The Volvo Uddevalla Plant

Volvos plants at Kalmar and, more recently at Uddevalla, have become noted throughout the world for their sociotechnical design and high levels of performance, breaking with mass production norms. Hence the statement from Volvo that both plants are to be closed, in order to meet the competitive threat from Japan, has come as a shock and a disappointment to those who saw them as embodying a viable alternative to lean production. This paper makes the case that Uddevalla had a productive and commercial potential unmatched elsewhere in the Volvo group, and that the decision to close the plant must have been taken on other grounds.     

Optimisation of antibiotic therapy in cystic fibrosis patients. Pharmacokinetic considerations

Antibiotic therapy plays a central role in the medical management of patients with cystic fibrosis. While totally convincing efficacy data are lacking, antibiotics probably have a pronounced beneficial effect on both morbidity and mortality. Much has been learned in the past 20 years about antibiotic use in this population. At the same time, new antimicrobial agents with the potential to treat this condition have become available for use. The pharmacokinetics of a number of antibiotic classes, including beta-lactams, aminoglycosides and quinolones, are altered in this patient population. Increased total body clearance is a common occurrence but is not always changed enough to warrant altered dosages. Nonetheless, in light of altered pharmacokinetics in the cystic fibrosis population, appropriate dosage and monitoring parameters for a number of antibiotics have been determined.     

RNA tertiary structure mediation by adenosine platforms

The crystal structure of a group I intron domain reveals an unexpected motif that mediates both intra- and intermolecular interactions. At three separate locations in the 160-nucleotide domain, adjacent adenosines in the sequence lie side-by-side and form a pseudo-base pair within a helix. This adenosine platform opens the minor groove for base stacking or base pairing with nucleotides from a noncontiguous RNA strand. The platform motif has a distinctive chemical modification signature that may enable its detection in other structured RNAs. The ability of this motif to facilitate higher order folding provides one explanation for the abundance of adenosine residues in internal loops of many RNAs.     

Interferon-gamma inhibits 35S incorporation in heparan sulfate synthesized by human skin fibroblasts

Glycosaminoglycans synthesized by human skin fibroblasts were simultaneously radiolabelled with D-[1-(3H)]glucosamine and Na2(35)SO4. Considering 3H incorporation, we found that IFNgamma increased the production of glycosaminoglycan synthesis, including hyaluronic acid, heparan and chondroitin/dermatan sulfate. In contrast, the production of heparan and chondroitin/dermatan sulfate was slightly decreased on the basis of the 35S signal. Furthermore, when heparan sulfate was treated with nitrous acid, the release of free 35S was greater in control than in treated cells, although the 3H patterns of depolymerization with this agent were similar. These data demonstrate that IFNgamma inhibits the incorporation of sulfate from extracellular medium into heparan sulfate.     

Cement versus cementless fixation in total knee arthroplasty

A prospectively studied group of 55 uncemented Press Fit Condylar total knee arthroplasties was compared retrospectively with a matched group of 51 cemented Press Fit Condylar total knee arthroplasties at a mean of 10 years after operation. For the cemented group, the pain and function scores improved from 32 and 45 preoperatively to 95 and 77, respectively. For the uncemented group the scores improved from 33 and 50 preoperatively to 93 and 60, respectively. There were 10 revisions in the uncemented group for femoral or tibial aseptic loosening or osteolysis compared with two revisions in the cemented group. Exclusive of problems related to patellar metal backing, survival to revision for aseptic failure or radiographic loosening was 72% in the uncemented group and 94% in the cemented group at 10 years. A significantly higher revision rate was found in the uncemented compared with cemented total knee arthroplasty of the Press Fit Condylar design.     

The stationary-phase-exit defect of cydC (surB) mutants is due to the lack of a functional terminal cytochrome oxidase

The surB gene was identified as a gene product required for Escherichia coli cells to exit stationary phase at 37 degrees C under aerobic conditions. surB was shown to be the same as cydC, whose product is required for the proper assembly and activity of cytochrome d oxidase. Cytochrome d oxidase, encoded by the cydAB operon, is one of two alternate terminal cytochrome oxidases that function during aerobic electron transport in E. coli. Mutations inactivating the cydAB operon also cause a temperature-sensitive defect in exiting stationary phase, but the phenotype is not as severe as it is for surB mutants. In this study, we examined the phenotypes of surB1 delta(cydAB) double mutants and the ability of overexpression of cytochrome o oxidase to suppress the temperature-sensitive stationary-phase-exit defect of surB1 and delta(cydAB) mutants and analyzed spontaneous suppressors of surB1. Our results indicate that the severe temperature-sensitive defect in exiting stationary phase of surB1 mutants is due both to the absence of terminal cytochrome oxidase activity and to the presence of a defective cytochrome d oxidase. Membrane vesicles prepared from wild-type, surB1, and delta(cydAB) strains produced superoxide radicals at the same rate in vitro. Therefore, the aerobic growth defects of the surB1 and delta(cydAB) strains are not due to enhanced superoxide production resulting from the block in aerobic electron transport.     

Frequent clones of p53-mutated keratinocytes in normal human skin

The multiple genetic hit model of cancer predicts that normal individuals should have stable populations of cancer-prone, but noncancerous, mutant cells awaiting further genetic hits. We report that whole-mount preparations of human skin contain clonal patches of p53-mutated keratinocytes, arising from the dermal-epidermal junction and from hair follicles. These clones, 60-3000 cells in size, are present at frequencies exceeding 40 cells per cm2 and together involve as much as 4% of the epidermis. In sun-exposed skin, clones are both more frequent and larger than in sun-shielded skin. We conclude that, in addition to being a tumorigenic mutagen, sunlight acts as a tumor promoter by favoring the clonal expansion of p53-mutated cells. These combined actions of sunlight result in normal individuals carrying a substantial burden of keratinocytes predisposed to cancer.     

Consumption of reduced-fat products: effects on parameters of anti-oxidative capacity

Plasma levels of fibrinogen, factor VIIc and prothrombin fragment F1 + 2, a marker of thrombin generation in vivo, were studied in 68 subjects with serum total cholesterol (TC) levels between 135 and 349 mg/dl but without clinical evidence of cardiovascular disease and other atherosclerotic risk factors. F1 + 2 plasma levels were directly correlated with TC (p < 0.0004), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C; p < 0.0018) and factor VIIc (p < 0.024). Thirty-five subjects with TC greater than 249 mg/dl (median value of the whole group) showed higher levels of F1 + 2 (p < 0.0001) and fibrinogen (p < 0.0015) than those with TC lower than 249 mg/dl. In subjects with TC > 249 mg/dl and F1 + 2 > 1.2 nM (median value of the whole group), a cholesterol-lowering drug (simvastatin) was able to reduce F1 + 2 (p < 0.009) as well as TC and LDL-C. This study shows a relationship between serum cholesterol and the rate of thrombin generation supporting the hypothesis that a hypercoagulable state may occur in hypercholesterolemic subjects before the onset of clinical evidence of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.