Surgical treatment of sclerosing peritonitis caused by practolol

A detailed and illustrated account is given of the surgical operation needed to treat practolol-induced sclerosing peritonitis, based on the personal experience of 6 patients.     

Dimensions of internalized object relations in borderline and schizophrenic patients.

This paper explores two dimensions of internalized object relations in borderline and schizophrenic patients using Rorschach scales. A thematic and a structural Rorschach measure of object relations is applied to the Rorschachs of two borderline groups (an infantile personality group and an obsessive-paranoid group) and a schizophrenic group. The findings suggest the value of both a multidimensional definition of internalized object relations and the use of such an approach to clarifying the diagnostic concept of borderline personality disorder. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expression and estrogen regulation of the HEM45 MRNA in human tumor lines and in the rat uterus

The combination of manual and automated extraction procedures using low sample volumes (5-50 ml) with large-volume oncolumn injection (LVI) (200 microliters) in capillary gas chromatography with flame photometric detection (GC-FPD) has allowed the determination of 16 organophosphorus pesticides in clean water samples at the low ng l-1 level with an important simplification in the sample preparation step. A simple and fast offline liquid-liquid microextraction procedure (2-5 ml water/l ml methyl tert.-butyl ether) has been applied to spiked groundwater samples (containing 0.5 ng of each pesticide) with good recoveries (over 80%) and precision (better than 10%), giving detection limits between 5 and 100 ng l-1 using 200 microliters injections in the GC-FPD system. The application of an inline automated liquid-liquid microextraction-LVI-GC procedure (2 ml water/2 ml methyl tert.-butyl ether: injection of 200 microliters in GC-FPD) using the autosampler ASPEC XL led to lower recoveries (> 50%) as a result of the low efficiency for mixing organic and aqueous phases, although with very satisfactory coefficients of variation (lower than 7%) and detection limits between 20 and 200 ng l-1. Manual and automated solid-phase extraction procedures using the well known C18 cartridges and the new Oasis HLB have been applied to groundwater samples (5-50 ml) spiked with 1 ng of each pesticide. Results obtained for both the manual and the automated procedures were satisfactory (recoveries over 80%) and the limits of detection for 50 ml sample volume ranged from 1 to 6 ng l-1.     

The relation between serum markers in the second trimester and placental pathology. A study on extremely small for gestational age fetuses

To disclose the cytoprotective mechanism of 1,6-dihydro-2[2-(2-methyoxypropoxy)anilino]-6-oxo-5-pyrimidinecarb oxylic acid (CAS 98772-05-5, MAR-99), the effect of this compound on the microvascular injury in gastric mucosa induced by 99.5% ethanol in rats was studied. In this experiment, it was found that the elevation of vascular permeability observed at the early state of ethanol-induced gastric mucosal injury was closely correlated with the combined action of histamine and slow reacting substance (leukotriene C4, LTC4). MAR-99 (0.3-10 mg/kg p.o.) prevented dose-dependently the increase in vascular permeability. Furthermore, MAR-99 (10 mg/kg p.o.) improved the decrease in the number of histamine containing cells and histamine content, and prevented the production of LTC4. These results suggest that MAR-99 exerts its anti-microvascular injury effect by regulating the release of histamine and the production of LTC4 in glandular stomach against ethanol, and this effect may contribute to the anti-lesion effect of this compound.     

Immunological and virological analyses of persons infected by human immunodeficiency virus type 1 while participating in trials of recombinant gp120 subunit vaccines

We have studied 18 participants in phase I/II clinical trials of recombinant gp120 (rgp120) subunit vaccines (MN and SF-2) who became infected with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) during the course of the trials. Of the 18 individuals, 2 had received a placebo vaccine, 9 had been immunized with MN rgp120, and seven had been immunized with SF-2 rgp120. Thirteen of the 18 infected vaccinees had received three or four immunizations prior to becoming infected. Of these, two were placebo recipients, six had received MN rgp120, and five had received SF-2 rgp120. Only 1 of the 11 rgp120 recipients who had multiple immunizations failed to develop a strong immunoglobulin G antibody response to the immunogen. However, the antibody response to rgp120 was transient, typically having a half-life of 40 to 60 days. No significant neutralizing activity against the infecting strain was detected in any of the infected individuals at any time prior to infection. Antibody titers in subjects infected despite vaccination and in noninfected subjects were not significantly different. Envelope-specific cytotoxic T-lymphocyte responses measured after infection were infrequent and weak in the nine vaccinees who were tested. HIV-1 was isolated successfully from all 18 individuals. Sixteen of these strains had a non-syncytium-inducing (NSI) phenotype, while two had a syncytium-inducing (SI) phenotype. NSI strains used the CCR5 coreceptor to enter CD4+ cells, while an SI strain from one of the vaccinees also used CXCR4. Viruses isolated from the blood of rgp120 vaccinees were indistinguishable from viruses isolated from control individuals in terms of their inherent sensitivity to neutralization by specific monoclonal antibodies and their replication rates in vitro. Furthermore, genetic sequencing of the env genes of strains infecting the vaccinees did not reveal any features that clearly distinguished these viruses from contemporary clade B viruses circulating in the United States. Thus, despite rigorous genetic analyses, using various breakdowns of the data sets, we could find no evidence that rgp120 vaccination exerted selection pressure on the infecting HIV-1 strains. The viral burdens in the infected rgp120 vaccine recipients were also determined, and they were found to be not significantly different from those in cohorts of placebo-vaccinated and nonvaccinated individuals. In summary, we conclude that vaccination with rgp120 has had,to date, no obvious beneficial or adverse effects on the individuals we have studied.     

Amorphous-silicon field-effect device and possible application

The characteristics of an insulated-gate field-effect transistor made from amorphous silicon (a-Si) deposited in a glow discharge are discussed. It is suggested that the a-Si device could be applied with advantage in an addressable matrix of a liquid-crystal display panel.