Common causes of open-circuit recreational diving fatalities.

Diving fatalities causes were investigated in 947 recreational open-circuit scuba diving deaths from 1992-2003. Where possible, cases were classified at each step of a four step sequence: trigger, disabling agent, disabling injury, cause of death (COD). The most frequent adverse events within each step were: (a) triggers 41% insufficient gas, 20% entrapment, 15% equipment problems; (b) disabling agents--55% emergency ascent, 27% insufficient gas, 13% buoyancy trouble; (c) disabling injuries--33% asphyxia, 29% arterial gas embolism (AGE), 26% cardiac incidents; and (d) COD--70% drowning, 14% AGE, 13% cardiac incidents. We concluded that disabling injuries were more relevant than COD as drowning was often secondary to a disabling injury. Frequencies and/ or associations with risk factors were investigated for each disabling injury by logistic regression. (The reference group for each injury was all other injuries.) Frequencies and/or associations included: (a) asphyxia--40% entrapment (Odds Ratio, OR > or = 30), 32% insufficient gas (OR = 15.9), 17% buoyancy trouble, 15% equipment trouble (OR = 4.5), 11% rough water, drysuit (OR = 4.1), female gender (OR = 2.1); (b) AGE--96% emergency ascent (OR > or = 30), 63% insufficient gas, 17% equipment trouble, 9% entrapment; (c) cardiac incidents--cardiovascular disease (OR = 10.5), age > 40 (OR = 5.9). Minimizing the frequent adverse events would have the greatest impact on reducing diving deaths.

Tissue Doppler imaging and echo-Doppler findings associated with a mitral valve stenosis with an immobile posterior valve leaflet in a bull terrier.

A mitral valve stenosis was diagnosed in a 2-year-old female Bull Terrier by use of two-dimensional (2-D) and M-mode echocardiography, colour-flow imaging and spectral Doppler examinations. Tissue Doppler Imaging was also performed to assess the segmental radial myocardial motion. The mitral valve stenosis was characterized by a decreased mitral orifice area/left ventricle area ratio (0.14), an increased early diastolic flow velocity (E wave = 1.9 m/s), a prolonged pressure half-time (106 ms) and a decreased E-F slope (4.5 cm/s) on pulsed-wave Doppler examination. This mitral stenosis was associated with an immobile posterior leaflet, as seen on 2-D and M-mode echocardiography. Immobility of the posterior mitral leaflet is considered to be a rare finding in humans and, to our knowledge, has not been precisely documented in dogs with mitral valve stenosis.

Ubiquitin immunochemistry as a diagnostic aid for community pathologists evaluating patients who have dementia.

Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia It is associated with genetic risk factors and at least three autosomal dominant mutations. Community pathologists are frequently asked by families to evaluate autopsy material for Alzheimer's disease. Neuropathologic diagnosis is based on technically difficult silver impregnation stains that may not be readily available to community-based pathologists. Because immunohistochemical techniques are more widely accessible, we evaluated the practical utility of using a single immunohistochemical stain for diagnosing Alzheimer's disease. The ubiquitin antigen was selected because of its presence in morphologically distinct deposits characteristic of several neurodegenerative diseases. Paraffin blocks were obtained from the Bryan Alzheimer's Disease Research Center Brain Bank, a repository of approximately 900 brains. Tissues from 16 individuals who exhibited the entire range of Alzheimer's-type neuropathology were selected. Ubiquitin immunostains, evaluated blindly and independently by four pathologists ranging from first-year resident trainee to experienced neuropathologist, reliably stained both neuritic plaques and neurofibrillary tangles essential for diagnosing and staging Alzheimer's disease. Nondemented controls with early Alzheimer's-type changes were easily distinguished from cases of definitive Alzheimer's disease. The stains also highlighted characteristic inclusions of Parkinson's disease or Lewy body dementia Ubiquitin immunohistochemistry is a reliable, reproducible, and readily available diagnostic aid for distinguishing Alzheimer's disease from other causes of dementia.

Carnosic acid in green callus and regenerated shoots of Rosmarinus officinalis.

Rooted regenerated shoots obtained from leaf and nodal segments of Rosmarinus officinalis were grown on a basal nutrient medium for 9 weeks. The regenerants were shown by means of HPLC and mass spectrometry to contain carnosic acid, a diterpenoid with antioxidant and medicinal properties. Five-week-old nodular green callus also contained carnosic acid, whereas non-green, undifferentiated callus maintained in the dark did not.

Cytologically proved malignant pleural effusions: distribution of transudates and exudates.

PURPOSE: This study attempts to determine the distribution of transudates vs exudates in pathologically proved malignant pleural effusions and the necessity for cytologic studies in patients with a transudative effusion. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective review of all cytologically positive malignant pleural effusions was performed at Duke University Medical Center over an 18-month period. All effusions were characterized as a transudate or an exudate based on standard criteria, including lactate dehydrogenase and protein values. RESULTS: Ninety-eight patients with a mean age of 62 years were identified as having a cytologically positive malignant pleural effusion and blood chemistry values available to distinguish an exudate from transudate. Ninety-seven patients (99%, 95% confidence interval; 0.94 to 0.99) had criteria for an exudative effusion. One patient (1%) with diffuse metastatic lung cancer had a borderline transudate and was in congestive heart failure at the time of thoracentesis. CONCLUSIONS: Cytologically positive pleural effusions for malignancy are almost always exudates. Cytologic evaluation for malignant cells of a transudative pleural effusion is not recommended.

Western blot analysis of cereal grain prolamins using an antibody to carboxyl-linked indoleacetic Acid.

A monoclonal antibody raised against carboxyl-linked IAA was used in Western blot analysis of storage proteins from kernels of Avena sativa, Pennisetum americanum, Sorghum bicolor, and Zea mays. IAA or an IAA-like molecule is associated with the ethanolsoluble protein fraction of the seed. Western blotting of commercial zein, the major storage protein of maize, along with physicochemical evidence reported by Leverone et al. ([1991] Plant Physiol, 96: 1070-1075) indicated that IAA is linked with this prolamin. Results suggest that an IAA-prolamin association may be widespread throughout the Poaceae.

Evidence of zein-bound indoleacetic Acid using gas chromatography-selected ion monitoring-mass spectrometry analysis and immunogold labeling.

Commercial zein was base-hydrolyzed and purified extracts were subjected to gas chromatography-selected ion monitoring-mass spectrometry analysis. Indoleacetic acid (IAA) was shown to be released from this storage protein of corn (Zea mays). Isotope dilution using [(13)C(6)]IAA as an internal standard revealed a conservative ratio of 1 mole IAA to 175 moles zein. Immunoelectron micrographs of isolated protein bodies also showed IAA or an IAA-like molecule associated with zein and deposited within these organelles.

Evidence for a revertant at the La locus in regenerating hypocotyl segments in tomato.

Leafy and leafless phenotypes were regenerated in vitro from hypocotyl segments of leafless forms (reduced and modified) of the homozygous lanceolate (La) mutant in tomato. Segregation of progeny of leafy regenerates into homozygous. mutant (La La), heterozygote (La La (+)) and normal (La (+) La (+)) indicates that cells forming the shoot apical meristems undergo a genetic reversion, and that the nutrient medium might be selecting for the heterozygote. Among the progeny of the regenerates is a true breeding, unlobed variant. Leaves of the variant are pinnately compound and the margins are entire. Opposite cotyledons followed in development by two simple leaves before the appearance of a pinnately compound leaf with an occasional lanceolate-shaped leaflet suggests that the unlobed variant is morphologically intermediate between La La (+) and La (+) La (+).

Lower temperature and orthophosphate control of alkaline phosphatase in a cold-requiring plant.

The elevated activity of alkaline phosphatase observed in roots and shoots of Verbascum rosettes grown in vitro at 15 degrees C may be the result of a reduced supply of orthophosphate. The rosette reveals greater activities of this enzyme under conditions of lower external phosphate or chilling temperature. Either of these treatments gives lower amounts of endogenous phosphate. The stimulation of phosphatase in tissues having lower levels of phosphate is thus a possible feature of other plant species which also display freezing tolerance.

Determination of Indole-3-acetic Acid in Douglas Fir Using a Deuterated Analog and Selected Ion Monitoring: Comparison of Microquantities in Seedling and Adult Tree.

Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) content in shoot tips of Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii [Mirb.] Franco) trees and seedlings was determined by combined gas chromatography-mass spectrometry using a deuterated analog (d(2)-IAA) as an internal standard and the technique of selected ion monitoring. Ratios of the peak heights of the deuterated analog internal standard to endogenous IAA revealed a slightly higher content of IAA in seedlings compared with the shoot tips collected in June. The relatively high level of IAA (2.9 micrograms per gram fresh weight) in seedlings is discussed in relation to in vitro propagation of this species.

Proliferation of cells in the central cylinder of the reduced mutant in lanceolate tomato.

When the reduced phenotype in homozygous lanceolate tomato is cultured on a sterile nutrient medium, there is a considerable amount of cell division within the central cylinder. Such proliferation may occur in response to a stimulus furnished to the shoot by the root.