Monotherapy with acebutolol in hypertensive diabetic patients

Monotherapy of hypertension with acebutolol in diabetics in daily dose of 200-400 mg for 6 weeks induced only non-significant and practically not acceptable hypotensive effect in groups of patients with hypertension and diabetes type I or type II without nephropathy. No therapeutical effect was observed in hypertension in diabetics type I with nephropathy. Administration of acebutolol to hypertensive diabetic patients with nephropathy resulted in tendency to increase in albuminuria. Values of creatinine clearance did not change at the same time. Also no effect of acebutolol on glycemic or lipid indices was observed. The lack of clear hypotensive effect under studied conditions of acebutolol in diabetic patients contrasted with its significant action in comparative group of hypertensive non-diabetic subjects.     

Efficacy of lomustine, teniposide, doxorubicin, bleomycin and prednisone (LTABP) or adriamycin, bleomycin, vinblastine and dacarbazine (ABVD) in the treatment of malignant lymphogranulomatosis resistant to MOPP]

LTABP regimen was applied to 18 patients in IIB and IV stage of malignant lymphogranulomatosis resistant to MOPP. The obtained results were compared with historical control group of 18 patients with similar stage of the disease treated according to ABVD regimen. In both regimens courses were repeated every 28 days or more rarely, when leucopenia and thrombocytopenia prolonged. Only patients who had received at least 3 courses were analysed. In the LTABP group the complete remission was obtained in 10 cases (55%) while partial remission in 6 (33%). In the group treated with ABVD complete remission was obtained in 4 cases (22%) and partial in 9 cases (50%). In the LTABP group 11 patients are still alive and remain in complete remission, while in ABVD group--4 patients. The most frequent side effects in both groups included leucopenia, thrombocytopenia and symptoms of gastrointestinal intolerance. The LTABP regiment allows to obtain higher percentage of the complete remission than ABVD.     

Conservative and surgical treatment of pericarditis--our experience

Methods and results of both conservative and invasive therapy of pericarditis were analysed in the group of 30 patients. An emphasis was on successful treatment of mild (idiopathic) pericarditis and efficiency of the early started, combined pharmacotherapy (tuberculostatics + corticosteroids) of pericarditis of tuberculous etiology. A stress is on marked immediate efficacy of surgery in case of cardiac tamponade, independent on its etiology, with simultaneous recommendation of ultrasound-guided pericardial sac paracentesis. Survival rate in patients with malignant pericarditis is relatively low.     

Unusual organization of the tropharium in the telotrophic ovarioles of an insect, Saldula saltatoria

The tropharium of the common shorebug Saldula saltatoria consists of 2 zones: the apical mitotic region and the distal one comprising numerous mononucleate nurse cells. Each individual nurse cell is connected to the centrally located trophic core by a thin cytoplasmic projection referred to as a trophic process. The accumulations of a dense material interpreted as the remnants of intercellular bridge rim are observed associated with the trophic process membrane. In the light of these results the establishment of telotrophic ovarioles in hemipterans is discussed.     

Neural control of airway pressures in rabbits

In twenty anaesthetized and spontaneously breathing rabbits airway pressures were measured above and below the larynx during tidal respiration through the larynx. Peak inspiratory and expiratory pressures at both sites were recorded in control conditions and then compared to values obtained in the course of progressive denervation of the airways. The two methods of denervation consisted of (1) bilateral section of superior and recurrent laryngeal nerves and of the midcervical vagotomy (horizontal method); (2) right-sided sections of the three nerves followed by left-sided sections (vertical method). Motor denervation of the larynx due to RLNs neurotomy (horizontal method) produced significant increases in intratracheal pressures in both phases of the respiratory cycle. Less prominent increments in pressures were achieved on RLNs neurotomy in the vertical method. SLNs section and vagotomy had little additional effect on airway pressures. Our results indicate that unilateral laryngeal palsy poses far smaller obstruction to breathing than simultaneous bilateral denervation, and that afferent denervation of the larynx has no effect on airway pressures.     

Pathogenic characteristics of Escherichia coli strains in cases of asymptomatic bacteriuria and symptomatic urinary tract infections

The aim of this study was to examine if E. coli isolated from asymptomatic bacteriuria differed in pathogenic features from strains isolated from symptomatic infections of urinary tract. In this study 130 strains of E. coli isolated from women having asymptomatic bacteriuria and 112 strains isolated from patients with symptoms of urinary tract infection were examined. It was shown that E. coli isolated from patients with symptomatic urinary tract infection showed the more frequently ability to cause mannose-resistant haemagglutination of human erythrocytes, resistance to bactericidal activity of serum and haemolytic properties than those isolated from asymptomatic bacteriuria. These strains showed also the higher ability to adhere to Vero cells in tissue culture. Among E. coli strains isolated from persons with asymptomatic bacteriuria the pathogenic features were most frequently found in strains from healthy women and the most rarely in isolated from diabetic women.     

Different risks in two familial translocations t(9;12) with similar breakpoints.

The risk of offspring with unbalanced karyotypes born to carriers of reciprocal chromosomal translocation (RCT) is important to evaluate for further family planning and prenatal diagnosis. The authors describe two families with carriers of similar RCT concerning breakpoint positions and discuss the different individual risks for abnormal progeny. These translocations were studied by GTG, RBG and CBG banding. They have the same breakpoint on 9p, i.e. 9p22, and a different one on 12p, i.e. terminal (pter----p13) and intermediate (p11.2), respectively. The risk value of 27% for family 1 was obtained directly from the large enough pedigree (high risk) a risk value of about 5% was estimated for family 2, according to the guidelines of Stene and Stengel-Rutkowski (1988). The data show that similar translocations with only slight differences in the breakpoints position have different risks for unbalanced progeny. Results of these empiric findings may be used directly in genetic counselling of a family with RCT leading to a single imbalance of the same segment.     

Effectiveness of chemical agents in removing platinum from DNA isolated from cisplatin-treated HL-60 cells.

Human promyelocytic leukemia cells, HL-60, were treated with cisplatin [cis-diamminedichloroplatinum (II)] (2 mM, 1 h). DNA-cisplatin-protein complexes were isolated and exposed to thiourea (1 M), NaCN (100 mM), diethyldithio-carbamate (500 mM), or N-methyl-D-glucamine dithiocarbamate (500 mM) for 12 h. The release of platinum was measured by atomic absorption spectroscopy. Sodium cyanide was the most effective agent, releasing about 90% of the DNA-bound platinum. Thiourea was the least effective agent, while dithiocarbamates exhibited an intermediate. The ability of the same group of agents to split the proteins off from the protein-cisplatin-DNA complex was also evaluated and similarly dithiocarbamate were also the most effective.     

Organophosphonate utilization by the wild-type strain of Pseudomonas fluorescens.

The wild-type strain of Pseudomonas fluorescens was found to utilize a range of structurally diverse organophosphonates as its sole carbon or nitrogen sources. Representative compounds included aminoalkylphosphonates, hydroxyalkylphosphonates, oxoalkylphosphonates, and phosphono dipeptides. Among them, amino(phenyl)methylphosphonate,2-aminoethylphosphonate, aminomethylphosphonate, diisopropyl 9-aminofluoren-9-ylphosphonate, and 2-oxoalkylphosphonates were used by P. fluorescens as its sole sources of phosphorus. Only slight growth was observed on the herbicide glyphosate (N-phosphonomethylglycine), which was metabolized to aminomethylphosphonate. Neither phosphinothricin nor its dialanyl tripeptide, bialaphos, supported growth of P. fluorescens. The possible mechanisms of organophosphonate degradation by this strain are discussed.     

Comparison of organ uptake and disappearance half-time of human epidermal growth factor and insulin

Epidermal growth factor (EGF), which was originally identified in salivary glands and saliva, has been also found in the kidney and urine, suggesting that the kidney may be an alternate source of this peptide. Liver was considered as the major site of the degradation of EGF but the involvement of other organs has been little studied. Therefore, we carried out comparative studies on the organ uptake and the disappearance half-time of EGF and insulin (having similar molecular size) in the same model of anesthetized dog with arterial (from aorta) and venous (from mesenteric, portal, hepatic, renal, femoral and jugular veins) blood sampling from various organs. Basal plasma level of EGF (1.32 +/- 0.33 pmol/l) and insulin (62.1 +/- 13.8 pmol/l) in the aorta was not significantly different from that recorded at various sampling sites. During i.v. infusion of EGF at 41.6 and 166.6 pmol/kg/h, the respective arterial EGF concentrations averaged 103 +/- 21 and 240 +/- 49 pmol/kg/h and the percent reduction in plasma EGF after passage through the head, leg, intestines and liver was about 30-50% and that after passage through the kidney was about 95%. During insulin (6.9 pmol/kg/h) infusion, the arterial hormone level averaged 227 +/- 21 pmol/l and this level was significantly reduced (by 23-42%) after passage through the head, leg, intestine, liver and kidney but no significant difference was found between various venous sampling sites. EGF and insulin appearing in the urine during EGF or insulin infusion accounted for about 40 and 7% of the difference between the entering and leaving renal masses of the peptide. Mean disappearance half time on stopping of EGF and insulin infusion was, respectively, 2.32 +/- 0.58 and 6.88 +/- 1.25 min. We conclude that unlike insulin, which is removed to similar extent by various organs including the kidney and the liver, EGF is taken up mainly by kidney and EGF present in urine originates mainly from renal clearance of peptide.