Memo on Kentucky.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to D Schwartz.
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Recent literature suggests that how the self is represented is a cardinal aspect of the dream experience. A review of studies of phasic-tonic distinctions within rapid eye movement (REM) sleep revealed that increasing self-participation marked awakenings from phasic intervals. Five scales specifically designed to measure absorption in dreaming were compared with three scales previously shown to discriminate phasic from tonic awakenings within REM sleep. Eight reports per night (two stage REM, six stage 2) were collected from each of 20 subjects on 4 baseline nights. Awakenings were controlled for time into the REMP and time of night, correcting the methodological flaws of previous studies in this area. Scales developed to measure self-participation were able to discriminate phasic from tonic awakenings better than those already in the literature. Results are discussed in terms of the psychometric properties of the individual scales.
The authors studied the transmission electron microscopy characteristics of retroretinal membranes surgically removed from 20 human eyes with proliferative vitreoretinopathy. Retinal pigment epithelium was the predominant cell type. Other cells included fibrocytes, macrophages, fibrous astrocytes, and myofibrocytes. Fibrin and collagen were also present. The cellular and extracellular constituents of these retroretinal membranes are similar to findings in previous reports of retroretinal membranes removed during vitreous surgery, as well as experimentally induced retroretinal membranes in animals.
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Necrotizing fasciitis is an uncommon severe infection involving subcutaneous tissues and advancing along fascial planes. Group B streptococcal infections occur disproportionately in diabetics and pregnant women. Although fasciitis secondary to group B streptococcus has been described in infants and adult women in the postpartum period, we report the first case, to our knowledge, of group B streptococcal necrotizing fasciitis in an adult diabetic unrelated to obstetric complications.
Using 600 clinical specimens, we compared the concordance of four methods for carcinoembryonic antigen: the Roche RIA (I); the Roche EIA (II); Hybritech EIA (III); and Abbott EIA (IV). EDTA-treated plasma was used for Methods I and II and serum for Methods III and IV. However, no significant difference was found between results for serum and plasma in Method II. The normal reference interval (in micrograms/L) was I (222 specimens), 1.94 +/- 1.54; II (57 specimens), 0.8 +/- 0.5; III (100 specimens), 2.94 +/- 2.47; and IV (614 specimens), less than 5.0. The precision of all four methods was acceptable. Concordance among all of the methods exceeded 90%.
830 couples who had asked for Artificial Insemination by Donor (AID) were questioned using separate questionnaires for the husband and for the wife. The questions were directed to the reactions that followed in succession to discovery of the sterility, the psychological conditions that led to choosing AID, their attitude as far as secrecy was concerned and finally their contribution to finding donors of sperm. Overall the husband-wife replies corresponded to one another. Frequently the reaction to the news that the man is sterile is a depressive one and to a lesser degree followed by troubles in sexual performance. The choice of AID is usually a decision of both members of the couple. Most couples express themselves as hesitant about adoption. Most of them said that secrecy about the procedure was an essential condition. It appears that, above all, male sterility had to be hidden from the circle in which they associated and from the child. It is this position as far as secrecy is concerned that makes it difficult for the couples to help in recruiting sperm donors.
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Analysis of the results of mixed lymphocyte culture (MLC) for compatibility testing preceding transplantation of bone marrow and other organs has so far required a vast input, both in terms of laboratory staff and work hours. We have developed a computer programme which performs this work rapidly. Graphics of the reaction patterns can be obtained, moreover, and these can prove a helpful tool in interpretation of the results.
Hypocalcemia has been documented in critically ill patients, including those with sepsis and shock. However, its incidence and significance in bacteremic patients without shock has not been established. In the present study the presence of hypocalcemia was evaluated in a group of 67 consecutive bacteremic patients, as compared with 64 infected but nonbacteremic patients. After correction of serum calcium level for serum protein, 25 of the bacteremic patients (37.3%) had "corrected" hypocalcemia (less than 8.5 mg/dL [2.12 mmol/L]), compared with only three in the nonbacteremic group (4.5%). The incidence and magnitude of hypocalcemia in gram-positive and gram-negative infections was similar. In hypocalcemic patients, the "corrected" calcium level was found to be inversely correlated with day of disease and attained a nadir on day 6 to 8 of bacteremia. This nadir was significantly lower in male than in female subjects. Hypocalcemic patients had a significantly higher maximal temperature than normocalcemic ones, but hypocalcemia was unrelated to serum levels of albumin, transaminase, and creatinine.
A case of nonfatal Flavobacterium CDC group IIb bacteremia in a hospitalized woman is presented. The portal of entry of the organism was either an intravenous line or an open, eroded wound associated with bilateral breast carcinoma. Flavobacterium infections in the post-neonatal age group are reviewed.
Antisera were raised against several purified, high specific activity isozymes of maize alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH1). The various antisera had different effects on the activity of immunoprecipitated ADH. One antiserum completely inactivated maize ADH. This inactivation could be blocked by preincubation of the enzyme with NAD+, its cofactor, or with NADP. The different antisera were used to analyze variant forms of ADH1. Isozymes having lowered specific activity were activated to wild-type levels by precipitation of the enzymes with noninactivating antisera. Isozymes having no detectable ADH activity (CRM+ nulls) were activated by immunoprecipitation with noninactivating antisera when preincubated with NAD+ or NADP. All of the CRM+ nulls were shown to be unable to bind NAD+, a flaw which can account for their lack of activity. The results indicate that a conformational equilibrium between active and inactive forms of maize ADH in solution controls the specific activity of the various isozymes. Both NAD+ and antibodies raised against high specific activity enzymes can interact with low activity isozymes to shift the balance of the equilibrium toward the active form, thus increasing their specific activity.
Left ventricular hypertrophy or treatment with dexamethasone caused a 2.5-fold to threefold increase in both immunoreactive atriopeptin (AP) and AP messenger RNA (mRNA), primarily in left ventricular tissue. The combined treatments increased immunoreactive AP and AP mRNA more than either treatment alone. In the animals in which cardiac hypertrophy had been produced by abdominal aortic constriction, there was a decrease in atrial levels of AP and an increase in plasma levels of immunoreactive AP. The increase in left ventricular immunoreactive AP was confirmed by immunohistochemical staining of tissue from hypertrophied and/or dexamethasone-treated rats. The mRNA accumulated in the left ventricle was identical to atrial AP mRNA, as judged by transcriptional start site and by size on Northern blots. Because the mass of ventricular tissue is substantially greater than that of atrial tissue, the induced mRNA levels may represent a total abundance approaching one third of the total AP mRNA in the atria. High performance liquid chromatographic purification of ventricular extracts primarily demonstrated the presence of the high molecular precursor and small amounts of C-terminal peptide AP. Induction of ventricular AP (mRNA and peptide) may represent regression of the tissue to an earlier developmental form. These data provide a unique example of regulation of AP biosynthesis in nonatrial tissue.
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Forty-four bacteremic, granulopenic patients hospitalized during a 4-year period (between 1980 and 1983) in the Tel Aviv Medical Center are reviewed. Fifty-four organisms were recovered from the 44 patients, including 17 strains in 8 patients (18%) in mixed infections. Eighty-three percent of the organisms were gram-negative and 17% gram-positive. The most common organism was Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Seventy percent of the infections were hospital acquired, and the most common focus of infection was the urinary tract. The most resistant strains of microorganisms grew in hospital-acquired infections and in people who were already receiving antimicrobials. These findings differ somewhat from previously published data.
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We evaluated a newly developed solid-phase immunoassay (EIA) of terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT, EC 2.7.7.3) and compared it with the enzymatic assay of TdT involving DNA polymerase. We assessed the precision, performance characteristics, and clinical efficacy of the EIA procedure, using 249 specimens of peripheral blood and bone marrow and 118 specimens of whole blood. On linear regression analysis of results for these 249 samples as measured by the two procedures, the correlation coefficient was 0.87. Distribution of TdT in mononuclear cells isolated from whole blood and bone marrow of subjects in several disease categories indicated good concordance between the two assay procedures. The EIA procedure is precise, can be performed on whole blood without first isolating mononuclear cells, is nonisotopic, and shows potential as a quantitative indicator for the differential diagnosis and monitoring of human leukemia.