Local Application of Mineral-Coated Microparticles Loaded With VEGF and BMP-2 Induces the Healing of Murine Atrophic Non-Unions.

Deficient angiogenesis and disturbed osteogenesis are key factors for the development of nonunions. Mineral-coated microparticles (MCM) represent a sophisticated carrier system for the delivery of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-2. In this study, we investigated whether a combination of VEGF- and BMP-2-loaded MCM (MCM + VB) with a ratio of 1:2 improves bone repair in non-unions. For this purpose, we applied MCM + VB or unloaded MCM in a murine non-union model and studied the process of bone healing by means of radiological, biomechanical, histomorphometric, immunohistochemical and Western blot techniques after 14 and 70 days. MCM-free non-unions served as controls. Bone defects treated with MCM + VB exhibited osseous bridging, an improved biomechanical stiffness, an increased bone volume within the callus including ongoing mineralization, increased vascularization, and a histologically larger total periosteal callus area consisting predominantly of osseous tissue when compared to defects of the other groups. Western blot analyses on day 14 revealed a higher expression of osteoprotegerin (OPG) and vice versa reduced expression of receptor activator of NF-κB ligand (RANKL) in bone defects treated with MCM + VB. On day 70, these defects exhibited an increased expression of erythropoietin (EPO), EPO-receptor and BMP-4. These findings indicate that the use of MCM for spatiotemporal controlled delivery of VEGF and BMP-2 shows great potential to improve bone healing in atrophic non-unions by promoting angiogenesis and osteogenesis as well as reducing early osteoclast activity.

Effects of fiber type on force depression after active shortening in skeletal muscle.

The aim of this study was to investigate force depression in Type I and Type II muscle fibers. Experiments were performed using skinned fibers from rabbit soleus and psoas muscles. Force depression was quantified after active fiber shortening from an average sarcomere length (SL) of 3.2µ m to an average SL of 2.6 µm at an absolute speed of 0.115f iber length/s and at a relative speed corresponding to 17% of the unloaded shortening velocity (V0) in each type of fibers. Force decay and mechanical work during shortening were also compared between fiber types. After mechanical testing, each fiber was subjected to myosin heavy chain (MHC) analysis in order to confirm its type (Type I expressing MHC I, and Type II expressing MHC IId). Type II fibers showed greater steady-state force depression after active shortening at a speed of 0.115 fiber length/s than Type I fibers (14.5±1.5% versus 7.8±1.7%). Moreover, at this absolute shortening speed, Type I fibers showed a significantly greater rate of force decay during shortening and produced less mechanical work than Type II fibers. When active shortening was performed at the same relative speed (17% V0), the difference in force depression between fiber types was abolished. These results suggest that no intrinsic differences were at the origin of the disparate force depressions observed in Type I and Type II fibers when actively shortened at the same absolute speed, but rather their distinct force-velocity relationships.

Water jet-assisted liposuction for patients with lipoedema: histologic and immunohistologic analysis of the aspirates of 30 lipoedema patients.

Lipoedema is a fat distribution disorder causing massive, bilaterally symmetrical enlargement of the lower and in some cases the upper extremities in women. The atraumatic, anatomically appropriate procedure of water jet-assisted liposuction available today represents a promising treatment for these patients who generally suffer from severe subjective and objective impairment. Liposuction treatment can bring long-term improvement if the operative technique focuses on lymph vessel preservation. Immunohistologic analyses show minimal evidence of lymph vessel structures in lipoaspirates. The histologic analysis of the aspirates documents a relatively specific removal ("apheresis") of primarily intact lipocytes with low vascular amount.

[Right sided lower abdominal pain two weeks after delivery]. / Rechtsseitige Unterbauchschmerzen zwei Wochen postpartal.

We report the CT imaging findings of a 33 year old patient who presented to the emergency department with increasing right lower abdominal pain and shivering. She delivered a healthy baby two weeks ago after induction in the 39th week of pregnancy due to a large fetus. Two days after delivery, sterilisation was performed. Clinically the primary differential diagnosis was appendicitis. However, computed tomography revealed thrombosis of the right ovarian vein. Consequently, management was altered appropriately with administration of antibiotics as well as a therapeutic dose of low molecular weight heparin.

Comparison of ultraviolet absorbance, chemiluminescence, and DOAS instruments for ambient ozone monitoring.

This paper evaluates the accuracy of ozone measurements made by monitors that determine ozone concentrations in ambient air by UV absorption. These monitors are typically used to measure ozone for the purpose of establishing local compliance to air-quality standards. The study was predicated by the concern that commercially available UV absorbance O3 monitors may be subject to interference from volatile organic carbon (VOC) species that absorb light at 254 nm. To test for these and other effects, we compared simultaneous O3 measurements made by a commercial UV O3 monitor with an O3-NO chemiluminescence instrument, which is not subject to interference by VOC compounds. The comparisons were carried out in the summers of 1999 and 2000 at urban/industrial sites in Nashville and Houston, and in 2004 aboard a ship in the Gulf of Maine. In the two urban areas, we also compared the 03 measurements from these two methods with O3 measurements made by a long-path differential optical absorption spectrometer (DOAS). Our tests indicate that, with well-maintained monitors, there are no significant interferences even in areas with significant ambient concentrations of potentially interfering VOCs.

DOAS measurements of tropospheric bromine oxide in mid-latitudes

Episodes of elevated bromine oxide (BrO) concentration are known to occur at high latitudes in the Arctic boundary layer and to lead to catalytic destruction of ozone at those latitudes; these events have not been observed at lower latitudes. With the use of differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS), locally high BrO concentrations were observed at mid-latitudes at the Dead Sea, Israel, during spring 1997. Mixing ratios peaked daily at around 80 parts per trillion around noon and were correlated with low boundary-layer ozone mixing ratios.

Bone density: is it affected by orchidectomy and radiotherapy given for stage I seminoma of the testis?

A cross-sectional study of bone density involving 30 patients who had undergone orchidectomy and para-aortic radiotherapy for Stage I seminoma of the testis, has been performed. Bone density measurements were made of the whole body, lumbar spine and hips, including all irradiated areas. Comparison was made with previously obtained standard sex and age matched control data. The 30 patients treated for seminoma had a significantly increased mean bone density compared with age matched normal values. No significant differences were demonstrated between the mean bone densities of the irradiated and non-irradiated hips. There was no significant relationship between bone density measurement and time since orchidectomy or radiotherapy. These results suggest that nodal irradiation for seminoma has little long term effect on bone density.

Improving long-path differential optical absorption spectroscopy with a quartz-fiber mode mixer.

Long-path differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS) has become an increasingly important method for determination of the concentration of tropospheric trace gases (e.g., O(3), NO(2), BrO, ClO). The use of photodiode array (PDA) detectors enhances long-path DOAS systems considerably owing to PDA's higher sensitivity resulting from the multiplex advantage. The detection limits of these systems are expected to be 1 order of magnitude lower than systems of similar optical setup with scanning detectors. When the scanning detector is simply replaced by a PDA, unwanted spectral structures of as much as 8 x 10(-3) appear. The size of these randomly changing structures exceeds the photon noise level by 2-3 orders of magnitude thus severely limiting the sensitivity. We show that an angular dependence of the response of the PDA causes this structure in combination with unavoidable changes in the illumination. A quartz-fiber mode mixer, which makes the illumination of the spectrograph-detector system nearly independent of the angular intensity distribution of the measured light, was developed and tested. This new device reduces the unwanted structures in laboratory and field experiments by a factor of 10. The detection limits of long-path DOAS instruments with PDA detectors are improved by the same amount and are thus lower than those of currently used systems with scanning detectors. At the same time a much shorter measurement time (by ~1 order of magnitude) becomes possible.

Numerical analysis and estimation of the statistical error of differential optical absorption spectroscopy measurements with least-squares methods.

Differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS) has become a widely used method to measure trace gases in the atmosphere. Their concentration is retrieved by a numerical analysis of the atmospheric absorption spectra, which often are a combination of overlapping absorption structures of several trace gases. A new analysis procedure was developed, modeling atmospheric spectra with the absorption structures of the individual trace gases, to determine their concentrations. The procedure also corrects differences in the wavelength-pixel mapping of these spectra. A new method to estimate the error of the concentrations considers the uncertainty of this correction and the influence of random residual structures in the absorption spectra.

The radiological appearances of invasive cribriform carcinoma of the breast. Nottingham Breast Team.

Invasive cribriform carcinoma (ICC) of the breast is characterized by a cribriform histological architecture. It is rare, accounting for 0.6% of breast cancers in Nottingham and has an excellent prognosis. Its radiological features have not been previously described. Preoperative mammograms were available in eight cases (6 symptomatic, 2 screen-detected) and preoperative ultrasound examinations in four. The tumour was mammographically occult in four (50%) cases. The four tumours which were visible on mammography all showed as a large (20-35 mm) spiculated mass and two contained a few flecks of punctate calcification. The ultrasound appearances were not entirely typical of breast carcinoma. Three of four showed an ill-defined, inhomogeneous solid mass, but without the distal acoustic attenuation found in 60-97% of other forms of breast carcinoma. We conclude that ICC has imaging characteristics distinct from tubular carcinoma, which is its closest histological analogue.

Fracture-dislocation of the talus in the pediatric patient. An unusual injury.

Subtalar fracture-dislocations in children are unusual, perhaps because of the greater elasticity of bone in children. The authors have presented a case of medial subtalar dislocation in a 13-year-old boy, accompanied by a rare fracture of the entire posterior process of the talus. This particular fracture has not been previously reported in association with a subtalar joint dislocation, nor has it been reported in a child. The patient was treated successfully by closed reduction of both the dislocation and the fractures.

Puentes translocados / Translocated by-passes

Se presentan 11 puentes translocados de vena safena no invertida para el tratamiento de la arteriopatía obliterante grave de los miembros inferiores. Las ventajas y desventajas de éste procedimiento en relación con la técnica "in situ" son discutidas. Estarían en su favor la utilización ipsi o contralateral de la vena, posibilidad de efectuar un puente secuencial, evitar el problema de la fístula arteriovenosa y de la ocasional endarterectomía de la arteria proximal, efectuar una más cómoda valvulotomía y poder ubicar anatómicamente el by pass sin tensión o angulación en las anastomosis. Los autores comentan particularidades técnicas de la valvulotomía efectuada

Puentes translocados / Translocated by-passes

Se presentan 11 puentes translocados de vena safena no invertida para el tratamiento de la arteriopatía obliterante grave de los miembros inferiores. Las ventajas y desventajas de éste procedimiento en relación con la técnica "in situ" son discutidas. Estarían en su favor la utilización ipsi o contralateral de la vena, posibilidad de efectuar un puente secuencial, evitar el problema de la fístula arteriovenosa y de la ocasional endarterectomía de la arteria proximal, efectuar una más cómoda valvulotomía y poder ubicar anatómicamente el by pass sin tensión o angulación en las anastomosis. Los autores comentan particularidades técnicas de la valvulotomía efectuada (AU)

The hypothalamus and photoperiodic control of FSH secretion by melatonin in the male Syrian hamster.

In the photoinhibited castrated male Syrian hamster, removal of the pineal gland or transfer to long photoperiods was followed by a rapid increase in the serum concentration of FSH. Levels were significantly above those of controls within 10 days. Central passive immunization of pineal-intact photoinhibited castrated animals against melatonin had a stimulatory effect on serum FSH levels, comparable with that observed following pinealectomy or transfer to short days. The effects of pinealectomy were blocked by programmed s.c. infusions of melatonin in a time-dependent manner. Serum FSH levels remained low in animals receiving 100 ng melatonin delivered over 10 h but the same mass of melatonin delivered over 4 h had no effect on the response to pinealectomy. Lesions of the anterior hypothalamus had no effect on the pinealectomy-induced increase of serum FSH in animals receiving saline infusions. However, in lesioned animals, programmed infusions of melatonin were no longer able to suppress the rise in FSH following pinealectomy. These results demonstrated that pineal melatonin is the mediator of central photoperiodic control of FSH secretion. The duration of the melatonin signal determines its effectiveness and an intact anterior hypothalamus is necessary for the signal to be read and/or the appropriate neuroendocrine response expressed.

[Cholecystectomy in liver cirrhosis with portal hypertension--limited surgical indications and increased surgical risk?]. / Cholecystektomie bei Lebercirrhose mit portaler Hypertension--eingeschränkte Operationsindikation und erhöhtes Operationsrisiko?

From January 1, 1982 to November 15, 1985 in 29 patients with liver cirrhosis a cholecystectomy was performed, 40% of them had portal hypertension. In-hospital mortality was 7%; main cause of death was acute and chronic liver failure. Postoperatively few liver function tests were reduced temporarily, but there was a normalization within two weeks. Cholecystectomy should not be left to be done as an emergency operation because of its high mortality rate in contrast to elective operation (50 in comparison to 5-10%).

[Evaluation of the Swiss Hospital Association diagnostic and surgical statistics]. / Auswertung der VESKA-Diagnosen- und Operations-statistik.

Number of admissions, days of care and the average length of stay are presented by age, sex and other criteria for Swiss short stay hospital. Persons 60 and over consumed more than 50 percent of all days of care. On the average, females of all age groups, except from 5 to 54 years of age, were hospitalized longer than males. Principal factors influencing the length of stay are: age, diagnosis and mode of discharge. The increase in the number of persons 65 and over admitted to medical departments corresponds to the demographic development, while it exceeds the demographic increase for surgical departments.

Restriction and modification in Bacillus subtilis: inducibility of a DNA methylating activity in nonmodifying cells.

The nonrestricting/nonmodifying strain Bacillus subtilis 222 (r-m-) can be induced to synthesize a DNA-modifying activity upon treatment with either mitomycin C (MC) or UV light. This is shown by the following facts. (i) Infection of MC-pretreated 222 cells with unmodified SPP1 phage yields about 3% modified phage that are resistant to restriction in B. subtilis R (r+m+). The induced modifying activity causes the production of a small fraction of fully modified phage in a minority class of MC-treated host cells. (ii) The MC-pretreated host cells contain a DNA cytosine methylating activity: both bacterial and phage DNAs have elevated levels of 5-methylcytosine. (iii) The MC-induced methylation of SPP1 DNA takes place at the recognition nucleotide sequences of restriction endonuclease R from B. subtilis R. (iv) Crude extracts of MC-pretreated 222 cells have enhanced DNA methyltransferase activities, with a substrate specificity similar to that found in modification enzymes present in (constitutively) modifying strains.