Microfluidic diagnostic technologies for global public health

The developing world does not have access to many of the best medical diagnostic technologies; they were designed for air-conditioned laboratories, refrigerated storage of chemicals, a constant supply of calibrators and reagents, stable electrical power, highly trained personnel and rapid transportation of samples. Microfluidic systems allow miniaturization and integration of complex functions, which could move sophisticated diagnostic tools out of the developed-world laboratory. These systems must be inexpensive, but also accurate, reliable, rugged and well suited to the medical and social contexts of the developing world.     

Temperature variation and the function of complement and antibody of amphibia

Summary Temperature treatment of sera of erythrocyte immunized adults of 3 amphibian species has shown that cooling enhances antigen-antibody complexing and does not alter complement function in vitro. These findings bear on understanding in vivo temperature immunosuppression in poikilotherms.This research was partially supported by a grant No. AI-12846 from the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md, USA. The authors are grateful for the technical assistance of Ms J. S. Ruben.     

Adrenal responses to hypoxia and hypercapnia in the young calf

Summary Quantitative analysis of adrenal responses to moderate hypoxia and hypercapnia in the conscious calf shows that the sensitivity of the adrenal cortical response far exceeds that of the adrenal medulla.Acknowledgment. This work has been supported by grants from the Agricultural Research Council, the Medical Research Council and the Wellcome Trust. We are also indebted to Dr D. M. Burley (CIBA) for his continued support.     

Age-related differences in the urinary excretion of prostaglandin F2 alpha catabolites in the rat

Tritium-labeled PGF2 alpha was administered i.v. into rats of varying ages (2, 4, 6 weeks and adult). Urine was collected and assayed for radioactive products by thin-layer-chromatography. Results showed a distinctly different urinary profile between the 2-week-old and the adult rat. While the urinary pattern from the 2-week-old rat gave a single less polar product than PGF2 alpha, the pattern from the adult rat gave products more polar than PGF2 alpha. Urine from the 4- and 6-week-old rats gave a mixture of these types of products. These results indicate that some prostaglandin catabolic pathway (likely the omega-oxidative system) is activated in vivo within the 4-6 week postnatal period in the rat.     

A screen of the complete protein kinase gene family identifies diverse patterns of somatic mutations in human breast cancer

We examined the coding sequence of 518 protein kinases, approximately 1.3 Mb of DNA per sample, in 25 breast cancers. In many tumors, we detected no somatic mutations. But a few had numerous somatic mutations with distinctive patterns indicative of either a mutator phenotype or a past exposure.