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Quantification of bile acids has been carried out by selected ion monitoring and by repetitive scanning. The latter method has been explored critically and found to be very suitable. A 24 h collection of feces was submitted to Soxhlet extraction. The extract was purified on Servachrom XAD-2, and separated into sulfated and nonsulfated fractions over DEAP-Sephadex-LH20. Conjugated and sulfated bile acids were enzymatically deconjugated and desulfated prior to permethylation. Deuterated bile acid derivatives were added as external standards and an aliquot was injected onto a capillary column of SE-52. The reconstructed chromatogram traces of specific ions were integrated to quantify known bile acids. Spectra of all metabolites were available for identification purposes simultaneously.

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to identify professional factors related to benzene exposure and to deduce suitable safety measures. Atmospheric benzene, urinary muconic acid (tt-MA) and leukocyte alkaline phosphatase activity (LAPA) were evaluated among 66 car mechanics, 34 road tanker drivers, and 28 nonexposed workers. Professional and medical questionnaires were filled in at the same time. Atmospheric benzene was significantly higher among road tanker drivers than among car mechanics. The arithmetic mean ± SD, median, and geometric mean values were, respectively, 0.48 ± 1.49, 0.14, and 0.06 mg/m3 among car mechanics and 1.88 ± 4.18, 0.68, and 0.65 mg/m3 among road tanker drivers. In the latter case the increase was caused by transport of unleaded petrol and correlated with the volume of the tank. Among car mechanics, tobacco smoking, windy conditions, dismantling of petrol filters, and handling of petrol increased atmospheric benzene levels. Urinary muconic acid was increased significantly among car mechanics (148 ± 137, 127, and 111 μg/g) and among road tanker drivers (309 ± 420, 137, and 151 μg/g) as compared with the controls (49 ± 46, 33, and 33 μg/g). Among road tanker drivers, alcohol intake and transportation of unleaded petrol increased the excretion of muconic acid, which was also directly related to the volume of the tank. Among car mechanics, professional factors (dismantling of petrol filters, handling of and washing of hands with petrol) and nonprofessional factors (tobacco smoking and damaged skin on the hands and forearms) increased muconic acid excretion. In the control group, tobacco smoking increased its excretion. LAPA was not significantly modified among exposed workers. There was a weak but significant linear correlation between LAPA and muconic acid. These results suggest that to reduce exposure to benzene in unleaded petrol, individual and collective safety measures should be imposed in both occupations.

A method has been developed for quantitative determination of pinaverium-bromide, a quaternary ammonium derivative with papaverine-like activity, in human serum. The method involves a chloroform extraction of serum spiked with N-(6,6-dimethyl bicyclo[3.1.1]2-heptenyl-ethoxyethyl)perhydro-1,4-oxazine as internal standard. After evaporation of the solvent, and reduction of the residue with Raney-Nickel, the internal standard and the reduced pinaverium-bromide are re-extracted from the reaction mixture with toluene and analysed isothermally on a fused silica column coated with OV-101. Although chemical ionization with methane revealed intense protonated molecular ions for both pinaverium-bromide and the internal standard, selectivity and sensitivity were significantly lower in comparison with electron impact ionization at 70 eV. Therefore, quantification was performed in the electron impact mode by single ion monitoring of the common fragment ion at m/z100.2. A linear detector response was observed up to 160 ng ml-1. A within-run assay precision better than 2% CV (n=5) was found, and a detection limit of 1 ng pinaverium-bromide ml-1of serum was attained.

Regarding the requirements engineering process, approaches based on use cases seem to provide promising solutions concerning the early high-level requirements gathering problem. We propose an approach based on use cases to help the analyst during the requirements acquisition and the requirements conceptualisation activities, our final goal being to produce object-oriented specifications. The approach is “domain expert-oriented’ in the sense that domain expert(s) (in fact, one or more in our approach) can actively participate during the requirements acquisition activity by identifying and by describing the use cases. Rules are proposed during the requirements conceptualisation activity and allow the analyst to generate parts of object type state transition diagrams from a use case description.

Abstract: Vanadium in serum has been investigated by the aid of neutron activation analysis (8 min irradiation at 8·1013 n·cm−2·s−1 in the reactor FR-II of the Kernforschungszentrum in Karlsruhe). The lyophilized samples were dry-ashed before irradiation and the52V activity extracted after irradiation. The values for V in the sera of 22 healthy males ranged from 0.029–0.939 ng V·ml−1. There is a real assumption that some of the high figures are due to persons being contaminated with V. The 18 healthy females yielded a mean value of 0.033±0.012 ng V·ml−1 for 17 of them and one additional value of 0.139 ng V·ml−1. These V-data are the lowest ever reported in the literature. The analyses of two packed blood cell samples yielded 0.031 and 0.020 ng·g−1, indicating that about 68% of the total V in blood is present in serum. There was no correlation between the V-content and age, nor between the V-content and the cholesterol, triglycerides or the lipoprotein fractions in serum.

Special low-energy tilt grain boundaries have been revealed in NiO by using the thermal grooving method. These results are not in full agreement with the conclusions of a recent simulation by Duffy and Tasker. This controversy requires an examination of the experimental method and a discussion of its limits and applicability. This has led us to confirm the existence of the previously detected special grain boundaries.

Plasma manganese concentrations of healthy women have recently been published in this journal (Hagenfeldt et al.1973). It appears that these values (0.18–0.32 μg/100 ml) are several times higher than those found in plasma and serum by Cotzias et al.(1966) (0.0587 ± 0.0183 μg/100 ml). We determined by neutron activation analysis the serum manganese levels in 25 normal females and 25 normal males. No significant difference was found between the two groups. The overall concentration average was 0.057 μg/100 ml and the standard deviation 0.013 μg/100 ml. Higher values as reported by other investigators are apparently due to contaminations.

Grain-boundary diffusion of cobalt has been studied in 〈001〉 and 〈011〉 symmetrical tilt NiO bicrystals. No preferential intergranular diffusion was observed despite the fact that the diffusion parameters (temperature and time) were optimized from published data obtained on polycrystalline NiO samples. The origin of this contradictory result is discussed in terms of experimental protocol, analysis technique, impurity content and origin of the material. Taking into account the sensitivity and the resolution of the electron microprobe analysis technique, we show that the intergranular diffusion coefficient D' is less than 103D, where D is the lattice diffusion coefficient, and is not of the order of 105D as previously published.

In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover study the acute effect of isosorbide dinitrate (ISDN) on the superior mesenteric artery velocity waveform was studied in 10 healthy subjects (mean age 48.2 years) over a 10-minute period. The superior mesenteric artery pulsatility index (PI), which quantifies the blood velocity waveform, increased from the second minute following sublingual administration of 5 mg ISDN (basal PI 4.88±0.32) and reached its upper level (8.22±1.38) from the fourth minute on. In comparison with placebo, the significant rise of PI (second minute) occurred before the significant decrease of systolic blood pressure (ninth minute) and before the significant increase in the heart rate (fourth minute). Diastolic and mean arterial blood pressures remained unchanged. These observations suggest an immediate vasoconstrictive effect of ISDN on the resistance vessels of the vascular bed of the superior mesenteric artery.

Copyright of Acta Endoscopica is the property of Lavoisier and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Acta Endoscopica is the property of Lavoisier and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Acta Endoscopica is the property of Lavoisier and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Acta Endoscopica is the property of Lavoisier and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Acta Endoscopica is the property of Lavoisier and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Résumé Un cas de leucémie aigüe et deux cas de réticulose histiomonocytaire sont étudiés du point de vue cytologique. L'étude des cellules leucosiques et histiomonocytaires malignes aussi bien dans leurs centres d'origine que dans le sang périphérique, montre une nette différentiation de celles-ci, une fois libérées dans la circulation sanguine.

Techniques and results of analysis of some commercially available sulfobromophthalein (phenoltetrabromphthalein disulfonate) solutions by means of TLC and IR spectrophotometry are reported. The IR spectra of sulfobromophthalein and sulfobromophthalein-like compounds are presented and discussed. Three of the additional fractions found could be identified as phenoltetrabromphthalein and its mono- and trisulfonate derivatives. These impurities probably are due to imperfections in the synthesis of sulfobromophthalein. With but one exception they represent less than 1 percent of the total absorbance at 578 mμ. Such low concentrations do not interfere with the clinical use of sulfobromophthalein.