Revisiting the role of herniography in the preoperative work-up of groin hernias?

Introduction: The diagnosis of groin hernia is based on clinical symptoms and physical examination. In the case of equivocal clinical findings, patients are often referred for subsequent diagnostic imaging. Accurate detection is important to minimize the inherent risk of complications or to avoid unnecessary surgery.

Surgical findings and post-operative parathormone levels in patients with secondary hyperparathyroidism.

Objective: The peri-operative and immediate post-operative outcome of secondary hyperparathyroidism treated with subtotal parathyroidectomy is reported.

Methods: We studied 100 patients with chronic renal failure who underwent subtotal parathyroidectomy at our department. Surgical eligibility was based on hyperparathyroidism stage, defined by symptoms of osteodystrophy and/or the presence of hypercalcemia and hyperphosphatemia refractory to medical treatment.

Re-operation for secondary hyperparathyroidism.

Objective: In cases of re-operation for secondary hyperparathyroidism, to evaluate the extent to which the location of recurrent hyperplasia was predicted by (1) operative data from the first intervention, and (2) pre-operative imaging (before the re-operation).

Methods: The files of 18 patients undergoing surgery for recurrent secondary hyperparathyroidism were reviewed. The surgical findings were compared both with the report of the initial operation and with the results of pre-operative imaging (i.

Pseudodystrophy. A conversion disorder mimicking reflex sympathetic dystrophy.

The authors suggest some criteria by which pseudodystrophy and reflex sympathetic dystrophy, although sharing some similar clinical features, can be distinguished as two different conditions, each requiring its own approach and management. The most important distinction is found on bone scintigraphy. In reflex sympathetic dystrophy the bone scan shows a typical increased tracer uptake (at least during stages I and II); in pseudodystrophy there is a normal or decreased tracer uptake in the affected region.

Virus-induced changes in airway responsiveness, morphology, and histamine levels in guinea pigs.

A significant increase in airway responsiveness to histamine was observed in vitro and in vivo 4 days after intratracheal inoculation of parainfluenza Type 3 (PI-3) virus to guinea pigs. Light microscopic and ultrastructural examination of the central airways of animals inoculated with virus revealed stratification of the epithelial lining, with pronounced loss of cilia and granule-depleted goblet cells. In the peripheral airways, typical lesions of patchy alveolitis and bronchiolitis were found.

Microtubule dynamics investigated by microinjection of Paramecium axonemal tubulin: lack of nucleation but proximal assembly of microtubules at the kinetochore during prometaphase.

Microtubule (MT) dynamics in PtK2 cells have been investigated using in vivo injection of unmodified Paramecium ciliary tubulin and time-lapse fixation. The sites of incorporation of the axonemal tubulin were localized using a specific antibody which does not react with vertebrate cytoplasmic tubulin (Adoutte, A., M.

Effect of tubulozole, a new synthetic microtubule inhibitor, on the induction of casein gene expression by prolactin.

Colchicine and related drugs are known to inhibit milk secretion. They are also able to prevent stimulation of casein and DNA synthesis by prolactin in the mammary gland. The present report reports data obtained with tubulozole, a new antimitotic drug.

Ultrastructural colocalization of tyrosinated and detyrosinated alpha-tubulin in interphase and mitotic cells.

Immunofluorescence with specific peptide antibodies has previously established that tyrosinated (Tyr) and detyrosinated (Glu) tubulin, the two species generated by posttranslational modification of the COOH-terminus of alpha-tubulin, are present in distinct, but overlapping, subsets of microtubules in cultured cells (Gundersen, G. G., M.

The use of submicroscopic gold particles combined with video contrast enhancement as a simple molecular probe for the living cell.

We describe a new approach to probe the molecular biology of the living cell that uses small colloidal gold particles coupled to specific ligands. They are visualized in cells by bright-field, video enhanced contrast microscopy. We describe the basic aspects of the technique and provide examples of applications to intracellular motility, cell membrane dynamics, receptor translocation, internalization, and intracellular routing.

Effects of tubulozole on the microtubule system of cells in culture and in vivo.

Light and electron microscopic investigations on mammalian cells in vitro and in vivo showed that tubulozole-C (R 46 846), the cis-isomer of tubulozole, a new synthetic anticancer drug, interfered with the structure and function of microtubules in both interphase and mitotic cells. The activity of this compound in experimental tumor systems can thus be explained partly by a direct antimitotic effect and partly by the disintegration of the normal subcellular organization of the nondividing cells. At concentrations which affect the microtubule system, tubulozole-C arrested directional migration of transformed cells and malignant invasion in a three-dimensional organ culture system.

Probing microtubule-dependent intracellular motility with nanometre particle video ultramicroscopy (nanovid ultramicroscopy).

Colloidal gold particles of 20 to 40 nm diameter stabilized with polyethylene glycol (PEG) were microinjected in PTK2 cells. Aggregates and individual particles, which are smaller than the theoretical limit of resolution of the optical microscope and invisible to the eye are discernible from organelles by reflection of polarized light. They are optimally visualized using transmitted light and electronic subtraction of diffuse background light.

Microtubules and microfilaments in ageing hamster embryo fibroblasts in vitro.

Microtubules and microfilaments were investigated in hamster lung fibroblasts, during their in vitro life-span. These cells show a senescence process characterized by a drastic phenotypic change, resulting in two phenotypes: the type 1 cells, characteristic of young cultures and the type 2 cells appearing progressively with culture passages. Microtubules and microfilaments were observed at the TEM and also visualized by the unlabelled peroxidase-anti-peroxidase method.

The interaction between microtubules and intermediate filaments in cultured cells treated with taxol and nocodazole.

Using double-label immunofluorescence and electron microscopy we studied the interaction between microtubules (MT) and intermediate filaments (IF) in MO cells treated with various combinations of taxol and nocodazole. With taxol, the organized MT of cultured cells are replaced by free MT and MT bundles. This rearrangement of MT is followed by a rearrangement of the IF.

Immunoelectron microscopic localization of the 210,000-mol wt microtubule-associated protein in cultured cells of primates.

Results from ultrastructural immunocytochemistry on glutaraldehyde-fixed cells confirmed and extended findings previously obtained with immunofluorescence. A microtubule-associated protein (MAP) of 210,000 molecular weight was shown to be specifically associated with all cytoplasmic and mitotic microtubules along their entire length in primate cells. Specific labeling with the anti-MAP antibody could not be detected on any other subcellular structures, notably the centrosomes, kinetochores, microfilaments, and intermediate filaments.

Taxol induces the assembly of free microtubules in living cells and blocks the organizing capacity of the centrosomes and kinetochores.

Taxol, a potent promoter of microtubule polymerization in vitro, induces massive assembly of free microtubules in cultured cells as visualized by immunocytochemistry and electron microscopy. The centrosomes and kinetochores largely lost their capacity to organize microtubule assembly, as became evident by the disappearance of the cytoplasmic microtubule complex and the mitotic spindle. The taxol-induced microtubules were partially resistant to nocodazole, an inhibitor of tubulin polymerization.

Nucleated assembly of mitotic microtubules in living PTK2 cells after release from nocodazole treatment.

The reassembly of microtubules is described in mitotic cells after release from nocodazole-induced block. The formation of microtubules was followed by light microscopic immunocytochemical staining using the PAP method, combined with toluidine blue staining of the chromatin. The light microscopic observations on whole cells were compared with ultrastructural observations on thin sections.