Influence of low dose alcohol on fixation suppression.

The decrease of fixation suppression after small doses of alcohol was studied in 40 healthy volunteers (20 male, 20 female) using rotatory stimulation. 0.5 g alcohol per kg body weight were given within 20 min.

[Simplified identification and differentiation of feline, canine and phocine herpesvirus isolates using monoclonal antibodies].

Infections by alpha-herpesviruses of dogs (canid herpesvirus, CHV) and cats (felid herpesvirus, FHV) are widespread in these species and are of significant clinical relevance. Immunologically closely related herpesviruses have been isolated from harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) showing respiratory disease, hepatitis and/or encephalitis. These isolates are currently referred to as phocid herpesviruses (PhHV).

The annexin II2p11(2) complex is the major protein component of the triton X-100-insoluble low-density fraction prepared from MDCK cells in the presence of Ca2+.

Annexin II2p11(2) is present in the submembranous region of cells expressing both subunits of the complex. Most probably, this subcellular distribution is maintained through the interaction of annexin II2p11(2) with membrane phospholipids and/or elements of the cortical cytoskeleton known to occur in vitro in a Ca(2+)-dependent manner. To determine whether membrane or cytoskeleton interactions are primarily responsible for anchoring annexin II2p11(2) in the cell cortex, we subjected Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells to serial extractions using different detergents and identified annexin II and p11 in the different fractions employing specific antibodies.

[Pseudoaneurysm of the internal carotid artery following a peritonsillar abscess].

A pseudoaneurysm of the internal carotid artery is a rare major complication of peritonsillar abscess. We present a 95-year-old women, who had a persistent bleeding from peritonsillar fossa after a routine tonsillectomy and ligation of the external carotid artery. Postoperative performed intraarterial angiography verify the diagnosis of a pseudoaneurysm of the internal carotid artery.

[Computed tomography in malignant primary soft tissue tumors].

The results of CT examinations in 36 patients suffering from histologically confirmed malignant primary tumours of the soft tissues are presented (6 rhabdomyosarcomas, 4 leiomyosarcomas, 6 liposarcomas, 4 malignant schwannomas, 5 malignant fibrous histiocytomas, 4 malignant haemangiopericytomas, 3 angiosarcomas, 1 fibrosarcoma, 1 renal sarcoma, 2 malignant mesenchymal tumours without histologically clear classification). The CT image alone will not yield information on the type of tumour or on the tumour status. However, CT continues to rank in the diagnosis of tumours of the soft tissues and is even superior to MR especially in the identification of gas accumulations due to infection in a tumour of the soft tissues that is otherwise unclear.

Comparative immunological characterization of type-specific and conserved B-cell epitopes of pinniped, felid and canid herpesviruses.

Murine monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) were generated against phocid herpesviruses (PhHV 2557/Han88 and 7848/Han90) isolated from European harbour seals (Phoca vitulina), and against strains of both felid (FHV strain FVR 605) and canid herpesviruses (CHV isolate 5105/Han89). MAbs were characterized with respect to certain biological properties and used to outline antigenicity profiles of isolates of PhHV (n = 8), FHV (n = 7) and CHV (n = 3) in enzyme immunoassays employing fixed infected cells. A close antigenic relationship between herpesviruses derived from pinnipeds and terrestrial carnivores became evident: The majority of the MAbs was directed against epitopes which were expressed by at least two of the viral species tested.

The subcellular distribution of early endosomes is affected by the annexin II2p11(2) complex.

The tyrosine kinase substrate annexin II is a member of a multigene family of Ca2+ and lipid-binding proteins which have been implicated in a number of membrane-related events. We have analyzed the subcellular distribution of annexin II in relation to other cellular components in normal and specifically manipulated MDCK cells. In a polarized monolayer of MDCK cells annexin II and its cellular ligand p11 are restricted almost exclusively to the cortical regions of the cells which also contain peripheral early endosomes.

Viral antigen distribution in organs of cattle experimentally infected with rinderpest virus.

The distribution of viral antigen in various organs of four approximately 10-month-old castrated male Friesian cattle experimentally infected with a highly virulent strain of rinderpest virus was studied. A monoclonal antibody with genus-specific reactivity for morbilliviruses was applied in an indirect immunoperoxidase method performed on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue sections. Rinderpest viral antigen was located mainly in the cytoplasm of the epithelial cells of the digestive, respiratory, and urinary tracts, as well as in the cells of endocrine glands (adrenal, thyroid) and exocrine glands (salivary glands, sebaceous glands, exocrine pancreas).

[Giant mucocele of the paranasal sinuses with extension to the contralateral posterior cranial fossa and reversible retrocochlear deafness].

Report on a huge mucocele of the right maxillary sinus extending into the ethmoid and sphenoid sinuses, and protruding into the contralateral left posterior cranial fossa. The patient, a 45-year old male, had no history of paranasal sinus energy, nasal or paranasal symptoms. He went to his physician because of a slowly developing deafness in his left ear and because of episodes of loss of consciousness when blowing his nose.

Formation of the annexin II2p112 complex upon differentiation of F9 teratocarcinoma cells.

Murine teratocarcinoma F9 cells, which remain undifferentiated under standard cell culture conditions, can form cellular layers resembling early embryonic tissues upon induction of differentiation by retinoic acid and cyclic AMP. We have employed a combination of Northern and Western blot analyses to elucidate the regulation of expression of the tyrosine kinase substrate annexin II and its cellular ligand p11 during this differentiation process. Interestingly, the synthesis of the two subunits of the annexin II2p112 complex is not coregulated during F9 differentiation.

Intertypic differentiation and detection of intratypic variants among canine and phocid morbillivirus isolates by kinetic neutralization using a novel immunoplaque assay.

Intertypic antigenic differences and the intratypic variability of the closely related canine (CVD) and phocid distemper viruses (PDV) were examined using a molecular (monoclonal antibodies specific for the H- and F-glycoproteins) and a functional (kinetic neutralization, KN) approach. KN studies were carried out using a novel immunoplaque technique which combined conventional plaque assay and antigen-specific enzyme-immunostaining techniques. Morbillivirus isolates of canine and phocid origin clearly formed two separate groups.

Round table on morbilliviruses in marine mammals.

Since 1988 morbilliviruses have been increasingly recognized and held responsible for mass mortality amongst harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) and other seal species. Virus isolations and characterization proved that morbilliviruses from seals in Northwest Europe were genetically distinct from other known members of this group including canine distemper virus (CDV), rinderpest virus, peste des petits ruminants virus and measles virus. An epidemic in Baikal seals in 1987 was apparently caused by a morbillivirus closely related to CDV so that two morbilliviruses have now been identified in two geographically distant seal populations, with only the group of isolates from Northwest Europe forming a new member of the genus morbillivirus: phocid distemper virus (PDV).

Cloning and characterization of the human gene encoding p11: structural similarity to other members of the S-100 gene family.

The human gene (CLP11) encoding p11, the cellular ligand of the tyrosine kinase substrate, annexin II (AnxII), has been isolated from a human genomic library. Restriction mapping and sequencing reveals that CLP11 covers a stretch of approx. 11 kb in the human genome.

Investigations on course and outcome of phocine distemper virus infection in harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls. Virological and serological investigations.

The influence of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) on phocine distemper virus (PDV) infections in harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) was studied. Six out of ten seals had been conditioned with a defined mixture of PCB-congeners for several weeks. Following exposure to the cell culture-propagated PDV isolate 2558/Han 88 the complete clinical picture of "1988 seal plague" was provoked in all ten seals inoculated.

[Inferior vena cava compression syndrome in cystic kidney. Duplex ultrasonic diagnosis].

Four months after renal transplantation for polycystic renal degeneration a 38-year-old man developed breathing-related pain in the left upper lung and a sinus tachycardia (130/min). Lung perfusion scintigraphy demonstrated pulmonary emboli from an acute venous thrombosis of the left lower leg. Polycythaemia and impairment of clot-inhibiting factors were excluded.

[Color-coded Doppler sonography of chronic venous insufficiency].

20 patients (i.e. 40 lower extremities) with chronic venous insufficiency were examined by means of colour-coded Doppler sonography (CCDS).

[Diagnostic and therapeutic control of varicoceles using angiodynography].

We report on the results of angiodynography of 21 patients with suspected varicoceles. In 14 cases a varicocele could be diagnosed. Additionally, 19 patients underwent conventional Doppler sonography (16 with positive findings), 7 thereof also a testicular phlebography (5 positive findings).

Detection of phocid distemper virus RNA in seal tissues using slot hybridization and the polymerase chain reaction amplification assay: genetic evidence that the virus is distinct from canine distemper virus.

Slot hybridization and the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) after reverse transcription (RT) were used to detect RNA extracted from tissues of seals after naturally occurring disease and experimental infection with phocid distemper virus (PDV). A phosphoprotein (P) gene-specific cDNA served as a probe for both slot hybridization and the identification of PCR-generated fragments by Southern blotting. As primers for the PCR assay PDV P gene-derived oligonucleotides were used.

Analysis of antigenic differences between sixteen phocine distemper virus isolates and other morbilliviruses.

Monoclonal antibodies against a phocine morbillivirus isolate (PDV 2558/Han 88) were able to discriminate sixteen PDV isolates from any other morbillivirus species providing further evidence that PDV should be regarded a new species in the morbillivirus genus.

[Non-selective digital subtraction angiography of aortocoronary bypasses].

Intra-arterial DSA was performed on 225 patients with a total of 552 coronary bypasses (515 aorto-coronary venous bypasses and 37 internal mammary artery bypasses). Four hundred and ninety-five bypasses were examined in the four weeks following surgery; of these, 428 (85.9%) were patent.