Surgical treatment of the acute cholecystitis in the laparoscopic age. A comparative study: laparoscopy against laparatomy

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to assess the complications and results of the laparoscopic opposite to open treatment of the acute cholecystitis. METHODS: A retrospective randomized study with two groups of 30 patients each one. The parameters tested were age, sex, risk factors, surgical time, hospital stay, cholecystitis type, and early or late complications. RESULTS: In the two groups there were no significant differences in age, sex, risk factors, type of cholecystitis and surgical time. The average of hospital stay was significantly longer for open cholecystectomy (9.5) than for laparoscopic technique (2.30) (p < 0.001). The complication rate was higher (7.30%) in open cholecystectomy. CONCLUSIONS: The laparoscopic cholecystectomy should be the standard procedure for the treatment of the acute cholecystitis.     

Immunochemical and biochemical identification of the rice seed protein encoded by cDNA clone A3-12

Previously isolated cDNA clone A3-12 that was expressed in E. coli as the fusion protein with Trp E showed immunoreactivity with the mouse antibody raised against isolated alpha-globulin from rice seed. The N-terminal amino acid sequences determined for the purified alpha-globulin and its tryptic peptides were identical with the deduced amino acid sequence reported, except for two residues at the protein N terminus. An error in the reported sequence was confirmed by re-sequencing the cDNA, the nucleotide sequence for the two N-terminal residues being shown to be CAGCTG and not CACGTG. Thus, the protein encoded by cDNA clone A3-12 was identified to be the major rice seed globulin, alpha-globulin, with an apparent molecular mass of 26kDa.     

Role of nitric oxide-related mechanisms in renal function in ageing rats

BACKGROUND: The impaired renal function and vasodilatation that accompany age need to be re-addressed based upon the new knowledge concerning vascular nitric oxide (NO)-dependent systems. The present study examined the effects of age on the NO-related renal response. METHODS: The study was performed in euvolaemic, conscious Wistar rats, aged 5 and 18 months. Renal function and haemodynamic measurements with fluorescent microspheres were employed to assess differences between groups. RESULTS: A first set of experiments showed that ageing rats had a reduced natriuretic and diuretic response to acetylcholine, whereas the response to sodium nitroprusside was preserved. In the same regard, a reduction of the renal functional effects of L-arginine (L-Arg) and L-glycine (L-Gly) was found in the older rats. In the ageing rats, these responses were accompanied by an enhanced effect of the L-Arg competitive analogue, NwNLA, which provoked a marked reduction of renal function. This effect of NwNLA was blocked by the simultaneous administration of a small dose of L-Arg in the ageing but not in the young rats. Systemic haemodynamic studies revealed that in ageing rats, NwNLA reduced renal blood flow and increased renal vascular resistances in a significantly higher proportion than in younger animals. However, flow to other organs, namely, brain, spleen or liver, was affected in a similar manner in both young and old rats. Ultrastructural alterations were found in endothelial cells, which might constitute the anatomical basis for the observed functional derangements. CONCLUSIONS: The present experiments reveal that ageing is accompanied by significant differences in NO-related responses in the kidney which do not appear to affect blood flow to other organs. The response to L-Arg and L-Arg competitive analogues supports the existence of a marked dependency on NO-related mechanisms in the ageing rats, but not of a decreased baseline activity of the NO-dependent pathways.     

Quantitative cytochemical changes induced by dexamethasone and adrenalectomy in rat liver chromatin

A wild-type strain of Staphylococcus aureus, which inactivates a wide variety of aminoglycosides (except the gentamicin components), has been found to harbor a plasmid (RAp01) that mediates the biosynthesis of a nucleotidyltransferase. This enzyme modifies the 4'-hydroxy function of these antibiotics. The plasmid has been studied, the enzyme responsible for this resistance pattern has been isolated by affinity chromatography, and its kinetics and physicochemistry have been characterized. The target of this enzyme has also been located by demonstrating the structure of one inactivated compound, 4'-(O)-adenylyltobramycin.     

On the graphical analysis of the electronic structure of ferromagnetic clusters of medium size

In a previous work, a theoretical approach, suitable to describe systems having a large number of fermions, was proposed, and results for ferromagnetic surface clusters of medium size (100-1000 atoms) were presented. The aim of the present contribution is to complete this previous work. Several significant theoretical and technical details, omitted previously, are provided here. The obtained spin orbitals are analyzed, by studying their symmetry, energy, and d contribution properties.     

Terminal (1)(q43) long-arm deletion of chromosome no. 1 in a three-year-old female

A 3-year-old Latin female is reported with a terminal deletion of the No. 1 chromosome, karyotype formula 46, XX, del(1) (q43). Principle clinical features include: Anatomic - microcephaly; bilateral, convergent strabismus; epicanthus; brachycephaly; bulbar nose; sparse hair; partial soft tissue syndactylism between 2nd and 3rd fingers which are slightly tapered; whorls on all 10 fingers; mild prognathism; solitary kidney; vaginal stenosis; vesicoureteral reflux; asymmetric feet; and subluxation of peroneal tendons around the fibula with severe pronation and heal valgus deformity. Neurologic - moderate motor and mental retardation; high-pitched, shrill cry; absent pincer grasp at 3 years; and grand mal seizures documented from 9 months of age.     

Artificial intelligence techniques point out differences in classification performance between light and standard bovine carcasses

The validity of the official SEUROP bovine carcass classification to grade light carcasses by means of three well reputed Artificial Intelligence algorithms has been tested to assess possible differences in the behavior of the classifiers in affecting the repeatability of grading. We used two training sets consisting of 65 and 162 examples respectively of light and standard carcass classifications, including up to 28 different attributes describing carcass conformation. We found that the behavior of the classifiers is different when they are dealing with a light or a standard carcass. Classifiers follow SEUROP rules more rigorously when they grade standard carcasses using attributes characterizing carcass profiles and muscular development. However, when they grade light carcasses, they include attributes characterizing body size or skeletal development. A reconsideration of the SEUROP classification system for light carcasses may be recommended to clarify and standardize this specific beef market in the European Union. In addition, since conformation of light and standard carcasses can be considered different traits, this could affect sire evaluation programs to improve carcass conformation scores from data from markets presenting a great variety of ages and weights of slaughtered animals.     

Treatment of brines by combined Fenton's reagent-aerobic biodegradation. II. Process modelling

Process modelling of the integrated Fenton's reagent-aerobic biodegradation system has been carried out by considering a detailed reaction mechanism for the chemical oxidation step and the generalised Monod equation for the biological treatment. Chemical oxygen demand has been contemplated as a pseudo-component for simulation purposes. The proposed mechanism takes into consideration different features experimentally found. Thus, the inefficient hydrogen peroxide decomposition into oxygen and water, the influence of temperature and other operating variables and the role of oxygen have been considered. The aerobic biodegradation of the effluent after the chemical oxidation has taken place has been well simulated by Monod equation with no inhibitory terms. Dependency on temperature has been correlated by Arrhenius expression.