A comparison of antibody responses to Admune inactivated influenza vaccine in serum and respiratory secretions of healthy non-smokers, healthy cigarette-smokers and patients with chronic bronchitis

Admune inactivated influenza vaccine was administered intramuscularly to 31 healthy subjects (18 non-smokers and 13 cigarette smokers) and 30 patients with chronic bronchitis. Homologous haemagglutination inhibition (HI) antibody titres were measured in serum and respiratory secretions over a three-month post-vaccination period. Clinical reactions to the vaccine were recorded during the week following vaccination. Among healthy subjects cigarette smoking did not influence HI antibody responses in serum and nasal secretion following vaccination. Chronic bronchitics produced at least as much serum and nasal antibody as healthy subjects and their sputum and nasal secretion antibody responses were comparable. Clinical reactions to the vaccine were mild and well tolerated in all groups but seven patients with chronic bronchitis (23%) experienced increased respiratory symptoms during the week following vaccination.

The lateralization of symptoms in schizophrenia

An awareness of symptoms being lateralized was established in almost half of a series of 60 acutely ll schizophrenics and is reported in a further series of 16 patients with this disorder. Case illustrations are given. The symptoms most commonly showing this phenomenon were hypochondriacal delusions and hallucinations, usually of an auditory kind. Possible mechanisms underlying the phenomenon are discussed. Some evidence was found for a difference between the sexes in the direction of lateralization symptoms.

The relationship between agonist occupation and the permeability response of the cholinergic receptor revealed by bound cobra alpha-toxin

The decrement in functional capacity of the nicotinic receptor on intact BC3H-1 cells has been simultaneously compared with the fractional occupation of the receptor by cobra alpha-toxin. A parabolic, concave inward relationship between the fractional occupation of receptors by alpha-toxin and the decrement in permeability response is observed when the latter is tested over a range of agonist concentrations. Since alpha-toxin binding appears equivalent at each site on the receptor, the observed relationship is accommodated by a model where activation of a permeability response requires agonist occupation of two toxin-binding sites per functional receptor. Furthermore, the binding of alpha-toxin and agonist appears to be mutually exclusive, but occupation of either of the two sites by alpha-toxin is sufficient to block the functional capacity of the receptor. Consistent with this model, when a major fraction of sites is occupied by alpha-toxin, the concentration dependence for either carbamylcholine-mediated activation or desensitization of the remaining functional receptors is not detectably altered and retains positive cooperativity. In contrast, progressive occupation of the available sites by alpha-toxin leads to a decrease in apparent affinity and a corresponding loss of positive cooperation for agonist occupation functions generated upon instantaneous or following equilibrium exposure to the agonist. At high degrees of fractional occupancy to alpha-toxin, where the dominant species capable of binding agonist would contain a single bound toxin molecule, the Hill coefficient for the equilibrium occupation function for full agonists falls from a value of 1.4 to 0.7. By contrast, the binding isotherms for antagonists which typically exhibit values less than 1.0 are not altered following fractional irreversible occupation by alpha-toxin. Thus, the two binding sites on the receptor oligomer are not intrinsically equivalent for the binding of agonists and reversible antagonists. A scheme for desensitization of the receptor is presented which incorporates both nonequivalence in the two agonist binding-sites and the maintenance of symmetry in the receptor states undergoing transitions.

Mechanism by which cyproheptadine inhibits insulin secretion

1 Isolated islets of Langerhans from the rat have been used in studies designed to elucidate the mechanism by which cyproheptadine inhibits insulin secretion. 2 D-Glucose and tolbutamide, both of which require extracellular Ca2+ to produce insulin release, failed to evoke a secretory response from islets pretreated with cyproheptadine. Conversely veratridine, the calcium ionophore A23187 and theophylline, all of which are capable of mobilizing sufficient intracellular Ca2+ to evoke insulin secretion in the absence of extracellular Ca2+, produced similar responses from cyproheptadine pretreated and control islets. 3 Cyproheptadine completely inhibited Ca2+ uptake induced by D-glucose and high Ko+, two agents which depolarize the islet beta-cell membrane, whilst Ca2+ uptake elicited by removal of extracellular Na+ (i.e. Na+-Ca2+ counter transport) was only slightly reduced. 4 A significant increase in Na+ uptake produced by veratridine was sensitive to tetrodoxin but only partially reduced by cyproheptadine. 5 These results suggest that cyproheptadine inhibits depolarization-dependent calcium entry into pancreatic beta-cells.

ECT for schizophrenia

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in the treatment of schizophrenia was evaluated in a double-blind trial; the clinical change after ECT was compared with that after a treatment procedure identical to it but for two exceptions--no electricity was used and no convulsion was induced. All patients had paranoid schizophrenia according to Present State Examination criteria and all received standard doses of neuroleptics for at least 2 weeks before random assignment to the two groups. 20 patients completed the trial: 10 had ECT and 10 were in the control group. Treatment was given three times a week, with a minimum of eight treatments and a maximum of twelve. Clinical change was assessed by the Comprehensive Psychiatric Rating Scale. Both groups improved but the improvement of patients receiving ECT was significantly greater than that of controls both after six treatments (p=0.02) and at the end of treatment (p=0.004). Thus the group receiving ECT gained a clear and early advantage compared with the control group, although by 16 weeks there was little difference between the two groups. Possible reasons for this are discussed.

A comparative study of proteoglycans from bovine lung, trachea, tracheal mucosa, and aorta

Proteoglycans were isolated from bovine lung, trachea, tracheal mucosa, and aorta by dissociative extraction with 4M guanidinium hydrochloride. Fractionation of these tissue extracts by cesium chloride density centrifugation and gel chromatography allowed the isolation from each extract of a high molecular weight fraction consisting mainly of proteochondroitin sulfate and hyaluronic acid.

Development of the multiple molecular forms of acetylcholinesterase in chick paravertebral sympathetic ganglia: an in vivo and in vitro study

The development of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity and the distribution of this enzyme among its multiple forms was studied in both tissue extracts and dissociated cell cultures of chick paravertebral sympathetic ganglia. In agreement with previous findings, total AChE (expressed either per ganglion or per microgram protein) increased in vivo between the time of formation of the paravertebral chain (embryonic day 7; E7) to hatching (E20-E21). After this time, enzyme activity changed much more slowly. Sucrose gradient sedimentation analysis of AChE in ganglia of post-hatching chicks revealed multiple forms of AChE with S values of approximately 6.5, 11 and 19.5. Developmental studies showed that 6.5 S and 11 S forms are present as early as day E7. Much of the pre-hatching increase in total AChE is due to increased levels of the 6.5 S form of the enzyme. By hatching, this form comprised approximately 85-90% of the total AChE activity. In contrast, during the first week after hatching, the activity of the 11 S form increased several-fold while that of the 6.5 S remained approximately unchanged. The 19.5 S form, which is thought to be associated with the synaptic membrane, was not detected prior to day E17 and reached adult levels (2-3% of total AChE activity) by the first week after hatching. Development of AChE was also studied in dissociated cell cultures of embryonic ganglia. Essentially all the AChE activity in such cultures was found to be associated with the neurons. Total AChE activity of cultured E11 ganglia increased in a pattern which was both qualitatively and quantitatively similar to that which occurred in vivol. Furthermore, it was found that development of both the 6.5 and 11 S forms of AChE took place in vitro. In cultures of E8, E11, E15 and E19 ganglia, the distribution of activity between the two forms after various times in vitro was similar to that which was found for in vivo ganglia at an equivalent embryonic stage. Such changes were not affected by the elimination of nonneuronal cells from the cultures. Two aspects of in vitro development, however, differed from that which occurred in vivo. First, an increase in 11 S AChE did not occur at ages equivalent to the first week post-hatching. Second, the 19.5 S form did not develop (even after several weeks) in cultures of E8, E11 and E15 ganglia, nor was this form (which was removed during dissociation of the ganglia) regenerated in cultures of E19 ganglia. Such findings suggest that the pattern of development of AChE and its multiple forms in chick sympathetic neurons is in part intrinsically programmed into these cells at an early stage of development as well as in part regulated by extrinsic signals that these cells receive from their chemical and cellular environment.

Home teaching in the North-West: a pilot survey

The home teaching services in three counties and two metropolitan districts in the north-west were surveyed. A questionnaire was used to gather information relating to the number of children and range and types of problems referred, organization and staffing, and changes and developments in the services. Wide differences were found among the individual education authorities in these various aspects of home tuition. Although home teaching demands high professional skills it does not offer an attractive career structure and is very largely staffed by part-time women teachers.

Three types of human asialo-transferrin and their interactions with the rat liver

Three types of asialo-transferrin were obtained from immunologically pure human transferrin by chromatography on DEAE-cellulose, followed by desialylation and affinity chromatography on a column of the immobilized asialo-glycoprotein-binding hepatic lectin from rabbit liver. Of the asialo-transferrins, type 1 was derived from the principal DEAE-cellulose chromatographic component of transferrin, i.e. the one that contains two biantennary glycans. The two other asialo-transferrins (types 2 and 3) were derived from a minor DEAE-chromatographic transferrin component, which is assumed to possess one biantennary and one triantennary glycan. The three asialo-transferrin types were indistinguishable by electrophoretic mobility, but they were readily distinguished on the basis of their binding strengths to the hepatic lectin in intact rats. Glycan structures responsible for the difference in binding strengths between asialo-transferrin types 2 and 3 are not known. Metabolic studies in rats showed that none of the individual asialo-transferrin types was capable of generating a signal for endocytosis at low doses (<1mug/100g body wt.) and, consequently, most of the injected protein was recoverable with the plasma and the liver 35min after injection. However, endocytosis and catabolism of each asialo-transferrin type was readily induced by injecting a larger dose (50-250mug/100g body wt.) of unlabelled asialo-transferrin of the same type or of a different type a short interval after the labelled dose. These findings support the view that the dose-dependent uptake of human asialo-transferrin by the hepatocyte, as established in an earlier study with asialo-transferrin made from whole transferrin [Regoeczi, Taylor, Hatton, Wong & Koj (1978) Biochem. J.174, 171-178], also holds for these asialo-transferrin subfractions. Furthermore, the present studies indicate that asialo-transferrins of different carbohydrate compositions are capable of synergistically promoting endocytosis of each other.

Plague antibody in large African mammals

Plague hemagglutinating antibodies to a titer of 1:1,024 were demonstrated in 6.6% of buffalo and 0.3% of elephant sera tested 1 year after a plague epidemic in the same area.

Role of viruses and bacteria in acute wheezy bronchitis in childhood: a study of sputum

Sputum, nasal swabs, and throat swabs were obtained from 22 children aged between 5 and 15 years during 72 attacks of wheezy bronchitis. A virus, most commonly a rhinovirus, was isolated in 49% of all episodes and in 64% of 22 severe episodes requiring treatment with corticosteroids; the isolation rate was higher early in the illness than later. Virus was recovered more often from sputum than from the nose or throat, suggesting that viral replication occurs freely in the lower respiratory tract: the cytological findings in sputum were compatible with an inflammatory response to viral infection. Pathogenic bacteria appeared to play a minor role compared with viruses, and routine antibiotic treatment was probably of little value in moost cases. The significance of the results is discussed in relation to the pathogenesis of childhood wheezy bronchitis.