Misleading symptoms after a minor blunt chest trauma. Thoracoscopic treatment of diaphragmatic rupture

We present a case of missed diaphragmatic rupture which was treated thoracoscopically. Rupture of the diaphragm is a serious complication of blunt trauma. The diaphragmatic injury can easily be overlooked. This report illustrates the diagnostic dilemma in a patient where the injury was missed at the time of initial presentation. The role of thoracoscopy both for diagnosis and therapy is discussed.     

Significant amounts of glycogen are synthesized from 3-carbon compounds in astroglial primary cultures from mice with participation of the mitochondrial phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase isoenzyme

The incorporation was studied of the gluconeogenic substrates lactate, alanine, aspartate and glutamate into glycogen of astroglial primary cultures derived from mouse brain. The incorporation was inhibited by 3-mercaptopicolinate, an inhibitor of one of the characteristic gluconeogenic enzymes, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase. Only the mitochondrial isoenzyme of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase was detectable in the astroglial primary cultures. After the incubation of glucose-starved cells with medium containing a mixture of [6-3H]glucose and [U-14C]glucose, the newly synthesized glycogen showed a 3H/14C ratio which was approximately 15% less than the isotope ratio for the medium. The decrease of the isotope ratio was not significantly inhibited by 3-mercaptopicolinate, indicating a cycling of approximately 15% of the glucose to the level of the triose phosphates before its incorporation into astroglial glycogen. During the initial phase of glycogen resynthesis, the contribution of the gluconeogenic substrates appeared to be higher. This was in agreement with the accumulation of fructose 2,6-bisphosphate during refeeding. A participation of gluconeogenic substrates in glycogen metabolism was also detectable when the glycogen content was not changing significantly.     

Transient trimethylaminuria in childhood

Trimethylaminuria, also called fish-odour syndrome, is an inherited disorder caused by deficient N-oxidation and increased excretion of trimethylamine. This study reports on two unrelated and otherwise healthy children with transient trimethylaminuria, a hitherto unknown abnormality, without N-oxidation deficiency. This demonstrates that a diagnosis of fish-odour syndrome should include the analysis of urinary excretion not only of trimethylamine but also of trimethylamine-N-oxide. Since transient trimethylaminuria may be a common condition and no cause for it can presently be recognized, such patients will require careful follow-up.     

An entropy-coded lattice vector quantizer for transform and subbandimage coding

A lattice-based vector quantizer (VQ) and noiseless code are proposed for transform and subband image coding. The quantization is simple to implement, and no vector codebooks need to be stored. The noiseless code enumerates lattice codevectors based on their (weighted) l(1) norm. A software implementation is able to handle lattice codebooks of size 2(256). The image coding performance is shown to be comparable or superior to the best encoding methods reported in the literature.     

Comparison of interfaces in Ti composites reinforced with uncoated and TiB2/C-coated SiC fibres

Interfaces play an important role in determining the mechanical properties of composite materials. The interfaces established between a titanium-alloy matrix (Ti-6Al-4V) and uncoated and TiB₂/C-coated SiC fibres are analysed by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray techniques. Emphasis is placed upon the interfacial morphology and microstructure, identification of reaction products, and the stability of the coating layer. Complex multi-reaction layers are observed frequently in the interfacial zones. Previous, often contradictory, reports about the interlayers are reviewed. Experimental observation demonstrates that the type and distribution of interlayers vary in a given system, due to prolonged treatment of the samples at temperature. The formation and distribution of the interlayers are discussed further, with respect to these and previous findings. Methods of reducing interfacial reactivity are discussed.     

Pharmacokinetics of phenprobamate after oral administration to healthy subjects

Phenprobamate (CAS 673-31-4) is a centrally acting skeletal-muscle relaxant agent. There are only two studies in the literature about the pharmacokinetics of phenoprobamate in man. The inconsistency between the results of these studies can be attributed partly to the different analytical methodologies used. A sensitive, specific and reproducible HPLC-assay, which may increase the reliability of the pharmacokinetic studies of phenprobamate in plasma, has been developed recently. The objective of this investigation was to assess the single-dose kinetics of phenprobamate in human and to determine the pharmacokinetic parameters of clinical and regulatory concern. The plasma pharmacokinetics of phenprobamate have been investigated following single oral administration at a dose of 800 mg in eleven healthy volunteers.     

Abdominal T-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of the gamma/delta type in a patient with selective immunoglobulin A deficiency

A 28-year-old man presented with selective immunoglobulin A deficiency and severe diarrhea responding to a gliadin-free diet. Biopsy samples of the small intestine showed dense T-cell infiltrations in the lamina propria and a slight increase of intraepithelial T-lymphocytes. No clonal rearrangement of the T-cell receptor c-beta chain genes was detectable by Southern blotting. Four years later, at the age of 32, the patient was hospitalized again with liver failure, abdominal lymphadenopathy, pancytopenia, and recurrent bacterial infections. Retrospective polymerase chain reaction analysis of formalin-fixed tissues of the intestinal biopsy samples obtained 4 years earlier showed monoclonal T-cell receptor gamma-chain gene rearrangement. Lymphoid cells of the peripheral blood showed an immunophenotype of CD3-positive gamma/delta T cells with a negativity for CD4 and CD8. A clonally rearranged T-cell receptor delta chain gene and a germline configuration of the c-beta chain genes was found by Southern blotting. Cytogenetics showed an abnormal karyotype with unbalanced translocations t(1;5) and t(9;13). The patient died of extensive lung infiltrations by gamma/delta T cells; autopsy showed a peripheral T-cell lymphoma of the gamma/delta type in the enlarged abdominal lymph nodes. This is the first report of an abdominal T-cell lymphoma of the gamma/delta type in a patient with selective immunoglobulin A deficiency.