A comparative study of the deacetylation of paracetamol by urodele and anuran amphibian organ cultures

1. p-Aminophenol is the major metabolite produced by urodele amphibian tissues in vitro. The deacetylation enzyme system involved is located in the liver microsomal fraction of Amphiuma means. 2. Paracetamol was deacetylated to p-aminophenol by organ cultures of liver, kidney, pancreas and stomach epithelium from adult A. means, by liver, stomach epithelium, bladder and lung cultures from neotenic larval Ambystoma tigrinum, and by adult Triturus cristatus carnifex in vivo. 3. Liver cultures from all seven urodele amphibian species metabolized paracetamol and produced p-aminophenol, but no evidence was found of paracetamol metabolism by liver cultures from any of five anuran amphibian species. 4. The significance of p-aminophenol production from paracetamol and of this difference within the Amphibia are discussed.

Immune responses to measles and smallpox vaccinations in malnourished children

Children with different levels of nutritional status were studied to determine their immune response to, and complications from, immunization with live measles vaccine and lyophilized smallpox vaccine. Two hundred forty-one children between the ages of 5 months and 9 years were examined to assess their nutritional status at the time of immunization. Sero-conversion was defined as a hemagglutination-inhibition titer to measles virus, of greater than or equal to 1:20 6 to 8 weeks after vaccination in initially sero-negative children. Of 111 initially sero-negative children 94% had an adequate immune response, shown by sero-conversion. Of 193 children without a smallpox vaccinationscar 97% were successfully immunized against smallpox. These rates of immune response were independent of age, sex, and nutritional status of the children. The geometric mean titer rise to measles immunization of groups, whose nutritional status was normal (greater than 90% of median weight for age), mildly (75 to 90%), moderately (60 to 75%), or severely (less than 60%) malnourished were 7.5, 8.8, 7.9, and 7.9, respectively. Malnutrition did not affect the children's ability to develop adequate immune response to measles of smallpox vaccine, and there were no major complications during the 8-week period of follow-up. Since measles is a very severe disease, which in malnourished children can carry a case fatality rate as high as 50%, malnutrition should be a prime indication for measles immunization, and certainly not a contraindication.

Multivariate assessment of conflict in distressed and nondistressed mother-adolescent dyads

A battery of measures was used to assess conflict between mothers and young adolescents (females and males, 11 to 15 years of age). Two groups of families, one composed of a distressed clinical sample (N = 38), the other a nondistressed normative sample (N = 40), participated. The assessment battery included retrospective judgments, frequency estimates, self-monitored home recording, and tape-recorded discussion of a home problem. Content of assessment measures tapped aspects of parental control, decision-making, self-reported interaction behavior, arguments, interaction behavior rated by independent "blind" observers, frequency and anger-intensity of specific problematic issues, and perceptions of positive and negative behaviors of the other family member. Based on univariate analyses, 21 of the 26 defined variables discriminated significantly in the predicted direction. Maternal and adolescent reports of behavior and independent ratings of tape-recorded interaction emerged as strong and consistent discriminators. Stepwise multivariate discriminant analysis provided successful classification of 100% of the families based on the inclusion of nine variables. In a cross-validation sample, 84% of the families were correctly classified. Implications for systematic outcome research as well as clinical application are discussed.

Steroid-dependent asthma treated with inhaled beclomethasone dipropionate in children

The efficacy of beclomethasone diproprionate aerosal (BDA) was studied in 27 steroid-dependent asthmatic children. In the double-blind portion of the study BDA was found to be superior to placebo. The benefits of BDA therapy were sustained through the two-year, open-label portion of the study. Adverse effects were few and minor. Transfer from oral corticosteroid therapy to BDA was carried out uneventfully and was not associated with untoward effects.