Bronchiectasis in Alaska Native children: causes and clinical courses.

Although bronchiectasis has become a rare condition in U.S. children, it is still commonly diagnosed in Alaska Native children in the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta. The prevalence of bronchiectasis has not decreased in persons born during the 1980s as compared with those born in the 1940s. We reviewed case histories of 46 children with bronchiectasis. We observed that recurrent pneumonia was the major preceding medical condition in 85% of patients. There was an association between the lobes affected by pneumonia and the lobes affected by bronchiectasis. Eight (17%) patients had surgical resection of involved lobes. We conclude that the continued high prevalence of bronchiectasis appears to be related to extremely high rates of infant and childhood pneumonia. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2000;29:182-187. Published 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

The story of the gauge.

Gauges are old measures of thickness. They originated in the British iron wire industry at a time when there was no universal unit of thickness. The sizes of the gauge numbers were the result of the process of wire-drawing and the nature of iron as a substance. Gauges were measured and described in fractions of an inch during the 19th century. In the UK, one gauge was standardised and legally enforced as the Standard Wire Gauge. One important reason for the standardisation of the gauge was the convenience of craftsmen. In the 20th century, the gauge was to be replaced with the introduction of the International System of Units. However, within the field of anaesthesia at the threshold of the 21st century, the gauge seems hard to remove from the minds of craftsmen like anaesthetists.

Attendance of the anaesthesiologist to the patient. National recommendations for standard of anaesthetic practice.

The national recommendations for standard of anaesthetic practice in six countries of the European Community are compared with respect to the attendance of the anaesthesiologist to the patient. These standards apply to anaesthesia, major regional anaesthesia and sedation administered by anaesthesiologists. The attendance to the patient varies from strict continuous presence of the anaesthesiologist to observation of the patient by a non-medical assistant and the anaesthesiologist taking care of another anaesthetized patient. Items which all standards should mention are defined.

Management and leadership--is your laboratory on automatic pilot?

Many management professionals have attempted to define the relationship between leadership and management. Some believe that leadership and management are interrelated characteristics, with one perhaps an extension of the other; others maintain that they are different qualities altogether. Few would argue with the notion, though, that leadership is a great quality for managers to have. This article explores management and leadership, and looks at some ways to enhance and encourage leadership in your laboratory.

[Unplanned hospitalization following day surgery in children]. / Niet-geplande opname na dagverpleging bij kinderen.

In a retrospective survey of 10,632 children (ASA class 1-2, age over 3 months, weight over 5 kg) it was investigated how many children were admitted to the hospital either immediately or within a week after day-care surgery under general anaesthesia and what the indication for admission was. 9,479 children were between 1 and 9 years old. The most prevalent procedures were adeno(tonsillec)tomy, tympanotomy, circumcision and herniorrhaphy. 103 children (0.97%) were admitted, 67 of them straight from the day-care ward. The most prevalent indication was haemorrhage after adeno(tonsillec)tomy or circumcision. From the admitted children 17 needed a reintervention under anaesthesia. Differences with data from the literature are discussed. The authors see no reason to reassess the indications for day-care surgery in children.

Influence of tryptophan loading on urinary excretion of anthranilic acid and 3-hydroxyanthranilic acid by men and women as determined by alkali flame ionization gas chromatography.

A gas chromatographic method with alkali flame ionization detection is described for the determination of urinary total (free and conjugated) anthranilic acid (AA) and 3-hydroxyanthranilic acid (HAA) as their pentafluorobenzyl esters. Prior to analysis, urine was hydrolysed using hydrochloric acid in a boiling water bath. The highest AA and HAA yields were obtained with 4 M hydrochloric acid and a hydrolysis time of 4 h. The coefficients of variation of the between-run analyses of AA and HAA at the endogenous level were 7.2 and 5.8%, respectively. The average recovery for both substances was 84%. The method described has been used to study the excretion of AA and HAA in the urine of healthy males and females before and after an oral load of tryptophan. Furthermore, the influence of oral contraceptives has been investigated. Results indicate that for both sexes the excretion of AA in the urine was higher than that of HAA, except after tryptophan loading. The excretion of AA by women was higher than by men. For HAA, the results of both sexes were comparable. Furthermore, for neither of the sexes was a diurnal variation of AA or HAA observed. After tryptophan loading, the formation of HAA was increased by more than that of AA. Results obtained for women on oral contraceptives indicate a hormonal-induced inhibition of AA formation.

Adenosine in cerebral homeostatic role: appraisal through actions of homocysteine, colchicine, and dipyridamole.

Mammalian neocortical tissues were incubated in [14C]adenine-containing fluids and their newly-synthesized adenine derivatives examined after periods of superfusion. Increased [K+] released adenine derivatives from the tissues, a release diminished by homocysteine. Homocysteine acted also to diminish the tissue content of adenosine plus its metabolites hypoxanthine and inosine, while increasing that of S-adenosylhomocysteine. Hypoxia also increased the tissue content and the output of adenosine plus its metabolites, and again homocysteine augmented the S-adenosylhomocysteine. Glutamic acid also increased tissue content and output of adenosine and derivatives, an action diminished by homocysteine and associated with augmented S-adenosylhomocysteine. Colchicine or dipyridamole did not prevent augmentation of S-adenosylhomocysteine by the reagents described; the sequence from adenosine phosphates to S-adenosylhomocysteine is concluded to be intracellular and not to involve extracellular formation of precursor adenosine. Adenosine displayed properties consistent with its being involved in two distinct categories of homeostasis, and also with its exerting an inhibitory tone in normal cerebral systems.

Interaction between adenosine generated endogenously in neocortical tissues, and homocysteine and its thiolactone.

[(14)C]Adenine derivatives in normal guinea pig or rat neocortical tissues maintained by superfusion included ATP, ADP and AMP collectively forming some 98% of the acid-extracted (14)C; adenosine, inosine and hypoxanthine each at less than 0.5% and S-adenosylhomocysteine at about 0.1%. l-Homocysteine and/or its thiolactone increased only a little the S-adenosylhomocysteine. The superfusion fluid carried from the tissue per minute about 0.1% of its acid-extractable [(14)C]adenine derivatives. Electrical stimulation of the superfused tissue increased 10-fold its output of [(14)C]adenine derivatives and diminished the 5?-nucleotides in the tissue to 94% of the acid-extractable [(14)C]adenine derivatives, the remainder being adenosine, inosine and hypoxanthine with little change in S-adenosylhomocysteine. Homocysteine in the superfusion fluids now caused large increases in tissue S-adenosylhomocysteine, which became the preponderant non-nucleotide (14)C-derivative when homocysteine was 0.1 mM or greater. The total [(14)C]adenine conversion to non-nucleotide derivatives then increased and the 5?-nucleotides fell to 88% of the total. It is concluded that concentration relationships observed in the action of homocysteine make it feasible that convulsive conditions and mental changes associated with administered homocysteine and with homocystinuria are due to cerebral adenosine concentrations being diminished through formation of S-adenosylhomocysteine. Adenosine is preponderantly depressant in cerebral actions; effects of the S-adenosylhomocysteine produced may also be relevant.

Pesticides and other chemical residues in Dutch total diet samples (June 1976-July 1978).

Over a period of 2 yr 126 different food items of a market basket of 16-18-yr old males were purchased every 2 months. The foodstuffs were prepared as for eating, and were combined in 12 commodity groups. Twelves samples of each food group were homogenized and analysed for 78 different chemicals, including pesticides, PCBs, bromine, heavy metals, arsenic and selenium. Thirty-four of these chemicals were detected in the various samples and the means and ranges of residue concentrations found in each food group are reported. Most chemicals were found in concentrations below the Dutch residue tolerance limits, the two exceptions were omethoate and carbendazim. Using the concentrations found in the total diet samples the daily intakes of the various chemicals were calculated. The daily intake figures were evaluated with the aid of the Acceptable Daily Intakes (ADI) recommended by FAO/WHO. For practically all chemicals examined the mean and the maximum intakes were well below the ADI.

Colchicine-binding measurements of tubulin in variously sampled and incubated tissues from the mammalian brain.

Tissue preparations from the brain of rats and guinea-pigs were examined for their activity in binding isotopically labelled colchicine, as a measure of their content of tubulin. The amount of binding material extracted into a cold buffered solution was unaffected by keeping tissues at 0 degrees C. It diminished by one quarter when tissues were incubated at 37 degrees C in bicarbonate glucose salines for 1-2 h. This diminution increased when glucose was omitted from incubating solutions and was less when tissues were stimulated electrically. It was modified also by the calcium content of the incubation fluids. Of the binding activity lost on incubation only a little was recovered in surrounding fluids. About half the colchicine-binding activity of the tissues was not extracted by the solution employed; this particulate-attached activity changed little, if at all, on normal incubation but diminished when incubating fluids contained a cyclic AMP-fluoride theophylline mixture which was known to modify tubulin assembly. The retention of both categories of colchicine-binding under normal conditions of incubation is consistent with the ability of such tissues to perform microtubule-dependent processes, notably cytoplasmic transport. Examination of the isolated tissues by the methods reported is of value in indicating which of various factors known to affect separated tubulin and microtubule structures, operate in a cell-containing system under chosen experimental conditions.