The cranial MRI in severe cerebral palsy: a comparative study with clinical data

The magnetic resonance examination was performed in 38 patients with severe cerebral palsy (CP; 15 males and 23 females) who had both motor delay (unable to move anywhere) and mental retardation (I. Q or D. Q below 30). Neuroimaging findings were compared with the CP type, etiology, and grade of understanding of language. Cranial magnetic resonance imagings (MRI) in CP were divided into five types. Type 1 : nine predominantly showed cyst-liked ventricles and periventricular hyperintensity on T2-weighted imaging (PVH) and only scarred basal ganglia and thalamus were visible. All suffered from neonatal asphyxia and the clinical type was rigospastic tetraplegia (RST). Type 2: eleven predominantly showed PVH and hyperintensity on T2-weighted (HT2) in basal ganglia and thalamus. All suffered from neonatal asphyxia and the clinical type was RST or rigospastic diplegia. Type 3: five showed PVH and three had cortical atrophy. All suffered from neonatal asphyxia and the clinical type was spastic diplegia. Type 4: four predominantly showed HT 2 in putamen and thalamus. Three had cortical atrophy. All suffered from neonatal asphyxia. The clinical type was athetotic CP (ATH). Type 5: nine predominantly showed HT 2 in globus pallidus. Four had cortical atrophy and two had hippocampal atrophy. All suffered from neonatal jaundice and the clinical type was ATH. All patients who suffered from neonatal asphyxia and spastic CP had MRI in PVH. All patients who suffered from neonatal asphyxia and ATH showed HT 2 in putamen and thalamus. Almost patients who suffered neonatal jaundice and ATH showed HT 2 in globus pallidus. With athetotic CP, cases with atrophy of the cerebral cortex or/and hippocampus were lower grade of understanding of language than no atrophy of both. The result of studies of MRI are in agreement with neuropathological findings.     

Bone marrow and renal injury associated with haloalkene cysteine conjugates in calves

Almost 40 years ago, it was reported that cattle-feed which had been extracted with hot trichloroethylene and then fed to calves produced renal injury and a fatal aplastic anaemia. The toxic factor was subsequently identified as S-(1,2-dichlorovinyl)-L-cysteine (DCVC). These original findings have been confirmed, a single intravenous dose of DCVC at 4 mg/kg, or 0.4 mg/kg intravenously per day administered for 10 days to calves produced aplastic anaemia, and renal injury after a single dose of 4 mg/kg. The toxicity to calves of a number of other haloalkene cysteine conjugates has been examined to ascertain whether, like DCVC, they produce bone marrow and renal injury. Intravenous administration of the N-acetyl cysteine conjugate of DCVC produced renal but not bone marrow injury at a molar equivalent dose to DCVC, indicating that the calf can deacetylate the mercapturic acid and further that sufficient chemical had reached the kidney to be a substrate for the enzyme cysteine conjugate beta-lyase. However, intravenous administration of the alpha-methyl analogue of DCVC, which cannot undergo metabolism via the enzyme cysteine conjugate beta-lyase, was without toxicity at doses about five-fold higher than DCVC. These latter findings provide strong evidence that metabolism of DCVC via the enzyme beta-lyase is necessary for bone marrow and renal injury to occur. The cysteine conjugates of perchloroethylene and hexachloro-1,3-butadiene(HCBD) when given intravenously to calves at molar equivalent doses to DCVC, or above, did not produce either bone marrow or renal injury. In contrast, intravenous administration of the cysteine conjugate of tetrafluoroethylene (TFEC) produced severe renal tubular injury in calves without affecting the bone marrow. In vitro studies with these haloalkene cysteine conjugates showed, like DCVC, that they were good substrates for calf renal cysteine conjugate beta-lyase and toxic to renal cells as judged by their ability to reduce organic anion and cation transport by slices of calf renal cortex and inhibit the renal enzyme glutathione reductase. Calves were also dosed either orally or intravenously with HCBD to assess its toxicity. HCBD at higher molar equivalent doses than DCVC produced mid-zonal necrosis in the liver, renal tubular necrosis but no bone marrow injury in calves. The key findings emerging from these studies are (1) that none of the other cysteine conjugates, at molar equivalent doses to DCVC and above, produce bone marrow injury in calves, (2) TFEC produced only renal injury, suggesting that sufficient of the other conjugates had not reached the kidney for metabolism by beta-lyase to produce cytotoxicity and (3) that HCBD itself is more toxic than its cysteine or mercapturic acid conjugate, suggesting that pharmaco-kinetics and disposition are important factors in determining the toxicity of these conjugates to calves. Further studies are needed to understand the basis for the selective toxicity of DCVC to the bone marrow of calves.     

Nosocomial diarrhoea in the elderly due to enterotoxigenic Clostridium perfringens

Zinc is an important trace element for immune function. Here, we show that zinc addition in a serum- and lipopolysaccharide-free cell culture system leads to significantly enhanced levels of interleukin 1 beta (IL-1 beta) and tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) and to expression of the corresponding mRNA in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). Structurally related divalent cations like cobalt, nickel, and mercury also partially increase monokine secretion but to a much lower and thus insignificant extent. They fail to induce mRNA of TNF-alpha after 3 h of culture. Therefore, monokine induction is a zinc-specific effect influenced by the physicochemical properties of the ion. Confirmation of the unique significance of zinc for immune function provides a better understanding of the mechanisms of specific zinc-mediated immune modulation.     

Quantitative analysis of organochlorine pesticide residues in Chinese drugs

This paper reports the GC determination of 20 organochlorine pesticides in Chinese drugs Flos Ionicerae and Moluodan etc by the present method of Japan for determinaing pesticide residues. The results suggest that except Folium Isatidis, Radix Codonopsis and Sanqi Pian all accord with the for provisions pesticide residues in Japanese foodstuffs.     

Inhibition of resistance to hemopoietic allo-grafts in granulocyte colony-stimulating factor transgenic mice

The measurements of diphenylhexatriene (DPH) and trimethylammonium diphenylhexatriene (TMA-DPH) fluorescence anisotropy in egg yolk lecithin (EYL) and of DPH anisotropy in dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) liposomes containing different concentrations of oxidized and reduced ubiquinone (UQ) and plastoquinone (PQ) homologues have been performed. All the oxidized UQ homologues strongly induced ordering of EYL membrane structure, whereas in DPPC liposomes, above the phase transition temperature, the most pronounced effect showed UQ-4. PQ-2 and PQ-9 were less effective than the corresponding ubiquinones in this respect. The reduced forms of UQ and PQ homologues increased the order of membrane lipids to a smaller extent than the corresponding quinones both in the interior of the membrane and closer to its surface. Nevertheless, the investigated prenylquinols showed stronger increase in the membrane order than alpha-tocopherol or alpha-tocopherol acetate, which could be connected with binding of prenylquinol head groups to phospholipid molecules by hydrogen bonds. The strong ordering influence of ubiquinones on the membrane structure was attributed to methoxyl groups of the UQ quinone rings.     

Microscale analysis of glycosphingolipids by TLC blotting/secondary ion mass spectrometry: a novel blood group A-active glycosphingolipid and changes in glycosphingolipid expression in rat mammary tumour cells with different metastatic potentials

The glycosphingolipid compositions of rat mammary tumour cell lines with different metastatic potentials for the lung [a parental tumour cell line (MTC) and its subclones MTLn2 (a non metastatic subclone) and MTLn3 (a subclone with high metastatic potential to the lung)] were studied using a newly developed TLC blotting/secondary ion mass spectrometry system and crude glycosphingolipids obtained from 0.5-1 x 10(7) cells of each cell line. GM3 and GM2 were the major components of the MTC cell line, but they were very minor components in the MTLn2 and MTLn3 cell lines, GDla being the major ganglioside HexNAc-fucosyl-GMla was found in the MTLn2 cells by the TLC blotting/SIMS method, and the terminal sugar linkage was shown to be a blood group A-type structure by immunostaining. These findings suggest that the ganglioside is a novel type of blood group A-active ganglioside, GalNAc alpha 1-3(fuc alpha 1 -2)GMla. No blood group A-active lipid was present in MTLn3 cells, whereas Hex-GMla and neutral glycosphingolipids with more than 5 sugar residues were.     

Tandem repeating of the expression cartridge--a novel strategy to enhance the expression efficiency of cloned gene in Escherichia coli

The aim of this study was to determine the actual prevalence of diabetes mellitus and to investigate the contribution of various risk factors to the diabetes mellitus among the population in a methyl mercury polluted area. The study was a population based cross sectional mass screening survey. A case-control study was designed to estimate the role of various risk factors including methyl mercury exposure for diabetes mellitus. The study was confined to a small rural town 10 km north of Minamata City; 1,087 persons older than 40 years were examined. Measurement of glucose metabolism was made on the basis of urine and haematological examinations. Data on risk factors were collected by questionnaire, and by measurement of body height and weight (obesity). The prevalence rate of the diabetes mellitus was 8.4% in males and 5.3% in females. The odds ratio of family history was significantly higher, 4.63. The odds ratio of residential history in a methyl mercury high polluted area was 0.58. The prevalence of the diabetes mellitus in this methyl mercury polluted area was not increased, contrary to what was expected based on the pathological findings.