Alteration in the extent of collagen I hydroxylation, isolated from femoral heads of women with a femoral neck fracture caused by osteoporosis.

The aim of this study was to investigate the extent of lysyl and prolyl hydroxylation of collagen I in osteoporosis and compare it with collagen I from "bone healthy" individuals. Collagen I was isolated from femoral heads of osteoporotic women, from women suffering from osteoarthrosis of the hip, and from healthy women 60-85 years of age. The femoral heads were dissected into compact and trabecular bone of the neck region and from trabecular bone of the head region, and collagen I was extracted by limited pepsin digestion.

Increased serum level of total homocysteine in CAPD patients despite fish oil therapy.

It has been shown that serum total homocysteine (HC) is a risk factor for vascular disease which characterizes endothelial damage. The incidence of vascular disease is increased in continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) patients. Our aim was to investigate: (1) whether concentration of HC correlates with atherosclerotic and inflammatory events, and (2) if fish oil therapy can retard the disturbance in lipid metabolism which promotes atherosclerosis.

Prolonged biochemical and morphological stability of encapsulated liver cells--a new method.

In this work a new type of polyelectrolyte complex capsules is introduced as an artificial housing for liver cells. Male Wistar rat hepatocytes were encapsulated using cellulose sulphate and polydimethyldialyllammonium chloride as polyelectrolytes. Amino acid metabolism rate and urea synthesis of the cells increased over the investigation period in contrast to the decrease observed in control monolayer cultures.

DDI pacing in the bradycardia-tachycardia syndrome.

The bradycardia-tachycardia syndrome is a subgroup within the larger category of sinus node dysfunction. Pacing is often required to treat either the protracted asystolic spells following the spontaneous termination of a paroxysmal supraventricular tachyarrhythmia or to protect the patient from pharmacologically exacerbated bradycardias. While the optimal pacing mode for this subset of patients remains debatable, recent reports have favored the use of atrial ventricular sequential pacing with intact atrial sensing (DDI).

[Echography in aneurysm of the interatrial septum].

Atrial septal aneurysm can be detected by subcostal echocardiography as a bulge of the intermediate interatrial septum, ballooning toward the right atrium. We retrospectively revised 5412 echo examinations, consecutively performed in our laboratory, and we found 14 cases of atrial septal aneurysm (0.26%), mean age 36 +/- 15 years, 9 males and 5 females.