Impact of the Si/Al ratio on the selective capture of iodine compounds in silver-mordenite: a periodic DFT study

Decreasing the Si/Al ratio in silver exchanged mordenite drastically limits the potential inhibiting effect of H₂O and CO on the adsorption of I₂ and ICH₃, and allows a spontaneous dissociation of I₂ leading to the formation of AgI complexes.

An epidemiologic, clinical, and therapeutic study of childhood Guillain-Barré syndrome in Kuwait: is it related to the oral polio vaccine?

We studied Guillain-Barré syndrome, affecting children 12 years old or less, throughout Kuwait, in the period between January 1, 1992, and March 31, 1997. Nineteen children had the diagnostic criteria of Guillain-Barré syndrome, with an overall annual incidence rate of 0.95/100,000 population at risk. Female patients outnumbered male patients with a sex ratio of 1.4:1. There was a clustering of cases in winter and spring and in the year 1996. The disease symptoms were relatively severe in our patients because only 16% (3 of 19) of them were able to walk at the height of their illness, whereas the rest were bed or chair bound or needed assisted ventilation. Two patients had the electrodiagnostic features of axonal neuropathy and both had residual deficits on follow-up, whereas the rest recovered fully. All the patients received intravenous immunoglobulin. The mean time to walk unaided was 23.5 days (range, 2-84 days) after intravenous immunoglobulin and excluding the two patients with axonal neuropathy, and full recovery was achieved in a mean time of 103 days (range, 30-300 days). Contrary to previous studies, we found no correlation between oral polio vaccine administration and Guillain-Barré syndrome in 2 successive years (1995 and 1996) during a nationwide campaign targeting children less than 5 years old.

Tuberculosis risk in funeral home employees

In order to estimate the risk of tuberculosis infection among employees in the funeral service industry, we conducted a risk-assessment study of a convenience sample of funeral home employees. Study participants completed a risk-assessment questionnaire and underwent tuberculin skin testing. Of 864 employees tested, 101 (11.7%) had a reactive tuberculin skin test. Reactivity to the tuberculin skin test was significantly associated with job category; funeral home employees with a present or past history of embalming deceased-human remains were twice as likely to be reactive as were non-embalming personnel (14.9% versus 7.2%, P < 0.01). Reactivity was also associated with age, gender, race, past history of close contact with a person diagnosed with tuberculosis, and work history. After controlling for age and other factors, tuberculin reactivity was found to be associated in embalming personnel with the number of years spent performing embalmings (> or = 20), and, in non-embalming personnel, with a history of close contact with infected individuals. Based on these results, it is recommended that funeral home employees who routinely embalm cadavers undergo annual tuberculin skin testing, receive initial training on tuberculosis prevention, and wear respiratory protection when preparing known tuberculosis cases.

Use of mental health services by households in the United States

OBJECTIVE

The study examined differences in the use of mental health services by persons living in different types of households.

METHODS

Data were obtained from the Epidemiologic Catchment Area (ECA) survey, a multistage probability sampling procedure of households in five U.S cities conducted in 1981-1984. Data from 12,417 persons living in four of the five ECA sites (Baltimore, St. Louis, Durham, North Carolina, and Los Angeles) were classified according to household categories used by the U.S. Bureau of the Census. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the relationship of mental health service use to household type, relationship of survey respondent to head of household, household income and size, number of children in the household, ECA site, presence of mental disorders, and sociodemographic factors.

RESULTS

Use of mental health services varied by type of household but not by individual within the same household. Persons in female-headed families and persons living alone had the highest use of mental health services, even after other variables were controlled.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings highlight the need for outreach efforts to determine needs and preferences for health, mental health, and social services by persons in various households, especially persons in female-headed families and persons living alone.

Prodromes and precursors: epidemiologic data for primary prevention of disorders with slow onset

OBJECTIVE

The concepts of prodrome and precursor are used to show how epidemiologic data on age at onset can be used in timing preventive interventions and selecting target populations.

METHODS

Data concerning onset of DSM-III major depression and panic disorder were taken from the Epidemiologic Catchment Area Program. Cumulative distributions of ages at onset of diagnosis and onset of precursors are presented, and the concept of attributable risk is introduced. Attributable risk is the maximum proportion of cases that would be prevented if an intervention were 100% effective in eliminating a specific precursor.

RESULTS

Illustrative results for depression and panic are presented. Precursors vary in the degree to which they predict onset of the full disorder; 2 or more weeks of sad mood in the year before full-blown depression is a better predictor (relative odds, 7.0) than weight loss or gain (relative odds, 3.0). The formula for population attributable risk was applied to the precursor relative risks and prevalences to estimate the potential success of interventions for specific precursors in preventing the disorder. The precursor attributable risks indicate that sleep problems would identify 47% of the new cases of major depression occurring in the following year, and the question "Are you a nervous person?" would identify 60% of persons with onset of panic disorder in the following year.

CONCLUSIONS

This conceptual framework links the early natural history of disorders with the search for syndromes. Knowledge of precursor prevalence and attributable risk, combined with other host characteristics and environmental risk factors, can be used in screening and prevention.

Boronic acids for affinity chromatography: spectral methods for determinations of ionization and diol-binding constants

Arylboronic acids attached to solid matrices have proved useful for the diol-specific chromatography of biomolecules and affinity purification of enzymes by exchangeable-ligand chromatography. The latter use has been limited by the intrinsic ionization constant (pKa approximately 9) of the most common commercial products. The synthesis of several arylboronic acids with ionization constants near neutrality are described, and the application of a new general, spectral-difference method for determining acid ionization constants and formation constants with fructose is developed. In particular 4-(N-methyl) carboxamido-benzeneboronic acid was found to have a pKa of 7.86 and a formation constant with D-fructose of 8600. It was stable toward acid or base hydrolysis. We suggest that 4-carboxybenzeneboronic acid might be useful for preparing matrices for enzyme affinity chromatography.

Changes in concentrations of serum prolactin, FSH, oestradiol and progesterone and of the sex skin during the menstrual cycle in the mangabey monkey (Cercocebus atys lunulatus)

Daily blood samples were collected from 6 regularly menstruating mangabey monkeys. Because serum LH could not be measured by a radioimmunoassay for human LH, Day 0 was taken as the day of maximum serum oestradiol concentration. The hormone patterns were very similar to those of other cercopithecids and women. However, the peak of serum progesterone was lower in mangabeys than in women. There was no distinct peak of serum oestradiol during the luteal phase of mangabeys but the average levels were higher than during the early follicular phase, a pattern more similar to that in other non-human primates than in women. Serum prolactin rose by about 50%, 48 h after the serum oestradiol peak, then declined during the mid-luteal phase before rising at the end of the cycle. Changes in the sex skin dimensions followed the same pattern as the serum oestradiol concentrations.

Prolactin response to TRH in diabetic ketoacidosis

The prolactin response to 200 microgram thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) IV was studied in seven patients with diabetic ketoacidosis, at the start of the treatment, and again, in the same patients, five days after recovery, when the diabetes was well controlled. Normal basal prolactin concentrations and prolactin responses to TRH were found in both situations. There was no correlation between basal prolactin concentrations, or magnitude of prolactin responses to TRH, and any of the metabolic variables measured. These findings do no suggest a role for prolactin in the development of diabetic ketoacidosis.

Thyrotrophin, prolactin and growth hormone responses to TRH in barbiturate coma and in depression

The effects of 200 microgram thyrotrophin-releasing hormone (TRH) i.v. on thyrotrophin (TSH), prolactin (PRL), growth hormone (GH) and triiodothyronine (T3) were studied in eight patients with barbiturate coma due to attempted suicide, in the same patients after recovery, in eight depressive patients and in eight normal controls. The patients with barbiturate coma presented normal basal TSH and PRL, elevated basal GH and normal PRL but blunted TSH responses to TRH; their GH concentrations varied widely without consistent relation to TRH administration. The same patients after recovery from coma presented normal TSH and PRL, slightly elevated basal GH, and normal PRL but blunted TSH responses to TRH; in four of these patients, a clear-cut rise in GH (i.e. more than 10 ng/ml) occurred after TRH administration. The depressive patients presented normal basal TSH and PRL, slightly elevated basal GH, and normal PRL but blunted TSH responses to TRH; in four of these patients, a moderated rise in GH (less than 10 ng/ml) occurred after TRH administration. The increment in T3 concentrations 120 min after TRH was found reduced in the comatose patients only. Basal cortisol was measured in all the subjects and found elevated in the comatose patients only. It is concluded that the abnormal TSH and GH responses to TRH observed in patients with barbiturate coma are more likely related to depressive illness than to an effect of barbiturates at the pituitary level. Barbiturates might affect thyroid secretion.

Cord serum prolactin in relation to the time of the day, the sex of the neonate and the birth weight

Serum prolactin was measured in 581 blood samples collected immediately after birth from 563 single new-born and from 9 pairs of twins. Cord serum prolactin is high at birth: the mean level is some 5 times higher than in adults. There is no sex difference in cord serum prolactin concentration in the neonate. Mean serum prolactin is significantly higher at 1.00 and 2.00 a.m. Thus a circadian periodicity in serum prolactin concentration seems to appear already during foetal life well before the organization of sleep rhythm. Cord serum prolactin increases with birth weight ranging from 1500 g to 3500 g. Thus, the control of levels of circulating prolactin changes during foetal life resulting in a progressive increase starting from mid-pregnancy. Mean cord serum prolactin at birth is lower in twins than in single new-borns. There is no significant difference in serum prolactin between the first and the second twin.

[The influence of sulpirid on sleep. Results of polygraphic night sleep recordings (author's transl)]

Short and long term effects of sulpirid on the sleep EEG in humans were investigated in 8 patients aged 20-68 years (average 40.4) suffering from autonomic instability. In each patient seven polygraphic night sleep recording were performed. After an adaption night and two nights without medication each subject got 200-400 mg sulpirid i.m. for two days and then 300-600 mg orally for a three-week period. In both groups the short-term application of sulpirid caused a reduction of waking periods and a slight decrease of stage 3, while stage 2 was increased. In psychotic patients the long-term orally administered substance was followed by an increase of deep synchronous sleep (stage 4). As this alteration of sleep couldn't be revealed in the control group, we consider this finding as a result of the improvement of psychosis. In the patient group the amount of REM sleep was augmented during the short-term application as well as during the long-term application, where, as in the control group the amount of REM sleep decreased when sulpirid was given orally for three weeks. This result is discussed in comparison with the properties of the tricyclic antidepressant drugs and monoamine oxidase inhibitors and the clinical effects of sulpiride.