Chronic selenium (Se) toxicosis was diagnosed in two groups of growing pigs. Emaciation, loss of hair, necrotic areas in the skin, lesions of the coronary band and hooves, postnecrotic atrophic cirrhosis of liver, and lumbal poliomyelomalacia were the principal findings. High Se concentrations were detected in blood plasma. Addition of the calculated amounts of sodium selenite directly to the feedstuff instead to mineral premix was the cause of this intoxication.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Selenium status of patients with Balkan endemic nephropathy.

The selenium (Se) contents in common cereals in endemic and nonendemic areas in Serbia are very low. Plasma Se levels of both patients and healthy subjects, were also low, reflecting low Se intakes. Patients with Balkan endemic nephropathy (BEN) had significantly lower (p less than 0.05) plasma Se levels than healthy individuals, both from regions close to endemic areas, and from Belgrade. Mean plasma Se of BEN patients was slightly but insignificantly higher in samples taken immediately after dialysis than in those taken before, suggesting that very little of the Se present in plasma is dialyzable. Plasma SeGSH-Px activities before and after hemodialysis in both BEN and Nonendemic chronic renal failure (NCRF) patients were not significantly different, but BEN patients had lower enzyme activities than those with NCRF and healthy controls. In BEN patients, a significant correlation between plasma Se and SeGSH-Px activity was found.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

hupS and hupL constitute a transcription unit in the cyanobacterium Nostoc sp. PCC 73102.

The heterocystous cyanobacterium Nostoc sp. PCC 73102 possesses an uptake hydrogenase encoded by hupS and hupL. The genes are transcribed in cells grown under N2-fixing but not under non-N2-fixing conditions. We characterised the transcription of hupS and hupL in further detail. A transcription start site was located at a position 259 bp upstream from the hupS translation start. As shown by RT-PCR, hupS and hupL constitute a single transcript in Nostoc sp. PCC 73102. The possible function of short, tandemly repeated repetitive sequences between hupS and hupL, enabling a folding of the entire intergenic region into a hairpin, is discussed.

Bacterial Proteins↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Psychological profile and somatic complaints between help-seeking and non-help-seeking tinnitus subjects.

In a three-group comparison, a tinnitus help-seeking group (TH) was compared on a number of different psychological measures with a tinnitus non-help-seeking group (TNH) and matched control subjects. The authors address the difference in reports of somatic complaints between the tinnitus help seekers and the other groups. The TH group showed increased scores on all psychological and somatic scales. The TNH group scores were more similar to those of the control subjects than the TH group.

Adaptation, Psychological↗