Concentrations and bioaccessibilities of metals in exterior urban paints.

Paint fragments have been collected from a variety of structures (e.g. walls, lamp posts, doors, railings) from the urban environment of Plymouth, UK, and concentrations of metals determined following acid digestion. Concentrations of most metals were highly variable and spanned several orders of magnitude among the samples (e.g. Pb=4.5 to 36900 µg g(-1); Cr=1.9 to 775 µg g(-1); Zn=39 to 23500 µg g(-1)). The bioaccessibilities of the metals were evaluated using a physiologically based extraction test that simulates the chemical conditions of the human stomach and intestine. The bioaccessibility of a given metal was highly variable among the samples and was greater in the stomach than the intestine in some cases (e.g. Cd, Pb) and greater in the intestine in others (e.g. Co, Cr). Based on total and bioaccessible concentrations in urban paints, Pb remains the metal of greatest concern from a human health perspective.

Prospective randomized trial of short-term neoadjuvant chemotherapy for advanced gastric cancer.

BACKGROUND: We performed short-term neoadjuvant chemotherapy (s-NAC) to examine whether anticancer drugs can change the proliferative ability of cancer cells in gastric cancer patients. METHODS: Chemotherapy was performed for 72 h before gastrectomy in 63 gastric cancer patients. Patients were classed into four groups: Group F, 16 cases who received a single administration of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU); Group C, 15 cases who received a single administration of cis-diamminedichloroplatinum (CDDP; cisplatin); Group FC, 16 cases who received both 5-FU+CDDP; and a Control group, 16 cases who did not receive chemotherapy. We reviewed neoadjuvant biopsy tissue and gastric cancer tissue delivered by operation in these cases. The TUNEL method and immunohistochemistry with an anti-MIB-1 antibody were used to evaluate cellular apoptosis and proliferative ability, respectively. The apoptotic index (AI) and an MIB-1 index (MI) were also calculated. RESULTS: There were no differences in AI or MI in biopsy tissue between the groups. The AI of gastric cancer tissue in Group FC was significantly higher than in the other groups (P < 0.01). The MI of Group FC was significantly lower than in the other groups (P < 0.05). In addition, after s-NAC operation there was a significant inhibition of proliferative potency and an induction of apoptosis in Group FC. CONCLUSION: Combination of CDDP and 5-FU reduced proliferative potency and increased cellular apoptosis in gastric cancer cells.

One-step isolation of lactoferrin using immobilized monoclonal antibodies.

Immunoaffinity columns made with monoclonal antibodies to either human or bovine lactoferrins were prepared to isolate human lactoferrin or bovine lactoferrin from milks by a single chromatographic step. Recoveries of human lactoferrin and bovine lactoferrin were 98 and 97%, respectively. The human lactoferrin recovered from defatted human colostrum was 98% pure with 93% iron-binding capacity. Amount of recovered bovine lactoferrin, as well as purity and iron-binding capacity, varied widely depending on the source of bovine milks and pretreatments (particularly pasteurization temperature). The best source to isolate bovine lactoferrin was raw skim milk yielding a protein 97% pure and with a 99% iron-binding capacity. Thus, immunoaffinity chromatography provides an effective one-pass isolation of highly pure human or bovine lactoferrin with reasonable recovery and iron-binding capacity.

IgA specific helper factor (alpha HF) in human colostrum.

Induction of immunoglobulin secretion by human colostrum was investigated using human peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) and Epstein-Barr virus transformed human B lymphoblastoid cells. Stimulation of the cells with colostrum induced IgA plaque forming cells but neither IgG nor IgM plaque forming cells, indicating the occurrence of IgA specific helper factor (alpha HF) in human colostrum. alpha HF activity was eluted into fractions with an apparent molecular weight of about 80 kD by gel filtration, and with a PI range of 5.8 to 6.2 by chromatofocusing. IgA secreted by PBL stimulated with alpha HF had a similar molecular weight distribution to that of IgA in human colostrum. From these results a hypothesis is proposed; IgA-committed B cells in the mammary gland differentiate to plasma cells producing dimeric IgA after stimulation by alpha HF so that the dominant immunoglobulin in human colostrum is IgA.

[Pulsed Doppler evaluation of left ventricular pressure and pressure difference in hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy].

To assess the patho-physiological severity of hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM), the systolic pressure differences caused by the functional stenosis across the outflow tract of the left ventricle must be evaluated. The present study explored and proposed a non-invasive method predicting the pressure difference across the intraventricular obstruction and the pressure proximal to the obstruction by using pulsed Doppler technique, guided by simultaneous two-dimensional echocardiography. The ultrasonic equipment recently developed in our laboratory was used. It consisted of a 3.0 MHz pulsed ultrasonic transducer with a 4.4 KHz repetition rate and a mechanical sector scanner equipped with a single concave transducer 1.3 cm in diameter having a 70 mm radius of curvature. The sample volume was approximately 3 X 3 X 3 mm. Doppler signals obtained were subjected to a real-time analyzer with a fast Fourier transformer, and were simultaneously recorded on a thermal recorder as a spectral display together with an M-mode echocardiogram, lead II ECG, phonocardiogram and mechanocardiogram. Ten adults with HOCM were the subjects in the present study. For six of the 10, good pressure tracings were obtained. The pressure differences estimated by the maximum velocity as measured from the Doppler signals at the left ventricular (LV) outflow tract and the pressure gradients as obtained by cardiac catheterization were subjected to correlative analysis. Prior to investigating the pressure differences, the site and mechanism of the outflow obstruction in HOCM were studied in two cases using two-dimensional echocardiography in the longitudinal- and short-axis views. The obstruction was produced during systole by posteroinferior displacement of the hypertrophied interventricular septum and by abnormal anterosuperior movement of the hypertrophied, and elongated anterior or posterior papillary muscles. Thus, a concentric and centripetal narrowing was formed at the midportion of the outflow tract. In some cases, a bottle-shaped chamber was clearly observed in the apical area. Ultrasonic Doppler examinations were performed by the apical approach. Flow velocity patterns in the apical region or proximal to the obstruction had two peaks with a narrow spectrum in systole. At the distal portion or downstream the obstruction had a pattern with a narrow spectrum and a sharp single peak. To measure the maximum flow velocity, Doppler velocity patterns recorded immediately distal to the obstruction were used.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Non-invasive estimation by cross sectional echocardiography of myocardial damage in cardiomyopathy.

Retrospective and prospective studies of high resolution cross sectional echocardiograms were undertaken in order to establish an ultrasonic method for the non-invasive estimation of degeneration and fibrosis of the endomyocardium in cases of cardiomyopathy. When the echocardiograms of the ventricular wall were compared with the histological specimens intense abnormal echoes were seen at the sites of myocardial degeneration and fibrosis of the ventricular wall. The abnormal echoes classified into five types: types I, II, III-1, III-2, and III-3. Type I and type III-1 echoes were the strongest followed by those of types II and III-2, and then those of type III-3. The intensity of the abnormal echoes was 5-20 decibels stronger than that from intact tissue and was closely related to the consistency and density of the diseased tissue. These findings strongly suggest that the boundary between degeneration or fibrosis and the intact normal myocardium was the source of the abnormal myocardial echoes and that the extent and the pattern of the distribution of the sites of degeneration and fibrosis in the myocardium were reflected in the echo patterns. Thus the tissue characteristics of the sites of degeneration or fibrosis of the myocardium may be determined non-invasively by measuring the echo intensity.

Isolation and characterization of human renin substrate.

Human renin substrate (angiotensinogen) was purified from outdated bank plasma. Purification procedures included ammonium sulfate precipitation, DEAE-cellulose column chromatography, concanavalin A-Sepharose column chromatography, Hydroxylapatite column chromatography preparative isoelectric focusing and Ultrogel AcA 44 gel filtration. The final recovery was 10% and the specific angiotensin I content of 10.5 micrograms/mg of protein was obtained. Polyacrylamide gel and SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and analytical ultracentrifugal analyses showed the homogeneity of the purified renin substrate. The molecular weight of 60900 was determined by sedimentation equilibrium studies. Human renin substrate was a glycoprotein containing 13% carbohydrate. Cystine could not be detected on amino acid analysis. The purified renin substrate showed the isoelectric point heterogeneity (pI, 4.6 and 4.9).