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Using data form the Spanish household budget survey, we investigate some aspects of household heterogeneity on several product expenditures. We adopt a latent-variable model approach to evaluate the impact of income on expenditures, controlling for the number of members in the family. Two latent factors underlying repeated measures of monetary and non-monetary income are used as explanatory variables in the expenditure regression equations, thus avoiding possible bias associated to the measurement error in income. The proposed methodology also takes care of the case in which product expenditures exhibit a pattern of infrequent purchases. Multiple-group analysis is used to assess the variation of key parameters of the model across various household typologies. The analysis discloses significant variations across groups on the mean levels of expenditures and on the way income and family size affect expenditures. Asymptotic robust methods are used to account for possible non-normality of the data.

Immunization of (PL/J × SJL/J)F1 mice with myelin basic protein (MBP) induces relapsing experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). Relapses occur 7 to 10 days after recovery from the initial paralysis. Staphylococcal enterotoxins (SE) A or B, administered after recovery from the initial paralysis, induce immediate relapses. IL-12 is involved in the induction of EAE. Here, we show that SEA and SEB induce IL-12 in splenocytes from (PL/J × SJL/J)F1 mice in vitro and increase the level of IL-12 in the sera of mice treated with these superantigens. IL-12 administration mimics SE in inducing spontaneous relapses and in enhancing the severity and frequency of spontaneous relapses. IL-12 neutralization blocks SE-induced and subsequent relapses of EAE, and, when instituted after recovery from the initial attack, prevents spontaneous relapse. This is the first report of prevention of relapses of EAE with anti-IL-12 Ab, an approach which may prove useful in the prevention of exacerbations in multiple sclerosis.

We introduce an alternate model to describe twistons in crystalline polyethylene. The model couples torsional and longitudinal degrees of freedom and appears as an extension of a model that describes only the torsional motion. We find exact solutions that describe stable topological twistons, in good agreement with the torsional and longitudinal interactions in polyethylene., Latex, 10 pages; some stylistic corrections, to appear in Chemical Physics Letters

In this paper we follow the lines of recent works to investigate systems of two coupled real scalar fields defined by potentials that describe periodic interactions between the scalar fields. We work with polymeric chains containing periodic interactions between the coupled fields, and we investigate the topological sectors to obtain explicit soliton solutions and their corresponding energy. In particular, we offer an example that considers deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) as a system of coupled fields, and we present the main steps to describe DNA as a polymeric chain belonging to the class of systems of two coupled real scalar fields., Comment: 18 pages, Revtex, 03 figures

Aims: The aim of this study was to assess the incidence of fatal, life-threatening side effects and the de novo appearance of non-hepatic morbidity during interferon alfa therapy for chronic viral hepatitis. The relationship of these adverse events to actual total dose and duration of interferon was also evaluated. Methods: We conducted a retrospective study at 73 Italian centers of 11 241 consecutive patients with chronic vital hepatitis who underwent interferon alfa treatment. Results: Five patients died during interferon therapy due to liver failure ( n =4) or complications arising from sepsis. Life-threatening side effects were observed in eight patients: two cases where depression developed and led to a suicide attempt and six patients with bone marrow suppression (granulocytes 3 or platelets 3 ). These symptoms and signs completely disappeared after interferon withdrawal. During interferon treatment, 131 patients developed the following de novo non-hepatic disorders: symptomatic thyroid disease ( n =71), impotence ( n =5), systemic autoimmune disease ( n =5), immune-mediated dermatologic disease ( n =14), diabetes mellitus ( n =10), cardiovascular disease ( n =7), psychosis n =10), seizures ( n =4), peripheral neuropathy ( n =3) and hemolytic anemia ( n =2). Most of these complications are reversible or can be ameliorated. Fatal or life-threatening side effects were not related to actual total dose or duration of interferon alfa, while the majority of patients with de novo non-hepatic morbidity received medium/high doses ( > 200 million units) of interferon alfa or were treated for periods longer than 16 weeks (68% and 80%, respectively). Conclusions: Treatment with interferon alfa may have fatal or life-threatening side effects, their incidence in this study being low (0.04% and 0.07%, respectively) and perhaps no different than in untreated patients with chronic viral hepatitis. Moreover de novo non-hepatic morbidity occurred in 1.2% of patients, and the dose and duration of interferon therapy seem important in determining the frequency of this complication. The development of clinically-overt thyroid disease was most common.

Se presenta una revisión de los artículos científicos publicados en las revistas, en lenguas inglesa, francesa, española y alemana, más significativas del ámbito de la ortodoncia, durante el año 1995.

In about 50% of patients with liver cirrhosis, upper digestive bleeding is not due to oesaphageal varices rupture, but to a group of peculiar mucosal lesions usually referred as "congestive gastropathy" and "hepatogenic ulcer". The pathogenesis of such mucosal damage is still unclear: an important causative role is commonly thought to be played by portal hypertension, but the role of peptical pathway and of the mucosal barrier impairment must not be underscored as well. Aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of roxatidine in the long-term treatment of mucosal damage in 19 patients with liver cirrhosis. Patients showed a good tolerance and no side effects. The improvement of endoscopic pattern after a three months period of roxatidine therapy was statistically significant; moreover there was no occurrence of digestive bleeding. In conclusion, H2 antagonist may be considered as the drug of choice for the treatment of mucosal damage in patients with liver cirrhosis, for both its safety and effectiveness.

Twenty-five liver cirrhosis patients with endoscopically demonstrated gastro-duodenal mucosal damage (microhemorrhages, erosions, ulcers) were treated with misoprostol (prostaglandin E1) 400 mg/die. Eleven patients (44%) had abdominal pain and diarrhea and stopped treatment. Three months later, a new endoscopy was performed in the 11 patients that completed the study (3 patients were lost at follow up). Mucosal damage was stable in 5 patients (45%) and improved in 6 patients (55%), with complete absence of mucosal lesions in 2 patients (P = 0.027, Wilcoxon Ranks test). No case of worsening was observed and no patient had digestive bleeding during treatment. Digestive bleeding is a common complication of liver cirrhosis, originating in about 50% of cases from gastro-duodenal mucosal damage. Misoprostol suggests itself as a possible alternative therapy to the drugs usually utilized in these lesions (beta-blockers, H2-inhibitors), but individual intolerance is frequent and must be preliminary excluded.