Value of liver histology in diagnosis of chronic hepatopathies

The importance of a liver biopsy is summarized as follows: 1. A diagnostic liver biopsy may be helpful in otherwise unexplained liver disease, especially in cases with controversial or unexplicable patterns of laboratory findings or in chronic hepatitis without positive serological markers. 2. Liver histology is necessary for the assessment of the necroinflammatory activity of chronic hepatitis in order to decide on an eventual therapy. Liver biopsy is an important tool as well for the evaluation of liver transplantation in the end stage of several liver diseases as for the diagnosis of transplant-complications. 3. Follow-up biopsies are necessary for supervision of therapy of chronic hepatitis. Histology is the only reliable method for assessment of necroinflammatory activity.     

Prostaglandin E1 increases binding of 123I-low-density lipoprotein to the human liver in vivo

Twenty-seven German shepherd dogs with perianal fistulas and histological evidence of colitis were entered in a prospective clinical study to investigate the association between perianal fistula and colitis. Additionally, the response of perianal fistula disease to immunosuppressive doses of prednisone and an alternative protein diet was evaluated. All 27 cases completed the treatment protocol, and perianal fistulas completely resolved in nine (33.3%) cases, improved in nine cases, and remained unchanged in nine cases.     

Current in-service inspections of austenitic stainless steel and dissimilar metal welds in light water nuclear power plants

A tendency towards growing requirements for the inspection of austenitic piping can be observed in several countries. In Germany the revised KTA rule demands the UT inspection of austenitic and dissimilar metal welds in piping with diameters of 200 mm or more.On the basis of experience gained from austenitic piping with integranular stress corrosion cracking (IGSCC), longitudinal waves and mode conversion techniques are used. Depending on the geometry, material and grain orientation, spurious signals can be observed which require additional evaluation or analysis measurements.A promising new technique is based on horizontally polarized shear (SH) waves generated by electromagnetic acoustic transducers (EMATs). Investigations in the laboratory and field inspections showed that SH waves are well suited for the detection of longitudinal flaws, especially where the weld can be examined from one side only.For the complete solution of a given inspection problem SH waves can be combined with well-known standard techniques in order to provide redundant information for the characterization and sizing of indications.The investigation of possibilities of SH waves showed that the problem of cast austenitic steel inspection might not be solved using this technique. However, measurements using low frequency UT transducers showed promising results.     

Identification of a new porin, RafY, encoded by raffinose plasmid pRSD2 of Escherichia coli

The conjugative plasmid pRSD2 carries a raf operon that encodes a peripheral raffinose metabolic pathway in enterobacteria. In addition to the previously known raf genes, we identified another gene, rafY, which in Escherichia coli codes for an outer membrane protein (molecular mass, 53 kDa) similar in function to the known glycoporins LamB (maltoporin) and ScrY (sucrose porin). Sequence comparisons with LamB and ScrY revealed no significant similarities; however, both lamB and scrY mutants are functionally complemented by RafY. Expressed from the tac promoter, RafY significantly increases the uptake rates for maltose, sucrose, and raffinose at low substrate concentrations; in particular it shifts the apparent K(m) for raffinose transport from 2 mM to 130 microM. Moreover, RafY permits diffusion of the tetrasaccharide stachyose and of maltodextrins up to maltoheptaose through the outer membrane of E. coli. A comparison of all three glycoporins in regard to their substrate selectivity revealed that both ScrY and RafY have a broad substrate range which includes alpha-galactosides while LamB seems to be restricted to malto-oligosaccharides. It supports growth only on maltodextrins but not, like the others, on raffinose and stachyose.     

15-Methyl-1,2-hexadecanediol,a major constituent of hamster surface wax

Long chain 1,2-alkanediol diesters comprise about 15–20% of the acetone soluble skin surface wax of golden Syrian hamsters. The constituent 1,2-alkanediols, obtained through acidic methanolysis, were fractionated by preparative gas liquid chromatography of their isopropylidene derivatives. The major component (57%) was identified by nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectrometry as 15-methyl-1,2-hexadecanediol.     

Changes of bloodchemical parameters of healthy volunteers under influence of acupuncture (author's transl)

The influence of acupuncture on some biochemical parameters in blood was investigated in healthy volunteers. These results were compared with two control series. The significant increase especially of free fatty acids concentration must be considered as an effect of acupuncture.     

The effect of levitated water on fermentation kinetics

The rate of anaerobic glucose fermentation by baker's yeast is found to be altered when tap water is replaced with "levitated" (i.e., hydrodynamically processed) water. To analyze the effect in more detail, we developed a fermentation kinetics model that differentiates between (i) nutrient transport into the cell, (ii) the "catabolic" and (iii) the "anabolic" reactions. As a result, the levitated water affects specifically the glucose uptake kinetics, whereas the other kinetic parameters remain unchanged. Remarkably, the sign of the effect changes with the water used to prepare the culture. When levitated water is used for both the culture preparation and the fermentation, the rate constant of glucose transport is increased by (67+/-25)%, relative to ordinary tap-water. When the culture is prepared in ordinary water and only the fermentation is performed in levitated water, the rate constant of glucose transport decreased by (50+/-12)%. Three-week old levitated water has no discernable effect any more.