Liver involvement in measles infection of young adults

Abnormal liver function was found in 34 (52%) of 67 young adults with measles; 5 of them (7%) also had a rise in bilirubin levels accompanied by icterus. Awareness of liver involvement in measles has been steadily increasing; consideration should be given to hepatitis as a possible complication of measles in young adults.

Agaridoxin: a fungal catecholamine which acts as an alpha 1 agonist of mammalian hypothalamic adenylate cyclase

Agaridoxin, a catecholamine isolated from mushrooms, and 4 synthetic analogues cause activation of adenylate cyclase in the presence of guanylyl imidodiphosphate (Gpp(NH)p) in membrane particles prepared from rat hypothalamus. These compounds also activate adenylate cyclase preparations from rat kidney, liver and cerebral cortex. In the presence of tyrosinase, these compounds are readily oxidized to quinones which lack agonist activity. Studies with selective adrenergic blockers suggest that agaridoxin acts at an alpha 1-type receptor. Agaridoxin-mediated adenylate cyclase stimulation is most effectively antagonized by WB-4101 and phenoxybenzamine, while propranolol and yohimbine are without inhibitory effect. Agaridoxin and the alpha 1 agonist methoxamine inhibited the binding of [3H]WB-4101 in rat hypothalamic and cerebral cortical membranes. The values of Ki for both compounds are lower than that of norepinephrine. The agaridoxin analogue, 4-aminocatechol hydrochloride, is a more effective and potent adenylate cyclase activator than agaridoxin or methoxamine.

Decreased calcium content in patients with digoxin intoxication

The platelet calcium content, the plasma calcium level and the serum digoxin were examined in 90 individuals divided into the following four groups : I -- patients with digoxin intoxication; II -- treated with digoxin; III -- treated with digoxin and furosemide, and IV -- control subjects. The patients with digoxin intoxication showed a lower platelet calcium content as compared to subjects of the other groups (p less than 0.001), whereas the serum digoxin level was significantly higher than in the patients of groups II and III (p less than 0.001). Since the examination of the platelet calcium level is a relatively simple and rapid procedure, with reliable results, its use as a routine method in the determination of digoxin intoxication is suggested.

Identification of mycolutein and pulvomycin as aureothin and labilomycin respectively

Two antibiotics isolated from a culture MA-2465 were identified as aureothin and labilomycin, the chemical structures of which had been reported previously. It was also concluded that mycolutein and pulvomycin isolated as antibiotics in 1955 and 1957 respectively are also identical with aureothin and labilomycin. A cursory study of MA-2465 indicates that it is distinctly different from the culture which was first observed to produce labilomycin and is probably different from the organism first noted to produce aureothin.

Correction

Professor A. N. Winchell, of the University of Virginia, has called our attention to some inconsistencies in our paper "Crystalline Salts of Dihydrostreptomycin" (Science, 1949, 109, 515). In the section describing the microscopic examination of crystalline dihydrostreptomycin sulfate, the following correction should be made: Lines 30 and 31 should read: "2V (calculated) 89 degrees ; extinction, parallel and/or oblique; extinction angle 18 degrees " instead of "2V (calculated) -89 degrees ; extinction, parallel; extinction angle -18 degrees ."