Foetal alcohol syndrome in Saskatchewan: unchanged incidence in a 20-year period

Ethers and thioethers of monosaccharides have been synthesised which show potent toxicity to mouse (LD50 > or = 4 g.kg-1 O.W. and 0.2 to 1.5 g.kg-1 I.P.W.). A study of calcium antagonist activity for the full series of compounds indicated that the activity was similar for both O- and S- ethers and maximum activities were observed for monoacetoneglucose ethers possessing carbon chain close to 8 carbons.     

Effects of clozapine and haloperidol on baseline levels of vacuous jaw movements in aged rats

BACKGROUND: IgE-mediated hypersensitivity to latex proteins has become a significant clinical problem over the last decade. Nursing and medical staff are at risk because of their occupational exposure to latex. AIMS: To determine the prevalence of type I hypersensitivity to latex allergens in the nursing staff of an Australian hospital. METHODS: A questionnaire which asked about symptoms associated with the use of latex gloves was completed by 140 nurses working in the Alfred Hospital (72 in general medical wards, 68 in intensive care units). Skin prick tests with eluates of five different types of latex glove as well as common aeroallergens (rye pollen and house dust mite) and banana extract were performed. RESULTS: Thirty-one nurses (22%) were skin prick test positive to at least one of the five latex glove eluates. All of these nurses were atopic, having positive skin prick tests to rye pollen or house dust mite. Symptoms of local dryness, itch and erythema associated with glove use were reported by more than half the study group, but not more frequently by those who were skin prick test positive to latex. Urticaria associated with glove use was reported more frequently by those with positive latex skin prick tests (13% vs 4%, p = 0.05). Eighty-seven per cent of the nurses who were latex skin test positive were also positive to banana extract. CONCLUSIONS: IgE-mediated hypersensitivity to latex is common in nurses working in an Australian hospital. Glove associated symptoms were frequently reported, but in most cases the symptoms were more typical of irritant or contact dermatitis rather than type I hypersensitivity reactions. However, the extent of subclinical sensitisation to latex found in this study suggests that symptomatic latex allergy is likely to emerge as an increasing problem for nursing staff in this country.     

Korsakoff's syndrome, cognition and clonidine

Eighteen patients suffering from Alcoholic Korsakoff's Syndrome participated in a placebo-controlled double-blind cross-over trial of clonidine 0.3 mg b.d. for two weeks versus matched placebo for two weeks. A detailed neuropsychological assessment was carried out at the end of each treatment phase and staff ratings of behaviour were also obtained. Clonidine treatment resulted in no significant improvement over placebo on any of the cognitive measures employed. The results contradict previous smaller studies which had suggested that chronic treatment with clonidine had a memory-enhancing effect in Korsakoff's syndrome.     

The effect of the length of a malarial epitope on its antigenicity and immunogenicity in an epitope presentation system using the Pseudomonas aeruginosa outer membrane protein OprF as the carrier

The phenotypic characteristics of three Serpulina pilosicoli strains isolated from humans with diarrhoea (WesB, Kar, Hrm7) and two porcine S. pilosicoli strains isolated from pigs with intestinal spirochaetosis (1648, 3295), were compared with the type strain of the species P43/6/78T (T = type strain) and other intestinal spirochaetes within the genus Serpulina. All S. pilosicoli strains had a characteristic ultrastructural appearance, displayed similar growth rates, hydrolysed hippurate, lacked beta-glucosidase activity, utilised D-ribose as a growth substrate, and had similar sensitivities to rifampicin and spiramycin. The only consistent phenotypic characteristic that differentiated human strains from porcine strains of S. pilosicoli was that the human strains all utilised the pentose sugar D-xylose. These distinguishing phenotypic traits appear useful for identifying S. pilosicoli.     

Selective employment of chemokine receptors as human immunodeficiency virus type 1 coreceptors determined by individual amino acids within the envelope V3 loop

The chemokine receptor CCR5 acts as an essential cofactor for cell entry by macrophage-tropic human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) strains, whereas CXCR4 acts as an essential cofactor for T-cell-line-adapted strains. We demonstrated that the specific amino acids in the V3 loop of the HIV-1 envelope protein that determine cellular tropism also regulate chemokine coreceptor preference for cell entry by the virus. Further, a strong correlation was found between HIV-1 strains classified as syncytium inducing in standard assays and those using CXCR4 as a coreceptor. These data support the hypothesis that progressive adaptation to additional coreceptors is a key molecular basis for HIV-1 phenotypic evolution in vivo.     

Comparison of two methods of surfactant administration and the effect on dosing-associated hypoxemia

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of our study was to test the hypothesis that surfactant dosing through a proximal sideport adapter on an endotracheal tube leads to more dosing-associated hypoxemia compared with a method of dosing that uses a double-lumen endotracheal tube. STUDY DESIGN: Using adequate sample size to compare significant changes in O2 saturation (power > 0.8, alpha < 0.05) we enrolled 36 infants with respiratory distress syndrome in this randomized trial. A 10% change in O2 saturation was considered clinically significant. Nineteen infants received 38 doses of surfactant through the sideport adapter. Seventeen infants received 31 doses of surfactant through the nonventilation lumen of a double-lumen endotracheal tube. Two main outcome measures were assessed: time-averaged O2 saturation values 30 minutes after dosing and the largest absolute fall in O2 saturation for each patient. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Time-averaged O2 saturation measures were higher in the proximal sideport group (p = 0.02), but the magnitude of difference was probably not clinically significant. No significant difference was detected between groups when we compared largest absolute drop in O2 saturation. Secondary analyses found no effect of birth weight or dose number (second vs third dose) on either outcome measure.