Renal and cardiac complications of drug abuse

The case is presented of a young man who, after prolonged intravenous narcotic administration, developed subacute bacterial endocarditis involving the aortic valve, and rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis. After treatment of and recovery from renal failure, persistent proteinuria was shown to be caused by focal glomerulosclerosis. The association of these lesions with "mainlining" is reviewed.

Effects of corticosteroid treatment and inflammation on the cellular content of blood and exudate in mice

Inflammatory exudates have been produced in mice by intraperitoneal injection of thioglycollate broth 24 hr and again 3 hr before collecting of the exudate. The first injection of broth exerts a "priming" effect leading to an enhanced response to the second injection. By this procedure more than 30 x 106 leucocytes of which 78 per cent. were polymorphs were obtained from each mouse. Administration of paramethasone reduced the number of cells in the exudate when given at the same time as broth but not when given 3 hr before collection of the exudate. In contrast paramethasone was equally effective when given either 24 hr or 3 hr before harvest in suppressing the appearance of intravenously injected pontamine sky blue in the exudate. It was striking that treatment with paramethasone which had reduced the number of polymorphs in the exudate had actually increased the number in blood.

Influence of social desirability upon the group personality projective test

The probability of endorsing each multiple-choice item alternative of the Group Personality Projective Test was correlated with the probability of endorsing the alternative as the most socially desirable. The results indicate that about 53% of the measured variance of the test can be attributed to the influence of social desirability. A possible reason for the finding that social desirability has less influence on the test than has been demonstrated with True-False type inventories was discussed. The results suggest caution in evaluating the discriminative validity of the test.

The toxicity of streptolysin O for beating mammalian heart cells in tissue culture

Pulsating mammalian myocardial cells were found to be highly susceptible in tissue culture to rapid destruction by streptolysin O. Cessation of beating occurred almost immediately, followed within minutes by multiple cell membrane bleb formation. Parallel with these changes, the cytoplasm became intensely granular and the nuclear membrane apparently thickened when viewed by phase microscopy. At the ultrastructural level, the cell membrane blebs were found to contain relatively small numbers of granular fragments. The endoplasmic reticulum of damaged heart cells was quite swollen, and its contents were considerably condensed. The myofibers were not strikingly altered, but cytoplasmic and mitochondria vacuoles were rather abundant. Cardiac endothelial, kidney epithelial, and fibroblast cells were also susceptible to lysis by this toxin, but the reactions occurred more slowly or bleb formation was less evident. An antiserotonin drug known to be protective against streptolysin-O in vivo (UML-491), did not protect against killing of cardiac cells at the tissue culture level. Serotonin could not be detected in the culture fluid after lysis of cardiac cells by streptolysin O.

Studies on intestinal digestion in the sheep. 3. Net movement of certain inorganic elements in the digestive tract on rations containing different proportions of hay and rolled barley

1. In each of three experiments, two sheep were given diets consisting of hay, or two parts hay to one part barley or one part hay to two parts barley. Each sheep was equipped with a cannula into the rumen and re-entrant cannulas into the proximal duodenum and the terminal ileum. The rations containing barley were supplemented to adjust the intake of calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium and potassium to a level similar to that in the all-hay ration. Paper impregnated with chromic oxide (Cr2O3) was given twice daily by rumen fistula.

2. Amounts of crude ash and the five minerals entering and leaving the small intestine and excreted in the faeces were measured. The amounts passing through the re-entrant cannulas were adjusted to give 100% recovery of chromic oxide. The values were used to calculate the direction and net movements of the elements through the walls of the three main parts of the alimentary tract.

3. In all instances there was an extensive net secretion of Na and P between mouth and small intestine, net absorption of K and P from the small intestine and of Na from the large intestine.

4. The net movements of Ca and Mg were small and rather variable. In five of the six observations there was a small net secretion of Ca and small net absorption of Mg during passage of the digesta through the reticulo-rurnen, omasurn and abomasurn. Net secretion of Ca and Mg apparently occurred in the small intestine and net absorption of Mg in the large intestine.

5. The only between-diet differences were small differences in net movements of Na and K.

Cardiac autoantibodies. I. Immunodiffusion analysis of multiple responses evoked homologously and heterologously

1. A high proportion of rabbits immunized with pooled rabbit heart homogenates in complete Freund's adjuvant responded with the production of multiple precipitating antibodies to soluble rabbit heart antigens. The most potent antisera revealed at least five distinct antigens. 2. Rabbit anti-rabbit heart antibodies reacted with similar antigens in other mammalian hearts, (human, rat, guinea pig, and bovine) with apparent "reactions of identity" by immunodiffusion. 3. Rabbits immunized with human, rat, or guinea pig heart homogenates also responded with multiple precipitating antibodies directed against rabbit cardiac antigens, although somewhat less intensively than animals immunized homologously. The specificities of these antibodies appeared to be the same as those evoked homologously. 4. The autoantibody nature of the homologously and heterologously induced responses was unequivocally demonstrated in several instances by reactions between the sera from immunized rabbits and their own hearts. 5. Many of the autoantibodies appeared to be directed against antigens restricted to the heart, judging by comparative immunodiffusion tests with other rabbit tissue extracts. This was convincingly confirmed by multiple absorption of potent antisera with several rabbit tissues. The cardiac-restricted antigens were also present in heart extracts of other mammalian species. In those instances where some of the cardiac-evoked autoantibodies reacted with other rabbit tissues, the tissue cross-reactions were quite variable. 6. Rabbits immunized with guinea pig heart homogenate suffered a high early mortality of undetermined cause, compared to animals immunized with rabbit, human, or rat hearts. 7. A small proportion of the anti-heart sera revealed immunodiffusion reactions with Group A streptococcal products, derived from organisms grown in antigen-free media. In these few instances, the reactions appeared unrelated to cardiac autoantibody responses.