On Mesopithecus habitat: Insights from late Miocene fossil vertebrate localities of Bulgaria.

The aim of this study is to describe the environments where the cercopithecid Mesopithecus was found during latest Miocene in Europe. For this purpose, we investigate the paleoecology of the herbivorous ungulate mesofauna of three very rich late Miocene fossil localities from southwestern Bulgaria: Hadjidimovo, Kalimantsi and Strumyani. While Mesopithecus has been found in the two first localities, no primate remains have yet been identified in Strumyani.

Enhanced oxidative stress with a gradient between plasma and muscle interstitial fluid in patients with end stage renal failure on hemodialysis.

Objective: The concentration of 8-iso-prostaglandin-F2 alpha (8-iso-PGF2 alpha in biological fluids has been considered as the most reliable biochemical index of the lipid peroxidation and oxidative stress in patients with several pathological conditions including end stage renal failure. However, there is no reference regarding the influence of Hemodialysis (HD) on the values of 8-iso-PGF2 alpha in the muscle Interstitial Fluid (IF) of patients with end stage renal failure. The aim of our study was to determine 8-iso-PGF2 alpha concentration in the IF during hemodialysis and the gradient between plasma and IF in patients with end stage renal failure.

Prebypass histological and ultrastructural evaluation of the long saphenous vein as a predictor of early graft failure.

Background: Twenty percent of the long saphenous vein (LSV) grafts that are employed as coronary bypass conduits occlude during the first year after the operation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the morphological parameters of the LSV grafts before implantation as predictors for the early occlusion of the grafts.

Methods: Forty-two samples of LSV grafts were examined via light, transmission electron, and scanning electron microscopy and evaluated clinically and by angiography at 6 months and 2 years after the operation.

Inductively coupled wideband transceiver for bioimpedance spectroscopy (IBIS).

Most measurement devices for bioimpedance spectroscopy are coupled to the measured object (tissue) via electrodes. At frequencies > 500 kHz, they suffer from artifacts due to stray capacitances between electrode leads as well as between the ground and object. The noninvasive measurement of the brain conductivity is hardly possible with surface electrodes.

[Determination of the effectiveness of plasma exchange in kidney diseases by a biological test].

Plasma toxicity and plasma exchange efficacy were studied in two groups of patients: I gr.--8 patients with various degree of disturbed renal function who did not need hemodialysis treatment; II gr.--9 patients treated by periodic hemodialysis.

Abdominal wall reconstruction.

Patients with abdominal wall reconstruction present a difficult management problem to the oncological surgeon. There were 36 patients treated for abdominal wall primary and secondary tumors between the years 1973 and 1982 at the Memorial Hospital. There were 25 abdominal wall sarcomas, 6 recurrent colon cancers, 2 recurrent bladder cancers, 1 cervical cancer, 1 recurrent endometrial cancer and 3 complications of radiotherapy treated by excision and reconstruction of the defect.

[Stimulation of mitotic activity and blast transformation of lymphocytes in vitro caused by phaseolosaxin and its fractions].

Mitogenic and blast-transforming properties of phytohemagglutinin Phaseolosaxin of the Bulgarian production, and of its three fractions have been studied in vitro. The greatest part of the biological activity is due to fraction 1, which represents, in fact, a highly purified phytohemagglutinin. These results may be useful in regard to the large scale of application of Phaseolosaxin.

Neurovascular flap repair of the foot for sarcoma.

Wide excision of soft tissues of the foot for sarcoma invariably creates a large defect requiring closure in a way that will withstand the trauma of bearing weight. Neurovascular flap reconstruction provides a thick, well-vascularized cover with good sensation, functional durability, and brief immobilization.

[Electrophoretic study of different types of phytohemagglutinins].

The author compared the number and the percentage distribution of the preparations faseolaxin (FHA-F), produced in this country by the method of Coneva and phytohemaglutinines from the firms "Difko" VASTO-M and VASTO-P, by means of disc electrophoresis and acrylamide gel. He found similarity in the fractions of FHA-F and VASTO-P. The difference was in the quickly mobile components, which were respectively 6,5% and 14,5% of the total amount.

One-stage coverage of the large chest wall defect with a giant bepedicled flap. Case reports.

We present a method of closing chest wall defects with a large bepedicled flap from the adjacent chest wall and abdominal tissue.

Silicone elastomer sheeting in the development of pedicle flaps.

A "delay" of a pedicle flap stimulates improvement in the flap circulation, probably through partial ischemia. The degree of stimulation prsent at any given time is inversely proportional to the length of time that has passed after the delay because progressive revascularization across the delay lines reduces the ischemis stimulus. This revascularization can ve prevented by placing silicone elastomers (Silastic) sheeting between the flap and its bed.