Immunoisolation of adult porcine islets for the treatment of diabetes mellitus. The use of photopolymerizable polyethylene glycol in the conformal coating of mass-isolated porcine islets.

Functional porcine islets, free of known pathogens, can serve as a source of insulin producing cells for the treatment of experimentally induced insulin dependent Diabetes Mellitus. Porcine islets can be conformally coated (microencapsulated) with a covalently linked, stable permselective membrane while maintaining islet viability and function. The PEG conformal coating is immunoprotective in a discordant xenograft animal model (porcine islets to rat).

Analysis of prospective epidemiologic studies on the neurobehavioural effects of lead.

High-level lead exposure can have serious effects on the intellectual and behavioural development of young children. There has been much controversy in the last decade concerning the possible impact of low-level lead exposure upon the neurobehavioural and psychomotor development of children. Five longitudinal studies (Boston, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Port Pirie and Sydney) examining lead effects on child development were initiated in the early 1980s. These studies share multiple design features and include data on blood lead and neurobehavioural measurements from birth, six months, or annual intervals to seven years. All the studies use multivariate analysis to take into account possible confounding covariates with outcome measures.The studies tend to have varying results based on the covariates used and type of subject population. An analysis of the results of the five studies with regard to effects associated with prenatal and postnatal lead exposure and pregnancy outcome has been carried out and reveals inconsistencies in the onset, stability, and nature of neurobehavioural effects correlated with different indices of lead exposure. it is possible that the variation in reported results may be due to the use of different covariates and analyses among studies. A common analysis should be carried out among ail studies to further determine consistency of results. Although individual studies may show some effects, taken as a whole, the current published data from the five studies in this review are inconsistent and do not lend support to the concept that low level lead exposure resulting in blood lead levels below 25 µg dL(-1) is associated with neurobehavioural deficits in children.

The effect of cadmium on the environment.

Information on the effect of cadmium in the environment reported during the past several years has raised considerable questions about the validity of past conclusions. For example, it appears that the critical concentration of cadmium in the renal cortex may be significantly higher than previously thought, and also, there is growing evidence that cadmium was not responsible for Itai-Itai disease in Japan. These findings concerning cadmium are encouraging and indicate that while cadmium is certainly toxic, the new information should be considered by governmental authorities before steps are taken to enact overly stringent regulations based on assumptions and regulations that may no longer be correct.

The late appearance of chronic pericardial disease in patients treated by radiotherapy for Hodgkin's disease.

Radiation-induced chronic pericardial disease was recognized in nine patients 53 to 124 months (mean, 88 months) after radiotherapy for Hodgkin's disease. Depending on whether abnormal cardiac hemodynamics occurred before or after a fluid challenge, patients were considered to have either constrictive pericarditis (Group I) or occult constrictive pericarditis (Group II). There were no differences between these groups in various radiotherapy data, the use of chemotherapy, or the interval after treatment when the diagnosis of chronic pericardial disease was made. There were no consistent noninvasive variables to support the diagnosis of radiation-induced chronic pericardial disease before cardiac catheterization. Four patients underwent pericardiectomy. Two of the four operated patients had an excellent surgical result; a third patient died 4 months postoperatively of drug-induced granulocytopenia; the fourth patient has persistent visceral constrictive pericarditis 18 months after surgery. Speculation over the causes of radiation-induced chronic pericardial disease is made and our recommendations for its treatment given.