Soil-transmitted helminthiasis (STH) is caused by Ascaris lumbricoides (roundworm), Trichuris trichiura (whipworm), and Ancylostoma duodenale and Necator americanus (hookworms). Mebendazole is one of the recommended preventive chemotherapy agents for STH. This review summarizes the efficacy data from 29 studies with single-dose 500 mg mebendazole in STH treatment and compares the results with those of a recently conducted phase 3 study of a 500 mg mebendazole chewable tablet against A. lumbricoides and T. trichiura infections. Studies that reported efficacy results against at least one STH infection were selected from the literature and efficacy data by each STH type were abstracted and pooled. Single-dose 500 mg mebendazole treatment resulted in a cure rate of 92.6% (range: 72.5–100%) for A. lumbricoides, 27.6% (range: 8.4–100%) for T. trichiura and 25.5% (range: 2.9–91.1%) for hookworms. Egg reduction rate for A. lumbricoides was 97.9% (range: 89.8–100%), for T. trichiura it was 72.9% (range: 31.6–93.0%) and for hookworms it was 72.0% (range: −6.5% (denoting an increase in egg count) to 98.3%). Similar results were observed in the studies that were placebo-controlled. In the phase 3 study, the cure rate and egg reduction rate reported was 83.7% and 97.9%, respectively, for A. lumbricoides and 33.9% and 59.7%, respectively, for T. trichiura. In conclusion, single-dose 500 mg mebendazole showed a high cure rate against A. lumbricoides and a substantial reduction in faecal egg count for all STH types. These results are consistent with the recently conducted phase 3 study of a new 500 mg chewable mebendazole tablet.

We have described a new unstable mutant of the vestigial locus isolated from a natural population. From this mutant, vestigialalmost (vgal), wild-type (vgal+), and extreme (vgext), alleles arose spontaneously. The molecular analysis of vgal shows that the mutation is due to a 1874 bp hobo element inserted in a vestigial intron. Two distinct kinds of events lead a wild-type phenotype. Three independent vgal+ alleles result from an excision of the hobo element and two other vgal+ alleles have further deletions of hobo sequence. The sequence of one of them shows a 1516 bp hobo insertion at the same place and in the same orientation as the 1874 bp insertion. In the vgext alleles, we found a 5′ or 3′ variably sized deletion of vg sequences. One of them, which has been cloned and sequenced, has a deletion finishing exactly at the left terminal repeat′ hobo element. The genetic implications of these different genetic structures are discussed.

Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder (RBD) is a sleep disturbance that commonly occurs in Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). Retrospective examination of DLB course has shown that RBD and cognitive decline may precede the onset of parkinsonism and visual hallucinations. Therefore, some patients with DLB may initially present with dementia and RBD, but would not meet current formal criteria for probable DLB at that time. The purpose of this study is to determine whether patients with dementia and RBD, who do not have parkinsonism or visual hallucinations, have cognitive profiles that can be distinguished from autopsy-confirmed definite AD, but not from clinically probable DLB. If so, this would support the hypothesis that the presence of RBD and dementia, as the only presenting symptoms, reflects the early manifestation of DLB. Results show that early dementia in probable DLB and dementia with RBD are neuropsychologically indistinguishable. Both groups differ from definite AD of a similar early stage with significantly worse visual perceptual organization, sequencing and letter fluency but significantly better confrontation naming and verbal memory. In addition, follow-up data from a subset of patients with dementia and RBD reveal the subsequent development of parkinsonism or hallucinations 1 to 6 years later. Results indicate that the presentation of dementia and RBD is suggestive of underlying Lewy body disease and not Alzheimer's disease. This provides further evidence in support of including RBD as one of the core diagnostic features of DLB. (JINS, 2002, 8, 907–914.)

The responses of Leucadendron ‘Safari sunset’, on its own roots and grafted on ‘Orot’ rootstock, to a range of fertilization regimes were studied. The experiment was conducted during the summer of 1994, at Bet Dagan, Israel, and included three levels of compound NPK, two levels of P, and two NH4[ratio ]NO3 ratios.

Ungrafted plants fed without P yielded fewest marketable branches and had the lowest fresh and dry weights. Increasing the P concentration in the irrigation water to 10 mg/dm3 improved the yield, whereas increasing the NPK level reduced the number of marketable branches and the fresh and dry weight yields. Lowering the NH4[ratio ]NO3 ratio in the irrigation water significantly reduced the yield.

The grafted plants were significantly better than the ungrafted plants under all the treatments examined. The superiority of the grafted plants was more evident under conditions of P deficiency and non-optimal pH.

IUE and optical data were obtained throughout the supercycles of RZ LMi and ER UMa during 1993/94. While most of the spectral and photometric characteristics are consistent with disk changes in systems with a relatively high accretion rate and low inclination, the cause of the high accretion rate in this subset of SU UMa stars is not known.