Erroneous gender differences in axillary skin surface/sweat pH.

Assessing accurately the pH of axillary eccrine sweat is of vital importance in the antiperspirant industry. Eccrine sweat pH is a critical parameter in determining the effectiveness of antiperspirants; antiperspirant salts dissolve in sweat and diffuse into the sweat glands, where the resultant acidic solution hydrolyses in more alkaline sweat forming an amorphous metal hydroxide gel, thereby restricting the flow of eccrine sweat. Comparison of the skin surface and sweat pH of males and females reported in the literature shows that, although consistent male/female differences have been observed on the forearm, determination of significant gender-based pH differences across other sites are less conclusive. Studies on the back and infra-mammary regions exhibited significant gender differences in skin surface pH, whereas those on the forehead, cheek, neck and inguinal area showed no such difference. With regard to the axilla specifically, four studies have been reported, three showing no significant difference in axillary skin surface pH and one indicating that females have an eccrine sweat pH of 7 and males have a sweat pH of 5.6. This paper describes a series of carefully controlled studies aimed at assessing potential gender differences in eccrine sweat and skin surface pH following exposure to a variety of temperature, humidity and time conditions. The results highlight the importance of controlling precisely the time of investigation, site of measurement and, most importantly, the necessity to pre-equilibrate samples in 40 mmHg carbon dioxide (equivalent to arterial CO(2) tension (pCO2)) before determining sweat pH. When these parameters are controlled no gender differences in axillary sweat or skin surface pH are observed. Large differences in eccrine sweat and skin surface pH are found, however, between the vault (hairy region) and fossa (non-hairy region) of the axilla.

Overexpression and activation of the tyrosine kinase Src in human pancreatic carcinoma.

Src family tyrosine kinases participate in the regulation of cell adhesion, cell growth and differentiation. Here, we examine for the first time the potential role of Src for growth regulation of human pancreatic carcinoma cells. By immunohistochemical analysis, Src was overexpressed in 13/13 pancreatic carcinoma tissue but not in 6 normal pancreatic tissue specimen. In Western blots of total cellular extracts, Src protein expression was elevated in 14/17 carcinoma cell lines as compared to normal pancreas or cultured human pancreatic duct cells. Kinase activity was only detectable in cancer cells and did not correlate with the amount of kinase protein or with the expression of the regulatory kinase Csk, indicating that Src is not regulated through protein expression or through expression of Csk. The Src-specific tyrosine kinase inhibitor herbimycin A decreased cell growth in a dose-dependent manner. We suggest that Src family kinases participate in growth regulation of pancreatic cancer cells.

[Immunity against poliomyelitis in the German Federal Republic (author's transl)]. / Untersuchungen zur Immunitätslage gegen Poliomyelitis in Deutschland.

The immunity of the populations of several countries of the GFR against poliovirus 1, 2 and 3 was investigated in 11 laboratories. Sera of 4707 persons aged 0 to 30 years were assessed for neutralising antibodies (serum dilution 1:4) against the 3 types of poliovirus. 34.5% of the 4707 investigated sera had no neutralising antibodies at least against one type of the poliovirus, 4.7% showed no antibodies against all 3 types of the virus. Especially children aged 0 to 4 years were protected incompletely against the 3 types of poliovirus. In comparison with similar investigations of 1969 and 1972 no decisive change of immunity of the population of the GFR against poliomyelitis has occurred.