Evaluation of a new modified pediatric bubble oxygenator

A comparison was made of the S-070 Pediatric Bubble Oxygenator, which was unreliable above flow rates of approximately 1.5 L/min, with a modified S-070A, which proved to be extremely efficient to flow rates of 2.5 L/min.     

Estimation of linkage in the presence of multiplicative viability effects

Log-linear analysis of contingency tables is applied to trihybrid backcross data to estimate linkage and viability. Whereas nonadditive viability differences perturb recombination estimates in the classical analysis, this statistical procedure yields maximum likelihood crossover frequency estimates in the presence of multiplicative viability effects. Other advantages of this method include: (1) estimation of viability effects of gene substitution at each locus, (2) estimation of asymptotic confidence intervals on recombination frequencies and viabilities, and (3) it tests the null hypothesis of no interference and no viability interactions. Extensions to cover more loci and to allow certain kinds of epistasis are easily made. Relative merits of the proposed and classical methods are discussed.     

Ultrastructural localization of elastase-like enzymes in human neutrophils

The thiol ester, N-t-butyloxycarbonyl-L-alanine-p-nitrothiophenyl ester (Boc-Ala-SNp) has been synthesized and applied as an ultrastructural cytochemical substrate for leukocytic elastase-like enzymes. Incubation of fixed human neutrophils with Boc-Ala-SNp in the presence of gold ions generates electron-dense deposits of gold p-nitrothiophenolate in the nuclear membrane, endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi complex, mitochondria, and granules. Deposition of product is inhibited by pretreatment of cells with general and specific chemical inactivators of neutrophil elastase. This substrate appears to have significant potential as a probe for the ultrastructural localization of elastase-like activity.     

Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency and infection: a study of hospitalized patients in Iran.

The Mediterranean variant of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) is functionally deficient and found in a variety of cell types of affected individuals, including both erythocytes and neutrophils. To determine if the presence of this sex-linked gene is associated to any degree with the occurrence of severe bacterial infection, a study of hospitalized male patients in Iran was undertaken. As determined by erythrocyte assay, allele prevalence in male patients with infection was 22% vs. 12% in a patient group matched for the absence of other risk factors for infection and 6% in a second group who had additional risk factors for infection. When the control and patient groups were considered together the difference between the frequency of G6PD deficiency (10.2%) was significantly different from that found in the infected patients (p less than .05). Furthermore, the mean age of infected patients with G6PD deficiency was significantly less than that of infected patients without G6PD deficiency or non-infected control groups. These data suggest that host defenses may be altered in G6PD deficiency so that bacterial infections are more severe. Alternatively, G6PD deficiency and infection might represent concomittant risk factors which lead to hospitalization during bacterial infection. Potential mechanisms by which host defenses might be altered in G6PD deficiency are discussed.     

Solar-driven chemical energy source for a Martian biota

Microorganisms deep in the Martian soil could derive energy indirectly from the sun via chemical reactions involving atmospheric photolysis products of the solar ultraviolet flux. The Viking discovery of a chemically uniform regolith which, though poor in organics, is rich in sulfur-containing compounds suggests reaction sequences in which sulfur is recycled through reduced and oxidized states by biologically catalyzed reactions with photochemically-produced atmospheric constitutents. One candidate reaction, reduction of soil sulfate minerals by molecular hydrogen, is already exploited on earth by bacteria of the ubiquitous and tenaciousDesulfovibrio genus.     

Displacement

Displacement is a noncommital term for the reactions that occur when slides previously stained in phloxine or rose Bengal are immersed for varying lengths of time in a solution of another dye in ethyl Cellosolve. In most histotechnic tests Lendrum's (1947) phloxine-tartrazine is given as the stain for acidophilic inclusion bodies. However the lack of contrast between the phloxine and tartrazine has been a serious limitation. A number of dyes were tried as possible substitutes for the tartrazine. A rose Bengal-Bismark brown Y procedure was developed which stains similarly to Lendrum's phloxine-tartrazine and which doer have the needed contrast. After staining for 10 min in 1% aqueous rose Bengal and rinsing in isopropyl alcohol slides are placed for 20, 30, 40 and 50 min in 0.05% Bismark brown Y in ethyl Cellosolve. In various tissues and structures the rose Bengal is sequentially displaced by the Bismark brown Y. Thus collagen loses the red stain after 30 min while acidophilic structures like sperm heads and Paneth cell granules retain the red stain after 50 min in the displacement solution. The results are strikingly similar to staining with alkaline Biebrich scarlet.