Health beliefs of the urban Pare tribe living in Moshi, Tanzania.

This study aimed to explore and describe the health beliefs and practices of urban Pares, living in Moshi, Tanzania. No previously documented studies of the health beliefs of the Pare were identified. This transcultural qualitative study utilised semistructured interviews conducted with nine informants, followed by thematic analysis of the interview data. Unlike professional health care workers functioning within the scientific paradigm, urban Pare health beliefs arise from magico-religious, holistic and scientific paradigms. Beliefs and behaviour patterns are however changing. Nurses caring for urban Pares can use the findings and recommendations from this study to enhance culturally congruent care.

UV Raman spectroscopy of hydrocarbons.

In this paper, the UV Raman spectra of a large number of saturated and alkyl-substituted monocyclic, bicyclic and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are obtained at 220 and 233 nm excitation wavelengths. Also included are nitrogen- and sulphur-containing hydrocarbons. The spectra obtained are fluorescence free, even for such highly fluorescent compounds as perylene, consistent with earlier reports of UV Raman spectra of hydrocarbons. The hydrocarbon UV Raman spectra exhibit greatly improved signal-to-noise ratio when in the neat liquid or solution state compared with the neat solid state, suggesting that some surface degradation occurs under the conditions used here. Assignments are given for most of the bands and clear marker bands for the different classes of hydrocarbons are readily observable, although their relative intensities vary greatly. These results are discussed in the context of structure and symmetry to develop a consistent, molecular-based model of vibrational group frequencies.

Influence of calcium channel blocker treatment on the mechanical properties of diabetic rat myocardium.

The objective of this investigation was to determine whether calcium channel blocker (CCB) treatment effectively restores normal baseline mechanical function in diabetic myocardium and to evaluate its effect on the interval-strength relationship. Wistar rats were made diabetic with streptozotocin (55 mg/kg, IV). Left-ventricular papillary muscles from normal and diabetic (10 weeks) rats were superfused with Tyrode's solution at 30 degrees C. A subgroup of diabetic and normal animals received daily injections of verapamil or nifedipine (10 mg/kg, IP; 8 weeks) to compare the effectiveness of a phenylalkylamine to a dihydropyridine in reversing diabetes-induced contractile dysfunction in vitro. Muscles were electrically stimulated at 0.5 Hz with suprathreshold stimuli, and the following parameters were measured: peak tension developed, time to-peak tension, time-to-90% relaxation, and the maximum velocities of tension development and decay. Experimental diabetes was characterized by: severe hyperglycemia, hepatomegaly, reduced body weight gain, cardiomegaly, and increased plasma phospholipid levels. In addition, baseline values of peak tension developed, time to-peak tension, and time-to-90% relaxation were significantly greater in muscles from diabetic animals. Chronic nifedipine treatment reduced hyperglycemia and plasma phospholipid levels, normalized body weight gain, and reduced both heart and liver sizes in diabetic animals. Nifedipine treatment completely reversed diabetes-induced prolongation in both time-to-peak tension and time-to-90% relaxation. In diabetic myocardium, a slightly positive component was present in the interval-strength relationship between 0.01 and 1 Hz, resulting in a rightward shift in the entire curve across a wide range of stimulation frequencies (0.01-5 Hz). This positive component was absent in muscles from diabetic animals treated with both CCBs, and verapamil produced a leftward shift in the frequency response curve. The results of this study suggest that chronic nifedipine treatment may be more effective than verapamil in restoring normal baseline myocardial mechanical function, reducing hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia, as well as attenuating both cardiac and liver enlargement in experimental diabetes. In contrast, verapamil treatment tended to normalize more effectively the inotropic response to changes in stimulation frequency in diabetic myocardium.

Differential effects of chronic calcium channel blocker treatment on the inotropic response of diabetic rat myocardium to acute ethanol exposure.

Cardiomyopathy is a consistent feature of diabetic myocardium as well as in prolonged alcohol consumption. Diabetes-induced myocardial dysfunction has been attributed, in part, to calcium overload within individual myocytes. The present study compares the effectiveness of the calcium channel blocker nifedipine (dihydropyridine-type) with verapamil (phenylalkylamine-type) in reversing myocardial dysfunction and diminishing the negative inotropic effect of ethanol on diabetic rat myocardium. Wistar rats were made diabetic with streptozotocin (55 mg/kg, i.v.) and isolated electrically stimulated papillary muscles were studied under isometric conditions in the absence and presence of clinically relevant concentrations of ethanol (80-240 mg/dl, i e., 17.4-52.1 mM). Subgroups of diabetic and normal animals received daily injections of verapamil or nifedipine 2 weeks after induction of diabetes for 8 weeks. Untreated diabetic animals exhibited hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, reduced growth, cardiomegaly, and hepatomegaly. Compared to verapamil chronic nifedipine treatment normalized or reversed the effects of diabetes on myocardial mechanical function. The negative inotropic effect of ethanol was attenuated only in muscles from verapamil-treated diabetic animals. Thus, chronic nifedipine treatment may be more effective than verapamil in reducing hyperglycemia, attenuating both cardiac and liver enlargement, and restoring myocardial mechanical function, in experimental diabetes. However, chronic verapamil therapy is more effective in diminishing the negative inotropic effect of ethanol on diabetic myocardium. These findings may have clinical significance among diabetic patients who consume alcoholic beverages while receiving long-term calcium blocker therapy.

In vitro and in vivo susceptibility of Candida keratitis to topical polyenes.

The susceptibility of Candida albicans to topical amphotericin B and natamycin was evaluated in a model of stromal keratitis in Dutch-belted rabbits and compared with minimal inhibitory concentrations in vitro. Treatment was delayed 24 hr to allow invasive disease to occur and was then continued for 5 days. Ten strains of Candida albicans comprised the test panel. For amphotericin B, the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) by tube dilution classified the same strains as resistant or susceptible as did the in vivo response. A dose-response was observed with different concentrations of the drug. For natamycin, the MIC misclassified two strains. The rate of administration of natamycin required in this model was much higher than for amphotericin B, a therapeutic effect being observed with natamycin only when the drug was administered every 30 min during the in vivo efficacy and in vitro susceptibility with these strains is in agreement with that observed in the authors' previous studies using a model of immediate treatment.

Transferrin-dependent growth inhibition of yeast-phase Histoplasma capsulatum by human serum and lymph.

Nonspecific host defense mechanisms that may limit growth of yeast-phase Histoplasma capsulatum in vivo were examined using an in vitro system of cell-free liquid culture. Native human transferrin in serum and lymph, or purified transferrin added to serum-free medium, inhibited yeast replication 10- to 50-fold. Supplementation of serum with iron to complete or almost complete saturation of total iron-binding capacity neutralized inhibition. Substitution of Zn++, Mn++, or Cu++ for Fe++ did not affect inhibition. Neither complement nor antibody was a relevant factor. Results of culture in medium with unsaturated transferrin followed by replenishment with iron indicated that iron deprivation was either fungistatic or fungicidal, depending on the yeast strain and, in serum-free medium, on the iron content of transferrin. Transferrin-dependent fungistasis was associated with morphologic alteration of yeasts as determined by electron microscopy. Thus, susceptibility of yeast-phase H. capsulatum to iron starvation by unsaturated transferrin may contribute to their low virulence in vivo.

Some antagonists of dantrolene sodium on the isolated diaphragm muscle of the rat.

The effects of a number of potential antagonists of dantrolene sodium have been studied on twitches of the isolated hemidiaphragm preparation of the rat stimulated directly at a frequency of 0-1 Hz, after complete neuromuscular block produced by tubocurarine or erabutoxin a. The substances selected as possible dantrolene antagonists were uranyl ions, thiocyanate ions, adrenaline, caffeine, quazodine, quinine, 4-aminopyridine and the calcium ionophore a23187, all of which facilitate excitation-contraction coupling in one way or another. Contracture was the main feature of the response to A23187, the increase in the tension of the dantrolene-depressed twitches being very slight. All the remaining compounds increased the amplitude of the twitches, but only 4-aminopyridine, quinine, quazodine and caffeine were capable of restoring to the control amplitude twitches that had been maximally depressed by dantrolene. OF these, 4-aminopyridine and quinine were the most potent on a molar basis.