Development of a new portable air sampler based on electrostatic precipitation.

Airborne particles are known to cause illness and to influence meteorological phenomena. It is therefore important to monitor their concentrations and to identify them. A challenge is to collect micro and nanoparticles, microorganisms as well as toxic molecules with a device as simple and small as possible to be used easily and everywhere. Electrostatic precipitation is an efficient method to collect all kinds of airborne particles. Furthermore, this method can be miniaturized. A portable, silent, and autonomous air sampler based on this technology is therefore being developed with the final objective to collect very efficiently airborne pathogens such as supermicron bacteria but also submicron viruses. Particles are collected on a dry surface so they may be concentrated afterwards in a small amount of liquid medium to be analyzed. It is shown that nearly 98 % of airborne particles from 10 nm to 3 µm are collected.

Ecophysiological adaptations to dry thermal environments measured in two unrestrained Namibian scorpions, Parabuthus villosus (Buthidae) and Opisthophthalmus flavescens (Scorpionidae).

The daily changes in body temperature experienced by Parabuthus villosus (Buthidae), a scorpion found on the gravel plains around Gobabeb, Namibia, and by Opisthophthalmus flavescens (Scorpionidae), a dune-dwelling species from the same area, were measured under similar field conditions. Thermocouples implanted under the segments of the mesosoma measured maximum temperatures as high as 43 degrees C in the shade. Air temperatures reached a maximum of 33 degrees C during the daytime and a minimum of 12 degrees C at night. Very low metabolic rates compared with those of other nonsedentary invertebrates were recorded in both species; oxygen consumption ranged from 8 microL g-1 h-1 at 16 degrees C to 115 microL g-1 h-1 at 40 degrees C. A pulsed Doppler system was used to measure heart rate in situ in free-moving scorpions. At night, heart rate declined to about 4 beats min-1 in resting undisturbed scorpions. During daylight excursions and while scorpions hunted for food, heart rates as high as 180 beats min-1 were observed. Heart rate was linearly correlated with temperature in P. villosus, with a slope of 2.37 (Q10 = 2.18), but in O. flavescens only a limited correlation was observed, with a slope of 1.18 (Q10 = 1.69). In O. flavescens, heart rate showed hysteresis as body temperature rose during daylight and then decreased during the late afternoon and evening; the reverse was observed in P. villosus. In both species, haemocyanin-oxygen affinity was independent of temperature, with a higher oxygen affinity and a larger pH sensitivity in O. flavescens. The Q10's of oxygen consumption and heart rate are quite different in O. flavescens but not as different in P. villosus. Although changes in the cardiovascular system, such as stroke volume, may also play a role in meeting increased oxygen demand, the features of the haemocyanin oxygen transport system, such as the absence of temperature sensitivity and a marked pH sensitivity, can also influence the maintenance of VO2 under temperature stress. The differences in the normal thermal habitats of the two species may be used to explain the distinctions between the evolved physiological responses to temperature increase shown by the two species.

Limy bile. A surgical experience in 16 patients.

OBJECTIVES: This study is a retrospective analysis of clinical symptoms and operative findings in 16 patients with limy bile (mean age: 47.3 years, M/F ratio: 1/7) operated on over a 25-year period. METHODS: The patients were separated into two groups: patients with limy bile limited to the gallbladder and those with limy bile extending to the common bile duct. RESULTS: In the group of patients with limy bile in the gallbladder (n = 11), previous attacks of biliary pain were present in 9 and the gallbladder was entirely inactive in 9; an elective cholecystectomy was performed; an impacted stone was found in the neck of the gallbladder (n = 5) or in the cystic duct (n = 6), and the intraoperative cholangiogram was normal. The material deposited in the gallbladder was characteristically creamy or dense, white or yellow-brown, and consisted of calcium carbonate. The patients with limy bile extending to the common duct (n = 5) were admitted with acute pain and jaundice, and operated on a few days later. In the common bile duct, limy bile was associated with small stones (n = 4). CONCLUSION: Abdominal radiographs are sufficient to identify limy bile. The presence of this condition in the gallbladder is always associated with biliary lithiasis and the obstruction of the cystic duct. The presence of limy bile in the common bile duct is due to the migration of impacted stone and calcareous material deposited in from the gallbladder. Surgical treatment is only necessary in patients with specific biliary symptoms.

Insulin release from isolated islets of Langerhans after segmental-pancreas autotransplantation in dogs.

Pancreas transplantation is warranted essentially by the quality of glucose regulation. Although the fasting blood glucose is invariably normal, this may not be the case during glucose load tests. The purpose of this study was to examine dysregulation within the isolated islet originating from a segmental-pancreas autograft in the dog. Results show an increased basal insulin secretion by the graft islets in static incubation compared with that of islets originating from the head of the pancreas and left in situ. This abnormal secretion may be accounted for by various factors intervening within the graft or the isolated islet, thus suggesting a possible improvement in the surgical model.

The arteriovenous fistula in segmental pancreatic transplantation in dogs--a hemodynamic study.

Arterial and/or venous thrombosis is a frequent complication in experimental or human pancreatic transplantation. A canine experiment was used to study the hemodynamic effects of spleno-splenic arteriovenous fistula during segmental pancreatic transplantation. An increase in blood flow, without "steal" syndrome in the pancreatic blood supply or pressure increase, was found. Thus this technique can help prevent vascular thrombosis in pancreatic transplant in dogs.

Biliary lithiasis in the over seventy-five age group: a new therapeutic strategy.

Sixty-four gallstone patients aged 75 or more (mean age 83 +/- 5.1 years) were divided prospectively into two groups. They were mostly high-risk patients (average number of major risk factors, 2.2 +/- 0.9). Thirty-three showed one or several signs of lithiasis of the common bile duct and were treated with endoscopic sphincterotomy (ES) (31 successful cases, two technical problems) followed by early cholecystectomy (33 cases). Choledocholithiasis was present in 26 cases and stones were extracted in 25 cases. Two patients (6 per cent) died. ES caused no complications. Thirty-one other patients showed no sign of choledocholithiasis and were treated by cholecystectomy with operative cholangiography. Choledocholithiasis was found in two of these patients and treated by extraction and external drainage. Five of these patients (16 per cent) died. In 30 cases acute cholecystitis was found at operation, 15 in each group. ES is therefore an efficient procedure in high-risk patients, which facilitates operation, especially in cases of acute cholecystitis, and it is recommended in all cases of complicated biliary lithiasis. Early cholecystectomy is justified for these patients by the high frequency of associated acute cholecystitis.

[Heterotopic segmental autotransplantation of the pancreas with digestive system anastomosis in the dog]. / Autotransplantation hétérotopique segmentaire du pancréas avec anastomose digestive chez le chien.

Segmental autotransplantation of pancreas in the heterotopic position, with digestive anastomosis protected by an epiploplasty was performed in a series of 22 dogs. Twenty dogs survived the operation and nine were followed up for 4 weeks: the histologic and morphologic qualities of the graft were very favorable from both endocrine and exocrine points of view. This morphohistologic quality can be related to the digestive anastomosis performed, which failed to provoke any specific complications to a large extent. This study should be completed by improvement in the vascularization of the graft by a splenic arteriovenous fistula and a concomitant study of the endocrine function of the transplanted pancreas in dogs with experimentally-induced diabetes.

[Revascularization of the 2 lower limbs from the descending thoracic aorta without laparotomy]. / Revascularisation des deux membres inférieurs à partir de l'aorte thoracique descendante sans laparotomie.

Arterial bypass of the lower limbs from the thoracic aorta approached through a thoracic or abdominal route has already been described. The technique reported here is original in that the descending thoracic aorta is exposed through thoracotomy, and the prosthesis is passed behind the left kidney, then, for the right leg bifurcation, through Retzius' space without laparotomy. Two patients were operated upon with this technique which is described in detail, together with its potential indications, advantages and disadvantages.

Uridine kinase molecular species and uridine uptake in some variants of rat hepatomas.

In a family of clonal lines derived from the Reuber H 35 rat hepatoma, four electrophoretically distinct molecular forms of uridine kinase (UK I, II, III, and IV) have been characterized. They are the same as those found in foetal rat liver. Different UK profiles occur in these cell lines, and no strict correlation could be established between the state of differentiation of the cells and the form of UK expressed. A clone of somatic hybrid cells between line p4 (form 1 only) and Fu5-5 (forms II, III, and IV) that does not express form I indicates that p4 cells may lack a factor controlling the polymerization of form I. This variety of clonal cell lines was used to study the uptake and phosphorylation of labeled uridine. The results suggest a relationship between the UK form present and the rate uridine phosphorylation by the intact cells.

[Amineptine and amotival syndrome (author's transl)]. / Etude préliminaire en ouvert de l'amineptine sur le syndrome déficitaire des hébéphrènes et des toxicomanes au décours du sevrage.

Intellectual, affective and motor inhibition is part of the syndrome encountered in: drug withdrawal in addicts especially with opiates; hebephrenia. Amineptine a new antidepressant agent with psychoanaleptic properties has been studied in these patients. Considering this psychotonic activity was logical to test both the tolerance of this compound in drug addicts and the risk of delirious reactivation in schizophrenic patients. The open study in 19 patients shows an effect of amineptine: -on inhibition and loss of activity, apragmatism and deterioration of social behaviour; -a subjective improvement of intellectual performance. And moreover: without reactivation of preexisting delirious ideas in schizophrenic patients; without drug addiction in treated toxicomaniacs.

Electrophoretically distinct forms of uridine kinase in the rat. Tissue distribution and age-dependence.

By the use of polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis, uridine kinase from foetal rat liver was separated into four types designated I, II, III and IV in decreasing order of mobility towards the anode. The most anodic (type I) was found only in rapidly growing tissues, such as foetal liver and brain, postnatal spleen and tumour cells. In adult tissues, types II, III and IV were found in the kidney, and types III and IV in the spleen and the liver, whereas type IV was the sole form of uridine kinase present in the brain.