Backache in pregnancy II: prophylactic influence of back care classes

Back care advice similar to that used in "low back pain schools' was made available to a group of primiparous women as early in their pregnancy as possible. Subsequently it was shown that they experienced significantly less "troublesome' and "severe' backache (P = less than 0.01) than a control group for whom such advice was not available.

The sibling and psychotherapy: a review with clinical examples

Psychoanalytic and other literature relevant to the sibling relationship is reviewed. Cases are presented illustrating the role of feelings towards the sibling in psychotherapeutic practice. Three main areas are discussed: (1) the birth of a sibling as a 'fixation point'; (2) the effect of the sibling on identity formation; (3) the role of the sibling relationship in treatment, especially the importance of acknowledging sibling rivalry.

HLA antigens and affective disorder: a family case report

A family of 6 affective ill siblings is described. Two suffered from bipolar illnesses, 2 from recurrent unipolar illness, and the remainder showed alcoholism, depression and schizo-affective disorder. HLA typing revealed that all the tested members shared the antigens A3 and B7. Because only ill members were available for testing, there was insufficient information in the family to draw any definite conclusion as to whether these antigens were linked to the illness. However, the observation is of some interest in the light of other recent reports which have suggested that these 2 antigens are associated with affective disorder.

Changes of plasma cholinesterase activity during orthotopic liver transplantation in man

Variations of plasma cholinesterase activity were studied in eight patients with end stage liver disease having orthotopic liver transplantation and five other patients with hepatic cirrhosis undergoing surgical procedures. Serum cholinesterase activity was found to be below normal limits in every patient, even more so in those having hepatic homotransplantation, probably because of the greater severity of their disease. Blood transfusions increased pseudocholinesterase activity to normal or nearly normal levels; but only after successful transplantation did these levels remain within normality, thus suggesting that the homografts promptly assume production of the serum enzyme.

Differential response of chlamydial and ureaplasma-associated urethritis to sulphafurazole (sulfisoxazole) and aminocyclitols

91 men with non-gonococcal urethritis (N.G.U.) were randomly treated with either sulphafurazole (sulfisoxazole), 500 mg orally q.i.d. for 10 days, or an aminocyclitol (streptomycin or spectinomycin), 2 g intramuscularity for 1 to 3 doses at 12 h intervals. Initial urethral cultures were positive for Chlamydia trachomatis (C) in 36 (40%). Ureaplasma urealyticum (U) was isolated from the urethra or urine from20 (95%) of 21 White men in a first episode of N.G.U. who had negative chlamydia cultures. Sulphafurazole, active against C. trachomatis but not U. urealyticum in vitro, produced a clinical response in 7 of 7 men with C+U- N.G.U. and 5 of 19 with C-U+ N.G.U. (P less than 0-01). Aminocyclitols, active against U. urealyticum but relatively inactive against C. trachomatis in vitro produced a clinical response in 0 of 6 men with C+U-N.G.U., 9 of 11 men with C-U+N.G.U. from whom ureaplasma was eradicated (P less than 0-01), and 0 of 8 with C-U+ N.G.U. from whom ureaplasma was not eradicated. C+U+ N.G.U. responded poorly to both antimicrobials alone. These results support the aetiological importance of both C. trachomatis and U. urealyticum in N.G.U.

Transfer of in vitro cytotoxicity against osteogenic sarcoma cells

Evidence of lymphocyte cytotoxicity against osteosarcoma, suggesting a degree of cell-mediated immunity, was found in the mother of a patient with osteogenic sarcoma. The mother was found to be HL-A identical to the patient and therefore was an ideal donor for whole lymphocytes. Lymphocytes were obtained from the mother by leukophoresis and were administered to the patient. Lymphocytotherapy transferred or re-established a delayed hypersensitivity response to mumps antigen and transferred the ability of killing osteogenic sarcoma cells in vitro. There was slight improvement in the patients' clinical condition coincident with the establishment of lymphocytoxicity in the patient. Loss of this capacity coincided with a rapid deterioration of the patient's condition.

Behavioral disorders in children with parental alcoholism

The influence of parental alcoholism on the personalities of the children was studied by use of the Devereux Rating Scales to delineate problem behavior patterns. The subjects for the investigation were identified as a result of their parents being in treatment for alcoholism, and a control group matched for age, sex, race, family size, and socioeconomic status was utilized. The findings suggest that the presence of parental alcoholism acts as a serious deterrent to healthy personality development in the children, and the degree of disturbance in these individuals might be greater than previously suspected. Several implications of these observations are discussed, including the importance of considering alcohol abuse as a total family problem.

In vitro and in vivo studies of streptomycin-dependent cholera vibrios

Streptomycin-dependent cholera vibrio strains were derived from Inaba, Ogawa, and NAG vibrios by the method of Mel. These phenotypes grew more slowly and attacked fermentable substances after a longer period of time than the streptomycin-sensitive parent strains. Rabbits injected with streptomycin-sensitive strains and their streptomycin-dependent forms showed homologous agglutinin production. Patas monkeys fed with 10(9) streptomycin-dependent strains shed them for 1 to 2 days without ill effect, whereas the same number of streptomycin-independent organisms caused disease. The possibility of the application of multiple doses of streptomycin-dependent organisms in oral immunization against cholera was considered.