Review of Merchant-Ivory: Interviews edited by Laurence Raw.

Review of Merchant-Ivory: Interviews edited by Laurence Raw

Effect of encainide and flecainide on chronic ectopic atrial tachycardia

In the treatment of chronic ectopic atrial tachycardia, standard antiarrhythmic therapy has been shown to be ineffective in the majority of patients. The intravenous and oral effects of two class IC antiarrhythmic drugs, encainide and flecainide, in five patients with chronic ectopic atrial tachycardia were studied using exercise testing, 24 hour long-term electrocardiography and programmed electrical stimulation. All patients had been treated unsuccessfully with at least four antiarrhythmic drugs. In two patients tachycardia was persistent, and in three patients tachycardia occurred intermittently for more than 12 hours/day.Intravenous encainide and flecainide at doses ranging from 0.3 to 2.0 mg/kg and from 0.5 to 1.5 mg/kg body weight, respectively, terminated atrial ectopic tachycardia in all patients. Oral encainide, 150 to 225 mg/day, completely suppressed ectopic atrial activity in four patients during a mean follow-up period of 8 ± 3 months. In the remaining patient encainide markedly reduced the number of episodes of tachycardia. In three patients encainide had to be withdrawn because of intolerable side effects. These patients were well controlled with oral flecainide, 200 to 300 mg/day, without side effects.On the basis of these results, the efficacy of encainide and flecainide in the treatment of chronic ectopic atrial tachycardia appears to be not drug-specific but rather a general class IC property

The Rich Mid-Infrared Environments of Two Highly-Obscured X-ray Binaries: Spitzer Observations of IGR J16318-4848 and GX 301-2

We present the results of Spitzer mid-infrared spectroscopic observations of two highly-obscured massive X-ray binaries: IGR J16318-4848 and GX301-2. Our observations reveal for the first time the extremely rich mid-infrared environments of this type of source, including multiple continuum emission components (a hot component with T > 700 K and a warm component with T ~ 180 K) with apparent silicate absorption features, numerous HI recombination lines, many forbidden ionic lines of low ionization potentials, and pure rotational H2 lines. This indicates that both sources have hot and warm circumstellar dust, ionized stellar winds, extended low-density ionized regions, and photo-dissociated regions. It appears difficult to attribute the total optical extinction of both sources to the hot and warm dust components, which suggests that there could be an otherwise observable colder dust component responsible for the most of the optical extinction and silicate absorption features. The observed mid-infrared spectra are similar to those from Luminous Blue Variables, indicating that the highly-obscured massive X-ray binaries may represent a previously unknown evolutionary phase of X-ray binaries with early-type optical companions. Our results highlight the importance and utility of mid-infrared spectroscopy to investigate highly-obscured X-ray binaries.Comment: To appear in ApJ Letter

High‐resolution diffusion‐weighted imaging identifies ischemic lesions in a majority of transient ischemic attack patients

Transient ischemic attack (TIA) is defined as focal neurological deficit caused by ischemia resolving within 24 hours. In a secondary analysis of a large monocentric cohort of 446 TIA patients, we explored the frequency and determinants of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) lesions on high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging. Overall, 240 (54%) of all TIA patients presented with DWI lesions. These patients had higher National Institute of Health Stroke Scale and ABCD2 scores and presented more frequently with vessel occlusion and perfusion deficits, but had similar functional outcome at 3 months. Taken together, high-resolution DWI provides evidence of ischemic brain injury in the majority of TIA patients. ANN NEUROL 201

Arxula adeninivorans Recombinant Urate Oxidase and Its Application in the Production of Food with Low Uric Acid Content

Hyperuricemia and its symptoms are becoming increasingly common worldwide. Elevated serum uric acid levels are caused by increased uric acid synthesis from food constituents and reduced renal excretion. Treatment in most cases involves reducing alcohol intake and consumption of meat and fish or treatment with pharmaceuticals. Another approach could be to reduce uric acid level in food, either during production or consumption. This work reports the production of recombinant urate oxidase by Arxula adeninivorans and its application to reduce uric acid in a food product. The A. adeninivorans urate oxidase amino acid sequence was found to be similar to urate oxidases from other fungi (61-65% identity). In media supplemented with adenine, hypoxanthine or uric acid, induction of the urate oxidase (AUOX) gene and intracellular accumulation of urate oxidase (Auoxp) was observed. The enzyme characteristics were analyzed from isolates of the wild-type strain A. adeninivorans LS3, as well as from those of transgenic strains expressing the AUOX gene under control of the strong constitutive TEF1 promoter or the inducible AYNI1 promoter. The enzyme showed high substrate specificity for uric acid, a broad temperature and pH range, high thermostability and the ability to reduce uric acid content in food