Assessment of oxidant stress in allergic asthma by measurement of the major urinary metabolite of F2-isoprostane, 15-F2t-IsoP (8-iso-PGF2alpha).

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the airways which may involve an oxidant injury to the lung. Assessment of oxidant stress is difficult in vivo, but measurement of F2-isoprostanes (F2-IsoPs), free radical-catalysed products of arachidonic acid, appears to offer a reliable approach for quantitative measurement of oxidative stress status in vivo. We have recently developed a mass spectrometric assay for 2,3-dinor-5,6-dihydro-15-F2t-IsoP (15-F2t-IsoP-M), the major urinary metabolite of the F2-IsoP, 15-F2t-IsoP (8-iso-PGF2a). Measurement of the urinary excretion of this metabolite offers a reliable index of oxidative stress status in vivo that has advantages over measuring unmetabolized F2-IsoPs in urine and plasma. To assess the occurrence of oxidative stress in patients with atopic asthma following allergen exposure in vivo by measuring the urinary excretion of 15-F2t-IsoP-M. Analysis of 15-F2t-IsoP-M by GC-NICI-MS in nine mild atopic asthmatics following inhaled allergen provocation and four asthmatic subjects after inhaled challenge with methacholine. Urinary excretion of 15-F2t-IsoP-M increased at 2 h after allergen challenge and remained significantly elevated in all urine collections during the subsequent 8-h period of the study compared to the baseline value (ANOVA, and Student-Newman-Keuls multiple comparisons test). No increase in the urinary excretion of 15-F2t-IsoP-M occurred after inhalation of methacholine. Allergen challenge causes an oxidant injury in human atopic asthmatics. 15-F2t-IsoP-M is a valuable marker of oxidant stress in vivo.

Mastery motivation and temperament of 7-month-old infants.

PURPOSE: To examine relationships among infant mastery motivation, temperament, and cognition with the goal of highlighting infant behaviors to which nurses should be alert in the clinical environment to promote optimal infant development. SAMPLE: Subjects were 26 healthy, full-term infants, age 7 months, recruited from a well baby clinic. METHOD: A descriptive correlational design was used. Tools included the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, Fagan Test of Infant Intelligence, the Dimensions of Mastery Questionnaire, and the Revised Infant Temperament Questionnaire. RESULTS: Cognition was not related to either mastery motivation or temperament. Several relations between mastery motivation and temperament emerged. Infants with high mastery pleasure were rated as more cooperative and less difficult, and tended to be rated as more active and less irritable. Independent mastery, on the other hand, showed no correlation with temperament scores. Infants who were rated as high in persistence on the mastery motivation questionnaire were rated as more cooperative, more rhythmical, and less difficult on the temperament questionnaire, and they tended to be rated as more approachable and less irritable. Infants who were rated as high in competence tended to be rated as less difficult. CONCLUSIONS: While temperament and mastery motivation are related, information on mastery motivation provides additional information to the nurse that may be helpful both in planning interventions to promote infant development and in providing anticipatory guidance for parents.

Pathogenesis of diquat-induced liver necrosis in selenium-deficient rats: assessment of the roles of lipid peroxidation and selenoprotein P.

A dose of diquat below the amount injurious to selenium-replete animals causes lipid peroxidation and massive liver necrosis in selenium-deficient rats. The current study was undertaken to characterize the lipid peroxidation with respect to the liver injury and to correlate the presence of several selenoproteins with the protective effect of selenium. Lipid peroxidation was assessed by measurement of F2 isoprostanes. Diquat caused an increase in liver and plasma F2 isoprotanes. A gradient of these compounds was detected across the liver in some animals, indicating that this organ was a source of some of the plasma F2 isoprostanes. A time-course experiment showed that liver F2 isoprostane concentration increased before plasma alanine transaminase (ALT) levels rose. Selenium-deficient rats were injected with selenium doses from 2 to 50 micrograms/kg and studied 12 hours later. A dose of 10 micrograms/kg or more prevented diquat-induced lipid peroxidation and liver injury. This dose increased plasma selenoprotein P substantially, and a dose-response was present. Liver cellular and plasma glutathione peroxidase activities remained below 2% of their values in control rats for all selenium doses. In selenium-deficient rats given diquat, hepatic lipid peroxidation precedes hepatic necrosis and could therefore be an important mechanism of the necrosis. Selenoprotein P levels were increased by selenium injections, which protected against diquat injury, but glutathione peroxidase activity was not increased. This is consistent with selenoprotein P being the mediator of the selenium effect.

Fluconazole: a new triazole antifungal agent.

Fluconazole is a recently approved agent for the treatment of certain fungal infections. Based on available studies, the drug is clearly effective in oropharyngeal candidiasis in immunosuppressed hosts. Current evidence suggests it may be more efficacious than other azole drugs for oropharyngeal disease. It is probably also effective in other infections due to Candida species, but controlled studies are lacking. Fluconazole is also efficacious in the treatment of cryptococcal meningitis, but recent reports question its use as initial therapy in HIV-infected patients with this illness. The drug, however, is clearly more effective than amphotericin B in the suppression of cryptococcal meningitis in AIDS patients and is the treatment of choice in this situation.