Gossypol toxicosis in a herd of beef calves.

A 6-month-old crossbred calf was examined as representative of a herd of calves experiencing dyspnea and death, with few other clinical signs of illness. Physical examination of the calf identified pleural and peritoneal effusion and poor body condition. The calf did not respond to supportive treatment, and necropsy of it and another calf from the herd identified congestive heart failure as the cause of death. Gossypol toxicosis was the cause of congestive heart failure in this herd; the source of the toxin was a cottonseed meal and cottonseed hull ration fed by the owner.

Formal operations, the imaginary audience and the personal fable.

One hundred twenty-nine 6th, 8th, 10th/11th, and 12th graders were administered Enright, Lapsley, and Shukla's Adolescent Egocentrism Scale (AES) and How Is Your Logic?, a Piagetian-based, group-administered, written test of cognitive development. A series of ANOVAs on four scales of the AES (imaginary audience, personal fable, self-in-general, nonsocial) provided partial support for Inhelder and Piaget's, and Elkind's views that adolescent egocentrism is a function of beginning formal operations. Discussion focused on the difficulty of assessing the true thoughts/feelings of persons who are worried how they will appear to others.

Enhancing moral growth: is communication the key?

Traditional approaches in stimulating moral growth following Turiel's (1966) "+1" intervention strategy have been only marginally successful. This failure rate may be due to (a) the inconsistent control of both the cognitive and social perspective-taking prerequisites to moral growth, and (b) an overestimation of subjects' interpersonal communication skills. In this study, 17 college undergraduates (8 males, 9 females), possessing either basic or consolidated formal operations, received eight weeks of interpersonal skills training, along with pre- and posttraining assessments of social perspective-taking and moral reasoning. It was expected that gains in moral reasoning would be related to subjects' possessing the prerequisite cognitive and perspective-taking competencies necessary for moral growth. Results showed that posttraining changes in moral reasoning were in the predicted direction. In addition, gender differences in social perspective-taking were evident; males had significantly lower social perspective-taking scores at pretraining and showed significant gains in perspective-taking at posttesting. Females, however, scored relatively high in social perspective-taking at pretraining and showed no significant change in ability at posttesting. The results are interpreted as supportive of existing theoretical models regarding these domains of development.

Medical complications during acute rehabilitation following spinal cord injury--current experience of the Model Systems.

OBJECTIVES: To examine the frequency of common secondary medical complications during acute rehabilitation in persons with new spinal cord injury (SCI). DESIGN: Survey and analysis of data in the National SCI Statistical Center (NSCISC) database. SETTING: Eighteen Model System SCI Centers located in urban, public medical centers around the United States. SUBJECTS: A total of 1,649 persons with new SCI entered into the NSCISC database between 1996 and mid-1998. RESULTS: Since 1992, the number of days from injury to admission to rehabilitation has steadily decreased, resulting in the increased potential to develop common secondary medical complications during rehabilitation hospitalization. Pressure ulcers occur with high frequency and were found to have developed in 23.7% of patients during rehabilitation. In addition, autonomic dysreflexia and atelectasis/pneumonia also occur with relative frequency during rehabilitation. Conversely, deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism have decreased, most likely because of greater awareness of their potential to develop, as well as improved methods of prophylaxis. Cardiopulmonary arrest and gastrointestinal hemorrhage occur with relatively small frequency. The frequency of renal complications is difficult to gauge because of the decreasing number of patients who have any renal testing performed during rehabilitation hospitalization. CONCLUSION: The continued declining lengths of acute care hospitalization after SCI have resulted in the occurrence in the rehabilitation setting of medical complications that were previously seen in acute care. Greater awareness and attention to these conditions are necessary to reduce their occurrence, so that obstacles to recovery and functional improvement after SCI are minimized.

Bioluminescence: A Rapid Indicator of Escherichia Coli O157:H7 in Selected Yogurt and Cheese Varieties.

Outbreaks of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157:H7 have been commonly associated with products derived from ground beef, but recently the organism has been implicated as the causative agent in outbreaks involving yogurt and cheese. This finding has raised concern about the potential for its growth and survival in fermented dairy products. A bioluminescent strain of E. coli O157:H7 was used to determine postprocessing survival in yogurt with live cultures at pH 4.17, 4.39, and 4.47 stored at 4 and 10°C. In addition, survival of E. coli O157:H7 was monitored during the manufacture of Cottage, Colby, Romano, and Feta cheeses. Results indicated survival for 8 and 5 days at 4 and 10°C respectively in yogurt at pH 4.17, 17 and 15 days at 4 and 10°C respectively in yogurt at pH 4.39, and 17days at both 4 and 10°C in yogurt at pH 4.47. E. coli O157:H7 did not survive cooking procedures at 56°C in Cottage cheese. However, the pathogen survived for 27, 30, and 27 days in Colby, Romano, and Feta cheeses respectively. A high correlation of r2 > 0.89 was obtained between counts of bioluminescenct colonies and standard plate count for all yogurt and cheese varieties, indicating that bioluminescence was a sensitive and rapid indicator of cellular viability for E. coli O157:H7. Survival of the pathogen, as indicated by this method, is possible in highly acidic environments even at refrigeration temperatures. This poses a potential hazard should postprocessing contamination occur.

Antibody to hepatitis B core antigen as a paradoxical marker for non-A, non-B hepatitis agents in donated blood.

The relationship between the presence of antibody to hepatitis B core antigen (anti-HBc) in donor blood and the development of hepatitis in recipients of that blood was studied in 6293 blood donors and 481 recipients who were followed for 6 to 9 months after transfusion. Of 193 recipients of at least 1 unit of blood positive for anti-HBc, 23 (11.9%) developed non-A, non-B hepatitis compared with 12 (4.2%) of 288 recipients of only anti-HBc-negative blood (p less than 0.001). Donor anti-HBc status was not significantly associated with the development of hepatitis B in the recipient and was negatively associated with the development of cytomegalovirus hepatitis. The relationship of donor anti-HBc status and the development of non-A, non-B hepatitis in the recipient was independent of transfusion volume and elevated donor transaminase level. Although 88% of anti-HBc-positive blood units were not associated with recipient non-A, non-B hepatitis, calculation of maximal corrected efficacy predicted that exclusion of anti-HBc-positive donors might have prevented 43% of the cases of non-A, non-B hepatitis with a donor loss of 4%. Because of the serious chronic consequences of non-A, non-B hepatitis, surrogate tests for non-A, non-B virus carriers must be seriously considered.