Prevalence of Malignancies in Patients With Primary Aldosteronism.

CONTEXT: Primary aldosteronism (PA) is the most common cause of secondary hypertension. Aldosterone excess can cause DNA damage in vitro and in vivo. Single case reports have indicated a coincidence of PA with renal cell carcinoma and other tumors. However, the prevalence of benign and malignant neoplasms in patients with PA has not yet been studied. PATIENTS AND DESIGN: In the multicenter MEPHISTO study, the prevalence of benign and malignant tumors was investigated in 335 patients with confirmed PA. Matched hypertensive subjects from the population-based Study of Health in Pomerania cohort served as controls. RESULTS: Of the 335 PA patients, 119 (35.5%) had been diagnosed with a tumor at any time, and 30 had two or more neoplasms. Lifetime malignancy occurrence was reported in 9.6% of PA patients compared to 6.0% of hypertensive controls (P = .08). PA patients with a history of malignancy had higher baseline aldosterone levels at diagnosis of PA (P = .009), and a strong association between aldosterone levels and the prevalence of malignancies was observed (P = .03). In total, 157 neoplasms were identified in the PA patients; they were benign in 61% and malignant in 25% of the cases (14% of unknown dignity). Renal cell carcinoma was diagnosed in five patients (13% of all malignancies) and was not reported in controls CONCLUSION: Compared to hypertensive controls, the prevalence of malignancies was positively correlated with aldosterone levels, tended to be higher in PA patients, but did not differ significantly.

High-pressure-temperature gradient instrument: use for determining the temperature and pressure limits of bacterial growth.

A pressurized temperature gradient instrument allowed a synoptic determination of the effects of temperature and pressure on the reproduction of bacteria. The instrument consisted of eight pressure vessels housed parallel to each other in an insulated aluminum block in which a linear temperature gradient was supported. For a given experiment, eight pressures between 1 and 1,100 bars were chosen; the linear temperature gradient was established over an interval within -20 to 100 degrees C. Pure cultures and natural populations were studied in liquid or solid medium either in short (ca. 2-cm) culture tubes or in long (76.2-cm) glass capillaries. In the case of a pure culture, experiments with the pressurized temperature gradient instrument determined values of temperature and pressure that bounded its growth. Feasibility experiments with mixed populations of bacteria from water samples from a shallow depth of the sea showed that the instrument may be useful in identifying the extent to which a natural population is adapted to the temperatures and pressures at the locale of origin of the sample. Additional conceived uses of the instrument included synoptic determinations of cell functions other than reproduction and of biochemical activities.

Reproduction of Bacillus stearothermophilus as a Function of Temperature and Pressure.

The colony-forming ability and the rate of reproduction of Bacillus stearothermophilus were determined as a function of temperature and pressure. Colonies were formed between 39 and 70 degrees C at atmospheric pressure and between 54 and 67 degrees C at 45 MPa. Colonies did not form at 55.9 MPa. The rate of reproduction in broth cultures decreased with increasing pressure at all temperatures. The rate of reproduction diminished rapidly with pressure above 10.4 MPa. Therefore, increased hydrostatic pressure was not sufficient to enable B. stearothermophilus to function beyond the temperature limiting growth and reproduction at atmospheric pressure, and B. stearothermophilus should grow in naturally or artificially warmed regions of the deep sea, where the pressure is less than approximately 50 MPa, although growth rates would be low above 10 MPa.

Death of a hadal deep-sea bacterium after decompression.

An obligately barophilic bacterium that was recovered from a depth of 10,476 meters in the Pacific Ocean slowly lost colony-forming ability (assayed at 101.3 megapascals and 2 degrees C) during incubation at atmospheric pressure and 0 degrees C.

Dependence of reproduction rate on pressure as a hallmark of deep-sea bacteria.

Strains of bacteria in axenic culture were isolated from samples of depths between 1,957 and 10,476 m of the Pacific Ocean. All of the bacteria from this range of depths were barophilic. The pressure at which the rate of reproduction was maximal was found to be correlated with the depth of origin of the isolates.

Thermal Inactivation of a Deep-Sea Barophilic Bacterium, Isolate CNPT-3.

The barophilic deep-sea bacterium, isolate CNPT-3, was inactivated by exposures to temperatures between 10 and 32 degrees C at atmospheric pressure. Inactivation in samples from warmed cell suspensions was measured as the loss of colonyforming ability (CFA) at 10 degrees C and 587 bars. At atmospheric pressure, there was a slow loss of CFA even at 10 degrees C. The loss of CFA was rapid above 20 degrees C and only slightly affected by high pressures. The first-order rate constants for thermal inactivation fit the Arrhenius equation with an activation energy of 43 kcal (ca. 179.9 kJ)/mol. Light microscopy and scanning transmission electron microscopy revealed morphological changes due to warming of the cells. The changes ensued the loss of CFA. The results supported the hypothesis from an earlier work that indigenous (autochthonous) deep-sea bacteria from cold deep seas are both barophilic and psychrophilic. If ultimately sustained, these characteristics may be useful in designing experiments to assess the relative importance of the autochthonous and allochthonous bacteria in the deep sea. The data were used to evaluate how barophilic bacteria may have been missed in many investigations because of warming of the cells during sample retrieval from the sea or during cultivation in the laboratory. The evaluation revealed the need for temperature and pressure data during retrieval of samples and cultivation in the laboratory. Most deep-ocean microbiology may be possible with thermally insulated equipment for retrieval from the sea and with high-pressure vessels for laboratory incubations.

Obligately barophilic bacterium from the Mariana trench.

An amphipod (Hirondellea gigas) was retrieved with decompression in an insulated trap from an ocean depth of 10,476 m. Bacterial isolates were obtained from the dead and cold animal by using silica gel medium incubated at 1000 bars (1 bar = 10(5) Pa) and 2 degrees C. The isolate designated MT41 was found to be obligately barophilic and did not grow at a pressure close to that of 380 bars found at average depths of the sea. The optimal generation time of about 25 hr was at 2 degrees C and 690 bars. The generation time at 2 degrees C and 1,035 bars, a pressure close to that at the depth of origin, was about 33 hr. Among the conclusions are: (i) pressure is an important determinant of zonation along the water column of the sea; (ii) some obligately barophilic bacteria survive decompressions; (iii) the pressure of optimal growth at 2 degrees C appears to be less than the pressure at the depth of origin and may be diagnostic for the depth of origin; (iv) rates of reproduction are slow yet significant and an order of magnitude greater than previously thought; and (v) much of deep-sea microbiology may have been done with spurious deep-sea organisms due to warming of samples.

Isolation of a deep-sea barophilic bacterium and some of its growth characteristics.

A bacterium, a spirillum, has been isolated from a deep-sea sample and has been found to grow optimally at about 500 bars and 2 degrees to 4 degrees C. These conditions are similar to those prevailing at the 5700-meter depth from which the sample was collected. The organism grows at these pressures and temperatures with a generation time of between 4 and 13 hours; at atmospheric pressure and 2 degrees to 4 degrees C, the generation time is about 3 to 4 days.

Silica gel media for isolating and studying bacteria under hydrostatic pressure.

Individual colonies of micrococcus euryhalis and of a marine bacterial isolate were grown in pour tubes under hydrostatic pressure. The medium was prepared in a silica sol, and gelation was effected at 4 degrees C by addition of salts to achieve concentrations found in seawater.

The action of immobilized thrombin on factor VIII, fibrinogen and a synthetic tripeptide.

Bovine thrombin was insolubilized by attachment to cyanogen bromide-activated Sepharose (Sepharose-thrombin) or to activated (Affi-Gel 10) agarose containing a 10 A long arm (Affi-Gel-thrombin). Coupling in both instances approximated 7,000 units of thrombin per ml packed gel as determined by 125I-thrombin incorporation. The thrombin beads hydrolyzed the synthetic tripeptide Bz-Phe-Val-Arg-pNA (S-2160) at different rates, with the Sepharose-thrombin more active (220 esterase units per ml) than Affi-Gel thrombin (20.4 units per ml). The Km was significantly higher for the insolubilized thrombins (2 X 10(-3) M) than uncoupled thrombin (Km = 8 X 10(-5) M). The Sepharose-thrombin activated factor VIII significantly more rapidly than Affi-Gel-thrombin. Neither matrix-bound thrombin clotted a fibrinogen solution or liberated significant amounts of fibrinopeptides over 48 hr. This data indicates that a proteolysis of factor VIII, rather than a complex with thrombin, is the method of activation of factor VIII and that factor VIII is more accessible to the action of immobilized thrombin than is fibrinogen.

Respiration correction for microbial heterotrophic activity assays that use tritium-labeled substrates.

Filtrates from microbial heterotrophic activity assay experiments in which tritiated glucose was used as a radioactively labeled substrate were collected, and their radioactivities were determined. These filtrates were subsequently evaporated to dryness to remove tritiated water generated by metabolism of the labeled glucose; the residue was suspended to original volume with distilled water, and the tritium levels were again assayed. In the water samples assayed, the amount of tritium label retained by the microorganism was about 75% of that respired.

Alternative model and approach for determining microbial heterotrophic activities in aquatic systems.

Increasing amounts of high-specific-activity tritiated organic compounds were added to samples of several natural waters such that in situ substrate concentrations might be approximated. The uptake responses by the native heterotrophic microflora suggested that (i) heterotrophic populations metabolize the added nutrients, but (ii) these responses are not necessarily a reflection of Michaelis-Menten enzyme kinetics. The uptake kinetics appeared to be due to dilution of the naturally occurring metabolite by added radioactive substrate and physiological responses of the microflora to organic enrichment.

Heterotrophic activities of bacterioneuston and bacterioplankton.

Numbers of viable bacteria as indicated by colony-forming units (CFU), microbial adenosine triphosphate levels, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), particulate organic carbon and nitrogen (POC and PON), glucose concentration, heterotrophic potential (Vmax), and in situ heterotrophic activity (Vn) of near-surface microlayer samples (70-80 mum depth), the neuston, and bulk column water samples (0.2-1.5 m depth), the plankton, of several natural waters were compared. DOC and glucose concentration values of near-surface and bulk water were similar, whereas POC and PON values of the near-surface were normally one order of magnitude greater than those of bulk water. Viable counts were generally greater in the neuston, but ATP levels were greater in the plankton. Comparative values of total heterotrophic potentials and heterotrophic activities fluctuated greatly. Heterotrophic potential per CFU of the neuston was 33% of that of the plankton; neuston heterotrophic activity per CFU was 10% of that of the plankton. These data suggest that neustonic heterotrophic bacteria are not as metabolically active as their planktonic counterparts and that they are under greater stress at the near-surface than in the column water.