1. The distribution of l-alanine-glyoxylate aminotransferase activity between subcellular fractions prepared from rat liver homogenates was investigated. The greater part of the homogenate activity (about 80%) was recovered in the ;total-particles' fraction sedimented by high-speed centrifugation and the remainder in the cytosol fraction. 2. Subfractionation of the particles by differential sedimentation and on sucrose density gradients revealed a specific association between the aminotransferase and the mitochondrial enzymes glutamate dehydrogenase and rhodanese. 3. The aminotransferase activities in the cytosol and the mitochondria are due to isoenzymes. The solubilized mitochondrial enzyme has a pH optimum of 8.6, an apparent K(m) of 0.24mm with respect to glyoxylate and is inhibited by glyoxylate at concentrations above 5mm. The cytosol aminotransferase shows no distinct pH optimum (over the range 7.0-9.0) and has an apparent K(m) of 1.11mm with respect to glyoxylate; there is no evidence of inhibition by glyoxylate. 4. The mitochondrial location of the bulk of the rat liver l-alanine-glyoxylate aminotransferase activity is discussed in relation to a pathway for gluconeogenesis involving glyoxylate.

Rat liver l-serine-pyruvate aminotransferase activity exceeds markedly the normal adult value (a) in the neonatal period, (b) after glucagon injection and (c) after alloxan injection, observations that reinforce the suggestion from comparative findings that the aminotransferase has a role in gluconeogenesis. Some findings, however, argue in favour of l-serine dehydratase as the enzyme of gluconeogenesis from l-serine.

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Study objective -To produce a priority list for purchasers to use when purchasing elective care in the speciality of orthopaedics so that efficiency in health care purchasing (that is, maximising the benefit per unit of resource available for the resident population) can be achieved. Design -The study used cost utility analysis in the elective speciality of orthopaedics. The diagnostic groups in the study were chosen on the basis of those conditions that constituted the greatest proportion of the orthopaedic waiting list, and consequently the greatest proportion ofactivity within the speciality. Costs were derived by two methods: the extra contractual referral tariff (ECR) and individual patient based costings. Outcome was assessed before surgery and again approximately six months afterwards. The outcome of the procedures was derived in two ways: Rosser and EuroQol indices. Setting -The study took place at Wrightington hospital, a specialist orthopaedic hospital in north west England. Patients -Prospective assessments were obtained from 99 patients for nine orthopaedics procedures. All the patients were individually interviewed on each occasion. Rosser and EuroQol assessments were completed for each patient by the patient and the patient's consultant before and after surgery.Main results -Priority lists presenting cost utility rankings for each of the procedures were derived from the patients' and consultants' assessments. Conclusions -It is feasible to generate priority lists in a systematic way. Purchasers may then use the results from these priority lists to help them maximise the benefits per unit of resource for their resident population. (J7 Epidemiol Community Health 1996;50: 182-189) To function effectively in the market, commissioners of health services (purchasers) must be able to make clear and explicit decisions about the goods and services they purchase in order to achieve the "best" possible health care package for their resident population -that is, to maximise efficiency in purchasing. The "new public health" function in purchasing has a role to play in this process which requires prioritisation between competing services or procedures. To do this purchasers need access to information on a range of outcomes, the quality of these outcomes, and about costs -that is, cost benefit information.The work reported here took place in West Lancashire Health Authority in the north west of England from 1990-92. It develops the application of cost utility analysis to a range of orthopaedic procedures. The published reports on outcome assessment in orthopaedics are clinically dominated and contain very little on the patients' functional and psychological assessment of outcome.`5 The use of health status measurement, and specifically the application of the quality adjusted life year, will extend the purchaser's information set and should facilitate improved decision making.The quality adjusted life year (QALY) measures the quality and the quantity of life. Hence, the QALY is calculated by multiplying...

When rat kidney cortex slices were incubated with glycine or [1-14C]glycine, after correcting for metabolite changes with control slices, product formation and glycine utilization fitted the requirements of the equation: 2 Glycine leads to ammonia + CO2 + serine. Evidence is presented that degradation via glyoxylate, by oxidation or transamination, is unlikely to have any significant role in kidney glycine catabolism. It is concluded that glycine metabolism in rat kidney is largely via glycine cleavage closely coupled with serine formation. 1-C decarboxylation and urea formation with glycine in rat hepatocyte suspensions were somewhat greater than decarboxylation or ammonia formation in kidney slices, showing that in the rat, potentially, the liver is quantitatively the more important organ in glycine catabolism. There was no evidence of ammonia formation from glycine with rat brain cortex, heart, spleen or diaphragm and 1-C decarboxylation was very weak.