Use of biologics for rheumatoid arthritis tempered by concerns over safety, cost.
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Daily intake of gross energy (DGEI) and protein (DGPI) of Japanese monkeys in a cool temperature forest were investigated in different four seasons. As a result, dramatic seasonal differences in DGEI and DGPI were found: DGEI and DGPI in winter were significantly lower than those in spring and autumn, being only about 17-42% of those in the two seasons. DGEI and DGPI in summer were also lower than those in autumn and spring, being only about 29-52% of those in the two latter seasons. Seasonal comparisons of some variables on food qualities revealed that much lower values of DGEI and DGPI in winter and summer were influenced strongly not so much by the lower calorie and protein content of food as by the lower speed of dry weight intake. Multiple regression analyses for each food item revealed that the unit weight was a more important factor in determining the speed of dry weight intake than was the speed of unit intake. In addition, the speed of dry weight intake contributed much more to the speed of calorie and protein intake than did the content of calorie and protein. Multiple regression analyses, employing DGEI and DGPI (as dependent variables) and daily mean values of some variables related to food quality (as independent variables), revealed that the mean values of speed of calorie and protein intake on food items eaten in a day could explain 79.0% and 85.9% of the variance in DGEI and DGPI, respectively. In addition, the mean value of the speed of dry weight intake of food items eaten in a day can be used to explain 74.3% and 52.8% of the variance in DGEI and DGPI, respectively. These findings suggested that not only nutritional content of food but also the speed of dry weight intake strongly determined the nutritional condition of nonhuman primates.
With the introduction of new technologies we often see a pattern of development. As a useful technology moves into the public sector there is often an episode of wild enthusiasm and uncritical acceptance, followed by a time of progressive disillusionment. However, with time and experience, a proper place for the method becomes established. Thin-layer technology is certainly an improvement and solves many of our preanalytical problems; however, it introduces some difficulties of its own. The rounding up of cells in liquid fixation makes cells of high-grade lesions smaller than they would be on a conventional preparation. The abnormal cells are often separated. For both of these reasons they may be overlooked. Furthermore, benign glandular cells can take on an ominous appearance. These differences in conventional and thin-layer morphology are proving to be a fruitful area for publication. Thin-layer technology cannot be all things to all situations, and this is especially true in body fluid and fine-needle cytomorphology. In our experience, while occasionally helpful, the thin-layer technique should not be the primary method for diagnosis in nongynecologic specimens. Time and effort would be better spent on trying to educate select clinicians on how to obtain better samples than to totally convert to thin-layer methodologies. Regarding FNA, the patient is best served when the pathologist is directly involved with the initial sample acquisition. Reimbursement is available for immediate sample interpretation, so funding should be available for staffing if an institution has the interest. For the record, we believe that liquid fixation and thin-layer methodology should not be the primary method for FNA, unless circumstances are absolutely prohibitive. An important problem with thin-layer technology lies with its added cost. Thin-layer interposes another series of steps into cytologic sample preparation. There is additional labor, additional time, another machine in the laboratory, and the significant cost of the reagents. In a situation where the price of a cytologic test is already close to margin, costs of the vial, filter, and preservative throw the test into unprofitability. Price structures have to be changed. Some institutions are waiting until there is more competition in the market and costs decrease. Alternatively, a lot of effort has been expended in trying to get government and other groups to accept the additional costs of the new test for gynecologic examinations, and many payers seem to be falling in line to accept the methodology, secondary to clinician and patient demand. Basic questions about ancillary technologies and gynecologic samples remain to be answered. Cytology is big business. Every year a significant segment of the population has a Pap smear performed. Hardly any other laboratory test can claim the volume of activity of the cervical smear. Any business that can hook into that market stands to prosper. Since the Pap smear has some well-publicized problems, the door is open for technology to nibble away at a few percentage points of false negativity. We are far from the first to ask if we can afford the incremental improvements of thin-layer and other ancillary technologies. There is a conundrum. Government, insurance companies, and our administrators are calling for us to hold back cost increases in medical care. Alternatively, these new technologies, patient demand for the perfect test, increased regulatory oversight, and legal challenges are increasing the cost of doing business. We do not know how to respond to the often-voiced fear that these ancillary technologies increase the cost of cytology services beyond some patients' ability to pay. In this confusion, we do know that we should use the best test to get the most accurate answer for our patients. In selected scenarios this may mean that we will have to accept the cost and follow thin-layer technology.
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The study deals with the biological effect caused by changes in fats during heating. The study includes feeding experiments and extraction of serum, liver, and heart from the animals tested. The biological study reveals that animals fed heated oil showed retardation of growth, poor efficiencies, rough, greasy mottled coats, and shortened life span.
Sulfolobus acidocaldarius, strain B12, which harbours a double-stranded DNA species both as a plasmid and in a linear form, which is integrated at a specific site of the chromosome, produces virus-like particles upon u.v. irradiation. These particles contain the same circular DNA and a number of coat proteins and are probably surrounded by a lipid membrane. They are lemon shaped, 100 x 60 nm in size and carry tail structures at one pole. The host cell recovers and remains lysogenic after virus production. Though a large fraction of liberated particles is found attached to structures derived from the cells, neither adsorption nor infection of a number of Sulfolobus isolates has so far been observed.
B. subtilis phage rho 11s codes for a multispecific DNA methyltransferase (Mtase) which methylates cytosine within the sequences GGCC and GAGCTC. The Mtase gene of rho 11s was isolated and sequenced. It has 1509 bp, corresponding to 503 amino acids (aa). The enzyme's Mr of 57.2 kd predicted from the nucleotide sequence was verified by direct Mr determinations of the Mtase. A comparison of the aa sequence of the rho 11s Mtase with those of related phages SPR and phi 3%, which differ in their methylation potential, revealed generalities in the building plan of such enzymes. At least 70% of the aa of each enzyme are contained in two regions of 243 and 109 aa at the N and C termini respectively, which are highly conserved among the three enzymes. In each enzyme, variable sequences separate the conserved regions. Variability is generated through the single or multiple use of related and unrelated sequence motifs. We propose that the recognition of those DNA target sequences, which are unique for each of the three enzymes, is determined by these variable regions. Evolutionary relationships between the three enzymes are discussed.
We have developed a method employing a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy for examining uncoated ice specimens. By permitting the ice to sublimate in the SEM at temperatures between -115 degrees and -60 degrees C, enough ions are produced to prevent specimen charging. The absence of a conductive coating permits both the acquisition of uncompromised X-ray spectra, and a dynamic view of impurities as the ice sublimates. The method has enabled us to examine the microstructure and impurities in ice in ways not possible through standard melt chemistry measurements or even through using a SEM to study coated samples. Soluble impurities appeared either as white spots in grain interiors, grain boundaries, and triple junctions, or as filaments in grain boundaries. Inclusions of insoluble impurities have also been observed in natural ice. Thus, we have been able to compare the microstructural location and concentration of impurities in ice from different terrestrial locations. Even when ion chromatography of the melt from two core sections reveals similar levels of impurities, the morphology and location of the impurity aggregates can be quite different. Analysis of impurity type and location can provide clues to the depositional environment and history of the ice.
The relations between nutritional state and vitellogenic growth of oocytes were studied in 87 sexually mature female toads Bufo bufo during the postbreeding season before initiation of the next annual ovarian cycle. Recruitment of small oocytes to vitellogenic growth was correlated with resumption of food uptake and the restoration of a positive energy balance in the toads that had become depleted of energy reserves during hibernation and breeding. Treatment with exogenous gonadotropin (hCG) immediately initiated vitellogenic growth, independently of the nutritional state. But the hCG-induced vitellogenic growth was faster in toads that ate more than the maintenance ration than in those that ate less. hCG also maintained rapid vitellogenic growth in toads that starved after an initial period of feeding during which vitellogenic growth had been resumed. The results support the hypothesis that the period of ovarian quiescence, which normally follows breeding in Bufo bufo, and other anurans from the northern range of distribution of the species, results from inactivation of the hypothalamic-hypophysial gonadotropic system, and that reactivation of the system depends upon reestablishment of a proper nutritional state of the organism.
Blood samples from five species of marine teleosts were assayed for methemoglobin (metHb) levels during winter and summer acclimatization. There was at least 7% total hemoglobin in the met-form in all species, and as high as 27% in one species, the Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua). There was significant seasonal variation in metHb levels for three of the five species, the highest values occurring during the winter months; cunners (Tautogolabrus adspersus) 15.6% in winter and 10.1% in the summer, shorthorn sculpin (Myoxocephalus scorpius) 20.0% in the winter and 8.19% in the summer, longhorn sculpin (Myoxocephalus octodecemspinosus) 17.3-21.6% in the winter and 8.12% in the summer. The winter flounder (Pseudopleuronectes americanus) and the Atlantic cod maintained metHb concentrations constant throughout the year: 13% and 27%, respectively. There does not appear to be any relationship between the activity of a fish and the level of metHb in its blood.
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In view of recent discussions about climate change and the anthropogenically enhanced greenhouse effect, the aim of this study was to determine the short-term carbon (C) dynamics in a grassland soil after slurry application. It is known that, depending on cultivation practices, agro-ecosystems can act either as sources or as sinks for atmospheric CO2. C3 and C4 slurries were applied, differing in their stable C isotope signature, to be able to differentiate between native (soil-inherent) and fresh (slurry-applied) C. Samples were taken from 0-2, 2-7.5 and 7.5-15 cm soil depths from 90 days before until 4 weeks after slurry application at various intervals. We carried out compound-specific stable isotope analysis (CSIA) of plant- (arabinose and xylose) and microbial-derived sugars (fucose and rhamnose). Up to 45% of the applied slurry-derived xylose was found in the 0-2 cm soil depth within 24 h after slurry application, with this figure decreasing rapidly and then increasing again towards the end of the experiment. Therefore, during the first phase of slurry incorporation, preferentially the soluble part of slurry entered the first 2 cm of soil while, after about 2 weeks, particulate slurry-derived organic matter was incorporated into the soil. The ratio between plant- and microbial-derived sugars together with delta13C values of individual sugars in the 2-7.5 cm soil depth revealed that the dissipation of sugars from the 0-2 cm soil depth was not only due to leaching, but also was caused by microbial degradation of the fresh C because slurry did not contain significant amounts of rhamnose while the delta13C values of rhamnose became progressively enriched in 13C during the experiment. Stable isotope measurements of bulk soil previously only showed significant differences between C4 and C3 plots at 0-2 cm soil depth. The CSIA of the individual sugars was much more sensitive than bulk isotope measurements, revealing significant differences between C4 and C3 plots even at the 2-7.5 cm soil depth during the first phase of the experiment. Additionally, the dynamics of slurry-derived plant and microbial sugars could be followed specifically.
There is an urgent need to provide an accurate, up-to-date estimate of N(2)O fluxes in order that national policies can be developed to reduce emissions of N(2)O from soils. There are only limited data on temporal and diurnal patterns of N(2)O fluxes to the atmosphere, mainly due to constraints in the measurement techniques. In this paper we present the first terrestrial source values of N(2)O isotopomers and have measured and quantified the temporal and diurnal variability in N(2)O fluxes following urine addition to a grassland system in the UK. The experiment was carried out over a 2-week period on an artificially drained grassland system at the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research (IGER), North Wyke, UK. Duplicate samples of urine, each of 2 L, were collected from dairy cows and applied to chambers (of area 0.16 m(2)). The N(2)O diurnal fluxes from urine and control (no urine) plots were measured by an automatic closed chamber technique. The isotopomers of N(2)O were obtained by analysing the gas samples collected during a peak emission phase. Soil and meteorological data were also collected. The results showed strong diurnal variations in N(2)O fluxes with minimum fluxes generally occurring between 7:00 and 14:00 hrs. The total cumulative flux of N(2)O for the whole experimental period was higher by a factor of >2 compared with estimates based on the daytime (between 10.00-16.00 hrs) measurements only. Therefore, measurements of N(2)O fluxes based on daily single exposure and expressed on a 24-h basis could impose a considerable bias and inaccuracy to the emission estimates, depending on when it was taken. The measured site preference values (difference between the centre (delta(15)Nalpha) and the end (delta(15)Nbeta) N atom of the N(2)O molecule) for soil-emitted N(2)O measured during our study were always lower than the tropospheric value. This work confirms that the enhanced tropospheric N(2)O site preference value could be the result of the back injection from the stratosphere. The intramolecular isotope ratios of nitrogen (delta(15)N) and oxygen (delta(18)O) and the site preference of the emitted N(2)O indicated that there was a shift of processes during the measurement period.
Prolactin (PRL) and two variants of growth hormone (GH), purified from pituitaries of striped bass (Morone saxatilis) and its hybrid with white bass (M. saxatilis x M. chrysops) by gel filtration chromatography under alkaline conditions followed by reversed-phase high pressure liquid chromatography, appear similar between species. Both the minor (GH I) and the major (GH II) forms of purified GH appeared as single bands (M(r) approximately 23,000) after sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, as did the purified PRL (M(r) approximately 24,000). The molecular weights of GH II and PRL determined by MALDI TOF mass spectroscopy were 21.2 and 21.3 kDa, respectively. In Western blotting experiments, an antiserum against tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus) 24K PRL specifically recognized Morone PRL, while an antiserum against tilapia GH specifically recognized Morone GH I and II. Chemical identities of the putative PRL and GH I were further confirmed by N-terminal peptide sequencing, while internal sequence analysis was performed on GH II because it was blocked at its N-terminus. Over a stretch of 29 amino acids, Morone PRL was found to be 76% identical to tilapia 24K PRL, 72% identical to tilapia 20K PRL, 72% identical to chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) PRL I, and 69% identical to eel (Anguilla japonica) PRL I. Alignment of the hybrid striped bass GH sequences with those of several other advanced marine teleosts indicated 75-85% sequence identity for GH I (40 amino acids) and 95-98% identity for GH II (45 amino acids). Biological activity of striped bass GH II was confirmed using a heterologous in vitro assay of insulin-like growth factor I mRNA production by coho salmon (On. kisutch) hepatocytes. An in vivo bioassay, involving hypophysectomy of hybrid striped bass and treatment of the fish maintained in fresh water with homologous PRL, confirmed that the purified striped bass PRL was also bioactive.