Natural history of myocardial hypertrophy and its association with hyperinsulinism in infants of diabetic mothers

This work is devoted to the study of polarographic reduction of three antibiotic compounds including adriamycin, chloramphenicol and erythromycin and of a synthetic antibacterial chemotherapeutic compound--5-nitrofurantoin. The polarographic reduction was performed in the strictly anhydrous N,N-dimethylformamide with or without alpha-lipoic acid (LA) by the means of DC polarography. The values of half-wave potentials E1/2 and parameter of potential carcinogenicity were determined for the all compounds. Adriamycin was reduced during the five-step process, other compounds were reduced in two steps. The presence of LA in a polarographic solution resulted in a new polarographic one-electron wave in the range of -1.120 V to -1.790 V vs. SCE possessing a diffuse and reversible character. Its height is linearly dependent on the LA concentration in solution. The highest parameter of potential carcinogenicity tg alpha was determined for adriamycin (0.575) which belongs among compounds classified by WHO as "probably carcinogenic to humans". The lowest determined value of parameter tg alpha belonged to 5-nitrofurantoin (0.290) which has not yet been included into the IARC classification.     

Danger Control Programs Cause Tissue Injury and Remodeling

Are there common pathways underlying the broad spectrum of tissue pathologies that develop upon injuries and from subsequent tissue remodeling? Here, we explain the pathophysiological impact of a set of evolutionary conserved danger control programs for tissue pathology. These programs date back to the survival benefits of the first multicellular organisms upon traumatic injuries by launching a series of danger control responses, i.e., 1. Haemostasis, or clotting to control bleeding; 2. Host defense, to control pathogen entry and spreading; 3. Re-epithelialisation, to recover barrier functions; and 4. Mesenchymal, to repair to regain tissue stability. Taking kidney pathology as an example, we discuss how clotting, inflammation, epithelial healing, and fibrosis/sclerosis determine the spectrum of kidney pathology, especially when they are insufficiently activated or present in an overshooting and deregulated manner. Understanding the evolutionary benefits of these response programs may refine the search for novel therapeutic targets to limit organ dysfunction in acute injuries and in progressive chronic tissue remodeling.     

Effects of Long-Term Temozolomide Treatment on Glioblastoma and Astrocytoma WHO Grade 4 Stem-like Cells

Glioblastoma leads to a fatal course within two years in more than two thirds of patients. An essential cornerstone of therapy is chemotherapy with temozolomide (TMZ). The effect of TMZ is counteracted by the cellular repair enzyme O⁶-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT). The MGMT promoter methylation, the main regulator of MGMT expression, can change from primary tumor to recurrence, and TMZ may play a significant role in this process. To identify the potential mechanisms involved, three primary stem-like cell lines (one astrocytoma with the mutation of the isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH), CNS WHO grade 4 (HGA)), and two glioblastoma (IDH-wildtype, CNS WHO grade 4) were treated with TMZ. The MGMT promoter methylation, migration, proliferation, and TMZ-response of the tumor cells were examined at different time points. The strong effects of TMZ treatment on the MGMT methylated cells were observed. Furthermore, TMZ led to a loss of the MGMT promoter hypermethylation and induced migratory rather than proliferative behavior. Cells with the unmethylated MGMT promoter showed more aggressive behavior after treatment, while HGA cells reacted heterogenously. Our study provides further evidence to consider the potential adverse effects of TMZ chemotherapy and a rationale for investigating potential relationships between TMZ treatment and change in the MGMT promoter methylation during relapse.     

Untersuchungen zur Initiierung interkristalliner Schwingungsrisse in interstitiell freien (IF-) Stählen

Investigations of initiation of intercrystalline fatigue cracks of interstitial free (IF-) steels While investigation the fatigue strength of interstitial free steels, intercrystalline fatigue cracks have occurred as a damage which could reduce the application range of this material, being wellknown for its excellent depth drawing features. Through metallographic examination the known causes of the damage like formation of grain cover tertiary zementit of precipitations on the grain boundaries could be excluded. In this paper investigation results are represented which are received through high-resolution analyses techniques (TEM, AES).     

Polymorphism in single-acid triglycerides of positional and geometric isomers of octadecenoic acid

The polymorphism of 25 glycerol trioctadecenoates with double bonds ranging from Δ4-Δ17 was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry. Triglycerides withcis bonds in odd positions Δ7-Δ13 exhibited three intermediate melting (β′-) forms, but those withcis bonds in even positions, exceptcis Δ4, lacked β′-forms. Among thetrans compounds, only Δ11, 13, and 14 showed β′-forms. Thecis andtrans Δ5 triglycerides were unusual, because they readily assumed low melting (α-) forms that were not easily converted to high melting (β-) forms. β-Form mp of compounds in each series (cis ortrans) alternated depending upon double bond position; an even position correlated with high mp. Heats of fusion (ΔH_f) for β-forms, likewise, fluctuated with double bond position but nonuniformly;trans Δ6 had the highest ΔH_f (43 cal/g),cis Δ12 the lowest (21 cal/g).     

Biomechanical modeling of the human head for physically based, nonrigid image registration

The accuracy of image-guided neurosurgery generally suffers from brain deformations due to intraoperative changes. These deformations cause significant changes of the anatomical geometry (organ shape and spatial interorgan relations), thus making intraoperative navigation based on preoperative images error prone. In order to improve the navigation accuracy, we developed a biomechanical model of the human head based on the finite element method, which can be employed for the correction of preoperative images to cope with the deformations occurring during surgical interventions. At the current stage of development, the two-dimensional (2-D) implementation of the model comprises two different materials, though the theory holds for the three-dimensional (3-D) case and is capable of dealing with an arbitrary number of different materials. For the correction of a preoperative image, a set of homologous landmarks must be specified which determine correspondences. These correspondences can be easily integrated into the model and are maintained throughout the computation of the deformation of the preoperative image. The necessary material parameter values have been determined through a comprehensive literature study. Our approach has been tested for the case of synthetic images and yields physically plausible deformation results. Additionally, we carried out registration experiments with a preoperative MR image of the human head and a corresponding postoperative image simulating an intraoperative image. We found that our approach yields good prediction results, even in the case when correspondences are given in a relatively small area of the image only.     

Glyceride structure ofErlangea tomentosa seed oil,a new source of vernolic acid

(+)-Methyl vernolate constitutes 52% of the methyl esters formed by transmethylating the oil ofErlangea tomentosa seed. Thin layer chromatography fractionated the oil into trivernolin, divernolins, monovernolins and nonvernolate glycerides. Pancreatic lipolyses of the monovernolins and the divernolins followed by transmethylation of the monoglycerides indicated the presence of 34 vernolate glycerides above the 0.1% level, grouped as follows: α-monovernolins, 15%; β-monovernolins, 3%; α,α′-divernolins, 10%; α,β-divernolins, 37%; trivernolin, 16%; and nonvernolate glycerides, 19%. No. Utiliz. Res. Dev. Div., ARS, USDA.