Histological, histochemical and fine structure studies of the lacrimal gland and superficial gland of the third eyelid and their significance on the proper function of the eyeball in alpaca (Vicugna pacos).

The lacrimal gland (LG) and superficial gland of the third eyelid (SGTE) belong to accessory organs of the eye. The aim of the present studies was to evaluate the histological, histochemical and fine structure of the LG and SGTE obtained from 3 adult females and 2 adult males of alpaca (Vicugna pacos). The LG was situated in the dorsolateral angle of the orbit between the dorsal rectus and the lateral rectus muscles. The SGTE was located between the medial rectus muscle, the ventral rectus muscle and was partially covered by the ventral oblique muscle of the eyeball. There were no effect of gender on the morphometry of examined LG and SGTE. The third eyelid resembles an anchor in shape. During histological and ultrastructural analyses using light and transmission electron microscopy, it was established that the LG and SGTE are tubulo-acinar glands with mucoserous characters. The LG contains either lymphocytes or plasma cells, while SGTE had rare plasma cells and numerous lymphocytes in connective tissue. The cartilage of the third eyelid was composed of hyaline tissue. Numerous aggregations of lymphocytes as lymph nodules in bulbar surface of the third eyelid were observed. The LG and SGTE secretory cells exhibited a similar ultrastructure appearance in electron microscopic examination, with secretory cells tightly filled with intracytoplasmatic secretory granules and numerous clusters of mucus of different sizes which were observed in the peripheral cells compartment.

[Glucose tolerance, function of pancreatic B-cells and blood lipids in "healthy" offspring of parents with conjugal type 2 diabetes]. / Tolerancja glukozy, czynnosc komórek B wysp trzustki i lipidy krwi u "zdrowego" potomstwa malzenstw z cukrzyca typu 2 (diabetes coniugum).

In 56 adult normoglycemic nondiabetic (WHO criteria) subjects, whose both parents had type 2 diabetes, and in 68 control probants, matched for age, sex and body mass without family history of diabetes, the OGTT (75 g) was carried out, including measurement of serum insulin (IRI) and C-peptide (CP). In fasting state also the blood lipid profile was determined: serum triglycerides, total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, apolipoprotein AI (apoAI) and apolipoprotein B (apoB). In comparison with the control group, the offspring had significantly lower mean glycaemia on fasting, and non significantly elevated from the 60 min of the test, the significantly higher values of serum IRI and CP in fasting state and at the end of the test (120-180 min), and significantly lower serum CP:IRI molar ratio, expressing the reduced hepatic clearance of insulin. The offspring had significantly higher mean values of serum LDL-cholesterol, and significantly lower of serum HDL-cholesterol and apoAI, not disclosing significant differences in the serum levels of triglycerides, total cholesterol and apoB with the control group. Only serum HDL-cholesterol was significantly (negatively) correlated wit serum IRI and CP-values. The covariance analysis, eliminating the influence of age, body mass and the secretory activity of pancreatic B-cells, revealed the significant correlation of the presence of parental diabetes with serum levels of LDL-cholesterol (increase), and HDL-cholesterol and apoAI (decrease) in the offspring. These results prove indirectly, that in subjects genetically predisposed to type 2 diabetes, before the manifestation of glucose intolerance are present other effects of insulin resistance, expressed in increased activity of pancreatic B-cells, increased transfer of insulin to extrahepatic tissues, and in changes of concentration/composition of some lipoproteins dues to reduced influence of insulin on the enzymes which control their metabolism.

[Short-term intensive insulin therapy as a method of overcoming secondary failure of sulfonylureas in patients with type 2 diabetes (non-insulin-dependent)]. / Krótkotrwale intensywne leczenie insulina jako metoda przezwyciezania póznej nieskutecznosci pochodnych sulfonylomocznika u chorych z cukrzyca typu 2 (insulinoniezalezna).

UNLABELLED: The study group comprised 56 patients (25 males and 31 females) with type 2 diabetes in whom the secondary failure to sulphonylurea derivates (SU) had developed. All patients were submitted for 14 days to therapy with 5 injections of insulin per day in total dose of insulin permitting to decrease the mean daily glycaemia below 8.8 mmol/l (160 mg/dl). After the termination of the intensive insulin therapy (IIT) the patients with insulin requirement below 44 U daily were alternatively qualified to treatment with SU (glybenclamide) alone or with this SU plus biguanide derivate (BG: phenformin), and those who needed more than 44 U daily continued conventional therapy with insulin alone or with insulin plus SU (glybenclamide). There was a marked reduction of fasting and postprandial blood glucose during the IIT and over the subsequent 15 months of the follow-up. The mean glycaemia which initially was in fasting state 12.5 +/- 2.4 mmol/l (225 +/- 43 mg/dl) and 2 hours after breakfast 18.1 +/- 2.8 mmol/l (325 +/- 50 mg/dl) decreased significantly and was in four groups between 8.0 +/- 0.3 mmol/l (144 +/- 5 mg/dl) and 10.8 +/- 0.5 mmol/l (194 +/- 9 mg/dl) in fasting state and between 10.5 +/- 0.3 (189 +/- 5 mg/dl) and 11.2 +/- 0.4 mmol/l (201 +/- 7 mg/dl) after breakfast. The least hypoglycaemic effect was found in patients who after IIT were treated exclusively with insulin (mean daily dose 53 +/- 2 IU) while the decrease of glycaemia was most evident in patients treated with SU given as a single drug or in combination with BG or with insulin (mean daily dose 19 +/- 1 IU). In all studied patients basal and stimulated (1 mg glucagon i.v.) C-peptide secretion markedly decreased during IIT, and greatly increased after its termination, and this increase persisted over following 15 months of observation, correlating with the initial values. CONCLUSIONS: The short-term IIT in patients with NIDDM and secondary failure to SU is effective in reducing hyperglycaemia, and in most of them makes possible to continue the oral antidiabetic treatment with SU. The secretion of endogenous insulin seems to have only limited influence on the metabolic control of the patients treated with four different pharmacological regiments after IIT.

Difference in the influence of maternal and paternal NIDDM on pancreatic beta-cell activity and blood lipids in normoglycaemic non-diabetic adult offspring.

The 75-g oral glucose tolerance test was performed in 38 normoglycaemic (World Health Organization criteria) non-diabetic volunteers, aged 31-40 years, of whom 20 had a non-insulin-dependent diabetic (NIDDM) mother and 18 had an NIDDM father. At the time of the study the offspring of NIDDM mothers had a somewhat higher body mass index (BMI) (males: 26.5 +/- 1.0 (mean +/- SEM), females: 27.5 +/- 1.5 kg/m2) than the offspring of NIDDM fathers (males: 23.4 +/- 0.9, females: 24.2 +/- 1.2 kg/m2). There was no difference in the time-course of glycaemia; however the serum concentrations of immunoreactive insulin (IRI), C-peptide and proinsulin were significantly higher in offspring of NIDDM mothers than in offspring of NIDDM fathers: area under the curve (AUC) serum IRI: 0.928 +/- 0.091 vs 0.757 +/- 0.056 nmol.l-1.h-1, p = 0.019; serum C-peptide: 6.379 +/- 0.450 vs 4.753 +/- 0.242 nmol.l-1.h-1, p = 0.004; serum proinsulin: 172 +/- 40 vs 51 +/- 7 pmol.l-1.h-1, p = 0.008). Serum IRI correlated with BMI, but C-peptide and proinsulin did not, and after accounting for BMI by covariance analysis they remained significantly higher in offspring of NIDDM mothers. In this group serum proinsulin was significantly higher in male than in female offspring (AUC serum proinsulin: 289 +/- 68 vs 77 +/- 27 pmol.l-1.h-1, P = 0.015). Male offspring of NIDDM mothers also had significantly higher serum triglyceride levels than females of the same group and than offspring of NIDDM fathers. The offspring (male and female) of NIDDM mothers had slightly lower serum apolipoprotein A-I levels than the offspring of NIDDM fathers. Significant correlations were found between serum triglycerides, HDL-cholesterol and apolipoprotein B, and serum concentrations of pancreatic beta-cell peptides, mostly in the offspring of NIDDM mothers; however, they did not display unequivocal association with gender within this group. The data are consistent with clinical observations of a greater risk of NIDDM transmission from the mother than from the father, and may suggest that male offspring are more exposed to this risk than female offspring.

Field sobriety tests: are they designed for failure?

Field sobriety tests have been used by law enforcement officers to identify alcohol-impaired drivers. Yet in 1981 Tharp, Burns, and Moskowitz found that 32% of individuals in a laboratory setting who were judged to have an alcohol level above the legal limit actually were below the level. In this study, two groups of seven law enforcement officers each viewed videotapes of 21 sober individuals performing a variety of field sobriety tests or normal-abilities tests, e.g., reciting one's address and phone number or walking in a normal manner. Officers judged a significantly larger number of the individuals as impaired when they performed the field sobriety tests than when they performed the normal-abilities tests. The need to reevaluate the predictive validity of field sobriety tests is discussed.

[Functional capacity of pancreatic B cells in patients with diabetes mellitus type 2 with late true ineffectiveness of sulfonylurea derivatives]. / Sprawnosc czynnosciowa komórek B wysp trzustkowych u chorych na cukrzyce typu 2 z pózna rzeczywista nieskutecznoscia pochodynych sulfonylomocznika.

Fasting concentration of the C peptide in serum was estimated in 150 patients with type 2 diabetes treated with insulin because of the late, true ineffectiveness of the sulphonylurea derivatives. In 36 patients selected out of the total group at random the secretion of that peptide was measured after i.v. injection of 1 mg of glucagon. Only 9 patients showed trace amounts of that peptide at morning fast (Group A--0.17 +/- 0.08 nmol/l), in 69 the secretion was normal (Sub-Group B1--0.80 +/- 0.25 nmol/l), in 48 moderately elevated (Sub-Group B2--1.67 +/- 0.10 nmol/l) and in 24 markedly elevated (Sub-Group B3--4.54 +/- 2.57 nmol/l). The increments of the peptide C concentration after glucagon stimulation were parallel to its fasting concentration, which indicated a proper reactivity of the pancreatic beta-cells in patients with normal or increased basal secretion. The patients with only trace secretion of the peptide C differed from the other by their small, normal body mass and by a longer duration of insulin treatment. Very similar insulin needs must be stressed in the patients of the Groups A and B as well as within the Sub-Groups B. In patients with hyperactivity of the beta-cells (Sub-Group B2 and B3) no differences were found, as compared with the other patients, in the prevalence of chronic diabetes complications of the micro- or macroangiopathy type, also prevalence of hypertension was equal. The results presented show that in the most patients with type 2 diabetes, with the late, true ineffectiveness of the sulphonylurea derivatives the secretory function of the pancreatic islets beta-cells remains normal or is even increased.

Effects of experience on size discrimination and attitudes toward the Susan B. Anthony coin.

Effects of experience with the Susan B. Anthony dollar on size discrimination and attitudes toward the coin were investigated. Those who used the coin for 4 wk. were quite accurate in discriminating its size visually while those without experience confused the size of the dollar coin with the size of the quarter. On a coin-selection task experienced subjects were no more accurate than inexperienced subjects but differed in type of error, confusing the dollar coin with the half-dollar coin more frequently. In contrast, the errors of inexperienced subjects were unsystematic. No attitudinal changes resulting from experience with the coin were found.

Stimulus redundancy and immediate recall.

This study examined immediate recall in two stimulus prefix and two stimulus suffix conditions and in a condition that combined a prefix and suffix. Suffixes and the combination of a prefix with a suffix interfered more with recall overall than did prefixes. Performance in each of the conditions that included a prefix was significantly better overall than in appropriate control conditions, in which interference was augmented by a redundant element in recall. It was suggested that prefixes and suffixes lie operationally on a continuum and that their effects result from the subject's inability to dissociate the redundant element from the memory series. However, the location of redundancy imposes different processing requirements that differentially influence recall.