The "don'ts" in treating psychocutaneous disease

It is not difficult for the astute clinician to diagnose a psychocutaneous illness. However, the important question that arises in the mind of a sharp clinician is whether or not to confront the patient with this information, and if consultation and psychiatric treatment is warranted before the interpretation is made. Therefore, the dermatologist treating psychocutaneous illness must treat the patient as whole and must realize that certain interpretations, although obvious, must not be made to the patient when there is a great amount of psychic overlay.

Effect of mebendazole on the larval development of three Hymenolepidid cestodes

Mebendazole or Telmin (which contains 16.7% mebendazole) markedly retarded the development of Hymenolepis diminuta and H. nana when their intermediate hosts Tribolium confusum were fed on flour mixed with it from day 1 to day 10 p.i. Though retardation also occurred with H. microstoma, the effect of the drug on this parasite was noticeably less pronounced than with the other 2 species of this genus.

Acetylcarnitine and free carnitine in body fluids before and after birth

The acetylcarnitine concentration in amniotic fluid fell significantly between 33 and 37 and 40 weeks of gestation. It was significantly higher in samples that had a low lecithin to sphingomyelin ratio. The acetylcarnitine content of tracheal fluid was higher in samples obtained from premature newborns. The major excretory form of carnitine is the acetate ester and only in adults does the urine contain significant amounts of free carnitine. The level of acetylcarnitine in plasma significantly increases after the first day of life; there was no difference in the plasma levels of carnitine between full-term and premature newborns. Plasma-free carnitine and acetylcarnitine levels were significantly lower in infants who were receiving a soybean-based formula. A positive correlation was found between the plasma level of ketone bodies and that of acetylcarnitine.

Environmental temperature and the growth of Taenia crassiceps cysticerci in mice

Mice kept a low (5 +/- 1 degrees C) and high (35 +/- 1 degrees C) temperature harboured significantly less Taenia crassiceps cysticerci than controls kept at 21 +/- 1 degrees C. This effect was more pronounced in heat-stressed than in cold-stressed animals and more in males than in females.

The effect of mebendazole on different developmental stages of Hymenolepis diminuta cysticercoids

Tribolium confusum beetles infected with Hymenolepis diminuta were fed continuously from day 1, 3, 5, 6, or 7 to day 10 post infection (p.i.) on a mixture composed of two parts Telmin (containing 16.67% of mebendazole) and one part flour. The drug inhibited the worm development and this effect decreased as the age of larvae at the time of the first exposure increased. Lowered incidence of infection, decreased population size, and retarded development were apparent when the beetles were given drug from day 3 p.i. or earlier. Retarded development was also observed in cysticercoids from beetles given drug from day 5 p.i. When given from day 6 or later, it had no effect on worm development. However, when compared with larvae from beetles fed only flour, cysticercoids exposed to the drug from day 6 or later showed reduced infectivity and a decrease in their ability to excyst in vitro. Fully developed infective cysticercoids exposed to the drug from day 10 p.i. or later were not affected by it.

Carnitine content of blood and amniotic fluid

Free carnitine levels were determined in amniotic fluids between the 10th and 40th week of gestation. They were found to decrease significantly with gestational age. Blood levels of carnitine were lower in pregnant than in nonpregnant women. Levels were found to be higher in cord blood than in maternal blood and usually were higher in the umbilical artery than vein. Intra-arterial injection of L-carnitine into a pregnant ewe did not cause a rise in the fetal blood level of carnitine, which, in contrast to human fetal blood, contained less than half the level of carnitine in maternal blood.

Gonadectomy and growth of Taenia crassiceps (Cestoda) cysticerci in mice

Gonadectomy of SWR of both sexes significantly reduced the number of cysticerci of Taenia crassiceps, 60 days post infection. There was a significant decrease in the total number of larvae and the number of nonbudding individuals, corresponding with increased number of budding larvae. This indicates that the asexual multiplication of cysticerci in populations from gonadectomized mice was inhibited.

The effect of mebendazole on the development of Hymenolepis diminuta in Tribolium confusum

Tribolium confusum parasitized by Hymenolepis diminuta were allowed to feed on mixtures composed of 0.005 to 20 g of mebendazole (Telmin: methyl-5-benzoyl benzimidazole-2-carbamate) in 10 g of flour from day 1 (24 h) to day 9 post infection. Retarded cysticercoid development, lowered incidence of infection, and reductions in the number of cysticercoids recovered per beetle were produced by drug levels of 0.1, 1.0, and 10 g respectively. None of the drug concentrations tested produced 100% mortality, and developing cysticercoids varied considerably in their tolerance of mebendazole.

Direct inoculation procedure for the rapid classification of bacteria from blood culture

A procedure was developed for 4-h identification of bacteria from blood culture. From a turbid blood culture bottle a 10- to 15-ml aliquot was drawn off and centrifuged. The pellet was utilized to inoculate a series of enzymatic and physiologic reactions. Three hundred eight positive blood cultures were tested including 222 strains of Enterobacteriaceae, 40 strains of facultative grampositive cocci, 26 strains of anaerobes, and 20 assorted strains. There was over 96.5% agreement between 4-h and conventional methods with the Enterobacteriaceae, 98% with facultative gram-positive cocci, 100% with anaerobes, and 99% with the assorted strains.