Limitation of joint mobility and shoulder capsulitis in insulin- and non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus

Limited joint mobility and shoulder capsulitis were evaluated in 109 consecutive diabetic patients attending an out-patient diabetic clinic. Forty-nine had insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) and 60 had non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM). Seventy-five normal subjects were also examined. Limitation of joint mobility was detected in 24 (49%) patients with IDDM and in 31 (52%) patients with NIDDM but in only 17 (20%) normal subjects (p less than 0.001). There were no significant differences between diabetic patients with and without joint limitation with regard to age, sex, type of DM, mean daily insulin dosage and overall diabetic control as assessed by estimation of glycosylated haemoglobin concentration. However, patients with impaired joint mobility had a longer duration of diabetes (p = 0.01) and a significantly increased frequency of retinopathy compared to patients without joint limitation (p less than 0.05). Normal subjects with restricted joint mobility were older than those without restriction (p = 0.05). Shoulder capsulitis was present in 19% of patients with diabetes mellitus and 5% of normal subjects. However, there was no significant association between limited joint mobility and shoulder capsulitis in the diabetics.

Compression fractures of the dorsal spine in hypoglycemic fits in diabetes

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Application of Bayes' theorem to the diagnosis of ankylosing spondylitis from radioisotope bone scans

The ratio of the uptake of radioactivity in each sacroiliac joint to the uptake in the sacrum has been measured in 57 patients with early ankylosing spondylitis and in 51 control subjects. The distribution of ratios of uptake obtained in each of these two groups shows appreciable overlap, and it is shown that the specification of a 'normal range' in this sort of situation can be misleading in the interpretation of the uptake ratio obtained in a given subject. An alternative approach described here is to use Bayes' theorem, which combines a probability based on the numerical value of the measured ratio with the pretest clinical impression about the likelihood of ankylosing spondylitis to yield a post-test probability of the presence of the disease.

Gc (vitamin D binding protein) subtypes in rheumatoid arthritis

Two hundred and six patients with rheumatoid arthritis were examined for their association with the subtypes of Gc (vitamin D binding protein). In patient groups there is 11% excess of individuals with Gc*2 allele compared to the control group, giving a relative risk of 1.55. This risk increases with the humoral status of the individual. A possible physiological basis between the association of vitamin D binding protein and rheumatoid arthritis is discussed.

Further studies on tetracycline-induced mutation in V79 Chinese hamster cells

The interaction between ultraviolet light and tetracycline in producing cell killing and mutation has been studied in V79 Chinese hamster cells. It has been established that these agents act independently of each other. Cycloheximide altered the response to tetracycline in the fractionation experiment: when cycloheximide was not present, fractionation of TC treatment resulted in a higher mutation yield but no change in survival level; in the presence of cycloheximide, however, mutation was greatly reduced but survival increased. The results were taken to indicate that for tetracycline action to take place, de novo protein synthesis during tetracycline treatment was necessary. Caffeine had no influence on tetracycline-induced lethality or mutagenicity. This observation was considered to suggest that tetracycline did not affect cellular repair processes.

Survival and mutation of Chinese hamster cells after ultraviolet irradiation and caffeine treatment

UV-irradiated Chinese hamster cells on post-irradiation treatment with caffeine in growth medium for 24 h gave rise to biphasic UV-survival curves. At caffeine concentrations between 0.001 and 0.1 mM, control and caffeine-grown cells had similar survival curves initially from 0 to 30 J/m2. At fluences greater than 30 J/m2, there was effectively only little further killing of caffeine-grown cells beyond that observed at 30 J/m2. At concentrations of caffeine greater than 0.5 mM, there was a gradual sensitization in the early part of the survival curve with increasing caffeine concentrations; but at fluences greater than 30 J/m2, the slopes in the survival curves decreased very much. It has been proposed that the initial sensitization observed at low UV fluences is due to the suppression of post-replication repair by caffeine. After high fluences of UV exposures in these excision-deficient cells, in the presence of caffeine, the possibility of an induced 'SOS'-like repair process has been suggested. This suggestion was supported by the observation that caffeine increased the yield of the UV-induced 8-azaguanine-resistant mutants only for the cell population exposed to UV fluences greater than 30 J/m2.

Tetracycline-induced mutation in cultured Chinese hamster cells

After tetracycline hydrochloride (TC) treatment for 48 h, we obtained 8-azaguanine-resistant mutants in a population of cultured Chinese hamster cells. Optimal expression of mutation was reached after about 5 days, and mutation frequency remained constant thereafter. There was a gradual increase in the yield of mutants with increasing doses of TC, and measurable yield was observed at a dose as low as 10 microgram of TC per ml. When the cells, before or after the TC treatment, were grown in presence of L-ascorbic acid (10 or 20 microgram/ml) for 48 h, there was significant decrease in the frequency of mutation induced by TC. If L-ascorbic acid were present at the same concentration during the treatment with TC, no significant influence on the induction of mutants by TC was detected.