Notes: An active microsomal system from 48-h germinating seeds of Vigna sinensis (L.) Savi has now been developed. It can incorporate amino acids into protein under both in vitro and in vivo conditions, provided dithiothreitol (a protective reagent for SH groups) and phenylthiourea (an inhibitor of phenol oxidase) are present in the buffer system for extraction; and provided the assay mixture contains added dithiothreitol.The system consists of microsomes or ribosomes, tRNA or pH 5 fraction and 20 natural amino acids, ATP and an ATP-generating system and GTP with requirement for Mg ions. The cell fractions possess aminoacyl-RNA synthetase activity as indicated by the aminoacylhydroxamate formation. Microsomal synthesis is stimulated by exogenous tRNA from Escheriehia coli or rat liver and sensitive to various inhibitors such as cyclo-heximide, chloramphenicol, fusidic acid. The ribosomal transfer reaction has absolute dependence on the microsomal wash, on the crude enzyme from the same participate source, and on a synthetic messenger. It is greatly suppressed by fusidic acid and by cycloheximide.

Notes: : Systemic blastomycosis may rarely involve the larynx and it most likely is a result of hematogenous dissemination Of direct inoculation from a currently or previously active pulmonary infection. Often, laryngeal blastomycosis has been confused with squamous cell carcinoma because of the clinical and histopathologic similarities, and this confusion has led to inaccurate diagnosis and inappropriate therapy. The etiologic agent, Blastomyces dermatiditis, may be seen in infected tissue with routine and special stains: however, cultural proof remains the sine qua non for diagnosis.

Notes: To resolve the conflict among published reports as to the value of screening for haematinic deficiencies in patients with recurrent aphthous stomatitis, we evaluated 102 such patients. Venous blood was sampled for a complete blood cell count and measurements of serum iron, serum iron-binding capacity and capacity saturation, serum folate, and serum vitamin BM. Of the 40 patients deficient In iron or folate, 6 were anaemic, 23 were deficient in iron, and 22 were deficient in folate; 5 were deficient in both iron and folate. The discriminating value of the complete blood cell count between the 62 nondeficient and 40 deficient patients was low. Among the 70 patients evaluated 6 years after entry into the study, 24 (60%) of the 40 nondeficient patients and 23 (77%) of the 30 deficient patients were in remission or improved.The results of this study confirm the advisability of screening for haematinic deficiencies of iron, folate, and vitamin B12 and also suggest that replacement therapy in deficient patients is beneficial.

Notes: We have studied 734 oral mucosal biopsy specimens by the direct immunofluorescence technique in our laboratory at Mayo Clinic over the past 11 1/2 years. The sensitivity of this test was 92% in oral pemphigus, 78% in oral pemphigoid, and 100% in oral lupus erythematosus. The predictive value of a positive test for these diseases was 87%, 88%, and 58%, respectively. For oral lichen planus, sensitivity was poor (37%) but the predictive value of a positive test was good (79%). This paper presents suggestions for use of this test in oral mucosal inflammatory diseases.

Notes: Since 1974, dapsone and sulfapyridine have been used to treat 30 patients with localized oral pemphigoid, 36 with cicatricial pemphigoid, and 11 with cicatricial pemphigoid limited to the eyes; 7 of these 77 patients were less than 50 years of age. Follow-up was J to 12 years (mean, 4.8 years). Of the 30 patients with localized oral pemphigoid, half were in remission and off treatment at a mean follow-up of 5 years. Of 25 patients with cicatricial pemphigoid who received dapsone therapy as initial treatment, 15 (60%) had a successful result. Sulfapyridine was successful in three patients and dapsone in six additional patients after other therapy. Thus, dapsone or sulfapyridine therapy was successful in 24 of 34 patients (71%). In 30 patients with pemphigoid limited to the ocular mueosa or cicatricial pemphigoid with ocular manifestations, 25 (83%) responded successfully to dapsone or sulfapyridine; there were no treatment failures among these 30 patients with ocular pemphigoid. Overall, of the 77 patients, of 55 who underwent an evaluable eotirse of dapsone or sulfapyridine therapy, 47 (85%) responded successfully.

Notes: Necrolytic migratory erythema is the distinctive cutaneous eruption seen with glucagon-producing tumours of the pancreas. Recognition of this eruption is important because it may lead to the early diagnosis of a glucagonoma. Recently, we saw a patient who had necrolytic migratory erythema, hyperglucagonaemia, and cirrhosis of the liver with no evidence of pancreatic tumour while alive or at autopsy. Serum glucagon levels during the period of observation and during an oral glucose tolerance test suggested that the hyperglucagonaemia was not due to an occult glucagon-producing tumour but may have been the result of advanced hepatic cirrhosis.

Notes: Abstract Perception and concern for the health changes in our aging population led the Veterans Administration to initiate an interdisciplinary and longitudinal investigation of the aging process, the Veterans Administration Normative Aging Study, in 1963. A cohort of the 2,280 healthy men of this study self-selected to enroll in the dental longitudinal study, an investigation of oral health in these healthy males. In 1968, 1,221 men between the ages of 25 and 75 began with a baseline cycle of 5 general series of examinations, including an interim health history and survey of dietary habits; masticatory performance and taste thresholds; salivary analyses; oral cytologic and radiographic survey and comprehensive clinical data on caries and periodontal status.Design considerations for the Dental Longitudinal Study included prospective planning of specific oral variables to be recorded, and provision of collection techniques to allow for additional analyses based on a wide menu of retrospective data. The volunteer cohort was screened to obtain men who met stringent general health criteria, who represented wide socioeconomic ranges and would likely remain geographically stable. Importantly, enrollment in the parent study was without regard for dental status or oral health.Administrative design considerations included orderly transfer for exam data to machine-readable format by use of optical scan forms designed to register specific oral variables, with security preserved for the primary source records and rapid record retrieval. Additional data collection requiring manual coding was designed to transfer spreadsheets of clinical impressions and diagnoses to computer retrieval protocols. Provisions for recording of exceptional circumstances, i.e., salient oral pathology, were recognized and the optical scan forms modified to index and retrieve such cases.Clinical examination design considerations included independence of oral examination from the radiographic survey and reading, and isolation of each cycle of tests from any other. Attempts to contain examiner variability included use of a solo examiner and radiographic reader with a two-stage calibration series of exercises to achieve reproducibility. To date, 725 men have been examined over 4 cycles of investigation encompassing baseline and 3 longitudinal examinations, each at 3-year intervals. The specific indexes scored in this study were designed to evaluate dental and periodontal status on a population of almost epidemiologic proportions while retaining clinically relevant methodologies. The Dental Longitudinal Study continues as an ongoing investigation of the distribution, determinants, changes and interrelationships observed in oral health, function and disease. Cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis has proceeded to correlate oral health with habit histories, loss of teeth, restorative dental experience, drug intake and other variables of contemporary life.

Notes: Abstract. Aspirin (ASA) and indomethacin are inhibitors of prostaglandin synthesis and reduce bone resorption in tissue culture stimulated by preparations obtained from human gingival tissue. In a retrospective study, we attempted to determine whether ASA or ASA plus indomethacin exert a bone resorption inhibiting effect on human alveolar bone. Dental radiographs of 75 patients with a history of arthritis and long-term ingestion (〉5 years) of ASA were compared with dental radiographs of 75 healthy male volunteers from the VA Dental Longitudinal Study (DLS), Proximal bone loss was measured using a Schei Ruler graded on a 10-point scale. The data indicated that the ASA population presented with significantly fewer sites of 10%. or greater mesial and distal bone loss than the healthy control population (P〈0.05). Mean percentage bone loss for the entire dentition was also lower in the ASA group, although the difference was not statistically significant. As there is no evidence to suggest that inhibition of alveolar bone loss is a natural concomitant of the arthritic process, we conclude that the inhibition of bone loss found in this study was due to the chronic ingestion of ASA or ASA and indomethacin.

Notes: Mitochondria isolated from 48-h germinating Vigna sinensis (L.) Savi can incorporate [3H]uridine into acid-insoluble material. The incorporation is highly sensitive to rifampicin and partially so to ethidium bromide, two specific inhibitors of template function. The inhibitory effect of rifampicin can be partly counteracted by cyclic 3′:5′-AMP but not by cyclic 3′:5′-GMP, if they are allowed to interact with the synthetic system before the treatment with rifampicin. This indicates that cyclic AMP and rifampicin compete for a common site on the RNA polymerase responsible for DNA-dependent RNA synthesis. Inhibition by ethidium bromide is unaffected by prior nucleotide interaction with the system.