Bladder control a consequence of maturation: evidence after renal transplantation

An 84-year-old male presented to the emergency room with the chief complaint of painful, swollen penis following the use of a constriction ring to maintain penile erection. A high fever, chills and hypotension were recognized. Septic shock was presumed, and administration of antibiotics was started. Microbiologic cultures revealed Escherichia coli in blood. We herein report a rare but serious complication accompanying incarceration of the penis.     

Self-care behaviors, self-efficacy, and social support effect on the glycemic control of patients newly diagnosed with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus

The purpose of this study was to explore the glycemic control and influencing factors in outpatients newly diagnosed with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM). By purposeful sampling, data were collected from 130 outpatients with NIDDM at one medical center in Kaohsiung. The results indicated: (1) the mean value for HbA1C was 7.12%; and 63.1% of the patients belonged to moderate to well controlled group; (2) male patient's HbA1C value was significantly lower than female patient's; patients with no religious belief also had a lower HbA1C value than patients with a religious background; (3) there were strongly negative correlations between self-care behaviors, social support, and self-efficacy and HbA1C; (4) using a multiple stepwise regression analysis, religious belief and self-care behaviors were found to explain 10.9% variance of HbA1C level. The results of this study could be used as a reference for diabetes health education program.     

Determination of erythema-effective solar radiation in Japan and Germany with a spore monolayer film optimized for the detection of UVB and UVA--results of a field campaign

A centrifugation method was used to investigate the accumulation of 14C-rifampicin by Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli, and to characterize the mechanism of rifampicin transport into S. aureus. For both species, drug accumulation was rapid with the steady-state concentration (SSC) reached within 40 s of drug exposure. Rifampicin accumulation by S. aureus was temperature and pH dependent; the lower the experimental temperature and the lower the experimental pH, the lower was the concentration of rifampicin accumulated. Accumulation was unaffected by the presence of inhibitors of antibiotic efflux, carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazone (CCCP), dinitrophenol (DNP), or reserpine. Exposure to increasing concentrations of rifampicin suggested that the accumulation process was saturable above a rifampicin concentration of 0.2 mg/L. Michaelis-Menten kinetics gave an apparent Km and Vmax for rifampicin, calculated from a Lineweaver-Burk plot, of 0.05 mg/L (0.06 microM) and 3.8 ng rifampicin per second, respectively. However, calculations suggest that these values reflect those for binding of rifampicin to its target, RNA polymerase.     

An experimental evaluation of traumatic globe rupture

PURPOSE: The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the surgeon's ability to assess various types of globe injury, to determine the force necessary to rupture the globe with these types of injuries, and to determine typical orbital retraction forces used in the clinical setting. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty-four enucleated globes from recently killed cows were divided into four equal groups-one uninjured control group, one group with a through-and-through scleral laceration, another group with a subtotal scleral laceration, and the last group with an 18-gauge needle perforation. Twenty-seven boarded or board eligible oral and maxillofacial surgeons were asked to assess one sample from each of the four groups. They were then asked to retract a simulated globe on a custom-fabricated jig to determine clinical retraction forces. Ten globes from each of the four groups were then subjected to forces until rupture on an Instron 8501M mechanical testing unit. Accuracy of the clinical assessment was determined, and means and standard deviations of the retraction forces and globe rupture forces were derived. RESULTS: Through-and-through lacerations were assessed by surgeons with 100% accuracy, subtotal lacerations with 96% accuracy, uninjured globes with 74% accuracy, and perforated globes with 15% accuracy. Globe rupture occurred at 16.72+/-7.87 kg in the control group, 20.36+/-7.87 kg in the perforated group, 15.38+/-6.06 kg in the subtotal laceration group, and 4.94+/-2.56 kg in the through-and-through laceration group. Statistically significant differences (P < .001) were noted between the total laceration group and all other groups. The mean retraction force was 0.35+/-0.47 kg, which was statistically less than the force used in all of the rupture groups (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: Severe injuries (through-and-through lacerations) were assessed with 100% accuracy by the clinicians, and less severe injuries with less accuracy. Rupture forces for globes with perforations and subtotal lacerations were no different than for the control group, but substantially less than for the total laceration group. The simulated clinical retraction forces were substantially more than the rupture forces in all of the groups, including the through-and-through laceration group.     

Quantitation of intrathecal measles virus IgG antibody synthesis rate: subacute sclerosing panencephalitis and multiple sclerosis

A method for quantitating specific anti-viral antibodies in serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is established using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Quantitated antibody levels are used to determine intrathecal specific IgG synthesis rate for the particular antibody. Measles virus was used as a model for validating this quantitative technique: a mutated form of measles virus is a cause of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) and there is a possibility that measles virus is related to the cause of multiple sclerosis (MS). Matched serum and CSF samples were assayed. Concentration of anti-measles IgG was determined and intrathecal measles-specific IgG synthesis rate was calculated. For the SSPE samples, measles-specific IgG synthesis rate was elevated and comprised > 20% of the total intrathecal IgG synthesis rate; these results are consistent with the literature. The ELISA method can be performed routinely, providing a quick, simple, reproducible means of quantitating specific antibody concentrations, with sensitivity greater than 1 nanogram per milliliter. With this method, quantitation of IgG antibodies to any other viral antigen can be reliably and precisely determined.     

Extensive direct-tandem organization of a long repeat DNA sequence on the Y chromosome of chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha)

A long repetitive DNA sequence (OtY8) has been cloned from male chinook salmon and its genomic organization has been characterized. The repeat has a unit length of 8 kb and is present approximately 300 times per diploid male nucleus. All internal fragments within the 8-kb repeat segregate from father to son, suggesting that the entire repeat unit is located on the Y chromosome. The organization of this sequence into an 8-kb repeat unit is restricted to the Y chromosome, as are several male-specific repeat subtypes identified on the basis of restriction-site variation. The repeat possesses only weak internal sequence similarities, suggesting that OtY8 has not arisen by duplication of a smaller repeat unit, as is the case for other long tandem arrays found in eukaryotes. Based on a laddered pattern arising from partial digestion of genomic DNA with a restriction enzyme which cuts only once per repeat unit, this sequence is not dispersed on the Y chromosome but is organized as a head-to-tail tandem array. Pulse-gel electrophoresis reveals that the direct-tandem repeats are organized into at least six separate clusters containing approximately 12 to 250 copies, comprising some 2.4 Mb of Y-chromosomal DNA in total. Related sequences with nucleotide substitutions and DNA insertions relative to the Y-chromosomal fragment are found elsewhere in the genome but at much lower copy number and, although similar sequences are also found in other salmonid species, the amplification of the repeat into a Y-chromosome-linked tandem array is only observed in chinook salmon. The OtY8 repetitive sequence is genetically tightly associated with the sex-determination locus and provides an opportunity to examine the evolution of the Y chromosome and sex determination process in a lower vertebrate.     

Cytoplasmic mRNA for human triosephosphate isomerase is immune to nonsense-mediated decay despite forming polysomes

Nonsense codons between position 14 within the first exon and position 193 within the penultimate exon of the human gene for triosephosphate isomerase reduce mRNA abundance to 25% of normal. The reduction in abundance is due to the decay of newly synthesized mRNA that copurifies with nuclei. TPI mRNA that copurifies with cytoplasm is immune to decay. We show here that immunity is not due to the failure of nonsense-containing mRNA to form polysomes. This finding indicates that cytoplasmic mRNA, in contrast to nucleus-associated mRNA, may have lost one or more factors that are required for nonsense-mediated decay or gained one or more factors that confer immunity to nonsense-mediated decay.     

Genetic manipulation of antibiotic-producing Streptomyces

The genetic manipulation of Streptomyces species has been facilitated by the development of versatile cloning vectors, robust gene transfer systems and transposable elements. These molecular genetic tools have been used to construct antibiotic-producing strains with improved properties and recombinants for the production of hybrid glycopeptide and macrolide antibiotics, novel anthelminthic agents and novel cytotoxic anthracyclines.     

Surface alterations of the bovine oocyte and its investments during and after maturation and fertilization in vitro

Surface characteristics of the bovine oocyte and its investments before, during, and after maturation, and fertilization in vitro were evaluated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Oocyte diameters were also measured during SEM analysis of the oocyte. The cumulus cells manifested a compact structure with minimal intercellular spaces among them in the immature oocytes. These became fully expanded with increased intercellular spaces after maturation in vitro, but contracted again after fertilization. The zona pellucida (ZP) showed a fibrous, open mesh-like structure in the maturing and matured oocytes. The size and number of meshes on the ZP decreased dramatically after fertilization. The vitelline surface of immature oocytes was characterized by distribution of tongue-shaped protrusions (TSPs) varying in density. After 10 and 22 hr of maturation incubation, oocyte surface microvilli (MV) increased to become the predominant surface structure, and TSPs decreased substantially. The vitelline surface of fertilized oocytes (at 6 and 20 hr) was similar to that of the matured oocytes, but unfertilized oocytes had less dense MV than did fertilized oocytes (at 20 hr). The diameter of the oocytes decreased from 99 to 80 microns during maturation and increased to 106 microns after insemination (P < 0.05). Membrane maturation was characterized by surface changes from a TSP-predominant pattern to a MV-predominant pattern. Thus, the bovine oocyte maturation process was found to involve the expansion of cumulus cells and the maturation of the ZP, which changes dramatically upon fertilization. Also, volumetric changes occurred in ooplasm processed for SEM following oocyte maturation and insemination.