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AMERICAN JOURNAL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE AND HYGIENE (00029637)(4)pp. 660-661
Patients (51) with surgically proven hydatid disease in Iran were examined with the intradermal (ID) (Casoni) and latex-agglutination (LA) tests. Before surgery, results of the former test were 80.4% positive and of the latter were 82.3%. For 105 persons diagnosed free of hydatid cysts by surgical, clinical and serological observations, 6.7% were positive with the ID test and 4.8% with the LA test. The close agreement between results obtained with LA and ID tests in this selected group of patients suggests that the LA test merits further evaluation as a diagnostic tool.
TROPICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL MEDICINE (00413232)(4)pp. 393-398
Evaluation of the immediate intradermal (ID) test showed a direct relationship between N concentration and sensitivity. Antigens of low N-concentration were less reactive but more specific. Intradermal antigens prepared from Echinococcus multilocularis can be used in Isfahan, Iran, for the diagnosis of E. granulosus in man. The ID delayed reaction was observed in a few patients who had positive immediate skin tests. Because of its high sensitivity, the indirect hemagglutination (IHA) test was preferred for serological diagnosis of echinococcosis. The IHA test appears to offer good sensitivity and the ID, with an antigen of low N concentration, good specificity.
To provide evidence for the immune nature of the albumin agglutination phenomenon or caprylate dependent albumin agglutinins (CDAA), rabbits were injected with native serum that was incubated in a solution of sodium caprylate. Two of 3 rabbits responded with the production of CDAA, which in vitro behaved identical to human antisera. Human cells were agglutinated only when caprylate stabilized albumin was added to the red blood cell/serum mixture or when caprylate free albumin plus sodium caprylate were used. The CDAA failed to agglutinate rabbit cells, although human adult and cord cells were agglutinated. CDAA probably represent an immune response to native albumin that was altered by caprylate.
Out of a total of 947 patients during 2 yr, all those with AMI [acute myocardial infarction] and ventricular fibrillation (VF) or ventricular tachycardia (VT) were selected. The QT interval could be measured in 15 patients with VF and 12 with VT before the event. The QT interval was also measured in 2 control groups; 1 consisted of 27 consecutively admitted patients with AMI without ventricular arrhythmias (VA), the other of 27 non-AMI patients. Most patients in the group with VA showed pathologically prolonged QT intervals and there were statistically significant differences between this group and the control groups regarding corrected mean QT intervals. If these findings are confirmed, QT measurements might be of value in the prediction of malignant VA in AMI.
The stabilizing effect of natural and synthetic hydrocolloids on china clay suspensions can be demonstrated by measurement of the settling rate of the solid phase, the final settled volume, the filtration rate of the supernatant through the bed and the turbidity of the supernatant liquid. As the experiments take some time, the use of a centrifuge is a useful device, but should a calculation of the floc size be required then the centrifugal force would be required. A method of estimating the envelope of liquid surrounding each solid particle is outlined. The thickness of this envelope is greater than that due solely to adsorption and probably owes its origin to a network of the solid surface but extending for these distances into the liquid phase. This view is consistent with the variation of all the parameters observed as the concentration of the hydrocolloid is increased.
All shipments of Iranian pistachio nuts to the USA must be inspected for aflatoxin contamination [by Aspergillus flavus] and at irregular intervals some of them are rejected. The only point-of-origin climatic factors correlated with rejections were rainfall and number of calm days per month during Aug.-Nov., the period of ripening and harvesting. [Other factors considered were relative humidity and temperature].
The polarographic method is used for the identification and determination of Dacarbazine (1) [an antineoplastic drug]. The results indicate that 1 can be identified and determined as the pure compound or as a constituent of galenic preparations at concentrations between 10-3 and 10-5 mol/l. The N = N-group, which is reduced by the addition of 4 electrons and 4 protons, is polarographically active.
Pistachio nut samples taken during various stages of development from orchards in Iran, showed that contamination with fungi occurred mainly during the later stages of nut development. Members of the genera Aspergillus and Penicillium occurred most frequently. Of the asperigilli, the species A. niger, A. flavus and A. fischeri var. spinosus occurred most frequently, followed by A. terreus, A. tamarii and A. nidulans. A total of 22 isolates, comprising 13 species, were tested for toxicity to ducklings. Isolates of known toxic fungi included A. flavus, A. niger, A. parasiticus, A. ochraceus, A. versicolor, A. nidulans and A. terreus. The toxicity of A. fischeri var. spinosus is reported. Chemical analysis showed that all isolates of A. flavus and A. parasiticus produced aflatoxin B1, the isolates of A. versicolor and A. nidulans produced sterigmatocystin while the toxic isolate of A. ochraceus did not produce ochratoxins.
A simple and accurate assay for the determination of griseofulvin and its metabolites in biological fluids using high-performance liquid chromatography is described. Using a reversed phase column and a mobile phase solvent of 45% acetonitrile in 0.1 M acetic acid, baseline separation of griseofulvin and several analogs was obtained. The described method allows one to quantitatively determine griseofulvin, 6-demethylgriseofulvin and griseofulvic acid, a newly identified metabolite in man, in urine and plasma samples. Treatment of plasma samples prior to the analysis is simply made by deproteinizing the samples with an equal volume of acetonitrile. For urine samples, the procedure involves diethyl ether extraction with subsequent evaporation to dryness and reconstitution with the mobile phase solvent.
The effect of temperature on the number of days to heading was evaluated in 5 vernalized winter and 5 spring commonly grown wheat (T. aestivum L. em Thell.) cultivars under an increasing daylength. Controlled environment chambers were set at 15.5.degree. C (day) and 7.2.degree. C (night), and 21.0.degree. C (day) and 12.7.degree. C (night). Temperatures, cultivars and the temperature .times. cultivar interaction were all highly significant for both days and degree-hours to heading. Winter and spring cultivars had approximately the same range in values. All cultivars headed more rapidly at the higher temperatures. Within each growth habit, the cultivars maintained the same approximate ranking at both temperatures, but varied in their interaction with temperature. More degree-hours were used by all cultivars at the warmer temperature, indicating that only part of the increased temperature was translated into accelerated heading. Each cultivar has a specific set of phenological control mechanisms which can affect the interaction with environment in final yield expression.
JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE (00218596)(JUN)pp. 709-714
A laboratory study was made on miscible displacement of reactive solutes during leaching a highly saline-sodic soil rich in soluble Na2CO3 with solutions of calcium chloride. The effect of varying flow velocities, initial soil moisture content and concentration of Ca in the leaching water on the extent of carbonate precipitation and replacement of Na by Ca from the exchange positions was studied in soil columns. Precipitation of soluble carbonates in the soil increased with increasing flow velocity, initial soil moisture content and concentration of Ca in the leaching solution. The Ca exchange capacity of the soil was reduced significantly and nearly proportionally with decrease in the degree of water saturation as a consequence of decreased water application rate and initial soil moisture content. A simple model to describe Ca-Na exchange under unsaturated flow conditions in saline-sodic soils under consideration is proposed. Possible implications of the results in actual field situations is discussed.
The reaction of 1,3-diphenylisobenzofuran (DPBF) solubilized in aqueous solutions of sodium dodecyl sulfate [SDS] with singlet molecular oxygen (1.DELTA.g) generated either continuously or by laser flash photolysis was studied as a function of oxygen concentration. The rate constant for reaction of 1.DELTA.g with micellar DPBF is 1.1 .times. 109 M-1 s-1. The lifetimes for 1.DELTA.g O in D2O and H2O are 42 .+-. 5 and 3 .+-. 1 .mu.s, respectively. The partition coefficient for molecular O2 between the external aqueous phase and SDS micelles is measured to be 2.8 .+-. 0.1. At low O2 concentrations the transfer rate of 1.DELTA.g O from the aqueous phase to the micelle is diffusional in nature with a rate constant of 1.0 .times. 108 s-1, with a corresponding out migration rate constant of 3.7 .times. 107 s-1. At high concentrations of dissolved O2, the rate of transfer for 1.DELTA.g across the water-micelle interface increases owing to a ground-state O2-mediated collisional electronic energy transfer process. The rate constants for this energy-transfer proces are 9 .times. 10-9 M-1 s-1 for the inward process and 3 .times. 109 M-1 s-1 for the outward process.
TOXICOLOGY AND APPLIED PHARMACOLOGY (0041008X)(1)pp. 126-130
The effects of acute and subacute trivalent arsenic (As) administration on blood glucose levels, glucose tolerance and mitochondrial respiration were studied in male rats injected with sodium arsenite at 0, 5, or 10 mg/kg body wt and killed after 1.5 or 3 h or 7 days. Hyperglycemia and glucose intolerance were observed in rats which received single acute doses of As. Hyperglycemia, but not glucose intolerance, was abolished, in As-treated adrenalectomized animals. No measurable changes in hepatic mitochondrial respiratory function were noted in animals killed at 1.5 or 3 h following As administration. Animals injected with 10 mg As/kg for 7 days showed hyperglycemia and marked glucose intolerance at 24 h after the last injection. Mild depression of pyruvate/malate mediated state 3 mitochondrial respiration and decreased respiratory control ratios were observed for hepatic mitochondria isolated from arsenite injected rats in comparison with controls at this time point. Arsenical disturbance of in vivo carbohydrate metabolism is evidently a complex phenomenon which involves a number of organ systems and their functional interrelationships.
CANADIAN JOURNAL OF PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES (00084190)(1)pp. 14-16
The compound 2-(4''-hydroxybenzeneazo) benzoic acid is a spectrophotometric probe which shows spectral absorption changes on binding to protein. The absorbance differences measured upon the addition of this probe to a solution of human serum albumin alone and human serum albumin in the presence of selected penicillins were used as an indirect method to determine the binding of these drugs to human serum albumin under the conditions described. Based on the displacement results, it was concluded that penicillins bind to human serum albumin by electrostatic force and through their side-chain and that increased hydrophobicity of the side-chain reinforces the binding.
