A comparative study of nickel hypersensitivity by the lymphocyte transformation test in atopic and non-atopic dermatitis

In spite of the non-specific mitogenic effect of nickel salts, 3H-thymidine uptake ration (TUR) of nickel-stimulated lymphocyte cultures in nickel-sensitive atopic dermatitis patients and in non-atopic nickel-sensitive patients was significantly higher at 10 mug per ml concentration of nickel salts than in nickel non sensitive subjects (P less than 0.001). A significant difference was also demonstrated at concentrations of nickel salts of 40 mug per ml. The TUR value of nickel-stimulated cultures in nickel-sensitive atopic dermatitis patients tended to decrease in comparison to non-atopic nickel-sensitive patients. Furthermore, the TUR of phytohemagglutinin-p (PHA) stimulated cultures was also lower in atopic dermatitis patients than in non-atopic subjects.

Articulation and stress-juncture production under oral anesthetization and masking

Eight subjects, half of them naive and the other half aware of the purpose of the experiment, spoke 30 pairs of sentences involving the production of intricate stress/juncture patterns along with a passage containing all major consonant phonemes in English in various intraword positions. All subjects spoke all materials under: (1) normal conditions, (2) 110 dB re: 0.0002 ubar white noise masking, (3) extensive local anesthesia of the oral cavity, and (4) masking and anesthesia combined. Stress and juncture patterns were correctly produced despite all feedback disruption, and there was no difference between naive and aware subjects. Noise masking produced a decline in speech quality and a disruption of normal rhythm, both of which were even more seriously affected by anesthesia and anesthesia plus masking. There were no significant vowel misarticulations under any condition, but there was nearly a 20% rate of consonant misartiqulation under anesthesia and anesthesia and noise. Mis-articulation was most severe for fricatives and affricates in the labial and alveolar regions, presumably because these productions demand a high degree of precision of articulate shape and location and hence, intact feedback. Results are discussed in terms of feedback-control mechanisms for speech production.