[Duodenal pressure ulcer as a cause of anemia]. / Odlezyna dwunastnicy przyczyna niedokrwistosci.

A case is presented of anaemia which was caused by decubitus ulcer and fistula of the duodenum developed as a result of pressure exerted by aortofemoral vascular prosthesis.

Histopathological studies of connective tissue in patients with acquired valvular heart disease.

Tissue samples taken during a surgical procedure performed for therapeutic reasons in 27 patients with acquired valvular heart disease (a.v.h.d.) were subjected to histopathological examinations. The aim of the work was to carry out simultaneous studies of several organs in the same patients. The samples were taken from: left heart auricle (15 cases), heart valves (15 cases), palatine tonsils (10 cases), subcutaneous tissue (14 cases) and periodontium (9 cases). Out of the total number of 27 cases samples from 5 organs of the same person were examined once, from 4 organs twice, from 3 organs twelve times, and from 2 organs fifteen times. In 90% of cases marked qualitative and quantitative compatibility between histopathological pictures of connective tissue changes was found. These changes consisted in an increased number of collagen fibres and hyalization of connective tissue. The authors conclude that infective endocarditis could be in connection of a primary general collagenopathy.

[Injuries of major blood vessels of the lower extremities as a complication of fractures and dislocations]. / Uszkodzenia duzych naczyn konczyn dolnych wspólistniejace ze zlamaniami i zwichnieciami.

Surgical treatment was applied in 46 patients with simultaneous injury of great vessels of the lower extremities and fractures of the long bones or dislocations of the knee joint. The authors have determined the best in their opinion sequence of surgical procedure. They think that external fixation gives better bone stabilization and is more favorable than internal stabilization. They also recommend lavage of the peripheral vascular bed of the ischemic lower extremity, which prevents post-traumatic insufficiency of the kidneys. They think that early fasciotomy of the crus or fibulectomy is important for the good result of the operation.

Effects of ethyl alcohol on the electrooculogram and color vision.

Color vision tests and electrooculography (EOG) were performed in 6 male and 2 female healthy young trichromatic volunteers between 60 and 130 min after finishing consumption of ethyl alcohol leading to blood levels of approximately 0.07% to 0.16%. The average number of errors in the desaturated Panel D-15 arrangement test rose from 0.86 to 2.0; the average error score in the Farnsworth-Munsell 100-Hue test rose from 26 to 79. The axis of errors in both tests was clearly tritanopic and tetartanopic, pointing to a specific effect of ethyl alcohol on the function of blue-sensitive cones and/or their interaction with longer wavelength-sensitive cones. Ethyl alcohol decreased the size of the light-peak, apparently in a dose-dependent fashion, in each of the 16 eyes by values between 3% and 79%. The effect of alcohol on the EOG light peak was stronger between 30 and 95 min (23% decrease in average) than between 95 and 130 min (14% decrease) after the finish of alcohol administration.

[Investigations of drug-related sulfhydryl oxidation in isolated rabbit lenses]. / Untersuchungen zur medikamentösen Beeinflussung der Sulfhydryloxidation in isolierten Kaninchenlinsen.

The appearance of cataract in human lenses mainly consists in the formation of a protein network initiated by oxidative processes. Two types of covalent bondings are produced in the cristallins during cataractogenesis: The formation of C-N bonds produced from amino groups of the cristallin proteins and aldehyd or keto groups derived from the oxidation of sugars or unsaturated fatty acids. The formation of S-S bonds from SH groups specially in the gamma-cristallins. These disulfid bonds are scarcely reducible by reductants such as ascorbic acid or glutathione. Experimentally these SS bonds can be produced in rabbit lenses by incubation with riboflavin in the light. The presence of Pherajod during the incubation period prevents the oxidation of SH groups.

Cone function and cone interaction in hereditary degenerations of the central retina.

Spectral sensitivity functions and the transient decrease of sensitivity to short wavelengths after the offset of yellow light (transient tritanopia) were measured by increment threshold techniques in patients suffering from hereditary macular degenerations. Color vision defects were determined by arrangement tests and the anomaloscope. Central areolar choroidal dystrophy was found to produce a mild protan defect and to reduce foveal spectral sensitivity throughout the visible spectrum by a factor of 100; it also abolishes transient tritanopia. Electroretinogram (ERG) was normal, electrooculogram (EOG) subnormal. Stargardt's disease, despite numerous fluorescent macular spots, does not abolish transient tritanopia nor does it reduce spectral sensitivity, although scotopic matches were performed on the Nagel anomaloscope. Only in severe, advanced cases was transient tritanopia reduced and spectral sensitivity found to follow the absorption spectrum of rods. Routine ERGs and EOGs were normal. Vitelliform macular degeneration, despite the ophthalmoscopically pronounced dystrophic macula, produced only very small changes in spectral sensitivity and transient tritanopia, although a widened matching range on the Nagel anomaloscope and electrophysiological abnormalities were found. Apparently damage of the retinal circuit which connects long and short wavelength-sensitive cones, caused by hereditary conditions, is different from that caused by retinotoxic drugs.

[Differential light perception threshold of the visual field and ERG following operatively attached retinal detachment]. / Die Lichtunterschiedsempfindlichkeit des Gesichtsfeldes und das ERG nach operativ wiederangelegter Netzhautablösung.

After surgical treatment of retinal detachment with a spontaneously pigmented demarcation line the visual fields of twelve patients were tested. The increment threshold of all positions (determined with the Octopus automatic perimeter system) was compared with the reduction in the scotopic and photopic ERG amplitudes (determinated with the CEMIDA system). This reduction in the ERG amplitudes was evaluated using the difference between the amplitude of the ERG waves of the eye with cured retinal detachment and of the healthy fellow eye. No great correlation between the two parameters was found, but it appeared that a reduced mean increment threshold correlated with a reduction in the a-wave amplitude.

Biochemical model reactions for cataract research.

There are several experimental indications that cataract formation is induced and/or enhanced by activated oxygen species including hydrogen peroxide, superoxide radical anion, singlet oxygen and hydroxyl radical. These species can be generated chemically, enzymatically or photodynamically. Taking advantage of endogenous photodynamic compounds in isolated lens, aqueous humor or vitreous preparations in the presence of S-methyl-alpha-ketobutyric acid (KMB), ethylene formation can be monitored for at least 2 h of light-dependent KMB degradation. This reaction is extremely sensitive and can be inhibited by potassium iodide in low concentrations. This model reaction might be useful for studying possibly inhibiting substances or stimulating processes involved in cataract formation.

[Kinetics of uptake of Pherajod by the rabbit eye]. / Kinetik der Aufnahme von Pherajod in das Kaninchenauge.

The aqueous humor and lenses of rabbit eyes contain inhibitors of photodynamic destructions. Preparations of vitreous, however, more likely seem to contain stimulatory compounds. The anticataractic drug Pherajod significantly blocks the photodynamic formation of destructive oxygen species. Inhibition by 65% of photodynamic destructions, measured as ethylene release from S-methyl-a-ketobutyric acid in the riboflavin-driven oxygen photoactivation, is observed with aqueous humor preparations isolated 5 min after start of incubation of rabbit eyes in Pherajod solution.

[The uptake of potassium iodide and its effect as an antioxidant in isolated rabbit eyes]. / Die Aufnahme von Kaliumjodid und seine Wirkung als Antioxidans in isolierten Kaninchenaugen.

Potassium iodide (KI) passes the cornea of isolated rabbit eyes with kinetics of approximately 0.25 mumol/h/ml aqueous humor. In photodynamic reactions, simulated as light-dependent decay of S-methyl-alpha-ketobutyric acid in the presence of riboflavin, KI acts as an antioxidant cooperating with internal scavengers such as ascorbate. With the simple model reactions applied it may be possible to study mechanism and functions in vivo of eye-protecting factors or combinations of compounds.