Contaminant source and release history identification in groundwater: a multi-step approach.

The paper presents a new multi-step approach aiming at source identification and release history estimation. The new approach consists of three steps: performing integral pumping tests, identifying sources, and recovering the release history by means of a geostatistical approach. The present paper shows the results obtained from the application of the approach within a complex case study in Poland in which several areal sources were identified. The investigated site is situated in the vicinity of a former chemical plant in southern Poland in the city of Jaworzno in the valley of the Wawolnica River; the plant has been in operation since the First World War producing various chemicals. From an environmental point of view the most relevant activity was the production of pesticides, especially lindane. The application of the multi-step approach enabled a significant increase in the knowledge of contamination at the site. Some suspected contamination sources have been proven to have minor effect on the overall contamination. Other suspected sources have been proven to have key significance. Some areas not taken into consideration previously have now been identified as key sources. The method also enabled estimation of the magnitude of the sources and, a list of the priority reclamation actions will be drawn as a result. The multi-step approach has proven to be effective and may be applied to other complicated contamination cases. Moreover, the paper shows the capability of the geostatistical approach to manage a complex real case study.

Spontaneous neoplastic lesions in aged Sprague-Dawley rats.

Neoplastic lesions were observed in untreated aged Sprague Dawley (SD) rats throughout their lifespan starting at 5 weeks. Their mean survival times were 89 to 105 weeks of age. The total tumor incidences were 70 to 76.7% and 87 to 95.8% in males and females, respectively. The common neoplasmas were pituitary adenoma and adrenal pheochromocytoma in both sexes, testicular Leydig cell tumor in males and mammary gland tumors, thyroidal C-cell adenoma and uterine stromal polyp in females.

Mutation induction by N-propyl-N-nitrosourea in eight MutaMouse organs.

As a part of the 2nd Collaborative Study for the Transgenic Mouse Mutation Assay, we studied the organ specificity and the temporal changes in mutant frequency (MF) of the lacZ gene following intraperitoneal injection of 250 mg/kg N-propyl-N-nitrosourea into male MutaMouse. We used a positive selection system and examined eight organs, i.e., bone marrow, liver, kidney, lung, spleen, brain, heart, and testis. The chemical caused a significant increase in MF in all organs except for brain, and the bone marrow was the most sensitive organ, exhibiting a MF on day 7 that was 10 times that of the control. The MF increased from day 7 to day 28 in liver, kidney, and testis, while it decreased in bone marrow. The relationship between the results of this study and the target organs of carcinogenesis, and the cause of the temporal changes in MF, are discussed.

War of Attrition with Individual Differences on RHP.

The fact that there always exists various kinds of almost continuous mutations for any animal population implies that players in competitions can never be perfectly symmetric in any sense. To develop a model to fit this reality, we consider war of attrition games in which players have continuously different resource holding potential (RHP). The RHP of each opponent is not known in our settings. Pure ESS functions and Nash equilibria are obtained under sufficiently rotational conditions as unique solutions of certain differential equations among the class of Lebesgue measurable functions. They are normal in that a higher RHP induces a longer attrition time, which implies that a player with greater RHP always wins. This model includes as the limit the conclusions of Maynard Smith (1974, J. theor. Biol. 47, 209-221) and Norman et al. (1977, J. theor. Biol. 65, 571-578), which did not consider individual differences in RHP. Our results suggest that, by changing each player's qualitative differences to continuous quantitative differences, some of the mixed ESS solutions previously found in discrete games may degenerate into pure ESS functions. Moreover, we found that the smaller the individual differences of RHP, the smaller is the mean pay-off of most individuals as well as the total pay-off of the population.Copyright 1998 Academic Press

Pharmacological studies on anethole trithione.

Pharmacological studies on trithio-p-methoxy-phenylpropene (anethole trithione, ANTT, Felviten) were performed. ANTT at a dose of 100 mg/kg, p.o. lowered the increased serum transaminases GOT and GPT, and protected the liver from injuries caused by CCl4 in mice. In other studies in vivo, ANTT at a dose of 1000 mg/kg showed no effect on the central nervous system or the autonomic nervous system. In vitro experiments with smooth muscle preparations showed no significant effects of ANTT.

The in vitro development of immunoglobulin producing cells from the human bone marrow null lymphocyte.

The distribution of human bone marrow lymphocyte population was studied on twenty normal adults. The distribution of bone marrow lymphocytes were as follows: null lymphocytes 79.4%, E-RFC 8.9%, Thy+ lymphocytes 0.4%, Tgamma 0.9%, Tmi 1.4%, SmIg+ cells 7.8%, EAC-RFC 11.7%, EA-RFC 6.2%, and K cells 2.7%. Bone marrow null lymphocytes were intermediate in their size between small lymphocytes and lymphoblasts. The presence of a lot of short microvilli on null lymphocytes was demonstrated by scanning electron microscopic examinations. The bone marrow null lymphocytes had no cytoplasmic Ig. When the bone marrow null lymphocytes were mixed-lymphocytes-cultured with allogeneic T lymphocytes and then stimulated with PWM, there developed Ig producing cells. Differences between pre-B cells and bone marrow null lymphocytes were discussed.

A case report of the immunodysplasia syndrome and heavy chain disease associated with subacute bacterial endocarditis.

A 36-year-old man was admitted to Saitama Medical School Hospital, because of a remittent fever which had continued for approximately 6 months, hepatosplenomegaly and lymphadenopathy. He had direct Coombs' test positive auto-immune hemolytic anemia associted with subacute bacterial endocarditis (SBE). The lymphnode demonstrated focal diffuse proliferation of immunoblasts and arborizing vessels with a few small germinal centers, which resembled histological features of the immunoblastic lymphadenopathy. The immunochemical analysis revealed the presence of free IgG Fc fragments in serum. From the above results the patient was diagnosed as immunodysplasia syndrome (IDS) and heavy chain disease (HCD) associated with SBE. It was suggested that the chronic antigenic stimulation due to SBE might have some role in the mechanism of the development of the IDS and HCD in our patient.

The presence of new permeability factor in serum of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and its significance.

We have found a new permeability factor in serum of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. It is non-dialyzable, heat stable, and long acting as compared to histamine or bradykinin which is short acting. It has no esterolytic nor smooth muscle contracting activities. It is not inhibited by anti-histamine drugs, soy bean trypsin inhibitor, DFP or Cl esterase inhibitor. It is independent of the kallikrein system. It has the common antigenicity with IgG Fc fragments. Its approximate molecular weight is about 55,000. So we tentatively call this permeability factor IgG-PF. Intravenous injections of HGG-anti-HGG immune complex, which has been formed by antigen-antibody reactions in 20 times antigen excess, into rats resulted in no immune complex nephritis. However, intravenous injections of HGG-anti-HGG immune complex with IgG-PF resulted in immune complex nephritis in rats. The above immune complex nephritis was inhibited by administrations of sulfapyridine but not by administrations of anti-histamine. These results indicate that IgG-PF plays some roles in the mechanism of immune complex nephritis.

A new method for evaluating an increased general capillary permeability in patients.

The difference between total plasma volume determined with a substance which escapes from vascular beds in the presence of an increase of general capillary permeability and that determined with a substance which is confined to blood even in the presence of an increased capillary permeability may reflect the degree of an increase of general capillary permeability. The total plasma volume was determined by simultaneous injections of 131I-HSA and 51Cr tagged red cells. The capillary permeability was evaluated by calculating the difference (deltaTPV) between total plasma volume determined with 131I-HSA and that determined with 51Cr tagged red cell. deltaTPV in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, chronic active hepatitis, liver cirrhosis and subacute baterial endocarditis was larger than that of controls, averaging 204ml/m2, 178 ml/m2, 82 ml/m2, 131 ml/m2 and 179 ml/m2, respectively. The increase of deltaTPV was considered to indicate the increase of capillary permeability in these patients. A permeability increasing factor was present in serum of patients with an elevated deltaTPV. There was a significant correlation between deltaTPV and the titer of serum capillary permeability increasing factor in these patients.

Fibrin degradation products in renal diseases.

Levels of serum fibrin degradation products (FDP) were determined in patients with acute nephritis, chronic nephritis, lupus nephritis and toxemia of pregnancy by the passive hemagglutination inhibition test. Serum FDP levels were less than 10 mug/ml in normal control adults, averaging 3.2 +/- 1.2 mug/ml. The incidence of serum FDP positive patients (more than 10 mug/ml) in those with acute nephritis, chronic nephritis, lupus nephritis and toxemia of pregnancy was 28%, 73%, 100% and 100%, respectively. Their serum FDP levels averaged 8.4 +/- 5.6 mug/ml, 16.0 +/- 5.9 mug/ml, 21.4 +/- 7.6 mug/ml and 35 mug/ml, respectively. Plasma fibrinogen levels, prothrombin time, partial thromboplastin time, euglobulin lysis time and platelet counts were within normal limits in serum FDP positive patients with renal diseases, indicating that there was no severe disseminated intravascular coagulation. All FDP positive patients with renal diseases of immunological origin demonstrated the deposition of fibrin within glomeruli with complement and immunoglobulin deposits. However, FDP positive patients with toxemia of pregnancy demonstrated fibrin depositions within glomeruli without complement and immunoglobulin deposits. FDP D fragments of urine from lupus nephritis patients showed no changes in immunoelectrophoretic patterns by heat treatment, indicating that urine FDP was derived from secondary fibrinolysis.

[Results of treatment with Pavlik harness for congenital dislocation of the hip (author's transl)]. / Die Behandlung der angeborenen Hüftgelenksluxation durch die Pavlik-Bandage. Ergebnisse von 168 eigenen Fälen

The results of treatment with Pavlik harness in 168 hip joints have been reviewed. The average follow-up period was 8 years 6 months. In total 114 hip joints were treated only by Pavlik harness. Four hip joints were treated by surgical methods after conservative treatment. The results were very good in 81.0%. Subluxated hips were in 8.9%. Coxa valga et antetorta in 6.0% and deformed head in 4.1%. In a high percentage of our cases radiologically very good results were found. Joint development must be further followed up.