Wound infection following cesarean section

To investigate a high incidence of wound infections occurring in patients following cesarean section at a 650 bed charity hospital in Louisiana, a bacteriologic investigation was carried out. In this study, cultures were made at multiple sites prior to operation. An attempt was made to identify those bacteria that were predominately responsible for wound infection and their source, whether from the patient herself or from a nosocomial origin. The patients were divided into three groups depending on the degree of postoperative morbidity that followed. The bacterial flora in each group was relatively the same. Other factors were more significant in predicting those patients in whom postoperative morbidity occurred.     

Social condition affects the courtship behavior of male ring doves with posterior medial hypothalamic lesions

Following bilateral lesions to the posterior medial hypothalamus (homologue of the mammalian ventromedial nucleus), adult male ring doves regain full courtship behavior and the ability to stimulate female egg-laying when housed continuously with females. Males with PMH lesions housed singly and only tested periodically with females continue to show deficits in courtship. These findings suggest that the social environment present in adulthood itself can directly influence recovery from brain lesions. They also demonstrate the importance of PMH in the mediation of male ring dove courtship behavior.     

Role of blood-brain barrier in cerebral homeostasis

A detailed cytogenetic map was constructed around the chromosomal breakpoint of t(8;13) observed in a patient with multiple exostoses. The order of seven loci defined by cosmid clones mapped to 8q23 was determined by means of two-color fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) on elongated prophase chromosomes, and localizations of these markers relative to the breakpoint were examined. The results indicated that loci defined by cC18-553 and cC18-1512 flank the breakpoint. By pulsed-field gel electrophoresis of DNA digested with BssHII and Southern hybridization with cC18-1512, DNA from the patient showed a band which was not observed in DNA isolated from either parent. As the normal size of this BssHII fragment is 600 kb, the chromosomal breakpoint probably lies less than 600 kb away from cC18-1512.