The use of computer-based simulation in a Master of Health Administration curriculum.

In this paper, the use of a simulation tool to support the appreciation of data and information by health administration students with varied backgrounds and educational training is discussed. Specifically, the authors developed educational and training material that can be used in a variety of courses to improve information management and decision making. Improved information management is being recognized as a critical component of the movement to achieve consistent quality in patient care, institutional performance, and policy planning. This is now especially important as new information systems are making data and good quality evidence increasingly more available. Ultimately, it is hoped that this process will lead to findings that will assist evidence-based decision making within all health providers.

Chromatographic purification and identification of polar metabolites of benazolin-ethyl from soybean.

The metabolism of benazolin-ethyl (4-chloro-2-oxobenzothiazolin-3-ylacetic acid ethyl ester), a post emergence herbicide, has been studied in soybean using (14C)-phenyl labelled compound. Preliminary studies were performed on excised soybean leaves. Following hydrolysis of the ethyl ester to benazolin acid (4-chloro-2-oxobenzothiazolin-3-ylacetic acid), extensive metabolism to polar conjugates was observed. The polar fraction from a Bligh-Dyer extraction was purified by solvent partitioning, preparative TLC and reverse phase HPLC with ion suppression. The two major metabolites were characterised by fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry with accurate mass determination as an aspartate conjugate and a malonyl-beta-glucose ester of benazolin acid. Subsequent experiments were performed by spraying intact plants at growth stage V4. The major polar metabolite isolated one month after treatment was identified as the aspartate conjugate by mass spectrometry and high resolution nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

Steady-state kinetic studies on benzylamine oxidase from pig plasma.

Steady-state kinetic studies on the enzyme benzylamine oxidase from pig plasma are described. Eadie-Hofstee plots with benzylamine as the varying substrate are non-linear; examination of this data indicates that the observed effects are probably due to the amine substrate participating in at least two reactions with enzyme. Ammonia and imidazole modify the activity of the enzyme; under specified conditions of pH or modifier concentration, the effect on the activity can be either activation or inhibition. Eadie-Hofstee plots of the data establish that the modifier also participates in at least three reactions with the enzyme. Eadie-Hofstee plots at pH 9 with oxygen as the varying substrate are linear, which allows kinetic parameters to be determined. From studies on the effect of ammonia and imidazole on these parameters, information has been derived on how these modifiers affect component steps of the catalytic cycle.

Properties of cupric ions in benzylamine oxidase from pig plasma as studied by magnetic-resonance and kinetic methods.

Benzylamine oxidase from pig plasma has been studied by a variety of chemical and physical techniques. 1. Analytical ultracentrifugation, gel electrophoresis and isoelectric-focusing studies suggest that the enzyme is composed of two subunits with closely similar primary structures. 2. E.s.r. and n.m.r. measurements show that the enzyme contains two well-separated (greater than 0.6 nm) Cu2+ ions at chemically distinct sites. Each Cu2+ ion is coordinated by two water molecules, one 'axial' and the other 'equatorial'. Both water molecules undergo fast exchange (10(5)--10(8) s-1) with solvent and are deprotonated in the pH range 8--9, but only the equatorial water molecule is displaced by the inhibitors N3- and CN-. 3. Kinetic and e.s.r. measurements show that azide and cyanide compete against O2 binding and also make the two Cu2+ sites identical. It is concluded that Cu2+ must participate in the re-oxidation of reduced enzyme by molecular O2.

Creatine kinase. Modification of the working enzyme.

Protection against inhibition of creatine kinase by iodoacetamide is measured by the decrease in the rate constant for the inhibition reaction; A mixture of purified substrates at equilibrium protects quite strongly when all the components of the mixture are nearly saturating. The protection by substrates 'working' in the forward direction only (from creatine and MgATP) was measured by carrying out the experiment rapidly at low concentrations of the enzyme; by varying the concentration of substrate it was found that the amount of protection when the substrates of the forward reaction are saturating is about 80% (100% protection would imply a value of zero for the rate constant of the inhibition reaction). The effects of Ca2+ and Mg2+ are compared. It is already known that the complex creatine-NO3--MgADP, which is considered to be either a transition-state analogue or an analogue of an intermediate in the reaction pathway, protects fully against iodoacetamide, whereas creatine and MgADP alone, or together without NO3-, do not protect. This suggests that the degree of protection by the working enzyme represents the proportion of enzyme molecules that have a conformation complementary to a creatine-PO3-MgADP intermediate.

Human placental diamine oxidase. Improved purification and characterization of a copper- and manganese-containing amine oxidase with novel substrate specificity.

1. Isoelectric focusing studies of human placental diamine oxidase showed the pI value of the active enzyme to be 6.5. This information was used in modifying the enzyme purification by incorporating column chromatography on DEAE-Sephadex with ionic strength and pH gradient elution and this, together with affinity chromatography on concanavalin A--Sepharose, gave a highly purified preparation, with a specific activity of 7.0 units/mg. 2. The enzyme gave the expected stoicheiometry with p-dimethylaminomethylbenzylamine as substrate (Keq. 2700) and also oxidized [8-arginine]vasopressin, [8-lysine]vasopressin, collagen and tropocollagen. Polyacrylamide gel slices showed identical migration of diamine-oxidizing and [8-lysine]vasopressin-oxidizing activity. 3. The molecular weight, determined by ultracentrifugation, sodium dodecyl sulphate/polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis, variable polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis and Sephadex G-200 column chromatography, was estimated to be approx. 70000. 4. E.s.r. spectroscopy showed that copper and manganese were present in the purified enzyme. This result was confirmed by atomic absorption spectroscopy, which indicated a stoicheiometry for copper and manganese of approx. 1.0 and 1.2g-atom respectively/70000mol.wt. unit. 5. The e.s.r. spectral intensity did not decrease nor did the spectral line shape change when excess of p-dimethylaminomethylbenzylamine was added to the enzyme. 6. Addition of K13CN to the enzyme eliminated the copper e.s.r. signal without affecting the manganese signal. 7. The placental enzyme therefore appears to differ from other amine oxidases in terms of its metal cofactor requirement, molecular weight and substrate specificity, and possible roles in vivo for this enzyme are discussed.