Fear of AIDS among clinical laboratory scientists: a follow-up survey.

OBJECTIVE: To compare attitudes and behaviors about acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) of clinical laboratory scientists (CLSs) who are considering leaving the profession with those of CLSs planning to stay in the profession. DESIGN: Survey of a convenience sample of conference attendees. SETTING: Annual meetings of the New Jersey Society for Medical Technologists held April 4-5, 1990, in Woodbridge, New Jersey, and April 9-10, 1988, in Asbury Park, New Jersey. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 212 attendees at each conference. OUTCOME MEASURES: Scales measuring CLSs' knowledge of AIDS, fear of acquiring AIDS, satisfaction with employers' AIDS policies, and degree of compliance with universal blood precautions; and comparison of demographic data. RESULTS: Both surveys showed that, compared with CLSs planning to stay in the profession, CLSs considering leaving the field were more afraid of acquiring AIDS, less confident about their employers' AIDS policies, and equally knowledgeable about AIDS. CONCLUSIONS: CLSs who are considering leaving the profession are more cautious than those planning to stay, and the determinants that shape the fear of AIDS require further definition.

[Determination of water-soluble vitamins B1, B2, B6 and B12 in milk using HPLC]. / Bestimmung der wasserlöslichen Vitamine B1, B2, B6 und B12 in Milch durch HPLC.

Simple methods of determining the water-soluble vitamins B1, B2, B6 and B12 in milk by HPLC are described. Compared to existing procedures, the following improvements can be realized. The oxidation of vitamin B1 to thiochrome is stopped by the addition of sodium sulphite. This step significantly increases repeatability. Thiochrome is then extracted with butan-1-ol, which results in fewer co-extracts and greater selectivity. After the hydrolysis of the 5-phosphates of the vitamin B6 (pyridoxine, pyridoxal and pyridoxamine), these three vitamers are determined by isocratic HPLC as DDS-ion-pairs and with fluorimetric detection. As only microbiological methods have so far been used for the determination of minute quantities of vitamin B12 in milk, a new HPLC procedure is proposed with a detection limit of 0.2 micrograms vitamin B12/L milk.

Attitudes and behaviors of medical technologists as a result of AIDS.

To determine the influence of AIDS on the attitudes and behaviors of medical technologists, a survey was taken which shows that one quarter are considering leaving the field. Individuals who plan to stay in the profession are less fearful of AIDS, more satisfied with the policies their organizations have established regarding AIDS, and less willing to associate a declining employment situation to AIDS. Improvement in safe laboratory practices is present in both groups, but the individuals considering a move out of the field exhibit the largest change. A surprising result in that fear of AIDS is not related to or only weakly associated with traditional demographic and occupational variables, suggesting that other more complex factors are influencing the views and work habits of medical technologists as a result of AIDS.

Fear of AIDS and attrition among medical technologists.

Attitudes toward AIDS were measured by a survey of 212 attendees at the annual meeting of the New Jersey Society for Medical Technology. Twenty five percent of the respondents were considering leaving the profession because of a fear of AIDS. In addition, almost half would not have chosen the field knowing they would be handling HIV-positive samples. This high degree of concern may be an important factor contributing to the shortage of medical technologists.

[The determination of the herbicide glyphosate and its chief metabolite aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA) in drinking water with the aid of HPLC]. / Bestimmung des Herbicids Glyphosat und dessen Hauptmetabolit Aminomethylphosphonsäure (AMPA) in Trinkwasser mit Hilfe der HPLC.

A method for the determination of glyphosate and its major metabolite aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA) is described. With a detection limit of 0.02 microgram/l, the method suitably fulfills the requirements of the Swiss legislation (tolerance value of 0.1 micrograms/l water). The compounds are derivatized directly in the original water sample with 9-fluorenylmethyl chloroformate (FMOCC1) in order to obtain extractable and fluorescent derivatives. These are extracted with organic solvents and determined by HPLC using a fluorescence detector. Neither of the compounds could be detected in 151 tap water samples from the Canton of Berne.

[The transition of morantel in cow's milk following administration in the retard form, "Paratect Bolus" (Pfizer)]. / Zum Ubertritt von Morantel in Kuhmilch nach Applikation der Retardform "Paratect Bolus" (Pfizer).

The transition of Morantel into bovine milk was studied with three lactating cows. The active compound was administered as Paratect Bolus which continuously releases the anthelmintic agent. No residues of Morantel could be detected throughout the 92-day experiment (limit of detection: 0.5 micrograms Morantel tartrate/kg milk), nor could the compound be found in the blood serum at day 35 of the experiment. The same day an amount of 825 micrograms/kg was observed in faeces.

[Determination of piperazine in hen eggs with HPLC following oral administration]. / Bestimmung von Piperazin in Hühnereiern mit HPLC nach peroraler Applikation.

After oral administration of piperazine citrate to hens, this antihelmintic agent appeared unchanged in the eggs. After a therapeutic dose of ca. 0.9 g piperazine citrate per hen, a maximum level of 1.5 mg piperazine/kg egg was found two days after the application. The elimination half-life was 29 h and piperazine was found in the eggs up to 17 days after administration (limit of detection: 1 microgram/kg). Piperazine determination was performed by HPLC of the dansylderivative after clean-up by TLC.

[Thin-layer chromatographic determination of pyrantel in cow's milk and blood serum after oral administration of Banminth]. / Dünnschichromatographische Bestimmung von Pyrantel in Kuhmilch und Blutserum nach peroraler Applikation von Banminth.

After oral administration of the anthelmintic Banminth to cows the effective agent pyrantel appeared unchanged in blood serum and milk. After a therapeutic dose of 12,1 mg pyrantel tartrate/kg body weight, a maximum level of 8-9 micrograms/l could be found in milk 0-24 h after the application; the highest concentration of 22 micrograms/l in blood serum appeared after 10 h and the half-life time of elimination was ca. 15 h. Pyrantel determination in milk and blood serum was performed by quantitative thin layer chromatography. Positive results could be verified by HPLC.

Rapid and simple determination of aflatoxin M1 in milk in the low parts per 10(12) range.

A method for extracting aflatoxin M1 from milk is proposed in which the use of disposable Extrelut clean-up columns simplifies the analysis considerably in comparison with existing methods. The quantitative determination is based on one-dimensional thin-layer chromatography and fluorescence densitometric measurement. The detection limit is 5 ppt (parts per 10(12)) in milk and the recovery is 78 +/- 4% at a level of 50 ppt.

Determination of food preservatives and saccharin by high-performance liquid chromatography.

The quantitative analysis of benzoic and sorbic acid, methyl, ethyl and propyl esters of p-hydroxybenzoic acid and saccharin in foodstuffs is described. These compounds are quantitatively extracted with disposable clean-up columns packed with Extrelut and simultaneously determined by high-performance liquid chromatography on reversed-phase columns. Complicated matrices such as cheese, cake, ketchup and chocolate were tested and recoveries were generally better than 95% in the concentration ranges normally used in the food industry.

Coding A and coding B of the WISC are not equivalent tasks.

WISC Coding A and Coding B were administered to 50 subjects with minimal brain dysfunction and 75 controls whose ages ranged from 7 yr., 8 mo. and 0 days to 8 yr., 3 mo. and 30 days, with half of each group above 8 and half below. Standard scores showed significant differences between Coding A and Coding B suggesting that the two tasks are not equivalent forms. These differences suggested that separate information-processing modes related to hemispheric dominance may be present. Coding probably should not be used in calculating IQs but Coding B should be retained and separately utilized because it is directly related to symbol learning.

[The quantitative analysis of the mycotoxin patulin in fruit juices by high-pressure liquid or thin-layer chromatography (author's transl)]. / Neue Bestimmungsmethode des Mykotoxins Patulin mit Hilfe der Dünnschicht- und Hochdruckflüssigchromatographie.

A new method determining patulin in apple and grape juice is proposed. The juice is extracted with an Extrelut column and the quantitative determination is made by high-pressure liquid or thin-layer chromatography with lower limits of 5 and 20 ppb (10(9)), respectively. The recovery is more than 90%. Compared with other methods the proposed procedure is faster, needs less solvents and is therefore suitable for serial investigations.