Plasma insulin, plasminogen activator inhibitor, and ankle-brachial systolic blood pressure ratio in overweight hypertensive subjects.

BACKGROUND: In hypertensive subjects, the ratio between ankle and brachial systolic blood pressure (ABI) has been shown to be an independent risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, particularly in the elderly. Plasma insulin may be an important interconnecting factor explaining this observation. PURPOSE: In a population of middle-aged subjects with essential hypertension and moderate overweight, we identified whether the decrease in the ABI ratio was associated with the clinical and biochemical factors involved in resistance to insulin. Patients with diabetes and/or arteriosclerosis obliterans of the lower limbs were excluded from the population. Subjects were or were not on antihypertensive therapy. RESULT: On the basis of univariate correlations, the ABI ratio was found to be significantly and negatively associated not only with the degree of abdominal fat distribution, but also with the usual biological features of resistance to insulin: plasma triglycerides and cholesterol; plasma glucose and insulin; and plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI) antigen. In a multivariate analysis in subjects with untreated hypertension, the ABI ratio was significantly and negatively associated with only three variables: age, plasma insulin and PAI antigen. In treated hypertensive subjects, only the role of age and insulin remained significant. CONCLUSION: Since the alterations of the ABI ratio may be considered as a marker of the changes in the structure and function of arteries of the lower limbs, the study provides evidence that plasma insulin and PAI antigen, independently of the presence of significant atherosclerotic occlusive lesions, are susceptible to alter the pressure wave transmission in conduit arteries of the lower limbs.

Prophage distribution in coryneform bacteria.

Four temperate bacteriophages of corynebacteria were isolated after UV induction. Phages phi 304L and phi 304S were both induced from Corynebacterium glutamicum ATCC 13058, ATCC 21488, ATCC 21649 and ATCC 21650 strains, and have no known sensitive host. Phages phi 15 and phi 16 were both induced from ATCC 14020 and ATCC 21792. Phage phi 15 formed turbid plaques on Corynebacterium sp. ATCC 21857 and on C. glutamicum ATCC 13058, ATCC 21488, ATCC 21649 and ATCC 21650. Phage phi 16 produced turbid plaques only on C. glutamicum ATCC 21792 cured of prophage phi 16. All these phages belong to the Siphoviridae family. Their genomes consist of a double-stranded DNA with cohesive ends and share no homology with each other. Prophages phi 16, phi 304L and phi 304S were integrated into their respective host chromosomes, whereas prophage phi 15 seemed to persist free in the cell. Cross-hybridizations between phage DNAs and total cellular DNA obtained from 20 strains belonging to the genera Corynebacterium and Brevibacterium did not show the presence of these prophages in strains other than their respective hosts.

Postoperative pain after inguinal herniorrhaphy with different types of anesthesia.

In a randomized, double-blind study, postoperative pain was assessed in 36 patients undergoing inguinal herniorrhaphy with three types of anesthesia: general (thiopental-nitrous oxide-halothane); general with the addition of local (infiltration of the abdominal wall with 0.25% bupivacaine along the line of the proposed incision); and spinal (0.5% bupivacaine). The severity of constant incisional pain, movement-associated incisional pain, and pain upon pressure applied to the surgical wound using an algometer was assessed with a visual analogue self-rating method at 24 h, 48 h, and 10 days after surgery. The addition of local anesthesia significantly decreased the intensity of all types of postoperative pain. This effect was especially evident with constant incisional pain that disappeared almost completely 24 h after surgery. With pain caused by pressure on the site of the surgical incision, the pain score difference between general and general plus local anesthesia was obvious even 10 days after the surgery (with 0.4-kg/cm2 pressure, the pain scores were 16 +/- 3 vs 2 +/- 1, P less than 0.01). The difference in postoperative pain scores between spinal and general anesthesia groups indicated that spinal anesthesia also decreases the pain intensity. However, this decrease is less pronounced than that seen with the addition of local anesthesia: movement-associated pain scores 24 h after surgery were 72 +/- 5 in the general anesthesia group, 40 +/- 6 in the spinal anesthesia group, and 16 +/- 3 in the general plus local anesthesia group (with P less than 0.002 between the groups).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

[Restoration, by glycine betaine, of growth and enzyme activities of Escherichia coli Lac-mutants]. / Restauration, par la glycine bétaïne, de la croissance et d'activités enzymatiques de mutants Lac- d'Escherichia coli.

Lac- mutants of Escherichia coli which presented a growth triggered by adding glycine betaine to the medium were isolated and characterized. Glycine betaine restores beta-galactosidase (strain AM 12) and lactose permease (strain AT42) activities. It is suggested that the right and active conformation of these enzymes, lost during mutagenesis, is restored, in vivo, in presence of this betaine.