Incidences and Clinical Implications of Communications between Musculocutaneous Nerve and Median Nerve in the Arm - A Cadaveric Study.

OBJECTIVES: Variations such as communications between median nerve and musculocutaneous nerve or in their abnormal branching pattern constitute a major concern in clinical and surgical field. Knowledge of these variations not only provides the clinician with a proper interpretation of the case, but also minimizes the complication in surgical approaches in this region. METHOD: We examined 50 isolated upper limbs to investigate the possible incidences of various types of communications between these two neighbouring peripheral nerves. RESULT: Twenty-eight per cent of limbs were found to have communication between these two nerves. When categorized according to Venieratos and Anagnostopoulou's classification method, 11 out of 14 cases (79%) showed type I communications, two out of 14 (14%) showed type II and the remaining one (7%) showed type III communication pattern. CONCLUSION: Prior knowledge of communications between these two neighbouring nerves, both in terms of their incidences and pattern of communications, may be of considerable significance to neurologists and orthopaedic surgeons in dealing with nerve entrapment syndromes in the upper limb of patients.

Ovarian development in Wistar rat treated prenatally with single dose diisobutyl phthalate.

Phthalates are a class of industrial compounds with an array of toxicological properties used in day to day life. Diisobutyl phthalate on (DIBP) is used as an additive to keep the plastics soft or flexible (plasticizer) in nitrocellulose plastic, nail polish, explosives, lacquer manufacturing etc. Although DIBP exposure in humans is generally low, people in adhesive industries and pharmaceutical industries are exposed to higher levels. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of single dose of DIBP on developing ovary of Wistar rat. One hundred and eight adult pregnant Wistar rats were divided into control and experimental groups. Rats in experimental group were given DIBP on day 10, 12 and 14 of gestation at 0.375, 0.75 and 1.25 ml/kg body weight dose intraperitoneally in a single dose. Sections of ovaries collected on day 21 of gestation were stained with hematoxylin and eosin and examined and Masson's trichrome histologically. Sections belonging to the control group showed the presence of oocytes in clusters separated by thin fibrous septa. Degeneration oocytes, empty follicles surrounded by follicular cells without gonocytes in the center were observed in ovarian stroma. Blood vessels in the ovarian stroma were prominent and congested. Around a bunch of follicles total architectural disarray was observed although on special staining fibrosis was not evident. As pregnant women are constantly exposed, effect of DIBP on ovary of a developing fetus would denote the long term consequence in future generations (Fig. 5, Ref. 39).

The virC and virD operons of the Agrobacterium Ti plasmid are regulated by the ros chromosomal gene: analysis of the cloned ros gene.

The ros chromosomal gene is present in octopine and nopaline strains of Agrobacterium tumefaciens as well as in Rhizobium meliloti. This gene encodes a 15.5-kDa protein that specifically represses the virC and virD operons in the virulence region of the Ti plasmid. The ros gene was cloned from a genomic bank by electroporation and complementation in Agrobacterium cells. Reporter fusion to the ros gene indicates that the level of transcription is controlled in part by autoregulation. A consensus inverted repeat sequence present in the ros promoter and in the virC and virD promoters of pTiC58, pTiA6, and pRiA4b suggests that a specific Ros binding site exists in these promoters. In the virC and virD promoter region, this binding site is within a cluster of vir box consensus sequences in which the VirG protein binds. This suggests possible binding competition between Ros and VirG at the virC and virD promoters. That the Ros protein binds DNA is suggested by the presence of a 'zinc finger' consensus sequence in the protein.