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Evidence presented shows a 585% increase in the compounded total carcase condemnations for parafilariasis at the Cato Ridge abattoir in the year July 1981/June 1982 as compared with July 1979/June 1980. There is also evidence which points to condemnations occurring in bi-annual cycles with peaks in November/December and June.

Between 1978 and 1983, 103 patients underwent operations for infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA). Fifty-seven patients (group I) had elective procedures without a death and with a morbidity of 19 per cent. Thirty-three patients (group II) had symptomatic but nonruptured AAA, while 13 patients (group III) had ruptured AAA. In group II, the mortality was 6 per cent and in group III, 37 per cent, while the morbidity was 33 and 100 per cent, respectively. There was no morbidity or mortality from pulmonary emboli, as all patients had prophylactic inferior vena cava interruption at the time of operation for their AAA. These results substantiate the necessity for early and aggressive treatment in patients with AAA, as the mortality and morbidity, once symptoms develop, remain prohibitive.

Soluble human plasma fibronectin or collagen types I or IV, when preincubated with tissue culture plastic dishes, were effective spreading agents for cultured human keratinocytes and increased spreading in a time-and concentration-dependent manner. Spreading on fibronectin, but not on type IV collagen, was inhibited by antifibronectin; therefore, the contribution of fibronectin to the spreading activity of the natural matrix produced by keratinocytes could not be determined using antifibronectin. Fibronectin mediated spreading at both high (1.1 mM) and low (0.1 mM) Ca++ concentrations, and spreading was not altered by cycloheximide. Insoluble fibronectin deposited by keratinocytes correlated with phagokinetic tracks on particulate gold salts, and added fibronectin, as well as type I collagen and type IV collagen, enhanced motility of keratinocytes. These studies show that production of fibronectin and responsiveness to it are similar in fibroblasts and keratinocytes and demonstrate that fibronectin can act as a matrix factor for keratinocytes.

Dyspnea as a symptom is often related to pulmonary disorders. However, nonpulmonary disorders could be significantly responsible for causing dyspnea. Basic pathophysiology and clinical approach to nonpulmonary disorders causing dyspnea are discussed in this article.

In surveying the environment of workers in a mattress factory thermophilic actinomycetes as well as phycomycetes and aspergillus species were isolated readily from work room dust, finished bat, sissal and the interior of baled linters. Those persons working with cotton products were shown to have a heavy, daily exposure to organisms known to be implicated in the pathogenesis of hypersensitivity pneumonitis. The authors suggest that further study of the inhaled antigens to which cotton workers are exposed is indicated before discarding immunologic mechanisms to explain the development of byssinosis and other pulmonary disorders to which such workers are subject.

Simian virus 40 (SV40)-induced sarcomas and adenovirus 7-induced sarcomas (Adv-7) exhibit both specific tumor-specific transplantation antigens (TSTA) and cross-protective embryonic antigens at the cell surface in the LAK:LVG(SYR) strain of Syrian golden hamsters. Specific SV40 TSTA could be released from the surfaces of living hamster sarcoma cells in a 2.5% crude 1-butanol extract (CBE) and served as immunogen to protect syngeneic recipients against subsequent homologous but not heterologous tumor cell challenge. The CBE-extracted SV40-induced TSTA (tumor-specific) was observed to be free of detectable, cross-protective embryonic antigens (EA) by tumor transplantation assays. The induction of cytotoxic lymphocyte-mediated immunity with the CBE-released TSTA was dependent on the administration of a single sensitizing injection of 12-20 micrograms antigen protein. Higher concentrations (50-1,000 micrograms) of the CBE tumor cell extract, given in a single injection, enhanced tumor growth as did two injections of 12.5 micrograms CBE-extracted SV40-induced TSTA at 1-week intervals. A cross-protective antigen(s), not detected in the CBE tumor extracts, was retained in the intact, 1-butanol-extracted SV40 and Adv-7-induced tumor cell lines after completion of the CBE extraction procedure and in similarly extracted 10-day hamster fetal cells. Some alterations in the normal immunogenicity of EA extracted with CBE followed by KCI from SV40-induced sarcoma cells could be detected in the transplantation assays and lymphocyte transformation assays, whereas EA extracted from CBE-KCI-treated Adv-7 cells or 10-day hamster fetal cells retained normal immunogenicity in vivo and in vitro. These procedures provide a means for successful separation of immunogenic SV40- and Adv-7-induced TSTA from detectable, biologically active, cross-protective EA from the surfaces of these sarcoma cells.

We have reported a case of pseudobulbar palsy with airflow obstruction initially attributed to chronic aspiration and chronic airflow obstruction caused by cigarette smoking. The finding of stridor led to a detailed evaluation of the obstruction. Flow-volume loops, fiberoptic bronchoscopy, CT scan of the upper thorax, and fine-needle biopsy of a lesion of the trachea were required to make the diagnosis of non-small-cell carcinoma involving the trachea.

A mouse model system was developed for studying the pathogenesis of oral infection with herpes simplex virus type 1 and the protection offered by prior immunization with a nucleic acid-free vaccine. Of non-immunized mice, 95-100% developed ulcerative lesions 3-5 days following application of virus to abraded oral epithelial surfaces. Infection of the ipsilateral sensory (trigeminal) ganglion and the cerebellum occurred by day 2 and sequentially progressed to the contralateral ganglion by day 4 and to the cerebrum by day 5. Prior immunization of mice with an inactivated virus vaccine, and most importantly, with a vaccine free of nucleic acid, protected mice from subsequent oral virus infection. Protection was demonstrated by: (i) reduction in the incidence and severity of primary oral lesions; (ii) a decrease in the number of mice with acute ganglionic infection or dying of encephalitis; and (iii) a reduction in the incidence of latent trigeminal ganglionic infection.

Studies were conducted in which levels of essential amino acids in excess of the minimum requirements were minimized in broiler diets composed of commercially available feed stuffs and synthetic amino acid supplements. Growth rate and efficiency of feed utilization of chicks fed such diets were equal to that attained by chicks fed diets formulated by conventional means when grown under conditions where heat stress was not a factor and significantly improved when fed under conditions of heat stress. Improvements were obtained in efficiency of protein and calorie utilization using this technique of formulation.

Pulmonary sequestration occurs when some disturbance produces a cystic mass of nonfunctioning lung tissue which lacks normal communication with the tracheobronchial tree. In most cases the sequestered pulmonary tissue receives its blood supply from anomalous systemic vessels. This paper considers 15 children, 11 boys and four girls, ranging in age from one day to 14 years, with ten extralobar sequestrations and five intralobar pulmonary sequestrations. Although roentgenographic examination of the chest may suggest the diagnosis, conclusive diagnosis can only be obtained by arteriography and/or surgical exploration. Arteriography is strongly advocated in all cases, not only for its diagnostic value, but for its preoperative localization of the aberrant blood vessels that are the major technical concern to the surgeon.

Fibronectin has been demonstrated in epithelial cell types in culture, but published studies of keratinocytes have shown patterns of fibronectin produced by cells grown in medium with serum, which contains fibronectin. Since plasma fibronectin can bind to cells in vitro, cells grown in serum-supplemented media could show artifactual patterns of cell-associated fibronectin. To study insoluble fibronectin produced by keratinocytes, we plated cells in the absence of feeder layers in medium lacking fibronectin. Medium conditioned by metabolically labeled keratinocytes was studied by immunoprecipitation and by extraction with gelatin-Sepharose. Cells grown in fibronectin-free medium were labeled using affinity-purified anti-fibronectin antibody and fluorescein-conjugated antirabbit IgG. Keratinocytes produced soluble fibronectin, since both immunoprecipitation and adsorption to gelatin-Sepharose detected 35S-methionine-labeled material which comigrated with human plasma fibronectin on sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gels. Demonstration of insoluble, cell-associated fibronectin was enhanced in Triton X-100-extracted cells and was seen in subcellular fibrillar arrays at both physiologic and reduced Ca++ concentrations, but in intracellular locations only at physiologic Ca++ concentrations. When cells grown in 1.1 mM Ca++ were removed with Triton X-100, diffusely distributed fibrillar fibronectin remained on the surface of the coverslip. Asymmetric "tracks" of fibronectin left by sparsely plated cells suggested movement. Fibronectin is deposited by keratinocytes on the culture surface and may be modulated by culture conditions.

The role of reconstruction in the management of patients with problems related to breast cancer is of increasing importance. Immediate reconstruction is particularly applicable in those situations where prophylactic mastectomy is performed. High-risk groups who warrant such prophylactic mastectomy and reconstruction include those with florid cyst disease, a strong family history of breast cancer, the finding of lobular carcinoma in situ, multiple previous biopsies, and those who have severe and progressive mastodynia. In those with smaller amounts of breast tissue, reconstruction is based on a double layer tissue over a graft, one layer consisting of pectoral muscle and the other of breast skin. In those with more abundant breast tissue, the two layers placed over the graft are both derived from skin flaps, the inner layer a free, denuded dermal graft from the inferior flap and the second layer, the superior breast skin flap itself.

In two experiments subjects judged the loudness of a 1000-Hz tone within a range of three loudnesses. The first used a within-subjects design with ranges of 1-2 sones, 1-4 sones, and 1-8 sones. The second used a between-subjects design with ranges of 1-2 sones, 1-8 sones, and 1-16 sones. Except for two values in the 1- to 2-sone range the two experiments produced comparable results. As range was increased the tendency to round away from the end points increased and the judged mid-point occurred at a higher value. Comparisons are made with rounding patterns that occur in studies of linear scales. The present results are interpreted to support Poulton's (1975) position, that the mid-point of subjective estimates depends on the range of stimuli judged, rather than that of Stevens (1975), that the mid-point on a prosthetic scale is assigned to a value that is lower than the mid-point on the subject's subjective scale.

Monoclonal antibody (MAb) technology is well recognized as a significant development for producing specific serologic reagents to a wide variety of antigens in unlimited amounts. These reagents have provided the means for developing a number of highly specific and reproducible immunological assays for rapid and accurate diagnosis of an extensive list of diseases, including infectious diseases. The impact that MAbs have had in characterizing infectious disease pathogens, as well as their current and future applications for use in clinical microbiology laboratories, is reviewed. In addition, the advantages (and disadvantages) of the use of MAbs in a number of immunoassays, such as particle agglutination, radioimmunoassays, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, immunofluorescent-antibody assays, and immunohistology, are explored, including the use of these reagents in novel test system assays. Also, nucleic acid probe technology is compared with the use of MAbs from the perspective of their respective applications in the diagnosis of infectious disease agents. There is no question that hybridoma technology has the potential to alter significantly the methods currently used in most clinical microbiology laboratories.

Chemical hydrolysis of the s-triazines after interaction with less than 2-micron (equivalent spherical diameter) montmorillonite clay occurs as a result of protonation at the colloidal surface; protonation occurs even when the exchange sites are occupied by metallic cations. The adsorbed hydrolytic degradation product is not the hydroxy analog, but it is predominantly the keto form of the protonated hydroxy species. This cationic form is held tightly by the clay which may restrict vertical movement and entrance into groundwater. Protonation of the hydroxy analog occurs on the heterocyclic ring nitrogen.

Phosphate insecticide use is increasing as is concomitant human poisoning. Home insecticide bomb as well as agricultural, crop contamination and suicidal exposure are noted. Clinical poisoning may be chronic and severe. It may follow long exposure or short exposure with heavy dosages. Manifestations are those of excessive cholinergic activity.Adequate laboratory means for early, rapid diagnosis and screen testings are available.PAM is a valuable agent for this type of poisoning and is a much more adequate and complete antidote than atropine. It is available (under certain restrictive conditions presently). It is being widely used elsewhere in the world but with limited education and use in this country. Morbidity and mortality continue at a rate that could probably be corrected. Case reports, describing the use of this antidote in our hands, are included. Government and industry responsibility as well as physician education must be more clearly defined in prevention, recognition and treatment in what is often a life threatening situation.