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The purpose of this article is to explore the meaning of palliative care in the context of the caring relationship described by nurses providing such care in the home. Eleven nurses were interviewed, and the transcripts were analyzed using the hermeneutic narrativism method. The study found that the nurses'' narrative account of a caring relationship can be represented by a metaphor: an inevitable journey by train, characterized by the three themes of transit points, time, and guidance. Each journey passes through the same four points in chronological order. Time always moves forward, but the duration of the journey can be either long or short. Having more time creates better conditions for developing a caring relationship. The nurse provides guidance through a journey that she has made before, although each journey is unique. A caring relationship signifies commitment and involvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We studied the effect in vitro of azithromycin on the clinical strain Helicobacter pylori H:72 growing intracellularly in monolayers of HEp-2 epithelial cells. After using gentamicin to eradicate extracellular bacteria, different concentrations of azithromycin were added to the infected cells and samples were taken after 0, 4, 8 and 24 h. Infected cells not exposed to antibiotic were included as controls. The MIC of azithromycin to the H. pylori was 0.25 mg/L and the MBC 0.5 mg/L in a broth dilution plate count method. A bactericidal effect was observed on intracellular H. pylori, with inhibition increasing with increasing azithromycin concentrations. However, extracellular concentrations of 200 x MBC were necessary to achieve intracellular killing. Our results show that azithromycin is active against intracellular H. pylori suggesting that it might be possible to exploit this activity when treating infections due to the organism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was undertaken to evaluate the influence of a carbohydrate restricted diet, a subacute ethanol intake, and their combined effect on the kinetics of toluene in humans. Eight healthy male volunteers were exposed by inhalation at four different occasions to 200 mg/m3 2H8-toluene for two hours at a work load of 50 W after a one week low (30%) carbohydrate (CH) diet or high (60%) CH diet with (+EtOH) or without (-EtOH) ethanol consumption (47 g ethanol) on the evening before exposure. Deuterium labelled toleune was used to measure the excretion of hippuric acid originating from toluene separately from hippuric acid from other sources. The results indicated that subacute ethanol consumption combined with a carbohydrate restricted diet, may enhance the metabolism of toluene in humans at an exposure concentration of 200 mg/m3. The cumulative amount of hippuric acid excreted in the urine up to 20 hours after the end of exposure in % of the net uptake of toluene was enhanced by 22% (p = 0.05) in the low CH + EtOH compared with the low CH-EtOH experiment. The apparent blood clearance of toluene was 37% higher in the low CH + EtOH than in the low CH-EtOH experiment, but this effect was not statistically significant (p = 0.1). There were no significant changes in the kinetics of toluene as a result of a low carbohydrate diet alone. Neither did subacute ethanol intake without the combination with a carbohydrate restricted diet influence the kinetics of toluene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a study on the distribution of class II transplantation antigens in tissues and its involvement in diseases. Recognition of microbial antigens or autoantigens in connection with cell surface-bound class II transplantation antigens; Details on the fundamental for the understanding of many local immune reactions; Functional relevance of class II antigen expression on non-lymphoid cells in the immune response.

Tissues from the urinary tract of man, the guinea-pig, mouse and rat were investigated for Ia (HLA-DR) tissue distribution with an immunohistochemical staining technique using anti-Ia monoclonal antibodies. Human and guinea-pig tissues were also investigated with a rabbit anti-human HLA-DR immunoglobulin. Ia-antigen-expressing cells were demonstrated in bladder connective tissue of man, the guinea-pig, rat and mouse. In man and the guinea-pig anti-Ia-reactive cells were present also in the bladder epithelium. In the kidney, the Ia antigens seemed to be restricted to the endothelium in man, the guinea-pig and mouse, whereas in the rat, the kidney contained anti-Ia-reactive dendritic cells in the inter- stitium. The staining of mouse tissues with anti-I-Ak- and anti-I-E/Ck-specific monoclonal antibodies revealed that cells of different Ia phenotypes were differently distributed in the bladder connective tissue. In sections from the mouse kidney no difference in staining was seen with the various antibodies. In experiments with mouse bone-marrow chimeras the anti-Ia-reactive cells in mouse bladder were shown to be of bone-marrow origin. In humans epithelial Ia-expressing cells could be isolated from the urine. Such cells might constitute a source of anti-Ia-reactive epithelial cells for future functional studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between urinary immunoglobulin levels and coating of a panel of bacteria by these immunoglobulins has been investigated. The results indicate that elevated urinary immunoglobulin levels are a distinct hazard in interpreting tests for antibody-coated bacteria as indicating upper or lower urinary tract infections. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The ability of a new sperm preparation method--self migration in sodium hyaluronate (SH)--to remove microbes from samples was compared to that of the traditional method of centrifugation/swim up (CS). Two 1-ml aliquots were taken from 20 semen samples used for inseminations, and prepared by each of the methods. Samples for culture were taken immediately before wash and at 2 and 24 h after. Microbes were found in all raw semen samples with a mean concentration of 47.8 x 10(3) colony forming units per ml (c.f.u./ml). After preparation and 2 h incubation with and without penicillin, both CS and SH were found greatly to reduce the number of isolates. There were no differences between the ability of the two methods to reduce microbe concentration, although SH recovered more progressive motile spermatozoa than CS (P less than 0.05). When penicillin preparation was omitted, both the CS and SH methods resulted in significantly more isolates after 24 h of incubation. This effect of penicillin preparation was also evident after only 2 h of incubation with CS, but not with SH. No clinical signs of infection were observed among women receiving treatment. We conclude that sperm preparation by self migration in sodium hyaluronate is a simple and safe method to remove microbes and to recover motile spermatozoa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]