiac pacemakers were determined by reviewing the literature from 1949 to 1973. The sources, mechanisms, and findings of physiological dysfunction and ventricular fibrillation in patients with pacemakers are presented. Shortwave and microwave diathermy and electrical stimulators have been found to have a definite adverse influence on some cardiac pacemakers. The effect of interference may be an increase or decrease in pacemaker rate or rhythm, ventricular fibrillation, a total loss of pacing, or cessation of impulses. Because all pacemaker units are not resistant to interference, no ungrounded electrical equipment and no equipment such as microwave diathermy, short wave diathermy, and electrical stimulators should be placed on, or near, a patient with a cardiac pacemaker.


Metabolic energy cost of unrestrained walking. Physiologic factors of metabolic energy cost as well as selected mechanical characteristics of gait are described in a group of 40 presumably normal men and women between the ages of 20 and 60 years. Special emphasis was placed on unrestrained (free cadence) walking to provide a reliable baseline for comparison to persons with physical gait impairments. Velocity of walking was the most important factor in determining oxygen uptake and was independent of age or sex. An empirical equation was established relating oxygen uptake to the speed of walking. The average velocity for men in unrestrained walking trials was 89 meters per minute; for women 74 meters per minute. These differences were related to the greater stride length in men. The average cadence selected by both sexes was 116 steps per minute. None of these factors was age dependent. Of the physiologic measures only systolic blood pressure was age dependent predictably rising with age. The mean heart rate was 103 beats per minute and did not vary significantly between men and women. The mean respiratory rate was 19 per minute; the mean respiratory quotient, 0.85, neither being age or sex dependent. Oxygen uptake values averaged 12.95 ml/kg-min for the population studied and again were neither age nor sex dependent.


Cardiac rehabilitation in Germany.

Cardiac rehabilitation in Germany. The concept of cardiac reconditioning centers for the prevention and rehabilitation of coronary patients has been tremendously successful in Germany over the past 20 years. At least 40 such centers are located throughout the country. Physicians, nurses, and physical therapists work closely together in the various facets of the rehabilitation process. The financial backing for these facilities is primarily through governmental and regional insurance companies, whose officials are apparently convinced that in the long run supporting preventive measures is financially sound. Objective data supporting their convictions come from studies such as that of Brusis, who showed that such as that of 1,500 employees was diminished by nearly 70 percent during a two-year period after cardiac reconditioning, as compared to a similar time period before the rehabilitation experience. Subjective benefits, which are extremely difficult to quantitate in meaningful terms, were nonetheless expressed by nearly all the patients with whom I conversed. Perhaps they have experienced the same feelings that Mark Twain did when he observed that "all frets and worries and chafings sank to sleep in the presence of the benignant serenity of the Alps; the Great Spirit of the Mountains breathed his own peace upon their hurt minds and sore hearts and healed them."


Bronchial drainage with aerosol medications in cystic fibrosis. Examined in this study are the immediate effects of bronchial drainage preceded by the inhalation of aerosol solutions of a mucolytic agent, a bronchodilator, and their combination upon four measures of pulmonary function in 20 patients with cystic fibrosis. On three separate occasions, pulmonary function was tested preceding and following treatments consisting of one of the above three aerosol solutions followed by bronchial drainage. The order of solutions used was random and each subject received one treatment with each solution. The greatest overall improvement in function was seen with the bronchodilator and bronchial drainage. The combination of the bronchodilator/mucolytic agents and bronchial drainage was the next most effective technique. The mucolytic agent, when used alone with bronchial drainage, decreased function. Comparison of the pulmonary function scores indicated a significant difference among the three treatments.


Proposed role of the alpha subunit of the 7 S nerve growth factor protein: implications for the regulation of NGF activity. Four electrophoretically distinct alpha subunits can be isolated from mouse 7 S nerve growth factor protein (7 S NGF). It is proposed that each alpha subunit confers on its 7 S NGF species a different dissociation constant, and that the heterogeneity in dissociation constants of the different 7 S NGF species provide a mechanism for regulating the structure of betaNGF. A hypothesis that the different betaNGF structures have altered receptor affinities and/or physiological properties which can functionally differentiate NGF activity is also presented.


Effect of norepinephrine on the phospholipid composition of blood plasma and red blood cells in anesthetized dogs. The phospholipid composition of blood plasma and erythrocytes from artery, hepatic venous, and sagittal sinus blood was investigated in dogs under pentobarbital anesthesia both before and after continuous infusion of norepinephrine. Norepinephrine infusion caused a very significant increase of phosphatidylglycerol (GPG) in the erythrocytes and plasma from arterial blood. Other phospholipids were not affected by the infusion. Significant release of GPG across the brain and splanchnic area was noted both in plasma and erythrocytes prior to, but not following, norepinephrine infusion. The importance of the differences between the respective phospholipid compositions of erythrocytes and plasma is emphasized. The biologic significance of the changes of the phospholipids, particularly of GPG during stress, is discussed.


Proton magnetic resonance (PMR) studies of water in dimethyl sulfoxide perfused rat myocardium. Time-dependent studies of the PMR linewidths and spin-lattice relaxation times (T1) of rat myocardium perfused with chemically-defined tissue culture medium containing 15% dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) (v/v) were performed. In comparison with "normal" myocardium samples and samples from hearts perfused without DSMO, linewidths initially increased following perfusion of the hearts with 15% DMSO solution. However, the increase was observable only during the first five minutes following perfusion, subsequently narrowing considerably. A minimum T1 was obtained 30 minutes post-treatment. The experiments indicate translocation of intracellular water into bulk-like presumably extracellular water, thus suggesting a cellular dehydration effect of DMSO.


Observations on the myth of "informed consent". A series of 100 patients in a general plastic surgery population were interviewed by standard format to determine their retention rate of preoperative information given to them. An overall recall, or retention rate, of 35 percent was found.


Surgical treatment of impotence in the male. An 18-year experience with 250 penile implants. We have treated more than 250 cases of impotence by inserting a penile rod. The implant has been modified intermittently, and it currently consists of a two-piece rod with a Y-shaped proximal portion to provide greater stability. Most of the patients we treated have been satisfied with the results of the surgery, and would have it repeated. Therefore, we feel that this prosthesis is an excellent one for treating male impotence.


The value of routine breast biopsy at the time of augmentation mammaplasty. A series of patients who had biopsies of breast nodules during augmentation mammaplasty is reviewed. We conclude that such procedures performed for discrete lesions yield valuable information. In this series, the biopsies did not result in an increased rate of complications.