Bug found in more hospital taps
Pseudomonas is detected in water outlets in the neonatal units at three more hospitals in Northern Ireland. (Source: BBC News | Health | UK Edition)
Micronuclei induced by reverse transcriptase inhibitors in mononucleated and binucleated cells as assessed by the cytokinesis-block micronucleus assay
This study evaluated the clastogenic and/or aneugenic potential of three nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (zidovudine - AZT, lamivudine - 3TC and stavudine - d4T) using the cytokinesis-block micronucleus (CBMN) assay in human lymphocyte cultures. All three inhibitors produced a positive response when tested in binucleated cells. The genotoxicity of AZT and 3TC was restricted to binucleated cells since there was no significant increase in the frequency of micronuclei in mononucleated cells. This finding indicated that AZT and 3TC caused chromosomal breakage and that their genotoxicity was related to a clastogenic action. In addition to the positive response observed with d4T in binucleated cells, this drug also increased the frequency of micronuclei in mononucleated cells, indica...
