An improved method for complement subcomponent C1R typing

An improved method has been developed for the reliable classification of different C1R genetic variant forms from human serum or plasma. The method combines the use of neuraminidase-digested samples followed by monodimensional isoelectric focusing in the pH range 5 to 8 followed by immunoblotting. The method yields a simple pattern, with one major band in homozygote and two major bands in heterozygote cases.     

G3M T typing by dot immunobinding with monoclonal anti-G3M T antibody

Dilutions of 100 serum samples of various GM phenotypes were dotted onto a nitrocellulose membrane. The serum dot-blots were detected with peroxidase-labeled anti-G3M T monoclonal antibody (anti-G3M T MAb). Up to a 1 : 256 dilution could be G3M T-typed correctly. By use of anti-G3M T MAb and peroxidase-labeled anti-mouse IgG or the biotin-avidin system instead of use of labeled anti-G3M T MAb, up to a 1 : 512 or 1 : 1024, respectively, dilution was typable. As with previous work with G3M G MAb, the dot immunobinding (DIB) method for G3M T typing was found very simple and practical.     

Children of Alcoholism: Implications For Juvenile Justice

Alcoholism and drug addiction affects the entire family. At least 22 million Americans have been raised in an alcoholic environment. Parental alcoholism and/or addiction can have profound emotional and psychological scars on the children. These homes are often characterized by emotional and or physical insecurity, loneliness, terror and inconsistency. The children from these homes often are extremely insecure have low self-esteem, and have a variety of emotional problems. Adolescents from addictive homes are over-represented in juvenile court as status offenders, delinquents and abuse and neglect cases. This article will discuss this issue and implications for the juvenile justice system and personnel working with these youth     

Gm/Km typing of bloodstains in U-bottom microtiter plates

A technique was developed for Gm/Km typing of bloodstains and sera in U-bottom microtiter plates. Gm/Km typing of sweat and urine samples was also attempted with limited success.     

Chronic disease and disadvantage: the new politics of HIV infection

HIV infection is now perceived as the end stage of a chronic disease that is spreading most rapidly among blacks and Hispanics. The politics of the HIV epidemic in the 1980s were dominated by four interacting factors: fear and fascination; who had the disease and to whom it seemed to be spreading; the endemic problems of United States social policy; and the impact on policy of advances in scientific knowledge. This paper analyzes the political history of each of these factors and describes the dominant policies of the federal government and the states regarding HIV in the areas of surveillance, prevention, research, and financing. Four uncertainties will have a profound influence on the future politics of the HIV epidemic: how the states and the federal government will address the general problems of paying for the care of people with chronic diseases and providing access to care for the uninsured and the underinsured; the number and distribution of the sexual behaviors that transmit infection with HIV and the effectiveness of policies to persuade people to modify these behaviors; precisely who uses addictive drugs and the effectiveness of measures to change their behavior; and the natural history of the virus.     

Sulfide concentrations in postmortem mammalian tissues

Postmortem changes in sulfide concentrations in body tissues were examined in autopsied rats exposed to hydrogen sulfide concentrations of 550 to 650 ppm, and in nonexposed rats and humans. Analyses were made by gas chromatography, following an extractive alkylation. Sulfide concentrations in the blood, liver, and kidneys of rats increased in both the exposed and nonexposed groups, depending on the lapse of time after death. On the other hand, the lung, brain, and muscle showed little or no change in sulfide concentration with elapse of time after death. The data obtained from human tissues were almost the same as those for rats, except data for blood, in which no or little increase of sulfide was observed.     

IS AGE IMPORTANT? TESTING A GENERAL VERSUS A DEVELOPMENTAL THEORY OF ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR*

We tested competing hypotheses derived from Gottfredson and Hirschis (1990) general theory and Moffitt's (1993a) developmental theory of antisocial behavior. The developmental theory argues that different factors give rise to antisocial behavior at different points in the life course. In contrast, the general theory maintains that the factor underlying antisocial behavior (i.e., criminal propensity) is the same at all ages. To test these competing predictions, we used longitudinal data spanning from age 5 to age 18 for the male subjects in the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study. Using reports from three sources (parents, teachers, and the boys themselves), we estimated second-order confirmatory factor models of antisocial behavior. These models provided consistent support for the developmental theory, showing that separate latent factors underlie childhood and adolescent antisocial behavior. Moreover, we found that these childhood and adolescent factors related in ways predicted by Moffitt's developmental theory to four correlates of antisocial behavior: Childhood antisocial behavior was related more strongly than adolescent antisocial behavior to low verbal ability, by per activity, and negative/impulsive personality, whereas adolescent antisocial behavior was related more strongly than childhood antisocial behavior to peer delinquency. The two underlying latent factors also showed the predicted differential relations to later criminal convictions: Childhood antisocial behavior was significantly more strongly associated with convictions for violence, while adolescent antisocial behavior was significantly more strongly associated with convictions for nonviolent offenses.