Reaction of picrate with creatinine and cepha antibiotics.

Abstract The concentration of creatinine in serum, which is used to estimate glomerular filtration rate, is measured by reaction with alkaline picrate, but this reaction is not specific for creatinine. Although several other cephalosporin antibiotics have been reported not to react with picrate, we reacted picrate with creatinine, cefoxitin, penicillin, and eight different cephalosporins, and found that all compounds reacted with picrate and showed superimposable spectrophotograms with absorption maxima at 485 nm. From these results we conclude that the color-absorbing moiety of the product is the picrate molecule. Further, the structure common to creatinine and the cephalosporins, cefoxitin, or penicillin is the carbonyl group attached to a nitrogen and a carbon atom. We postulate that the carbonyl group with the adjacent carbon and nitrogen atoms is probably the chemical moiety that reacts with picrate to absorb energy at 485 nm.</jats:p

Effect of dialysis on interference by cefoxitin with determination of creatinine.

Abstract Interference by cefoxitin with determination of creatinine is less with the Technicon SMAC than with other commercial analytical systems. The SMAC assay involves a single-point kinetic method with dialysis, whereas most other commercial methods are multipoint kinetic without dialysis. The apparent creatinine concentration measured for aqueous solutions of cefoxitin was 73 mmol of creatinine per mole of cefoxitin with the SMAC, 135 mmol/mol with a manual method. Furthermore, we determined for the SMAC that the average fraction of creatinine dialyzed was 0.128 and for cefoxitin, 0.064. Thus, the concentration of and interference by cefoxitin in the reaction mixture for SMAC are reduced by half (i.e., the apparent creatinine concentration for cefoxitin with the manual system multiplied by 0.5 is essentially that noted with the SMAC: 68 vs 73). Thus we conclude that the diminished interference be cefoxitin with determination of creatinine by SMAC is primarily ascribable to the dialysis step.</jats:p

Characterization of common variable immunodeficiency: identification of a subset of patients with distinctive immunophenotypic and clinical features [see comments]

The peripheral blood lymphocyte surface markers and clinical features of 38 patients with common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) were assessed. These studies identified a subset of CVID consisting of 14 of the 38 patients with a distinctive T-cell immunophenotype and clinical findings. The phenotypic changes were characterized by an abnormally low CD4/CD8 ratio (less than or equal to 0.9) due primarily to a significant increase in CD8 T cells. In addition, there was an expansion in CD8 T cells coexpressing CD57 and increased expression of the activation markers HLA-DR and interleukin-2 receptor (IL-2R) by these cells. This group of immunophenotypically abnormal CVID patients also had characteristic clinical features, including splenomegaly (P less than .02) and in vivo T-cell dysfunction based on the evaluation of delayed-type hypersensitivity (P less than .05). Approximately 71% of these patients had splenomegaly and 42% were anergic in contrast to the remaining group of CVID patients, in which 29% had splenomegaly and 7% were anergic. These findings define a subgroup of CVID patients that have specific immunophenotypic features and functional T-cell abnormalities.</jats:p

Comparison of creatinine as determined with the Ames Seralyzer and by three Jaffé-based methods.

Abstract We compared results for urinary creatinine, serum creatinine, and creatinine clearance, as determined with the Ames Seralyzer, with results determined with the Beckman ASTRA, the DuPont aca, and Technicon's AutoAnalyzer and SMAC. Results for urinary creatinine from the Seralyzer differed significantly (p less than 0.05) from those obtained with the ASTRA and AutoAnalyzer, but not with the aca. The Seralyzer results for serum creatinine were at least 1.0 mg/L higher (p less than 0.05) than by the other three methods. Results for creatinine clearance from the Seralyzer were 8 to 11 mL/min lower (p less than 0.05) than results by the other three methods. These differences are related to the positive interference by bilirubin in the Seralyzer creatinine method. We also evaluated 23 other compounds for interference with these methods for creatinine.</jats:p

The S-Word: Discourse, Stereotypes, and the American Indian Woman

What’s in a name? Plenty when it comes to the ability of words to establish identity. In 2005 in Oregon, for example, 142 land features carried the name ‘‘squaw’’—Squaw Gulch, Squaw Butte, Squaw Meadows, and Squaw Flat Reservoir (U.S. Geological Survey, 2008). This article examines the term squaw, its presentation in popular culture, and how this framing constructs Native womanhood in the public imagination. Two primary representations are revealed in the discourse defining squaw: as sexual punching bag and as drudge. The opinions and attitudes of reporters, citizens (Indian and non-Indian), government officials, agencies, and tribal representatives are included as reflected in journalistic accounts of the land form debate about the use and meaning of the label squaw. The psychological impact of this racial and sexual slur has a significant negative impact on quality of life, perceptions, and opportunities for Native American women (ethnostress) due to the consistent use and reification of the squaw stereotype through more than 400 years of U.S. history. This article is written as part of a larger body of work that argues for an expansion of Schroeder and Borgerson’s (2005, 2008) representational ethics of images to include words

How much do narrative annotations differ? A Proppian case study

The formal study of narratives goes back to the Russian structuralist school, paradigmatically represented by the 1928 study Morphology of the Folktale by Vladimir Propp. Researchers in the field of computational narratology have developed the general Proppian methodology into various formal and computational frameworks for the analysis, automated understanding and generation of narratives. Methodological issues in this research field give rise to concrete research questions such as "How much does the representation of a narrative in a given formal framework depend on subjective decisions of the formalizer?'" touching philosophy of computing and philosophy of information. In order to approach the mentioned question, we consider the process of formal representation of a narrative as a natural analogue of the task of annotation in computational linguistics and corpus linguistics. We use the Russian folktales formalized by Propp and let them be formalized by annotators according to Propp's system, evaluating these results according to the standards of interannotator agreement

Characterization of common variable immunodeficiency: identification of a subset of patients with distinctive immunophenotypic and clinical features [see comments]

Abstract The peripheral blood lymphocyte surface markers and clinical features of 38 patients with common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) were assessed. These studies identified a subset of CVID consisting of 14 of the 38 patients with a distinctive T-cell immunophenotype and clinical findings. The phenotypic changes were characterized by an abnormally low CD4/CD8 ratio (less than or equal to 0.9) due primarily to a significant increase in CD8 T cells. In addition, there was an expansion in CD8 T cells coexpressing CD57 and increased expression of the activation markers HLA-DR and interleukin-2 receptor (IL-2R) by these cells. This group of immunophenotypically abnormal CVID patients also had characteristic clinical features, including splenomegaly (P less than .02) and in vivo T-cell dysfunction based on the evaluation of delayed-type hypersensitivity (P less than .05). Approximately 71% of these patients had splenomegaly and 42% were anergic in contrast to the remaining group of CVID patients, in which 29% had splenomegaly and 7% were anergic. These findings define a subgroup of CVID patients that have specific immunophenotypic features and functional T-cell abnormalities.</jats:p

Automated determination of urinary creatinine without sample dilution: theory and practice.

Abstract The rate of the Jaffé reaction depends on the concentration of sodium hydroxide; the pseudo-first-order rate constant of the reaction, at 37 degrees C in 10 mmol/L picrate solution, is 0.004 mmol/L. We formulated an automated method to determine urinary creatinine directly without manual sample dilution. The conditions are as follows: 10 mmol/L picrate and 60 mmol/L sodium hydroxide (final concentrations); ratio of sample to final volume, 1:41; temperature, 37 degrees C; wavelengths of measurement, 500 or 510 nm; interval of measurement, 30 to 90 s; and mode of measurement, kinetic. Determinations of creatinine in patients' samples by the new method compared favorably with those obtained with the AutoAnalyzer and aca. The run-to-run CVs were 3.6% or less, and the method was accurate for concentrations of creatinine up to 3000 mg/L. We recommend this method as a good replacement for the AutoAnalyzer or aca methods.</jats:p