Efficacy of surgical preparation solutions in lumbar spine surgery.

Background: Postoperative spinal wound infections are relatively common and are often associated with increased morbidity and poor long-term patient outcomes. The purposes of this study were to identify the common bacterial flora on the skin overlying the lumbar spine and evaluate the efficacy of readily available skin-preparation solutions in the elimination of bacterial pathogens from the surgical site following skin preparation.

Methods: A prospective randomized study was undertaken to evaluate 100 consecutive patients undergoing elective lumbar spine surgery.

m-AAA protease-driven membrane dislocation allows intramembrane cleavage by rhomboid in mitochondria.

Maturation of cytochrome c peroxidase (Ccp1) in mitochondria occurs by the subsequent action of two conserved proteases in the inner membrane: the m-AAA protease, an ATP-dependent protease degrading misfolded proteins and mediating protein processing, and the rhomboid protease Pcp1, an intramembrane cleaving peptidase. Neither the determinants preventing complete proteolysis of certain substrates by the m-AAA protease, nor the obligatory requirement of the m-AAA protease for rhomboid cleavage is currently understood. Here, we describe an intimate and unexpected functional interplay of both proteases.

The m-AAA protease defective in hereditary spastic paraplegia controls ribosome assembly in mitochondria.

AAA proteases comprise a conserved family of membrane bound ATP-dependent proteases that ensures the quality control of mitochondrial inner-membrane proteins. Inactivation of AAA proteases causes pleiotropic phenotypes in various organisms, including respiratory deficiencies, mitochondrial morphology defects, and axonal degeneration in hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP). The molecular basis of these defects, however, remained unclear.

Characterization of peptides released from mitochondria: evidence for constant proteolysis and peptide efflux.

Conserved ATP-dependent proteases ensure the quality control of mitochondrial proteins and control essential steps in mitochondrial biogenesis. Recent studies demonstrated that non-assembled mitochondrially encoded proteins are degraded to peptides and amino acids that are released from mitochondria. Here, we have characterized peptides extruded from mitochondria by mass spectrometry and identified 270 peptides that are exported in an ATP- and temperature-dependent manner.

Use of a genetically introduced cross-linker to identify interaction sites of acidic activators within native transcription factor IID and SAGA.

An important goal is to identify the direct activation domain (AD)-interacting components of the transcriptional machinery within the context of native complexes. Toward this end, we first demonstrate that the multisubunit TFIID, SAGA, mediator, and Swi/Snf coactivator complexes from transcriptionally competent whole-cell yeast extracts were all capable of specifically interacting with the prototypic acidic ADs of Gal4 and VP16. We then used hexahistidine tags as genetically introduced activation domain-localized cross-linking receptors.

A kyphectomy technique with reduced perioperative morbidity for myelomeningocele kyphosis.

Study Design: The lumbar sacropelvis in 11 patients with myelomeningocele and kyphosis was treated with a subtraction kyphectomy technique and posterior instrumentation. The results of this procedure in the 11 patients were evaluated and compared with previous results.

Objective: To examine critically their experience using the subtraction (decancellation) vertebrectomy technique combined with posterior instrumentation for myelomeningocele kyphosis, the authors reviewed the charts of 18 myelomeningocele patients who underwent surgery for lumbar kyphosis between 1994 and 1998.