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The drinking behaviours of 1,128 students from grades 7 to 12 in Halifax, Nova Scotia were surveyed and the results were compared to surveys done on similar samples of adolescents in 1970, 1976 and 1983. The survey instruments were self-administered, anonymous questionnaires administered in class groups. In the 1986 survey, while no differences (p greater than .05) in the frequency of drinking episodes exists between males and females, the former group were found to be drinking more heavily. Since 1983, the percentage of drinkers has declined significantly (p less than .05) among both sexes. The percentage of frequent drinkers (once a week or more) and heavy drinking (6+ drinks per sitting, more than once per week) has not changed significantly (p greater than .05) in either sex.

Epizootiological questions were studied on a permanent pasture of a farm situated in one of the dicrocoeliasis areas in the GDR during the 1986 grazing season. Helicella obvia snails and Formica fusca ants were found to be first and second intermediate hosts respectively. A total of 1,121 snails and 70 ants were dissected. The infestation rate with Dicrocoelium dendriticum stages in snails decreased in summer after the high spring peak and increased again in autumn. Paralysed ants were found only at temperatures below 20 degrees C. Parthenogenetic stages in snails were identified morphologically according to the structure of cercariae; the metacercariae isolated from the ants' body cavity were determined in animal experiments.

In an extensive pharmacological screening of "essential" phospholipids (EPL) antilipemic, hepatoprotective, broncholytic, as well as slight choleretic effects were found and the substance decreased capillary permeability. There was practically no influence on other functions or systems including the vegetative system (heart, circulation, respiration).

Cell-cycle progression of rat thymocytes stimulated with concanavalin A and interleukin 2 was monitored at 12-h intervals by pulse labeling aliquots of the cell culture with [3H]thymidine, by measuring cellular DNA and protein content and by counting the number of cells in the cultures. The cell cycle was completed after 96 h of culture with the S phase peaking at 48 h. Early events in thymocyte activation were enhanced phosphatidylinositol turnover and the induction of ornithine decarboxylase. Concomitant changes were observed in the rates of DNA synthesis and glycolysis accompanied by a 20-fold increase in glucose uptake 48 h after stimulation. However, the maximal increment in the glycolytic rate preceded that of DNA synthesis by 12 h. Apart from the quantitative changes which occurred during the cell-cycle progression, there was also a change from partial aerobic glucose degradation to CO2 (26%) to almost complete anaerobic conversion of glucose to lactate (85%) and less than 3% to CO2. Glycolytic enzyme levels increased fourfold to tenfold and reached their maxima 48 h after mitogenic stimulation. Maximal increments of glycolytic enzyme activities preceded or coincided with the maximal increments of the glycolytic rate. Actinomycin D (1.5 ng/ml) completely inhibited DNA and RNA synthesis but did not show any inhibitory effect either on glycolytic enzyme induction or on enhanced glycolysis. During mitosis and return of the cells to the non-proliferative state, all of the enhanced metabolic rates returned to their initial levels and the elevated enzyme activities were decreased also. The marked changes of metabolic rates and enzyme activities observed at the various phases of the cell cycle suggest that these biochemical events may also serve as suitable parameters for evaluating the response of lymphocytes towards mitogens and lymphokines.

Of 123 patients with oral lichen planus two were known diabetics. The remainder were tested for fasting glucosuria, 113 for fasting blood glucose and 103 also with an oral glucose tolerance test. According to the criteria of WHO, 18 of the 123 patients were diabetics. In most of these patients the oral glucose tolerance test was only slightly abnormal. No decrease of the glucose tolerance with increasing duration of lichen planus was demonstrable. Comparison with two general population studies did not reveal any significant difference between the glucose tolerance of the lichen planus patients and that of the general population samples.

To prove antilipemic and antiatherogenic effectiveness several animal species were given "essential" phospholipids (EPL) during different experimental procedures. The following actions were studied: 1. Effect of EPL-substance after prophylactic and therapeutic oral administration (dosage: 50, 150, 450 mg/kg bodyweight daily) in rats with acute and subacute hypelipemia induced by triton. 2. Effect of EPL-substance after prophylactic and therapeutic oral administration (dosage: 50, 150, 450, 1800 mg/kg bodyweight daily) in rats with dietetic hypercholesterolemia. 3. Effect of EPL-substance after daily oral administration (dosage: 50, 150, 450 mg/kg bodyweight) on the development of coronary and aortic atherosclerosis and various biochemical parameters in cholesterol-fed cockerels. 4. Effect of EPL-substance after dialy oral administration (dosage: 50, 150, 450 mg/kg bodyweight) on subacute triton-hyperlipemia in mini pigs. Triton-administration causes a greater or smaller increase in all parameters of the lipid metabolism measured. EPL treatment decreases these parameters during therapeutic and prophylactic administration in some cases even reaching normal values. The effect was clearly dose-dependent. EPL inhibit the increase in total lipids in dietetic hypercholesterolemia during therapeutic as well as during prophylactic administration. The effect was clearly dose-dependent in all doses, being statistically significant at the highest dosage level. In cockerels EPL were effective at all dose levels in counteracting the development of coronary atherosclerosis while the effect in atherosclerosis of aorta was less distinct. Except for non-esterified fatty acids, EPL reduced all biochemical parameters measured.

A typing scheme has recently been developed for Neisseria meningitidis serogroup A based on the clonal population structure of these bacteria. An international strain collection consisting of 423 group A strains isolated from 23 epidemics or outbreaks since 1963, as well as from older epidemics and numerous non-epidemic situations was used in the analysis. Strains were first segregated into electrophoretic types, depending on the combined score for the electrophoretic mobilities of 7 cytoplasmic isoenzymes resolved by starch gel electrophoresis and of 2 outer membrane proteins resolved by sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The bacteria were subsequently assigned to one of 21 clones after numerical analysis of their electrophoretic types. The epidemiological value of the typing scheme was assessed by examining case and carrier strains isolated during (1982-83) and subsequent to (1984-85) an epidemic in the Gambia, West Africa. The case isolates, all of which were serogroup A, were of a single clonal type. All serogroup A carrier isolates were also of this clone, while carrier strains of other serogroups showed greater clonal diversity. These results indicate that case strains during an epidemic show little clonal diversity and thus that the typing scheme is of value in distinguishing the etiology of epidemics. A retrospective epidemiological analysis of the strains in the international collection showed that most serogroup A epidemics were associated with a single or predominant clone, although some epidemics were of mixed etiology.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

A representative collection of meningococci was isolated from cases and healthy carriers in The Gambia between 1982 and 1988, during and after an epidemic of meningococcal meningitis. These bacteria were subjected to a clonal analysis. All serogroup A bacteria from both cases and carriers were of one clone (A IV-1). Several unrelated clones were observed among serogroup 29E and serogroup Y carrier strains. The serogroup A strains were uniform for serotype and subtype antigens (serotype 4, subtype P1.7) and antibiotic sensitivity pattern. Occasional strains varied in their lipopolysaccharide (LPS), DNA fingerprint pattern, and/or the quantitative expression of the class 1 protein. A high degree of strain-specific variation was found for the expression of class 5 proteins, pili, and sulfonamide sensitivity. The frequency of strains expressing reduced amounts of the class 1 protein, altered LPS, and/or increased amounts of capsular polysaccharide rose among case strains obtained after the epidemic had ceased. These strains seem to be generally resistant to antibody-mediated bactericidal activity.