Rat brain increases in weight after birth in three stages: (I) rapidly for the first 2 weeks, (II) at a lower rate from 2 to 5 weeks, and (III) at a still lower rate from 5 weeks to 5 months. During the succeeding period, designated IV, it maintains constant weight up to 1 year of age. Brain ganglioside content increased linearly during I and II, more slowly during III, and diminished during IV. The appearance of measurable amounts of brain sphingomyelin and cerebroside succeeded that of ganglioside. Ceramide with C18-sphingosine and C18 fatty acid was found in a large proportion of all three sphingolipids upon their first appearance in measurable quantity. C18 fatty acid in cerebroside rapidly declined to a negligible level, while in gangliosides and sphingomyelin it declined slowly but remained the major fatty acid component. Cerebrosides and sphingomyelin contained C18-sphingosine almost exclusively at all stages of rat brain growth. Gangliosides contained C18-sphingosine almost exclusively at birth, but subsequently accumulated C20-sphingosine until they had nearly equal quantities of each base type. Changes in human brain gangliosides resemble those in rat. In Tay-Sachs disease, gangliosides have C18-sphingosine predominantly, and a high content of C18 fatty acid.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

An effective burn prevention program initiated by a recovered burn patient group.

The US death rate from house fires has remained constant during the past 50 years despite a sharp decline in mortality from other fires and causes of burns. The concensus is that smoke alarms can effectively decrease the incidence of this lethal type of burn injury. Our organization of recovered burn patients has focused its efforts around procuring and installing smoke alarms in areas of substandard housing, which predominantly account for house fire deaths and injuries in St. Louis. This effort has resulted in an effective burn prevention program ("Alarms for Life"), which also serves as a model for other communities.

Burns↗

PubMedDate not supplied

An outreach burn prevention program for home care patients.

Residential fires are the major cause of death from fires and burns in the United States, accounting for nearly two-thirds of annual fatalities. High-risk groups are more accessible now to burn prevention programs because of increasing home health care. Our burn prevention program, directed at homebound patients cared for by our hospital-based home care staff, combines fire safety education and smoke detector installation for this designated high-risk population. The combining of home health care with burn prevention activities has proven to be an effective means of reaching thousands of high-risk homes per year. We believe this approach would be equally effective in other areas.

Aged↗

PubMedDate not supplied

The low-dose (1 microg) adrenocorticotropin stimulation test in kidney and kidney-pancreas transplant patients: a potential guideline for steroid withdrawal.

Chronic steroid treatment is known to impair the hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal axis (HPA) but the need to assess HPA function prior to withdrawal of steroid therapy in post-transplant patients has not been uniformly accepted. We evaluated the status of the HPA axis in 48 kidney or kidney-pancreas transplant patients who were considered for possible discontinuation of glucocorticoid therapy using a recently validated dynamic test of HPA integrity, the low-dose (1 microg) adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) test. HPA suppression was detected in 29 (60%) of the patients, four of which had severe hypoadrenalism prohibitive of steroid withdrawal. Neither the duration of steroid treatment nor 8:00 am serum cortisol was a useful marker of hypoadrenalism. 8:00 am cortisol in subjects with normal HPA reserve and subjects with partial hypoadrenalism overlapped considerably but levels <5 microg/dL were indicative of severe hypoadrenalism. Pre-withdrawal diagnosis of partial hypoadrenalism allowed the identification of subjects requiring no further steroid replacement under regular daily circumstances. However glucocorticoid supplementation was prescribed in the event of stress such as infection, exceptional effort, trauma or surgery. Individuals with partial HPA impairment, but not patients with severe HPA suppression, improved upon retesting 3 months later. Patients exhibiting normal response to 1 mcg ACTH enjoyed an uneventful course following steroid withdrawal. Since hypoadrenalism is extremely common in post-transplant patients, we recommend the use of the low-dose ACTH test as a convenient method to identify patients with various degrees of hypoadrenalism prior to steroid withdrawal.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Blood pressure and hormone changes associated with weight reduction in the obese.

This study examines factors modulating blood pressure reduction in obese patients undergoing weight reduction on a low calorie protein diet. Plasma norepinephrine (NE) was correlated (r = 0.65, p less than 0.01) with blood pressure in 20 obese patients prior to weight loss. Reductions in blood pressure levels following upright posture and isometric handgrip exercise were related to reduction in NE levels after these maneuvers. While plasma epinephrine levels declined in parallel with NE levels, plasma dopamine actually increased (p less than 0.05) during the first 2 weeks of caloric restriction. Prior to weight loss the obese patients demonstrated a significant rise in prolactin levels following posture and exercise, but following caloric restriction this was not observed. Levels of plasma renin activity (PRA) and aldosterone obtained after posture and exercise maneuvers were reduced after 8 weeks of caloric restriction, and reductions in PRA were related to reductions in NE (r = 0.56, p less than 0.01). Reductions in blood pressure in association with caloric restriction in these obese patients seems to result, in part, from reduced sympathetic nervous system activity as well as secondary effects of reduced adrenergic activity on renal sodium excretion and the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone axis.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Effects of high calcium intake on blood pressure and calcium metabolism in young SHR.

Increased dietary calcium intake in the adult spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) has been reported to correct low serum ionized calcium concentration ([Ca++]) and to result in a significant amelioration of the prevailing hypertension. In the present study we examined several parameters of calcium metabolism in young (6-week-old) SHR and compared them with those observed in normotensive Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats fed equal amounts of a diet containing normal quantities of calcium (0.4%, wt/wt) for 4 weeks. A separate group of SHR was placed on an equal amount of a high calcium (2.8%, wt/wt) but otherwise identical diet. In SHR and WKY eating a normal calcium diet, serum total calcium concentration was not different, but [Ca++] was lower in SHR (1.58 +/- 0.06 vs 1.91 +/- 0.07 mmol/liter, p less than 0.01). Serum immunoreactive parathyroid hormone (PTH) was increased in some, but not all, SHR. No difference was noted between the two groups in the following parameters: calcium intake, serum 1,25 dihydroxycholecalciferol (1,25(OH)2D3), urinary calcium excretion, fractional stool calcium content ([stool calcium/calcium intake] X 100), and in vitro 45Ca uptake by everted gut sacs constructed from segments of duodenum, mid-jejunum, ileum, and proximal colon. A high calcium diet corrected the abnormal serum [Ca++] and PTH but did not alter the progression or severity of the hypertension in SHR. A lower net weight gain was observed in SHR on a high calcium diet when compared to SHR eating normal calcium diet (9.1 +/- 1.8 vs 27.0 +/- 2.0 g).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Dissociation of 24-hour catecholamine levels from blood pressure in older men.

Increased plasma norepinephrine levels have been observed in some persons with early essential hypertension. Although both plasma norepinephrine level and mean arterial blood pressure rise with age, little is known about the state of catecholamine secretion in elderly patients with essential hypertension. We studied the 24-hour cycle levels of plasma norepinephrine, epinephrine, and dopamine in 12 elderly hypertensive subjects and 13 age-matched normotensive controls (mean ages, 63.8 +/- 1.2 yr and 64.8 +/- 1.8 yr [SEM] respectively). Blood samples were obtained at bihourly intervals from 0900 to 2100 hours and every 30 minutes from 2100 to 0900 hours, during which time sleep and breathing were continuously monitored. A circadian rhythm was displayed in both groups by plasma epinephrine levels (mesor, 49 +/- 2 pg/ml and 38 +/- 1 pg/ml; amplitude, 15 +/- 2 pg/ml and 11 +/- 1 pg/ml; acrophase, 12.20 +/- 0.40 hr and 14.41 +/- 0.34 hr in the normotensive and hypertensive groups respectively) but not by plasma norepinephrine or dopamine levels. During the 24-hour cycle plasma epinephrine, but not norepinephrine or dopamine, levels were positively related to mean arterial blood pressure (r = 0.60 for the normotensive subjects, r = 0.57 for the hypertensive subjects, p less than 0.01 for both).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Aged↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Temperature ofthe pulp chamber during impression taking of full crown preparations with modelling compound.

Temperature elevations were measured in the pulp chamber of full cast crown preparations during impression taking with modelling compound in copper bands. Uncontrolled flaming, controlled flaming, and water heating of the bands produced temperatures of 53, 44, and 41.5 C, respectively. The time involved in restoring the temperature in the pulp to 37 C was determined. The implications of delayed chilling are discussed.

Copper↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Circadian variations of catecholamines and blood pressure in patients with pseudohypoparathyroidism and hypertension.

The relationship between 24-h recumbent blood pressure levels and secretory patterns of catecholamines was investigated in 4 patients with pseudohypoparathyroidism (PsHP) and hypertension and in 9 patients with essential hypertension. A clear circadian rhythm of blood pressure and catecholamines was documented in both groups with lowest levels of blood pressures and catecholamines occurring during sleep. During the 24-h period of recumbency mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) was correlated (r = 0.63, p less than or equal to 0.01) with plasma norepinephrine (N) in the patients with essential hypertension, but this correlation was weaker in patients with PsHP (r = 0.38, p less than or equal to 0.05). MAP was more closely related to plasma epinephrine (E) (r = 0.62, p less than or equal to 0.01) than to plasma NE in patients with PsHP. Plasma NE and E levels were considerably lower in patients with PsHP than in patients with essential hypertension throughout the 24-h recumbent period. The sleep-related decline in blood pressure and NE was less than in patients with essential hypertension. These results suggest that while the sympathetic nervous system may have a role in hour-to-hour maintenance of blood pressure in patients with PsHP and hypertension, it does not appear to be responsible for the elevated arterial pressure in these patients. Factors other than those investigated, such as obesity, alterations in sodium homeostasis of refractoriness of the vascular smooth muscle to the vasodilatory effect of PTH may be involved in the pathogenesis of hypertension in PsHP.

Adult↗