Technique for sampling subcutaneous fat from the tailhead of sheep

Previously reported fat biopsy techniques (either omental or subcutaneous) require extensive restraint of the animal, require anesthesia methods, are time-consuming to do, or demand much postoperative care. The biopsy technique reported in the present paper involves the subcutaneous fat located around the tailhead of sheep. With minimal restraint of the sheep and local anesthesia, up to 1 g of subcutaneous fat can be obtained using this surgical procedure. Michel clips facilitate closure of the surgical wound, making this method brief in operative time.

A retest of MMPI prediction of admission to a psychiatric hospital

In a previous study, Jones, Kahn, and Langsley (1965) investigated the hypothesis that the MMPI would prove clinically useful in the prediction of admission to a psychiatric hospital. They found that the MMPI had negligible predictive validity for such an application. However, several methodological flaws left the conclusion of that study in doubt. This paper retested the hypothesis that the MMPI can be predictive of the admission decision when a sophisticated multivariate classification technique and adequate sample size are used. Given our results, the hypothesis again must be rejected. Possible problems associated with testing an hypothesis such as this are discussed.

Recognition in episodic long-term memory in schizophrenia

Recognition memory is one of the few areas of cognition in schizophrenia in which deficit has not been found. Such a finding has important theoretical implications for the understanding of schizophrenia. However, past studies in this area have been experimentally deficient. This paper presents a study of recognition in long-term episodic memory in schizophrenia in which previous findings of no deficit were replicated. The nature of the cognitive deficit in schizophrenia is discussed.

A validational study of the WIST as a group-administered instrument for assessment of schizophrenic thinking

The objective assessment of thought disorder in schizophrenia is problemmatic in clinical psychology. Recently an individually administered instrument (WIST) was introduced as a brief, objective, and quantitative measure of schizophrenic thought processes. Possible shortcomings of the WIST are noted; experimental findings that concern extension to group testing conditions, convergent validity with another self-report measure of schizophrenia, and discriminant validity from intellectual level are presented.

Epidural melanoma causing posterior paresis in a horse

An aged gray stallion was examined because of fullminating posterior paresis, bladder paralysis, and perineal anesthesia. Lower motor neuron dysfunction was detected at the lumbosacral level of the spinal cord, and cerebrospinal fluid was yellow. After brief supportive treatment, the horse died. Necropsy revealed a single epidural melanoma at L5-6. The absence of cutaneous melanotic growth, absence of organ involvement, and extensive vertebral remodeling indicated the neoplasm to have been primary and to have been present for an extended period. Neurologic dysfunction was acute and progressive, as a result of spinal cord compression by the neoplasm.

Cardiac output, left ventricular ejection rate, plasma volume, and heart rate changes in equine laminitis-hypertension

Acute laminitis-hypertension was produced experimentally by carbohydrate overloading of the gastrointestinal tract in 8 horses, and the resulting hemodynamic changes were measured. Statistically significant (P less than 0.01) increases in cardiac output, left ventricular ejection rate, heart rate, and arterial pressure were related to statistically nonsignificant changes in peripheral resistance and a delayed (Obel grade 3 plus 24 hours) decrease in plasma volume. When compared with control values, the doubling of cardiac output and left ventricular ejection rate simultaneous with little or no change in either peripheral resistance or plasma volume (16 hours after the occurrence of Obel grade 3 lameness) was suggestive of an increase in myocardial contractility. Because these pathophysiologic phenomena have important time relationships to the onset of Obel grade 3 lameness in acute laminitis, the results of this investigation are discussed in light of their relationship to clinical signs, serum electrolyte changes, plasma L-lactate alterations, and histologic deterioration of the digit.

Navicular disease in the horse: risk factors, radiographic changes, and response to therapy

In a retrospective study, 74 horses met defined historical and clinical features indicative of navicular disease. Most of the affected horses were 4 to 9 years old. Males had a greater risk of navicular disease than females, geldings had a greater risk than stallions, and Quarter Horses had a greater risk than other breeds. Diagnostic radiographic changes were found in 42 of 70 horses examined. The distribution of diagnostic radiographic changes between the right and left fron feet was equal. There was no correlation between the finding of diagnostic radiographic changes and the horse's response to therapy or the type of work for which the horse had been used. A questionnaire regarding the current status of the horses in the study was mailed, and 51 replies were received. Of the 38 horses that were alive at least 6 months after treatment and for which the current status was known, 9 were sound at the time of follow-up (from 7 to 91 months after treatment). Three of these horses had been treated medically, 4 surgically, 1 by corrective shoeing, and 1 not treated. No advantage for medical or surgical therapy was demonstrated. The poor response to therapy in this group of horses suggests that the prognosis for horses with navicular disease should be guarded, and that the probability of a return to a prelameness capacity for work is slight.

Pancreatic elastase in human serum. Determination by radioimmunoassay

This study demonstrates that a serine endopeptidase of pancreatic origin (elastase 2) circulates in human blood. A specific and highly sensitive radioimmunoassay has been developed for pancreatic elastase 2 in human serum. The inactivation of elastase 2 employed as radioiodinated tracer with an active site-specific reagent (phenylmethanesulfonyl fluoride) was necessary to prevent its binding by serum alpha1-antitrypsin and alpha2-macroglobulin while maintaining its immunoreactivity. The assay is based upon competition of standard human pancreatic elastase 2 with 125I-labeled phenylmethanesulfonyl elastase 2 for specific antibody binding sites, after which a second antibody precipitation step is used to separate bound from free 125I-labeled phenylmethanesulfonyl elastase 2. The minimum detectable concentration of elastase 2 was 0.9 ng/ml. The average normal fasting serum level determined was 71 ng/ml, approximately 80-fold greater than the minimum detectable amount. The form of radioimmunoassayable elastase 2 in normal human serum has been investigated by gel filtration of serum samples on Sephadex G-200 followed by radioimmunoassay of column fractions. The majority of the immunoreactive elastase 2 is eluted from G-200 in the void volume. While a minor amount of elastase 2 is eluted in a position consistent with alpha1-antitrypsin-elastase 2 complex, no free elastase or free proelastase is detectable. Addition of exogenous elastase 2 to normal serum prior to gel filtration on G-200 produced an increase only in the peak of radioimmunoassayable elastase bound to alpha1-antitrypsin. In vitro experiments have demonstrated that while elastase 2 bound to alpha1-antitrypsin is immunologically reactive, alpha2-macroglobulin-bound elastase 2 cross-reacts less than 2% in this radioimmunoassay. The assay has been shown to be specific for elastase 2. Human pancreatic elastase 1, anionic trypsin, chymotrypsin I, and chymotrypsin II do not cross-react in this assay system. The major advantages of this radioimmunoassay over enzymatic assays are its high sensitivity and ability to measure the enzyme in terms of its total protein concentration.

An external criterion study of the MMPI validity indices

Two hundred and twenty-eight veterans who requested either inpatient or outpatient treatment at a VA Hospital were administered an MMPI and a structured mental status examination (the CAPPS) to determine whether MMPI validity indicators would be useful in the prediction of dissimulation during a structured interview. Statistically significant relationships were found between both F and F-K and ratings of "fake bad" interview behavior. However, the authors point out that the rather small correlations discovered are of little practical utility in the prediction of dissimulation during structured interviews, especially when consideration is given to the amount of time and effort expended to administer and score the MMPI.

Reductive microbial conversion of anthracycline antibiotics

Reductive conversion of several anthracycline glycosides to their 7-deoxyaglycones occurs during their microaerophilic incubation with strains of Aeromonas hydrophila, Citrobacter freundii, and Escherichia coli. Further, extracts of microaerophilically grown A. hydrophilia catalyze DPNH-dependent reductive conversion of the same compounds. Anthracycline substrates cleaved by both whole cells and by the cell-free system include steffimycin, steffimycin B, nogalamycin, cinerubin A, and daunomycin. Investigation of glycoside cleavage as a function of both time and anthracycline concentration demonstrated the superiority of A. hydrophila over C. freundii and E. coli in regard to reaction rate and efficiency of conversion. Interestingly, some degree of anaerobicity was required for glycoside cleavage by all three organisms. Evidence supporting 7-deoxyaglycone formation via direct reductive cleavage, as opposed to a multienzyme-catalyzed process involving hydrolysis followed by dehydration and reduction, includes the following. Equilibrium mixtures of glycoside substrate and 7-deoxyaglycone product prepared using both whole cells and their extracts display no anthracycline hydrolysis products. Further, authentic steffimycinone (aglycone), the expected product of hydrolytic sugar cleavage of steffimycin, was shown to be converted to 7-deoxysteffimycinone (7-deoxyaglycone) at a rate slower than steffimycin. These data indicate that, if steffimycinone were present as an unbound metabolic intermediate, it should have been visible in the equilibrium mixture, but none was detected.

Scleral contact lens electrodes for electroretinography in domesticated animals

Contact lens electrodes are necessary to produce a high quality electroretinogram. Comparison of the electroretinogram recorded with the contact lens electrode and a needle electrode showed a great difference. Contact lens electrodes showed a 50 percent or greater amplitude and less artifacts. This report details the procedure for construction of the contact lens electrodes for domestic animals.

A unique intracellular aberration related to hexachlorobenzene ingestion

Liver of rats fed hexachlorobenzene (HCB) at concentrations of 1, 5, 10 and 25 ppm for 3 to 12 months was studied by electron microscopy. A unique hepatic cellular change that seemed related to HCB ingestion occurred in more than half of the rats given 5 ppm or more HCB. The changes appeared as degeneration of lipid vesicles into a form of autophagic vacuole or storage vesicle. Degeneration of the lipid vesicles appeared to be by autodigestion, i.e., by endoplasmic reticulum encapsulation and partial digestion in the manner typical of other autophagic vacuoles. It is postulated that autodigestion may represent a way for the cell to eliminate fat-stored HCB.

Arsanilic acid-induced blindness in swine: electroretinographic and visually evoked responses

Arsanilic acid (1,000 ppm) caused blindness in pigs within 25 to 30 days. The visually evoked response was "nonrecordable" in blind pigs, but was consistently recordable in normal pigs. The electroretinographic response was recordable in both normal and blind pigs, and significant differences were not apparent between results of tests of the 2 groups. Optic disk atrophy was noted ophthalmoscopically; lesions of the optic nerve are probably responsible for the nonrecordable visually evoked response.

Ultrasonic measurement of arterial blood pressure in conditioned thoroughbreds

Indirect systolic and diastolic arterial pressure measurements of 456 Thoroughbred horses of various ages and sex stabled at 9 different race tracks were measured with an ultrasonic-Doppler device interfaced with a sphygmomanometer cuff. The mean systolic pressure was 111.8 +/- 13.3 mmHg and the mean diastolic pressure was 69.6 +/- 13.8 mmHg in this population.

Effects of sesquiterpene lactones on the growth of Bacillus thuringiensis

Two sesquiterpene lactones, hymenovin and tenulin, were tested for their effect on growth of two strains of Bacillus thuringiensis. Growth of both strains was 98% inhibited by 0.6 mg of tenulin per ml, but only 15 to 20% was inhibited by the same level of hymenovin. Hymenovin appeared to have a mutagenic effect on B. thuringiensis cultures resulting in production of several variant strains. Some of the variant strains had lost their ability to form spores and crystals. Hymenovin also induced B. thuringiensis to produce significant levels of bacteriophage. All variant strains were as susceptible to phage as the parent strain. Although the bactericidal activity of tenulin was two times as great as of hymenovin, tenulin did not appear to have a mutagenic effect on the bacteria.