Serologic survey for selected infectious disease agents in swift and kit foxes from the western United States.

A serologic survey of swift fox (Vulpes velox) and kit fox (V. macrotis) from the western USA was conducted for 12 infectious diseases. Samples from swift fox were collected between 1987 and 1992 from Colorado (n = 44), Kansas (n = 10), and Wyoming (n = 9). Samples from kit fox were collected in California (n = 86), New Mexico (n = 18), Utah (n = 9), and Arizona (n = 6). Overall antibody prevalence rates were 33 of 110 (30%) for canine parvovirus (CPV), 9 of 72 (13%) for canine distemper virus (CDV), 23 of 117 (20%) for vesicular stomatitis New Jersey, 16 of 117 (14%) for vesicular stomatitis Indiana, six of 117 (5%) for Cache Valley virus, five of 117 (4%) for Jamestown Canyon virus, one of 97 (1%) for rabies virus, one of 117 (1%) for Colorado tick fever virus, and one of 117 (1%) for western equine encephalitis virus. In addition, antibodies were not found to Yersinia pestis, Francisella tularensis, and Borrelia burgdorferi in serum from 25 Colorado swift fox. Adult swift fox from Colorado had serologic evidence of exposure to CPV more often than juveniles. No juvenile swift fox from Colorado had serum antibodies to CDV. There were season-specific differences in serum antibody prevalence for CPV for swift fox from Colorado. No viruses were isolated from ectoparasites or fox from Colorado.

Intrauterine transmission of Borrelia burgdorferi in dogs.

To determine whether intrauterine transmission of Borrelia burgdorferi could exist in dogs, 10 female Beagles were inoculated intradermally with approximately 1,000 B burgdorferi on day 1 of proestrus; inoculation was repeated every 2 weeks during the gestation period. Ten female control Beagles were similarly inoculated with phosphate-buffered saline solution. Prior to the start of the study, all females and 3 males used for breeding were seronegative for B burgdorferi on the basis of results of the indirect fluorescent antibody test and immunoblot (western analysis. Similarly, results of culture of blood for B burgdorferi were negative. All 20 of the females were bred naturally. Blood samples were collected weekly for serologic testing and culture. Blood samples were obtained from live pups on day 1 of life, then weekly until pups were 6 weeks old when they were euthanatized. Tissues were obtained for culture and testing by use of polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Of 10 spirochete-inoculated (SI) females, 8 became infected with B burgdorferi as evidenced by spirochete culture results and/or PCR-detected B burgdorferi DNA in the tissues of females or their pups. Of the 10 SI females, 8 delivered litters (3 to 7 pups) that had at least 1 neonatal or 6-week-old pup with B burgdorferi DNA-positive tissues (by PCR), and spirochetes were cultured from tissues from pups of 2 litters.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Moral discourse about medicine: a variety of forms.

Moral evaluations of medical research and care focus on different issues, e.g., clinical choices, public policy and cultural values. Technical ethical concepts and arguments do not suffice for all issues. Analysis of the literature suggests that, in addition to ethical discourse, prophetic, narrative, and policy discourse function morally. The article characterizes each of these forms, and suggests the insufficiency of each if it is taken to be the only mode of analysis.

Prediction of brain and serum free amino acid profiles in rats fed graded levels of protein.

Daily weight gains and food intakes were measured in male, 120-g rats fed graded levels of dietary casein. After 14 d, serum and brain amino acid concentrations were measured. All physiological responses were tested for a functional relationship to dietary casein concentration. Food intake, weight gain and many serum amino acid profiles were shown to be saturable functions of percent casein in the diet. In general, essential amino acids increased in serum with increasing dietary casein concentration while nonessential amino acids decreased with increasing dietary casein concentration. Brain amino acid concentrations were shown to be linear functions of serum levels with the exceptions of phenylalanine and the acidic amino acids. Most amino acids showed a smaller range of values in brain than in serum. The exceptions were the levels of threonine, glutamine, serine and histidine, which were three times greater in brain than in serum. Brain levels of the neutral amino acids tryptophan and tyrosine were highly correlated with the amino acid/neutral amino acid ratios in serum, whereas leucine was negatively correlated. Brain histidine, which was inversely correlated with dietary casein, was found to correlate with specific food intake patterns. The four-parameter mathematical model for physiological responses was able to predict all the observed saturation type responses in the experiment.

Promoting dietary change: demonstrating reduction of dietary fat.

This short demonstration accomplishes several goals. People see where fat comes from and learn amounts needed to be removed. They practice substituting complex carbohydrate foods for fat. Most important, they learn that changing is not an "all-or-nothing" proposition. They can reduce dietary fat and still eat many of their favorite foods. This demonstration is a useful tool for nutrition educators who want to promote dietary change.

Death is not the enemy.

KIE: The authors, who are associated respectively with the University of Chicago's Department of Medicine and its Divinity School, reflect on the current intense preoccupation with the preservation of physical life and the denial of death as an integral aspect of human life. They question the development of technologies with the prime aim of prolonging life when the result is a "grotesque, fragmented, or inordinately expensive existence." They remind physicians that their major role is to improve the quality of life of their patients, which includes guiding them to a perspective in which the preservation of life does not become their "God."^ieng

A new protein quality evaluation index based on growth responses of rats.

The protein efficiency ratio (PER) is the official method for protein quality evaluation in the United States and Canada. Two other widely used indices of evaluation are the slope ratio and net protein ratio (NPR) methods. Each of these methods has problems associated with its calculation and interpretation. In this paper, a new index, actual protein utilization ( APU ) is discussed, and its relationship to the other indices is examined. Each of the indices is given a theoretical basis by relating it to the four parameter mathematical model for physiological responses. To compare the indices, growth bioassays were carried out using male rats (40, 60, 115 g) consuming three different proteins (casein, lactalbumin and soy) and an amino acid mixture (Rogers and Harper). Dose-response curves were generated for each diet, and the indices PER, NPR, Slope and APU were calculated. APU was shown to have certain characteristics that make it superior to the other methods of protein quality evaluation, i.e., it closely approximates the growth response curve and it incorporates a term for the protein intake required for maintenance.

Global brain failure in a nursing home resident population.

Data from a Minneapolis Professional Standards Review Organization (PSRO) are used to explore the frequency of global brain failure, a group of diseases, in a population of nursing home residents. Findings are related to three other studies of the same or similar phenomena. Approximately 15 per cent of all patients in the Minnesota database exhibit global brain failure as measured by functional impairment on mental and physical indices. Thirty per cent of the patients in the database are incontinent. These findings raise ethical issues concerning the care management of the global brain failure patient who has an irreversible and gradually fatal disease.

Effect of prostaglandin F2 alpha on pulmonary rapidly-adapting-receptors in the guinea pig.

Pulmonary rapidly-adapting-receptors ( RARs ) are sensory nerve endings whose afferent fibers can be recorded in the vagus nerve. RARs may play a role in reflex bronchoconstriction as seen in anaphylaxis. They can be stimulated by chemical mediators of anaphylaxis, such as prostaglandin F2 alpha (PGF2 alpha). PGF2 alpha aerosol was administered to saline and bovine serum albumin (BSA)-treated guinea pigs while recording the activity of RARs . PGF2 alpha (250 micrograms/ml) given for 7-13 minutes increased both tracheal pressure and nerve activity over that produced by saline exposure in untreated guinea pigs. PGF2 alpha administered for three minutes (5-100 micrograms/ml) increased RAR nerve activity in a dose-related manner in the first five minutes of the experiment only in the BSA treated guinea pigs. Since changes in tracheal pressure did not show a significant dose-response relationship, the RARs responding to PGF2 alpha seemed to be stimulated by a direct mechanism. No correlation was shown between tracheal pressure and RAR nerve activity during PGF2 alpha treatment. Whereas, a significant correlation was found between tracheal pressure and RAR nerve activity during histamine aerosol treatment (r = 0.985). Histamine aerosol (1 to 1000 micrograms/ml, 3 min.) increased intratracheal pressure for 3 out of 4 doses. RAR nerve activity increased significantly only at the highest dose. Therefore, a possible direct effect of PGF2 alpha upon RARs exists while the effect of histamine seems dependent upon changes in airway pressure in the guinea pig.

Control of physiological response in the rat by dietary nutrient concentration.

In three separate experiments, growing, male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed diets which contained: 1) graded levels of fiber 0-70%, 2) graded levels of pyridoxine 1-10 mg/kg diet, and 3) graded levels of casein 0-30%. The following physiological responses were measured in each respective experiment: 1) food intake, weight gain, serum triglycerides, 2) food intake, weight gain, SGPT levels, and 3) weight specific food intake, weight gain, relative testes weight. Diets were fed as a single source, and in each case, physiological response could be predicted as a function of dietary nutrient concentration. When self-selection is prevented, rats establish new steady-state response profiles, which are sigmoidal in shape and dependent on the interaction of the rats' genetic potential with the environmental configuration.

Professions as "callings".

The idea of an occupation as a "calling" refers to some moral and perhaps religious motives and to a vision of the larger ends and purposes that work serves. Professions are characterized by mastery of technical information, concepts and theories that guide choices, institutionalization that exercises social controls, and, at least traditionally, a service orientation. "Calling" without professionalization is inept, and a profession without a calling lacks moral and humane roots, loses human sensitivity, and restricts the vision of the purposes of human good that are served.