In spite of dietary treatment, the infants of pregnant patients with abnormal glucose tolerance have hyperinsulinism and diabetogenic fetopathy in 10 to 36% of cases. Those patients, who require ...insulin to prevent from fetopathy cannot be reliably selected by maternal parameters such as blood glucose and glycosylated hemoglobin values. We recommend the measurement of amniotic fluid insulin between the 28 and 32 weeks of pregnancy to differentiate whether the fetus is compromised or not. Subjects with values above the 97th centile require insulin therapy. Inadequate insulin dosage or delayed fetal hyperinsulinism can be discovered by checking the amniotic fluid insulin level at 33 to 36 weeks. In a total of 88 gestational diabetic patients 19 had raised amniotic fluid insulin levels indicating the onset of diabetic fetopathy at an early stage. Diabetic patients with raised amniotic fluid insulin levels needed large doses of insulin, namely 64.6 +/- 29.5 (Mean +/- SD) U/24 h. This treatment reduced mean blood glucose levels from 98 +/- 9 (Mean +/- SD) mg/dl to 82 +/- 10 mg/dl and was sufficient to prevent from diabetic fetopathy.
The influence of trapidil on serum levels and cardiac effects of digoxin was investigated in 10 healthy men, intraindividually compared with placebo. Each subject took digoxin orally for 9 days ...(0.375 mg daily on days 1 to 8, 0.25 mg on day 9) either combined with trapidil (400 mg daily on days 1 to 8, 200 mg on day 9) or combined with placebo in a cross-over design. Trapidil failed to change significantly the steady-state serum digoxin concentrations on day 9 of treatment. It did also not alter significantly the following digoxin effects: shortening in QS2c time indicating the cardiotonic digoxin effect, shortening in QTc time, increase in PTQ index. But trapidil prevented the negative chronotropic digoxin effect.
Because of reported extramitochondrial location of pyruvate carboxylase in rat liver concluded from extraction studies and the importance of these findings for the concept of the regulation of ...gluconeogenesis, the intracellular location of this enzyme in rat liver was reinvestigated. The following results were obtained.
1
Reported differences in extraction properties between pyruvate carboxylase and glutamate dehydrogenase in rat liver are due to secondary binding of the latter enzyme to nuclei, cell debris, mitochondria and microsomes.
2
Rat‐liver pyruvate carboxylase is located exclusively in mitochondria, a location in another subcellular component is excluded.
3
Rat liver mitochondria are heterogeneous with respect to their enzyme content. Rate‐zonal centrifugation reveals asymmetric distribution of mitochondrial matrix enzymes: Ornithine aminotransferase is shifted towards slower‐sedimenting mitochondria, pyruvate carboxylase, malate dehydrogenase and aspartate aminotransferase in faster‐sedimenting mitochondria. Glutamate dehydrogenase as well as monoamine oxidase (outer membrane) and adenylate kinase (inter‐membrane space) are located in an intermediate position.
4
Electronmicrographs show that the mitochondria retain their intact outer membrane and most of them are in condensed conformation.
The biological significance of the observed heterogeneities with respect to the regulation of gluconeogenesis is discussed.
As worldwide competition forces the chemical process industries to increase the profitability of their production plants, it is even more important for process developers and plant design engineers ...to understand the mechanical design aspects of agitated reactors. This article gives an overview of the mechanical design aspects of agitated, high-performance reactors that will help in endeavors to specify, maintain and also retrofit equipment. In addition, the article explains resonance and vibration phenomena and how these are considered. For a successful reactor design, consideration has to be given to the relationship between all relevant parameters. This includes not only the operating conditions, such as temperature, pressure and fluid properties, but also tank size and shape, all internal components and structural components, as well as power input or agitation intensity. The optimal selection of the material of construction and customized dimensioning prevents unnecessary investment and also decreases manufacturing costs effectively.
In preparing fiber suspensions for biological applications, as well as in many analytical procedures, the fibers--e.g. asbestos and glass--often have to be mechanically diminished and ultrasonically ...treated. Such treatments may sometimes produce changes in the physical and chemical properties of the original fiber samples. Measurements have been made to estimate the changes in fiber shape, size, and structure after milling and ultrasonic treatment. The results have shown that milling procedures not only change the size distribution, but also the particle shape and crystal structure of asbestos fibers. Ultrasonic energy (50 kHz) had practically no influence on the crystal structure, but in long-term applications it produces changes in fiber size and fiber concentration.
Size-selective procedures were developed for the preparation of fiber fractions of uniform size of chrysotile, crocidolite, amosite and glass. The raw material was first ground to a suitable ...fineness, then prescreened in a vibrating bed aerosol generator and finally suspended in liquids by ultrasonic agitation. Size-separation was then achieved by slow sedimentation. In addition, fiber fractions of exceedingly long-fibers were prepared by utilizing a vibrating sieve in the gas phase or in liquids.
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