An investigation of the products of 53 gene loci in three species of wild Canidae: Canis lupus, Canis latrans, and Canis familiaris. This article describes an investigation of inter- and intraspecific variation in three small populations of wild Canidae-wolf, coyote, and dingo. The products of 53 gene loci were examined. Very little interspecies variation was observed, but the level of intraspecific variation was compatible with that found in man.


Gene action in fish of tetraploid origin. V. Cellular RNA and protein content and enzyme activities in cyprinid, clupeoid, and salmonoid species. The ratio of cellular RNA and protein content is about 1:1 between phylogenetically diploid and tetraploid species of the teleost family Cyprinidae, but is roughly in proportion to ploidy in species of the teleost order Isospondyli. Enzyme activities do not unequivocally comply with this scheme. These findings are discussed in view of the hypothesis that a regulatory mechanism which reduces genic activity has evolved in the tetraploid cyprinids but not in the tetraploid species of the order Isopondyli.


Genetic study of pancreatic proteinase in mice (Mus musculus): linkage of the Prt-2 locus on chromosome 8. The Prt-2 locus is linked with Es-1 and Es-2 loci on chromosome 8 (linkage group XVIII). Recombination frequencies were 8.2% between Es-1 and Es-2 12.7% between Es-1 and Prt-2, and 4.5% between Es-2 and Prt-2. From these data, the map position of Prt-2 has been estimated on chromosome 8. The Prt-1 and Prt-3 loci, which are linked very closely on the same chromosome, were not determined.


Demonstration of a new mammalian isoleucine catabolic pathway yielding an Rseries of metabolites. 1. Normal human urine contains small amounts (less than 4 mg/g of creatinine) of 2-ethylhydracrylic acid, formed, we believe, by a previously undisclosed endogenous catabolic pathway for the oxidation of a newly described series of R metabolites of isoleucine. 2. Urinary excretion of 2-ethylhydracrylic acid is variably increased in defects of isoleucine oxidation at distal steps in the catabolic pathway (3-oxoacyl-CoA thiolase deficiency and methylmalonyl-CoA mutase deficiency) and is diminished when proximal steps of the oxidative pathway are blocked as in branched-chain oxo acid decarboxylase deficiency ('maple-syrup-urine' disease). 3. Precursors of R-pathway metabolites [R(-)-2-methylbutyrate and 2-ethylacrylate ] lead to increased 2-ethylhydracrylate excretion in the mammal(rat, rabbit and dog); the corresponding S metabolites [S(+)-2-methylbutyric acid and tiglic acid ], when given in equimolar amounts, have little effect on its excretion, suggesting that little or no interconversion between S and R metabolites occurs in vivo. 4. Studies with 2H-labelled precursors indicate that conversion of R 2-methylbutyrate into 2-ethylhydracrylic acid occurs by a direct pathway (apparently via 2-ethylacrylic acid). 5. The further oxidation of 2-ethylhydracrylic acid to ethylmalonic acid was demonstrated, and may be analogous to S-metabolite oxidation via methyl malonate. 6. Valine metabolites do not interact with the R=isoleucine pathway under the conditions of these experiments in vivo.


Radioactive labelling of ribosomal proteins with reductive alkylation and its use in studying ribosome-cytosol interactions. Mouse brain ribosomes were radioactively labelled by a cell-free reductive alkylation reaction with NaBH4 and [14C]formaldehyde. The radioactivity was largely associated with ribosomal proteins, but little, if any, of the rRNA was radioactive after the alkylation procedure. Both ribosomal structural proteins and loosely associated components were successfully labelled by this procedure. The sedimentation properties of the ribosomes were unaltered and their ability to carry out poly(U)-directed protein synthesis, although decreased, was largely retained. Incubation of 14C-labelled ribosomes with brain cytosol resulted in a 17% loss of radioactivity, although treatment of the ribosomes with 1.0 m-KCl to remove the loosely associated factors rendered the ribonucleoprotein particles resistant to cytosol effects. The ribosome-cytosol interactions did not appear to be related to an exchange process, since the released radioactivity was largely degraded to acid-soluble material. In addition, the incubation of native ribosomes with brain cytosol resulted in an almost complete loss in the ability of the ribosomes to participate in cell-free protein synthesis.


The effect of calcium ions on testosterone production in Leydig cells from rat testis. Leydig-cell suspensions, prepared from rat testes, were incubated with different amounts of Ca2+ with and without added luteinizing hormone. The basal testosterone production in the absence of luteinizing hormone was unaffected by the Ca2+ concentration in the incubation medium. The luteinizing hormone-stimulated testosterone production, however, was progressively decreased in the absence of Ca2+ to one-third of that with 2.50 mM-Ca2+. This decrease in luteinizing hormone-stimulated testosterone production was independent of the different concentrations of luteinizing hormone (0-10mug/ml) used and could be restored by the addition of Ca2+ to the incubation medium. The restoration of the stimulation was achieved within 30 min after the addition of Ca2+ to the medium. Activation of cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase by luteinizing hormone was not decreased by omission of Ca2+ from the incubation medium, suggesting that Ca2+ may be involved in steroidogenesis at a stage beyond the luteinizing hormone receptor-adenylate cyclase-protein kinase system.


Total plasmalogens and O-(acylalkylglycerophosphoryl) ethanolamine from labelled hexadecanol and palmitate during hypoxia and anoxia in rat heart. By the use of the Langendorff technique, surviving isolated rat hearts were perfused with [1-14 C] palmitate, [1-14C] hexadecanol or [1-14C,1-3H] hexadecanol under normal or anoxic conditions. After perfusion for 30min with either precursor, when oxygenated or in an hypoxic condition, or when 1mM-KCN was included in the system, the heart tissues showed no significant chemical changes in their content of total lipids, total phospholipids or total ethanolamine-containing phospholipids. Changes were observed in the ratio of alkyl-to alk-1-enyl-glycerophosphorylethanolamine in the tissue perfused with N2+CO1 plus CN-. A slight increase from 4.0+/-0.3 to 4.9+/-0.2% in alkyl derivatives and a decrease from 11.2+/-0.4 to 9.4+/-0.3% in alk-1-enyl derivatives was observed. The incorporation of the [14C] palmitate and the [14C] hexadecanol into the recovered phospholipids and plasmalogens was severely decreased in the tissues perfused with CN-: in the hypoxic state only a mild inhibition was observed compared with the oxygenated systems. Considerable 3H from [1-14C, 1-3H] hexadecanol was retained (25-35%) in the alk-1-enylether chains of plasmalogens under both the oxygenated conditions and with CN-, suggesting that the same mechanism of incorporation is operational at high or low O2 concentrations. The results are consistent with an O2-dependent, CN-sensitive step in the biosynthesis of plasmalogens in the rat heart.


Intranuclear maturation pathways of rat liver ribosomal ribonucleic acids. The maturation of pre-rRNA (precursor to rRNA)in liver nuclei is studied by agar/ureagel electrophoresis, kinetics of labelling in vivo with [14C] orotate and electron-microscopic observation of secondary structure of RNA molecules. (1) Processing starts from primary pre-rRNA molecules with average mol. wt. 4.6X10(6)(45S) containing the segments of both 28S and 18S rRNA. These molecules form a heterogeneous peak on electrophoresis. The 28S rRNA segment is homogeneous in its secondary structure. However, the large transcribed spacer segment (presumably at the 5'-end) is heterogeneous in size and secondary structure. A minor early labelled RNA component with mol.wt. about 5.8X10(6) is reproducibly found, but its role as a pre-rRNA species remains to be determined. (2) The following intermediate pre-rRNA species are identified: 3.25X10(6) mol.wt.(41S), a precursor common to both mature rRNA species ; 2.60X10(6)(36S) and 2.15X10(6)(32S) precursors to 28S rRNA; 1.05X10(6) (21S) precursor to 18S rRNA. The pre-rRNA molecules in rat liver are identical in size and secondary structure with those observed in other mammalian cells. These results suggest that the endonuclease-cleavage sites along the pre-rRNA chain are identical in all mammalian cells. (3) Labelling kinetics and the simultaneous existence of both 36S and 21S pre-rRNA reveal that processing of primary pre-rRNA in adult rat liver occurs simultaneously by at least two major pathways: (i) 45S leads to 41S leads to 32S+21S leads to 28S+18S rRNA and (ii) 45S leads to 41S leads to 36S+18S leads to 32S leads to 28S rRNA. The two pathways differ by the temporal sequence of endonuclease attack along the 41 S pre-rRNA chain. A minor fraction (mol.wt.2.9X10(6), 39S) is identified as most likely originating by a direct split of 28S rRNA from 45S pre-rRNA. These results show that in liver considerable flexibility exists in the order of cleavage of pre-rRNA molecules during processing.


Re-activation of the peptidyltransferase centre of rabbit reticulocyte ribosomes after inactivation by exposure to low concentrations of magnesium ion. 1. The larger subrivosomal particles of rabbit reticulocytes retained full activity in the puromycin reaction and in poly(U)-directed polyphenylalanine synthesis after 4h at 0 degrees C when buffered 0.5M-NH4Cl/10-30mM-MgCl2 was the solvent. 2. Activity in the puromycin reaction was diminished to approx 10% after 15-30 min at 0 degrees C when the concentration of MgCl2 was lowered to 2mM. 3. Activity was not restored when the concentration of MgCl2 was raised from 2mM to 10-30 mM at 0 degrees C. However, activity was recovered as measured by both assay systems when the ribosome fraction was heated to 37 degrees C at the higher concentrations of MgCl2. 4. Recovery of activity was noted during the course of the polyphenylalanine synthesis in 50 mM-KCl/5mM-MgCl2/25mM-Tris/HCl, pH 7.6, at 37 degrees C. Re-activation was slow at 20 degrees C and below. 5. No more than about 5% of the protein moiety of the subparticle was lost in 0.5M-NH4Cl on decreasing MgCl2 concentration from 10mM to 2mM. No proteins were detected in the supernatant fractions by gel electrophoresis after ribosomes were separated by differential centrifugation. The supernatant fraction was not essential for the recovery of activity. However, at higher (e.g. 1M) concentrations of NH4Cl, proteins were split from the subparticle. 6. The loss and regain of activity found on lowering and restoring the concentration of MgCl2 at 0.5M-NH4Cl appears to arise from a conformational change that does not seem to be associated with a loss and regain of particular proteins. 7. A 2% decrease in E260 was noticed when the concentration of Mg2+ was restored, and the change in the spectrum indicated a net increase of approx. 100A-U base-pairs per subribosomal particle. 8. When the concentration of Mg2+ was restored, S20,W of the subparticle remained at 52+/- 1S until the sample was incubated at 37 degrees C when S20,W increased to 56 +/- 1S compared with the value of 58 +/- 1S for the subparticle as originally isolated.


Reassembly of the peptidyltransferase centre of larger subparticles of rabbit reticulocyte ribosomes from a core-particle and split-protein fraction. We report the reconstruction, from a core-particle and split-protein fraction, of the larger subribosomal particle of rabbit reticulocytes. The reassembled particle was active in polyphenylalanine synthesis and in the puromycin reaction. The core-particles and split-protein fractions were obtained by treatment of the larger subparticle with salt solutions containing NH4+ and Mg2+ in the molar ratio 40:1 over the range 2.25-2.75 M-NH4Cl/56-69mM-MgCl2 at 0 degrees C. This treatment led to the loss of about eight proteins (approx. 17% of the protein moiety), which were found wholly or largely in the split-protein fraction as shown by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. The core particle retained 5S rRNA and had much decreased (no more than 10% of control) ability to function in the puromycin reaction or in poly (U)-directed polyphenylalanine synthesis. Activity was recovered when the recombined core-particle and split-protein fractions were dialysed overnight at 4 degrees C against 0.3M-NH4Cl/15mM-MgCl2/1mM-dithiothreitol/15% (v/v) glycerol/20mM-Tris/HCl, pH 7.6, and then heated for 1 h at 37 degreesEES C. The recovery was 40-80% of the original activity. Raising the concentration of MgCL2 to 300 mM in 2.5 M-NH4CL led to the removal of seven rather than eight proteins, and the core particle remained active in the puromycin reaction. We infer that the protein retained by raising the concentration of Mg2+ is an essential component of the peptidyltransferase centre of the ribosome.


Developmental changes in purine phosphoribosyltransferases in human and rat tissues. 1. The hypoxanthine/guanine and adenine phosphoribosyltransferase activities in a wide variety of human tissues were studied during their growth and development from foetal life onward. A wide range of activities develop after birth, with especially high values in the central nervous system and testes. 2. Postnatal development of hypoxanthine/guanine phosphoribosyltransferase was also defined in the rat. Although there were increases in the central nervous system and testes, there was also a rise in activity in the liver, which was less marked in man. 3. A sensitive radiochemical assay method, using dTTP to inhibit 5'-nucleotidase activity, suitable for tissue extracts, was developed. 4. No definite evidence of the existence of tissue-specific isoenzymes of hypoxanthine/guanine or adenine phosphoribosyltransferase was found. Hypoxanthine/guanine phosphoribosyltransferase in testes, however, had a significantly different thermal-denaturation rate constant. 5. The findings are discussed in an attempt to relate activity of hypoxanthine/guanine phosphoribosyltransferase to biological function. Growth as well as some developmental changes appear to be related to increase in the activity of this enzyme.


Degradation of hepatic zinc-thionein after parenteral zinc administration. A low-molecular-weight protein, zinc-thionein, a metallothionein, was implicated as having a regulatory function in zinc metabolism. The half-life (t 1/2) of hepatic zinc-thionein was determined by pulse-labelling with either L-[35S] cystine and/or 65Zn. In two experiments with L-[35S]cystine, the t 1/2 of zinc-thionein was 18h and 19h. Most of the soluble 35S-labelled hepatic proteins had a t 1/2 of 4 days. The t 1/2 of zinc-thionein calculated by using 65Zn was 20h. The close similarity between the calculated and measured t 1/2 values for zinc-thionein suggests that release of Zn2+ from zinc-thionein probably occurs simultaneously with degradation of the protein moiety.


Tryptophan concentrations in rat brain. Failure to correlate with free serum tryptophan or its ratio to the sum of other serum neutral amino acids. Groups of rats were deprived of food overnight and then given free access to diets designed to raise (carbohydrate) or lower (carbohydrate and large neutral amino acids) brain tryptophan concentrations. Similar diets were supplemented with 40% fat and fed to other groups. All animals were killed 2h after food presentation. Sera from animals fed carbohydrate plus fat contained 2.5 times as much free tryptophan concentrations did not differ. Similarly, sera from rats fed on carbohydrate, large neutral amino acids, and 40% fat contained 5 times as much free tryptophan as those from rats given this meal without fat, but brain tryptophan concentrations increased by only 26%. Correlations were made between brain tryptophan and (1) free serum tryptophan, (2) the ratio of free serum tryptophan to the sum of the other large neutral amino acids in serum that compete with it for uptake into the brain, (3) total serum tryptophan or (4) the ratio of total serum tryptophan to the sum of its circulating competitors. The r values for correlations (3) and (4) (i.e. those involving total serum tryptophan) were appreciably higher than those for correlations (1) and (2). Brain tyrosine concentrations also were found to correlate well with the ratio of serum tyrosine to the sum of its competitors. Competition for uptake into the brain among large neutral amino acids (represented here by serum ratios) thus appears to determine the changes in the brain concentrations of these amino acids under physiological conditions(i.e. after food consumption). Total, not free, serum tryptophan is the relevant index for predicting brain tryptophan concentrations.


A quantitative study of pinocytosis and lysosome function in experimentally induced lysosomal storage. The highly pinocytic epithelial cells of the visceral yolk sac from 17.5-day rat conceptuses were used as a model in which to induce engorgement of the vacuolar system by direct accumulation of substances that are not hydrolysed by lysosomal enzymes. The ultra-structural appearances of these cells in pregnant animals that 24-48h before had received intraperitoneal injections of Triton WR-1339, polyvinylpyrrolidone, dextran or sucrose revealed gross abnormalities that were confined to the vacuolar system; in comparison with normal tissue the number, and in some cases the size, of vacuoles was increased, leading to close packing within the apical cytoplasm and distortion of the normal rounded shape. By culturing yolk sacs in vitro, rates of ingestion of 125I-labelled polyvinylpyrrolidone and of 125I-labelled bovine serum albumin were determined, together with the rate of digestion of the labelled protein. The rates of exocytosis of 125I-labelled polyvinylpyrrolidone and of lysosomal enzymes were also determined. No significant differences between normal and highly vacuolated tissues were found. Apparently marked vacuolation of these cells by these agents is without significant effect on pinocytosis, exocytosis or intralysosomal proteolysis.


Latency of some glycosidases of rat liver lysosomes. The latency of the alpha-glucosidase activity of intact rat liver lysosomes was studied by using four substrates (glycogen, maltose, p-nitrophenyl, alpha-glucoside, alpha-fluoroglucoside) at a range of substrate concentrations. The results indicate that the entire lysosome population is impermeable to glycogen and maltose, but a proportion of lysosomes are permeable to alpha-fluoroglucoside and a still higher proportion permeable to p-nitrophenyl alpha-glucoside. Incubation at 37 degrees C in an osmotically protected buffer of of pH 5.0 caused lysosomes to become permeable to previously impermeant substrates and ultimately to release their alpha-glucosidase into the medium. The latencies of lysosomal beta-glucosidase and beta-galactosidase were examined by using p-nitrophenyl beta-glucoside and beta-galactoside as substrates. The results indicate permeability properties to these substrates similar to that to p-nitrophenyl alpha-glucoside. On incubation in an osmotically protected buffer of pH 5, lysosomes progressively released their beta-galactosidase in soluble form, but beta-glucosidase remained attached to sedimentable material. Lysosomal beta-glucosidase was inhibited by 0.1% Triton X-100; alpha-glucosidase and beta-galactosidase were not inhibited.


Effect of L-azetidine-2-carboxylic acid on glycosylations of collagen in chick-embryo tendon cells. The glycosylations of hydroxylysine during collagen biosynthesis in isolated chick-embryo tendon cells were studied by using pulse-chase labelling experiments with [14C]-lysine. The hydroxylation of lysine and the glycosylations of hydroxylysine continued after a 5 min pulse label for up to about 10 min during the chase period. These data differ from those obtained previously in isolated chick-embryo cartilage cells, in which, after a similar 5 min pulse label, these reactions continued during the chase period for up to about 20 min. The collagen synthesized by the isolated chick-embryo tendon cells differed markedly from the type I collagen of adult tissues in its degree of hydroxylation of lysine residues and glycosylations of hydroxylysine residues. When the isolated tendon cells were incubated in the presence of L-azetidine-2-carboxylic acid, the degree of glycosylations of hydroxylysine during the first 10 min of the chase period was identical with that in cells incubated without thcarboxylic acid for at least 60 min, whereas no additional glycosylations took place in the control cells after the 10 min time-point. As a consequence, the collagen synthesized in the presence of this compound contained more carbohydrate than did the collagen synthesized by the control cells. Additional experiments indicated that azetidine-2-carboxylic acid did not increase the collagen glycosyltransferase activities in the tendon cells or the rate of glycosylation reactions when added directly to the enzyme incubation mixture. Control experiments with colchicine indicated that the delay in the rate of collagen secretion, which was observed in the presence of azetidine-2-carboxylic acid, did not in itself affect the degree of glycosylations of collagen. The results thus suggest that the increased glycosylations were due to inhibition of the collagen triple-helix formation, which is known to occur in the presence of azetidine-2-carboxylic acid.


Platelet-aggregating activity of type I and type III collagens from human aorta and chicken skin. Human or chicken type III collagen dissolved in 0.1 M-acetic acid was much more potent than type I collagen at inducing platelet aggregation. After incubation in 0.38M-Na2HPO4 to promote fibrillogenesis, the platelet-aggregating activity of both collagen types increased, and type I was then virtually equiactive with type III. Preincubation in cell-free plasma increased the activity of chicken but not that of human collagen. The platelet-aggregating activity of type III collagen did not appear to depend on the integrity of the intrachain disulphide bonds.


Effect of maternal ethanol consumption on foetal and neonatal rat hepatic protein synthesis. Effects of maternal ethanol consumption were investigated on the rates of protein synthehsis by livers of foetal and neonatal rats both in vivo and in vitro, and on the activities of enzymes involved in protein synthesis and degradation. The rates of general protein synthesis by ribosomes in vitro studied by measuring the incorporation of [14C]leucine into ribosomal protein showed that maternal ethanol consumption resulted in an inhibition of the rates of protein synthesis by both foetal and neonatal livers from the ethanol-fed group. The rates of incorporation of intravenously injected [14C]leucine into hepatic proteins were also significantly lower in the foetal, neonatal and adult livers from the ethanol-fed group. Incubation of adult-rat liver slices with ethanol resulted in an inhibition of the incorporation of [14C]leucine into hepatic proteins; however, this effect was not observed in the foetal liver slices. This effect of externally added ethanol was at least partially prevented by the addition of pyrazole to the adult liver slices. Pyrazole addition to foetal liver slices was without significant effect on the rates of protein synthesis. Cross-mixing experiments showed that the capacity of both hepatic ribosomes and pH5 enzyme fractions to synthesize proteins was decreased in the foetal liver from the ethanol-fed group. Maternal ethanol consumption resulted in a decrease in hepatic total RNA content, RNA/DNA ratio and ribosomal protein content in the foetal liver. Foetal hepatic DNA content was not significantly affected. Ethanol consumption resulted in a significant decrease in proteolytic activity and the activity of tryptophan oxygenase in the foetal, neonatal and adult livers. It is possible that the mechanisms of inhibition of protein synthesis observed here in the foetal liver after maternal ethanol consumption may be responsible for at least some of the changes observed in 'foetal alcohol syndrome'.


A proposed sequence of hormones controlling the induction of luteal 20alpha-hydroxy steroid dehydrogenase and progesterone withdrawal in the late-pregnant rat. 1. The previously reported induction of luteal 20alpha-hydroxy steroid dehydrogenase by administration of aminoglutethimide to late-pregnant rats was shown to be unaffected by prior removal of the foetuses. Aminoglutethimide therefore does not act via the foetuses in this context. 2. The ability of injected oestrogen to prevent the above induction was lost by delaying the injection for 12h after aminoglutethimide, although the increase in enzyme activity begins only after 24h. 3. Induction of 20alpha-hydroxy steroid dehydrogenase by foetoplacental removal on day 18 of pregnancy was inhibited by human choriogonadotropin, lutropin (luteinizing hormone) and pregnant-mare serum gonadotropin, but not by somatotropin (growth hormone), thyrotropin or follitropin (follicle-stimulating hormone) 4. Indomethacin blocked the normal induction of 20alpha-hydroxy steroid dehydrogenase in late pregnancy and that caused by aminoglutethimide. It partially blocked that caused by human choriogonadotropin given on days 19-20 and that caused by 2-bromo-alpha-ergocryptine on days 5-6, but failed to block that caused by human choriogonadotropin on days 15-16 or by foetoplacental removal on day 18 of pregnancy. 5. These findings, and the control of progesterone synthesis in late pregnancy, are interpreted in terms of a sequence of hormonal or enzymic syntheses, each of which is inhibited by the product of the preceding synthesis.


The glycerol phosphate, dihydroxyacetone phosphate and monoacylglycerol pathways of glycerolipid synthesis in rat adipose-tissue homogenates. 1. Fat-free homogenates from the epididymal fat-pads of rats were used to measure the rate of palmitate esterification with different substrates. The effectiveness of the acyl acceptors decreased in the order glycerol phosphate, dihydroxyacetone phosphate, 2-octadecenyl-glycerol and 2-hexadecylglycerol. 2. Glycerol phosphate and dihydroxyacetone phosphate inhibited their rates of esterification in a mutually competitive manner. 3. The esterification of glycerol phosphate was also inhibited in a partially competitive manner by 2-octadecenylglycerol and to a lesser extent by 2-hexadecylglycerol. However, glycerol phosphate did not inhibit the esterification of 2-octadecenylglycerol. 4. The esterification of dihydroxyacetone phosphate and 2-hexadecylglycerol was more sensitive to inhibition by clofenapate than was that of glycerol phosphate. Norfenfluramine was more effective in inhibiting the esterification of 2-hexadecylglycerol than that of glycerol phosphate or dihydroxyacetone phosphate. 5 It is concluded that rat adipose tissue can synthesize glycerolipids by three independent routes.


The effects of diet on the esterification of glycerol phosphate, dihydroxyacetone phosphate and 2-hexadecylglycerol by homogenates of rat adipose tissue. 1. Male rats were fed for 5 weeks after weaning on a diet containing (by weight) 59% of starch or on diets that contained 39% of starch and 20% of either sucrose, beef tallow or corn oil. 2. The rats fed on the beef tallow consumed more energy than did the rats fed on the starch and sucrose diets. The rats fed on the corn oil drank less water than did the other groups of rats. 3. There were no significant differences between the four groups in terms of body-weight gain, epididymal-fat-pad weight and in the size, number and triacylglycerol content of the adipocytes in the fat-pads. 4. There was a significant correlation (P less than 0.001) between the activities of glycerol phosphate acyltransferase and monoacylglycerol acyltransferase in individual rats. Both of these activities were highest in the group fed on the high-starch diet and both correlated with the consumption of glucose by individual rats in the four groups. 5. The percentage of glycerol phosphate converted into diacylglycerol and triacylglycerol was positively correlated with the mean diameters, surface area and triacylglycerol content of the adipocytes for individual rats and was greates in the sucrose-fed rats. 6. The specific activity of dihydroxyacetone phosphate acyltransferase was highest in the rats fed on beef tallow. This activity was positively correlated with the energy intake for all dietary groups over the 5-week feeding period. 7. The results are discussed in terms of the functions of the three routes of glycerolipid synthesis in adipose tissue.


Uptake and effects of copper in rat liver mitochondria. The rate and extent of Cu2+ uptake by rat liver mitochondria was measured under various conditions. 1. The uptake is both greater and faster without an energy supply. 2. The uptake, when occuring in ionic media, has a biphasic character, that is it always slows down after an initial burst, and then re-accelerates. 3. Uptake of Cu2+ in the presence of energy initiates K+ uptake from K+-containing media with accompanying swelling and respiratory stimulation. Depending on the amounts of Cu2+ added and the K+ concentration, an inhibition of respiration later ensues. 4. Chelation of the Cu2+ by substrates (notably glutamate) decreases the effects. 5. Prior exposure to Cu2+ decreases or prevents energy-dependent Ca2+ uptake.


Orotate decreases the inhibitory effect of ethanol on galactose elimination in the perfused rat liver. 1. The galactose-elimination rate in perfused livers from starved rats was decreased in the presence of ethanol (2-28mM) to one-third of the control values. Orotate injections partly reversed the effect of ethanol, so that the galactose-elimination rate was about two-thirds of the control values. Orotate alone had no effect on the galactose-elimination rate. 2. Ethanol increased [galactose 1-phosphate] and [UDP-galactose], and decreased (UDP-glucose] and [UTP], both with and without orotate. Orotate increased [UTP], [UDP-galactose], both with and without ethanol. The increase of [galactose 1-phosphate] in the presence of ethanol was inhibited by orotate. Orotate alone had no appreciable effect on [galactose 1-phosphate]. 3. Both the effect of ethanol and that of orotate on the galactose-elimination rate can be accounted for by assuming inhibition of galactokinase by galactose 1-phosphate with Ki about 0.2mM, the inhibition being either non-competitive or uncompetitive. 4. The primary effect of ethanol seems to be inhibition of UDP-glucose epimerase (EC 5.1.3.2), followed by accumulation of UDP-galactose, trapping of UDP-glucose and increase of [galactose 1-phosphate]. Orotate decreased the effect of ethanol, probably by increasing [UDP-glucose].


Ribonucleic acid synthesis in rabbit erythroid cells. Kinetic studies on the synthesis of RNA in mature bone-marrow erythroid cells from rabbits were made by measuring the incorporation of [2-3H]adenosine into the ATP pool and RNA over periods up to 8h. By use of equations to fit the pool specific radioactivity and an equation using the same type of pool to generate the rate of linear DNA synthesis, good agreement between the pool parameters is found, provided that the ATP pool is measured in whole cell extracts, and assuming that the dATP and ATP pools equilibrate rapidly. RNA-synthesis rates were measured by using curve fits to equations developed by using the pool specific-radioactivity curves. The rate of synthesis of poly(A)-containing RNA varied in three experiments from 90 to 220mol/min per cell, with half-life of nuclear processing of 12-22 min with a mean of 16 min. Ribosomal RNA is synthesized at a rate of 70-200 mol/min per cell with an average half-life of nuclear processing of 37 min for the 18S RNA and 214 min for the 28S RNA. When the stable rRNA components are subtracted from the nRNA synthesis, the rate of nRNA synthesis is between 2 and 6fg/min per cell with an average half-life of degradation of 27 min. The rate of synthesis of poly(A)-containing RNA is 1.5-3.5% of the RNA-synthesis rates. These rates are compared with the RNA-synthesis rates found in L cells and concentrations of globin mRNA found in various erythroid-cell preparations.


Microbiological degradation of bile acids. Nitrogenous hexahydroindane derivatives formed from cholic acid by Streptomyces rubescens. The metabolism of cholic acid (I) by Streptomyces rubescens was investigated. This organism effected ring A cleavage, side-chain shortening and amide bond formation and gave the following metabolites: (4R)-4-[4alpha-(2-carboxyethyl)-3aalpha-hexahydro-7abeta-methyl-5-oxoindan-1 beta-yl]valeric acid (IIa) and its mono-amide (valeramide) (IIb); and 2,3,4,6, 6abeta,7,8,9,9aalpha,9bbeta-decahydro-6abeta-methyl-1H-cyclopenta[f]quinoline-3,7-dione(IIIe)and its homologues with the beta-oriented side chains, valeric acid, valeramide, butanone and propionic acid, in the place of the oxo group at C-7, i.e.compounds (IIIa), (IIIb), (IIIc) and (IIId) respectively. All the nitrogenous metabolites were new compounds, and their structures were established by partial synthesis except for the metabolite (IIIc). The mechanism of formation of these metabolites is considered. A degradative pathway of cholic acid (I) into the metabolites is also tentatively proposed.


Microbiological degradation of bile acids. The conjugation of a certain cholic acid metabolite with amino acids in Corynebacterium equi. 1. (4R)-4[4alpha-(2-Carboxyethyl)-3aalpha-hexahydro-7abeta-methyl-5-oxoindan-1beta-yl]valeric acid (II) could not be utilized by Arthrobacter simplex, even though the acid was one of the metabolites formed from cholic acid (I) by this organism. Therefore the further degradation of the acid (II) by Corynebacterium equi was investigated to identify the intermediates involved in the cholic acid degradation. 2. The organism, cultured in a medium containing the acid (II) as the sole source of carbon, produced unexpected metabolites, the conjugates of this original acid (II) with amino acids or their derivatives, although the yield was very low. These new metabolites were isolated and identified by chemical synthesis as the Na-((4R)-4-[4alpha-(2-carboxyethyl)-3a alpha-hexahydro-7a beta-methyl-5-oxoindan-1 beta-yl]-valeryl) derivatives of L-alanine, glutamic acid, O-acetylhomoserine and glutamine, i.e. compounds (IIIa), (IIIb), (IIId) respectively. 3. The possibility that the bacterial synthetic reaction observed in the acid (II) metabolism with C. equi is analogous to peptide conjugation known in both animals and higher plants is discussed. A possible mechanism for this bacterial conjugation is also considered.


Lack of effect of amino acid concentration on protein synthesis in the perfused rat liver. The effect of increasing the perfusate concentration of amino acids on the incorporation of labelled valine into protein was followed in perfusions of rat livers lasting for 2h. A fixed amount of labelled and unlabelled valine was added to the perfusate as the other amino acids were increased in multiples of the concentrations normally found in rat plasma. Under these conditions no increase in valine incorporation was observed, which appeared to be in conflict with results published by other workers, However, a different method of labelling from that used here was used in the earlier studies. An increasing amount of a labelled amino acid was added as the concentrations of the unlabelled amino acids were increased in the perfusate. An experiment directly comparing to the two labelling methods produced results that indicated that the apparent increase in liver protein synthesis observed by the other workers could have been due to the method of radioisotope addition. It is therefore concluded that increasing the perfusate concentration of amino acids does not increase amino acid incorporation into liver protein.


Carcass glycogen as a potential source of glucose during short-term starvation. In small rats deprived of food for 19h (or 43h), 36% (or 39%) of the glycogen that disappeared was lost from the carcass and 64% (or 61%) from liver. Carcass glycogen is potentially a substantial source of glucose during short-term starvation via the Cori cycle.


Effect of detergents on the N-and ring-hydroxylation of 2-acetamidofluorene by hamster liver microsomal preparations. Effects of detergents such as cholate, deoxycholate and Triton X-100 were studied on N-and ring-hydroxylation of 2-acetamidofluorene by reconstituted and unresolved microsomal systems from livers of hamsters pretreated with 3-methylcholanthrene. Triton X-100 (2.5 mg/nmol of cytochrome P-448) inhibited N-and ring-hydroxylation by wholemicrosomal preparations by 40 and 90% respectively Deoxycholate at the same concentration inhibited both hydroxylations completely, whereas cholate inhibited N-and ring-hydroxylation by 40 and 50% respectively. In reconstitution studies, the presence of Triton X-100(0.5-1.0mg/nmol of cytochrome P-448) along with unsolubilized cytochrome P-448 fraction and solubilized reductase fraction increased N-hydroxylation to an appreciable extent compared with ring-hydroxylation. Both cholate and deoxycholate at 0.5-1.0 mg concentrations had a greater stimulatory effect on ring-than on N-hydroxylation activity in such a reconstituted system.


[The physiotherapic aspect of omeral epicondilitis (author's transl)]. The Authors describe history, etiopatogenesis, clinic, therapy of omeral epicondilitis, very frequent affection. Physiotherapic aspects are studied by different methods. The indications are different compared to clinical aspect, pain modality, relapse eventuality. They conclude with personal considerations based on what observed in Orthopedic Clinica of Parma University.


[Observations on the frequency of neoplasms and inflammatory processes of the oral cavity during the period from 1961 to 1970 (author's transl)]. The Authors carried out a clinical and statistical study of the frequency of malignant and benign neoplasms, inflammatory processes and pre-cancerous states in the mouth over the period from 1961 to 1970, comparing their findings with those provided by a previous investigation covering a similar period of time. Benign tumours appear to be more frequent than malignant ones, and the latter are found most frequently in males in their fifties. The most frequent site of malignant tumours is the lower lip, and histologically they are mainly found to be epithelial.


[Oral and i.v. iron therapy in haemodialysis patients (author's transl)]. Low serum iron level with a transferrin saturation below 16% is a crucial aetiologic factor of anaemia in haemodialysed patients. Current therapy usually is a correct dialytic and dietetic treatment and i.v. iron supply. Two groups of haemodialysis patients with low serum iron but a normal transferrin saturation, have been studied by comparing the efficacy of the i.v. and the oral iron supply. The serum iron of the two groups changed from low to normal level with highly significant difference. Haemoglobin and haematocrit did not change because of the normal transferrin saturation before the treatment. In conclusion, in uraemic patients treated by chronic dialysis, the oral and the i.v. iron therapy probably give the same result.


[Effect of carbenoxolone (CBO) on metabolism of nucleic acids, polyamines and proteins of gastric mucosa "in vivo" and "in vitro" (author's transl)]. Carbenoxolone was administrated, by intubation per os, to guinea-pigs, then the animals were killed 2 and 4 hours later. In perfusion experiments, carbenoxolone was injected for 5,10 and 20 min respectively. The results show a decreased uptake of formiate-H3 into RNA and DNA in vivo. During perfusion of stomach, CBO causes a precocious enhancement of specific radioactivity of nucleic acids, then a decrease was observed. The pattern of polyamines in perfused stomach shows an increased uptake of putrescine-C14 into spermidine. Finally, the specific radioactivity of proteins was enhanced in vivo and in vitro by CBO. The results demonstrate that the drug  alterates the proliferative cell cycle and induces the synthesis of proteins.


[Acid-base modifications induced by treatment with concentration-reinfusion of ascitis fluid in cyrrhosis (author's transl)]. In 9 cyrrhotic patients with ascites we have studied the acid base status and the renal acidogenic capacity (urinary titrable acidity, ammonia) before, during and after reinfusion of concentrated ascitic fluid. Acid-base parameters have been evaluated also in the ascitic fluid and in the concentrated reinfusion fluid. The treatment does not determine any significant variation of acid base equilibrium in the cyrrhotic patients, while there is a remarkable loosing of CO2 with lowering of pCO2 in the concentrated ascitic fluid. We discuss the main physiopathological factors involved in such a type of treatment.


[The diagnostic accuracy of liver scanning by Tc99m s.c. (Confrontation with autoptic reports) (author's transl)]. The Authors for an exact valuation of the diagnosis of epatic diseases by Tc99m s.c. verified all autoptic reports of the Ospedali Riuniti in Parma during the 3 last years. The Authors value diagnostic accuracy concerning the examinated cases of the epatic scanning.


[Regulation of amino acid transport in avian fibroblasts from growing and quiescent cell cultures (author's transl)]. The regulation of amino acid transport across the cell membrane by adaptive mechanisms has been studied in chick embryo fibroblasts obtained from growing and quiescent cell cultures. Changes in transport activity as a function of time under various in vitro conditions (amino acid dependence, active and inhibited protein synthesis) have been evaluated by measurements of initial entry rates with representative amino acids.


[Fulminant acute hepatitis treated by immunologic therapy (author's transl)]. Following the most recent results on immunological pathogenetic mechanism, on which seems to be based the malignant evolution of acute viral hepatitis the AA. have treated a patient affected of acute fulminant hepatitis by means of immunologic therapy with specific globulins anti-HBsAg. The result of this personal experience and the analysis of the data from the literature suggest the opportunity to use specific antibodies (HBsAb) associated with syntomatic and depurative therapies, with obvious limits of single experience.


[Adriamycin induced chronic cardiotoxicity: a morphological ultrastructural study on ventricular myocardium and conducting system of rabbit heart (author's transl)]. The administration of high doses of adriamycin in rabbits causes morphologically evident alterations of cardiac myocites, such as cellular structure disorganization, myofilaments disappearance and vacuolar degeneration through the cytoplasm. The less damaged myocites show protein synthesis activation with newly produced myofilaments. Macrophages and fibroblasts are seen in the interstitium among markedly injured cells. As a response to the toxic damage induced by adriamycin, it would be seen an hypertrophic compensatory response in the well preserved cells and interstitial fibrosis. The conducting system shows similar but less extensive lesions as the ventricular myocardium.


[Lesions of the femoral nerve during the gynaecological operations (author's transl)]. The Authors present two cases of unilateral and bilateral lesions of the femoral nerve and emphasize the frequency, the characteristics, the mechanisms and the course of such lesions.


[Diagnostic problems posed by hypotrophic facio-scapulo-humeral syndromes (author's transl)]. The Authors, on the ground of the literature and of their own observations, stress the diagnostic non specificity of hypotrophic facio-scapulo-humeral syndromes: these sindromes, contrary to the current opinion, aren't always of primitive myodistrophic nature but may also be "neurogenic", inflammatory, collagenopathis, etc. In this connection they present an illustrative case of facio-scapulo-humeral syndrome which had clinical features typically "myogenic" but turned out to be "neurogenic" after electromyographic and histochemical investigation.


[Effect of cardiopulmonary bypass on serum digoxin concentration (author's transl)]. The use of digitalis following cardiopulmonary bypass is studied by digitalemia's radioimmunoassay. The Authors does not find relation between digitalis and post operative arrhytmias. They think digitalis's tolerance is very good but suggest that further studies are necessary to state the correct use of the drug after open heart surgery.


[Long term follow-up after radical mastectomy for breast cancer (author's transl)]. 110 of 126 patients treated with Halsted mastectomy and postoperative loco-regional radiotherapy, during period 1961-1969 have been controlled. Overall 5 years survival resulted as following: Columbia Clinical Classification stage A 90,6%, stage B 66,6%, stage C 28,5%, stage D 33,3%; 10 years survival in patients operated on in the period 1961-64 was: stage A 69,2%, stage B 53,3%, stage C 40%, stage D 0%. On the basis of the satisfing results obtained the authors conclude that it appears by now unjustified to modify this method in treating stage A and B breast cancer either utilizing less extended resections, or renoncing to the postoperative irradiation.


[The problem of spinal myoclonus (author's transl)]. A case of the so called "spinal myoclonus" in a 71 year-old-man affected by lung carcinoma is reported. Clinical manifestations and comparison with similar previously described in literature induce to believe in the existence of a myoclonic syndrome, whose pattern seems to give support to the attribute of "spinal", at least as conventional term. An involvement of intercalated neurons is advanced as pathogenic ground. Anyhow, possible suprasegmental implications are also considered.


[On the mechanism of the formation of traumatic lesions of the larynx: observations on three cases (author's transl)]. The authors, having drawn attention to the rarity of traumatic lesions of the larynx, illustrate three cases mentioning in particular the disproportion between the external and internal lesions, (as has already been pointed out by other authors), and the mechanism of the formation of such lesions. This, in particular, on the strenght of interpretations of slight cutaneous lesions.


[The Guyon's tunnel syndrome (author's transl)]. The Authors present two cases of compression of the ulnar nerve at the level of the Guyon's tunnel with a peculiar etiology. In fact, in the first patient the compression was caused by dilatation of veins accompaning the nerve and in the second case by the hypertrophic "piso hamata" ligament. The Authors also take the opportunity of making some pathogenetic and someiotic considerations this syndrome.


Bronchial histamine reactivity: its relationship to the reactivity of the bronchi to allergens. The aim of this study was to examine the proposal that the magnitude of the response of the bronchi to an immediate allergic reaction depends not only on the degree of sensitization of the bronchi by allergen specific IgE antibody but also on the reactivity of the bronchi to the vasoactive mediators which are released during immediate allergic reactions. This was done by determining the bronchial reactivity to Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus and to histamine of both symptomatic and asymptomatic groups of atopic subjects who had comparable serum levels of D. pteronyssinus specific IgE. Positive bronchial responses to the D. pteronyssinus extract were recorded with both the symptomatic and asymptomatic subjects, the mean bronchial threshold dose of allergen being significantly higher in the asymptomatic than in the asthmatic patients. There was a highly significant correlation between the serum level of allergen specific IgE and the bronchial threshold dose of allergen extract and also between the bronchial threshold dose of allergen extract and of histamine in all groups of subjects. The ability to predict bronchial reactivity to the allergen from the serum level of allergen specific IgE within each group was significantly better if the bronchial reactivity to histamine was included in the correlation analysis. This supports the hypothesis that whether a particular subject who is producing specific IgE antibody will develop symptoms on the inhalation of that allergen depends not only on the amount of allergen which he inhales and on the degree of sensitization of his bronchi but also on the reactivity of his bronchi to the vasoactive mediators which are released by allergen-IgE interaction.


A new immunodiagnostic test in onchocerciasis. The radioallergosorbent (RAST) technique was used as a diagnostic test for onchocerciasis. IgE antibodies for Dirofilaria immitis antigen were found in thirty-one of fifty-seven (54%) affected patients.


[Studies on the water quality of the river Po and its tributaries between Monte Cremona and Casalmaggiore. II. Period 1971-2]. The results relating to the research carried out on the river Po upstream and downstream Cremona town, at Casalmaggiore and at the mouths of the right side tributaries Arda-Ongina and Taro in the period 1971-72 are reported in the present note. The samplings took place once every month and on the same day flow measurements were effected by the Magistracy of the river Po in the five stations. The results of this first series of sampling have shown a good stability of the water quality of the river Po, in the different seasons and in the different hydrological conditions. No significative differences were poi nted out for the most part of the determined parameters between the stations upstream and downstream Cremona and Casalmaggiore, except the turbid load (turbidity, suspended matter at 105 degrees C, setteable solids) which presented at Casalmaggiore an average value absolutely higher than the calculated one which was achieved considering concentrations and river flow at Cremona and at the mouths of Arda-Ongina and Taro. With few exceptions the water quality keeps a good level for fish life and its actual pollution degree let us think it possible to improve the situation in a short time. Only microbiological parameters are excepted, as they exceed the proposed limits for recreation and bathing uses (W.Q.C.).


Asthma due to inhaled chemical agents--fumes from 'Multicore' soldering flux and colophony resin. Four patients with occupational asthma associated with exposure to soldering flux or hot-melt glue containing pine resin (colophony) were subjected to occupational type inhalation challenge testing. All four gave immediate bronchial reactions to inhalation of the fumes, varying from one breath to 3 min of exposure. The clinical history and provocation test reactions suggest hypersensitivity to colophony fumes.


[Syringomyelia: four clinical cases are reported as opportunity to reexamine the pathogenetic hypotheses (author's transl)]. In this paper four clinical cases of syringomyelia are presented as an opportunity to reexamine more discussed pathogenetic hypotheses. The authors are referring in particular to Gardner's theory since he has the merit of explaining the anomalies often associated with syringomyelia. In Gardner's opinion syringomyelia might be due to the non-perforation of the rhombic roof.


Allergenic potency of bee antigens measured by RAST inhibition. The potency of various bee antigens including bee venom, several whole bee body extracts and fractions of bee venom was studied using the RAST inhibition method. As compared to whole bee body extract, bee venom was a much more potent inhibitor of both bee venom and whole body RAST, suggesting that venom has a greater capacity to bind specific bee IgE antibodies. Whole body extracts also varied substantially in their inhibiting activity. Phospholipase A and hyaluronidase were the most potent of the bee venom fractions suggesting their potential use as an assay for standardization of insect extracts.


[Duchenne muscular dystrophy in girls (author's transl)]. The AA., after a review cases of girls suffering from a muscular dystrophy like Duchenne, present two cases that they think to set in the same nosographical context. Even though they admit its extreme rarity and the possiblility that many cases previously published are controversial, they accept that Duchenne myodistrophic syndromes certainly occur in girls, even if their substantial nature remain uncertain.


[International strategies in medical education: technical assistance and technical cooperation]. This article reviews the evolution of international activity for national development in general and for medical education in particular. The concepts of traditional technical aid and the new method of technical cooperation are studied. That method appeared just before the beginning of this decade as a response to needs existing at the time to coordinate development with the emerging international economic order. This article discusses the emphasis given to strategy in this new concept of international activity. Strategy, in this sense, consists of a clear definition of goals and objectives by the countries themselves, mobilization of local resources, and full participation of national personnel in all phases of the process. The projects promoted by the Pan American Health Organization in applying technical cooperation to the field of health manpower training are discussed. Such activities include: coordinating the above mentioned training, providing overall support for institutional development, training professors and administrators, developing educational technology, creating and developing a network of biomedical information, developing social sciences as applied to medicine, and encouraging medical, epidemiological, social, and operational research.


[Combined treatment for malignant primitive brain tumors in infants using CCNU, neurosurgery and radiotherapy (author's transl)]. The preliminary data (13 cases) is used to make a comparison between the survival length from the beginning of chemotherapy of these pediatric neuro-oncotypes with that of adults bearing sovra-tentorial astrocytomas or glioblastomas given the same treatment. Approximating, by means of normal distributions, the experimental results the Authors also note that the clinical efficacy of CCNU is more or less the same for infants and adults.


[Considerations on graduate education of sanitary engineering in Latin America]. The author reviews the profound process of change in Latin America which presents serious problems for environmental engineering and, consequently, for education in the various disciplines that comprise this specialization. The explosive growth of knowledge and the increase responsibilities of professionals place extreme pressure on engineering schools. These schools are forced to consider curricular changes as well as changes in admission policies and in the image and the service which they should present to society. At the present time, 25 engineering schools offer an "option" of sanitary engineering and 12 schools offer graduate courses for an M.A. in environmental engineering. In the schools themselves, a combination of fulltime and part-time professors prevails. Graduate teaching programs are expected to provide: a) increasingly complex, new scientific and technologic knowledge, b) duly selected disciplines; and c) balanced management techniques. Certain plans of action may be considered. Among these are increasing the number of schools that offer graduate courses, revising curricula, encouraging higher enrollment, including research as a standard element in teaching and, in general, seeking higher standards of excellent. Prospects for the future seem to indicate that the following actions should be taken: 1) increasing interdisciplinary programs; 2) making use of the potential offered by continuing education; and 3) encouraging the development of doctoral studies.


[Post-traumatic syringomyelia (author's transl)]. We have examined a clinical case concerning a patient who, five years after a spinal cord injury, showed a series of symptoms due to the presence of a intramedullary cyst according to neurologists' general opinion. They think this cavitation is a development of acute myelomalacic cores or of a central haemorrhage. The extension of the cavities is regarded as a result of trasmission of venous pressure, brought about by coughing, straining and sneezing, to the spinal cord and of tethering of the cord at the side of trauma by dense arachnoidal adhesions, hence its adaptability to the extremes of movements is hampered.


[The chemiolysis of the hypophysis: a technical improvement (author's transl)]. The anesthesist is very often asked to manage severe painful syndromes in patients suffering widespread malignant tumours. So often, the extent of neoplastic diffusion is such that common technics for analgesic block cannot be performed. The chemiolysis of the hypophysis-according to Moricca-performed primarily for therapeutic purposes has also shown a powerful analgesic effect.


IMP: a new method for health problem assessment. This paper presents a new method for health problem assessment, called IMP. It is based upon the premise that the critical step in the development of policy decisions isthe definition of health problems at the community level. The method is an extension of the Delphi technique but has been significantly improved by the determination of the critical variables in the problem set and by the incroporation of a structured logic system and of professional judgment. The study compares the IMP method with data gathered by traditional, epidemiological prevalence surveys and also with data from a computer simulation. The conclusion is unavoidable: the IMP method is an accurate as the other methods, at far less cost. The problem of preventable bureaucratic blindness has been used as an illustration of the application of this technique.


Evaluating drugs and determining the drug needs of developed and developing countries. The practice of reviewing drug utilization provides a surveillance system for monitoring the efficiency of drug distribution and drug consumption; it also provides a data base for the interpretation of the frequency of adverse drug reactions and helps to identify gaps in the delivery of a crucial aspect of health services: the provision of safe and efficacious medicines. Malconsumption (either over- or under-utilization or needless prescribing) can be identified and economies might be achieved, once these problems are corrected. Linking drug utilization with standard health indices, such as morbidity and mortality rates, can help assess the effects of widely used drugs, both adverse and beneficial. Drug utilization review should be considered an essential activity of a well-organized health delivery system; it has great potential for both health planning and evaluation. These positions are discussed as they relate to developed and developing countries.


Health services research and health policy. Health services research (HSR) has the potential to influence the decision-making process in a health services system that is acutelearchers feel, with some truth, that their research has had only a limited effect on health policy. Some reasons for this are described, including the primacy of political, rather than technical, considerations in policy making, the lack of a comprehensive health policy, and the poor quality and irrelevance of much HSR. The role of funding for HSR by the Federal government is described; it is shown that the Federal effort is fragmented, despite the consolidation efforts made in 1968. Increased support for specific targeted, problem-solving health services research is proposed, and some possible methods to achieve this are described.


A proposal for a primary care registry.

A proposal for a primary care registry. A regional, voluntary, registry mechanism is proposed through which any citizen could indicate his intention of seeking primary health care from a physician, clinic, or institution that has also registered. By mutual agreement, the provider would recognize the registrant as a regular primary care patient. Providers would regularly receive lists of their registered primary care patients, including descriptive statistical summaries where appropriate. Such a registry would aid health care planners to promote a more equitable and efficient delivery system for primary care services.


Building a comprehensive geriatric health care system: a case study. This case study focuses on the efforts of three urban medical care institutions--a Health Maintenance Organization, a nursing home, and a university hospital--to form an interorganizational relationship. The purpose of the relationship was to utilize the services of the three organizations in order to respond to the comprehensive health needs of an urban geriatric population. Movements in this triadic organizational relationship are described and analyzed in terms of four conceptual stages--exploration, negotiation, interaction and performance, and termination. Problems arising during these stages were not resolved and the relationship was terminated after approximately two years of existence. A sociological discussion of the case focuses on why the relationship failed. The organizational relationship was disrupted by three stresses that occurred during the four stages of the relationship. Stresses emerged for each organization in the areas of organizational integration, professional coordination, and environmental adaptation, making it difficult for the three to become integrated into an organizational system. As a result, the HMO, the nursing home, and the hospital did not benefit from relationships that could have enabled them to develop the multi-organizational system necessary to sustain an innovative, comprehansive geriatric health project. If, as Whitehead said, the greatest invention of the nineteenth century was the invention of the method of invention, the task of the succedding century has been to organize inventiveness. The difference is not in the nature of invention or of inventors, but in the manner in which the context of social institutions is organized for their support.


Medical care as a commodity: an exploration of the shipping behavior of patients. A 10% household sample of high- and low-income census tracts was interviewed to assess the extent of doctor shopping. In 632 households studied, 53% of high socioeconomic status and 51% of low socioeconomic status families had shopped for or changed doctors of their own volition. During the previous year, 4% of each socioeconomic group had consulted more than one doctor without referral for the same episode of illness. Shoppers could be distinguished from non-shoppers--shoppers were younger, were better informed about medical specialties, were less self-reliant, more hypochondriacal, expressed less hostility towarn physicians, and had less positive attitudes toward the medical care system. The differences between shoppers and non-shoppers were generally similar for both high and low socioeconomic status groups. In addition, 52% of the families studied had been forced to change doctors because of circumstances beyond their control, i.e., the patient moved or the doctor moved, retired, or died.


Preventive and episodic health care of inner-city children. Children in low-income, inner-city households who used different sources of ambulatory care were analyzed with regard to their experiences in securing preventive and episodic illness care. This analysis is derived from a larger study that investigated the utilization of health care systems by groups within an inner-city community; it focused on the Outpatient Department of a large teaching hospital and on the impact of a new Health Maintenance Organization (HMO). Data were obtained through household interviews of three sample populations: enrollees in an HMO, residents of a public housing project, and persons from the general community. When preventive health care was examined, our findings showed that, while the majority of children of school age were immunized, only about half of the children under age 6 were. Among children aged 3 through 5, those attending day care centers were more likely to be immunized than those not in such programs. There were indications that children using the HMO were more frequently receiving preventive services, particularly general physical examinations. There was no relationship between the usual source of care, or day care participation, and whether a child received care for an episode of illness. There were differences by age and usual source of care in seeking care for earaches and in receiving regular care for asthma. The patterns of health care utilization found in this study promote interest in the influence of the source of ambulatory care for children in other socioeconomic groups.


[Contribution to the problem of Arthrogryposis multiplex (author's transl)]. A case of Arthrogryposis multiplex appearing after birth and of no characteristical course is described. It is shown that in respect to existing works for diagnosis of Arthrogryposis multiplex the insufficiency of the hitherto existing valid diagnostic criterions is obvious. This especially because the pathogenesis of Arthrogryposis multiplex is unknown. Trying to look for the condition of the connective tissue of our patient, it was found that the collagen of skin shows a young matter of polymerisation and a nearly correlating electron microscopical picture.


[Treatment of arthritic psoriasis with Demoplas Clinical and scintigraphic study in 10 patients (author's transl)]. Clinical, X-ray, and scintigraphic (6mCi 99mtechnetium pertechnetate, 4mCi 99mtechnetium pyrophosphate) tests for joint involvement were conducted on 11 inpatients with psoriasis (4 female, 7 male), 6 of them cases of what is conventionally termed psoriatic arthropathy. These tests were performed both before and after a 12-day period of therapy with daily 4 x 1 coated tablets of Demoplas containing 150 mg phenylbutazone Scintigraphic tests showed that pathological radionuclide concentrations were present in at least one joint or group of joints in 10 out of 11 patients. Following therapy the previously pathological scintigraphic findings had stabilized completely in 4 patients and partially in 3 patients, but had not stabilized in 3 patients. The results of therapy with Demoplas as demonstrated by joint scintigraphy were thus good to satisfactory in 7 patients and unsatisfactory in 3 patients- possibly owing to the short duration of therapy. The improvement in scintigraphic results testifies to the therapeutic action of phenylbutazone on arthritic psoriasis. This can also be regarded as additional proof that psoriatic joint involvement is of an inflammatory and proliferative nature.


Ammonia absorption from the rumen to the systemic circulation with urea poisoning in goats. To confirm the transfer of ammonia leaking from the rumen content via the liver to the perid by laparotomy. When ammonia leakage from the hepatic vein occurred, it was followed by an increase in ammonia concentration in the jugular vein. There were increases of ammonia concentration in the intestinal vein and in the thoracic duct after urea drenching. These increases suggested neither trapping ammonia in the peritoneal fluid nor responsibility for increases of ammonia in the systemic circulation, respectively. At times when respiration ceased due to urea poisoning, the peritoneal fluids wee in the fluid. The hypothesis of the peritoneal cavity-thoracic duct route of ammonia absorption, presented by some of previous workers on urea toxicity, was not supported in the present study.


[Present status of pharmacoradiology of the gastrointestinal tract (author's transl)]. Based upon the findings in over 1200 patients, technique, indication and validity of pharmacoradiology in examinations of esophagus, stomach, duodenum, small and large intestine are critically evaluated and summarized. Dosis, effects, side effects and contraindications of the mostly applied pharmaca (Buscopan, Pro-Banthine, Paspertin, Glucagon, Cholecystokinin and Caerulein) are listed. The value of pharmacoradiology of the gastrointestinal tract for clinical roentgenology is stressed.


[Visceral and peripheral pharmacoangiography with angiotensin and bradykinin (author's transl)]. In a prospective study of 156 patients a total of 110 pharmacoangiographic examinations using Angiotensin and 46 investigations with Bradykinin were performed. In 21 cases both pharmaca were applied. In 111 patients with pathologic findings (tumors, cysts and inflammatory lesions) diagnostic information compared with conventional angiography, was improved in 80, equal in 26 and reduced in 5 cases. In 21 studied patients using Angiotensin and Bradykinin, the overall diagnostic information was improved. Angiotensin is a suitable pharmacon in demonstration of malignant lesions. Bradykinin improves the demonstration of vessels affected by local inflammation and allows better visualization of the veins. The application of both pharmaca may help in certain cases to differentiate between inflammatory and malignant lesions.


[Visualisation of gastric wall lesions in malignant tumors (author's transl)]. A simple and harmless method to determine the thickness of the stomach wall is described. The examination consists of a pneumoperitoneum with CO2 and a barium meal. The principle is the absorption of x-rays in three different media: gas, stomcah wall and barium. The method allows determination of the tumor-size and may avoid unnecessary surgery. All cases were verified by operation or autopsy.


Electron microscopy of stages of Isospora felis of the cat in the mesenteric lymph node of the mouse. Stages of Isospora felis of the cat in the mesenteric lymph node of the mouse 25 days after oral inoculation with oocysts, have been described at the ultrastructural level. The organisms occurred singly within parasitophorous vacuoles in host cell cytoplasm and were sporozoite-like, having a large crystalloid body up to 5.5 mum in length posterior to the nucleus. The size and appearance of the parasitophorous vacuole varied. Some vacuoles contained numerous, small, electron dense granules about 30 nm in diameter. Because of the aggregation of granules and their arrangement within the parasitophorous vacuole, the impression was sometimes gained by light microscopy that parasites were surrounded by a sheath or cyst wall. However, a cyst wall was not present. In host cells, spherical, membrane-bound bodies with a homogeneous, electron dense core and a maximum diameter of 0.25 mum were filed along the limiting membrane of the parasitophorous vacuole. These extra-intestinal parasites were considered to be waiting stages, with a biological function similar to that of the tissue cyst stage of other general of isosporan coccidia.


[Scanning electron microscope studies of Echinococcus multilocularis cysts (author's transl)]. In the present paper, morphologic studies on experimental echinococcosis are reported. Following i.p. infection of gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus) with Echinococcus multilocularis scolices, the development of cysts within the internal organs of the experimental animals could be readily visualized by scanning electron microscopy.


The development of brood capsules and protoscolices in secondary hydatid cysts of Echinococcus granulosus. A histological study. Using the Mongolian jird (Meriones unguiculatus) as a laboratory host for the cystic stage of the British horse strain of Echinococcus granulosus, the mode of development of brood capsules and protoscolices was studied histologically. The successive stages in development in secondary hydatid cysts are described and shown to correspond closely with previous observations on primary hydatid cysts. The usefulness of this experimental model for future ultrastructural studies is emphasized.


Stereoscan studies of eggs, free-swimming and penetrating miracidia and early sporocysts of Fasciola hepatica. The egg of Fasciola hepatica has a smooth surface with a slightly elevated circle marking the fracture of the operculum. The operculum and the aperture have crenated edges. The epithelial cells of the miracidium are covered with long cilia. When miracidia are vibrated in an ultrasonic cleaner the cilia of the epithelial cells of the four posteroir tiers are broken off only leaving longitudinal rows of cilium stubs, whereas the cilia of the first tier are still retained. The apical papilla is provided with a dorso-ventral furrow, multiciliated pits and isolated sensory cilia. The narrow intercellular ridge is smooth, whereas the epithelial cells have small cytoplasmic knobs between the cilia. The penetration into the snail (Lymnaea truncatula) and the transforamtion into sporocyst may be separated into three phases. (1) Less than 1 min after attachment to the snail the ciliated cells of the anterior tier are shed and swim away. (2) The cilia of the remaining cells beat violently and after about 5 min most cilia are broken off near the cell surface. The miracidium remains for about 15 min embedded as far as the intracellular ridge receptors (lateral papillae and sheathed ciliated nerve endings). During this period extensive contraction and relaxation of the body are performed. (3) The final penetration of the snail epithelium takes about 15 min. Simultaneously with the penetration into the snail tissue the "bald" cells (epithelial cells with cilium stubs only) of the four posterior tiers loosen, florm globules and fall off. The surface below the cells is smooth and in cytoplasmic continuity with the intercellular ridge and the apical papilla, and this syncytium forms the later tegument of the sporocyst. After a few days the tegument of the sporocyst is provided with microvillus-like projections and the apical papilla and sensory structures are lost.


Hydro- and hemodynamic effects of catheterization of vessels. II. Model experiments comparing circular and annular lumen area reduction. Experiments and a simple theoretical analysis have been performed concerning the flow through circular (stenosis) and annular (catheter piece) lumen area reduction of rigid- and elastic-walled vessels. Both steady and pulsatile flow at various volumetric flow rates were investigated. A good agreement between the experimental and the analytical results has been found. A critical annular lumen area reduction exists on a par with the well-known critical stenosis. The strongest reduction in pressure and in volumetric flow rate was caused by the catheter pieces, compared with the stenoses. The per cent reduction in pulse mean pressure and in volumetric mean velocity at pulsatile flow was equal to the per cent reduction in pressure and volumetric mean velocity at steady flow. The influence of the geometrical shape of the stenoses and the catheter pieces is further discussed.


Technique of coronary angiography.

Technique of coronary angiography. A new manufacturing process and new shapes of the left and right catheters for coronary angiography by the transfemoral route increase the safety of the examination by reducing the time and avoiding the risks involved in catheter occlusion of the arteries. The simultaneous filling of the sinus and the whole coronary artery from its origin increases the anatomic information. Pressure-monitoring is unnecessary.


Growth rate of renal carcinoma as demonstrated by repeat angiography. Thirteen patients with renal carcinoma, primarily not operated upon, were re-evaluated 1 to 71 months after the first nephroangiography. Tumour progression could be demonstrated in 7 cases with a maximum linear diametric growth rate of 0.5 cm/2.5 months. The reasons for absence of growth in the remainder are not apparent, but probably related to the state of immunologic defense mechanism of the host.


Epinephrine in the angiographic evaluation of experimental kidney trauma. Selective nephroangiography was performed in the dog following percutaneous needle biopsy to evaluate epinephrine response. Traumatized vessels respond normally to epinephrine, often with increased extravasation as the vessel recovers from epinephrine. A selective inability of the traumatized vessel to constrict was not noted.


Complications of percutaneous transthoracic needle aspiration biopsy. After 5,300 percutaneous transthoracic needle aspiration biopsy procedures in 2,726 patients pneumothorax occurred in 27.2 per cent of the patients. Only 7.7 per cent required exsufflation or drainage. The factors influencing the relative frequency and the severity of pneumothorax are discussed. Bleeding around the punctured lesions was found in 11 per cent, and hemoptysis in 2 per cent but were of no clinical importance. In one case evidence of needle track implantation was found. The theoretical and practical importance of tumour cell spread and spread of infection through the needle track is discussed. No air embolism or mortality occurred.


Pneumocystography of benign and malignant intracystic growths of the female breast. Pneumocystography established the preoperative diagnosis of 20 intracystic breast tumours including 9 benign intracystic papillomas and 11 cases of intracystic carcinoma generally considered to be a rarity. The method is described and details about the clinical and radiologic appearances of both benign and malignant intracystic tumours are given. The importance and advantages of the method are emphasized.


Bone growth in the rabbit after irradiation. The effect on bone growth of two locally given, different, unfractionated radiation doses (0.1 and 24 Gy) was tested in a rabbit litter aged 57 days. The effects on growth were registered with roentgen stereophotogrammetric length measurements for 75 days after irradiation. Growth of the right irradiated tibia was compared with the growth of the left non-irradiated tibia. After 7 to 9 days, 24 Gy had caused a linear fall in growth to about 15 per cent. After a period of complete cessation, a slight growth was registered. 0.1 Gy had no significant growth retarding effect.


Radiologic aspects of BCG-osteomyelitis in infants and children. An account is given of results of the radiologic examination of 29 infants and children with bone tuberculosis caused by the Bacilli Calmette-Guérin (BCG) as a complication to intradermal vaccination. The diagnosis is based on radiologic appearances, microscopy and bacteriologic examination of specimens obtained from the bone lesions. The radiologic appearance of the bone lesions is in most cases characteristic and differs decisively from that of pyogenic osteomyelitis and malignant disease.


Pelvimetry in breech and cephalic presentation. Pelvic measurements in a group of 115 women delivering in breech presentation were compared with those in a group of 100 delivering in cephalic presentation. The average pelvic measurements were all a few mm larger in the breech cases and the average sum of the outlet diameters was significantly larger. Pelvic disproportion was not more common in breech presentation and no support was found for the theory that large pelvic measurements predispose to breech presentation. The small differences found are attributed to the moulding of the pelvis occurring during parturition.


Radiographic measurements on the radio-carpal joint in distal radial fractures. Radiography of 40 wrists with fractures in the distal part of radius was performed. In the lateral view the inclination of the radial joint surface was analysed in different degrees of pronation and supination. The central ray was directed 15 degrees proximally and the results were compared with those obtained with a perpendicular central ray. In the perpendicular projections even moderate differences in pronation or supination between two examinations could seriously alter the measured inclination of the joint surface of the radius. The projection with the central ray directed 15 degrees proximally highly significantly decreased the errors between the measurements when compared to the perpendicular projection. The joint surface was depicted more dorsally inclined than in the perpendicular projection.


Thromboresistance and stability of a heparinized polymer. Untreated shunts and shunts heparinized according to a modification of the method of Eriksson et coll. were inserted between the femoral artery and vein in mongrels. Scanning electron microscopy of pieces excised at different time periods of exposure to blood was performed. The heparinized surface had excellent thromboresistant properties with no thrombus formation after 4 hours, while the untreated shunts were covered with platelets already within 20 min. The leakage of heparin in vitro was less than 3 per cent of the total wall-bonded heparin during 90 min.


[Australia antigen in rheumatoid arthritis]. Australian antigen (Au Ag) was first described by Blumberg in the serum of an Australian aborigen. Its main clinical significance is based on the fact of its association with the presence of hepatitis B (Okochi, Nurakami, 1968; Prince, 1968) (9). Almeida (1969) outlines the intervention of immune complexes on the production of the referred illness. Later works show the importance of the type of immunologic response created by Au Ag (2). Alpert et al. (1) (1970) state the possibility that immune complexes developed by Au Ag and anti Au Ag antibodies may produce in patients with hepatitis B other allied manifestations including arthritis. On the basis of similar immunopathological findings (illnesses including immunocomplexes on their production), Au Ag investigation in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has been the object of several works, whose results reveal certain discrepancies. We have investigated the presence of Au Ag on 70 patients whose diagnostic was RA "classical (according to the judgement of the American Rheumatism Association). We used immunoelectrophoresis (counter immunoelectrophoresis-CIEP-) and radioimmunoassay (RIA) techniques. We prepared individual records including clinical, epidemic, biochemical and personal data. Au Ag investigation both through different techniques gave negative results in 70 cases, of which only four referred a possible previous hepatitis B clinic history, not showing during the investigation suggestive clinical data of hepatitis or biochemical alterations. Panus et al. (1970) (5), Desche-Labarte et al. (1972), Trempo (1972), Burrel (1973) (6), Serré et al. (1973) (8), obtained negative results in the matter, with similar or lower casuistics than ours. Notwithstanding Roqués et al. (1975) (7), in 300 cases of RA showed the presence of Au Ag in a significant number of cases (5%) as compared to Au Ag incidence in the French population (estimated in about 0.22%) (6). However, Roqués did not find in their Au Ag positive cases any evidence which enables to think that this antigen has played an important role on the origin and development of the rheumatic illness. These important discrepancies may be due to different reasons: a) Use of different techniques for Au Ag detection. b) The transitory character of the presence of Au Ag in the serum. c) Important differences in the antigen geographic distribution. d) Previous hepatitis B. There are som other factors which have attained importance recently, as a consequence of the broad epidemiological studies carried out. So, Au Ag increased incidence has been found--statistically significant--on groups of persons who have been submitted to several surgical interventions and/or have needed repeated hospitalizations or reiterated blood transfusions (6). These three conditions--especially the first two--are accomplished in an illness with chronic and invalidating characteristics as RA...


Cultures of house-dust mites on animal skin scales. The main constituent of one of the most suitable media for growing house-dust mites (D. pteronyssinus) are human skin scales. In this study it is shown that skin scales of a number of other animals are also accepted as food by these mites, with evidence of allergen production. Production of house-dust mite allergen for diagnosis and treatment should not be done on non-human animal skin scales, because of their own high allergenicity.


The interpretation of total IgE in patients with allergy. IgE level was determined by radioimmunosorbent technique (RIST) using Phadebas IgE test in the sera of 37 patients with allergic manifestations to inhalant agents, foods, drugs and insect stings. High IgE level was found in 90% of the inhalant group and in 87.5% of the food group, whilst in the drug and in the insect sting groups the incidence was 9.1% and 0%, respectively.


[Hodgkin's disease. Clinical and histopathological aspects]. Histopathological aspects with relative classification criteria and anatomoclinical features are examined in a review of Hodgkin's disease. The major classifications proposed are reported and discussed, mention being made of that of Jackson and Parker going back to 1944 (paragranuloma, granuloma and sarcoma) which provided the starting point for further discussion and research. Through a reworking of the calssification of Lukes et al. (1963) this led to the adoption of the Rye classification (1965) which distinguished 4 varieties: lymphocyte predominance, nodular sclerosis, mixed cellularity, lymphocyte depletion. This classification is still accepted by most researchers. The first part of the paper is completed by some cytological and microscopic findings. The anatomoclinical classification criteria (Rye and Ann Arbor) are then described. The clinical aspects of the various localizations, symptomatology and haematological findings are examined. Finally, a small personal series is reported, emphasis being laid on the fact that often it is only by explorative laparotomy completed by splenectomy that it is possible to obtain a definite judgment on the real clinical stage of the disease, together with better therapeutic results.


[Various comparative data on the distribution of arterial pressure and on the prevalence of arterial hypertension in samples of the Italian population]. After a foreword concerning the present interest for the epidemiology of arterial hypertension mainly in relationship with the prevalence of the condition, its recognition in the general population and its systematic treatment, three separate chapters show the distribution of arterial blood pressure, its mean values and the prevalence of hypertension collected by three research groups: the Centre for Cardiovascular Diseases, St. Camillo Hospital, Rome, with 8 population groups (6929 subjects of whom 447 women, aged 20 to 64, belonging to the city of Rome and to other locations of 5 different regions); the II Medical Clinic, University of Padua, with 2 population groups (5852 men and women aged 20-64, belonging to a defined area of Veneto); the Research Group of the Roman Project of Coronary Heart Disease Prevention, with 2 population groups (2611 men aged 40-59, from Rome). The data provide a description of some characteristics of blood pressure and hypertension in different Italian areas and population groups and show the existence of large differences in the mean values of blood pressure and in the prevalence of hypertension, also within the country.


[Susceptibility of leukemias with increased antigenicity to immunological lysis]. Leukaemic sublines obtained following in vivo treatment with antineoplastic drugs present increased antigenic properties and these are transmitted in heredity after suspension of treatment. The pharmaco-altered sublines are rejected by compatible animals with related lymphoma. Susceptibility to humoral and cellular immunological lysis on the part of pharmaco-altered sublines with respect to related lines has been studied. Lymphocytes of C3HC57Bl/10 mise and non-inbred rats immune to histocompatibility antigens of mouse DBA/2 exert the same lysis action towards related cells as towards pharmaco-altered cells. The same susceptibility to lysis on the part of various cell populations was observed with cytotoxic antisera obtained in the same animals. Nor did the immunitary response obtained by inoculating the tumours show any different "fragility" to immunological lysis. Rejection of the pharmaco-altered sublines does not appear to be even partially due to increased fragility with respect to immunitary functions.


[Induced changes of the deflux coefficient, scleral resistance, intraocular tension and visual field in eyes subjected to external trabeculotomy]. Changes in intraocular tension, the visual field, scleral rigidity and the deflux coefficient of the aqueous humor following external trabeculotomy indicate that this operation is at least as successful as others employed in the management of glaucoma.


[Significance of the electric current characteristics used in rheography. Study on the relationship between frequency, voltage and intensity of the current with reference to impedance values of the body mass]. Impedance variations of corporeal segments were evaluated in relation to the variations in current frequency and intensity using a tetrapolar measuring apparatus. The results appear to confirm the reliability of the technique and, on the basis of the study of current transmission in the segment, it is suggested that frequencies between 70 and 240 KHz. particularly around 140 KHz, are the most suited to this type of measurement.


[Characteristics of the population which submits to medical check-ups. Analysis on a sample of 1000 patients examined in the Italian Diagnostic Center]. A statistical analysis was made of the historical questionnaires filled in by 1000 adults subjected to a check-up at the Italian Diagnostic Centre, the aim being to assess the medical and social background of persons taking advantage of services of this kind.


[Positive ionotropic action of glucose-1-phosphate. Clinical research during heart catheterization]. The effect of glucose-1-phosphate, administered in a single dose (5 g by slow intravenous route), on myocardial contractility was evaluated in a group of patients undergoing diagnostic cardiac catheterization. The study of the hemodynamic values observed demonstrated that glucose-1-phosphate has positive inotropic action and is able to strengthen the effect of the cardioactive glucosides.


[A perinatal mortality sample].

[A perinatal mortality sample]. The Authors consider the cases of delivery occurred in the Clinic of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of Parma University in the five-year period 1971-5 and the relative perinatal mortality. Whereas fetal mortality during labour has gone to be progressively reduced by the modern monitoring techniques, considerable importance is still attached to pre-partum fetal mortality. As a result of the examination of the causes, EPH Gestosis appears to be the most responsible one and the Authors emphasize its inadequate prophylaxis.


[Case of pulmonary fibrosis with normal thoracic x-ray]. Respiratory performance tests and the gas diffusion data sometimes clinch the diagnosis of lung disease when all other findings are negative. A subject with cyanosis, dyspnea, drumstick fingers, a normal chest X-ray picture and restrictive functional changes accompanied by inefficient diffusion is described.


[Resistance to antibiotics and resistance factors in Salmonella wien strains isolated in Sicily]. The majority of the strains of S. wien isolated in Sicily were resistant to six different antibiotics, showing the same resistance pattern (ASKCTSu) observed in strains isolated in other provinces of Italy. After conjugation with E. coli K12, the transfer of the whole pattern or of various groups of resistances was observed, which suggests the presence of several co-existent R plasmids. The results obtained suggest that the various outbreaks occurred in Italy have the same origin. They can be correlated with the epidemic of S. wien with the same transferable pattern of antibiotic resistance, spread in France in recent years from Algiers.


[Determination of the retention indices (Rf) of hypnotic and anticonvulsant sedatives by thin layer chromatography using Merck silica gel plates (author's transl)]. In view of the sometimes considerable differences between absolute retention indices (Rf) given in the literature even with the same solvent, same type of adsorbent layer and same operating temperature, the Author proposes the adoption of a standard method derived from the analytical repeatability of Rf values on a thin layer; this would provide a means of searching for a specific parameter by which to identify whole categories of drugs, classified according to their primary therapeutic activity. The study here covers numerous items in the category of hypnotic and anticonvulsant sedatives (barbiturates, non-barbiturate hypnotic drugs, hydantoins, suxinimides, and anticonvulsant agents with various different structures.


Trace elements and immunologic defects. Zinc deficiency and activity of lysosomal acid phosphatase in lymphocyte of mice. Activity of lysosomal acid phosphatase in peripheral blood lymphocytes of mice fed a low-Zn diet has been studied. The study comprised 40 CBA T6T6 mice, female, aged 8 weeks, with body weight equal to about 18.0 g. The animals were fed during 10 days with a low-Zn diet. This latter diet, as well as the control one contained 0.8 mg% and 11.4 mg% of zinc, respectively; potable water contained 0.06 mg% of this element. Activity of the enzyme was determined semiquantitatively using cytochemical method of Barka and Anderson. Peripheral blood lymphocytes in mice fed a low-Zn diet exhibited statistically significant lowering of the intracellular enzyme activity when compared with control groups. Absolute count of enzyme-positive lymphocytes was also significantly lowered. The Authors discuss the importance of their observations for evaluation of immune reactivity in trace-elements-deficient animals.


[Isotopic study of the C.S.F. hydrodynamic in the Arnold-Chiari malformation (author's transl)]. Six cases of Arnold-Chiari malformation Type I were studied according to the following instrumental protocol; skull and atlanto-occipital hinge X-rays, including the tomography of these regions, X-rays of the spine, vertebral angiography, isotopic cisternography using RIHSA injected intraspinally, fractionated pneumoencephalography, Dimer-X ventriculography and iodized myelography. The AA emphasize the importance of the cisternographic test with radioisotopes for pre-operative and post-operative control of the C.S.F. dynamic.


[I.U.D., pregnancy, perforation of the uterus (author's transl)]. The author report a case of pregnancy reaching as far as the 37th week in a patient holding an I.U.D. certainly in site at the beginning of pregnancy and with asymptomatic perforation of the uterus during the pregnancy with incorporation of the device by the omentum. Emphasis is laid on the importance of echographic monitoring for the location of I.U.D.s especially when the anchor thread of the device is not to be found in the vagina and initial pregnancy is suspected. On the other hand, as yet available data are not sufficient for assessing the influence of copper devices on the fetal condition.


IgG, IgA and IgM concentration in human sera from different age groups: statistical evaluation. A statistical analysis is presented of the results obtained from the measure of the serum concentration of IgG, A, M in 773 blood donors. In each of the two groups identified by sex, four subgroups were established according to age in ten years intervals from 20 to 59. On the basis of the results of the analysis, different fiducial intervals of normal values (calculated as mean +/- 2 X standard deviation) have been proposed. 1) A unique interval for IgG: 87-234 U.I. 2) Two intervals for IgA: 54-236 U.I. for subjects under 40 years and 64-270 U.I. for subjects over 40 years. 3) Four intervals for IgM: one for males under 40 years: 65-364 U.I., one for males over 40 years: 57-314 U.I., one for females under 50 years: 47-363 U.I., and one for females over 50 years: 53-434 U.I.


[High performance thin-layer chromatography in specific blood diagnosis (author's transl)]. Furthering their research into the differentiation of various haemoglobins (both human and animal) with the use of thin layer chromatographic methods, the Authors have applied Kaiser's high performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) to the specific diagnosis of blood. Although the method was superior to ascending one-dimensional thin layer chromatography for its sensitivity, Rf reproducibility and much briefer migration times, it did not turn out to be suitable for application to the specific requirements of forensic haematology.


Administration of antigen by intralymphatic route in the rat I. Humoral response to soluble antigens. (delta). Preliminary report. Male rats were immunized against bovine albumin injected by either intradermic or intralymphatic routes. A significantly higher number of animals treated by the latter route did respond, probably because antigens introduced by this route directly reach lymph nodes, by passing blood and tissue lytic enzymes.


Effect of non-permissive temperature on protein synthesis of frog virus 3 infected cells. In the present paper we describe the kinetics of virus specific protein synthesis in FV3-infected BHK cells incubated at the non-permissive temperature of 33 degrees C. Some quantitative differences were detected, in comparison with proteins synthesized at permissive temperature (26 degrees C). Thereafter we studied the fate of polypeptides pulse labelled at non-permissive temperature, by shifting the infected cells to permissive temperature. In such experimental conditions infectious virus is readily produced; however the profiles of electrophoretically separated polypeptides did not differ remarkably from those obtained from cells maintained at 33 degrees C.