Development and validation of a sensitive method for hydromorphone in human plasma by normal phase liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

Liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS) was developed for the quantitation of hydromorphone (HYD), an opiate analgesic, in human plasma. A simple liquid-liquid extraction was used to extract the analyte and its deuterated internal standard (d3-HYD). Chromatographic separation of hydromorphone from its metabolite hydromorphone-3-glucuronide (H3G) was necessary because of the significant H3G fragmentation to HYD before Ql of the mass spectrometer, which could result in false detection as HYD in the multiple reaction mode (MRM). This separation was achieved using a 50 x 2 mm, I.D. silica column (5 microm) and a mobile phase of acetonitrile-water formic acid (80:20:1, v/v/v). The method was validated in the concentration range 0.05-10 ng ml(-1) in plasma and met the acceptance criteria of industry guidelines for accuracy, precision, and stability.

Factors influencing rates of ethanol oxidation in isolated rat hepatocytes.

The stimulation of ethanol oxidation by fructose which has frequently been observed in isolated hepatocytes was found to occur only in unsupplemented cells. In the presence of other substrates (lactate, pyruvate) which accelerate ethanol oxidation, fructose had no additional effect. Acceleration of ethanol oxidation by fructose was not directly related to the ATP demand created by fructose. The effects of fructose on ethanol oxidation rates were not due to changes in acetaldehyde concentration. In cells from fed animals, acetaldehyde concentrations rose as high as 200 microM in some incubations, and therefore became a significant factor limiting ethanol oxidation rates. In hepatocytes isolated from starved rats incubated with pyruvate, where acetaldehyde concentrations were very low, (1-2 microM) it was possible to assess the effect of changes in [lactate]/[pyruvate] (and hence free cytosolic NADH) on rates of ethanol oxidation. The results showed that the increase in free cytosolic [NADH] usually found during ethanol oxidation in vivo would inhibit rates of ethanol clearance by a maximum of 20%.

As others see us (effect of mass media on attitudes and opinions of women's status).

PIP: The role of mass media, printed or broadcast, in influencing attitudes and opinions in the modern world is nowhere more apparent than in the narrow ways women are presented, or misrepresented, in public. Coverage of women in the news are limited to domestic and trivial things and events (e.g., demonstrations, women's liberation movement), and reflects the socially conditioned definition of news. Many women's magazines are also victims of the stereotyping of women's role in society. A study done by C. B. Flora on women's magazine fictions in the U.S. and Latin America revealed the consistent values of the two cultures: the ideal women is portrayed as passive, dependent and virtuous, whose ultimate goal is marriage and childbearing, and whose self-sacrifice is her only heroism. In the US, feminist magazines are proliferating (while some are superficially feminist, others cater to the collective awareness and common problem of women); however, they cannot match the circulation of traditional women's magazines because of lack of funds, noncommercial orientation of many, limited access to conventional distribution channels, or a deliberate appeal to a narrow audience. In spite of the news media, however, a growing number of organizations are becoming sympathetic to women's issues. UNESCO and the UN Fund for Population Activities are planning to run about 200 articles/year on women's changing roles in society, with the hoped-for result of projecting a more realistic image of women.^ieng

Too many children, too close together.

PIP: The number of children a woman bears in her life affects her health significantly. In every country and every social class risks associated with childbirth increase as the number of children passes 3 or 4. Among poorer women the risks associated with 5th and subsequent pregnancies are even more evident. In Rwanda 20% of infants who are the 5th died within a year of birth; among 9th-born 40% die by age 1. Studies of poor families in several areas of Africa, Asia, and Latin America have consistently shown that large families run a higher risk of undernutrition and hence of disease and death. Large families particularly affect the health of preschool children, not only because of discrimination in apportioning food but also because they receive inadequate diets during the vulnerable early years. In Congo, families with 4 or fewer members eat 3000 caloroes per person per day; families with 9 or more eat 2000 calories per day. In Hyderabad, India, 61% of all severely undernourished children were of the 4th or later birth order. The doctors calculated that without any other improvements in income, food availability, or medical care limitation of family size to 3 children would bring down the incidence of severe malnutrition by 60%. A Punjab study showed children born less than 2 years after a previous infant were 50% more likely to die than children born 2-4 years later. Constant childbearing also takes its toll on the mother for pregnancy and lactation both exact heavy nutritional costs that poor women are seldom able to offset by increasing the quantity and quality of the food they eat. Undernourished, often anemic, and generally weakened by the biological burdens of excessive reproduction, such women become increasingly vulnerable to death during childbirth or to simple infectious diseases.^ieng