Trial of the use of bleomycin in combination with other chemopreparations for treating the metastases of squamous cell cancer in various sites

The data on the treatment of 19 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of different sites are presented. A combination of chemotherapeutics, including methotrexate, adriamycin and bleomycin was used. The combination was effective and low toxic. It may be recommended for the treatment of the above form of carcinoma.     

Experimental design for estimating integrals by numerical quadrature, with applications to pharmacokinetic studies

Many experimental situations, including bioavailability studies, require the estimation of integrals by numerical quadrature applied to dependent variable observations with measurement error. A strategy is described for selecting values for the independent variable (e.g. time). The strategy minimizes the expectation of the square of the difference between the exact integral and the quadrature approximation. This approach was applied to simulated pharmacokinetic problems, including the estimation of bioavailability. Results indicate that the procedure is potentially useful in reducing the variance of resulting estimates and that it appears to be robust with respect to prior assumptions about model parameter values.     

Determination of copper concentration in blood plasma and in ocular and cerebrospinal fluids using graphite furnace atomic absorption spectroscopy

Published values for the concentration of Cu in cerebrospinal and intraocular fluids cover a very wide range (0.016 to 1.0 microgram/ml) and include values which are several times higher than those which would be consistent with normal physiology. An atomic absorption spectrophotometer equipped with a graphite furnace was used to measure the Cu concentration in these fluids and in blood plasma of toads, rabbits, and cats. Under standard conditions, these fluids yielded high background absorbance and only fractional recovery of added Cu. Parameters were therefore established which eliminated both the high background and the matrix interference and allowed the determination of Cu in 10-microliters aliquots of diluted blood plasma and undiluted cerebrospinal and ocular fluid samples. Under these conditions the Cu measured in the ocular (0.011 to 0.032 microgram/ml) and cerebrospinal fluids (0.033 to 0.050 microgram/ml) of these three species was lower than most previously reported values and only a small fraction (1-3%) of the concentration of Cu in the plasma of the same animals (0.85 to 1.22 micrograms/ml).     

An ATP-driven proton pump in clathrin-coated vesicles

Clathrin containing coated vesicles prepared from bovine brain catalyzed ATP-driven proton translocation and a 32Pi-ATP exchange reaction. Both activities were measured in the presence of 5 micrograms of oligomycin/mg of protein which completely inhibited these reactions catalyzed by submitochondrial particles. Analyses performed during the purification procedure demonstrated that the oligomycin-resistant pump was concentrated and highly purified in the fractions containing coated vesicles. Moreover, vesicles precipitated by either monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies against clathrin contained the H+ pump activity. Dicyclohexylcarbodiimide (0.5 mM) and N-ethylmaleimide (1 mM) added to the assay mixture inhibited the pump completely, whereas neither vanadate, sodium azide, efrapeptin, or mitochondrial ATPase inhibitor had an effect.     

Symmetrical effect of pre-exposure between alcohol and morphine on conditioned taste aversion

It has previously been reported that pre-exposure to a psychoactive drug can block the conditioned taste aversion associated with that drug. This study was an attempt to investigate alcohol-morphine interactions using this pre-exposure paradigm. After two weeks of adaptation to a schedule of daily 30-minute access to water, rats were pre-exposed to morphine, ethanol, or the respective vehicle control every second day for three days before (Days 1, 3, 5) and after the first conditioning day (Days 8, 10, 12). On conditioning days (Days 7, 14), animals were first presented with a saccharin solution for 30 minutes following which animals that were pre-exposed to morphine were injected with ethanol while those pre-exposed to ethanol were administered with morphine. Saccharin was again presented on three more occasions (Days 21, 28, 35) without drug injection. Using the percent change in saccharin consumed from the first presentation as a measure of aversion, it was found that pre-exposure to morphine blocked ethanol conditioned taste aversion. Similarly, animals pre-exposed to ethanol showed less aversion to the saccharin paired with morphine. This is the first demonstration of a symmetrical relationship between alcohol and the opiates.     

Temperature dependence of vegetative growth and dark respiration: a mathematical model

A mathematical model of the processes involved in carbon metabolism is described that predicts the influence of temperature on the growth of plants. The model assumes that the rate of production of dry matter depends both on the temperature and the level of nonstructural carbohydrate. The level of nonstructural carbohydrate is determined by the rates of photosynthesis, growth, and maintenance respiration. The model describes the rate of growth and dark respiration, and the levels of carbohydrate seen in vegetative growth of carnation and tomato. The model suggests that the growth of plants at low temperatures is limited by a shortage of respiratory energy, whereas at high temperatures growth is limited by the shortage of carbohydrate. Thermoperiodism, wherein a warm day and cool night results in faster growth than does constant temperature, is explained by the model as an increase in the level of nonstructural carbohydrate which promotes the rate of growth relative to the rate of maintenance respiration.     

Clinical and experimental keratitis caused by the Colletotrichum state of Glomerella cingulata and Acrophialophora fusispora

Two cases of mycotic keratitis caused by the Colletotrichum state of Glomerella cingulata and Acrophialophora fusispora are reported for the first time. Both the isolates produced experimental corneal lesions in rabbit eyes but A. fusispora was more pathogenic. The experimental infection was more severe, with both the fungi, in rabbits pretreated with cortisone as compared with untreated animals. In vitro A. fusispora was most sensitive to miconazole and tolciclate followed by clotrimazole, amphotericin B and lactones while clotrimazole exerted maximum inhibitory effect on Colletotrichum followed by miconazole, lactones, amphotericin B and arnebins. Arnebins and tolciclate were inactive respectively against A. fusispora and Colletotrichum. Of the 3 drugs tested in vivo, against A. fusispora keratitis in rabbit, amphotericin B showed better results than tolciclate and miconazole.     

A modified method of UDS detection in vitro suitable for screening the DNA-damaging effects of chemicals

The UDS induced in cultured FL cells by exposure to chemicals was measured as hydroxyurea-resistant incorporation of 3H-TdR in the acid-insoluble fraction of the 14C-TdR-prelabelled cells synchronized by the combination of arginine starvation and pretreatment with hydroxyurea. The level of UDS is represented by the ratios of 3H/14C radioactivities which are measures of specific activities of 3H. Two direct-acting alkylating agents, MMS and MNNG, a cross-linking agent, mitomycin C, and 3 procarcinogens, B(a)P, AFB1 and cyclophosphamide elicited UDS in the absence or presence of the liver-metabolizing system. Three chemicals of unknown carcinogenicity were also able to induce UDS in this assay system, i.e., bis-(O,O-diethylphosphinothioyl)-disulphide, 4-chlorophenoxy acetic acid (sodium salt) and caramelized malt sugar. With the exception of 4-chlorophenoxy acetic acid, they were also active in the Ames test.     

Insertion mutations in the dam gene of Escherichia coli K-12

The dam gene of E. coli can be inactivated by insertion of Tn9 or Mud phage. Strains bearing these mutations are viable indicating that the dam gene product is dispensable.     

Gene transfer between Escherichia coli and Enterobacter aerogenes

Summary Transfer of chromosomal genes between Escherichia coli K12 and Enterobacter aerogenes was carried out by P1-mediated transduction as well as by transformation of genes cloned in vitro on plasmid vectors. The efficient expression of E. coli genes in E. aerogenes probably reflects the existance of a poor restriction system in the latter, and suggests that this strain might be useful as a recipient of genetic information from E. coli.