Global and comparative protein profiles of the pronotum of the southern pine beetle, Dendroctonus frontalis.

The southern pine beetle (Dendroctonus frontalis Zimmermann) kills all pines within its range and is among the most important forest pest species in the US. Using a specialized mycangium surrounded by gland cells in the pronotum, adult females culture, transport, and inoculate two fungi into beetle galleries during oviposition. These fungal symbionts, to varying degrees, exclude antagonistic fungi and provide nutrients to larvae. However, the mechanisms (e.g. secreted antibiotic chemicals or nutrients, proteins or pathways) by which this relationship is maintained are not known. Here we present the first global and differential proteome profile of the southern pine beetle pronotum. Two-dimensional polyacrylamide electrophoresis, tandem mass spectrometry, and database searches revealed that the majority of pronotal proteins were related to energy-yielding metabolism, contractile apparati, cell structure, and defence. The identified proteins provide important insights into the molecular and biochemical processes of, and candidates for functional genomics to understand mycangia and pronotum functions in, the southern pine beetle.

Teaching doctors to take alcohol histories: a limited success story.

Doctors often lack the knowledge and skills to identify and assess those who drink to excess and are unsure of what their preventive and educational role should be. As part of a prospective study of early identification and intervention with general hospital patients who drink to excess, we were interested to discover whether brief education about alcohol-related problems and training in the use of a quick and efficient alcohol screening questionnaire would improve doctors' alcohol history-taking and thus their identification of those at risk. The case notes of every fifth admission to orthopaedic and medical wards at the York District Hospital were studied before and after doctor education. Recorded information on both alcohol and tobacco increased over the period reviewed, reflecting perhaps doctors' growing awareness of the health-threatening aspects of these drugs. While there was no major change in doctors' alcohol history-taking, with two thirds of case notes making no mention, or only vague mention, of alcohol, there was a significant post-education increase in the number of patients for whom detailed drinking histories were recorded, but no significant changes in tobacco histories. Small but significant improvements such as these are important in view of the size of the medical problems arising from the use of alcohol.

Hereditary pancreatitis presenting with ascites.

We report a case of an adolescent girl who presented with painless massive ascites secondary to chronic pancreatitis and a ductal fistula. The diagnosis was delayed and an unnecessary laparotomy was performed, as initial evaluation of ascites did not include measurement of serum and ascitic amylase. Evidence of pancreatic abnormalities in asymptomatic relatives suggested an underlying hereditary pancreatitis. Hereditary pancreatitis presenting as pancreatic ascites, to our knowledge, has not been described previously.

Endoscopic examination of the gastric remnant 31-39 years after subtotal gastrectomy for peptic ulcer.

In York between 1941 and 1949, 632 patients underwent Polya partial gastrectomy for peptic ulcer. Of 307 patients who were followed up in the York Gastric Clinic from 1971 to 1980, nine died of gastric cancer, three times the expected number. If gastrectomy was performed for gastric ulcer the risk of later development of carcinoma (7%) was significantly greater than that following operation for duodenal ulcer (1.6%) (p less than 0.001). No cancers were diagnosed in the 54 patients endoscoped. Atrophic gastritis was found in 98% of patients and intestinal metaplasia in 44%. Dysplasia was present in 35% but in no case was it severe. Although we have found that there is an increased risk of cancer developing in the gastric remnant we do not consider routine endoscopic follow up of all postgastrectomy patients to be a practical proposition.

Comparison of twice-daily ranitidine and placebo in the treatment of duodenal ulcer--a multicentre study in the United Kingdom.

Treatment of duodenal ulcer with the H2-receptor antagonist ranitidine, 150 mg twice daily has been assessed in a double-blind, placebo controlled study at seven centres in the United Kingdom. One hundred-and-twenty-nine patients entered the trial with endoscopically confirmed duodenal ulcer. Five patients did not comply with the protocol and were excluded from the analysis. Nine patients (1 ranitidine, 8 placebo) did not complete the initial 4 weeks' treatment due to poor symptomatic response; one hundred-and-fifteen (58 ranitidine, 57 placebo) were endoscopically assessed after 4 weeks. The average 4-week healing rate among patients on ranitidine (83%) was significantly greater than that for the placebo group (32%, p less than 0.01). Forty-four patients whose ulcers had not healed received further treatment with ranitidine 150 mg b.d. on an open basis. After a total of up to 8 weeks' active treatment only three patients had not healed. Ulcer symptoms resolved or improved in a greater proportion of patients on ranitidine, and this was associated with a significantly lower antacid consumption. There was no serious unwanted effect associated with ranitidine treatment, and the twice daily dose of 150 mg is apparently a safe and effective short-term treatment for duodenal ulceration.

Membranous basal cell adenoma of parotid gland, dermal cylindromas, and trichoepitheliomas. Comparative histochemistry and ultrastructure.

A basal cell adenoma of parotid, eccrine dermal cylindromas and trichoepitheliomas occurring in the same patient were examined by light and electron microscopy and histochemistry. The eccrine and parotid adenomas were similar both structurally and histochemically except for the presence of Langerhans cells in the cutaneous adenoma and well differentiated mucinous cells in the parotid tumor. The three different hamartomas found in this individual may represent the effect of a single pleiotropic gene acting on ontogenetically related stem cells.

A double blind trial of gefarnate and placebo in the treatment of gastric ulcer.

Forty-five patients with chronic gastric ulcers were treated as out-patients in a double-blind comparison of gefarnate (geranyl farnesylacetate), 50 mg four times daily, with the same number of dummy capsules daily for five weeks. The mean percentage reduction in ulcer size assessed by radiography was 70-4 per cent in the gefarnate patients compared with 27-8 per cent in those receiving placebo capsules. This difference is statistically significant (p less than 0-05, with a two-tailed test). No change in the electrolyte balance occurred in any of the patients and no side-effects were reported. These results suggest that gefarnate promotes the healing of gastric ulcers in ambulant patients. Its apparent absence of side-effects makes it a safe ans useful drug.

Cytochrome oxidase activity in the gastric mucosa of patients with iron deficiency.

Cytochrome oxidase activity was assessed histochemically in gastric biopsies taken from 22 iron-deficient patients. Activity was strong only in parietal cells, and the total amount of activity appeared to be proportional to the number of parietal cells present in the sections. No evidence was found of diminished activity within parietal cells.