Comparison of starch branching enzyme I and II from potato.

The in vitro activities of purified potato starch branching enzyme (SBE) I and II expressed in Escherichia coli were compared using several assay methods. With the starch-iodine method, it was found that SBE I was more active than SBE II on an amylose substrate, whereas SBE II was more active than SBE I on an amylopectin substrate. Both enzymes were stimulated by the presence of phosphate. On a substrate consisting of linear dextrins (chain length 8-200 glucose residues), no significant net increase in molecular mass was seen on gel-permeation chromatography after incubation with the enzymes. This indicates intrachain branching of the substrate. After debranching of the products, the majority of dextrins with a degree of polymerization (dp) greater than 60 were absent for SBE I and those with a dp greater than 70 for SBE II. To study the shorter chains, the debranched samples were also analysed by high-performance anion-exchange chromatography. The products of SBE I showed distinct populations at dp 11-12 and dp 29-30, whereas SBE II products had one, broader, population with a peak at dp 13-14. An accumulation of dp 6-7 chains was seen with both isoforms.

Serum sialic acid in a random sample of the general population.

BACKGROUND: The serum sialic acid (SA) concentration has been reported to be a potentially useful but nonspecific disease marker. We wanted to study which factors influence SA concentration in a well-characterized healthy population. METHODS: SA was determined in 97 women and 96 men with a colorimetric Warren method. RESULTS: The mean +/- SD concentrations of SA were 634 +/- 109 (95% confidence interval, 612-656) and 630 +/- 106 (95% confidence interval, 608-651) mg/L for women and men, respectively. The serum SA showed a significant positive association with body mass index and with systolic and diastolic blood pressure among both women and men. SA also correlated significantly with the use of contraceptive pills and age among women and with smoking among men. CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests that SA does not increase with age in men but appears to increase with female menopause. The strong positive association with blood pressure may explain why SA predicts cardiovascular mortality.

[Alcohol and drug use among medical students 1995: more than every tenth male student had hazardous alcohol drinking habits]. / Medicine studerandes alkohol- och drogvanor 1995: mer än var tionde manlig student hade riskabla alkoholvanor.

During the spring of 1995, 734 medical students at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm were randomly selected for inclusion in a postal questionnaire study of alcohol and drug habits. The response rate was over 80 per cent. Although both the level of alcohol consumption and the prevalence of hazardous consumption were lower than the corresponding figures for students at Stockholm and Uppsala Universities, 12 per cent of the male and four per cent of the female medical students were considered to be at risk of alcohol problems. About seven per cent of the medical students reported having used illegal drugs such as hashish, marijuana and cocaine during the past 12-month period, and about nine per cent to have used sedative and/or hypnotic drugs.

[Ten questions about alcohol as identifier of addiction problems. Psychometric tests at an emergency psychiatric department]. / Tio frågor om alkohol identifierar beroendeproblem. Psykometrisk prövning på psykiatrisk akutmottagning.

It is important to develop and evaluate methods of identifying alcohol dependent patients and patients at risk of alcohol problems. The World Health Organisation recommends a 10-item questionnaire, AUDIT (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test), which assesses hazardous alcohol use, dependence symptoms, and harmful alcohol use. The article describes a Swedish version of AUDIT that has been psychometrically tested on a sample of patients admitted to a psychiatric emergency ward. Both internal consistency, reliability and validity were found to be satisfactory in terms of sensitivity and specificity in predicting DSM alcoholism diagnoses.

Prodynorphin allelic distribution in Scandinavian chronic alcoholics.

Two regions of the human prodynorphin gene, the exon 4-region coding for the opioid peptides and the putative promotor/exon 1-region were analyzed for possible presence of polymorphisms. No polymorphism was detected in the exon 4-region, whereas a GC/AT base-pair exchange was observed 301 base pairs upstream of the exon 1/intron A boundary. This polymorphic marker was examined in Scandinavian chronic alcoholics (n = 70) and control subjects (n = 55). Prodynorphin allelic distributions were not significantly different in alcoholic patients and control subjects. The results suggest that no major influence on alcoholism is exerted through genes associated with this prodynorphin allelic marker.

Tyrosine hydroxylase and dopamine D4 receptor allelic distribution in Scandinavian chronic alcoholics.

Associations of polymorphic genetic markers at the tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and dopamine D4 receptor (DRD4) loci were examined in Scandinavian chronic alcoholics (n = 72) and control subjects (n = 67). Patients were divided into subgroups with regard to the presence of parental alcoholism and age of onset. Neither the TH nor the DRD4 allele distributions were significantly different when alcoholic samples were compared with control subjects. However, a tendency to high prevalence for 1 of the 5 TH alleles assayed (TH-K3) was observed in a subsample of 44 alcoholics characterized by late onset when compared with control subjects (27.3% vs. 10.6%, p = 0.041). Results suggest that no major influence on alcoholism is exerted through genes associated with the DRD4 or TH allelic markers examined.

[The Stockholm project: drunken drivers are given supervision instead of prison sentences]. / Stockholmsprojekt: rattfyllerister får vård i stället för fängelse.

There is a need to compile a national database on drunken driving, since experience from other countries is not necessarily applicable to Swedish conditions. Legislation, drinking habits, and public attitudes to drinking and driving differ markedly from country to country. Since 1990, the driving licence unit of the Magnus Huss Clinic has been collaborating with a probation office unit of the National Prisons and Probation Administration and the Offender Aid Society on a non-institutional drunk driving program of at least one year's duration, often linked with several years' follow-up. The article outlines experience and results derived from this program. Among other things, blood alcohol content is questioned as an indicator of the severity of a drinking problem.

Clinical aspects on molecular probes, markers and metabolism.

Though today techniques utilizing molecular methods are emphasized, we must not neglect to put the molecular data into a clinical context. Extrapolations should be handled with great care. The knowledge on alcohol has many levels, and facts are often taken out of context. For a proper report of a clinical state or situation, validity lies both in the precision of clinical descriptions and in the accuracy of the molecular parameter. Alcohol as a medical risk factor is often disregarded, and there is often a communication gap.

Dopamine D2-receptor gene polymorphisms in Scandinavian chronic alcoholics.

Alterations in the dopamine system have been hypothesized as a predisposing factor in alcoholism. The presence of the TaqI A1 and B1 alleles adjacent to the dopamine D 2-receptor gene (DRD2) was studied in Scandinavian alcoholic inpatients (n = 74), alcoholics autopsied at a forensic clinic (n = 19) and controls (n = 81). There were no significant differences between controls and the alcoholics, but a tendency of increased DRD2 TaqI A1 or B1 allele frequencies in alcoholic groups selected for severity (i.e. severity according to DSM-III-R criteria, early onset or severe medical complications due to alcohol abuse) and decreased frequencies in the corresponding less severe alcoholic group. The present study does not yield evidence for the hypothesis of an association between the DRD2 TaqI A1 or B1 alleles and alcoholism.

Cannabis and schizophrenia: a longitudinal study of cases treated in Stockholm County.

By means of the Stockholm County inpatient care register we identified all cases treated with a diagnosis of cannabis dependence and psychosis, not necessarily at the same occasion, during 1971-1983. By scrutinizing medical records, we evaluated the diagnosis according to DSM-III-R and we assessed the history of substance abuse as well as the psychiatric history and clinical course. We identified 229 cases during the follow-up; 112 of these cases (49%) fulfilled the DSM-III-R criteria for schizophrenia. The majority of the schizophrenics had prominent positive symptoms and a sudden onset of disease, and 69% of the cases had a record of heavy cannabis abuse at least 1 year before onset of psychotic symptoms. The high number of verified DSM-III-R cases of schizophrenia in this cohort and the temporal relation between cannabis abuse and schizophrenia further support the hypothesis that cannabis abuse may be a risk factor for schizophrenia. We confirmed previous observations that cannabis-associated schizophrenia often has a sudden onset and prominent positive symptoms.