Studies on endotoxin of Erwinia herbicola and their biological activity.

The endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide) preparations were extracted by the BOIVIN method from 10 strains of Erwinia herbicola isolated from the air of grain mills and from human and animal sources. It was found in assays for biological activity that these preparations had true endotoxic properties: lethality for mice, ability to produce primary inflammatory lesions in rabbit skin and ability to prepare rabbit skin for the local SHWARTZMAN reaction. Endotoxins obtained from five E. herbicola isolates were highly toxic and had mouse LD50 values ranging from 0.23 to 0.50 mg. The reparations derived from the remaining five strains were less potent with LD50 values ranging from 0.96 to 2.83 mg. The endotoxins of E. herbicola caused primary skin lesions (edema and/or erythema) in rabbits in the mean threshold doses (SLD50) of 1.33 to 5.94 mug and had the ability to prepare the rabbit skin for the local SHWARTZMAN reaction in the mean threshold does (SPD50) of 2.97 to 95.0 mug. The endotoxic properties of the E. herbicola preparations were similar to those of simultaneously tested enterobacterial lipopolysaccharides. The results of the mouse toxicity tests were positively correlated with those of the rabbit skin tests. In the additional tests the single preparations of E. herbicola showed two other endotoxic properties: ability to produce hemorrhagic lesions in rabbit skin after mixing with epinephrine and lethal effect on chick embryo. A preliminary chemical analysis of the trichloroacetic extracts of E. herbicola revealed low nitrogen and high carbohydrate contents as well as the presence of the common monosaccharides, reported in literature for endotoxins of various gram-negative bacteria. The significance of the presence of endotoxins in the ubiquitous E. herbicola rods is discussed, particularly with respect to occupational health hazard resulting from inhalation of vegetable dusts containing these organisms.


[Culture and differentiation of obligatory aerobic gram-negative rods from human material; a scheme for application in routine diagnosis (author's transl)].

The diagnosis of obligately aerobic Gram-negative rods in the clinical laboratory may encounter difficulties since media used for Enterobacteriacae are only partially usable for the diagnosis of this group of bacteria (Psuedomonas, Xanthomonas, Alcaligenes, Achromobacter, Brucella, Bordetella, Flavobacterium, Moraxella, Acinetobacter, and some still unnamed taxa). We have developed a diagnostic scheme, based on recent publications in the field and representing an extension of earlier tables from this and other laboratories, which attempts to classify a maximal number of obligately aerobic Gram-negative rods with a minimal number of tests. The scheme, employed on 4051 strains, used blood agar and MacConkey Agar as isolation media. Growth characteristics on these media and microscopic morphology may be of help, but only the type of growth on Triple Sugar Iron (or Kligler's) Agar is characteristic for the group as a whole (no growth in the butt, alkalinization or no pH change on the slant). A primary identification series employs tests for oxidase (Kovacs), oxidation of glucose and xylose (in OF medium), deoxyribonuclease and indole (in DNase Test Agar with Methyl Green), nitrate reduction (in Indole Nitrite Medium), motility (hanging drop), and fluorescein production (on Flo Agar). Results of Kirby-Bauer antimicrobial sensitivity testing serve as additional (colistin) or confirmatory criteria. Incubation is at 30 degrees C for 24-48 hrs. If a diagnosis is not possible than, a secondary series, including tests for lysine decarboxylase (tablets), 4 hr urease, esculin hydrolysis, growth at 42 C and on SS Agar, gelatin liquefaction, and flagellar staining may have to be used, and read after 4-24 hrs at 30 degrees C. Five tables, drawn up according to oxidase, glucose, and xylose reactions, serve to identify the species or taxa. Biotypes cannot be differentiated. The scheme will need updating as more knowledge of these bacteria will become available.


Complement-dependent hemolysis following hemagglutination by Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae.

When fresh guinea pig serum is added to chicken red blood cells (RBC) agglutinated by E. rhusiopathiae, the RBC lyse. This indicates that the E. rhusiopathiae-RBC complex is capable of inducing an alternative pathway of complement activation.


Electrophoresis of water-insoluble leptospiral proteins and the taxonomy of Leptospira.

The cellular debris obtained after lysis of Leptospira were solubilized by sodium dodecyl sulfate and studied by polyacrylamide electrophoresis, comparing the molecular weight and relative concentration of the protein bands. The percentage similarity of 30 characteristic bands from 21 Leptospira strains, belonging to the main pathogenic and some saprophytic serogroups, was calculated; A partial matching of the derived dendrogram with the other classifications was observed.


[Influence of standardization upon the results of serological analysis of toxoplasmosis (author's transl)].

It is the purpose of this paper to determine whether the decline of the serologically verified acute Toxoplasma gondii infections observed since the late sixties and found in literature has been caused by epidemiological factors or whether the standardization of serological methods (10) introducted in 1966/66 for the determination of antibodies specific to Toxoplasma gondii has been responsible. The paper is based on material  of the prospective study, "Pregnancy and child development" supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). Mainly six laboratories did the serological analysis for antibodies against T. gondii from 1964 to 1970. The following results were obtained: 1. Laboratories using the standardization observed a decline of the highly positive dilution starting in 1968 (Fig. 1, Table 1). 2. The proportion of the samples positive in the dye test did not change (Fig. 1). 3. The proportion of sera reacting in the complement fixation test (CFT) with a dilution of 1:5 increased. But after introduction of the standardization more sera were analyzed by both the dye and complement fixation tests than before (Table 2, Fig. 2). 4. The proportion of sera found positive by the complement fixation test increased slightly up to 1968 (Fig. 3). 5. Differences in the age structure (Fig. 4) or dietary habits of the group (Fig. 5) did not cause the changes in titer. 6. Therefore the standardization was introduced a considerable proportion of the sera showing dye test results of more than 1:1000 reacted negatively to the complement fixation test (Table 4). These cases were probably not acute infections. 7. When the standardization was introduced the difference between results of first and second analysis decreased for sera with titers smaller then 1:256 (increased of reliability) (Table 5, Fig. 7). 8. Complement fixation titer show an analogous behavior. (Table 7 and 8). The results detained above show that the decrease, observed since 1969, of the cases of acute Toxoplasma infections verified by serological methods is not caused by epidemiological but rather by methodical factors.


[Consequences of malnutrition in prosperous countries (author's transl)].

In times of need the classical disease gout becomes extinct, in times of prosperity it becomes frequent although its incidence remains virtually restricted to families with a history of gout. This means that genetic factors and nutrition must combine in order that the disease may become manifest. This situation probably parallels that of nutritional anomalies of fat metabolism, which have not been investigated to the same degree, although this cannot be said with certainty. Consequently the changing habits of nutrition during the last 30 years have led to the frequent incidence of metabolic disorders seldom found earlier. It is not forseeable whether further changes in our diet will give rise to further metabolic disorders. The physician, no matter whether he works as a clinician, hygienist or epidemiologist, who has to take care not only of the entire population but also of the individual, is faced with the problem of how to control this problem. Another question is whether the nutrition of the population may permissibly be changed to improve national health by political decisions which would affect not only those endangered but the rest of the population, too. Such changes will become indispensable in the future because the financial loss caused by alimentary diseases already amounts to several per cent of the gross national product. However, there remains the basic question as to why the increasing industrialization and the changed life style associated with it have so drastically altered our nutrition. Some of these changes are certainly unavoidable consequences of the technical development, above all in those sectors where technology has helped to produce better foodstuffs. One wonders, however, why massive public education has largely failed to prompt the German citizens to accept the repeated and often well-motivated advice. This is probably due to the fact that the human diet has been established over the decades both by tradition and by necessity. The hard times are over and the traditions are no longer alive, quite apart from the fact that today it would no longer be possible to eat as tradition demands. In such situations men ought to draw benefit from our store of well-founded knowledge; this, however, means that nutrition must become part of public education and as such it ought to be given as much weight as the majority of subjects presently taught at school.


[Nutrition and cancer (author's transl)].

The problem of a relationship between nutrition and cancer has to be approached from two different points of view: 1. Direct effect of carcinogens present in foods or in food additives (direct carcinogenesis), 2. In-vivo synthesis of carcinogens caused by changes in metabolism due to altered dietary habits (indirect carcinogenesis). For the second mechanism, we have to make a distinction between the effects of nutritional deficiency and of nutritional excess. Some examples from animal experiments are presented. In man, possible relationships between nutrition and cancer are postulated mainly for tumors of the gastrointestinal tract and recently also for hormone-dependent cancers. Epidemiological evidence points to the major importance of the indirect way of carcinogenesis caused by specific nutritional deficiencies and excesses. Experimental studies in man are difficult to perform. Therefore, most hypotheses are based on statistical associations, and great caution is required in drawing inferences on causal relationships. Cancers of the upper and lower gastrointestinal tract epidemiologically behave in a different way, the former showing a marked decrease in most western countries, the latter a slight increase. The etiology of the cancers of the esophagus and stomach has still to be determined in spite of many hypotheses. Migrant studies show a major effect of environmental rather than genetic factors. Substantial differences in dietary habits between countries with high and low incidence of stomach cancer (Japan and United States) point to the importance of nutrition as an etiological factor with a high probability, but no specific dietary components have been identified so far. The same is true for cancer of the large bowel. Recent hypotheses suggest that dietary factors may relate to cancer of the colon by their effect on bile production and on the bacterial makeup of faeces which in turn might be transforming bile acids into active carcinogens. There is, however, disagreement about the specific dietary component responsible for this model of carcinogenesis. BURKITT stresses the importance of the lower consumption of dietary fiber, resulting in retarded bowel function and additional time for bacterial proliferation and degradation by bacteria of bile acids. WYNDER, on the other hand, explains the increased bile acid and neutral sterol excretion and microbial modification of these compounds with the high content of animal fat in the western diet. With hormone-dependent cancers (breast, endometrium, ovary, prostate), a correlation has been shown between body weight and height and breast cancer as well as between overweight and cancer of the endometrium. Which aspect of diet, if any, is responsible for changes in hormone metabolism, resulting in an increased risk of these cancers, is still to be proved. On the basis of current knowledge, it is extremely difficult to draw inferences for preventive action. Certainly, a cancer-preventing diet cannot be established...


[Modern animal nutrition--dangers for the animal (author's transl)].

Undernourishment and malnutrition as well as nutritionally conditioned diseases are still the greatest risk factor for every domestic animal born. In less developed regions, overgrazing and monoculture crops pose new nutrition problems. In developed countries, animal populations are faced with new feedstuffs resulting from new technologies, with risks stemming from contamination and with exposure to various new substances. In order to allow for an evaluation of the modern feeding scene, several examples are given. Since a positive correlation between animal well-being and long term economic success is likely to exist, optimism seems indicated concerning the impact of modern feeding measures on the animal.


[Contamination of fodder and corresponding alimentary policy regulations].

In the mid sixties a medical work group developed a prophalactic programme for children which provided for repeated checkups to detect particularly those defects which are likely to seriously jeopardise the physical and mental development of the child. For the selection of the checkup dates that age of the child was decisivie in which it was possible to inspect certain functional events. Since such examination programmes had to cover an entire class, a prerequisite to be met was to choose an as large a number of examiners as possible. This meant the prescription of methods of examination which were applicable to any private or paediatric practice. In view of the fact that the child's health is subject to quick changes it can never be the objective of such programmes to establish acute syndromes and detailed examination findings but to restrict prophylaxis to a selection of important diseases. Thus the medical objective remains limited to readily recognizable disturbances which undetected could severely interfere with the development of the child. It is also decisive for the extent of thew examination that it isrestricted to the search for such developmental disturbances as can be remedied effectively...


[Problems associated with the prevention of cruelty to animals in modern livestock breeding (author's transl)].

Regulations for the protection of useful animals can be traced to the early history of Law. The reason for such regulations has hardly changed up to the present: the expedient incorporation of the animal into the hierachy of values of the prevailing times. Decisive impulses invariably originated from the legal conception, the need for legal protection as well as from the scientific conceptions of society. The development rarely took a linear course and was not without setbacks. The prevention of cruelty to animals has always been faced with particular conflicting situations. Our pluralistic society with its marked philosophy of profit-making has to face such a problem, in particular as a result of livestock keeping in modern systems. The necessity and legitimacy of a permanent supply of large quantities of high-grade animal foodstuffs to be offered to our present industrial society on a competitive and low-cost basis, have contributed to this development. The public and parliament have for some time been demanding a modern federal act for the prevention of cruelty to animals based on a technical conception allowing also those questions of animal protection related to the present keeping of useful animals to be integrated, thus achieving a gradual balancing of interests. Such an Animal Protection Act came into force on October 1, 1972. On account of its scientific orientation it prompts us to give renewed thought to many present-day ideas about the keeping of animals, especially of useful animals, employing modern systems. With this objective in mind the Act has already strongly influenced the developing international harmonization of provisions for Animal Protection. The problems linked with "Animal Protection/Keeping of Useful Animals" require a harmonization of the ethical, scientific, economic and legal aspects as an indispensable prerequisite. On the basis of expert opinions prepared by a group of specialists of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture on the minimum requirements to be satisfied by modern systems of fowl breeding, the various scientific basic concepts and evaluations are presented. The value of the information yielded by modern research into animal behaviour is emphasized in this connection. Future legal ordinances in accordance with Clause 13, para 1 of the Animal Protection Act of July 24, 1972 for the protection of useful animals kept in modern systems call for a particularly thorough scientific foundation which must also stand up to examination by the courts. The problems to be solved require comprehensive research. An urgent task for the near future will be to give the resolution of these problems a firm scientific base. In addition to the topical approach to the subject "Animal Protection/Keeping of Useful Animals", indications are given for a comprehensive approach which will prove indispensable in the future...


[Psychohygienic problems of development in early childhood (author's transl)].

For a "social environmental protection" as one of the most urgent problems in infantile psychohygiene, the following conclusions should be taken into consideration: 1. In particular during the first years of life the development of the child is, within certain limits, sensitive to influences from the environment and therefore it can be fostered or disturbed from the outside. Congenital, prenatal, perinatal and postnatal injuries to the brain and sensory organs must be given great attention psychohygienically. 2. The social influences exercised on the child by persons of his environment, their availability, their emotional relationships and the development of a durable link predominate psychohygienically. In addition, the material security of young families and their type of accommodation (e.g. granting of loans to help set up a home) must be considered. 3. The possibilities of exercising a positive educational influence on a mentally and psychically sound development of the child as a person and member of society are greatest at the beginning of life and diminish during childhood. The effectiveness of negative educational and social interference factors is also subject to this rule from which again the necessity of adopting psychohygienic measures for the young child is derived. 4. The phenomenon of increasingly imbalanced behaviour of older children and juveniles which cause concern today, are as a rule symptoms of a chiefly environmentally determined disturbance upsetting the personality, which often originates in early childhood. Psychohygienic measures must be concentrated on this. 5. The inadequate care of young children accounting for one third of the population, a phenomenon which can be read in the statistical records and which has risen sharply during the last few years, makes it possible to forecast a further increase in developmental and behavioral disturbances of both an intellectual and psychological nature as well as in infantile and juvenile criminality in the coming years to an at present unimaginable extent. 6. In contrast to general opinion, the situation calls for an urgent fundamental revaluation of the importance of intrafamiliar social conditions of development and of the parental educational work on the small child, which to date, have been underestimated and neglected. At the same time many of the presently overrated extrafamiliar institutions of education and training for the older child need to be relativised. 7. The advances in developmental biology which allow us to realize the basic dependence of the future social fate of the individual - and thus the extent of disturbed social relationships in society - on the intrafamily conditions must become a political issue, if psychohygiene as ameans to prevent avoidable disturbances is to be taken seriously. Thus the securement of adequate intrafamily conditions with respect to development and upbringing, in particular of the young child, must head the list of social political priorities, also in times when money is in short supply. 8...


[Prophylactic examination of infants (author's transl)].

In the mid sixties a medical work group developed a prophylactic programme for children which provided for repeated checkups to detect particularly those defects which are likely to seriously jeopardise the physical and mental development of the child. For the selection of the checkup dates that age of the child was decisive in which it was possible to inspect certain functional events. Since such examination programmes had to cover an entire class, a prerequisite to be met was to choose an as large a number of examiners as possible. This meant the prescription of methods of examination which were applicable to any private or paediatric practice. In view of the fact that the child's health is subject to quick changes it can never be the objective of such programmes to establish acute syndromes and detailed examination findings but to restrict prophylaxis to a selection of important diseases. Thus the medical objective remains limited to readily recognizable disturbances which undetected could severely interfere with the development of the child. It is also decisive for the extent of the examination that it is restricted to the search for such development disturbances as can be remedied effectively. A prerequisite for the effectiveness of the programme is the identity of examinations and the uniform documentation of the findings according to a compulsory scheme. These records will accompany the child during his first years of life. The examination book remains in the hands of the mother and is submitted to the physician at the time of a checkup so that the continuity in the establishment of findings is ensured even when the physician is changed. This prophylactic programme, which was introduced by the author to the German public in 1968, was meanwhile implemented and adopted by the German Social Sickness Fund by virtue of a Federal Act effective as on July 1st, 1971. At present the examination comprises 7 checkups during the first 4 years of life. Emphasis lies on the check for cerebral motor disturbances, congenital heart diseases, skeletal anomalies, metabolic disorders, auditory, logopaedic and visual defects and others. A report is given on the results, the critical evaluation and the possibility of improving the prophylactic programme.


[Cleanliness Norms 1964-1975].

In 1964 the Institut für Demoskopie Allensbach made a first survey taking stock of norms concerning cleanliness in the Federal Republic of Germany. At that time, 78% of respondents thought that the vogue among young people of cultivating an unkempt look was past or on the wane (Table 1.). Today we know that this fashion was an indicator of more serious desires for change in many different areas like politics, sexual morality, education and that its high point was still to come. In the fall of 1975 a second survey, modelled on the one of 1964, was conducted. Again, it concentrated on norms, not on behavior. As expected, norms have changed over this period but not in a one-directional or simple manner. In general, people are much more large-minded about children's looks: neat, clean school-dress, properly combed hair, clean shoes, all this and also holding their things in order has become less important in 1975 (Table 2). To carry a clean handkerchief is becoming oldfashioned (Table 3). On the other hand, principles of bringing-up children have not loosened concerning personal hygiene - brushing ones teeth, washing hands, feet, and neck, clean fingernails (Table 4). On one item related to protection of the environment, namely throwing around waste paper, standards have even become more strict (Table 5). With regard to school-leavers, norms of personal hygiene have generally become more strict (Table 6). As living standards have gone up and the number of full bathrooms has risen from  42% to 75% of households, norms of personal hygiene have also increased: one warm bath a week seemed enough to 56% of adults in 1964, but to only 32% in 1975 (Table 7). Also standards for changing underwear have changed a lot: in 1964 only 12% of respondents said "every day", in 1975 48% said so (Table 8). Even more stringent norms are applied to young women (Tables 9/10). For comparison: 1964 there were automatic washing machines in 16%, 1975 in 79% of households. Answers to questions which qualities men value especially in women and which qualities women value especially in men show a decrease in valutation of "cleanliness". These results can be interpreted in different ways (Tables 11/12). It seems, however, that "cleanliness" is not going out as a cultural value. We have found that young people today do not consider clean dress important but that they are probably better washed under their purposely neglected clothing than young people were ten years ago. As a nation, Germans still consider cleanliness to be a articularly German virtue, 1975 even more so than 1964 (Table 13). An association test, first made in March 1976, confirms this: When they hear "Germany", 68% of Germans think of "cleanliness" (Table 14).


[Psychology of Hygiene: Rsult of a Comparative Study 1968/1976 (author's transl)].

Object of the investigation is: (1) the analysis of the behaviour observed in adults between 18 and 23 years of age regarding cleanliness, body hygiene and changing of underwear,and a comparison of the results with those for 1968; (2) Differential "diagnosis" of the relationship between the degree of cleanliness and the various styles of the upbringing received at the hands of the parents, the different assessment of the personal body image and of cleanliness-related values ("cleanliness ideology"). Main results of the investigation (1) In 1976, too, women remain cleaner than men; the latter, however, have clearly improved their daily washing habits (lower part of the body, feet) and have taken to changing their underwear, night clothes and coloured shirts more frequently. With respect to the frequency with which women change their underwear there has been no change. (2) With respect to body hygiene and cosmetic care, women are found to be making increasing use of mouth-wash, foam bath agents, face lotions and face milk, nail polish, while men are making more use of mouth-wash, bubble bath agents as well as deodorants. In contrast, women are making less use of lip-sticks, eyebrow pencils, Eau de Cologne, (3) Women's behaviour with respect to the observed and evaluated parental upbringing and to their own body image is more differentiated: The 4-factor solution for women contrasts with the 3-factor solution for men. (4) Only a form of cleanliness training involving corporal punishment and associated with a tense or hostile relationship towards the mother or father cannot be correlated to a desirable observance of cleanliness. Other possible forms of cleanliness training including supervisory forms, do not prevent the learning and adoption of desirable  practices for achieving cleanliness. (5) Less clean women show a generally less pronounced body-feeling as manifested in active physical exercise in some sports disciplines and in body care. There is also a tendency towards a less motivating criticism of the figure and a lower degree of positive bodily sensibility. As far as men are concerned, the intensity of body hygiene is positively linked with the degree of superficial good grooming and the simultaneous dissatisfaction with the figure. (6) Cleanliness-related concepts (cleanliness ideology) e.g. health, work, generosity rectitude, authority, attractiveness, integrity etc., are, in their evaluation, influenced both by sex and by the hygienic behavior practiced.


[Developments in vaccines for prophylactic use (author's transl)].

The epidemiologic background on which the efficacy of vaccines has to be considered shows that the mortality of infectious diseases in the first seventy years of our century was reduced to an extent which goes far beyond all other diseases. This trend is similar in all countries of comparable status of zivilization. Trends in morbidity may be different, but no sufficient documentation is available for morbidity of infectious diseases in this country. Developments of new vaccines for industrialized countries will show a change compared with the present vaccines. After introduction of vaccines against the big killers until 1950 disabling diseases were the more recent target of immunoprophylaxis such as poliomyelitis, measles, rubella, mumps. Vaccine efficiency was greatly increased by vaccination campaigns for which strategies and tactics were developed in an almost military fashion. Analysis of the future vaccines reveals a further change not only by additional antigens but by new target groups of the population to be protected. Not only will more vaccines be developed for adults but also for certain risk groups. More knowledge of immune-defence mechanisms in such groups will be needed for the final success of such vaccines. Moreover immunoprophylaxis may even enable immunotherapy in future. The most dramatic effect of immunoprophylaxis is to be expected in the coming decades in the non-industrialized world. This will be effectuated not by the newer vaccines, but by products which we know already. It is the decision of WHO to include an "Expanded program of vaccination" into their help for developing countries. Here new technologies are under investigation which will procure a new round in vaccination tactics. Vaccination is planned by WHO not only to help to develop countries but to play a decisive role in the problem of over-population. Such expectations are based on the fact that in the industrialized world the birthrate fell while the infant survival rates rose. Vaccination then would be more than immunoprophylaxis; vaccination would have a place then among man's many intelligent answers to mankind's many natural problems.


[The world-wide importance of animal epidemics (author's transl)].

At present, roughly 64 million horses, 1.2 billion cattle, 1 billion sheep, 670 million pigs and some billion fowl are kept and large quantities of animal products are produced. Animal breeding still varies widely with regard to both geographical distribution and efficiency. The protection of animal keeping in all countries of the world from losses due to disease and protein deficiency as the main cause of malnutrition constitutes an economical and sanitary problem of primary importance. Veterinary medicine is called upon to help to solve it. The losses (direct and indirect) of animals caused by infectious and invasive disease are extremely high. All in all, the losses of animals due to diseases have been reduced by 15 to 20 per cent of the gross production in many countries, and they can be reduced further. However, in countries with less efficient stock farming, losses run into 30 to 40 per cent and, if no control measures are adopted, are likely to increase considerably. Communicable animal diseases can be propagated over large distances in many ways by direct or indirect routes. As public interests are involved, the diseases must be controlled by measures financed by the state. In the light of the multivarious economic interconnections between the countries of the world, cooperation on an international basis is thus needed.


[Malnutrition as an international problem (author's transl)].

The importance of malnutrition as an international problem is illustrated by some examples. Attention is mainly focussed on the bipolarity of this problem: malnutrition, both qualitative and quantitative, as the main nutritional problem of most of the developing countries of the Third World, overfeeding nowadays so associated with qualitative malnutrition - as the most important alimentary problem in the Federal Republic of Germany, but applying equally to other highly industrialized and civilized countries in Western Europe, the United States and Australia. Perhaps it would be more to the point to speak of prosperous countries or populations because these diseases found in technically highly developed countries increasingly occur also in developing countries among those social classes who believe they are able to afford a "better" nutrition and fall from one extreme of malnutrition into the other. Correct nutrition considered to be a privilege or a direct consequence of social prosperity is certainly not justified. The improvement in the standard of living as such by no means guaranties well-balanced nutrition. To quote an example: in developing countries when people live by trading with certain limited products, alimentary habits tend to change when the prices of the products go up. However, this is by no means invariably a change for the better, but quite often for the worse. It has repeatedly been found that in tropical countries where copra is the staple trading product, nutrition did not improve as the copra price rose. On the contrary, nutrition deteriorated because the people increasingly turned from the self-cultivated "natural products" to imported, refined food stuffs and tinned foods purely for reasons of increased prestige associated with such a diet. The consequences of malnutrition in the developing countries are dealt with in greater detail. In dealing with the consequences of malnutrition in highly industrialized countries a restriction to a few pointers was necessary because this subject is discussed in the following paper.


Pathogenetic and clinical observations in spinovascular insufficiency.

The data about the arterial spinal circulation in man are presented, some spinal syndromes "unexplained still today" in their pathogenesis are described, and the earlier attempts to formulate working hypotheses for the explanation of this spinovascular insufficiency are critically rediscussed.


[Internal carotid artery occlusion - clinical-morphological correlations].

An attempt has been made by the authors to find correlations between the collateral circulation and clinical condition in thirty-three patients suffering from occlusions of the internal and common carotid arteries. It has been found that the course of disease will be less severe when a collateral circulation is developed; also, this results in late consequences being much less severe in character. The age and general condition of the patient were found to be of major importance to the course of disease. Patients of advanced age usually do not show any appreciable improvement even in those cases where a collateral circulation has developed. Anatomical examinations showed that there existed a large number of collateral circulations between the external carotid artery and the branches of the ophthalmic artery. Playing the most important role among these branches of the external carotid artery are the maxillary and facial arteries. This has also been confirmed by the results of angiographic examinations made in vivo. Also described in this paper are rare cases of development of collateral circulations which were reported in the literature and which may be considered as contributing to the compensation of conditions characterized by the occlusion of the internal carotid artery.


[EEG after so-called whiplash injury of cervical vertebral column (cervicocephalic acceleration trauma)].

The results of electroencephalographic examinations made on four groups of patients are compared. These groups include 80 patients with cervicocephalic syndromes due to flinging injuries to the cervical vertebral column, 80 patients with postconcussive syndromes, and 39 patients whose anamneses suggested conditions resulting from the two kinds of injury referred to above. A fourth group of 40 patients with nontraumatic spondylosis deformans cervicalis is compared with the first three groups of patients. The rate (49 percent, 52 percent, and 54 percent), kind, and distribution of electroencephalographically determined abnormalities are in agreement with those obtained for the first three groups. For patients with nontraumatic cervicocephalic syndromes the rate of general alterations determined from records obtained by means of the electroencephalograph is equal to the occurrence of constitutional EEG variants, the rate being of the order of 10 percent. EEG alterations observed in the case of flinging traumata are considered to de due to acceleration injuries to the cranial contents.


[Fluid carbenicillin levels after intravenous administration].

Intravenous infusion of carbenicillin was followed by a determination of the concentration of this antibiotic in both the liquor and serum. The examinations, of which the results are reported in this paper, were made on six patients who had undergone surgical operations to the posterior cranial fossa and on whom lumbar punctures were postoperatively performed every day, as well as on seven hydrocephalic patients where a temporary relief of pressure was obtained by draining excess liquor. The level of carbenicillin in the liquor were found to enable even gram-negative problem germs (e.g., Proteus germs) to be controlled.


[Indications for reoperation on brain gliomas].

The present results allow to make the following conclusions: (1) In the case of relapses or progressions of intracranial gliomata, reoperation usually yields unsatisfactory therapeutical results, often leading even to premature death of the patient. (2) Reoperations for intracranial gliomata should be decided individually. Determining their indication are the size, location, and histological character ascertained during the first intervention. Also, it is necessary to give detailed consideration to the results of both scintigraphic and angiographic examinations, which give an idea of the actual size of proliferation. (3) Relapses of malignant and relatively malignant gliomata are not reoperable. (4) Showing a relative capability of treatment by surgical reoperation are relapses of benign gliomata in functionally unimportant regions, which do not affect remote cerebral structures and which are accompanied by intracranial hypertension. (5) Reoperation is absolutely indicated in the case of relapses of spongioblastomata of the cerebellum providing the tumor does not affect the brain-stem.


[Unusual paraventricular cavitations as complication of brain stem glioblastoma].

The author in his present paper reports extensive paraventricular cavitation of the lateral ventricles in a 24-year-old woman with a brain-stem glioblastoma. Playing an important etiopathogenetic role in the development of this particular complicatien are a disturbance of the pischarge of liquor due to the expansion in the posterior cranial fossa of the rapidly growing tumor, the internal hydrocephalus resulting therefrom, and the acute tumoral hemorrhage accompanied by an invasion of the fourth ventricle and partial internal hematocephalus.


[Use of aliphatic amino acids by staphylococcus cells during pigment biosynthesis].

A study was made of a possibility of incorporation of labeled amino acids into the composition of carotinoid pigment of the Staph. aureus. The use in the biosynthesis of Staph. aureus pigment of the following amino acids was demonstrated: valine, leucine, aspartate and glutamate. Carbon of amino acid radicals was mainly used in the carotinoid biosynthesis, this pointing to their preliminary decarboxylation by the corresponding decarboxylases of the bacterial cell.


[Sensitizing properties of strains of stpahylococci differing in toxigenicity in the immediate hypersensitivity reaction].

The author presents the results of studies on the effect of staphylococcus toxin formation on the origination of allergic reaction. Staph. aureus strains, active producers of the alpha- and gamma-hemolysin, leukocidin, and Staph. epidermidis strains possessing no pathogenicity signs (a total of 8 strains) were used for the sensitization. Guinea pigs and rabbits served for the reproduction of anaphylactic shock and passive skin anaphylaxis after Ovary. Toxigenic properties of the strain were not the dominating factor in the formation of an allergic reaction of the organism. Immediate sensitization reaction occurred in the animals in response to the toxigenic and nontoxigenic strains not only after the administration of a reacting dose of homologous, but also of other strains of different toxigenicity. Sensitization reaction with Staph. aureus strains was more pronounced. Sensitization of the organism with Staph. epidermidis strains (possessing no pathogenicity signs) is also possible.


[Modified nephelometric method of determining the activity of extracellular staphylococcal plasmocoagulase].

The nephelometric method of the quantitative determination of plasmocoagulase was modified. The medium for growing staphylococci and the composition of the "substrate" were elaborated. The necessity of recalculation of the absolute coagulase activity into specific activity with the consideration to the microbial cell count in the suspension from which the supernatent containing the enzyme was obtained. The greatest plasmocoagulase activity was revealed in the 6- and the 24-hour cultures of Staph. aureus. The optimal time of incubation of the reactive medium (enzyme-substrate) was 4 hours.


[Comparative study of mycoplasmae and stable L-forms of bacteria].

A comparative study of mycoplasmae and L-form bacteria was carried out. Both of them were well passaged on a special nutrient medium with the addition of thallium acetate, i.e. they were resistant to this factor. But, in difference from the L-form bacteria, mycoplasmae failed to be passaged on the serum-free medium; the cultures of the L-form bacteria were highly resistant to the action of osmotic stabilizers and to the pressure of the nutrient medium of 15 and 30 atm; as to mycoplasmae--they perished at such a high pressure. The majority of mycoplasmae were resistant to the action of osmotic shock, and L-form bacteria lost their viability in distilled water as soon as in 2 hours.


[Phenomenon of erythrocyte "spreading" on the surface of agar caused by hemolytic staphylococci].

Hemolytic staphylococcus was incubated at 37 degrees C in a Petri dish, on meat-peptone agar with a layer of erythrocytes on its surface. Colonies surrounded by smaller radially-located secondary colonies of the same staphylococcus were revealed in 24 hours; there proved to be a direct relationship between the hemolytic activity of the staphylococcus and the size of the zone of erythrocyte "spreading". This phenomenon called the erythrocyte "spreading" phenomenon was caused only by hemolytic staphylococci. Apparently hemolytic staphylococcus secreted surfactants causing the "spreading" of erythrocytes from the growing colony.


[Characteristics of the reactogenic and immunogenic properties of killed influence vaccine purified and concentrated by the method of adsorbed chromatography on silicate sorbents].

Reactogenic and immunogenic properties of killed influenza vaccine prepared of various strains of influenza virus by the method of sorption chromatography on sliciate sorbents were studied on small groups of volunteers; there proved to be a moderate reactogenic and a marked immunogenic activity of the experimental batches of the preparation. The dose, the concentration and the method of administration of the vaccine to obtain the immune response were determined. The indices of humoral and local immunity following a single vaccination were studied. On the basis of parenteral immunization of donors with killed influenza vaccine there were obtained experimental samples of the antinfluenza gamma-globulin with an increased specific activity.


[Comparative study of the immunologic effectiveness of the oral and subcutaneous methods of administering pertussis vaccine].

The authors present the results of study of humoral immunity in rabbits after oral and subcutaneous immunization with pertussis vaccine. There was an increase in agglutinin titre and of the protective properties of the serum both after the oral administration of the vaccine according to two different schemes and after the subcutaneous immunization. However, rabbits immunized orally displayed a more prolonged (150-day) persistence of agglutinin titres, as well as of preventive and protective activity of the sera than rabbits immunized subcutaneoulsy.


[Dynamics of DNA synthesis and blast cell reproduction during formation of the primary immune response and immunologic memory].

A study was made of the dynamics of the DNA synthesis and of the reproduction of the blast cells in the spleen by the methods of autoradiography and radiometry under conditions of a single intervenous immunization of CBA mice with high and low doses of sheep erythrocytes. In the formation of immunological memory stimulated by a subimmunizing dose of the antigen (1-10(5) erythrocytes) cell changes were observed almost exclusively in the periarterial zone; as to the primary response caused by a high dose of the antigen (1-10(9) erythrocytes), it was accompanied by the changes in the cell composition in all the zones of the spleen under study (periarterial, mantle, embryonic centres, red pulp). The maximal accretion of the blast count was observed in the both cases on the second day after the antigen administration. Dynamics of the specific intensity of the 3H-thymidine incorporation into the tissues of the spleen showed the greatest correspondence with the dynamics of the cell changes in the periarterial zone of the spleen.


[Character of the immune response in guinea pigs following immunization with brucellosis protective antigen].

In studying guinea pigs immunized with brucella protective antigen and the immunological response in them it was found that the antigen could be determined for 30 days by the method of fluorescent antibodies in the cells of the lymph nodes and the spleen following its intravenous injection. The optimal immunizing dose was 0.6 mg; in difference from a dose of 2 mg it produced an earlier and a more pronounced humoral effect. The phagocytic activity of the peritoneal macrophages of guinea pigs immunized with low doses was much more intensive than of those immunized with high doses of the antigen. Brucella protective antigen in a dose of 2 mg produced a disturbance of the carbohydrate metabolism in phagocytes, this influencing negatively their phagocytic function.


[Avidity of specific antibodies in the sera of cholera patients  and vibrio carriers].

Avidity of specific antibodies was studied in the sera of patients suffering from cholera and vibrio-carriers by the rate of antibody binding (in the bacterial agglutination reaction) and by the completeness of their binding with O-antigen (in the passive hemagglutination test). There were revealed statistically significant higher indices of antibody avidity contained in the blood sera of the vibrio carriers, in comparison with the antibodies in the blood sera of patients with clinically manifest forms of cholera. There proved to be an increase in the antibody avidity in the dynamics of the infectious process. It is supposed that the degree of avidity of anticholera antibodies in examination of whole sera depended on the ratio of the specific macro- and microglobulins in them.


[Changes in the surface structures of bacteria as a cause of weak immunogenicity of vaccines from several strains of Citrobacter].

The authors present the results of studying the weakly immunogenic Citrobacter strains; some O-antigens of Citrobacter (11, 14, 19, 21a, 21b, 26) caused in immunization of rabbits a weak immune response (antibody titre--1:400-1:800). An electron microscopic study of the vaccines (obtained from these strains) and their fragments showed that a partial desquamation and denaturing of the antigenic material occurred in the process of preparation of heated vaccines. Formalin-treated vaccine subjected to preliminary deflaggelation for 2 min at 3000 cps was used for obtaining the O-sera against the mentioned antigens.


[Encephalopathic syndrome in chronic non-specific lung diseases].

On the basis of a clinical, laboratory (blood gas content, function of external respiration, EEG, ECG eye ground, etc.) and pathomorphological studies the authors describe a syndrome of chronic lung encephalopathy in 34 patients with chronic nonspecific lung diseases (chronic pneumonia, chronic bronchitis). The report contains data on the development of chronic encephalopathy depending upon the severity of the basic disease. Treatment recommendations are given.


[Neurologic pathology in severe forms of chronic renal failure].

The paper deals with the results of a neurological and psychological study of 162 patients with chronic renal insufficiency. Among this contingent 122 were in a terminal phase and preserved a viability only because of a long-term (up to 4 years) regular hemodialysis. The authors describe the dynamics of neurological pathology due to autointoxication and metabolic disturbances and suggest that the main foci of lesions are nonspecific structures of the mesencephalo-diencephalic brain areas and peripheral nerves on the background of a diffuse lesion of the nervous tissue.


[Affection of the central and peripheral nervous systems in systemic lupus erythematosus].

Using the complex methods of morphological, neurohistological and histochemical methods in the study of the central and peripheral nervous system in systemic lupus erythematosus, the authors observed 20 patients who died at the age of 12-56. The studies detected phenomena of disorganization of the connective tissue and vascular walls which are accompanied by a significant accumulation of muccopolysaccharides, thrombovasculites, endovasculites, lymphoid-plasmocellular infiltration and degenerative changes in the nervous elements.


[State of the nervous system in psoriasis patients].

In order to clarify the role of the nervous system in the development of psoriasis the authors conducted a manifold dermato-neurological, biochemical and electrophysiological (EEG, REG) study of 130 patients. In 76.4% there were different neurological disorders: vegetative-vascular disturbances, functional diseases of the nervous system. Psoriasis was also seen in combination with segulae of brain injuries, neuroinfections, hypothalamic syndrome, vascular brain lesions, epilepsy. Clinico-electrophysiological studies detected a dysfunction on all levels of the brain, mainly in the limbico-reticular complex and mesodiencephalic formation. Quite possibly the above-mentioned changes are of significance for the development of psoriasis, making the use of drugs influencing these brain structure necessary. Taking into consideration the REG data it is also necessary to use preparations influencing the vascular tone of the brain and physiotherapeutical procedures normalizing the cerebral hemodynamics.


[Autonomic paroxysms (of the stenocardia type) in vascular lesions primarily of the medio-basal portions of the temporal lobes of the brain].

In patients with vascular brain pathology the authors observed cases of temporal epilepsy in the clinical picture of which prevailed (and sometimes were isolated) vegetative-vascular "stenocardia" paroxysms. Such clinical states made it possible to suggest that in this contingent there was stenocardia proper. Stenocardiac paroxysms, due to cerebral pathology, were in combination with affective, mnestic and other psychopathological and neurological symptoms, indicating to an involvement into the vascular process of cortical representations of vegetative functions in the temporal area: hippocamp, amygdalar nucleus and their connections with the diencephalo-stem structures.


[Odontologic and other etiologic factors in trigeminal neuralgia].

Trigeminal neuralgia may be due to many causes, being in this respect secondary. To a certain degree trigeminal neuralgia may be facilitated by an individual increase of reactivity in the trigeminal system to noxious factors. For this reason, in treating trigeminal neuralgia, it is necessary first of all to take into consideration the possible etiological factors including different diseases of the teeth, in the innervation of which an important role is played by the fibers of the trigeminal nerve.


[Treatment of spondylogenic lumbosacral radiculitis with epidural novocaine-hydrocortisone blockades].

The authors analyze some results in the treatment of 100 patients with spondilogenic sacro-lumbar radiculitis by epidural novocain-hydrocortisone blockades. The materials permit to substantiate indications, contraindications and some methodological approache in this form of treatment. In some cases epidural blockades were performed in combination with other forms of therapy (physiotherapeutical procedures, traction, analgetic drugs). A good therapeutic effect was seen in 88 patients.


[Phenomenon of cerebrospinal fluid lymphocyte blast-transformation in several inflammatory diseases of the nervous system].

Morphological and autoradiographical studies of leukocyte cultures of the CSF in 20 patients with serous meningoencephalitis of a diverse etiology permitted the authors to establish the following condition. There is a phenomenon of lymphocyte blastransformation under the influence of phytohemagglutinine (PHA) and tuberculin. These data made it possible to suppose of the existence of T2-lymphocytes in the CSF. A correlation between the obtained data and the clinical picture demonstrated that 30-50% of the lymphocytes respond to PHA, irrespective of the etiology of meningoencephalitis, while blasttransformation to tuberculin occurs only in tuberculous meningoencephalitis. The authors attribute an important practical role to these findings for a differential diagnosis between obliviated forms of tuberculous meningoencephalitis and serous meningoencephalitis of a nontuberculous origin. These data give ground to assume that the CSF and the lymphocytes circulating in it form a strong immunological "mobile" barrier to the brain.


[Oscillographic speech recording as a method of differential diagnosis of different forms of dysarthria].

In order to differentiate paralytic, cerebellar and extrapyramidal forms of dysarthria the authors used the method of oscillography of speech in 20 normal and 30 patients. It was established that as differential diagnostical oscillographic criteria such phenomena as disorders of articulation, the latent period, role of speech, duration in the pronounciation of separate elements of speech, the correlation of the duration of words and pauses, amplitude of fluctuations and "oscillogrpahic intonation" of speech can be used.


[Innervation of the medial group of plantar muscles in man (electrophysiologic study)].

The central response of the medical group of muscles in the foot sole, as a reaction to a stimulation of the tibial nerve has an antidrome character in normals over 20-22 years of age. However, in children and adolescents, as well as in disturbance of the supra-segmental control in this sort of response is a prevalent reflectory (monosynaptical) component. A similar trait was found in patients with discogenic radiculitis in an isolated lesion of the L5 radicle. And on the contrary, a pathology of the S1 radicle not only did not change the antidrome character of the response, but prevented the dominance of the reflectory component in cases of an accompanying lesion of the descending spinal conductors or L5 radical. The conclusion is made that the innervation of the protuberant muscles of the 1 finger in the human foot is accomplished by the L-motoneurons of the anterior horns of the S1 segment.


[Several aspects of the problem of psychopathy and prospects for scientific research in that area].

The author rises some problems of psychopathy which are the most significant at present: etiology and pathogenesis of psychopathy, their clinical classification, studies of their dynamics, differentiation of psychopathy from other forms of borderline conditions. In respect to the data concerning the modern state of the studies in psychopathy new perspectives in this area emerge: epidemiological studies of psychopathy, a study of its biological substrate, a creation of a unified classification of psychopathy, a differentiation of separate forms in the dynamics of psychopathy.


[Mechanisms of disorders in the assessment of external signals in psychopathies].

The author discusses some results of studies in evoked brain potentials of excitative and inhibitive psychopathic personalities. The evoked brain potentials to signal significant stimula in psychopaties are changed these changes being different in the groups of excitative and inhibitive psychopaths. In psychopathic personalities the amplitude changes to a significant stimula, not so much of the late but of the early components of response. The changes of early waves in the excitative and inhibited groups are differently directed. It can be supposed that these changes reflect the disturbances in the informational brain processes in psychopathic personalities which can be most distinctly seen in emotionally significant situation.


[Differences in serotonin and dopamine metabolism in psychopathy and sluggish schizophrenia].

The studies established some differences in the serotonin metabolism in psychopaths and in patients with sluggish schizophrenia (261+/-9 ng/ml and 329+/-7 ng/ml of whole blood respectively). A comparison of the homovanilin acid content in the blood serum of patients in both groups (normals -62.1+/-9.3 ng/ml, psychopathic personalities -86.0+/-10.1 ng/ml, schizophrenic patients -34.5+/-8.6 ng/ml) points to a tendency towards an intensification of the dopamine metabolism in patients with psychopathy and a drop in the intensity of dopamine metabolism in schizophrenic patients.


[Critical capabilities in psychopathics].

The authors studied the capabilities of psychopathic personalities (58 cases) to control their behaviour by involving such factors as the past experience, the existing knowledge selfestimation, the level of pretension. The results of such studies established insufficiency of controlling the activities in using the past experience, inadequate selfestimation and level of pretension, incapability to a prognosis of the aftereffects of personal actions. These disturbances may determine the disturbances of critical capabilities in psychopathy.


[Personality structure mosaicism as a stage in the development of psychopathies].

An appliance of the principle of dynamics in relation to studies of psychopathy (164 cases) permitted to detect the periods of mosaicity in their formation and subsequent development. The authors describe some polymorphic phenomena in the clinical picture during the first period (complexity of the pathocharacterological structure, neurotic signs, the traits of the affective pathology, etc.). It was also possible to speak of some aging limits in the period of mosaicity and to demonstrate dependence of the clinical content on the genetical or clinical type of psychopathy. The report contains some differential diagnostical criteria or psychopathy of this age stage with psychopath-like conditions of a schizophrenic or organic genesis. Some main recommendations are given for a forensic-psychiatric evaluation of the described states.


[Clinical dynamics of several constitutional psychopathies during the period of their development].

The authors outline the main regularities in the dynamics of the formation of constitutional psychopathy in childhood and adolescence on the models of epileptoid and schizoid psychopathy. Some age traits of psychopathical and psychogenic reactions and their role in the formation of constitutional psychopathy are discussed. The period of their formation is considered as psychopathic development, due to a complex interaction of constitutional anomalies of temperament, instincts and drives with the micro-socio-psychological environment.


[Clinical dynamics of hysterical psychopathy].

The report contains materials of a long-term clinico-catamnestical and social-psychological study of 136 patients with hysterical psychopathy. The main stages of a formation of psychopathy in 3 genetical subgroups ("nuclear", "borderline" and organic) were studied. The authors conducted a typological analysis of hysterical psychopathic personality with an elimination of "obligatory" and "optional" symptoms. Some regularities in the aging dynamics of hysterical psychopathy are given in respect to 3 periods: childhood and adolescency; mature:old age.


[Clinical basis for a differentiated approach to psychopathic personality adaptation].

In the process of compensation of psychopathy there is a complex reformation of its structure due to the development of secondary compensatory personality changes on the background of primary pathocharacteriological personality traits. However, each form of psychopathy maintains its specific clinical symptoms which should be taken into consideration in a goal-directed formation of conditions, facilitating an adaptation of such patients. Consideration of specific traits in the structure of psychopathy and the reaction of patients to different factors allows one to select conditions where the requirements to the "weak" side of the personality would be reduced, while its relatively "strong" sides were applied productively.


[Interaction of external and internal factors in the manifestations and formation of psychopathies and pathological personality development].

The authors substantiate the concept that the material and pathophysiological substrate of psychopathy is the pathological variant of the highest nervous activity type, on the basis of which psychopathy appears and begins to form. They attempt to answer some questions concerning the correlation between exogenous and endogenous origins of psychopathy. A delineation between psychopathy and normal variants on the one hand and accentuated personalities and pathocharacterological personality development on the other one is made.


[Characteristics of psycho-traumatic situations in the clinical picture of psychogenic reactions].

On the basis of a clinico-psychopathological study of 90 patients with the most frequently encountered forms of reactive conditions, the author eliminates the predilective clinical types of psychotraumatizing situations. The appearance of reactive depressions and neurasthenia is connected with stress situations and exhaustions. Obsessional neurotic states are connected with situations of disturbed habitual stereotypes while as hysteric states--with situations of infringement of egocentrism. Paranoical reactions appear in situations of a denial incompromissity.


[Assessment of the effectiveness of autogenic training in the complex treatment of neurotic and psychopathic states].

An examination of 68 patients with neurotic and psychopathic states detected the existence of significant connections between the method of treatment and reverse development of the symptomatology. The author used sets clinical scales and methods of statistical canonic, regressional and dispersional analysis. The most effective appeared to be autogenic training and aminazine. The effectiveness of aminazine was most distinctly seen in arresting hysterical characterological disturbances. The action of autogenic training in combination with amytriptiline was more effective in the treatment of insomnia and psychopathic disorders of the inhibitive type.


[Reproduction of a given frequency of rhythmic movements in lesions of different motor formations].

By means of the tapping method the authors studied the capability of reproducting induced paces of rhythmical movements in 22 patients with the localization of the pathological process in subcortical nodes and in the brain stem. The induction of temporary programmes was accomplished by an electrophotostimulator, while the tapping registration--by an electromyo- and electroencephalographic method. It was demonstrated that in parkinsonic patients the most successful reproduction was accomplished in a pace of 6 hz. In cortical lesion there was a tendency to slow pace (1-2 hz), to a perseveration of made mistakes and a difficulty in transmitting from one pace to another. In stem lesions there was a disturbance in the reproduction of paces in all series of the experiment. The authors discuss the hypothesis of an existence of endogenous temporary programmes as an independent neurophysiological factor. It is being assumed that a study of the influence of external rhythmical signals on the internal (endogenous) time may have a decisive importance for special methods of rehabilitation of motor functions.


[Bioelectric activity of paravertebral muscles in experimental scoliosis].

The paper is concerned with a study of the bioelectrical activity of the paravertebral muscles in 2 groups of rabbits with differently expressed degrees of experimental scoliosis and in a control group of intact animals. The results demonstrated an asymmetry in the tonic bioelectric activity in the paravertebral muscles in scoliosis, unlike the reactions of the control group of animals. The character of asymmetry depends upon the degree of deformation: in cases of moderately expressed scoliosis there is a prevalence of the tonic bioelectric activity on the level of the basic arc of distortion on the side of the concavity; in severely expressed scoliosis the tonic bioelectrical activity of the paravertebral muscles on the concave side appears to be less than on the convex side. An asymmetry of the tonic activity takes place on the level of compensatory arcs as well. The authors come to the conclusion on the pathogenetical role of the muscular dysbalance in the genesis of scoliotic deformation.


[Spectral analysis of the EEG in patients with cerebral contusions and traumatic intracranial hematomas].

The authors subjected to a mathematical analysis 80 electroencephalograms registered in 20 patients with contusional foci andintracranial hematomas, verified during surgical operations. In order to evaluate the peculiarities of the EEG spectrograms an adaptive system of filtration was proposed which was based on an approximation of the assessment of the spectral density. The used method with the aid of computers permitted to detect the characteristic disturbances of the frequency spectrum in the EEG which had a topical and differential diagnostical significance for patients in the acute period of a severe brain injury.


[Effect of alcohol abuse on the development and course of acute cerebral circulatory disorders].

A study of 544 patients with acute disorders of cerebral circulation demonstrated a correlation between the development of a stroke and the degree of alcohol abuse. In patients who abused alcoholic beverages acute disorders of cerebral circulation developed at a younger age, were much more acute and more frequently had a lethal outcome, especially if the stroke developed during acute alcoholic intoxication. The study also showed that in such cases hemorrhagical strokes were more common than ischemic.


[Effect of dexamethasone on indices of cerebral circulation].

With the aid of a REG method the authors studied the effect of dexametasone on the cerebral hemodynamics in 37 patients with cerebral atherosclerosis with chronic cerebrovascular insufficiency. It was possible to show that there is an accelerated venous blood outflow, a decreased vascular resistance, as well as the absence of a vasopressor reaction to a single intravenous administration of 4 mg of dexametasone. The capability of the preparation to reduce the volume of cerebral pulse waves limits its use in the initial decreased amplitude of cerebral pulse fluctuations.


[Lability of the temperature analyzer in neurologic clinical practice].

With the aid of thermopulsation the authors determined the maximal frequencies of separately percepted thermal stimula in the different areas of the skin surface (lability of the thermal analyzer). Such studies were performed in normals and in patients with organic brain and spinal lesions. It was established that in pathological conditions changes of lability go far beyond the limits of corresponding morphological changes and demonstrate distributed neurodynamical shifts. These data are considered from the standpoint of extralemniscal disorders of general sensitivity.


[Mnestic disorders in tumors of the temporal lobe].

The paper contains some results of a neuropsychological study of memory in 32 patients with tumors of the temporal lobe. The authors distinguished syndromes of disturbed speech memory (mainly--auditory-verbal) in tumors of the medial, posterior and, to a less degree, frontal areas of the left temporal lobe. In tumors of the right temporal lobe changes of memory were less expressed and had prevalently a visual-image character. An involvement into the process of the hyppocampus leads to a model nonspecific drop of short-time memory, while the expansion of the tumor towards the diencephalo-mesencephalic structures--to a formation of the Korsakoff syndrome. The results of the study demonstrate a certain correlation of disturbed memory with degree of emotional changes. It is being assumed that the defect of a retarded reproduction is due to an inertia of the nervous processes.


[Speech disorders in tumors of the left frontal lobe].

The paper deals with a description of speech activity or dynamic aphasia seen in 9 patients with tumors of the left frontal lobe. A weakening of volition to speech was combined with disorders of naming, verbal memory, logic thinking. All these disturbances were accompanied by general motor inhibition. Among the 9 studied patients in 8 cases the focus of lesion was situated on the medial surface of the hemisphere, corresponding to the supplementary Penfield speech zone.


[Combined treatment of Parkinsonism with levopa, midantan and anticholinergic drugs].

For the treatment of 42 patients with different forms of atherosclerotic and postencephalitic parkinsonism the author used levopa drugs, medantane, cyclodol and parkopan in combination and separately. The most stable improvement was obtained from a combination of levopa with cyclodol in patient with rigid-akynetic-trembling manifestations of parkinsonism. The treatment by medantane increased the therapeutical effect in the patients with postencephalitic parkinsonism. Methyl-dopa and pyridoxine served as a corrector of levopa. The studies on the blood content of acetylcholine and cholinesterase showed a growth of cholinolytic and cholinesterase activity in the blood.


[Serotonin concentration in the blood of patients with tonic seizures localized in the brain stem].

The authors studied the content of general serotonin in different periods of attacks in patients with tonic attacks of a stem localization. It was possible to demonstrate an increased content of blood serotonin in the initial phase of the attack. During the crucial phase the serotonin content compared to the initial phase, decreases. However, its level compared to the onset level continued to be high. An increase in the serotonin content was accompanied by significant neurotic symptoms and in some cases by psychomotor excitation. The spectrograms of serotonin eliminated from the blood of patients are different by forms and may serve as one of the tests for the establishment of the degree of the disorder.


[Several biochemical signs of loss and restoration of visual function].

With the aid of cytophotometry the author studied the cellular chemistry of neurons (according to the activity of glutamate dehydrogenase) in the III, IV and V layers of the visual cortex in rats during the period of rehabilitation of specific functions following long-term light deprivation. It was demonstrated that a 2-week stay of deprivated animals in conditions of usual light is accompanied by visible normalization of the glutamate dehydrogenase activity in the cortical neurons. However, a complete rehabilitation of the control level was not attained. The study demonstrated differences in the reactions of identical neurons in the IV and V layers to the rehabilitation of specific functions. It is being assumed that the rehabilitation of the visual function may be due to biochemical reconstructions in the monomodel and certain parts of the polymodal neurons in the visual cortex.


[Relationship between perception of facial expression by schizophrenic patients and disorders in their assessment of probability].

The author proposes a method of studying some traits of mimic perception where an oral report is avoided. The essence of the method is in a distribution by the examine of a series of photographs of the same face into such groups so as to have similar facial expressions. The experiments demonstrated that such distributions are mainly performed on a direct intuitive level. The examinee is given several series of photographs of different faces. In an evaluation of the results the probability of different combinations attained in a group of normals are being considered. The author compared a group of schizophrenic patients (60 cases) and a group of normals (100 cases). The patients significantly more frequently (p less than 0.001) give combinations of photographs with a low probability 0.01-0.05. The preliminary data indicate that this trait correlates with the severity of the clinical picture. Among the normals 7% of the examined individuals gave a stable high amount of answers with a low probability. This group of individuals detected characterological peculiarities reflected in the questionnaire. It may be assumed that this trait in the evaluation of mimics is due to a constitutional and morbid process.


[Comparative study of thought characteristics of adolescents healthy and schizophrenic].

The paper is concerned with selectivity formation in the actulization of knowledge during the process of thinking in cases of abnormal development of adolescents--schizophrenic patients (61 cases). The study was performed in contrast to a control group of normals (114 cases) of the same age and educational census. The results demonstrate changes in the process of selectivity formation in the actualization of knowledge in adolescent schizophrenic patients which was detected in a weakening of the organizing role of the adopting system of social experience during the development of the cognitive activity.


[Schizophrenic and schizophrenic-like manifestations in syndrome 47, XYY].

The authors examined 4446 patients in mental hospitals. Among these patients 15 displayed the 47 XYY syndrome and 3 with mosaicism 46 XY/47 XYY. A study of these patients showed that in 5 cases they were qualified as schizophrenic. They were study died from 2-5 years. In 4 cases the diagnosis of schizophrenia was not confirmed. In one case the authors diagnosed the disease as an atypical form of schizophrenia. The clinical traits of the disease in this case are associated with a supplementary Y somasomia.


[Development of circularity as a manifestation of schizophrenic pathomorphosis].

On the basis of literature data and personal experience the author indicates the pathomorphosis of schizophrenia towards its circularization. It is claimed that this phenomenon cannot be explained entirely by the use of psychotropic drugs. A study of the reasons of such "nontherapeutical" pathomorphosis requires special studies. A necessary condition for such studies is a clear selection of clinical material. In this relation the author proposes to base such studies on the origin of cyclothymic disorders which may stem from typological traits of the circular form, or from a predisposition to vital-affective registers in the premorbid personality or developed in the process of schizophrenia. Some clinical features of the disease connected with affective pathology are discussed.


[One of the variants of lucid catatonia with long-term remissions].

The presentation concerns 10 observations of lucid catatonia and protracted remission. Among the group of schizophrenia these cases constitute only 0.8% of all cases. They are characterized by a prevalence of negative signs and catatonic disorders which can be alloted to the anergic pole and are seen during the entire development of the disease. The most striking feature of such cases is their "outpatient" development of the process. The protracted remissions (15-37 years) are characterized by an expressed defect without positive symptoms.


[Rehabilitation of schizophrenic patients with a protracted course under usual industrial conditions].

The authors studied the effectively of rehabilitation in 220 patients with a protracted course of the schizophrenic process in individually created conditions, at a usual industrial plant and in conditions of state farms. The clinical observations and dispersed analysis detected that there are multifold correlations between different clinical factors and the effectiveness of rehabilitation. The authors have their opinion concerning the necessity of elaborating differentiated clinical indications to the rehabilitation of schizophrenic patients with a prologned continuous stay in a hospital. According to 2-year following up the general outcome of rehabilitation was evaluated as favourable in 69%. These data permit to expand the present concept of the clinical and social prognosis in protracted forms of schizophrenia.


[Clinico-psychopathologic characteristics of schizophrenic patients who have performed socially dangerous acts (comparative epidemiological findings)].

A statistical analysis of a multifactorial comparative epidemiological study of schizophrenic patients performing and not performing dangerous actions during the period of the disease detected the following: psychological signs of schizophrenia were significantly more frequently seen at different stages of the disease in these patients who performed dangerous acts. There was a certain correlation between specific clinical signs and the age and sex structure, "prepsychotic" personality properties, exogenous influences. It was also possible to demonstrate a certain correlation between the frequency of dangerous acts and clinical conditions.


[Reproduction among the mentally ill].

The authors conducted a comparative analysis of the reproductiveness fertility and familial position of 2035 mental patients and 5358 normal females. It was possible to demonstrate a general drop during the past several years in the fertility, especially in the patients. The index of fertility and brutto-coefficient of reproductiveness in the group of patients is equal to 30-70% from the level of normal reproductiveness. However, in some forms of pathology (in patients with periodic schizophrenia) the level of reproductiveness falls more slowly than in the general population. It has been established that more than half of the children of schizophrenic patients (50.9%) are born after the onset of the disease. The level of fertility and the number of children or normals depends upon social factors (educational census, family budget). In mental patients these indices depend upon the degree of malignancy and the age of the onset of the pathological process.


[Role of the age factor in forming the clinical picture of anorexia nervosa].

The results of long-term clinical and experimental-psychological studies of patients with nervous anorexia were analyzed from the point of view of age psychology. Such approaches permitted to distinguish a peculiarity in the formation mechanism of this form of pathology. Dynamical studies of the moving forces in the personality development in morbid conditions allowed one to distinguish certain disorders in the process of periodization of the mental development. This in its turn exerts influence on the development of nervous anorexia.


["Lunar rhythms" in the course of the epileptic process].

On the basis of a mathematical analysis of 8400 seizures during 101 moon phases it was possible to establish a correlation between the frequency of convulsive paroxysms (both in the amount of seizures in epeileptic patients and amount of patients in whom these seizures appeared) and the phasic position of the Moon--periods of a full moon and new moon. The amount of patients and seizures increased during the periods of such phases 1.52 and 1.56 times corresponding more in comparison to the median significance of these figures. A study of the role of physical ressons of a wave and magnetic nature on the development of the epileptic process may help to understand the pathogenetical mechanisms of the disorder.


[Hereditary crossed palpebro-palpebral synkinesia].

The author describes 3 variants of involuntary -- synkinetic movements of the eyelid seen in 36 among the 250 examined patients. A study of the genealogy demonstrated a hereditary nature of this abnormality. In most of the cases the inheritance was of the auto-some-dominant type. Inasmuch as there is a regular combination of hereditary crossed palpebro-palpebral synkinesis with inborn signs of stem structure insufficiency the importance of such synkinesis for the differentiation of inborn and acquired microorganic symptomatology is stressed.


[Clinico-electromyographic characteristics of piriform muscle syndromes].

The report is concerned with the screening methods of lesions of the piriformis muscle in the piriformis syndrome which is more frequently connected with sacral osteochondrosis. However, this syndrome may sometimes appear in an ankylosis of the hip joint. All the diagnostical methods may be divided into 3 groups: indirect clinical method, palpation and EMG. The first method does not require special experience. A palpation of the piriformis muscle is conducted bimanually by a method proposed by the authors. EMG studies with the aid of needle electrodes permit to distinguish spasms and more crude changes in the piriform muscle.


[Dynamics of neurologic disorders following embolism of the bifurcation of the aorta and major arteries of the lower extremities].

The authors conducted a clinico-EMG study of 118 patients with an embolism of the aortal bifurcation and magistral arteries of the lower extremities. Among this contingent 58 were studied in the remote period -- from 2-7 years following a surgical operation. The clinical symptoms of embolism were expressed in severe pain, sensory, motor and vegetative-trophic disturbances in the affected extremities. Three degrees of the nervous system lesions were distinguished in an embolism. It was also demonstrated that there were significant changes in the bioelectrical muscle activity of the extremities. In the remote period following embolectomia, in most of the patients there still were sequalae of acute ischemia of the nervous tissue, the expressiveness of which depended upon the calibre of the occluded vessel, degree of tissue ischemia, the time of treatment and the time following the operation. A retarded restitution may be explained by the degree of the nervous tissue lesion and the persisting insufficiency of circulation in the extremities.


[Fahr's disease (idiopathic non-atherosclerotic calcification of the cerebral arteries)].

The authors describe one case of Fahr's disease in a 69-year-old male. The disease was characterized by a rapid development with polymorphic subcortical symptoms (mainly hyperkinetic) and a rapid disintegration of intellectual functions. Besides that, cortical and pyramidal disturbances (hemiparesis, visual disorders, etc.) were also marked. In the postmortem examination selective calcifed cerebral vessels were found, typical for this form of the disease. This observation gave no supplementary data on the etiology of the disease. Laboratory data did not depict any deviation from the norm.


[Early diagnosis, early therapy and prognosis of epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis].

The authors convened a special study for purposes of determining early signs of epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis and for the dependence of the prognosis from early etiotropic and pathogenetic therapy. On the basis of a study of 93 cases criteria of early diagnosis are being given. Unlike the data in literature, in 60.2% of the cases it was possible to initiate treatment during the first hours of the disease and in 94.6% -- not later than 48 hours. In most of the cases the disease had a grave course. Changed consciousness was observed in 55.9%, an increased amount of protein in the CSF -- in 58%. In 8 cases there was a syndrome of acute renal insufficiency. Despite these facts all the patients recovered. The authors come to the conclusion that prognosis may be significantly improved in cases of early diagnosis (during the first hours), intensive penicillin therapy (both intravenously and kanamicin into the carotid artery). The authors suggest that during reconvalescence it is feasible to prescribe resolving (pyrogenal lydase) and general therapy.


[Use of glucocorticoid hormones in multiple sclerosis].

A long-term observation over patients with disseminated scleosis who were treated by glucorticoid hormones demonstrated that hormone therapy with short sessions and a standard scheme appeared to be uneffective. The presentation is based on an examination of 25 patients who had undergone a durative course of hormone therapy with an individual scheme of optimal doses equal to middle ones (30-40 mg of prednisolon) and a selection of maintenance doses used for a long time or with short intervals. Such forms of treatment were more effective. During treatment the authors used immunological tests and analysis of electrolytes in the blood, sugar, urea, etc. Hormone therapy is indicated in acute forms of disseminated sclerosis and in a remittent development in the stage of exacerbation in the II and III phases. Along with favourable effects in 3 patients there was a development of hormone dependency and complications.


[Treatment of spastic torticollis with phenol-glycerin and alcohol-novocaine blockade].

Among the different etiological factors of spastic torticollis the authors attribute the main role to the gamma-motor system. They have elaborated a treatment method which blocks the neuromotor points of the gamma-motor system in the sternocleidomastoid and Musculus trapesius muscle by alcoholnovocain or phenolglycerine. Treatment was administered to 44 patients from 17-67 years with etiologically different diseases. A significant improvement was marked in 11 patients, improvement in 28. The absence of a positive effect was seen in patients with torsion dystonia. Clinico-EMG data demonstrated that influence on the peripheral segment of the reflectory are which is involved in the phasic-tonic muscle reactions, by a differentiated focal disengagement of gamma-motor mechanism facilitates a removal of spasticity and a restitution of a normal tonic and motor activity in the muscles of the neck.


[Treatment of patients with different forms of myotonia with diphenin and novocainamide].

Patients with different forms of myotonia were treated by 2 preparations: novocainamide and Diphenine (diphenylhydantoin). Patients with Thomsen's myotonia (9 cases) and with atrophic myotonia (7 cases) were treated by novocainamide with a daily dosage of 0.75-1.5 gm during 3 weeks. A decrease of the myotonical contracture was more marked in patients with Thomsen's myotonia and was arrested following 2-3 days after its discontinuation. Treatment of patients with atrophic myotonic by novocaiamide was not feasible inasmuch as there were some contraindications for its use. In 9 cases of Thomsen's myotonia and in 5 with atrophic myotonia treatment was given by diphenine in daily dosages from 0.4-0.5 gm during 4 weeks. In 6 patients with Thomsen's myotonia and in 3 cases of atrophic myotonia there was a significant improvement. In 2 cases diphenine even in minimal doses lead to allergic reactions. No effect was marked in 3 cases. Diphenine appears to be effective in Thomsen's myotonia and in patients with atrophic myotonia with insignificant muscular atrophy. The effect after treatment lasted up to 4 weeks.


[Medical rehabilitation medical-disability expertise of patients with post-traumatic bone defect of the skull].

The authors analyzed the results of treating 171 patients with sequelae of brain trauma and defects in the bones of the cranial fornix. On the basis of repeated examinations disturbances of brain functions were detected in 94 patients. In the remaining cases the only reason for invalidity was the cranial bone defect. For purposes of cranioplasty different methods were used. The results of surgical treatment permit to claim that the operation of choice in closing the bone defect is cranioplasty by homobones. In alloplasty of the cranial bone defect and all the more so in homobone plasty, it is expedient to reconsider the medico-labour examination in this category of patients.


[Clinical manifestations of the local effect of protons with an energy of 1000 Mev following irradiation of the hypophysis (experimental)].

In order to study the clinical picture due to inrradiation of the hypophysis by protons with an energy of 1000 Mev with the use of a pendulum technique, the authors examined 30 dogs including 27 with an irradiated hypophysis and 3 control animals during 2 years. The results were verified in autopsies and in histological studies. These examinations demonstrated frequent general cerebral symptoms, focal neurological and hypophysis-endocrinological symptoms as well as frequent lesions of the cranial nerves, epileptic seizures and nonsymptomatic focal brain necrosis. It was also possible to demonstrate a correlation of the clinical traits with the dosage of the irradiation and the time past after irradiation. The report contains corrections for using these data on humans.


[Progressive course of the sequelae of closed cranio-cerebral trauma at remote periods (in relation to the test of rehabilitating invalids from the Second World War)].

On the basis of modern knowledge of the clinical picture, pathophysiology and pathomorphology of the residual period of brain injuries and a study of 140 cases, examined in the Central Institute for Expertise of Working Capacity the author discusses some clinical characteristic of the remote sequelae of brain injuries received during the war and the possible variants of their pathogenesis. A comprehensive clinical study of such patients with the use of paraclinical methods (EEG, REG) permitted to establish a cerebro-vascular nature of these disorders with a development of vasopathy, traumatical hypertension, early vascular involution with a transition to early cerebral atherosclerosis. Having this in view the author considers some problems of the causal connections of these disorders with injuries and concussions received at war.


[Pathologic hypochondriacal personality development (conditions of formation, clinical variants, type of course)].

The paper deals with some results of a complex somato-psycho-neurological study of 51 patients with a pathological hypochondriacal personality development which led to a stable restriction or a complete loss of working capacity. The author indicates a complex pathogenesis of this disorder: a low level of socio-working adaptation and psychopathic traits in the premorbid personality; psycho-traumatizing situation due to an underestimation by the physicians of the severity of the somato-neurological disorder which in some cases is supplemented by an unfavourable family situation.


[Prognosis of juvenile schizophrenia with dysmorphophobic disorders (according to catamnestic findings)].

On the basis of clinico-catamnestical studies of 72 patients with adolescen schizophrenia and dysmorphophobic disturbances the author distinguished 3 variants of the outcome of such conditions. The clinical picture was in correlation with the degree of progressiveness of the disease and the type of development. Some prognostic criteria concerning the development of the disease are given. In favour of a relatively favourable prognosis of dysmorphophobic conditions spoke the following phenomena: a monothematical character of dysmorphophobia, its nondelusional state, the absence of focal cenesthopathy and olfactorial hallucinations, a proximity of the content of dysmorphophobia to pubertal psychological signs, a connection between the exacerbation periods with depressive states, an undulating charcter of dysmorphophobic symptoms during adolescence and the oneset of the disease with psycheastheno-like disturbances. An unfavourable prognosis was characterized by a delusional character of dysmorphophobic disturbances, bizzare delusional hypochondric systems, including dysmorphophobia, ideas of reference, cenesthopathy, tactile and olfactory hallucinations, an insignificant dependence of dysmorphophobia from affective disorders and early appearing distinct personality changes.


[Long-term stable remissions in slowly progressive juvenile schizophrenia].

Protracted stable remissions without residual psychotic disorders are not homogenous while as their typology to a great extent depends upon the clinical picture of the previous attack and the differences in the structure and degree of negative changes. The most stable remissions appeared to be those where the negative disorders did not go beyond the pathological personality changes (pseudopsychopathic states) which by their structure were similar to the expansive pole of schizoid psychopathy. After more polymorphic attacks the remissions had a more deep register of negative disturbances, with signs of a sluggish development, increasing the probability of repeated attacks.


[Typology of defective states with a syndrome of monotonous activity in schizophrenic patients (problem of late remissions)].

The authors compared 2 types of defective states with a predominance of the syndrome of monotonous activity in the structure of a protracted remission in shift-like schizophrenia. Of the syndrome of monotonous activity of the 1st type the following conditions were most characteristic: autistic activity; a selective attraction to certain forms of work despite their relative high degree of organization and complexity; hyperactivity which was next to an overvalued approach to work. The 2nd type was characterized by a passive attitude to work, a significant restriction of forms of work and machine-like, similar to stereotypicity, character of activity.


[Effectiveness of different methods of treating sleep disorders according to electropolygraphic findings].

The authors report of an electropolygraphical study of 111 patients with different forms of neurotical sleep disorders. For therapeutical purposes different pharmacological methods (Ca cyclobarbital, eunoctin, elenium, difenisid) and psychotherapeutical (hypnosuggestion, autogenic training) treatment was used. The achieved data permit to conclude that there is an increased activity of the awakening and activizing systems in patients with neurotic disorders of sleep. A decrease of the activating changes evoked under the influence of pharmacological and psychotherapeutical methods is accompanied by an improvement of the objective indices and as a rule correlates with a subjective personal feeling of sleep by the patient. The authors studied the optimal conditions for using different methods of treatment and based their principles for a differentiated therapy of different disorders of sleep in neuroses.


[Effect of psycholeptics on several physiologic indices of stutterers].

The report is concerned with the action of single doses of aminazine, seduxen and benzctyzine on the EMG of the orbicular muscle of the mouth, pulse frequency, GSR and EEG during rest and in the process of speech in individuals with stuttering and neurotic disturbances (25 cases) and in early organic lesions (20 cases). The conclusion is made that there is a selective effect of these preparations on the different structures of the functional brain systems in stutterers.


[Nurse-patient relations in a psychiatric department (experience with a social psychology study)].

The paper is related to some aspects of "nurse-patient" interrelations in conditions of rehabilitation of mental patients. The authors studied some factors influencing the evaluation (selection) of nurses by patients with the aid of special questionnaire techniques of nurses and patients in combination with the method of expert assessment. The study covered 141 mental patients and 14 nurses working in shifts. It was possible to distinguish some personality and occupational characteristics of the nurses who were most closely related to the estimation made by the patients. The authors established some relation between the assessment made by the patients with the degree of readiness for social contacts with mental patients by nurses.


Glycoprotein nature of tannase in Aspergillus niger.

1. Tannase (tannin acyl-hydrolase, EC 3.1.1.20) was isolated from the culture medium of Aspergillus niger and purified about 200-fold. On polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis it gave a single band. 2. The molecular weight of the enzyme was of the order of 55 000 as determined by gel filtration. The enzyme contains 21.5% of carbohydrates (mannose and glucose). 3. Treatment of tannase with alkaline borohydride decreased the content of threonine, serine and mannose, suggesting that the carbohydrate-peptide linkage is of the O-glycoside type, involving mannose linked to threonine and serine.


Effect of some lipids on the activity of renin in vitro.

A partially purified bovine renin preparation and a homologous renin substrate were used to study the effect of some lipids on the amount of angiotensin formed. It was found that lecithin and the detergents used (deoxycholate and sodium dodecylate) inhibited the renin activity. Palmitic acid, oleic acid and cholesterol had no distinct effect. On the other hand, the reaction was enhanced by prostaglandins E2 and F2alpha.