Hypertrophy, androgens, and tendon karyometry: functional and experimental investigations.

The aim of the present experimental study is to investigate the functional behaviour of cell nuclei in tendon tissue. For this purpose semithin sections of tendons excised from mice subjected to treadmill exercise are analysed quantitatively to establish the number of cell nuclei of tendinoblasts. The number of nuclei per volume unit of tendon tissue, nuclear size, and the behaviour of these parameters in relation to tendon calibre are determined functionally.

[Perforation of the pulmonary artery during the insertion of a Swan-Ganz catheter].

An accidental rupture of the pulmonary artery in a 77 year old female patient is reported. She was admitted for total mastectomy, but her past medical history revealed an old myocardial infarct, treated arterial hypertension and asthma. She was under heparin as well for her varicose veins.

[Results of early operation of acute cholecystitis].

Acute cholecystitis is a frequent complication of cholelithiasis. Patients in advanced age are more often affected than others. Early operation has been widely accepted for treatment of acute cholecystitis, as it has proved to be effective as prophylaxis against perforation, sepsis, recurrent inflammation, and long-term sequels, such as enterocolic fistulae and abscesses.

[Perforation of the pulmonary artery following Swan-Ganz catheterization].

Pulmonary arterial rupture due to the use of a Swan-Ganz catheter is a rare accident, with an estimated 2% incidence rate. It is fatal in almost 50% of cases. Predisposing factors are age greater than 60 years, pulmonary arterial hypertension and anticoagulant treatment.

Specific labelling of the active site of T7 RNA polymerase.

We describe a method for specifically labelling T7 RNA polymerase at (or near) the active site. Enzyme molecules that have been modified by covalent attachment of a benzaldehyde nucleotide derivative in the presence of template DNA are subsequently incubated with radioactively labelled nucleoside triphosphates. Labelling of the enzyme occurs as a result of the formation of the first phosphodiester bond.

Three dimensional image correlation of CT, MR, and PET studies in radiotherapy treatment planning of brain tumors.

A treatment planning system for stereotactic convergent beam irradiation of deeply localized brain tumors is reported. The treatment technique consists of several moving field irradiations in noncoplanar planes at a linear accelerator facility. Using collimated narrow beams, a high concentration of dose within small volumes with a dose gradient of 10-15%/mm was obtained.

Active site labeling of the RNA polymerases A, B, and C from yeast.

RNA polymerases A, B, and C from yeast were modified by reaction with 4-formylphenyl-gamma-ester of ATP as priming nucleotide followed by reduction with NaBH4. Upon phosphodiester bond formation with [alpha-32P]UTP, only the second largest subunit, A135, B150, or C128, was labeled in a template-dependent reaction. This indicates that these polypeptide chains are functionally homologous.

Gold colitis induced by auranofin treatment of rheumatoid arthritis: case report and review of the literature.

A case of ulcerative colitis occurred during treatment of rheumatoid arthritis with the new oral gold preparation auranofin after a cumulative dose of 2160 mg. A barium enema showed loss of mucosal pattern and a rectal biopsy disclosed deep erosions, mucosal inflammation, and crypt abscesses. Precipitates of gold were seen in the periglandular stroma.

Stereotactic percutaneous single dose irradiation of brain metastases with a linear accelerator.

The effectivity of stereotactic percutaneous single dose irradiations in the treatment of solitary brain metastases has been assessed in a series of 12 consecutive patients. Only radioresistant deeply localized metastases have been treated. Photon-irradiation was carried out with the convergent beam technique using stereotactic localization methods, in a linear accelerator facility.

Recognition of hierarchically encoded images by technical and biological systems.

All the contours and regions of objects can be mapped to code-trees of the Hierarchical Structure Code (HSC). Invariant features like structure classes, shape descriptions, or relations between structures and components may be easily extracted from the HSC. HSC-based pattern recognition provides a straightforward transition between the signal-space of the image and the space of its symbolic representation.

[Results of the treatment of bleeding gastroduodenal ulcer].

Treatment was applied to 243 patients for bleeding gastro-duodenal ulcer, over a period of ten years. In recent years, conventional radiographic diagnosis has been replaced by emergency gastroscopy. Particular importance is attributed to surgical therapy.

Correlation between blood pressure and the level of monoamines in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with cerebral haemorrhage. Case reports.

The correlation between the noradrenalin (NA), dopamine (DA) and serotonin (5-HT) contents of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples obtained from the cerebro-ventricular space and the systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP) of two patients with cerebral haemorrhage were investigated. Significant correlation was found between CSF NA, CSF DA level and systolic BP in case I. There was no correlation between CSF catecholamine levels and diastolic BP and between serotonin level and BP.

In vitro model for the response to irradiation of different types of human intracranial tumours.

Twenty-seven human low and high grade gliomas and five meningiomas were cultured in vitro as tumour tissue and/or tumour cells. Cell survival or growth was taken as a measure of radiation response. Astrocytomas II-III and glioblastomas manifested individual patterns of radiosensitivity, ranging from 10 to 90 Gy.

[Intravenous high-dose short-term fibrinolysis in myocardial infarct. Experiences with 60 patients].

Sixty patients with suspected myocardial infarction were treated in an open study with intravenous high-dose streptokinase (1.5 million U in 70 min). The average delay between onset of pain and fibrinolysis was 270 min.

Testosterone application influences sympathetic activity of intracardiac nerves in non-trained and trained mice.

Application of testosterone and/or physical exercise causes degenerative and then regenerative patterns of intracardiac sympathetic neurons. Observations in 3 stages (1, 3 and 6 weeks) illustrate the adaptative changes of sympathetic neurons as a response to these stimuli and show that the effects following testosterone application or physical exercise are comparable. Ultrastructural investigations indicate that the sympathetic neurons are more sensitive to testosterone than to physical exercise.

Positive correlation between contamination by blood and amino acid levels in cerebrospinal fluid of the rat.

The degree of contamination by blood in macroscopically clear cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from the rat was assessed by the red blood cell count. Amino acid concentrations in the same samples were determined using high performance liquid chromatography. A significant positive correlation between the number of erythrocytes and amino acid concentration was found for alanine, asparagine, aspartate, citrulline, glutamate, glycine, phenylalanine and taurine but not for glutamine, histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, ornithine, serine, threonine, tyrosine and valine.

Mu-induced rifamycin-resistant mutations not located in the rpoB gene of Escherichia coli.

A new class of rifamycin-resistant mutants of Escherichia coli was obtained by lysogenic insertions of bacteriophage Mu Amp DNA. Rifamycin resistance is closely linked to the ampicillin resistance conferred by the prophage. Mapping by conjugation with auxotrophic markers revealed that the rifamycin-resistant mutations are located between 28 and 37 min on the E.

Highly selective affinity labelling of RNA polymerase B (II) from wheat germ.

DNA-dependent RNA polymerase B (II) from wheat germ was modified by incubation with 4-[N-(beta-hydroxyethyl)-N-methyl]benzaldehyde esters of AMP, ADP or ATP, followed by reduction with NaBH4. Reaction of the modified enzyme with [alpha-32P]UTP in the presence of various DNA templates led to a highly selective affinity labelling of the subunit with Mr 140 000 by covalently linked ApU. Labelling was inhibited by 1 microgram/ml alpha-amanitin.

[Phage lysis typing and epidemiology of diphtheria 1975-1984].

Phage typing of the available diphtheria strains from epidemics and isolated diphtheria infections in the Federal Republic of Germany since 1975 showed that the various waves of the disease were caused by pathogenic strains which differed from each other in lysis type and lysogenetic spectrum. The individual regional outbreaks, therefore, were not epidemiologically interlinked. Both a high incidence of diphtheria cases and isolated cases occurring in a particular region and within the same time period, however, were caused by the same pathogen with identical lysis type and lysogenetic pattern.