Animal housing influences the response of bone to spaceflight in juvenile rats.

The rat has been used extensively as an animal model to study the effects of spaceflight on bone metabolism. The results of these studies have been inconsistent. On some missions, bone formation at the periosteal bone surface of weight-bearing bones is impaired and on others it is not, suggesting that experimental conditions may be an important determinant of bone responsiveness to spaceflight. To determine whether animal housing can affect the response of bone to spaceflight, we studied young growing (juvenile) rats group housed in the animal enclosure module and singly housed in the research animal holding facility under otherwise identical flight conditions (Spacelab Life Science 1). Spaceflight reduced periosteal bone formation by 30% (P < 0.001) and bone mass by 7% in single-housed animals but had little or no effect on formation (-6%) or mass (-3%) in group-housed animals. Group housing reduced the response of bone to spaceflight by as much as 80%. The data suggest that housing can dramatically affect the skeletal response of juvenile rats to spaceflight. These observations explain many of the discrepancies in previous flight studies and emphasize the need to study more closely the effects of housing (physical-social interaction) on the response of bone to the weightlessness of spaceflight.     

Regional Taste Sensitivity to NaCl: Relationship to Subject Age, Tongue Locus and Area of Stimulation

Using a signal detection procedure and a microprocessor-controlledgustometer, sensitivity to three concentrations of NaCl (0.01,0.1 and 1.0 M) was measured on the tongue tip, and on a region3.0 cm posterior to the tongue tip in 12 young (20–29years of age) and 12 elderly (70–79 years of age) subjects.Stimulus duration was 2 s; the sizes of the tongue areas stimulatedwere 12.5, 25 and 50 mm². On average, the young subjects weremore sensitive to NaCl on the tongue tip than on the more posteriorstimulation site and exhibited, at both tongue loci, an increasein detection performance as stimulus concentration increased.The elderly subjects, on the other hand, performed at chancelevel at both tongue loci for all three stimulus sizes and concentrationstested. No sex differences were observed. In the young subjects,the mean R-index increased monotonically as a function of stimulussize for the two highest NaCl concentrations at both tongueloci. A hyperbolic function provided the best fit to these dataat the tongue tip, and an exponential function at the more posteriortongue region, implying a different pattern of spatial summationat these two sites. Overall, this study demonstrates that markedage-related changes in regional taste sensitivity to NaCl arepresent in elderly persons. Chem. Senses 20: 283–290,1995.     

Cyclic AMP response to prostaglandin E1 in mononuclear cells from peripheral blood and synovial fluid of patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

The cyclic AMP response to prostaglandin E1 (PGE1) was studied in peripheral blood (PB) and synovial fluid (SF) mononuclear cells from patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The PGE1 induced accumulation of cyclic AMP was consistently (7 of 8 patients) less in cell suspensions derived from SF than in suspensions of equivalent numbers of mononuclear cells obtained simultaneously from PB. The high PB/SF cyclic AMP ratio was seen most clearly at the lowest concentration (10(-6)M) of PGE1 tested. There was no correlation between the patients' therapy and cyclic AMP response to PGE1. The high PB/SF cyclic AMP ratio was not accounted for by the presence of platelets in PB cell suspensions.     

Cyclic AMP response to prostaglandin E1 in mononuclear cells from peripheral blood and synovial fluid of patients with rheumatoid arthritis

The cyclic AMP response to prostaglandin E₁ (PGE₁) was studied in peripheral blood (PB) and synovial fluid (SF) mononuclear cells from patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The PGE₁ induced accumulation of cyclic AMP was consistently (7 of 8 patients) less in cell suspensions derived from SF than in suspensions of equivalent numbers of mononuclear cells obtained simultaneously from PB. The high PB/SF cyclic AMP ratio was seen most clearly at the lowest concentration (10⁻⁶M) of PGE₁ tested. There was no correlation between the patients' therapy and cyclic AMP response to PGE₁. The high PB/SF cyclic AMP ratio was not accounted for by the presence of platelets in PB cell suspensions.     

COMPLETE ATRIOVENTRICULAR CANAL AND COR TRIATRIATUM

Two patients with complete atrioventricular canal and coexisting cor triatriatum are described. This rare combination of defects probably results from nonrelated embryological events. Successful correction was limited by the major lesion, complete atrioventricular canal, due to inadequate reconstruction of the atrioventricular valve. The associated cor triatriatum, which had not been identified prior to surgery, presented difficulties during operation.