Controlled evaluation of nabumetone in the treatment of active adult rheumatoid arthritis. Nabumetone versus naproxen double-blind parallel study.

Nabumetone is a new nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agent. Therapy with nabumetone 1,000 mg given at bedtime was compared with naproxen 250 mg given twice daily in a prospective double-blind study of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Both drugs were found to be efficacious in a comparable fashion. Both drugs were well tolerated in terms of patient withdrawal rates, which were 5 and 8 percent, respectively. Gastrointestinal side effects were the most commonly encountered problem. Nabumetone holds promise as an important new therapeutic approach in arthritis.

Six-month multi-center study comparing nabumetone with naproxen in the treatment of osteoarthritis.

This six-month, double-blind, controlled, randomized, parallel study at 13 medical centers compared the safety and efficacy of nabumetone (1,000 mg taken at bedtime) with that of naproxen (250 mg twice daily) in the treatment of osteoarthritis in symptomatic adult outpatients. Five efficacy parameters were measured: patients' assessment of overall osteoarthritis activity and pain, physicians' assessment of overall osteoarthritis activity and pain, and physicians' assessment of pain with respect to a declined activity. All 489 patients who took medication were included in the evaluation of safety, and 455 patients (227 in the nabumetone group and 228 in the naproxen group) were evaluated for efficacy. Significant improvement in all five efficacy parameters occurred in both groups. No significant differences were found between the two groups at the end of the study in any of the five efficacy parameters. Twenty-three percent of nabumetone and 17 percent of naproxen patients withdrew from the study for lack of efficacy. At least one possible or probable treatment-related adverse experience was reported for 45 percent of nabumetone-treated patients and 42 percent of those given naproxen, and in 19 percent of the nabumetone-treated and 18 percent of the naproxen-treated patients these experiences were moderate or severe. However, only 7 percent of patients in each group withdrew from the study due to adverse experiences. Nabumetone and naproxen have comparable safety and efficacy, suggesting that a single, nighttime dose of nabumetone is a convenient, effective, and safe treatment for osteoarthritis.

Decreased ulnar bending stiffness in osteoporotic Caucasian women.

Mechanical response tissue analysis (MRTA) is a noninvasive measure of ulnar bending stiffness in vivo. It is unique in that the mechanical response to the lower range of vibrational frequencies is used to determine the average cross-sectional bending stiffness. The objective of this study was to compare ulnar bending stiffness among normal, osteopenic, and osteoporotic Caucasian women. World Health Organization criteria were used to define cohorts. Ulnar bending stiffness was expressed as the product of Young's modulus of elasticity (E) and the cross-sectional moment of inertia (I) in units of square Newton meters using MRTA. There was no difference in the mean body weight between cohorts but mean age was significantly different (p < 0.0001, analysis of variance): normal women, 34 +/- 12 yr (n = 55); women with age-related/idiopathic osteopenia, 52 +/- l l yr (n = 36(; and women with osteoporosis, 65 +/- 10 yr (n = 24). The mean EI of osteoporotic Caucasian women (25 Nm(2)) was 25% lower than normal subjects (33.1 Nm(2)) (p < 0.0001). However, there was no significant difference between EI of normal women and osteopenic women (30.l Nm(2)). EI was significantly but weakly correlated (i.e., the greatest r(2) value was 37%) to all dual X-ray absorptiometry variables, ulnar width, age, and body weight. In summary, results with MRTA were consistent with previous studies using classical ex vivo biomechanical techniques and in vivo vibrational techniques, showing decreased strength (i.e., bending stiffness) in osteoporotic bone compared with normal bone and a generalized decrease in bending stiffness with increasing age.

Immunization of pigs against the boar taint steroid androstenone.

Tissue concentrations of androstenone were measured in untreated control pigs and pigs immunized against 5 alpha-androst-16-en-3-one. Results confirmed that active immunization of male pigs against androstenone is unlikely to prevent the problem of "boar taint" in the carcass meat.

Cognition and communication: referential strategies used by preschoolers with specific language impairment.

Ten children with specific language impairment and 10 children with normal language development were asked to describe objects so that a listener could select them. Each trial targeted two out of a group of three toys. The targeted objects were identical or were similar in size or color. Children in the two groups did not differ in referential success, although children in both groups found the size items more difficult. Content analysis of the messages did reveal differences in the referential strategies used most frequently. Children with specific language impairment were more likely to mention the attributes of each object separately, rather than to describe the characteristics common to a pair of objects. Children in both groups talked about separate objects more often when talking about size than about color or object type. Use of this strategy could indicate the effects of attentional capacity on children's solutions to communication tasks.

Apparatus for pasteurising teat cup liners between cows in a herringbone parlour.

In a herringbone milking parlour, teat cup liners were deliberately contaminated in turn with Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Streptococcus agalactiae and Sterp uberis. Contamination was achieved by filling the liners with milk that contained 10(6) test organisms per ml. After the clusters had been back-flushed with water at 85 degrees C for five seconds, normal swabbing methods failed to recover any contaminating organisms from the teat liners in 56 tests out of 64. After 10 seconds back-flushing no recoveries were made in the same number of tests. The apparatus developed to effect this back-flushing for a particular herringbone parlour is described, with details of its routine use during milking. For a 100-cow herd, the running cost of such equipment using a five-second back-flush is estimated at no more than 4 pounds per week and, in its present form, would not add more than 10 seconds to the total milking time for each cow. Improvements in design of the apparatus, and in milking techniques arising from the routine use of the device, are also considered.

Newcastle disease antibody levels in chickens after vaccination with oil emulsion adjuvant killed vaccine.

Chicks vaccinated with live Hitchner B1 Newcastle disease vaccine at 17 days old and subsequently re-vaccinated with an oil emulsion killed Newcastle disease vaccine at either 38 or 52 days old showed high and persistent HAI antibody levels for at least eight months. Re-vaccination of these birds at 17 weeks old caused a further rise in antibody level to log212 which, even at 38 weeks, had dropped only to log210. Chicken primarily vaccinated with oil emulsion killed vaccine at six weeks old developed HAI antibody levels after four to five weeks of log29 which re-vaccination four weeks later increased to log211. Chicken given killed aluminium hydroxide adjuvant Newcastle disease vaccine were serologically HAI negative 13 weeks after vaccination while those given the oil emulsion vaccine still showed an antibody level of log28. Groups of birds inoculated with oil emulsion vaccine and then, at 20 weeks old, challenged with virulent Newcastle disease showed a 100 per cent survival rate. The particular merits of oil emulsion killed Newcastle disease vaccine for laying and breeding birds are discussed.

Protection of laying hens against infectious bronchitis with inactivated emulsion vaccines.

Commercially-reared laying chickens were challenged at 31 weeks of age with a virulent infectious bronchitis (IB) virus. They showed a sharp drop in egg production, despite having been vaccinated at four and eight weeks old with live attenuated IB vaccines to a recommended schedule. In contrast, similar birds that had been further immunised at point-of-lay with inactivated oil emulsion IB vaccine, or with a combined IB/Newcastle disease (ND) emulsion vaccine, showed no detectable fall in egg production after the same challenge. Unvaccinated susceptible specific pathogen-free birds challenged at the same time stopped laying almost completely. In the birds revaccinated with emulsion vaccine, measurement of haemagglutination inhibition antibody levels to IB showed their geometric mean titres to be raised from less than 5 log2 at the time of vaccination to over 10 log2 four weeks later. Their antibody levels did not rise further followining the IB challenge whereas in the birds that had not been revaccinated antibody rises to nearly 10 log2 were detected after the same challenge. For pullets vaccinated earlier with live IB vaccine, revaccination with inactivated IB or IB/ND oil emulsion vaccine at point-of-lay provides a safe and effective way of protecting their egg production against IB infection.

Day-old vaccination of maternally immune turkeys against Newcastle disease.

Maternally immune day-old turkey poults were vaccinated against Newcastle Disease with La Sota live vaccine and, concurrently, with emulsion killed vaccine. After an initial fall in maternal antibody the haemagglutination inhibition (HAI) geometric mean titre (GMT) of these birds rose to log2(6) and persisted at that level for eight months. Re-vaccination of some birds at 10 weeks with the emulsion vaccine caused GMTs to rise to log2(11). Six months later these levels were at log2(7). Further emulsion vaccination at 28 weeks produced a good anamnestic effect, the titre rising to log2(12). The authors discuss the possible advantages of this programme of vaccination as a routine for the immunisation of both fattening and breeding birds.

Induction of parturition in cows using betamethasone.

To avoid dystocia and calf mortality two groups of cows were induced to calve six or seven days prematurely. Group I consisted of none Hereford cross Friesian two-and-a-half-year-old recipient cows carrying Continental beef breed fetuses. Group 2 consisted of 10 four-year-old Continental beef breed cows carrying pure or crossbred fetuses of the same breeds. On day 280 of gestation a long-acting betamethasone formulation was injected into all 19 animals, followed five or six days later with an injection of short-acting betamethasone (15 animals) or prostaglandin F2alpha (one animal). Three cows calved before their second injection. Fourteen of the 15 animals given the short-acting betamethasone calved 26 to 70 hours later; the remaining animal was given prostaglandin at 72 hours and calved 36 hours later. The cow that received prostaglandin F2alpha instead of short-acting betamethasone calved after 11 hours. None of the calves in group I was born dead but three died within 36 hours. One calf was born dead in group 2. Cervical dilatation and slackening of pelvic ligaments were satisfactory in all animals. Although calf birthweights were between 39 and 60.5 kg, only two instances of dystocia were encountered. Thirteen of the 19 cows voided their fetal membranes within 12 hours of calving. Only two retained them for more than four days. All cows except two in group I showed good udder development and had a plentiful supply of colostrum at calving.