Harvestman (Opiliones) fauna associated with Maine lowbush blueberry fields in the major production areas of Washington and Hancock counties.

Over a period of 19 yr, the harvestman (Opiliones) community associated with the lowbush blueberry agro-ecosystem in Maine was studied. Eight species representing five genera, four subfamilies, and two families of harvestmen belonging to the suborder Eupnoi were collected. The harvestman community was dominated by two introduced, synanthropic species: Phalangium opilio in all but 1 yr (that year dominated by Rilaena triangularis). Rilaena was recorded for the first time from eastern North America. Relative abundance of harvestman adults increases throughout the season and the temporal pattern of trap capture does not refute speculated life cycles of the harvestmen being univoltine with overwintering eggs. Some blueberry management practices were found to affect trap capture. We did find that on average (with opposite results 1 yr) trap captures are greater in pruned fields than in fruit-bearing fields. Organic fields were found to have higher relative abundance of harvestmen than conventionally managed fields. Conventionally managed fields with reduced-risk insecticides showed no difference in harvestmen relative abundance compared with those conventionally managed fields using the older more persistent organophosphate insecticides. Insecticide trials with common insecticides used in blueberry insect pest management showed that the organophosphate insecticide, phosmet, and the pyrethroid insecticide, esfenvalerate, were detrimental to P. opilio adults when exposed to leaf residues, whereas the reduced-risk insecticide, spinosad, showed no negative effects compared with nonsprayed foliage.

Hypopituitarism following cerebral oedema with diabetic ketoacidosis.

Clinical evidence of cerebral oedema occurs in approximately 1% of diabetic ketoacidosis episodes. Mortality from this serious complication is falling, but little is known of long term outcome. We describe hypopituitarism and executive dysfunction developing two years after cerebral oedema complicating diabetic ketoacidosis in a 12 year old with type 1 diabetes.

Harmonization of animal clinical pathology testing in toxicity and safety studies. The Joint Scientific Committee for International Harmonization of Clinical Pathology Testing.

Ten scientific organizations formed a joint international committee to provide expert recommendations for clinical pathology testing of laboratory animal species used in regulated toxicity and safety studies. For repeated-dose studies in rodent species, clinical pathology testing is necessary at study termination. Interim study testing may not be necessary in long-duration studies provided that it has been done in short-duration studies using dose levels not substantially lower than those used in the long-duration studies. For repeated-dose studies in nonrodent species, clinical pathology testing is recommended at study termination and at least once at an earlier interval. For studies of 2 to 6 weeks in duration in nonrodent species, testing is also recommended within 7 days of initiation of dosing, unless it compromises the health of the animals. If a study contains recovery groups, clinical pathology testing at study termination is recommended. The core hematology tests recommended are total leukocyte (white blood cell) count, absolute differential leukocyte count, erythrocyte (red blood cell) count, evaluation of red blood cell morphology, platelet (thrombocyte) count, hemoglobin concentration, hematocrit (or packed cell volume), mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration. In the absence of automated reticulocyte counting capabilities, blood smears from each animal should be prepared for reticulocyte counts. Bone marrow cytology slides should be prepared from each animal at termination. Prothrombin time and activated partial thromboplastin time (or appropriate alternatives) and platelet count are the minimum recommended laboratory tests of hemostasis. The core clinical chemistry tests recommended are glucose, urea nitrogen, creatinine, total protein, albumin, calculated globulin, calcium, sodium, potassium, total cholesterol, and appropriate hepatocellular and hepatobiliary tests. For hepatocellular evaluation, measurement of a minimum of two scientifically appropriate blood tests is recommended, e.g., alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, sorbitol dehydrogenase, glutamate dehydrogenase, or total bile acids. For hepatobiliary evaluation, measurement of a minimum of two scientifically appropriate blood tests is recommended, e.g., alkaline phosphatase, gamma glutamyltransferase, 5' -nucleotidase, total bilirubin, or total bile acids. Urinalysis should be conducted at least once during a study. For routine urinalysis, an overnight collection (approximately 16 hr) is recommended. It is recommended that the core tests should include an assessment of urine appearance (color and turbidity), volume, specific gravity or osmolality, pH, and either the quantitative or semiquantitative determination of total protein and glucose. For carcinogenicity studies, only blood smears should be made from unscheduled sacrifices (decedents) and at study termination to aid in the identification and differentiation of hematopoietic neoplasia.

Pediatric bone marrow transplants: psychological aspects.

On a pediatric bone marrow transplant unit, hematologist-oncologists, nurses, social workers, psychiatrists, psychologists, and others on the team deal with children and adolescents whose cancers are either treatable by marrow transplantation or are ultimately fatal. Contrary to original assumptions, many children and families cope well, especially in relatively uncomplicated cases with good outcome. Treatment may include direct psychotherapeutic intervention with the child and family, as well as use of psychopharmacologic agents such as antidepressants or anxiolytics for frank psychiatric disorders. Psychotherapists often have to function adjunctively with other staff members in their interactions with the patient and the family. A stress disorder model appears to best explain child, parent and family reactions to bone marrow transplantation. Given the medical severity and complexity of the conditions treated, and the approximately equal rates of overall success and failure, a supportive consultative approach is usually most helpful for child patients, parents and staff throughout the procedure. A retrospective study of the children treated over seven years in a tertiary pediatric hospital bone marrow transplant unit is presented. The level of child, parent, and family psychopathology was usually mild to moderate, but there were clear differences between patients. Mothers were more supportive than fathers under this extreme type of stress. Prospective longitudinal studies of children and families are needed to establish causal chains and optimal therapeutic interventions.

A simple method for measurement of the haemoglobin binding capacity of canine haptoglobin.

The potential of a series of related compounds to induce haemolytic anaemia in dogs highlighted the need for a reliable and sensitive technique to identify changes in plasma haptoglobin concentration. An indirect method established for human samples was adapted for use with canine plasma. This method measures the haemoglobin binding capacity of plasma, which is directly proportional to the functional haptoglobin concentration. The efficacy of this technique was investigated on samples taken from Beagle dogs which had previously received small quantities of water intravenously. A substantial reduction in haemoglobin binding capacity was recorded before other haematological parameters were significantly affected. It was concluded that measurement of haemoglobin binding capacity by this method provides a valid reflection of haptoglobin status in the dog.

Maturation of energy metabolism in the lamb: changes in myosin ATPase and creatine kinase activities.

Studies have been carried out to assess maturation of myofibrillar and mitochondrial proteins in fetal (113 to 140 days gestation), neonatal (30 min to 21 days postpartum), and adult sheep hearts. Ca++-activated myosin ATPase activity was approximately 20% lower in fetal than in adult left ventricular myocardium (1.13 +/- 0.06, n = 12, versus 1.36 +/- 0.07, n = 9, mumoles P1 per g protein per sec; P less than 0.025). In fetal and neonatal hearts (but not in adult hearts), myosin ATPase activity was slightly higher (approximately 14%; P less than 0.001) in right ventricular tissue than in left ventricular tissue. In contrast to these small changes in myosin ATPase activity, large changes indicative of maturation of energy metabolism occurred in the creatine kinase system: between 115 days gestation and 21 days postpartum, total creatine kinase activity increased nearly 8-fold (0.2 to 1.6 IU/mg cardiac mass), the MM-creatine kinase isozyme increased 7-fold (0.2 to 1.5 IU/mg wet weight), and mitochondrial creatine kinase increased more than 25-fold (less than 0.01 to 0.27 IU/mg wet weight). The total creatine pool, but not the ATP pool, increased (from approximately 6 to approximately 15 nmoles/g tissue). Neither the concentration nor isozyme distribution of lactate dehydrogenase, a glycolytic enzyme, changed during this 7-wk period of development.

Bile acid assays as an index of cholestasis.

Four bile acid profiles, bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase, alanine aminotransferase, glutamate dehydrogenase, and isocitrate dehydrogenase were measured in rats in which normal bile flow had been disturbed either by administration of alpha-naphthylisothiocyanate or by surgical ligation of the bile duct. The most sensitive index to the early onset of cholestasis was an increase in total cholate. This increase was measurable before morphological changes could clearly be identified.

Growth of Rickettsia typhi in irradiated L cells enhanced by lysosomal stabilization.

The growth of some obligate intracellular parasites is contingent upon avoidance of lysosomal activation during growth in their host cells. This is accomplished by the various parasites by different mechanisms and with different degrees of efficiency. The possibility was tested that the lysosomal stabilizer cortisone acetate might protect and thus enhance the growth of Rickettsia typhi in mouse L cells irradiated 6 days earlier. Beginning 2 days before infection of the L cells with a multiplicity of 10 rickettsiae, 20 microgram of cortisone per ml was added in medium 199 containing 5% fetal calf serum. This concentration of cortisone was below the cytotoxic level, as determined by viability staining, but was sufficient to significantly alter the ratios of cellular and released acid phosphatase and beta-glucuronidase in uninfected and infected cells, as shown by spectrophotometric analysis. Rickettsial replication, measured by hemolytic activity at 96 h and confirmed by microscopic observations at earlier stages of infection, was increased by the cortisone. Cortisone concentrations of 10 or 40 microgram/ml were less effective, and cortisone was ineffective when the rickettsial multiplicity per L cell was 2 or lower. These results indicate that amounts of cortisone that increase lysosomal stabilization in L cells favor rickettsial multiplication when the multiplicity of infection is relatively high.

Anomalies of cyclic AMP excretion in some abnormal offenders.

It is now well established that the metabolic sequeale of catecholamine secretion are mediated via cyclic nucleotides. Recent studies have indicated changes in the pattern of catecholamine secretion correlating with convictions for violence in maximum security hospital detainees. This study of the excretion rate of urinary cyclic AMP in this group of patients failed to show a correlation between adrenaline or noradrenaline and cyclic AMP secretion. However, subjects convicted of sexual offences showed a significantly greater cyclic AMP excretion than other patients and normal controls. These results are discussed in terms of the possible modification of receptor sensitivity and influence of alternative agonists such as testosterone.

Noradrenaline to adrenaline ratio in amniotic fluid as an index of fetal maturity.

Amniotic fluid lecithin to sphingomyelin ratio (L/S) and adrenaline concentration, noradrenaline concentration, and noradrenaline to adrenaline ratio (NA/A) were measured in 50 normal women late in pregnancy. Between gestation weeks 37 and 43 the maturity-linked increase in L/S ratio was accompanied by similar increases in NA/A ratio and noradrenaline but by decreases in adrenaline concentration. Although the amniotic fluid NA/A ratio reflects fetal sympathetic nervous system development rather than pulmonary development as mirrored by the L/S ratio, a high correlation existed between log NA/A and L/S, indicating that the NA/A ratio could provide a further index of fetal maturity.

Vole agent identified as a strain of the trench fever rickettsia, Rochalimaea quintana.

The vole agent described by Baker in 1946 was studied as an example of a bacterium that has been mistakenly regarded a rickettsia. Unlike rickettsiae, the vole agent killed chicken embryos with great irregularity, multipled primarily at the surface of avian or mammalian cells and not intracellularly, produced colonies rather than plaques on chicken embryo monolayers under agar, and developed small colonies after 4 to 7 days of cultivation on blood plates. It was most conveniently cultivated on monolayers of irradiated L cells and was purified by minor modifications of the Renografin gradient procedure used for rickettsiae. It actively catabolized glutamate, glutamine, succinate, and pyruvate, but not glucose or glucose-6-phosphate. Enzymatic activities of cell extracts were consistent with above findings. The base ratio (molar percent guanine plus cytosine) of its deoxyribonucleic acid was shown to be 39, which was identical to the base ratio of the deoxyribonucleic acid of Rochalimaea quintana tested simultaneously. Serological studies indicated no cross-reactivity with Rickettsia tsutsugamushi, but strong cross-reaction with R. quintana was observed when a hyperimmune rabbit serum and a convalescent human serum were tested. We conclude that the vole agent is a strain of the trench fever rickettsia, R. quintana.

Plasma catecholamines, stress and aggression in maximum security patients.

Investigations into the stress response of patients committed to a special hospital for criminally deviant offences have identified a group of sympathetically hypoactive patients who excrete more noradrenaline and less adrenaline in the urine than either the remaining hospital population or control subjects, during conditions of stresser anticipation. Further investigation of these patients has shown that similar differences in plasma catecholamines exist, and that the group of patients characterised by this imbalance tend to have been committed for the most physically violent crimes.

Improved chicken embryo cell culture plaque assay for scrub typhus rickettsiae.

The plaque technique for three strains of Rickettsia tsutsugamushi in chicken embryo cell cultures was greatly improved by modifying the trypsinizing procedure and employing homologous chicken serum in the overlay medium.