Synergistic interaction of two independent genetic loci causes extreme elevation of serum IgA in mice.

Understanding the molecular regulation of immunoglobulin A (IgA) expression is important as it plays an essential role in the first-line defence through mucosal secretions. Using inbred mouse strains, we identified two independent and dominant acting genetic loci that synergistically cause a 40-fold upregulation in serum IgA levels when introduced into the murine strain C57Bl/6J (B6). The first locus on chromosome 12 appears to be mainly responsible for the natural four-fold higher IgA levels in C3HeB/FeJ (C3H) compared to B6 mice.

A prospective randomized study of combined visual laser ablation and transurethral resection of the prostate versus transurethral prostatectomy alone.

Introduction: Visual laser ablation of the prostate (VLAP) has a clinical failure rate of up to 18% which is 3 times higher than transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) alone. Prolonged spontaneous passage of necrotic debris is the major shortcoming of this method. Therefore combined visual laser-assisted and transurethral prostatectomy was compared to TURP alone.

The ERGO genome analysis and discovery system.

The ERGO (http://ergo.integratedgenomics.com/ERGO/) genome analysis and discovery suite is an integration of biological data from genomics, biochemistry, high-throughput expression profiling, genetics and peer-reviewed journals to achieve a comprehensive analysis of genes and genomes.

Cirrhotic patients with or without hepatocellular carcinoma harbour AFP-specific T-lymphocytes that can be activated in vitro by human alpha-fetoprotein.

Background: Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is re-expressed in 60%-70% of hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC) and may therefore be a potential target for a prophylactic or therapeutic tumour-specific vaccination. A prerequisite for this approach is the possibility to induce AFP-specific T-lymphocytes in patients with HCC and/or cirrhosis.

Methods: Peripheral blood was examined for the presence of AFP-specific T-lymphocytes using a FACS-based interferon-gamma secretion assay.

DNA vaccination with AFP-encoding plasmid DNA prevents growth of subcutaneous AFP-expressing tumors and does not interfere with liver regeneration in mice.

The oncofetal alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is reexpressed in the majority of hepatocellular carcinomas and may be used as a target molecule for an immunotherapy or prophylaxis against this tumor. We investigated the potential of DNA vaccination with AFP-expressing plasmid DNA to induce an immune response against AFP-expressing tumor cells in DBA/2 mice. 62.

Health and environment of rural families: results of a Community Canvass survey in the Prairie Ecosystem Study (PECOS).

This cross-sectional survey was conducted as Phase I of the Prairie Ecosystem Study (PECOS): Environmental Pesticide Exposure and Human Health. In November of 1995, community volunteers delivered a self-administered household questionnaire to 1185 rural households in southern Saskatchewan, Canada. The survey provided a broad description of the general health and the physical environment of 511 men, 499 women, and 393 children (< 18 years of age) residing in 549 respondent households in the rural study area (population density of about one person/km2).

[Improved tumor stent for internal palliative urinary diversion].

The disadvantages of high flexible endoureteral stents (DJ) in case of tumorinduced extrinsic ureteral compression are due to an insufficient vertical stability of the used stents leading to stent-compression and consecutive hydro- or pyonephrosis. The new developed tumor-stent used in case of tumor-induced ureteral compression is available from 6 to 8 French in diameter and 24 to 32 cm in length. The corpus consists of a combination of high-stability plastics but is of sufficient elasticity in length.

Behavior of different suture materials in the urinary bladder of the rabbit with special reference to wound healing, epithelization and crystallization.

Five urinary bladder incisions were performed in 16 rabbits and the defects closed by plain catgut 4-0, chromic catgut 4-0, polypropylene 4-0, polyglactin 910 4-0 and polyglactin 910 8-0 in the form of an all-layer suture, thereby obtaining a total of 80 suture sites. The running sutures in 8 animals were reviewed by light microscopy after 1, 2, 7 and 15 weeks, and in 8 additional animals after 3 days, 1, 2, 7 and 15 weeks by scanning electron microscopy. Moreover, we analyzed and compared the autopsy findings on gross inspection, the urinary sediments and urinary cultures of the individual animals.

Women opiate users' perceptions of treatment services in New York City.

This paper focuses on the treatment experiences of women opiate users in New York City. Historically, drug research has used male samples, and drug treatment programs have been based upon the concerns of men. Treatment counselors and administrators are typically male, and female clients are frequently outnumbered by male clients.

A comparative analysis of drug-using women with and without treatment histories in New York City.

Treatment histories of 459 drug-using women in New York City were examined to determine if there were any differences between women who have ever entered a treatment program and those who have not. Both bivariate and regression procedures were employed. The bivariate analysis revealed that the two groups of women differed significantly with regard to age, race, having children, age at which they began their drug-using careers, and the number of lifetime arrests.

[The electromotor unit of the upper urinary tract].

The muscular architecture of the upper urinary tract constitutes a functional but no anatomical syncytium, where the cells are coupled by nexus and crosslinking with low electrical resistance. The action potentials are evoked by spontaneous depolarisation of muscle cells. The sites of peak depolarisation could be termed pace-maker cells.

Tumour imaging of bladder carcinomas and their metastases with 111indium-labelled monoclonal anti-CEA antibody BW 431/26.

Fifty-one patients with muscle-infiltrating bladder carcinoma (T2-T4, N0-3, M0-1) were studied with a new imaging technique using murine monoclonal antibody directed against the carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA). A total number of 67 investigations were performed. The intact 111indium-labelled antibody (BW 431/26, Behringwerke Marburg) detected 86% of primary tumours, 93% of local and 75% of distant metastases whether there was an elevated CEA level in serum or not.

Histological and scanning electron microscopic alterations in ileal conduit depending on the time factor.

Five ileal conduit biopsies, taken after 1-7 years, were examined by light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The total height of the lamina mucosa decreased from 700 to 275 microns. The height of the villi diminished from 550 to 50 microns; the depth of the crypts increased from 130 to 244 microns and the villus-crypt index changed from 4.

Actin as a component of cytoskeleton in the collecting tubule system of the mouse kidney.

Actin as a component of the cytoskeleton is familiar as a protein which possibly mediates contraction in nonmuscular cells. In 20 mouse kidneys, the distribution of intracellular actin in the collecting tubule system was investigated by means of the anti-actin PAP method. It could be shown that the positive PAP reaction increases from the proximal to distal up to the collecting tubules in the region of papilla.

The Drosophila melanogaster tropomyosin II gene produces multiple proteins by use of alternative tissue-specific promoters and alternative splicing.

The structure of the Drosophila melanogaster tropomyosin II (TmII) gene has been determined by DNA sequencing of cDNA clones and the genomic DNA coding for the gene. Two overlapping transcriptional units produce at least four different tropomyosin isoforms. A combination of developmentally regulated promoters and alternative splicing produces both muscle and cytoskeletal tropomyosin isoforms.

Characterization of a Drosophila cDNA clone that encodes a 252-amino acid non-muscle tropomyosin isoform.

We report here the isolation and DNA sequence of a cDNA clone encoding a 252-amino acid non-muscle or cytoskeletal tropomyosin (cTm) isoform from Drosophila. The Drosophila cTm shows considerable homology with vertebrate cTm throughout the middle portion of the molecule. The amino-terminal end of the molecule, however, shows less homology and contains five more amino acids than the equine platelet and human tropomyosins.

[Specialized and interdisciplinary team work in rheumatology].

The large number of rheumatic diseases demands a clear differentiation between the individual forms of diseases. For this purpose are at first necessary knowledge concerning clinical criteria and in the second place knowledge about serological and radiological examinations. The serological programme shall be relevant to practice, consist of a basis diagnostics and for particular differential-diagnostic problems shall include specialized laboratory investigations.

Nucleotide sequence of a cDNA clone encoding a Drosophila muscle tropomyosin II isoform.

A cDNA clone was sequenced that contains the entire coding region for the muscle tropomyosin II isoform from Drosophila. The cDNA clone is 1253 nucleotides (nt) long and contains an 88-nt 5'-leader sequence and a 310-nt 3'-untranslated sequence. The muscle tropomyosin II isoform consists of 285 amino acids and is 60% homologous with the previously reported muscle tropomyosin I isoform Drosophila and 55% homologous with rabbit muscle tropomyosin.

Polarization optic investigations on the anatomy of the bladder neck and the vesical fundus in women.

On the basis of an investigation technique, not so far applied in the urinary bladder, whole-organ preparations were rendered transparent and examined at supramicroscopic magnifications. The results available so far with regard to the fiber structure of the neck of the bladder and the vesical fundus were checked in 12 female urinary bladders. The following results were obtained: (1) the structure of the posterior longitudinal muscle is confirmed, as already described previously; (2) an anterior longitudinal muscle almost symmetrical to the posterior longitudinal muscle is demonstrated, and (3) the fiber course of the base plate has so far been described as running in the form of a horseshoe around the urethra.

Mediation of anion transport in oocytes of Xenopus laevis by biosynthetically inserted band 3 protein from mouse spleen erythroid cells.

mRNA from the spleens of anemic mice was purified by oligo(dT)-cellulose chromatography and fractionated by density gradient centrifugation. After injection into oocytes of Xenopus laevis, two of the four fractions obtained led, after 16 h of incubation at 20 degrees C, to the expression of mouse band 3 protein, as demonstrated by immunoprecipitation with polyclonal antibodies against mouse band 3. Flux measurements showed an approximately 2- to 4-fold increment of 36Cl- uptake, which could be abolished by two different stilbene disulfonates, specific inhibitors of band 3-mediated anion transport in red blood cells.

[Urologic traumatology in childhood (closed injuries)].

Critical injuries of the kidney have to be treated surgically immediately. Here also have to consider the same rules of the surgery that go with an acute abdomen. By slight and severe injuries to the kidneys there is adaequate time for a thorrow diagnostic work up, prior to eventual operative intervention.

Requirement of protein synthesis for the induction of ribonucleoside diphosphate reductase mRNA in Escherichia coli.

An RNA-DNA hybridization assay was used to quantitate the ribonucleoside diphosphate reductase mRNA synthesis (nrd mRNA) to show that gene expression was dependent on protein synthesis. The increased nrd mRNA synthesis induced by inhibition of DNA synthesis was eliminated by simultaneous inhibition of protein synthesis. It was further found that protein synthesis is required not only initially but continuously during DNA inhibition for increased expression of nrd mRNA synthesis.