Effect of glycaemic control and duration of disease on overnight albumin excretion in diabetic children.

Urine albumin excretion rates were measured in overnight timed samples from diabetic and non-diabetic schoolchildren. The excretion rates in the diabetics were significantly higher than those in the controls and were positively correlated with age, duration of diabetes, and glycaemic control. Diabetic children aged 12 years and older had significantly higher albumin excretion rates than younger diabetic children matched for duration of disease. Among the non-diabetic controls there was no correlation between albumin excretion rate and age and the girls excreted significantly more albumin than the boys. Measurement of the overnight albumin excretion rate may provide a useful early indicator of the progression to clinical proteinuria in diabetes and is free from random variations such as that due to exercise.     

Lack of relation between venous plasma total catecholamine concentrations and ventricular arrhythmias after acute myocardial infarction.

Electrocardiographic tracings were recorded continuously to monitor ventricular tachycardia and R-on-T and R-on-apex-T ventricular premature beats, and repeated estimations of venous plasma total catecholamine concentrations were carried out in 26 patients admitted to a coronary care unit with acute myocardial infarction. No relation existed between the increased catecholamine concentrations found in these patients and the incidence of ventricular arrhythmias occurring six to 48 hours after the onset of symptoms.     

Biophysical studies of infectious pancreatic necrosis virus.

The molecular weight of infectious pancreatic necrosis virus (IPNV) has been determined by analytical ultracentrifugation and dynamic light scattering. The sedimentation coefficient of the virus was found to be 435S. The average value for molecular weight is (55 +/- 7) x 106. The virus genome consists of two segments of double-stranded RNA (molecular weights, 2.5 x 106 and 2.3 x 106), which represents 8.7% of the virion mass. The capsid protein moiety of IPNV consists of four species of polypeptides, as determined by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The number of molecules of each polypeptide in the virion has been determined. There are 22 molecules of the internal polypeptide alpha (molecular weight, 90,000), 544 molecules of the outer capsid polypeptide beta (molecular weight, 57,000), and 550 and 122 molecules, respectively, of the internal polypeptides gamma1 (molecular weight, 29,000) and gamma2 (molecular weight, 27,000). IPNV top component contains only the beta polypeptide species, and its molecular weight is estimated to be 31 x 106. The hydrodynamic diameter and electron microscopic diameter (calculated by catalase crystal-calibrated electron microscopy) of IPNV was compared with those of reovirus and encephalomyocarditis virus. Due to the swelling of the outer capsid, reovirus particles were found to be much larger when hydrated (96-nm diameter) than when dehydrated (76-nm diameter), having a large water content content and low average density. In contrast, IPNV particles are more rigid, having nearly the same average diameter under hydrous (64 nm) as under anhydrous conditions (59.3 nm). Encephalomyocarditis virus has a very low water content and does not shrink at all when prepared for electron microscopy.     

Increase in drug resistance among Shigella dysenteriae,Sh flexneri,and Sh boydii.

Two thousand three hundred and seventy strains of Shigella dysenteriae, Sh flexneri, and Sh boydii isolated in England and Wales from 1974 to 1978 were tested for resistance to 12 antimicrobial drugs. Eighty per cent of strains were resistant to one or more drugs, with sulphonamide resistance occurring most frequently. Resistance to streptomycin, tetracycline, ampicillin, and chloramphenicol increased during the period, as did the incidence of multiple resistance. Most infections due to Sh dysenteriae, Sh flexneri, and Sh boydii are acquired abroad, and the increasing incidence of drug resistance among these organisms contrasts with the decreasing incidence of resistance among the indigenous Sh sonnei. These findings may indicate the need for better control of antibiotic use, particularly in developing countries.     

Biliary excretion of synthetic sex steroids in heterozygous and homozygous Gunn rats.

87.9% of a given dose of [³H]Norethisterone ([³H]N) and 76.7% of [³H]Ethinyloestradiol ([³H]EE₂) were excreted in the bile of male heterozygous Gunn rats in 2 hours Similarly, 86.9% of a given dose [³H]N and 84.0% of [³H]EE₂ were excreted in the bile of male homozygous Gunn rats in 2 hours. In both heterozygous and homozygous rats glucuronide conjugates were present. Despite the lesion in UDP-glucuronyltransferase, the homozygous rats is able to conjugate the synthetic steroids apparently normally.     

The pharmacokinetics of tritiated ethinylestradiol in the rabbit

The disappearance of ethinylestradiol from the blood of rabbits has been studied, following the intravenous administration of this steroid. The disappearance followed two exponentials, the first having a half life ($\text{t}\text{1}\text{2}$) of 5.5 min and the second, apparently terminal exponential was also rapid ($\text{t}\text{1}\text{2}\text{= 69}\text{min}$). The plasma clearance was 150 ml/min which suggests almost total clearance of this steroid during a single passage through the liver. Bile contained a significant concentration of EE conjugates and thus this steroid could undergo enterohepatic recirculations. A large oral dose of unlabelled EE, given prior to intravenous administra tion of tritiated EE, considerably altered the pharmacokinetics of the latter by saturating both phase one metabolism (changes of the steroid nucleus) and the secretion of conjugates into bile. It was not clear whether phase two metabolism (conjugation) was also saturated.