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Double-blind study with Serocytol "Muqueuse urinaire" and "S.R.E." in patients with urological disorders.

A double-blind study with Serocytol "Muqueuse urinaire" (immune serum against mucosa of the urinary tract) and Serocytol "S.R.E." (immune serum against reticulo-endothelial system) and placebo was designed for treatment of different bladder diseases (interstitial cystitis sui generis, after radiotherapy and in connection with multiple transurethral resections of bladder tumour, cystitis granularis). Twenty-four patients (17 women and 5 men, aged 41-75, with interstitial cystitis, and 2 women, aged 42 and 75, with cystitis granularis) were included in this study. According to the procedure and after breaking the code 13 patients were treated with Serocytol and 11 patients with the placebo. Nine out of 13 patients who were treated with Serocytol showed an improvement of their condition. In 1 patient the condition was unchanged. Three patients treated with the active compound dropped out of the study during the treatment phase. In one instance the patient did not appear for further check-up; in another the therapy was discontinued after 3 weeks, and in one case a general exanthema occurred. Of the 11 patients treated with placebo, there was an improvement in 2 patients, whereas in 9 cases their status was unchanged. Serocytol and placebo were well tolerated by most of the patients. There were no side effects resulting from the almost daily suppository application over a period of 2 months. No changes in the blood counts, electrolytes, liver and renal function could be found in any of these patients.

Adult↗

Experimental megaileum.

Typical megaileum occurred in young male Wistar rats three months after ileum myenteric plexus denervation. An average of 58.4% denervation of the Auerbach plexus was obtained by serosal application of benzalkonium chloride (0.2% v/v). Denervation was assessed by ganglion cell counts in an 8 nm ring-shaped histological sectfrom the midportion of the treated segment. A morphometric study showed that the increased thickness of the megaileum wall was due to muscle hypertrophy and mucosal hyperplasia. The potential usefulness of this model of megaileum is emphasized.

Animals↗

Bias explorer: measurements of compositional bias in EMBL and GenBank sequence files.

A Windows application for compositional analysis of sequenced genomes (EMBL or GenBank flat files) is available as freeware. The application allows the user to quantify word bias using Markov chain analysis and it allows the user to generate sliding window data for GC-skew, AT-skew, purine excess, keto excess and discrete word counts. The mathematical routines reside in a dynamic link library (DLL), which can be used independently by other applications. The software is available for download at http://www.dfuni.dk/~anfu/Bioinformatics/Main.htm.

Bias↗

Determination of active hydrogen content by fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry following hydrogen-deuterium exchange.

Fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry following hydrogen--deuterium exchange in [hydroxy-2H3]glycerol and 2H20 has been studied as a means of establishing active hydrogen content in molecules of unknown structure. Nucleotides, carbohydrates, one peptide and complex antibiotics, in the mass region to 1500 daltons and 29 exchangeable hydrogens were examined, with a correct hydrogen count unambiguously measured in every case. The method is experimentally simple and applicable on a microgram scale, to salts and a variety of polar compounds of biological origin.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗

Quantitative in vivo assessment of the tissue response to dermal sheep collagen in abdominal wall defects.

We quantified the tissue response, tissue organization and patency of biodegradable patches for the repair of abdominal wall defects. We used dermal sheep collagen, cross-linked with hexamethylenediisocyanate in a model. The collagen patches were implanted either untreated or plasma polymerized with tetrafluoroethylene (TFE), to improve the properties of the patch for bowel adhesion and rate of degradation. The implants with surrounding tissue were retrieved after 3 d, 1, 2, 4, 6 and 8 wk, then sectioned and stained specifically for macrophages, neutrophils, T-lymphocytes and endothelium. Only macrophages and neutrophils were observed in the implant and surrounding tissue, with different antigen expression in the macrophages. This was found to be dependent on whether the macrophages were found within the implant or in the surrounding tissue. The neutrophils and macrophages were assessed using image analysis techniques to quantify the tissue responses to treated and untreated collagen, enabling comparison of the respective tissue responses. No significant differences were found between the two forms of this collagen. Infection played a key role in the severity of the tissue response around both types of implants, resulting in large variations in cell counts at each time period. Treating the collagen with TFE did not significantly improve its performance in this application.

Abdominal Muscles↗

Head movements and actographic recordings in free-moving animals, using computer analysis of video images.

A method is described to record the X,Y-coordinates of two bright spots on a TV image. These spots are produced by a light-emitting diodes (LEDs) assembly, which must be affixed on the moving target. The system was developed to record head movements of free-moving animals, chronically implanted to bear a socket LEDs holder, but it can be easily adapted to other applications, such as the measure of limb displacements in Man. Recordings are allowed up to 25 frames per second with an approximate spatial resolution of 255(X) X 300(Y). The method, which is based on standard TV equipment, involves a hardware interface, feeding the X and Y counts into a laboratory minicomputer and data acquisition software. A sample record is shown and other applications are discussed in relation to current non-video and video actographic techniques.

Animals↗

Interactions of ultraviolet radiation, 12-O-tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate and retinoic acid in the skin of hairless mice.

Epidermal changes (mitosis, DNA synthesis, hyperplasia and acanthosis) were used to assay the effects of three different treatments on the dorsal skin of hairless mice: ultraviolet radiation (UVR), all-trans retinoic acid (RA) and/or 12-O-tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate (TPA). Mice receiving 20 exposures to fluorescent sunlamps in 4 wk (200 Robertson-Berger counts, or about one erythema dose daily, 5 days/wk) and subsequent topical application of methanol (3 applications/wk, beginning 3 wk after the end of UVR treatment) still displayed hyperproliferative cellular activity at least 17 wk after the final UV irradiation. Alone, either RA or TPA (0.001% in methanol, applied topically 3 times/wk) had similar hyperproliferative effects on the epidermis initially, but the skin appeared to adapt to continued treatment with TPA after 14 wk while RA-treated skin remained hyperproliferative. To study the effects of each reagent on UVR-exposed skin, an initiation-promotion protocol was used: repeated applications of the test compound were started 3 wk after the end of 4 wk of UVR exposures. By this method, treatment with either TPA or RA resulted in additional epidermal activity initially. However, although TPA-treated epidermis returned to the control level of activity by wk 21, no significant adaptation to RA treatment was seen.

Animals↗

The association of rainfall and other weather variables with road traffic volume in Melbourne, Australia.

An investigation into the effect of weather variables on traffic flow at a site in Melbourne, Australia, for the period 1989-1996 was performed. Rainfall was the strongest correlated weather parameter and it had the greatest impact in winter and spring, when traffic volume is reduced on wet days. There are statistically significant decreases of 1.35 and 2.11% in traffic volume on wet days in winter and spring. The reduction increases to 2-3% over the 2-10mm range, the largest being 3.43% for the 2-5mm class in spring. For the first time, our study considers separately daytime and nighttime periods. We found a reduction of 1.86% in winter and 2.16% in spring during daytime rainfall. The reduction at nighttime is significant over all seasons, ranging from 0.87% in winter to 2.91% in spring. We have explored an application where the traffic volume was used to normalise the road accident count and found the rain effect to increase by 2.4, 1.9 and 5.2% relative to the daily, daytime and nighttime dry mean accident count. Generally, the normalised count is greater than the raw count, with a larger increase for the higher rainfall classes.

Accidents, Traffic↗

Dose-dependent disintegration of human endothelial monolayers by contrast echocardiography.

Biological effects on endothelium induced by contrast ultrasound (US) may be relevant for transferring drugs into the tissue. An in vitro tissue-mimicking phantom was developed to simulate clinical precordial echocardiography of three modalities (two-dimensional (2DE), pulsed wave (PW), and Power Doppler echocardiography) with gradual increases of acoustic output (mechanical index (MI) 0.0-1.6 and thermal index soft tissue (TIS) 0.0-1.3, respectively; transmit-frequency 1.8 MHz in second harmonic mode (SHI) by 2DE, 1.8 MHz for PW-Doppler, and 3.2 MHz for Power Doppler) as well as contrast agent (CA) concentrations (0.002-4 mg/mL Levovist). Disintegration of the endothelial monolayer was quantitatively analyzed by counting intercellular gaps in light microscopy. No gaps were observed in CA application without sonication. Only few gaps appeared at sonication without CA application in 2DE at MI=1.6 and in PW- and Power Doppler at TIS > or =0.4 and MI > or =0.4. The number of gaps increased significantly with the gradual increase of US output and to a comparably lesser but also significant extent with CA concentrations. Diagnostic contrast echocardiography may induce endothelial disintegrations dependent on US output as well as on CA concentrations. This aspect might be helpful in further in vivo series on local drug delivery.

Cells, Cultured↗

PET instrumentation: what are the limits?

This report has emphasized the attributes of positron emission tomography (PET) through a discussion of the historical development with attention to limitations or factors that are of importance in using and further developing this technology. As is the case for all nuclear detector developments, the factors that require consideration are spatial resolution, uniformity of resolution, sensitivity, distortions (attenuation), background noise (scatter and randoms), image volume, data acquisition capabilities (count-rate saturation), and limitations based on allowable radiation doses to the subject. Forty years ago, the fact that dual gamma-cameras could not handle the count-rates from the short half-life radionuclides that had clinical applications at that time (ie, 15O, 11C, 13N) precluded their acceptance in nuclear medicine. With the advent of 18F applications particularly with FDG in oncology, this limitations was no longer a barrier. Twenty years ago and until recently, the promise of time-of-flight PET has been stifled by the fact that the appropriately fast scintillator BaF2 had too low an efficiency (low density) to be useful in improving the signal to noise of a time-of-flight tomograph over contemporary systems. With the development of dense scintillators with high light output and high speed such as LSO30 the time-of-flight potentials are now once again worth pursuing. Twenty years ago systems that theoretically would have improved sensitivity by minimal or no septa with spherical geometric arrangements of detectors were ignored because it appeared that scatter backgrounds would lead to a signal to noise less than 1. But in the last 5 years, cylindrical systems without speta have shown that noise effective sensitivity improvements of a factor of 4 can be realized. With time-of-flight additional improvements in sensitivity will be realized. Horizons for detector development include discovery of new scintillators, new methods of registering scintillation light, deployment of larger field of view systems and methods of compensating for scatter, randoms, attenuation, and irregular sampling associated with new geometries which can encircle most of the body. The expected limit for PET is 2 mm isotropic resolution for the head and appendages including joints and breasts. Clinical realization of this resolution for the thorax and abdomen requires compensation for motion and even in this area strategies are underdevelopment which rely on the improvement in sensitivity being realized by 3D systems.

Equipment Design↗

Studies on the analysis of fluorescence decay data by the method of moments.

The method of moments, as presented by Isenberg and Dyson (1969; Biophys. J. 9:1337) has been shown to be a reliable way of obtaining the amplitudes and time constants of several simultaneously emitting species, even in the presence of an overlapping excitation. Recent improvements in the method include (a) a component incrementation test for determining the number of relaxations, (b) a procedure, which we call exponential depression, for dramatically improving convergence, and (c) a new algorithm for implementing the method of moments on a digital computer with a high degree of flexibility and efficiency. These improvements, as well as new general theory, are described and tested using both synthetic and real experimental data. Component incrementation consists of examining models with increasing numbers of exponential terms. Given adequate precision, we find that an analysis for N + 1 components, of data that are actually represented by N components, provides the correct amplitudes and time constants plus an N + 1 term with an insignificant amplitude. Exponential depression is a transformation in which the original excitation and fluorescence, E(t) and F(t), are multiplied by exp (-lambdat), where lambda is an arbitrary parameter. While the convolution is invariant to this transformation, the proper choice of lambda greatly reduces the number of iterations necessary to obtain the amplitudes and time constants and may even improve their accuracy. In addition, an appendix by John P. Mullooly presents a statistical analysis of the effect of counting error on the method of moments estimates of fluorescence decay parameters, applicable when data are obtained by the monophoton technique. Formulas are derived that give the approximate precision of the decay parameters for the general case of N exponential components, with calculational details for one and two component systems.

Anthracenes↗

Public health issues arising from microbiological and labelling quality of foods and supplements containing probiotic microorganisms.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the accuracy and helpfulness of labelling on products containing probiotic bacteria. DESIGN AND SETTING: 52 such products - 44 from the UK (21 supplements, 15 fermented functional foods, eight 'health-care' products) and eight from continental Europe - have been tested for microbiological content, and results compared to the information available on their labels. Products were stored in the dark at 4 degrees C and analysed before their expiry or sell-by date. Careful note was taken of wording on labels, package inserts, packaging, promotional literature and catalogue descriptions, as applicable. Products were cultured on appropriate bacteriological media, and organisms grown were counted and identified. RESULTS: Bioyoghurts gave no indication of numbers, and only five accurately described their bacterial content; results of culture were usually satisfactory. 'Healthcare' products (mostly intended for the bowel) usually indicated the presence of bacteria, but the numerical content was hard to ascertain, and cultural results fell short of label claims. Supplements were sometimes incorrectly labelled in bacteriological terms, and often contained markedly reduced numbers and/or had extraneous strains and/or strains specified on the label were missing. Products from continental Europe (that were sold for specific medical indications) seemed of a higher microbiological standard. The potential pathogen Enterococcus faecium was found in nine products. The most successful of the new functional foods in Britain now contain probiotics, and probiotic preparations are prominent among the expanding range of nutritional supplements presently available to consumers. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings have public health implications, and suggest that improvements are needed in labelling and quality assurance procedures for products containing probiotic organisms. The presence of the potential pathogen Enterococcus faecium (intentionally or as a contaminant) in some products calls for a review of the value of this species as a probiotic.

Dietary Supplements↗

Theory and applications of supercycled symmetry-based recoupling sequences in solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance.

We present the theoretical principles of supercycled symmetry-based recoupling sequences in solid-state magic-angle-spinning NMR. We discuss the construction procedure of the SR26 pulse sequence, which is a particularly robust sequence for double-quantum homonuclear dipole-dipole recoupling. The supercycle removes destructive higher-order average Hamiltonian terms and renders the sequence robust over long time intervals. We demonstrate applications of the SR26 sequence to double-quantum spectroscopy, homonuclear spin counting, and determination of the relative orientations of chemical shift anisotropy tensors.

Journal Article↗

The effects of topical and oral L-selenomethionine on pigmentation and skin cancer induced by ultraviolet irradiation.

This study was conducted to determine whether oral and/or topical selenium (Se) supplementation can reduce the incidence of acute and/or chronic damage to the skin (i.e., sunburn and pigmentation and/or skin cancer, respectively) induced by ultraviolet (UV) irradiation in mice. Groups of 38 BALB:c female mice or 16 Skh:2 hairless pigmented mice were treated with 1) lotion vehicle, 2) 0.02% L-selenomethionine (SeMet) lotion, or 3) vehicle and 1.5 ppm SeMet in the drinking water. Within each group, 30 BALB:c mice or 12 Skh:2 mice were given UV irradiation (Westinghouse FS 40 bulbs) three times per week in doses of 0.575 and 0.24 J/cm2, respectively. The animals' weights and food intakes and the Se concentrations of skin and liver were measured. Skin biopsies were taken from the backs and abdomens of all animals to evaluate the relative amounts of Se and the damage by UV irradiation. Skin pigmentation was scored, and the total number of clinically detectable skin tumors per animal was counted weekly. Results showed that the skin Se concentrations in areas of application of the lotion containing SeMet were greater than those of animals given comparable oral doses, while the Se concentrations of untreated skin and liver were similar to those of animals receiving oral Se. Mice treated with Se showed no signs of toxicity and had significantly less skin damage by UV irradiation, as indicated by reduced inflammation and pigmentation and by later onset and lesser incidence of skin cancer.

Administration, Cutaneous↗

Qualitative and quantitative analysis of nonneoplastic lesions in toxicology studies.

A pathology report is written to convey information concerning the pathologic findings in a study. This type of report must be complete, accurate and communicate the relative importance of various findings in a study. The overall quality of the report is determined by three Quality Indicators: thoroughness, accuracy, and consistency. Thoroughness is the identification of every lesion present in a particular organ or tissue, including spontaneous background lesions. Experienced pathologists familiar with background lesions may disregard certain types of lesions or establish a threshold or a severity above which background lesions are diagnosed. Accuracy is the ability to make, and precisely communicate, correct diagnoses. Nomenclature of lesions is a matter of definition and experienced pathologists generally agree as to what terms are to be used. Consistency is the uniform use of a specific term to record a defined lesion and implies that the same diagnostic criteria are being followed for each type of diagnosis. The relative severity of nonneoplastic lesions can be recorded either semiquantitatively or quantitatively. Semiquantitative analysis involves the application of defined severity grades or ranges for specific lesions. Quantitative analysis (counts and measurements) can be performed manually or electronically, utilizing image analysis and stereological techniques to provide numerical values. When both qualitative and quantitative parameters are applied in preparation of a pathology report, the recorded pathology findings can be interpreted and put into perspective. The use of this approach assures a reader that the pathology report meets the highest standards.

Animals↗

Assessment of physical activity with the Computer Science and Applications, Inc., accelerometer: laboratory versus field validation.

Our purpose was to compare the validity of the Computer Science and Applications, (CSA) Inc., accelerometer in laboratory and field settings and establish CSA count ranges for light, moderate, and vigorous physical activity. Validity was determined in 60 adults during treadmill exercise, using oxygen consumption (VO2) as the criterion measure, while 30 adults walked and jogged outdoors on a 400-m track. The relationship between CSA counts and VO2 was linear (R2 = .89 SEE = 3.72 ml.kg-1.min-1), as was the relationship between velocity and counts in the field (R2 = .89, SEE = 0.89 mi.hr-1). However, significant differences were found (p < .05) between laboratory and field measures of CSA counts for light and vigorous intensity. We conclude that the CSA can be used to quantify walking and jogging outdoors on level ground; however, laboratory equations may not be appropriate for use in field settings, particularly for light and vigorous activity.

Adult↗