Heroin related overdose problems

During the first ten months of 1992 the Oslo Ambulance Department registered 716 incidences of assumed drug-related intoxications. 80% happened in down town Oslo. 19 cases of asystoly were recorded, 13 of the patients recovered after treatment, without sequelae. Five of these patients left the location after emergency help and they refused hospitalization. 432 of the patients were unconscious when the ambulance personal arrived, 472 were treated with naloxone both by the intramuscular and the intravenous route. Most of the persons refused further observation. A team of specially trained out reach workers offers help after acute medical treatment by means of "streetwork". The intervention is directed at addicts who have experienced an overdose.     

Application of polymerase chain reaction for the correlation of Salmonella serovars recovered from greyhound feces with their diet

The polymerase chain reaction was employed to correlate Salmonella serovars isolated from fecal material of greyhounds suffering from gastroenteritis with those isolated from the diet fed to the greyhounds prior to onset of diarrhea. Kennels around the Abilene, Kansas, area were contacted and supplied with materials needed to collect a portion of the diet each day. With the onset of diarrhea, the kennels were instructed to ship the fecal material and diet from the previous 10 days to the laboratory for testing. Forty-one fecal samples and corresponding diets were screened for Salmonella, Clostridium perfringens, Campylobacter jejuni, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus intermedius, and pathogenic (piliated) Escherichia coli by direct culture using standard procedures. The fecal material was also screened for coronavirus and parvovirus using electron microscopy. Thirty-five "normal" fecal samples were screened for all of the above mentioned microorganisms as a control. In addition, the fecal material was screened for E. coli verotoxins I and II and clostridial enterotoxins. A total of 61 Salmonella isolates were recovered from the 41 samples of feces and diet submitted for testing; 31 were recovered from the feces and 30 from the diet. Four Salmonella isolates were recovered from the normal fecal samples. Results obtained by PCR, plasmid profiles, antigenic analysis, and antibiogram profiles indicated that 16 of the 31 isolates recovered from the fecal material were the same strain as that recovered from the diet.     

Acute effect of inorganic iodide after 131I therapy for hyperthyroidism

Patients treated with inorganic iodide weeks to years following 131I therapy for hyperthyroidism do not adapt to its antithyroid effect. To determine whether such adaptation occurs soon after 131I therapy, serum thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3) concentrations were measured daily for 9-14 days following 131I therapy in seventeen hyperthyroid patients. Nine patients received 150 mg KI daily starting 48 h after 131I administration; eight received only 131I. Serum T4 and T3 concentrations did not change significantly in the patients who received only 131I. In the patients who received 131I and KI, serum T4 and T3 concentrations fell promptly, reaching nadir values 2-10 days after initiation of iodide, and then increased despite continuation of KI therapy. The mean maximal fall in serum T4 was 34% and in serum T3 42%. These results show that "escape" from the acute anti-thyroid effect of iodide occurs when it is given immediately after 131I therapy, thus limiting the utility of iodide as a therapeutic agent at this time.     

Institutional factors affecting fish passage in the Columbia River Treaty renegotiation

ABSTRACT

The United States and Canada have begun renegotiating the Columbia River Treaty, which is an international model for transboundary water governance. This paper identifies six institutional factors that will affect negotiations pertaining to fish passage during the renegotiation of the treaty: geographical advantage, issue linkage, a basin commission, the duration of agreements, negotiating autonomy and side payments. These factors and the methods used to determine them can be applied to other transboundary river basins where basin states have a history of transboundary resource governance. This analysis also serves as a policy-relevant resource for Columbia River Treaty negotiators and stakeholders.     

Creatine kinase isoenzymes in serum from cord blood and the blood of healthy full-term infants during the first three postnatal days

Isoenzymes of creatine kinase (ATP:creatine phosphotransferase; EC 2.7.3.2; CK) were measured by electrophoresis in serum from cord blood and skin-puncture blood taken from 45 healthy full-term infants during the first three postnatal days. Mean total CK activities (in U/L at 30 degrees C) were 185 in cord samples, 536 in samples taken between 5--8 h postnatally, 494 between 24--33 h, and 288 in the 72-100 h samples. Values for all three isoenzymes increased to a peak over this period, with the highest values generally being found in the samples taken 5--33 h after birth; the subsequent decline was most rapid for CK-BB. Serum CK isoenzymes in cord samples and those taken at 72--100 h in the 11 babies delivered by cesarian section did not differ significantly from those of babies delivered vaginally. However the postnatal increases in total CK, CK-MM, and CK-MB (but not in CK-BB) were significantly greater in those patients born by vaginal delivery. The reasons for the increases in CK isoenzymes after birth are not clear, but our results and reported studies on the ontogeny of CK suggest that CK-MB cannot be regarded as a "cardiac-specific" isoenzyme in the neonatal period.     

Inhibition of feline collateral vessel development following experimental thrombolic occlusion

We compared development of feline hindlimb collateral circulation after acute occlusion of the terminal aorta by ligation, thrombus formation, and formation of a "closed" aortic loop containing thromboplastin. Collateral circulation development was assessed by aortograms, scintillation scans, neurological signs following occlusion, measurement of hindlimb muscle blood flow, and forelimb and hindlimb temperature. In cats in which aortic occlusion was the result of ligation or thromboplastin in the aortic loop, paralysis was not evident. Aortograms and scintillation scans indicated hindlimb blood flow. Both muscle temperature and blood flow data indicated that the return of blood flow was rapid. The 5th lumbar artery appears to be the origin of the collateral vessels. The mid-zone component is a dorsal and ventral vertebral route and an epaxial muscle route. The reentry components are the 6th or 7th lumbar arteries. The collateral vessels arise from preexisting collateral vessels. Of those cats in which aortic occlusion was the result of a thrombus, all exhibited paralysis. Aortograms, scintillation scans, muscle temperature, and hindlimb blood flow data indicated reduced hindlimb blood flow. The results suggest that the thrombus has an inhibitory effect on the development of collateral circulation.     

Professional drivers: protection needed for a high-risk occupation

"On the job" motor vehicle deaths number more than 4,000 annually in the U.S. and comprise nearly one-third of all work-related deaths. Yet the Department of Labor has set no standards relating to on-the-road safety of the millions of workers whose jobs entail large amounts of driving, and Department of Transportation standards affecting occupational safety cover only drivers in interstate commerce. Drivers of some commercial vehicles, such as heavy trucks, are at special risk of injury because trucks have usually been exempted for many years from federal motor vehicle safety standards--such as standards for brakes and seatbelts--designed to prevent crashes or protect occupants in crashes. Observations based on a series of 150 fatal crashes involving tractor trailers illustrate the need for better protection of this large population of high-risk workers. Clarification of responsibility within the various federal agencies and application of available knowledge and technology are essential.     

Changes in serum thyrotropin (TSH) in man during halofenate administration

Halofenate, a serum lipid-lowering agent which inhibits binding of thyroid hormone to thyroxine-binding globulin (TBG), was administered daily for 14 days to 8 hypothyroid subjects with elevated TSH concentrations as a result of incomplete thyroxine (T4) therapy. Drug administration resulted in mean increases in serum dialyzable fraction T4 (DFT4) of 52% over pretreatment levels (P less than 0.01) and in dialyzable fraction triiodothyronine (DFT3) of 26% in 7 subjects, (P less than 0.01). During halofenate treatment in these 7 subjects, serum TSH concentrations decreased significantly (mean = 39%, P less than 0.01) when DFT4 and DFT3 were increased by halofenate. In only two subjects was there a convincing temporal relationship between increased serum absolute free T4 (AFT4) and decreased serum TSH concentrations. Contrary to what would be predicted from the "free hormone hypothesis", changes in serum TSH concentration in these hypothyroid patients appeared to relate primarily to changes in the free fraction of circulating T4 and T3 (DFT4, DFT3), rather than to alterations in AFT4 or AFT3. Halofenate did not alter serum TBG binding capacity. An eighth subject did not show increased DFT4 and DFT3 during halofenate treatment despite achievement of therapeutic serum levels of the agent; in this patient, serum TSH levels rose progressively throughout the period of inadequate T4 replacement and halofenate administration. In hypothyroid patients, short-term halofenate use suggests that the pituitary-thyroid hormone feedback circuit can respond to increases in serum DFT4 and DFT3 in the absence of detactable increases in absolute free hormone concentrations.     

Experimental determination of temperature profiles in a sheared granular bed containing two and three sizes of particles

An experiment to measure granular temperature in a sheared low density granular bed containing a range of sizes of particles has been performed. Using positron emission particle tracking, a single particle was tracked from different size phases. From the coordinate data, the second moment of the velocity fluctuations about the mean flow in each direction was determined. It was found that the larger particles are “hotter” and that most of the energy is contained in the θ (shearing) direction fluctuations. Evidence was found for Knudsen layer and higher order Burnett effects, suggesting extensions of the Navier-Stokes approaches are necessary to describe heat transport in polydisperse systems.