Ontogeny of fetal movements in the guinea pig.

Assessment of fetal motility is an approach to evaluate the development and function of the nervous system before birth. Reference values for the time of first occurrence and the incidence of normal fetal movements are indispensable for studies in which prenatal motor activity is applied as a model to study the central and peripheral nervous systems. Studies on fetal motility have been performed in a few species, particularly in the human. The aim of the present study is to describe the ontogeny of fetal motility in the guinea pig, a precocious polytocous species. After a pilot study to establish procedures for repeated ultasonographic scanning of guinea pigs, 10 domesticated animals were scanned (5.0 or 7.5 MHz convex transducer) at 2-4 day intervals between day 24 and 63 of gestation (term age 68 days). Per animal two selected fetuses were each scanned for 15 min. Images were stored on videotape and analyzed off-line for the first onset, presence and quality of fetal movement patterns, and quantity of sideway bendings, general movements, breathing movements and periods of fetal rest. Twenty-five different movement patterns could be characterized, 6 emerging at the onset of motor activity were performed only temporarily. The very first fetal movement was observed on day 24 gestational age, and subsequently most other movements developed during a period of only 5 days. Interfetal difference in onset of the frequently occurring sideway bendings, general movements, and front and hind limb movements was only 2 days. Sideway bendings and general movements co-existed during days 29 to 43. There were developmental trends in the course of pregnancy. Sideway bendings increased rapidly between 24 and 30 days and declined hereafter. General movements and fetal breathing increased during midpregnancy and declined towards parturition. Conversely, fetal rest was observed for approximately 60% of time at midgestation and a marked increase was found towards parturition. There were no significant differences in developmental trend of the various movement patterns between individual fetuses. Fetal motility in the guinea pig followed a specific temporal pattern, like in the human, but at a different time scale. The present quantitative data will enable functional investigations into the role of the neuromuscular system. They may also facilitate studies on the effect of environmental influences, such as stress, drugs, toxic substances, and food conditions, on fetal neurobehavioural development in this species.

Should medical students learn to develop a personal formulary? An international, multicentre, randomised controlled study.

OBJECTIVE: This study was performed to determine whether students who are trained in developing a personal formulary become more competent in rational prescribing than students who have only learned to use existing formularies. METHODS: This was a multicentre, randomised, controlled study conducted in eight universities in India, Indonesia, the Netherlands, the Russian Federation, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain and Yemen. Five hundred and eighty-three medical students were randomised into three groups: the personal formulary group (PF; 94), the existing formulary group (EF; 98) and the control group (C; 191). The PF group was taught how to develop and use a personal formulary, whereas e the EF group was taught how to review and use an existing formulary. The C group received no additional training and participated only in the tests. Student's prescribing skills were measured by scoring their treatment plans for written patient cases. RESULTS: The mean PF group score increased by 23% compared with 19% for the EF group (p < 0.05) and 6% for controls (p < 0.05). The positive effect of PF training was only significant in universities that had a mainly classic curriculum. CONCLUSION: Training in development and use of a personal formulary was particularly effective in universities with a classic curriculum and with traditional pharmacology teaching. In universities with a general problem-based curriculum, pharmacotherapy teaching can be based on either existing or personal formularies.

Gastric mucosal superoxide dismutases in Helicobacter pylori infection.

BACKGROUND: The mucosal pathology of Helicobacter pylori infection may in part be due to excessive production of reactive oxygen metabolites (ROMs) by phagocytes. The influence of H pylori infection on mucosal superoxide dismutases, some major scavenger enzymes of ROM was investigated. In humans superoxidase dismutase is present in at least two forms-that is, mitochondrial manganese (Mn)-superoxide dismutase and cytoplasmic copper-zinc (CuZn)-superoxide dismutase. METHODS: The amount and activity of both superoxide dismutases were measured, respectively by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and spectrophotometrical enzyme activity assay, in gastric biopsy homogenates of patients with normal mucosa (n = 39) and in patients with H pylori related gastritis (n = 71). Infection and gastritis were confirmed by a combination of culture, serology, and histology. RESULTS: The amount (p < 0.001) and activity (p < or = 0.05) of Mn-superoxide dismutase were increased by about twofold to three-fold, whereas the amount and activity of CuZn-superoxide dismutase showed a slight decrease in gastric mucosa of patients with H pylori gastritis, in both antrum and corpus, compared with normal mucosa of patients without H pylori infection. Mn-superoxide dismutase concentrations in biopsy specimens of histologically normal corpus from patients with an inflamed antrum were significantly higher (p < 0.01) than that of patients with a histologically normal antrum. CONCLUSION: H pylori infection has a differential effect on mitochondrial and cytoplasmic superoxide dismutase in the gastric mucosa, reflected by a pronounced increase in the cytokine inducible Mn-superoxide dismutase and a marginal decrease in the constitutive CuZn-superoxide dismutase.