Coping and self-image in patients with symptoms attributed to indoor environment.

This study investigated self-image and coping ability in a group of patients with symptoms from indoor environment. A follow-up questionnaire was sent to 239 patients previously referred with nonspecific building-related symptoms at University Hospital in Umeå, Sweden. One hundred seventy-four women and 14 men answered and the patient group rated their self-image as more spontaneous, more positive, and less negative than a control group. The patient group rated higher on the cognitive scale in the Coping Resources Inventory (CRI) than the control group. The female patients had an increased risk of not being able to work associated with a low score on negative self-image. The authors conclude that certain personality traits may be potential risk factors that increase the probability of encountering and experiencing stressful work situations. The resulting stress may increase workers' susceptibility to indoor environment exposure.

Medical and social prognoses of non-specific building-related symptoms (Sick Building Syndrome): a follow-up study of patients previously referred to hospital.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to describe and analyse the medical and social prognoses of patients with non-specific building-related symptoms. METHODS: A follow-up questionnaire focusing on current medical and social status, care, treatment, other actions taken and personality traits was sent to 239 patients with non-specific building-related symptoms assessed during the period between 1986 and 1998 at University Hospital in Umeå, Sweden. The response rate was 79%. RESULTS: Fatigue, irritation of the eyes, and facial erythema were the most common weekly symptoms reported at follow-up. As females constituted 92% of the respondents, statistical analyses were restricted to women. The level and severity of symptoms decreased over time, although nearly half of the patients claimed that symptoms were more or less unchanged after 7 years or more, despite actions taken. Twenty-five percent of the patients were on the sick-list, and 20% drew disability pension due to persistent symptoms at follow-up. The risk of having no work capabilities at follow-up was significantly increased if the time from onset to first visit at the hospital clinic was more than 1 year. This risk was also significantly higher if the patient at the first visit had five or more symptoms. All risk assessments were adjusted for length of follow-up. Symptoms were often aggravated by different situations in everyday life. CONCLUSIONS: Long-lasting symptoms aggravated by environmental factors exist within this group of patients. The results support that early and comprehensive measures for rehabilitation are essential for the patients.

Serial investigation of perfusion disturbances and vasogenic oedema in hypertensive encephalopathy by diffusion and perfusion weighted imaging.

Serial MRI including diffusion and perfusion imaging was performed in a patient with hypertensive encephalopathy. At admission, the patient was disorientated and presented with seizures and cortical blindness. Perfusion imaging showed a marked reduction in blood volume and flow, with corresponding vasogenic oedema in the occipital, posterior temporal, and, to a lesser extent, frontal lobes. The clinical symptoms disappeared rapidly following treatment, whereas the disturbed circulation pattern and vasogenic oedema resolved more slowly. A complete normalisation was seen after 1 year.

Assembly intermediates among adenovirus type 5 temperature-sensitive mutants.

Temperature-sensitive mutants from three different complementation groups, ts5, ts19, and 6s58, have been shown to accumulate assembly intermediates at the restrictive temperature. The polypeptide composition of these intermediates is similar to that of the wild type, including the precursor polypeptides pVI, pVII, and pVIII. ts5 and ts19 also contained cleaved precursors, indicating assembly into defective virions. The increase of infectious virus after temperature shift-down of ts19 and ts58 was rapid when compared with that of ts24, which does not accumulate intermediates, suggesting that intermediates formed at nonpermissive temperature may be processed to mature virus. However, shift-down experiments reveal that only a fraction of the intermediates are utilized for virus assembly and that degradation of intermediates occurs at the restrictive temperature.

Intermediates in adenovirus assembly.

Three intermediates in adenovirus assembly have been defined; nuclear intermediates, young virions, and mature virions. The nuclear intermediates are fragile and heterogenous in size (550S-670S) and withstand separation on ficoll gradients but fall apart upon CsCl gradient centrifugation unless prefixed with glutaraldehyde. They contain both capsid and core structures, and the core structures are preferentially released during purification in CsCl. The precursor polypeptides pVI and pVII are present in the intermediates without any corresponding mature polypeptide. The young virions (Ishibashi and Maizel, 1974) are stable and preferentially confined to the nuclei after cell fractionation. They contain both uncleaved precursor polypeptides and their cleavage products. The mature virions accumulate in the cytoplasm during cell fractionation and contain the final mature polypeptides. Pulse-chase labeling kinetics, focusing on the precursor polypeptides, suggest that these three classes participate in assembly of adenovirus. Tryptic peptide maps establish that polypeptide pVI is the precursor of polypeptide VI, but only a small fraction of polypeptide 26K can in vivo account for polypeptide VIII.