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A case of polyadenopathic syndrome is presented which involved practically all the ganglionar territories and hepatosplenomegaly in a 15 year old male without a relevant previous history, non immunedepressed, without drug addiction or having received blood er blood derivatives. The clinical picture caused by a cytomegalovirus infection has persisted for 24 months with no modification of adenopathies. The inclusion of CMV infections in the differential diagnosis of generalized adenopathic syndromes is proposed.

Thirty consecutive patients with FIGO stage III-IV, squamous cell uterine cervix cancer were entered in a phase II trial evaluating activity and safety of epirubicin when given at a dose of 80 mg/m2 i.v., every 3 weeks. Two complete responses (including a pathological complete remission) plus 3 partial responses were observed among 27 evaluable patients with a response rate of 18.5% (95% confidence limits = 7.6%-36.4%). The median time to progression and median survival for all treated patients were 3 and 8 months respectively. Treatment was well tolerated. Haematological toxicity was mild. WHO grade 4 toxicity was not observed. The median total cumulative dose of epirubicin was 360 mg/m2 (80-840 mg/m2). Congestive heart failure was not noted. Further studies in cervical cancer with higher doses of epirubicin as single agent or in combination with other nonmyelotoxic drugs are indicated.

Accumulation of carotenoids in Myxococcus xanthus is absolutely dependent on illumination with blue light. We report the analysis of the carotenoids of dark- and light-grown cultures of the wild type and several previously characterized mutants. A carR mutant produces the same carotenoids in the dark as the wild type grown in the light. This agrees with previous evidence indicating that the carR gene codes for a general negative regulator of the system. A cis-dominant mutation in the gene carA causes constitutive expression of the light-inducible gene carB, which is linked to carA. In the dark, the carA mutant produces high levels of phytoene, the first C40 colourless carotenoid precursor; in the light, it produces the same carotenoids as the wild type. Since a mutation in carB blocks accumulation of phytoene, we propose that carB, and probably other linked genes also controlled by carA, code for enzymes involved in the synthesis of phytoene. This is virtually the only carotene accumulated by strains mutated in the gene carC, which is unlinked to the others. Thus carC codes for phytoene dehydrogenase, the enzyme that converts phytoene into coloured carotenoids. The results presented here also provide evidence for control of carotenogenesis by an endproduct that is independent of the blue light effect.

Fourteen mutants of the fungus Phycomyces blakesleeanus, showing high levels of resistance to copper, were isolated. In all the mutants, copper resistance behaved as a very variable and unstable trait. In the mutant strain MU102, the mutation was demonstrated to be cytoplasmically inherited. In addition, this mutant strain differed from the wild-type in growth, respiration rate, and shape and viability of spores.

85 confirmed gas gangrene cases from general hospitals where hyperbaric oxygen chambers with single or multiple places are available were reviewed. The diagnosis was made on the basic of muscle necrosis with the characteristic color and odor of the wound, and suggestive clinical and bacteriological findings. The treatment consisted on surgical excision, multiple antibiotic therapy, and hyperbaric oxygen at 3 absolute atmospheres. There was a male predominance (76.5%); 49.4% of them had previous risk factors; the origin of the disease was spontaneous in 18.8% of cases, after trauma in 37.6%, and after surgery in 43.5%. The surgery had been orthopedic in 18.8%, vascular in 16.5% and other in 1.2%. The lesion was in the lower limbs in 71.8%, with abdominal origin of propagation in 18.8% and perineal propagation in 8.2%. 44.7% of patients had shock on admission. The outcome was good in 50.6% of patients, who had a full recovery, and fair in 16.5%, who had minor sequelae or small re-amputations; this amounts to 67.1% of satisfactory evolutions. Outcome was poor in 20% in whom amputation or other major surgical procedures were required (p less than 0.05). Overall mortality rate was 20%, although only in 12.9% death directly related with gas gangrene. Mortality was significantly higher in women, in abdominal localization, and in patients with shock. It was 37.5% in spontaneous and 29.7% in postsurgical cases. There was no death in traumatic cases (p less than 0.005). Death directly related with the disease occurred in the first three days and nonrelated death after two weeks. More severe cases could be cared for in hospitals where multiple place hyperbaric oxygen chambers were available than in those with single place chambers, with a definite outcome towards cure or death with less intermediate situations. The relevant literature is reviewed. It is concluded that this combined therapeutic schedule has the best efficacy to treat gas gangrene, particularly in the more severe forms.

Production of beta-carotene by wild-type Phycomyces blakesleeanus can be stimulated by light, chemicals, regulatory mutations, and sexual interaction between mycelia of opposite sex. Through genetic manipulations, we have isolated strains which have simultaneously and constitutively incorporated several of these stimulatory effects. In the dark and in a simple medium, some of the strains produce up to 25 mg of beta-carotene per g (dry weight), or about 500 times the wild-type production under the same conditions. High lycopene-producing strains have also been isolated by using carR mutants, which are blocked in the conversion of lycopene to beta-carotene. These strains should be useful in both industrial production of these pigments and basic research related to carotenogenesis.

Maxillofacial and dental arch dimensions of the Bolivian Aymara population are age and sex dependent. Interpopulational comparisons reveal these dimensions to differ from those seen in Aleuts, Australian aborigines, and Swedes, but to be similar to those of the indigenous Taiwanese. Finally, these dimensions are not the same in Aymara of unmixed ancestry, and Mestizos residing in the same villages.

A plasmid, carrying the Tn5 gene for kanamycin resistance lacking its own promoter, has successfully been used in the selection of DNA sequences of the fungus Phycomyces blakesleeanus having promoter activity in Escherichia coli. Many of these sequences were also effective in promoting resistance to kanamycin when the corresponding chimeric plasmids were introduced in the fungus via spheroplast transformation. The selected phenotype was easily propagated through vegetative spores and behaved as a stable character since it was not appreciably lost in the absence of selection.

A total of 315 individuals, mainly of Aymara origin, from western Bolivia were examined for genetic variation at eight red cell antigen and 19 serum protein and red cell enzyme loci. The gene frequencies for polymorphic loci and the discovery of several rare variants are discussed in terms of previous work among the Aymara and the closely related Quechua. The effect of inclusion of related individuals in the sample on gene frequency, variance of gene frequency and genetic distance, is discussed.

Phycomyces blakesleeanus colour mutants of a new class have been isolated. The mutants form red mycelia when grown in the dark and show vegetative segregation. The affected gene, amedcarE, behaves as an extranuclear genetic factor. The red phenotype ofcarE mutants is caused by the accumulation of β-carotene in a form showing spectral shift to longer wavelengths. The spectral shift is abolished in vitro by heat or protease treatment and in vivo by the presence of light or retinol.

The clinical and bacteriological characteristics of eight cases with purulent pericarditis observed over the last five years are studied. The route of the infection and dissemination in the majority of the cases (75 percent) was through pleuropulmonary lesions in the form of pneumonia and/or empyema, attributing the remaining cases to a subhepatic abscess and a pericardial infection after a thoracic surgical operation. In seven patients the diagnosis of the disease was established while they were alive. The more orientative clinical data were the pericardial pain (50 percent), pericardial friction murmur (25 percent), and signs of cardiac tamponade (62.5 percent). The observation of the above mentioned clinical signs together with the presence of cardiomegaly and electrocardiographic alterations suggestive of pericarditis, obliged the practice of a pericardial puncture, which confirmed the diagnosis of a purulent pericarditis by the macro and microscopic characteristics of the fluid. Staphylococcus and pneumoncoccus were isolated in two cases, respectively; other Gram-negative bacillus (E. coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) were isolated in the remaining cases. All patients were treated with the appropriate antibiotic according to the isolated germ; surgical drainage was carried out in six cases, and a pericardiectomy in one. Two patients died, one as a consequence of a septic myocardiopathy and the other in which the diagnosis of purulent pericarditis was not clinically suspected. During the follow-up period one case presented a constrictive pericarditis, which was corrected by a pericardiectomy.

Dermatoglyphic data on 15 traits (digital arches, digital radial loops, digital ulnar loops, digital whorls, I loops, Ir loops, H loops, H loops, III loops, IV loops, mainline C absence, total ridge count, a-b ridge count, atd angle, and mainline index) are presented for 141 Chipaya Indians of Bolivia. Ethnic relationships of these Indians to nine South American Indian tribes (Alacaluf, Atacameño, Aymara, Cashinahua, Chácobo, Chama, Chané, Quechua, and Sirionó) are explored by means of a genetic distance analysis using 21 alleles. Genetic distances are complemented with linguistic and geographic distances between the Chipaya and the other tribes. Genetic distances were found not to be significantly correlated with linguistic and geographic distances. Combining the information available, it is concluded that the Chipaya are most likely ethnically related to the Arawak speakers of the tropical forest.

Three independent mutations of Phycomyces blakesleeanus resulting in overaccumulation of beta-carotene are recessive and belong to the same complementation group. The corresponding gene has been named carS. Evidence is presented that gene carS is not the same as gene carA, previously defined by mutations blocking carotene production. Vitamin A increases carotenogenesis in wild types and in carS mutants to about the same extent. Intersexual heterokaryosis increases carotenogenesis most prominently in carS genetic backgrounds (up to 300 times the production of the wild type in the same conditions). Vitamin A, intersexual heterokaryosis and carS mutations are thought to stimulate carotenogenesis through different mechanisms. It is suggested that the carS gene product participates in end-product regulation of the pathway.

A simple method for the physical separation of dormant and germinated cells of Phycomyces blakesleeanus has been designed. Separation was attained by isopycnic centrifugation in a preformed discontinuous density gradient of Urografin. In this gradient, dormant spores and active cells at two different stages of germination were separated in three homogeneous and clearly distinct bands. The method has been used to follow the kinetics of the variation of cellular density during germination of wild type spores and to select for mutants temperature-sensitive for heat-shock induced germination. Sixty-nine mutants have been isolated by various procedures which include a separation step in the described Urografin gradient.

Lycopene cyclization to gamma-carotene and then to beta-carotene is partially blocked in Phycomyces by the presence of car R mutations in heterokaryosis or by the addition of 2-(4-chlorophenyl)thiotriethylamine . HCl to the medium. We have quantitatively determined the carotenes synthesized by Phycomyces under conditions of partially blocked cyclization and in the presence of either car A mutations in heterokaryosis or polyoxyethylenesorbitan monooleate (Tween-80) in the medium. We conclude that transfer of intermediate substrates between the enzyme aggregates involved in carotenogenesis does occur in the wild type but not in heterokaryons for car A mutations, and is facilitated by Tween-80.

Myxococcus xanthus mutants resistant to a clear-plaque derivative of phage Mx8 were isolated. A significant fraction of the mutants, easily recognizable by their colony morphology, were induced by the presence of the phage and may correspond to low-frequency lysogens. They were all defective in cell motility and showed the same nonfruiting phenotype under starvation conditions.

Phycomyces strain C5, carrying mutation carB10, accumulates phytoene instead of beta-carotene. Heterokaryons containing C5 nuclei and different other nuclei carrying the wild type carB allele accumulate significant amounts of phytofluene, zota-carotene and neurosporene. From quantitative analyses of carotenes and nuclear proportions in the heterokaryons we conclude that four copies of the carB gene product, assembled in an enzyme complex, act sequentially in the conversion of phytoene to lycopene.

In the bacterium Myxococcus xanthus, the synthesis of carotenoids requires illumination with blue light. This stimulates transcription of the carB locus, which is positively required for carotenogenesis. Mutations at the carR locus and the only mutation known at carA cause constitutive expression of carB and thus remove the light requirement for carotenoid accumulation (Car(c) phenotype). The carR locus is unlinked, and carA is linked, to carB. We have now identified a novel class of car mutation, closely linked to carR, that block accumulation of carotenoids and transcription of carB, and are epistatic over the Car(c) mutations at carR but not over the Car(c) mutation at carA. We also report here the cloning of a 16-kb DNA fragment that contains the entire carA gene in a shuttle vector for DNA transfer between Escherichia coli and M. xanthus. The study of allelic interactions at this gene strongly indicate that carA is a cis-acting element for the control of carB expression. A regulatory model that satisfies all the indicated data is presented.

Sixty-nine mutants of the fungus Phycomyces blakesleeanus, temperature-sensitive for heat-shock induced germination, have been characterized. All of them show a low viability at 26 degrees C and normal viability at 16 degrees C. Eleven mutants recover the wild type phenotype if yeast extract is added to the minimal medium; the mutant phenotype of eight of these mutants is also suppressed by the addition of putrescine or other polyamines. The majority of the mutants are affected very early in germination. Spontaneous, heat-shock and acetate induced germination are not equally impaired by some of the mutations, so specific and independent steps seem to be involved in part of the activation mechanism of germination.

The kinetics of D-galactose absorption across rat small intestine in sham, 50 and 80% distal intestinal resected animals, have been studied under in vivo conditions. After 5 months post-resection the total galactose absorption was increased. The relationship between total absorption of substrate and its concentration in the perfusate showed a non-saturable component and a saturable one that can be inhibited by phloridzin, both in control and remnant intestine. The slope of the line that represents the non-saturable component is greater in remnant duodenum and jejunum, indicating that the apparent mass-transfer coefficient, K'D, was increased by distal resection. Non-linear fitting of the saturable component data gave an apparent maximal galactose transport rate (J'max, nmol/cm2 . min) of 134 +/- 13 (sham), 132 +/- 9 (50% resected), 139 +/- 9 (80% resected) in duodenum and of 103 +/- 11 (sham) and 106 +/- 12 in jejunum. Apparent Michaelis constants (K'm, mM) of 12.1 +/- 3.2 (sham), 12.3 +/- 2.2 (50% resected) and 13.3 +/- 2.2 (80% resected) in duodenum and of 11.6 +/- 3.7 (sham) and 12.8 +/- 3.7 (50% resected) in jejunum were found. Correction of the kinetic constants for the unstirred water layer (u.w.l.) effects showed that the differences between 'real' KD's of the experimental groups increased, whereas 'real' Km's did not significantly change. There were no significant differences in duodenal galactose absorption between 50 and 80% resected rats.

The kinetics of L-phenylalanine absorption across rat small intestine in sham and 50% distal resected animals, in vivo, have been studied by perfusing jejunal loops and monitoring the disappearance of the substrate from the perfusate. After 5 months postresection the total phenylalanine absorption was increased. The relationship between total absorption of substrate and its concentration in the bulk phase shows a non-saturable component and a saturable one that can be inhibited by methionine, both in control and remnant jejunum. The slope of the line that represents the non-saturable component is greater in remnant jejunum, indicating that the apparent mass-transfer coefficient, K'D, was increased by distal resection. The kinetic analysis of the saturable component shows that Jmax was unaltered and the apparent semisaturation constant, K'M, was slightly decreased by distal small intestine resection. Correction of the kinetic constant for the unstirred water layer effects shows that the differences between 'real' KD values of the two experimental groups increase whereas 'real' KM values do not change significantly. This indicates that the observed increase in total intestinal absorption in resected animals appears to result from an increase in the intestinal passive permeability.

The synthesis of carotenoids by Myxococcus xanthus requires illumination with blue light. Mutations at two loci (carA and carR) remove the blue-light requirement and cause constitutive production of carotenoids. Mutations at a different locus (carB) prevent carotenogenesis in both wild-type and constitutive mutant strains. We describe here three independent car mutations induced by insertion of Tn5 lac, a transposon that carries a transcriptional probe for exogenous promoters. All three transposon insertions block carotenogenesis even in constitutive mutant strains. One insertion is in a previously unknown car gene and the other two are in the carB locus. One of the carB insertions expresses beta-galactosidase at very low levels in the dark but is strongly activated by light. When this Tn5 lac insertion is introduced in carA or carR mutants it expresses beta-galactosidase in dark- as well as light-grown cells. We conclude that carotenogenesis in M. xanthus is activated at the level of transcription by a light-induced mechanism in which the carA and the carR loci (or their gene products) take part. The potential usefulness of M. xanthus as a simple and sensitive tool for studies in photobiology is discussed.

Results of audiometric studies carry out in fifty patients previously diagnosed as bilateral corthipathy caused by chronic acoustic trauma. The studies were performed with the same audiometer in a silent chamber, and out of it, in a audiology service from a social security institution along 1988. The analysis of results show that both procedures have the same accuracy for the assessment of the audiologic level, and are confidential for the diagnosis and evaluation of secuelae.

The reception of Gallium Citrate 67 (C. de Ga-67) has been studied in 27 patients with active pulmonary TBC shown bacteriologically. The findings of the gammagraphy with C. de Ga-67 have been compared with those of the simple thorax radiology. We have objectified 96% sensitivity in the examination of the tuberculous lesions by isotopic techniques. These have shown, as well, a high performance in the detection of active tuberculous areas at hiliar, mediatinic and extrathoracic level, greater than that of the simple radiography, as well as to evaluate the activity of apparently residual lesions in the thorax radiography. We conclude that the gammagraphy with C. de Ga-67 is a bloodless method which complements radiology in the diagnosis of activity, extension and location of pulmonary tuberculosis.

Tape monitoring of the electrocardiogram among ambulant individuals with and without cardiac disease has been practicable for some years now. It has, however, found greater acceptance and utilization in diagnosis, early detection of silent ischemic heart disease (17), and the evaluation of the effectiveness of different dysrhythmia treatment modalities than as a means to examine differences in cardiovascular response to environmentally stressful situations. This study illustrates its practicability under field conditions substantially more rigorous than in most prior uses, and its applicability to our further understanding of the cardiovascular changes associated with adaptation to the hypoxia of altitude.

Jejunal absorption of leucine and cycloleucine by sham and 50% distal resected rats in vivo was studied by measuring the passive component and the active transport. After 5 months postresection the total amino acid absorption was increased. The mass-transfer coefficients of the passive process (obtained in presence of methionine) were higher in remnant jejunum than that in control rats, whereas the active transport remained unaltered after resection. When the kinetic constants of the saturable and non-saturable components were corrected for the unstirred water layer effects, the "real KD" increased in the resected group, whilst similar values for the "real Km and Jmax" were obtained.

Wild-type Phycomyces blakesleeanus accumulates beta-carotene, while the mutant strain C2 is unable to synthesize carotenoids, and the mutant strain C9 accumulates lycopene. Heterokaryons containing a proportion, p, of C2 nuclei and (l - p) of C9 nuclei accumulate lycopene, gamma-carotene, and beta-carotene in the relative amounts (l - p), p(l - p), and p(2), respectively, for different values of p. It is shown that these results are expected from the operation of a carotenogenic enzyme aggregate that works as an assembly line and contains two copies of a cyclase, which is defective in strain C9, as well as other enzymes.