No abstract

A capillary zone electrophoretic (CZE) method for the rapid analysis of the major alkaloids (arecoline and guavacoline) in areca nut extract is described. Areca nuts were pulverized and then extracted with water by sonication in a water bath. After centrifugation, the supernatant was analysed on a fused-silica capillary with 100 mM ammonium acetate-acetic acid (pH 4.6) as the running buffer at a voltage of 20 kV and temperature of 30 degrees C. The method is applicable to the analysis of alkaloids in the nut, commercial preparations (pan masala) and in the saliva of areca nut chewers.

One hundred and sixty-five patients with acne completed a questionnaire on smoking habits. Amongst 96 males, 19.7% were smokers (95% confidence interval 12.4-29.2%) compared to an expected prevalence of 34.5% from national statistics (P < 0.001). For 69 females, a prevalence of 12.1% (95% confidence interval 6.1-23.3%) was obtained compared to 32.7% expected (P < 0.001). The findings of this study support the hypothesis that some component of cigarette smoke, possibly nicotine, has an anti-inflammatory action on acne.

Much evidence suggests that recurrent oral aphthous ulceration (RAU) is an immunologically mediated disease. Tumour necrosis factor has multiple biologic properties, some of which may be relevant to the pathogenesis of RAU. This study has assessed its production by peripheral blood leukocytes from aphthous patients in active and remission phases of disease and from patients with nonaphthous ulceration (diseased controls). Each ulcer patient was studied in parallel with a matched healthy control volunteer. A bioassay against the standard mouse fibrosarcoma line, L929, was used to assess the levels of tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF). Significantly greater amounts of TNF were released from unstimulated monocyte-enriched and monocyte-depleted leukocyte fractions in active RAU compared with those from healthy control donors, suggesting that this cytokine may be associated with RAU.

We believe that measurement of NSE, HSC, or their ratio may be useful in the assessment of patients with acute stroke with respect to diagnosis and prediction of clinical outcome.