The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of early hearing loss on the anatomy of the central auditory system, specifically, the ascending projections to the inferior colliculus (IC). We compared normal animals with animals deafened during early development by administration of amikacin, an ototoxic antibiotic that is known to destroy the hair cells in the inner ear. The amikacin...

In female rats, stimulation of the uterine cervix during mating induces two daily surges of prolactin. Inhibition of hypothalamic dopamine release and stimulation of oxytocin neurons in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) are required for prolactin secretion. We aim to better understand how stimulation of the uterine cervix is translated into two daily prolactin surges. We hypothesize that noradr...

The gold nanoparticle (GNP) aggregation growth induced by deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is studied by laser scanning confocal and environmental scanning electron microscopies. As in the investigated case the direct light scattering analysis is not suitable, we observe the behavior of the fluorescence produced by a dye and we detect the aggregation by the shift and the broadening of the fluorescen...

In a prospective 24 week study of 25 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) weekly intramuscular (IM) sodium aurothiomalate resulted in a small but significant reduction in the circulating lymphocyte count. Analysis of absolute levels of pan T cells, T4 helper cells, T8 suppressor cells, T4/8 ratio, B cells, and major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II positive cells showed reductions i...

BACKGROUND This study aims to evaluate the frequency of dentinal defects after root canal preparation with the ProTaper NEXT, K3XF and WaveOne GOLD systems using microcomputed tomography. METHODS Sixty permanent mandibular incisors with a single canal were selected. Inspection of the teeth was performed under a stereomicroscope (15x) to observe the presence of pre-existing cracks and fracture...

We investigated the influence of the HIV infection on serum paraoxonase-3 (PON3) concentration and assessed the relationships with lipoprotein-associated abnormalities, immunological response, and accelerated atherosclerosis. We studied 207 HIV-infected patients and 385 healthy volunteers. Serum PON3 was determined by in-house ELISA, and PON3 distribution in lipoproteins was investigated by fas...

To clarify the natural course of gold nephropathy and thereby facilitate its clinical management 21 patients with rheumatoid arthritis who developed proteinuria during treatment with intramuscular sodium aurothiomalate were studied in detail throughout their renal illnesses. Renal biopsies were performed, and creatinine clearance and proteinuria were measured serially for 60 months (range 16-13...

The mitogenic response of peripheral blood lymphocytes from 21 patients with rheumatoid arthritis to concanavalin-A (con--A), phytohaemagglutinin (PHA), and pokeweed mitogen (PWM) was significantly lower than in 30 normal subjects. After 15--24 weeks' treatment with sodium aurothiomalate (GST) the response to these mitogens rose to within the normal range. Improvement over pretreatment values w...

OBJECTIVE To examine if a correlation exists between cytochrome P-450 enzyme induction and disease activity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), measuring urinary excretion of D-glucaric acid (GA) as an index of phase II drug metabolism. METHODS Patients with RA were treated with sulphasalazine, sodium aurothiomalate, or D-penicillamine in standard dose regimens, for 24 weeks. Patients...

The A7(74) strain of Semliki Forest virus (SFV) is avirulent and the L10 strain virulent in adult mice. A7(74) infection of adult mouse brain gives rise to small discrete foci of infection which, in immunocompetent animals, are cleared within 10 days. In contrast L10 infection results in a widespread and fatal central nervous system infection. Aurothiolates are linear, 2-coordinate complexes in...