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We report a case of Staphylococcus aureus epidural infection extending from the cervical to the lumbar spine. Findings from the first magnetic resonance imaging study were misleading. The symptoms resolved fully under medical treatment, with no recurrence after 1 year.

We have replicated an earlier study in which silymarin/phytosome appeared to prevent deficits in social memory function in male rats exposed in utero to ethanol (EtOH).1 Female rats were included in the current study as well as a second behavioral test, the radial arm maze. Pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were provided with liquid diets containing 35% ethanol derived calories (EDC). The silybin/phospholipid compound (SI) was co-administered with EtOH to the experimental group. The offspring were tested at age 90 days on the social recognition task and at 75 days on the radial arm maze. Female EtOH-exposed offspring performed more poorly on the radial arm maze than did female EtOH/SI offspring and the offspring of female controls. Male EtOH-exposed offspring were less able to form social memories than the male EtOH/SI offspring and the offspring of male controls.

There is recent evidence that gender-based patterns of alcohol consumption are becoming less dissimilar and that, per capita, women are consuming more alcohol than ever before. Therefore, a better understanding of the acute effects of moderate alcohol consumption in women is essential to establishing reliable health and safety educational information. To address one component of health and safety information, we sought to determine if peak breath alcohol concentrations (BAC) could be manipulated by varying the amount of sodium our women participants ingested in a test meal. We also measured the association between BAC and the participant's performance on a divided attention (DA) task. The 12 participants were trained to use a computer-generated DA task and subsequently participated in all of four experimental conditions. During each experimental session the participant consumed a placebo drink or a drink containing 0.6 g/kg ethanol and a 220-kcal portion of salted or unsalted pretzels. She then performed four 15-min trials of the DA task, after which the BAC was measured and recorded. Reaction times and mean tracking error were recorded for each DA trial. Experimental sessions took place at the same time on days 7, 8, 9, and 10 of the participant's menstrual cycle. The BAC was significantly higher in the ethanol plus sodium condition than in the ethanol with no sodium condition. Reaction times and tracking tasks were impaired in all ethanol conditions. Scores on the DA tasks obtained from the high-sodium group did not differ significantly from those of the low-sodium group. When health care personnel provide drug education for women clients, the possible BAC-elevating effects of consuming high-sodium foods while drinking alcoholic beverages should be discussed.

We explored the possibility that silymarin (SY), a fraction from Silybum marianum, might protect against the effects of in utero exposure to ethanol upon subsequent social memory function. Three groups of 8 pregnant female Sprague-Dawley rats each were provided with a liquid diet containing 35% ethanol derived calories (EDC). One experimental group received a daily subcutaneous injection of 400 mg/kg SY, the second, a 400 mg/kg oral dose of SY, a third group was maintained on the 35% EDC diet. A fourth group served as the pair-fed control group. The liquid diet regimen was maintained throughout pregnancy. Rats pups were fostered by dams in a fifth group that had been maintained on rat chow. At 90 days the pups were tested for social memory. Social recognition scores recorded for the ethanol pups were significantly poorer than those observed in both SY/ethanol groups and the chow group.

Female college students (n = 49) from a small southwestern United States university participated in the 9-month study. Data collected included the assessment of drinking habits and other related substance use habits and serum levels of carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT). Each subject provided an interview and blood sample on three occasions at 90-day intervals. Appended to the interview were a series of questions regarding stage of menstrual cycle and the diagnoses of certain diseases. The CDT values obtained were consistent with those obtained in other studies. Moderate-drinking subjects had significantly higher CDT values than did the abstainers and light drinkers. Females using oral contraceptives had significantly higher CDT values than those who were not taking oral contraceptives. Finally, although CDT values varied over time, they did not appear to vary as a function of menstrual cycle stage.

The frequency of alcohol use among a subject population of 28 male and 60 female college students was assessed using the Student Alcohol and Drug Use Survey (STADUS). Data were also collected on personality traits as measured by the Sensation Seeking Scale V (SSSV) and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ). Finally, three biochemical variables were assessed: monoamine oxidase (MAO) activity, dopamine beta hydroxylase (DBH) activity, and testosterone levels. Among males, high SSSV scores, high testosterone levels, and low MAO activity contributed to the variance in alcohol use, whereas among females, a significant proportion of the variability in alcohol use was accounted for by high SSSV scores, high DBH activity, and younger age.

One hundred and forty-eight U.S. college students from a small southwestern university were asked to provide or complete the following: the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST), a structured alcohol-use interview, and a 10-ml blood sample to be assayed for carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) levels and gamma-glutamyl-transpeptidase (GGTP) activity. Using the data obtained in the interview, only 2 females and 5 males were identified as heavy drinkers. Conclusions regarding the efficacy of the biochemical markers are therefore limited. It was found that CDT levels were significantly and positively correlated with various measures of alcohol consumption among males. There was no similar association between CDT, or GGTP, and alcohol consumption within the female sample.

Isoenzyme patterns were studied in local populations of the carp (Cyprinus carpio) and the bream (Sarotherodon mossambicus) of the Cyprinid family, and in the trout (Salmo giardneri) of the family Salmonidae. Homogenates of heart muscle extracts were used in the identification of PGI, NADP-IDH, PGM and 6-PGD. Polymorphisms found and gene frequencies obtained are discussed separately for each enzyme and species or population. In the bream, variation was found only at the PGI locus. In the carp only the PGM locus was polymorphic whereas both PGM and IDH showed variation in the trout. The variation at the PGM locus in the trout cannot support the three locus model suggested elsewhere and clearly indicates a single locus for the monomeric enzyme. The large variety of NADP-IDH types in trout not only illucidates the complexity of this locus but confirms a disomic mode of inheritance. Genetic differences in the trout populations could be related to possible advantages for management purposes.

Genetically controlled markers are ideal for the identification of individual animals, and throughout the world laboratories have been established whose chief function is to provide a blood-typing service for animals including horses. In order to achieve the aim of improved recording of foals almost all South African sires at stud were tested and their blood type identification completed. The genetic markers included in this survey were 14 blood group factors, transferrin, plasma esterase, haemoglobin, carbonic anhydrase, 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase, phosphoglucomutase and phosphohexose isomerase. Gene frequency calculations were performed and comparisons made with similar surveys in Thoroughbreds overseas. The results indicate that the strict selection for speed in Thoroughbred racing horses has resulted in a high degree of genetic uniformity between South African and overseas racing Thoroughbreds.

The temporal stability of cardiovascular reactivity to laboratory stressors over a 2 1/2 yr period was studied. Subjects who had earlier received a cold pressor and a shock avoidance reaction time task were brought back for retesting using almost identical tasks. Cardiovascular variables that were common to both sessions included heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and pre-ejection period. Correlations were computed to examine the association of responses across both sessions for the four cardiovascular variables during rest and the two tasks. Correlations of both heart rate and systolic blood pressure were high for all tasks and rest, whereas inconsistent correlations were found for diastolic pressure and pre-ejection period. Inconsistencies in diastolic pressure are speculated to be due to individual differences in beta-adrenergic response, whereas lack of consistent pre-ejection period associations may be due to differences in methodology. The results generally support the assumption of stability of cardiovascular reactivity.