Determination of anterior endoderm in Xenopus embryos.

Grafts of anterior endoderm from embryos at stage 28 or later developed according to their fate (i.e., anterior) when transplanted posteriorly. Conversely, grafts from earlier embryos developed according to their new location (i.e., posterior). However, endoderm grafted along with its mesodermal and ectodermal sheath retained its fate regardless of the stage of the donor. We conclude that anterior endoderm in Xenopus embryos is determined at about stage 25 under the influence of mesoderm.

Do depression symptoms predict early hypertension incidence in young adults in the CARDIA study? Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults.

BACKGROUND: Hypertension has been linked to several psychological factors, including depression, but the relation between hypertension incidence and depressive symptoms has not been adequately examined. OBJECTIVE: To determine if depressive symptoms independently predict hypertension incidence. DESIGN AND SETTING: A prospective, multicenter, epidemiological cohort of young adults (aged 23-35 years at study entry) from the general community without hypertension followed up for 5 years. SUBJECTS: A sample of 3343 adults from 4 urban areas stratified for race (black and white) from the CARDIA (Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults) study. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Hypertension incidence, which was defined as blood pressure higher than 160/95 mm Hg (assessed on a single occasion) or the use of prescribed antihypertensive medication. RESULTS: Participants with high scores (> or = 16) on the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression (CES-D) Scale were at significant risk for hypertension incidence compared with those with low CES-D scores (< or =7; odds ratio, 2.10; 95% confidence interval, 1.22-3.61) after adjustment for other hypertension risk factors (eg, age, resting systolic blood pressure at the 5-year examination, physical activity, daily alcohol use, parental history of hypertension, education, presence of diabetes mellitus or heart disease, sex, and race) in fixed logistic models. Those with intermediate depressive symptoms (CES-D scores 8-15) were also at significant risk (adjusted odds ratio, 1.78; 95% confidence interval, 1.06-2.98). These associations were significant in blacks alone but were not found in whites, who had a lower hypertension incidence (29 [2%] of 1806) than blacks (89 [6%] of 1537). CONCLUSIONS: Depressive symptoms were predictive of later hypertension incidence in young adults, and young blacks with depressive symptoms were at high risk of developing hypertension.

Effects of retinoic acid on the endoderm in Xenopus embryos.

When Xenopus embryos from mid-tailbud to early tadpole stages were exposed to retinoic acid (RA), the gut developed with an uncoiled, straight intestinal tube, morphogenesis of the liver and stomach was affected and intestinal epithelial cells developed without a brush border and alkaline phosphatase activity. However, the temporal and spatial expression pattern of X1Hbox 8, the only homeobox gene expressed in the endoderm was unaffected. In lateral plate mesodermal cells the expression of alpha-smooth muscle (SM) actin was delayed. A similar syndrome has been reported in a study of embryos lacking functional FGF receptors in which it was proposed that the uncoiled intestinal tube and the delayed differentiation of the intestinal muscle cells are causally related. Our results support this proposition and further suggest that mesenchymal-epithelial interactions concerned with regional specification of the endoderm may be impaired resulting in other defects in the gut.

A comparison of case-crossover and case-control designs in a study of risk factors for hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome.

The case-crossover design is a new method for studying acute effects of transient exposures, in which cases serve as their own controls. To assess the validity, strengths, and weaknesses of the design, we used both the case-crossover method and the traditional case-control method of multivariate analysis with data collected from 196 cases and 295 hospital controls to study risk factors for hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome in Korean soldiers. Both case-control and case-crossover methods showed that living in primitive field conditions, exposure to dust, and exposure to rodents were risk factors; use of insecticides or insect repellents was protective. Odds ratios from the case-crossover method were generally somewhat higher for risk factors and lower for protective factors. The case-crossover technique has great potential as a powerful, cost-effective way to assess risk factors for conditions such as infectious diseases and injuries, while avoiding some of the bias and logistical problems of traditional study designs.

A hospital-based, case-control study of risk factors for hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome in soldiers of the armed forces of the Republic of Korea.

A hospital-based, case-control study was conducted to measure risk factors for hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome in Korean soldiers. Between October 1989 and January 1992, 196 cases and 295 controls were admitted into the study. Information was collected on behavioral and environmental variables, and the data were analyzed by multiple logistic regression. The strongest risk factors were seeing Apodemus in the area (odds ratio [OR] = 4.9), living in a primitive dwelling such as a lean-to (OR = 3.9), and being exposed to dust (OR = 3.7). The most protective factors were living in barracks (OR = 0.3-0.5) and self-reported use of any insecticide or insect repellent (OR = 0.5).

Evolutionary aspects of primordial germ cell formation.

Animal embryos can be classified into three types depending on the time when the adult body form is specified--after metamorphosis, progressively by addition of posterior segments, or as a single event early in development. Segregation of germ cells correlates with specification of adult body form. When the adult body form is specified late in development, e.g. after metamorphosis (molluscs, echinoderms, cirripedes, hemichordates, cephalochordates and ascidians), germ cells appear in the early adult and at the site where the gonads will develop. When the adult body form is specified progressively during development by the sequential addition of posterior segments (annelids, onychophorans and most arthropods) germ cells are segregated either before or during addition of segments, in close association with the growth zone. In nematodes, chaetognaths, collembolans, higher holometabolous insects and vertebrates, the adult body form is specified early in development and germ cells are typically segregated correspondingly early and in extraembryonic regions. Therefore, as a general conclusion, germ cells appear to be segregated in locations and/or at times that exclude them from the process of specification of adult body form. Germ plasm is restricted to embryos in which exclusion of germ cells is difficult because the embryo is small or the signal specifying adult body form is pervasive. A possible role for germ plasm is thus as additional protection for the cells from the processes specifying adult body form.

Expression of beta-galactosidase from a hybrid promoter:operator element in Escherichia coli.

A hybrid trpPO:lacO regulatory sequence was cloned upstream of a promoterless lacZ gene and recombined onto a lambda bacteriophage. Escherichia coli lysogens representing the four possible phenotypes for lacI and trpR were constructed and the synthesis of beta-galactosidase was assayed under various growth conditions. The results illustrated that both control elements could be efficiently and independently regulated by the addition or omission of appropriate accessory molecules.

Relocation and reorganization of germ plasm in Xenopus embryos after fertilization.

In the unfertilized egg, germ plasm is widely distributed throughout the vegetal subcortex in small islets. Following fertilization or artificial activation, the location and organization changes, and by the 4- to 8-cell stage the germ plasm forms a small number of large patches overlying the vegetal pole. We distinguish three processes that produce these changes. The first of these is aggregation which involves the islets moving towards the vegetal pole to form large patches by coalescence. This phase requires microtubules but does not depend on cleavage or dynamic microfilaments. The second phase is ingression during which the patches of germ plasm move to the interior of the egg. The movement is due to a flow of cytoplasm from the vegetal pole internally and the cytoplasmic current does not require either microtubules or dynamic microfilaments. In the third phase, the germ plasm is trapped in the vegetal hemisphere by microtubular arrays--in normal development, the mitotic spindle.

Malaria: treatment efficacy of halofantrine (WR 171,669) in initial field trials in Thailand.

Halofantrine (WR 171,669) hydrochloride was administered orally to 82 patients infected with Plasmodium falciparum malaria on the Thai-Kampuchean border between June 1982 and December 1983 in a randomized double-blind treatment trial which compared the efficacy of halofantrine with that of mefloquine. Halofantrine was curative with oral treatment on a single day in 65% of patients (13/20) who received 1000 mg followed 6 hours later by an additional 500 mg, and in 88% of patients (53/60) who received 500 mg every 6 hours for 3 doses. Mefloquine was curative in 88% of patients (22/25) given a single oral dose of 1000 mg and in 97% of patients (38/39) given a single oral dose of 1500 mg. The difference in cure rates between the 3-dose halofantrine regimen and either of the mefloquine regimens was not significant. The mean parasite clearance time for all regimens ranged from 75 to 84 hours. The mean fever clearance time for all four treatment groups was in the range 50-60 hours, with no significant differences between groups. Post-dosing side-effects in patients treated with halofantrine consisted of nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhoea and were not significantly different from those treated with mefloquine. Halofantrine therefore appeared to be of comparable efficacy to mefloquine in the treatment of multidrug-resistant P. falciparum malaria.

The effect of egg rotation on the differentiation of primordial germ cells in Xenopus laevis.

Eggs of X. laevis were rotated (sperm entrance point downwards) either through 90 degrees (1 X 90 embryos) or 180 degrees in two 90 degrees steps (2 X 90 embryos) at approximately 25-30 min postfertilization after cooling to 13 degrees C. The embryos were kept in their off-axis orientation and cooled until the early gastrula stage. Rotation resulted in relocation of egg constituents with slight changes in the distribution of outer cortical and subcortical components and major changes in inner constituents where the heavy yolk and cytoplasm appeared to reorient as a single coherent unit to maintain their relative positions with respect to gravity. Development of rotated embryos was such that regions of the egg which normally give rise to posterior structures instead developed into anterior structures and vice versa. Germ plasm was displaced in the vegetal-dorsal-animal direction (the direction of rotation) and was segregated into dorsal micromeres and intermediate zone cells in 2 X 90 embryos and dorsal macromeres and intermediate zone cells in 1 X 90 embryos. In consequence, at the gastrula stage, cells containing germ plasm were situated closer to the dorsal lip of the blastopore after rotation--in 2 X 90 gastrulas around and generally above the dorsal lip. Hence, in rotated embryos, the cells containing germ plasm were invaginated earlier during gastrulation and therefore were carried further anteriorly in the endoderm to a mean position anterior to the midpoint of the endoderm. The number of cells containing germ plasm in rotated embryos was not significantly different from that in controls at all stages up to and including tail bud (stage 25). However at stages 46, 48 and 49 the number of primordial germ cells was reduced in 1 X 90 embryos in one experiment of three and in 2 X 90 embryos in all experiments. We tested the hypothesis that the decreased number of primordial germ cells in the genital ridges was due to the inability of cells to migrate to the genital ridges from their ectopic location in the endoderm. When anterior endoderm was grafted into posterior endodermal regions the number of primordial germ cells increased slightly or not at all suggesting that the anterior displacement of the cells containing germ plasm was not the only factor responsible for the decreased number of primordial germ cells in rotated embryos. Other possible explanations are discussed.

A clinical trial of mefloquine in the treatment of Plasmodium vivax malaria.

A clinical field trial was conducted to determine if mefloquine is effective in the treatment of malaria due to Plasmodium vivax. Forty patients with P. vivax malaria were treated with either mefloquine, chloroquine or chloroquine plus primaquine and followed for 28 days. All patients responded rapidly and were cured. There were no significant side effects.

Treatment of an acute case of Plasmodium malariae malaria with mefloquine.

Mefloquine, a new antimalarial which has been effective in curing malaria due to Plasmodium falciparum and P. vivax, was used for the first time in a patient infected with P. malariae. Treatment was successful, and the relatively long parasite clearance time and fever clearance time were probably characteristic of P. malariae rather than true drug resistance.

A comparative trial of Mefloquine and Fansidar in the treatment of falciparum malaria: failure of Fansidar.

Falciparum malaria in 104 Thai patients was treated with either Mefloquine or Fansidar and patients were examined for parasitaemia for the next 28 days. All but one of the 40 patients treated with Mefloquine were cured, but the cure rates for Fansidar were only 9 . 1% for the two-tablet regimen and 19 . 4% for the three-tablet regimen. Most failures were classified as RII. Serum sulpha levels indicated that the Fansidar was being absorbed. Immediate steps should be taken to eliminate this focus of resistance and to protect against further resistance to Fansidar by using it in combination with another effective anti-malarial and by vigorous vector control measures.

Effect of calcium and fatty acids on the isolation of stallion spermatozoa in BSA.

Fifty ejaculates, ten from each of 5 mature stallions, were utilized to study the effects of calcium and fatty acids on equine spermatozoa which were isolated in 3% Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA). The ejaculates were evaluated for percent motile spermatozoa, rate of forward movement, debris, primary abnormalities and secondary abnormalities. The isolation procedure consisted of layering 2 ml of diluted semen (100 x 10(6) spermatozoa/ml) over 6 ml of 3% BSA in 13 x 125 mm columns in a water bath (37 degrees C). After 30 min., the top semen layer and upper half of the BSA layer were withdrawn from all columns and the lower half of the BSA was re-evaluated. A 2 x 2 factorial arrangement of treatments was utilized with either the inclusion or omission of calcium or fatty acids in the BSA isolation media. The percent motile spermatozoa and rate of forward movement were increased (P<.01) when fatty acids were included in the isolation media but decreased (P<.01) when they were omitted. The highest percent motile spermatozoa and rate of forward movement were observed with BSA in the presence of fatty acids and omission of calcium. The calcium by fatty acid interaction, stallion effect and stallion by treatment interaction were significant for percent motile spermatozoa. Less debris was observed in all samples of isolated spermatozoa when compared with the initial estimate. Isolation resulted in a reduction of (P<.01) the primary abnormalities. Also, fewer (P<.01) secondary abnormalities were observed after isolation in all treatments except 4 (-FA+Ca) than were found in the ejaculate sample.

Oropouche virus. II. Epidemiological observations during an epidemic in Santarém, Pará, Brazil in 1975.

An epidemic of Oropouche fever occurred in Santarém, Pará, Brazil in 1975. In the first survey for Oropouche antibodies involving a random sample of an entire city, infection rates varied from 0-44%, depending on the specific area within the city. Women had higher infection rates than men, but this difference was statistically significant only for persons older than 10 years of age. An analysis of school data showed that pupils in the evening classes had a greater increase in absenteeism during the epidemic period than those attending morning or afternoon classes. These data are compatible with the concept that Culicoides paraensis rather than Culex pipiens quinquefasciatus is the main vector of Oropouche virus in Brazil.