Active proliferation of mouse hepatocytes in primary culture under defined conditions as compared to rat hepatocytes

Mouse and rat hepatocytes were investigated for replicative potential in primary culture under defined conditions. Mouse hepatocytes replicated at least twice or three times by the 7th day of culture in response to EGF, while only a half of rat hepatocytes replicated once. Thus a far greater potential for proliferation was demonstrated by mouse than rat cells, although the mouse cells ceased dividing by the 10th day of culture. Immunocytochemical examination revealed that the cells produced both albumin and alpha-fetoprotein. Ultrastructural investigation revealed that these cells were immature hepatocytes in nature, based on the presence of microbodies with nucleoids. Thus, primary cultures of mouse hepatocytes seem to be a useful system for studying proliferation and transformation of hepatocytes in vitro.

Detection of Non-Conjugative Interactions in Rigid Cyclic Molecules by Using Carbon-13 N.M.R. Shift Values

In previous work, interaction between formally unconjugated unsaturated groups was detected by comparing the 13C n.m.r. shift values of the sp2 atoms of difunctional compounds with those of the corresponding monofunctional compounds. This procedure has now been used to investigate possible interactive effects in a range of rigid alicyclic systems where steric and conformational factors cannot be involved, namely, the 2,6-disubstituted adamantane (6), 4,8-disubstituted 2-thiaadamantane (7), 2,6-disubstituted noradamantane (8), and 2,5-disubstituted norbornane (9) systems. In each case interaction was detected between the unsaturated groups of the non-conjugated dimethylene, methylene ketone, and diketone derivatives of these ring systems. The nature of this effect is under further investigation.

New one handed ties including the surgeon's knot

These new techniques will be of some help in the hands of skilled surgeons in moments when only one hand is available for tying a knot, in relatively inaccessible areas, or in order to hasten the time involved in tying in order to leave more time for the operation itself. With practice, this technique will become as natural as any other method of tying, offering one more alternative of placing the knots, contributing to the versatility of the surgeon.

Isolation, chemical structure, acute toxicity, and some physicochemical properties of territrem B' from Aspergillus terreus

We have isolated a metabolite of territrem, designated territrem B', from the chloroform extract of a rice culture of Aspergillus terreus 23-1 by using the same isolation procedure as that for territrems A, B, and C. The present isolation procedure gave about 10 mg of territrem B' from 4 kg of rice culture per batch. Analysis of the high-resolution mass spectrum showed that the molecular composition of territrem B' is C29H34O10 (found, 542.2167; required, 542.200). Some results of physicochemical and acute tests are presented in this paper. Single-crystal X-ray diffractometry of territrem B' indicated that the three-dimensional structure of territrem B' has not changed significantly from that of territrem B except for the insertion of one oxygen atom into territrem B to make an additional pyron ring in the E ring. The tremorgenic activity of territrem B' is greatly reduced as tested by intraperitoneal injection in mice.

Peer review checklist: reproducibility and validity of a method for evaluating the quality of ambulatory care

This report describes the construction and evaluation fo a 35-item checklist used in performing peer review of ambulatory medical records. Scores obtained by using the checklist were evaluated for reproducibility. Ten reviewers, reviewing ten records on each of two occasions judged the records consistently item by item, 74 per cent of the time; 53 per cent greater than expected by chance (p less than 0.01). Pairs of reviewers, reviewing the same ten records, were consistent with one another, item by item, 72 per cent of the time; 35 per cent greater than expected by chance (p less than 0.05). Ten sick call patients were reexamined by an especially trained Reevaluation Physician who evaluated the quality with which they had been managed at the time of sick call. The medical records of the same ten patients were then reviewed with the Peer Review Checklist. The correlation between the quality scores obtained by the two methods were 0.72 and 0.74 on two trials. A correlation coefficient of 0.44 was found between the two evaluation methods when 89 cases were reviewed by a Peer Review panel composed of 10 different physicians. Peer Review Checklist scores correlated positively with scores obtained by using a series of disease specific protocols with explicit criteria. The correlations varied from 0.28 to 0.63 with six different disease specific protocols.