Search

In this study we examined the difference in patient INR values as measured by the POCT CoaguChek XS device and central laboratory Stago Evolution and Siemens BCS XP analyzers.This study composed of 100 warfarin therapy patients and 20 coagulation normal subjects, showed that the difference between the POCT and clinical laboratory values increased with increasing INR and was exacerbated by the use of different thromboplastin reagents by the POCT and central lab.The CoaguChek XS and on-site Stago analyzers which used human recombinant (ISI=1.01) and rabbit brain thromboplastin (ISI=1.25), respectively, showed reasonable agreement for INR3.0 (k=0.62) but significant difference for INR≥3.0 (k=0.10). In contrast, the CoaguChek XS and Siemens BCS XP, which both employed human recombinant thromboplastin (BCS ISI=1.02), showed greater agreement for the complete range INR values (INR3.0 k=0.84; INR≥3.0 k=0.70). ECAA Poller calibrant data showed the automated instruments were performing as expected, indicating that ISI calibrations were correct but insufficient to standardize the INR values for the different thromboplastin methods across the full range of measured INRs. Central lab verification of POCT INR5.0 with the Stago Evolution prevented adverse treatment events for the warfarin therapy patients in the six months preceding and following this investigation.

Background Literature on the socio-economic ‘gradient’ in health often asserts that income is associated with better health not only for the very poor, but also across the entire income distribution. In addition, changes in the shape of the association between incomes during a period of increasing economic inequality have not been previously studied. The goal of the current study was to estimate and compare the shape of the relationship between income and mortality in the USA for the 1970s, the 1980s and the 1990s. Methods Using income and mortality data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics for respondents aged 35–64 years, we used a Bayesian Cox Model with regression splines to model the risk of mortality over three 10-year follow-up periods. To identify whether income was more strongly associated with mortality at different parts of the income distribution, we treated income as a linear spline with an unknown knot location. Results The shape of the association between income and mortality was quite non-linear, with a much stronger association at lower levels of income. The relationship between income and mortality in the USA was also not invariant across time, with the increased risk of death associated with lower income applying to an increasing proportion of the US population over time (9th percentile of income in 1970–79, 20th percentile in 1980–89 and 32nd percentile in 1990–99). Conclusions Our analyses do not support the claim that income is associated with mortality throughout the income distribution, nor is the association between income and mortality the same across periods. Based on our analyses, a focus on the bottom 30% of the income distribution would seem to return the greatest benefits in reducing socio-economic inequalities in health.

To assess the impact of preanalytical variables of time and temperature on prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT), dilute Russell viper venom time (DRVVT), activated protein C resistance (APCR), and d-dimer, samples from 23 healthy individuals and 18 patients having coagulopathy with known abnormal PT and aPTT were collected. Plasma from each individual was separately pooled and aliquoted; the first 2 aliquots were stored at room temperature then analyzed at 2 hours (baseline) and 4 hours postcollection. The remaining aliquots were stored at −20°C and thawed for analysis at 48 hours, 1, and 2 weeks. In both healthy participants and participants with coagulopathy, PT, aPTT, APCR, DRVVT, and D-dimer had no significant changes at 4 and 48 hours, and 1 and 2 weeks postcollection compared to baseline, or the changes were less than 10%. The results indicate PT, aPTT, DRVVT, APCR, and d-dimer can be stored for 2 weeks at −20°C without compromising clinical interpretation in both healthy individuals and individuals with coagulopathy. Increasing storage time will facilitate sample processing from off-site clinics.

Previously it was reported that 4-hydroxy-2 (or 5)-ethyl-5 (or 2)-methyl-3(2H)-furanone (HEMF), a characteristic flavour component of Japanese-style fermented soy sauce that exhibits antioxidant activity, inhibits benzo[a]pyrene-induced forestomach neoplasia in mice. The antioxidant and anticarcinogenic activities of other structurally similar soy sauce flavour components are now reported. 4-Hydroxy-5-methyl-3(2H)-furanone (HMF) and 4-hydroxy-2,5-dimethyl-3(2H)-furanone (HDMF) were found to be antioxidants. In particular, HMF and HDMF (as well as HEMF) reduced hydrogen peroxide concentration in human polymorphonuclear leucocytes stimulated by arachidonic acid or 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate. HMF and HDMF were administered individually in semipurified diet to female ICR mice previously treated with benzo[a]pyrene (1.5 mg/wk, orally for 4 wk) to initiate forestomach neoplasia. The mice were killed at 30 wk of age. Both furanones reduced forestomach neoplasms, with HDMF exhibiting more potency. The data indicate that HDMF and HMF, like HEMF, inhibit carcinogenesis in this system by acting at the post-initiation stage.

Weanling male Fischer 344 rats were fed either control or diet containing 1% CLA for 18 months. Weight gain and survival rate were not different between treatments, but CLA-fed animals ate slightly less food. CLA feeding did not significantly reduce body fat compared to that of control. Clinical chemistry and hematology analyses were performed on blood samples at week 69–72. CLA had no effects except on blood glucose, which was reduced in CLA-fed animals compared to control. All animals had chronic renal failure at the end of the study; however, CLA decreased the amount of protein in urine at week 70 of feeding. Necropsy and histo-pathology results indicated that there was no difference between treatment groups. Although this study used a limited number of animals and a single dose of CLA, our results suggest that long term CLA feeding did not cause any adverse effects in rats.

The ultimate fate of the expanded pool of osteoblasts formed following a typical bone injury is unclear. Since necrosis has not been described in the latter stages of bone healing, there must be some other mechanism by which obsolete osteoblasts are cleared from an injury site. We therefore evaluated the possibility that their removal is pre-programmed, by investigating the occurrence of apoptosis in rats that received a standardized bone injury. Histological evidence identical to that found in tissues known to exhibit apoptosis was obtained, thereby showing that programmed cell death was a normal concomitant of fracture healing. The concentration of apoptotic bodies reached its maximum after the differentiative response had peaked, suggesting that the two processes were coordinated. The same result was found in a second group of rats that received the same bone injury plus a simultaneous standardized soft-tissue injury. The combined injuries resulted in more osteoblasts and more apoptotic bodies, but an identical temporal relationship between the peak responses in the two parameters. The results suggested that osteoblasts were removed from the injury site via apoptosis, and that the process was coordinately regulated with differentiation. Since the number of apoptotic bodies per osteoblast varied during healing, it is likely that apoptosis was associated with healing and not merely with osteoblast concentration.

The water of a lake was sprayed with technical chlordane to give a concentration of approximately 10 ppb. Resident California newts (Tarichia torosa) and cutthroat trout (Salmo clarki) were subsequently collected and analyzed for residue concentrations. The newts were collected at 14, 279, 451, and 1,036 days; the trout at 93, 279, 421, and 1,014 days. At first, the concentrations of residues were very high in both species and their composition, except for heptachlor, resembled that of technical chlordane. The heptachlor was quantitatively epoxidized in news after 14 days but in trout, some heptachlor was still present after 93 days. Concentrations of total chlordane in body tissues of both species declined more than 98% with time. Of seven individually determined constituents of technical chlordane, trans-nonachlor was by far the most persistent, accounting for 49 to 55% of total chlordane in specimens collected last. Both animals produced oxychlordane, probably from gamma-chlordane. Heptachlor, heptachlor epoxide and gamma-chlordeine were non-detectable in both species after 279 days. The results strongly suggest that the California newt metabolizes and eliminates chlordane residues more effectively than the cutthroat trout.

Several marine waters and surface sediments of coastal British Columbia were analyzed and compared for bacterial colony forming units (CFU) and numbers of active bacteria (NAB) as indicated by microautoradiography, glucose and alanine heterotrophic activities, and dissolved (DOC) and particulate organic carbon (POC). Bacterial numbers (CFU, NAB) were usually much greater (by several orders of magnitude) in surface sediments than in overlying waters. DOC and POC were also generally greater in surface sediments than in overlying waters, often by as much as one order of magnitude. Both glucose and alanine heterotrophic potentials were greater in surface sediments; however, on a per active cell (NAB) basis, no significant differences were noted between the glucose-specific activities of the bacteria of the surface sediments and overlying waters. The data suggest that these surface sediments carry greater standing crops of bacteria than overlying waters without significant decreases in glucose-specific activities.

Numbers of viable bacteria as indicated by colony-forming units (CFU), microbial adenosine triphosphate levels, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), particulate organic carbon and nitrogen (POC and PON), glucose concentration, heterotrophic potential (Vmax) and in situ heterotrophic activity (Vn) of near-surface microlayer samples (70–80 μm depth), the neuston, and bulk column water samples (0.2–1.5 m depth), the plankton, of several natural waters were compared. DOC and glucose concentration values of near-surface and bulk water were similar, whereas POC and PON values of the near-surface were normally one order of magnitude greater than those of bulk water. Viable counts were generally greater in the neuston, but ATP levels were greater in the plankton. Comparative values of total heterotrophic potentials and heterotrophic activities fluctuated greatly. Heterotrophic potential per CFU of the neuston was 33% of that of the plankton; neuston heterotrophic activity per CFU was 10% of that of the plankton. These data suggest that neustonic heterotrophic bacteria are not as metabolically active as their planktonic counterparts and that they are under greater stress at the near-surface than in the column water.

Numbers, biomasses, and photosynthetic activities of phytoneuston and phytoplankton of near-surface microlayer and associated sub-surface waters, respectively, of coastal British Columbia were compared. Microalgal numbers, biomasses, and photosynthetic activities were generally greater in the sub-surface waters. Photosynthetic activities per unit biomass of the phytoneuston were approximately two-thirds those of the phytoplankton. These data suggest that the phytoneuston are injured or inhibited in some manner in near-surface microlayer waters.

Hydrostatic pressure has been shown to inhibit protein synthesis in Escherichia coli by inhibiting amino acid activation and polypeptide synthesis in cell-free systems. Pressure may decrease translational ambiguity by suppressing any non-specific activity of phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase and by preferentially decreasing the stability of leucyl-tRNA.

Heterotrophic terrestrial and marine bacterial protein synthetic rates decrease by about 16% of the 1-atm rate for every 100 atm of pressure increment, within the pressure range of 1 to 500 atm. It is proposed that protein synthesis is more severely inhibited by pressure than are other anabolic or catabolic reactions.

Seawater, marine surface sediment, fecal material of the sea cucumber Parastichopus californicus, and kelp blades of Macrocystis integrifolia were treated with formaldehyde to strengthen the bacterial cells, followed by tetrasodium pyrophosphate addition and sonication to disperse these same cells. These cells were then stained with 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole and counted by epifluorescent microscopy. The technique of strengthening the cells with an aldehyde and then dispersing them in a suspending medium using a deflocculent (pyrophosphate) and ultrasound caused the bacteria to be randomly distributed when filtered onto Nuclepore membranes with a lower variance within and similar variance between subsamples as compared with untreated samples. In most cases the coefficient of variation stabilized after the bacterial cells in 10 randomly chosen microscopic fields had been counted. Sediment bacterial numbers (±SE) determined by the standard technique were 5.20 (±0.36) × 1010 per gram wet weight; by this dispersion technique they were 11.30 (±0.24) × 1011 per gram, a greater than twofold increase. On young and intermediate aged kelp blades, the increased counts which resulted from this dispersion technique ranged from two- to five-fold. Bacterial cells which were epiphytic on a senescent blade and could not be counted at all by the standard technique were determined to be 3.77 (±0.14) × 106 cm−2 using this dispersion method.

Water samples removed from two rivers and from the subtidal zone of Georgia Strait in British Columbia were treated with either 0.025 ppm of DDT, lindane, α-chlordane, or γ-chlordane, or 0.1 ppm Aroclor 1260 (PCB). The samples were incubated in the laboratory for up to 12 weeks at the temperatures of these natural waters at the time of sampling. Lindane persisted in all water samples throughout the experiment, but large proportions of the other compounds were transported into the atmosphere during incubation except when the containers were sealed. No metabolic breakdown could be demonstrated. As demonstrated with 14C-γ-chlordane, uneven distribution of the pesticides occurred rapidly, but was prevented, or reversed, by addition of a surfactant to the water. Total bacterial counts were generally higher in treated than in untreated water samples.

An increased concentration of seawater salts increased the maximum hydrostatic pressure allowing cell division of the marine bacteria Achromobacter aquamarinus, Micrococcus sedentarius, Serratia marinorubra, and Vibrio adaptants. Increased concentrations of these salts did not have as great an influence on the maximum hydrostatic pressure for cell division of Escherichia coli and Micrococcus luteus, which were isolated from a terrestrial environment.

A fresh-water lake, free from detectable pesticide residues before this study, was treated with a commercial formulation of technical chlordane. Water and sediment samples were analysed for chlordane residues 7, 24, 52, 279. and 421 days after treatment. Residues moved rapidly from the water to the lake bottom, supporting earlier results of a laboratory study with other organochlorines. In water, alpha- and gamma-chlordane concentrations remained proportional to total chlordane concentrations, as determined by total-peak area measurements of gas-liquid chromatogrammes. But in bottom sediments, alpha- and gamma-chlordane were more persistent than other constituents of technical chlordane, supporting recent evidence that quantification of technical chlordane residues on the basis of gamma-chlordane quantification only (or that of alpha- and gamma-chlordane only), can lead to incorrect results and that this method, although simple and fast, should no longer be recommended.

The effects on growth and net protein, ribonucleic acid (RNA) and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) synthesis of alternately pressurizing and depressurizing exponentially growing cells of Escherichia coli B/r and Vibrio marinus MP-1 between 1 atm and 544 atm of hydrostatic pressure were studied. The application of 544 atm to these 1 atm exponentially growing cultures caused an almost immediate cessation or lowering in the rates of cell division, absorbance changes, and net protein and RNA synthesis. The cells of E. coli B/r, however, in some manner adapted to 544 atm, since cell division, absorbance, and synthesis of protein and RNA, within minutes, resumed exponential increases but at much lower rates. V. marinus MP-1 did not display this pressure adaption upon the first application of 544 atm. Upon pressure release both cultures resumed the 1-atm exponential increases with respect to cell division and absorbance, and net protein and RNA synthesis. A second application of 544 atm, however, had a less drastic influence on cell division and the rates of increase of absorbance and net protein and RNA synthesis. Both cultures immediately shifted to lower synthetic rates. There was no immediate effect upon DNA synthesis in these two bacteria upon application of 544 atm, but this synthetic process slowed and ceased with time. The data indicate a reversible sensitivity to 544 atm in the order protein > RNA > DNA synthesis and that the cells can in some fashion adapt to pressure resistance.

The cell yields and generation time for Vibrio marinus, an obligate psychrophile, were determined. Cell yields of 13 × 1011and 9 × 109cells/ml in 24 hours at 15 °C (organism"s optimum growth temperature) and 3 °C (organism"s natural environmental temperature) respectively were obtained. Besides temperature, the type of medium also influenced the cell yields. The generation time during the exponential growth phase was calculated to be 80.7 minutes at 15 °C and 226 minutes at 3 °C. Growth was obtained at various hydrostatic pressures (1 to 400 atm) at both 3 and 15 °C.