bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Silicosis and carcinoma of the lung
Authors: Anderson C. S. , Dible J. Heney
Published: May 2009

Chronic irritation is a recognized factor in the causation of malignant epithelial growths and it would not, a priori, be surprising if an association were found to exist between pneumokoniosis and pulmonary cancer. With the notable and somewhat questionable exceptions of the observations upon Schneeberg and Joachimstal miners there has, however, been little to support this view. Nevertheless certain observations of ours (Dible, 1934) have urged us to examine the relationship of silicosis to malignancy in a more specific and comprehensive fashion than has hitherto been achieved. This paper records the results of our investigations, which it is thought may bear upon the aetiology of the condition.
The incidence of brucellosis clinical and latent among various groups of the population
Authors: Beattle C. P.
Published: May 2009

1. The population as a whole is exposed toBrucellainfection by the consumption of infected milk. This does not appear to be a very potent source of infection as relatively few clinical cases of brucellosis occur, nor are many latent infections discovered by the agglutination reaction.

2. Those exposed to contact with infected animals or meat, as are farm workers, slaughterers and butchers, run a greater risk of contracting infection. The risk is not, however, markedly increased when the contact is limited to the handling of carcasses or meat, milking or ordinary animal husbandry.

3. Members of the veterinary profession, who assist in calving and remove placentas from infected cows are exposed to the greatest risk of infection. They come in contact with the greatest natural concentration ofBr. abortusthrough the most dangerous route, the skin. Clinical brucellosis is not common among them, but many contract latent infection. 58·3% of post-graduate and 10·8% of undergraduate veterinary students were found to have agglutinins forBr. abortusin their serum. This should be borne in mind when a diagnosis of undulant fever is considered in a member of the veterinary profession.
Antigenic activity of extracts of pneumococci
Authors: Downie Allan W.
Published: May 2009

Antigenic substances have recently been extracted in soluble form from many bacteria, and the work of Boivin & Mesrobeanu (1934), Raistrick & Topley (1934) and Topleyet al.(1937) has shown that polysaccharides in combination with other non-protein substances extracted from certain Gram-negative bacilli stimulate an effective immunity in mice and specific antibody formation in rabbits. The antigenicity of similar extracts of pneumococci has not been so readily demonstrated. Berkefeld filtrates of pneumococci lysed by bile or by alternate freezing and thawing were found to be non-antigenic in rabbits (Avery & Morgan, 1925; Avery & Neill, 1925), although it was possible to immunize mice effectively with bacteria-free solutions obtained from cultures of pneumococci (Perlzweig & Steffen, 1923; Perlzweig & Keefer, 1925; Meyer, 1927). The essential antigen for the production of immunity in mice has been shown to be the type-specific polysaccharide which is effective only in small doses, usually between 0.01 and 0.00001 mg. (Schiemann & Caspar, 1927; Schiemann, 1929; Enders, 1930; Wadsworth & Brown, 1931; Avery & Goebel, 1933). The type-specific polysaccharide has, however, been found to be without antigenic activity in rabbits (Avery & Goebel, 1933; Downie, 1937).
The antigenic structure of the mannitol-fermenting group of dysentery bacilli
Authors: Boyd J. S. K.
Published: May 2009

1. Group variants devoid of type antigen, described in the previous section, provide material for ascertaining the various components of the antigen in the mannitol-fermenting dysentery bacilli.

2. Flexner Y, as defined by Andrewes and Inman, is not a valid type. The strains which are regarded as being of this type, such as Y Hiss and Russell and Y Lentz, are old strains which have lost their type antigen and possess only group antigen. The reason why many newly isolated strains are identified as Y is because the antiserums used for their recognition contain more group than type agglutinin.

3. The four Flexner types V, W, X, and Z, each possess a distinctive type antigen and share a complex group antigen. They do not, as suggested by Andrewes and Inman, possess minor quantities of each other's type antigen.

4. 103, P 119, and the 88-Newcastle-Manchester series have also distinctive type antigens, and share the same group antigen with V, W, X, and Z.

5. It is considered that the existing Flexner group should be extended to include all organisms which have a type-specific antigen and share this common group antigen. The three types in (4) should therefore be placed in the group and named accordingly.

6. Six types which have the biochemical reactions of the Flexner group, and which have individual type antigens but no Flexner group antigen, are provisionally placed in a separate loose group.
Experiments on Staphylococcus food poisoning
Authors: Minett F. C.
Published: May 2009

1. Feeding tests on monkeys (Macacus rhesus), dogs and cats are unsatisfactory for detecting the presence of enterotoxin, owing to the variable susceptibility of these animals by the oral route.

2. Using Dolman's method, in which the material is injected intra-peritoneally into kittens, the production of enterotoxin has been demonstrated by: (a) sixteen out of thirty-eight strains of Staph. aureus, isolated from cases of acute or chronic mastitis or from normal udder milk; (b) four out of five strains of Bact. coli, mostly from calves with “white scours”. No enterotoxin was obtained from fifteen strains of Str. agalactiae from mastitis in cows.

3. The formation of enterotoxin under natural conditions has been observed: (a) In udder milk seeded with Staph. aureus or naturally contaminated with that organism and stored at atmospheric temperatures (18 and 22°C.). The substance remains active in cheese prepared from such milk. (b) In layer cake made with cream naturally contaminated with Staph. aureus.

4. A small outbreak of poisoning due to potted meat paste was shown to be caused by a non-haemolytic Staphylococcus.

5. A few feeding experiments on man with milk or cream, in which food-poisoning staphylococci had grown, were negative, but on one occasion a Staphylococcus from a case of mastitis yielded a culture filtrate which caused symptoms of food poisoning.

6. Enterotoxin has the following properties. It is resistant to heat (95°C., 30 min.), to low concentrations of formalin sufficient to destroy the haemolytic toxin, to acid (pH 5·0), and to rennet, but is destroyed by trypsin.

It diffuses freely into the culture medium but only slightly through collodion. It is antigenic. Its properties are such that enterotoxin can be classed as a bacterial exotoxin.
A comparative study of coliform organisms found in chlorinated and in non-chlorinated swimming bath water
Authors: Bardsley Doris A.
Published: May 2009

The investigation deals with the bacteriological examination of 386 samples of water from Manchester swimming baths where the method of purification could be studied.

There were 339 samples from chlorinated pools of which 160 gave acid and gas in MacConkey broth at 37° C. and 2130 strains were isolated. The remaining forty-seven samples were from untreated open-air pools. Thirty of these samples were positive and 270 strains were isolated. The strains were classified according to Wilson's method into thecoli, intermediate,aerogenesand irregular groups, and only 1·78% of the total were found to be irregular. Both series of samples included more than 72% which containedcoli, and among the chlorinated samples no less than 70% yieldedaerogenesand nearly 49% intermediate type, while among the non-chlorinated baths there were 43% withaerogenesand 40% with intermediate type. There was a similar difference in the proportions ofcoli, aerogenesand intermediate type in chlorinated and in non-chlorinated baths when the results were considered on the basis of strains (Table II).

Since these differences in proportion were considered significant, and since the chief variation in conditions between outdoor and indoor baths consists of chlorination, a series of experiments was devised to test the effect of chlorine on pure cultures ofcoli, aerogenes, and intermediate type. There was very little change after adding 0·1 part of chlorine per million, but the addition of 0·3 and 0·5 part was followed by very rapid reduction in numbers with diminution in free chlorine. This reduction was on the whole least withaerogenes. The numbers continued to fall for about 48 hr. until all trace of chlorine had disappeared and then regrowth occurred. This regrowth was most vigorous and most rapid withaerogenes(see figures) but was very slow in all cases.
The ventilation of houses after fumigation with hydrogen cyanide
Authors: Page A. B. P. , Lubatti O. F. , Gloyns F. P.
Published: May 2009

In June 1935, certain problems arose concerning the fumigation of houses with hydrogen cyanide for the destruction of bedbugs. Workmen reconditioning houses in Rochester, which had been given the customary 24 hr. aeration after fumigation with hydrogen cyanide “disks”, had complained of sickness during their work. The walls, cavities and floor spaces of some of these houses had been tested by Mr Topping, the Chief Sanitary Inspector of Rochester, who, using benzidine acetate-copper acetate paper, had obtained a strong positive reaction indicative of the presence of hydrogen cyanide after 24 hr. aeration.
The relative susceptibility of the field-vole to the bovine, human and avian types of tubercle bacilli and to the vole strain of acid-fast bacillus (Wells, 1937)
Authors: Griffith A. Stanley
Published: May 2009

The occurrence in this country of an epizootic disease among field-voles (Microtus agrestis), resembling tuberculosis in its anatomical features but due to an acid-fast bacillus different from the tubercle bacilli found in other species of warm-blooded animals, has raised several interesting questions. One of these is the relative susceptibility of the field-vole, and other species of wild rodents belonging to the family Muridae, to the bovine, human and avian types of tubercle bacilli and the possibility of using any of these species in place of the rabbit for differentiating between the three types. Some work on the subject was done by me in the year 1923, the rodents tested being field-voles and wood-mice (Mus sylvaticus). These experiments, reported in 1937, showed that the field-vole is highly susceptible to bovine bacilli, and can also be infected with human bacilli, though with less certainty and less severity than with bovine bacilli. The wood-mouse is susceptible to bovine and human bacilli, perhaps more so to the former than to the latter, and stands in an intermediate position between the vole and the white mouse in its susceptibility to mammalian tubercle bacilli.
Contributions to the mathematical theory of epidemics: V. Analysis of experimental epidemics of mouse-typhoid; a bacterial disease conferring incomplete immunity
Authors: Kermack W. O. , McKendrick A. G.
Published: May 2009

In a recently published paper (Kermack & McKendrick, 1937) the observational data relating to epidemics of ectromelia in populations of mice maintained under experimental conditions (Greenwood et al. 1936) has been analysed in the light of a mathematical theory of epidemics developed by us during recent years (Kermack & McKendrick, 1927, 1932, 1933, 1936). It was shown that the life table giving the chance of mice surviving for various lengths of time in infected communities is very closely represented by a formula calculated on the assumption that the various rates—infection rate, recovery rate, death rate, etc.—are constants. It is, of course, realized that this simplifying assumption can only be regarded as approximately true. It renders the application of the general theory practicable, and the result of the investigation justifies its use, in so far as the theory so simplified does actually conform to the experimental results.
The role of the spirochaete in the Wassermann reaction
Authors: Beck A.
Published: May 2009

1. The examination of 1100 sera by both the Wassermann reaction and the complement-fixation test with spirochaetes revealed a superior sensitivity of the latter reaction and practically equal specificity of the two tests.

2. Syphilitic serum contains two different antibodies: one reacting with the lipoid antigen of the Wassermann reaction, the other with a specific antigen in the spirochaete.

3. The spirochaetal antibody of syphilitic serum has a complex serological structure, corresponding to spirochaete strains of different antigenic make-up.

4. The existence of this antibody and its specific absorption by the homologous antigen can also be demonstrated by agglutination.

5. The difference between agglutinin titres found in normal and syphilitic sera is not pronounced enough to render this method satisfactory for the practical diagnosis of syphilis.

6. The spirochaete contains, apart from its specific antigen, the ubiquitous lipoid substance representing the Wassermann antigen.

7. A fraction was obtained from spirochaetes by Raistrick and Topley's method which in complement-fixation and precipitation tests reacted actively with spirochaete antisera from rabbits, but which so far failed to react with syphilitic sera.

This work was carried out with the aid of a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. I wish to thank Prof. Golla, Director of the Central Pathological Laboratory, L.C.C. Mental Hospitals, who rendered this work possible, and Dr Arthur Davies, Director of the Devonport Laboratory, for the hospitality afforded me at his laboratory and for the patients’ sera used in this work. I am indebted to Prof. R. T. Hewlett for his revision of the manuscript, to Prof. Raistrick for advice in chemical matters, and to Dr Amies, of the Lister Institute, for his help with the Sharples centrifuge.
The effects of morphine, diacetylmorphine and some related alkaloids upon the alimentary tract: Part I. Stomach and pylorus
Authors: Myers G. Norman
Published: May 2009

1. The effects of morphine and diacetylmorphine upon the stomach of the cat are variable. The greater number of experiments showed a decrease in tone which was accompanied by a decrease in the frequency and amplitude of movements. Some animals showed an increase in stomach tone accompained by three to five slowly moving contractions of great amplitude while no change were recorded in two cats.

2. Codeine sometimes produced a slight increase in the amplitude of stomach movements with a diminished frequency, while at first the general tone is unaltered. Tone is later reduced slightly to a subnormal level. In other cases it causes a very slight increase in tone and amplitude of movements. These effects are short lived and very small when compared with those produced by morphine or heroin.

3. The effects of dihydromorphinone (dilaudid) upon the stomach are far from constant. Most animals show an immediate relaxation of the stomach with a decrease in the amplitude of the movements. In a series of nine experiments, six showed relaxation of the stomach, two contraction, and in one no changes were recorded.

4. The effects of dihydrocodeinone (dicodid) on the stomach resemble those of codeine. They consist of a small gradual increase in tone followed by a relaxation to a subnormal level.

5. Dihydro-oxycodeinone (eukodol) produces effects which resemble those of dihydrocodeinone (dicodid).

6. All these drugs produce constant effects upon the pyloric sphincter. They all produce an increase in the tone of the sphincter accompanied by an increase in the amplitude of the rhythmical movements. Dilaudid is approximately eight times more active than morphine, while diacetylmorphine is about one and a half times more potent than morphine. The effects of these three drugs last several hours.

The effects of codeine, dicodid and eukodol show a great similarity. They are of short duration and very small when compared with morphine, heroin and dilaudid.
The incidence of quartz and sericite particles in siliceous residues in silicotic lungs
Authors: Davson J.
Published: May 2009

1. Preparations for petrographical examination were obtained by micro-incineration of sections from silicotic nodules from thirty-one cases of unequivocal silicosis.

2. Particle counts above and below 2 μ showed, in the majority of cases, a preponderance of quartz.

3. Jones' claim that sericite particles predominate in the lower size range of particles in silicotic lungs is not confirmed.
Some observations on reversed anaphylaxis
Authors: van den Ende M.
Published: May 2009

1. The symptoms and autopsy findings in guinea-pigs following intravenous injection of antisera prepared against guinea-pig serum or serum fractions are described. Two types of reaction were observed, acute and delayed, similar to those described in direct anaphylaxis.

2. The alterations in systemic blood pressure, pulmonary arterial pressure, and bronchial resistance, were investigated and found to simulate closely those observable in ordinary anaphylactic shock.

3. The antisera have the power of stimulating contraction of the isolated uterus of the guinea-pig, either in the presence or absence of excess guinea-pig serum. The reaction, like that observed in direct anaphylaxis, is therefore cellular.

4. Antisera prepared against guinea-pig serum proteins contain, in addition to precipitins, agglutinins for the red cells of that species, and Forssmann antibody. Neither of the last two antibodies, however, is responsible for the shock phenomena here described. It appears that the potency of a serum to produce shock in guinea-pigs is dependent on several factors, of which the most important is the content in precipitins reacting with the guinea-pig serum proteins. These precipitins give rise to the reactions following intravenous injection into guinea-pigs, not merely as a result of humoral combination with homologous antigens, but largely, if not wholly, as the result of an immune reaction with antigens in the protoplasm of the tissue cells.
The Weil-Felix reaction in trachoma
Authors: Kirk R. , McKelvie A. R. , Drysdale A. D.
Published: May 2009

1. Various workers in different countries claim that in the sera of trachoma patients a positive Weil-Felix reaction is found and regard this as evidence that the casual agent of trachoma is a Rickettsia.

2. The examination of 200 sera from trachoma patients in the Sudan has failed to reveal any significant differences with regard to the Weil-Felix reaction between them and twenty-two sera from non-trachomatous controls, or 1000 sera taken, without reference to trachoma, from a large and representative section of the population.

3. Clinical and serological evidence suggest that typhus is absent from the Sudan. For this reason the interpretation of results is less liable to confusion in the Sudan than in countries where positive Weil-Felix reactions may occur in a varying proportion of the population due to typhus infections.
An anaerogenic strain of Bacterium paratyphosum C
Authors: Nabih M. Said
Published: May 2009

1. The existence of an anaerogenic strain of Bact. paratyphosum C is recorded in Egypt.

2. It was isolated in August 1937, together with an aerogenic strain, from the urine of a patient suffering from enteric fever.

3. Biologically the anaerogenic strain was identical with the aerogenic except that it did not produce gas from any “sugar”.

4. The anaerogenic strain retained its inability to produce gas from “sugars” for the three years during which tests were carried out, subculturing on various fluid media containing different sugars failing to cause any gas production.

5. Serologically there was no indication of any antigenic difference between the anaerogenic and the aerogenic strains.

6. The anaerogenic strain contained the Vi antigen and retained it for three years when kept at room temperature.
Human physiology under high pressure: I. Effects of Nitrogen, Carbon dioxide, and Cold
Authors: Case E. M. , Haldane J. B. S.
Published: May 2009

We confirm the finding of Behnke,et al.(1935) that air at 8·6 atm. pressure has a somewhat intoxicating effect on human beings, and that this effect is due to nitrogen. The nitrogen effect reaches its maximum after about 3 min. There was no reduction of manual dexterity in the test used by us, but a considerable effect on performance of arithmetic, and on most practical activities. At 10 atm. these effects were somewhat enhanced, and manual dexterity was lowered in some cases. When helium or hydrogen was substituted for nitrogen there was no intoxication.

3–4% of carbon dioxide at atmospheric pressure caused no deterioration in manual or arithmetical skill, and in the two subjects tested, 6% of carbon dioxide caused no deterioration.

When air containing about 0·4% of carbon dioxide, and therefore with a partial pressure of about 4%, was breathed at 10 atm., there was a marked deterioration in manual dexterity, and a good deal of confusion. When breathing carbon dioxide at partial pressures of 6·6–9·7% at 10. atm., eight subjects lost consciousness in 1–5 min., but some could tolerate partial pressures of over 8% for 5 min. or more. With half an hour's exposure to a partial pressure of 6–7% of carbon dioxide, one subject lost consciousness after 7 min. at 10 atm. pressure, and another nearly did so.

We consider that the percentage of carbon dioxide in air at 10 atm. pressure should be kept below 0·3%. Exposure to high partial pressures of carbon dioxide at 10 atm. does not increase the liability to ‘bends’ or other symptoms due to rapid decompression.

Immersion in water below 40° F. did not enhance the effects of high-pressure air, or of carbon dioxide at atmospheric pressure, but somewhat enhanced those of high pressure and carbon dioxide together.

In certain breathing apparatus the resistance became so great at 10 atm. as to be intolerable.

Few subjects experienced serious trouble during compression, or during or after decompression. But one developed a unilateral pneumothorax.
Warm-stage observations on the initial development of the avian tubercle bacillus cultivated in embryo extract
Authors: Brieger E. M. , Fell Honor B.
Published: May 2009

1. Avian tubercle bacilli were cultivated in centri- fuged embryo extract in large hanging-drop preparations.

2. Small groups of individual bacilli were studied undisturbed on a warm stage for several days.

3. The cultures grew very actively and several types of reproduction were observed, all of which were modifications of what was arbitrarily termed the ‘standard’ type.

4. In the ‘standard’ life cycle, which was that most commonly seen, the bacillus elongates during the first 24 hr. to form a filament several times its original length; this divides repeatedly to form a bunch of 20–30 filaments which on the 2nd or 3rd day break down into short rods, which continue to multiply slowly by ordinary binary fission. If the bacilli are subcultivated in fresh embryo extract the cycle is repeated but not otherwise.

5. Three forms of slow growth were seen: (a) The bacillus elongates, though very slowly, to form a long filament which does not divide. (b) The bacillus elongates to about twice its original length and then divides by simple binary fission, (c) The bacillus elongates and segments into short rods, but the intermediate stage of filamentous proliferation is greatly restricted.

6. Bacilli floating freely in the surface film of the drop often form what we have termed a ‘raft’ colony. In this form of development elongation of the rods and filamentous proliferation occur, but the return to the original short form is gradual and incomplete. The organisms grow in one plane and are arranged in a tidy mosaic.

7. The development of ‘mycelial’ forms was studied. A minority of the long filaments formed by the elongation of the rod-shaped bacilli do not break up into strings of daughter rods but continue to elongate rapidly into abnormally long threads; small buds appear at intervals along the thread and grow into primary branches on which secondary and tertiary branches form in the same way: finally a complex branching ‘mycelium’ is produced.

8. The ‘standard’ life cycle appears to be characteristic of rapid initial growth. The wide differences between our results and those of Kahn are probably due, at least in part, to the different cultural conditions used in the two investigations.
The bacteriology of dehydrated fish: I. Qualitative and quantitative studies of the drying process
Authors: Shewan J. M.
Published: May 2009

In experiments at this Station designed to find the most appropriate methods for the dehydration of fish, it was early recognized that bacteriological control would be necessary in order to ensure the safety of the final product. Many preliminary experiments were performed before a suitable method was found for commercial production. In these experiments data were obtained and are given here to illustrate the general argument, although most of the results are concerned largely with the method finally adopted.
A thermolabile substance of Shigella dysenteriae Shiga
Authors: Olitzki L. , Shelubsky M. , Koch P. K.
Published: May 2009

The experiments reported below followed the observation that living dysentery bacteria (S-variant) are not agglutinated after 4 hr. contact with an homologous antiserum. Somewhat later agglutination appears, but does not reach the end-titre. The next day fine granula are visible on the bottom of the test-tube which are readily dispersed by gentle shaking. This form of agglutination was designated ‘soft’. If the bacteria are heated for 30 min. at 100°C. agglutination appears within 2 hr. at all dilutions up to the end-titre of the serum. The next day a heavy sediment is visible, and in low serum dilutions a cuticula covers the bottom of the test-tubetities injected intravenously were 0·1, 0·25, 0·5 and 1·0 mg.; the latter were relatively harmless and quantities of 0·2–2·0 mg. were injected.
Fluorine alopecia
Authors: Spira Leo
Published: May 2009

A high proportion of young men in this country suffer from premature baldness. Alopecia is not a disease entity but one of the outstanding features of chronic fluorine poisoning (fluorosis). It is frequently associated with dystrophies of other organs of ectodermal origin, namely, those of the skin and its other appendages, the teeth and nails. Since all these organs are regulated by the parathyroid glands, it is concluded that alopecia, too, is produced by fluorine acting through the medium of these endocrine glands. By its ability to precipitate the calcium content of the body, fluorine may lay the foundation for alopecia already in intra-uterine life, or produce it at any time after birth.

The action of fluorine is closely similar to that of thallium. There is ample evidence to show that in both fluorosis and chronic thallium poisoning the vegetative nervous system is vitally involved.

Toxic alopecia due. to fluorine is preventable.
Enteric fevers in Egypt
Authors: Cossery G. N.
Published: May 2009

Enteric fever occurs in both temperate and tropical countries, and its spread depends mainly on the sanitary conditions prevailing, on the degree of purity of the drinking water, particularly in the country districts where no general water supplies exist, and on the degree of efficiency of the sewage disposal systems.
The vitamin A reserve of the population in Denmark and Norway during the War
Authors: With Torben K. , Ødegaard Kristian
Published: May 2009

The authors have determined the vitamin A content of the liver in persons who had succumbed to sudden death in Copenhagen in 1939 and 1943 and in Oslo in 1943–4. The values in Oslo after three years of war and severe rationing were higher than in Copenhagen, the population of which had a much milder rationing during the war. The values in Copenhagen for 1943 were somewhat lower than those for 1939. The most plausible explanation of these findings seems to be that the pre-war vitamin A reserve in Norway was high.
Some skin manifestations in hypoparathyroidism
Authors: Spira Leo
Published: May 2009

A complex disease picture prevalent in this country has been traced (Spira, 1928) to the protracted ingestion of drinking water derived from the tap, and of food prepared in aluminium cooking utensils. No indication could at that time be given of the exact irritant, beyond stating that a mineral or metal seemed to be involved. Further observation revealed a frequent association with paraesthesiae affecting the hands and fingers, especially those supplied by the dorsal cutaneous branch of the ulnar nerve. The feet were affected to a lesser extent. Since there is, in the present state of our knowledge, only one poison which affects the ulnar nerve, namely, fluorine, Spira (1933) concluded that it may be this halogen which was one of the aetiological factors concerned. It was the wide-spread occurrence of mottled teeth in this country (Spira, 1942a,b), known to be produced by a drinking water with a content of not less than 1 part of fluorine per million parts of water (1 p.p.m.), equivalent to gr. 1/120 of fluorine to a pint of water, ingested during the period of calcification of the teeth, which helped to establish the fact that it is indeed fluorine which is the causative agent producing signs and symptoms of a hitherto obscure origin.
Separation and concentration of a thermolabile precipitinogen fromShigella dysenteriae(Shiga)
Authors: Shelubsky M. , Olitzki L.
Published: May 2009

Presence of thermolabile agglutination-inhibiting substances in strains of the genusShigellahas been demonstrated by numerous authors. Archer (1942) used as antigen for agglutination tests withS. alkalescenscultures which had been killed at 100° C., since a thermolabile factor which prevents agglutination by the usual technique had been found present in the organism. The same method was employed by Mendes Silva (1943) in agglutination tests withS. ambigua. Braun & Unat (1943) found inS. paradysenteriae(Flexner) a labile antigen designated ‘O1’ which inhibits O-agglutination of the living bacteria. Schuetze (1944) reported that the insensitivity ofS. dysenteriae(Shiga) to agglutination is abolished by heating at 100° C. for 30 min. Weil, Black & Farsetta (1944) reported that boiling for 1 hr. renders inagglutinable strains ofS. paradysenteriae(Flexner) fully agglutinable. Recently, Weilet al.(1946) reported that one of the Sachs types contains an inhibiting substance, a heat labile antigen and a heat stable antigen. He observed inhibition of agglutination of living bacteria in many Flexner types,S. alkalescensandS. ambigua. Olitzki, Shelubsky & Koch (1946) reported that there is present inS. dysenteriae(Shiga) a labile substance ‘I’ which inhibits the agglutination of thd living bacteria. They were able to demonstrate a labile antigen in toxic saline extracts but not in the intact bacteria. The present paper reports a method for isolation of this antigen in the form of a relatively concentrated preparation.
Studies on the effect of penicillin upon Gram-negative bacteria. Penicillin-sulphonamide synergy
Authors: Stewart G. T.
Published: May 2009

The effect of penicillin alone, and with sulphonamide upon various Gram-negative bacteria, has been investigated.

S. typhi, S. paratyphiB and strains ofProteus vulgariswere inhibited by penicillin in concentrations of 8–20 units/c.c. Certain coliforms were inhibited by 30–128 units.

Organisms which were inhibited to some extent by penicillin and sulphonamide acting separately were inhibited under experimental conditions at lower concentrations when both agents acted together. The mechanism of this reaction has been discussed.

A proportion of the insensitive coliform strains were identified as penicillinase producers.
Feeding and breeding of laboratory animals. V. Use of Cope-Chat record cards for the analysis of breeding performance
Authors: Bruce H. M. , Parkes A. S.
Published: May 2009

A Cope-Chat card has been designed and used for the recording and analysis of breeding performance in guinea-pigs.

Modifications required to adapt the card for use with other species are described.

Some general principles of colony management are discussed.
Bug disinfestation in a Prison
Authors: Landers J. J.
Published: May 2009

The bed-bug finds an almost ideal environment in a prison, which is centrally heated in winter, and in which it has good harbourage in the wooden cell furniture and an easily available food supply at night. Under such favourable conditions, bugs increase about seventy-fold in a year. It is therefore no mean achievement to obliterate bugs from an infested prison while the prison is still occupied, and is, I think, worth putting on record.
Morphological appearances of various stages in B. proteus and coli
Authors: Klieneberger-Nobel Emmy
Published: May 2009

It has been shown that in all cultures of B. proteus and B. coli a large-cell type with two to four ‘chromosomes’ develops first and produces, after a few hours of growth, by sudden subdivision the smallest unit, a generation of small cells, each with one nuclear structure only. This cell type, singly or in filaments, persists until the end of the growing period. On a ‘swarming plate’ of B. proteus a number of these biphasic growing periods may follow each other.

‘Fusion cells’, in which the chromatinic structures have contracted into a longitudinally arranged bar, are formed when young cultures are stored in the cold.
A new bacterial variant: the non-motile H form
Authors: Hirsch Willy
Published: May 2009

From the faeces of a carrier a strain ofSalm. paratyphiB was grown repeatedly which—even under conditions most favourable for bacterial motility—was completely non-motile despite its being richly flagellated and optimally Hagglutinable. The strain has in all subcultures, so far, for more than 1 year retained its peculiarity, viz. absence of the motor function of the flagella which morphologically and serologically appears to be normally developed.

This new bacterial variant, the non-motile H form, is considered to be the result of a loss variation which—possibly related to a somatic degradation of the bacilli—affects the genetic factor responsible for the function or the development of the centre for the motility of the flagella.
Epidemic respiratory infection in a rural population with special reference to the influenza A epidemics of 1933, 1936–7 and 1943–4
Authors: Pickles W. N. , Burnet F. M. , McArthur Norma
Published: May 2009

A statistical study has been made of the records of respiratory infection in a portion of Wensleydale, Yorkshire, over the period 1933–46, which included three major English influenza A epidemics and one B epidemic.

Each of these epidemics is recognizable in the Yorkshire records. When the incidence in the eight groups of villages comprising the district is compared there is a significant negative correlation between incidence in 1933 and 1936–7, which is taken as indicating the persistence of group immunity following an influenza A epidemic for 4 years.

There was a significant positive correlation between the incidence of the 1943–4 (A) and 1945–6 (B) epidemics.
The occurrence of foot-and-mouth disease in the hedgehog under natural conditions
Authors: McLauchlan J. D. , Henderson W. M.
Published: May 2009

1. The occurrence under natural conditions of foot-and-mouth disease in the hedgehog, Erinaceus europaeus, is reported in connexion with outbreaks of the disease among farm stock in Norfolk during the summer of 1946.

2. Foot-and-mouth disease may be fatal in the hedgehog which decreases the chance of finding affected animals and of revealing the existence of the disease.

3. In this series of outbreaks it seemed probable that affected hedgehogs were responsible in some instances for spreading the disease to cattle and the possible role of the hedgehog in the epidemiology of the disease is discussed.
A bacteriological study of dried whale meat with particular reference to the presence of clostridia
Authors: Robinson R. H. M. , Pugh A. M. , Selbie F. R.
Published: May 2009

The numbers and types of bacteria in thirty-nine samples of dried whale meat of the 1946–7 and 1947–8 Antarctic whaling seasons have been investigated.

The total number of bacteria was low for this type of product and there were about equal numbers of clostridia and aerobic bacteria.

A detailed examination of the clostridia present showed that they were of types commonly found in material from mammalian sources.

NoClostridiumpathogenic to the mouse was found, although some cultures on prolonged incubation killed mice by ammonia poisoning. Ammonia poisoning was produced by injection of cultures and never by oral administration.
An account of the Journal of Hygiene, 1901–1950
Authors: Graham-Smith G. S.
Published: May 2009

The manuscript notes from which the following Account of the Journal of Hygiene has been prepared for the press were left unfinished by Dr Graham-Smith at the time of his death on 30 August 1950. He intended that the Account should be published to mark the fiftieth year of the Journal's existence.
Mouse-virulence of strains of Salmonella typhi from a mild and a severe outbreak of typhoid fever
Authors: Findlay H. T.
Published: May 2009

Intraperitoneal inoculation of the mouse has been employed for many years as a means of assaying the virulence of different strains of Salmonella typhi or of detecting alterations in virulence in the same strain occurring from time to time in the laboratory. Such changes are usually in the nature of loss of virulence resulting from antigenic change. Occasionally, however, there may be increase of virulence, either as a result of mouse passage or simply from a more strict observance of nutritional requirements and improvements in the method of cultivation. Where cultures of typhoid organisms are to be used for vaccine production the detection of these antigenic changes and the associated loss of virulence is obviously of the greatest practical importance.
The protective action of some amino-acids against the effect of heat on complement
Authors: Gordon J.
Published: May 2009

1. Glycine, alanine, and several isomers of alanine, DL-glutamic acid and DL-aspartic acid, when added to fresh guinea-pig serum and allowed to stand on the bench for half an hour, will protect the complement of this serum from destruction by heating at 55 and 56° C. for half an hour, but most of the complement activity is destroyed by heating at 57° C. and it is completely destroyed at 58° C. after half an hour.

2. Derivatives of glycine do not have any protective effect.

3. Various substances of high molecular weight, that might be described as ‘protective colloids’ do not have any protective effect.

4. How these amino-acids when added to serum alter the heat-lability of the complement is not understood.
The origin of urinary antibodies
Authors: Naylor G. R. E. , Caldwell R. A.
Published: May 2009

1. Antibodies to the flagellar antigens of salmonellae are frequently present in the urine of Egyptians.

2. In many individuals, who are not urinary carriers but have schistosomiasis and have received T.A.B. vaccine, these urinary antibodies are derived from the plasma due to exudation or bleeding into the urinary tract.

3. In urinary enteric carriers, the urinary antibodies are due, at least in part, to the local production or release of antibodies within the urinary tract, as shown by the ratios of urine titre to serum titre with different H suspensions.

4. The production of antibodies within the urinary tract is considered to be an example of production or liberation of antibody by cells at, or close to, the site of infection.
Feeding and breeding of laboratory animals: XIII. A note on the use of autoclaved stock diet for breeding mice
Authors: Bruce H. M.
Published: May 2009

The stock diet for rats and mice, diet 41 cubed, can be rendered sterile to broth by autoclaving at 15 lb./sq. in. for 20 min. without impairment of the nutritive value for breeding mice.
Transmission of haemolytic streptococci
Authors: Rubbo Sydney D. , Benjamin Mary
Published: May 2009

1. A study of factors involved in the transmission of haemolytic streptococci has been made by experiments with healthy carriers and individuals whose upper respiratory passages were contaminated withChromobacterium prodigiosum.

2. The following conclusions were reached: (a) Expulsion of haemolytic streptococci in droplet spray is determined by the nature of the expiratory activity (Fig. 1), the concentration of the organism in the saliva (Table 3) and the volume of salivary flow (Fig. 6).

(b) Droplets and droplet-nuclei are less important vehicles of transmission because of the extremely low content of haemolytic streptococci in them (Figs. 2–5)

(c) Dust particles carrying haemolytic streptococci and liberated by agitation of handkerchiefs more effectively pollute the air than violent expiratory activities (Figs. 4 and 5).

(d) Hands and clothing readily become contaminated by heavy nasal carriers (Table 4) and the former serve as the principal means of contaminating the environment and other individuals.

3. A diagram showing probable mechanisms of transmission is given (Fig. 7) in which hand contact is represented as a more important pathway of spread than air-borne dust which, in turn, is more important than either droplets or droplet-nuclei.
The interaction of tetanus toxin and antitoxin
Authors: Cinader B. , Weitz B.
Published: May 2009

Tetanus antitoxic horse sera were fractionated with sodium sulphate and by electrophoretic separation. The activity of the native serum and of fractions was determinedin vivoin the mouse and guinea-pig andin vitroby the flocculation method. All the sera and fractions showed several zones of flocculation. The flocculation optimum corresponding to the toxin-antitoxin complex was selected by absorption of antitoxin to the floccules. The distribution of activity amongst the electrophoretic components of the native serum was computed from electrophoretic analysis, refractive increment measurements and assays of the activity of the electrophoretically pure fractions.

In all the sera examined the antitoxin was associated with both β- and γ-globulin. The γ-globulin antitoxin had a shorter flocculation time and a higherin vivo/in vitroratio than β-globulin. Thein vivo/in vitroratio of γ-globulin was two to three times that of β-globulin antitoxin, its exact value depending on the toxin concentration against which the antitoxin was measured. The avidity of γ-globulin antitoxin was greater than that of β-globulin antitoxin judged by two independent ‘dilution’ tests, namely a comparison of the mouse unitage using two concentrations of toxin and a comparison of the values obtained with one concentration of toxin in the mouse and in the guinea-pig. Thein vivovalues of the various antitoxins varied with the toxin employed in the test.

During the first course of immunization in a horse the γ-globulin antitoxin rose to a constant value; β-globulin antitoxin increased to a still higher value later in the course. The avidity of the serum, as measured by the two ‘dilution’ ratios, also increased during immunization.
Epidemiology of canicola fever
Authors: McIntyre W. I. M. , Seiler H. E.
Published: May 2009

The results of an investigation into the incidence of canicola fever amongst owners of dogs infected with L. canicola is described.

Visits were made to forty-six households in which infected dogs lived. Altogether 137 household contacts were examined and blood samples from 99 or 72·3 % were tested for agglutination against L. canicola. All the sera proved negative.

A detailed classification of the kinds and conditions of housing and of householders is given.

Some of the difficulties in explaining the relationship between the disease in dogs and man are discussed; the results of the present survey and the experience with some reported cases of human canicola fever show that there is great variation in the risk of infection to owners and others hving in the same house with diseased dogs.

Some other source of infection common to man and dog is possible.

It is recommended that in the light of present knowledge greater attention should be paid to the preventive aspect and that more propaganda should be directed to make dog owners aware of the possibilities of infection and of the importance of observing hygienic principles when handling dogs and particularly when dealing with dejecta.
Studies on respiratory infection: I. The influence of particle size on respiratory infection with anthrax spores
Authors: Druett H. A. , Henderson D. W. , Packman L. , Peacock S.
Published: May 2009

Experiments to determine the role of particle size in the infectivity of anthrax spores are described. Clouds of homogeneous particles were produced. The mortality-dosage curves for guinea-pigs and monkeys are given for clouds of various particle sizes. Data are given on the effect of time in the concentration-time relationship. The results are compared with those recorded by other workers on the relationship of particle size to respiratory retention.

Infectivity was highest with single-spore clouds, falling off as particle size increased. Reasons are given for attributing this effect to difference in site of deposition of different-sized particles.
The respiratory retention of bacterial aerosols: experiments with radioactive spores
Authors: Harper G. J. , Morton J. D.
Published: May 2009

The distribution of inhaled bacterial aerosols has been studied in guinea-pigs, monkeys and mice, using Bacillus subtilis spores labelled with radiophosphorus. Particle sizes from about 1 to 12μ have been used.

The guinea-pig shows the expected change of distribution with particle size; the proportion retained in the head increases with increased particle size. The figures correspond closely with those for man. Monkeys show similar results but are more irregular.

The subsequent fate of the retained particles has been studied and accords with what is known about ciliary removal.

The work is intended to link with parallel investigations of respiratory infection in closely similar conditions, and its implications are discussed in a paper on that subject (Druett et al. 1953).
On the Transmission of Air and Micro-organisms through Berkefeld Filters
Authors: Bulloch William , Craw J. Anderson
Published: May 2009

In several former experiments by Bulloch and Craw (1906), Bulloch, Craw and Atkin (1908), and Craw (1908), we determined the relative efficiency of various filters in keeping back micro-organisms. The filters tested were the Doulton (“white” and “brown”), the Chamberland (“F” and “B”), the Berkefeld, and the Slack and Brownlow. Our methods of experimentation embraced filtration of cultures of microbes in bouillon, and the filtration of tap water under constant and variable pressures. The net result was that all the Slack and Brownlow, and nine out of ten of the Berkefeld filters employed gave contaminated filtrates within 15 minutes of the time the filtration experiment was commenced. Seven out of the ten Doulton “white” filters gave sterile filtrates for at least three days.