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In this issue, we're pleased to present an article that details the most recent statistics about the travel and tourism industry. As measured by the real output of goods and [...]

This paper examines the case of the United Papermakers and Paperworkers in the province of Quebec and its conflict with the provincially centered Federation nationale des travailleurs de la pulpe et du papier Inc. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Although I've been a jazz fan virtually all my life, I didn't really like big-band at first, preferring small-group combos. It wasn't until I heard what a jazz orchestra sounded [...]

Many countries issued postage stamps commemorating Eleanor Roosevelt and the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Ghana and India both issued stamps on Dec 10, 1963, to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the declaration while also depicting Eleanor Roosevelt., On December 10, 1963, the African nation of Ghana released a set of four postage stamps commemorating the 15th anniversary of the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Scott [...]

Objectives To investigate the relation between cranial irradiation received during treatment for childhood leukaemia and obesity at final height. Design Retrospective cross sectional study. Setting Paediatric oncology centres at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children and the Royal Marsden Hospital. Subjects Survivors of childhood leukaemia who received cranial irradiation, were in continuous first remission, and had reached final height. An unirradiated group of patients from the United Kingdom acute lymphoblastic leukaemia XI trial was also included; these patients were in continuous first remission and had been followed for at least four years from diagnosis. Main outcome measures Body mass index standard deviation score (BMI z score) at final height for irradiated patients and at most recent follow up for unirradiated patients. Regression analysis was used to examine the effect on BMI z score of sex, age at diagnosis, and the dose of radiation received. Results For cranially irradiated patients, an increase in the BMI z score at final height was associated with female sex and lower radiation dose, but not with age at diagnosis. Severe obesity, defined as a BMI z score of > 3 at final height, was only present in girls who received 18-20 Gy irradiation and had a prevalence of 8%. Both male and female unirradiated patients had raised BMI z scores at latest follow up and there was no association with age at diagnosis. Conclusions These data are further evidence for a sexually dimorphic and dose dependent effect of radiation on the human brain.

We studied 11 normal adult males. Six subjects (Study A) received a bolus of saline or of 50 mU biosynthetic human growth hormone (r-hGH) or a one hour iv infusion of r-hGH (80 mll/h) in random order. On each occasion this was followed by an iv bolus of GHRH (1-29) NH2(100 μg) 90 minutes after the first event. Five subjects (Study B) received a bolus iv injection of saline or of 500 mU r-hGH followed by iv GHRH (1–29) NH2(100 μg) 90 minutes later. There was no significant difference in the serum GH concentrations achieved following the 50 mU bolus or iv infusion of r-hGH (range 5.6–67.0 mU/l). Higher concentrations of GH (mean±SE, 238.4±21.3 mU/l) were achieved with the 500 mU bolus of r-hGH. The peak GH responses to iv GH-RH (1–29) NH2were similar in all instances. The most important factor determining the response to exogenous GHRH (1–29) NH2was the serum GH concentration at the time that the GHRH (1–29) NH2was administered and the mode of r-hGH administration (iv bolus or iv infusion). These data demonstrate that within the range of physiological serum GH concentrations the mode of presentation of GH (bolus or infusion) and GH secretory status are the most important factors in determining GH respon-sivity to GHRH. Under these circumstances GH would appear not to participate in a rapid-acting short-loop negative feedback mechanism in man as the response to exogenous GHRH was not attenuated.

This article reports on adopting Gustafson's multiattribute utility method to develop a specific momentary severity index (vis-à-vis severity over time) for nontraumatic chest pain patients. A panel of physicians identified an appropriate set of indicators for the index. Three mathematic models were generated on the basis of these indicators with each model predicting no less than 81 of the variance in overall scores of 96 simulated patients with chest pain. High interrater reliability (0.94) was demonstrated. Congruent validity coefficients between the three model scores and the overall scores vary between 0.71 and 0.92 depending on how the panel physicians are grouped. Results indicate the feasibility of simulating physician judgments regarding patient severity in chest-pain-related cases.

New discoveries at Swartkrans, in South Africa, an important cave site for the study of the australopithecine stage of human evolution, include a new series of australopithecine remains and an associated stone culture. Recent investigations have clarified the original form of the cave and a study of the accumulations of bones in the cave suggests that the australopithecines who lived there may have been the prey of leopards. In this article, Dr Brain introduces the new discoveries : further reports will follow.

During recent excavations of hominid-bearing breccias in the Swartkrans cave altered bones were recovered from Member 3 (about 1.0–1.5 Myr BP) which seemed to have been burnt. We examined the histology and chemistry of these specimens and found that they had been heated to a range of temperatures consistent with that occurring in campfires. The presence of these burnt bones, together with their distribution in the cave, is the earliest direct evidence for use of fire by hominids in the fossil record. Although abundant remains of Australopithecus robustus and Homo cf. erectus are found in the older Members 1 and 2 at Swartkrans, there is no evidence of fire, suggesting that the discovery of fire was made in the interval between Members 2 and 3 and before A. robustus became extinct.

Discusses the role played by predation in controlling the populations of early hominids. Evolution of hunters and gatherers in Africa, who formed a natural predator-prey community; Discoveries found by paleontologists in Swartkrans, an ancient cave within a mile of the Sterkfontein fossil site in the dolomite country of South Africa's Transvaal, of Australopithecus robustus, together with bones of associated carnivores, as well as evidence that early men lived alongside the australopithecines.

The article reports that a research has found that mothers who suffered high anxiety during pregnancy had babies with suppressed immune responses to vaccination for hepatitis B at age 6 months.

AN ice sublimation or freeze-drying process will have maximum rate of vaporization per unit exposed area of frozen product at a specified temperature if the following conditions are satisfied: (i) The vapour pressure of ice sublimed on the condenser is negligible compared with ice at the product temperature, (ii) The condensing and product surfaces have a uniform and minimum separation. (iii) The permanent gas (usually air) pressure in the product-condenser interspace is a minimum, (iv) Mechanical obstruction (in the form of radiation shields, sterile caps, etc.) to vapour transfer from product to condenser is a minimum, (v) The product is of uniform and minimum thickness. The first four conditions follow from kinetic considerations and ensure that reversed vapour transfer, length of vapour path, and obstruction to vapour transfer are a minimum. The last condition as a consequence of the increase of drying-time with product thickness.

Background: Epidermolysis bullosa (EB) is a group of devastating diseases in which patients have skin inflammation with epithelial fragility and recurrent blistering. Children with EB have poor linear growth, which is only partially reversed by nutritional supplementation. Pro-inflammatory cytokines impair growth in children with inflammatory bowel disease by inhibiting signal transduction from growth hormone (GH) to insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1). We hypothesised that a similar mechanism occurred in EB.Objective: To examine growth impairment and IGF-1 levels in a cohort of patients with severe generalised recessive dystrophic EB (RDEB).Methods: 18 children with RDEB were identified. Height, height velocity(HV) standard deviation scores(SDS), inflammatory markers and serum IGF-1 and IGF binding protein-3(IGFBP-3) were measured.Results: The median age(range) of the children was 12.42 years(2.43-17.62). 10 were female, 8 male. All of the girls being premenarcheal, and the boys prepubertal. 17 of 18 had a negative height SDS (mean -2.43, SD 1.33) and 16 of 18 had negative HV SDS (mean -2.79, SD 2.51). The impaired growth occurred despite nutritional supplementation (16 of 18 had a gastrostomy in situ, 2 had oral supplementary feeds). All had elevated inflammatory markers (mean[SD] CRP 78.27[39.18], ESR 106.9[30.72]). All had low circulating IGF-1 (mean SDS -2.53[0.39]) and IGFBP-3 (mean SDS -2.48[0.68]). IGF-1 levels did not correlate to HV SDS(p=0.58).Conclusions: Children with severe generalised RDEB have poor growth and low circulating IGF-1 and IGFBP-3. This is likely to be due, in part, to inflammation. Correcting growth retardation will require non-steroidal therapies targeted at reducing inflammation.

The article reviews the motion picture "The Real Dirt on Farmer John," directed by Taggart Siegel.

We have previously shown in 14 normal adult males that an 8 day continuous s.c. infusion of GHRH (1-29) in a dose regimen of 60ng/kg/min efficiently augmented GH secretion (ESPE 1987). There was no evidence of desensitization of the hypothalamo-pituitary axis over a range of doses from 7.5-120ng/kg/min.We now report a study of treatment of 8 children with continuous GHRH infusion for six months. All were short, slowly growing prepubertal children with peak GH responses to insulin-induced hypoglycaemia of 10-20mu/l. 24 hour GH profiles were performed before treatment, on Day 1, at 5 weeks, three months and six months into treatment. GHRH (1-29) was infused continuously subcutaneously at a rate of 60ng/kg/min. Sum of GH pulse amplitudes over 24 hours rose from a baseline value of 96.6mu/l/24hrs (range 50.9-133.9) to 228.9mu/l/24hrs (range 92.4-470.3) on Day 1. This rise was highly statistically significant and did not change further with time. The increment of growth hormone secretion was accompanied by a significant increase in growth velocity from 4.4cm/year (range 3.6-5.1) to 7.6cm/year (range 4.8-11.7) (p=0.02).

ChemInform is a weekly Abstracting Service, delivering concise information at a glance that was extracted from about 100 leading journals. To access a ChemInform Abstract of an article which was published elsewhere, please select a “Full Text” option. The original article is trackable via the “References” option.

GHIS (Laron Syndrome) is characterised by normal or elevated GH secretion, impaired IGF-I production, characteristic facial phenotype and extreme growth failure. 3 patients with GHIS [basal GH(mU/L) 102, 34.5, 99.5 respectively; IGF-I (µg/L) generation test (GH 0.1U/kg/day for 4 days s.c.) 24 (before) -27 (after), 26 - 26, 24 - 20] received therapy with recombinant IGF-I (IGEF, Kabi Pharmacia) at 120 µg/kg b.d. s.c. Anthropometry gave the following results:Craniofacial measurements during 4 months therapy (patient 3) showed the following changes (cm): head length (-4 SD)+0.9, head circumference (-3.5SDS)+0.5, skull height(-3.5SD)+0.8, facial height(-8.0SD)+0.3. Standardised photography in all 3 patients showed a change in facial phenotype.IGF-I stimulates linear growth in all patients, the greatest changes being in the youngest. Skinfold thicknesses fell during treatment indicating a lipolytic effect of IGF-I. Anthropometric and photographic assessment suggest a change in facial morphology.

ChemInform is a weekly Abstracting Service, delivering concise information at a glance that was extracted from about 100 leading journals. To access a ChemInform Abstract of an article which was published elsewhere, please select a “Full Text” option. The original article is trackable via the “References” option.