A quantitative study on the digital bones of cattle.

The bones of 64 digits from eight Holstein male cattle were studied quantitatively to determine whether any differences existed respective on the corresponding bones of the different digits. For this purpose, the greatest and abaxial greatest lengths, the smallest diaphysial breadths, the breadths of proximal and distal ends of the proximal and middle phalanges, the lengths of dorsal surfaces, the heights of extensor processes, the greatest diagonal lengths and the middle breadths of the soles from the distal phalanges were measured. Comparison showed that measurements between the right and left sides did not differ significantly. However, differences were found for almost all measurements between the forelimb and hindlimb. The proximal and middle phalanges were found to be shorter and broader in the forelimb and the broadness was more noticeable than the length. The distal phalanx of the medial forefoot had the greatest value in four measurements while the smallest values were found in the lateral hind foot. The results indicated that the morphometry of the digital bones could be important from both phylogenetic and clinical aspects.     

骶骨骨折的解剖学观察及临床意义

目的:为提高骶骨骨折的诊断率及选择治疗方法提供依据。方法:选正常骶骨标本(50块),骶骨骨折标本(28块),测量这些骶骨标本每条横线中点距骶骨翼边缘的水平距离,测量骶前孔、骶后孔横径、骶孔的前、后径,将所有骶骨标本左右侧对应值进行比较。结果:正常骶骨每条横线中点距左右骶骨翼水平距离无显著差异,骶前孔、骶后孔左右侧无明显差异。侧块压缩性骨折、横行骨折引起骶前孔变形、变小,侧块压缩性骨折骨折侧横线中点距骶骨翼边缘水平距离较正常侧明显变小,位置越高两侧差异越大。骶后孔、骶管变形、变小在骶骨骨折标本不明显。结论:骶骨侧块压缩性骨折、横行骨折时骶骨失去对称性,骶前孔变形、变小是造成骶神经损伤原因之一,临床上应注意骶前孔的变化,检查骶神经功能,应将扩大骶前孔进行骶神经减压放在首位。     

Intraosseous glomus tumor in the sacrum. A case report

Primary intraosseous glomus tumor is rare and may occur in the medullary cavity of bone. A 22-year-old woman with a one-year history of spontaneous and persistent sacral pain was found to have an intraosseous glomus tumor in this unusual location. Curettage was followed by complete relief from pain. This case of glomus tumor originating in the sacrum is thought to be the first reported in the world literature.     

Regional histology of the epididymis of the dog. A light microscope study

The aim of the present paper was the study of the epididymis of the dog, at the optimal microscope level. It was found that the epididymis of th dog has 3 distinct segments: initial, middle and terminal. Each segment could be readily distinguished on the basis its morphological appearance of the epithelial lining.     

A quantitative study of the mechanosensory innervation of the salmander skin.

We have investigated by physiological means the characteristics and organization of the mechanoreceptors in the skin of the salamander hind limb. A controlled mechanical stimulator with a tip diameter of a few microns was used to activate single mechanoreceptors, and afferent impulses were recorded from whole spinal nerves. 2. The mechanoreceptors of the skin are rapidly adapting. When random spots on the skin were tested, the stimulus strength needed to evoke an impulse varied from one location to another. The histogram of percentage occurrence of these critical stimuli in a given skin has the same form whether the sampled spots are 50 mum apart and are all included in a small area, or whether the spots are sampled as much as 1 mm apart across the entire limb. The histogram is skewed, with the highest-percentage occurrence in the low-threshold range. 3. One interpretation of the findings is that there is a single population of mechanoreceptors, of uniform threshold, spaced far enough apart for a stimulator of small diameter to be situated between them. By locating a low-threshold spot, and then determining the increase in stimulus required to excite it at a known distance away, it was possible to estimate the relationship between the strength of the stimulus and the receptive field size of such a population of receptors; we were then able to infer the average receptor spacing and receptive field size. The values are approximately 250 and 75 mum respectively. 4. From appropriate maps of detailed systematic surveys of the skin sensitivity to touch it was possible to define discrete low-threshold areas. These areas had approximate radii in the range 50-75 mum, and their centres were about 200-250 mum apart; these values are consistant with those predicted above. We conclude that the experimentally determined sensitive areas represent the receptive fields (at threshold) of individual mechanosensory endings. There are approximately twenty to thirty of them per square millimetre. 5. Receptive fields of single mechanosensory axons (i.e. of sensory 'units') were measured by an occlusion technique using two prodders. These fields vary from 0-05 to 2-5 mm2, and are generally organized as discrete areas with only a little overlap among them. Individual axons supply from five to seventy-five mechanoreceptors. 6. The findings provide a basis for quantitative studies of plasticity involving the mechanosensory system of the salamander skin.     

Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy. A quantitative electromyographic study

BACKGROUND: Quantitative electromyography (EMG) using different needle techniques has not been performed or reported on a relatively large group of patients with facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD). Purpose: To establish statistically: (1) correlations between clinical features of patients (age, disease duration and degree of weakness) and quantitative needle EMG/SFEMG,; (2) correlations between different EMG parameters in the patient group, and (3) quantitative EMG differences comparing patients with a healthy control group. METHODS: Nerve conduction studies, and needle EMG (motorunit analysis, MacroEMG, SFEMG) were performed on Mm. triceps brachii and Mm. tibialis anterior according to standard techniques on 20 patients with FSHD. RESULTS: Nerve conduction studies were normal. In Mm. triceps brachii and, to a lesser extent, Mm. tibialis anterior motorunit analysis and MacroEMG showed myopathic changes, that correlated with patient clinical parameters. In Mm. triceps brachii (but not in Mm. tibialis anterior) EMG results were statistically different in patients compared to control group data. The most sensitive indicators of a myopathy were MUP duration (motorunit analysis) and MUP area (MacroEMG). In the Mm. triceps brachii SFEMG revealed correlations between worsening pooled MCD data and patient clinical parameters. Pooled MCD results did not correlate with other MUP parameters. SFEMG showed abnormal jitter only in 2 patients with the longest disease duration. CONCLUSION: Quantitative EMG results are compatible with a mild, slowly progressive myopathy. The most sensitive indicators of early muscle disease were MUP duration (motorunit analysis) and MUP area (MacroEMG) that would not be detected on "routine" EMG SFEMG showed subtle, progressive worsening of neuromuscular junction physiology. However, quantitative EMG and SFEMG showed that muscle fiber degeneration and loss followed a course independent of muscle fiber regeneration and reinnervation.     

Age-related changes of the human ciliary muscle. A quantitative morphometric study.

The age-related changes of the ciliary muscle of human eyes (33-87 years) were studied on histological meridional sections. Eighty-five melanoma eyes and 10 eyes of normal donors were investigated. The total area and the length of the muscle, the area of the three main portions and the distance of the inner apex of the muscle to the scleral spur were determined and correlated with age. Total area and length of the muscle show a continuous and significant decrease with age. The area of the longitudinal and reticular portion continuously decreases, whereas the area of the circular portion significantly increases with age. The decrease in area is more pronounced in the longitudinal portion than in the reticular portion of the muscle, which shows an age-related increase in connective tissue. In addition, the distance of the inner apex of the muscle to the scleral spur shortens continuously. Thus, with increasing age the ciliary muscle adopts an anterior-inward position. A similar form is seen in young eyes after ciliary muscle contraction only. There might be a functional relationship between the observed age-changes in the ciliary muscle system and the phenomenon of the so-called 'lens paradox' (steepening of the anterior and posterior curvatures of the disaccommodated lens with age).     

A quantitative study on interocular transfer in the rabbit

Rabbits were trained to discriminate vertical vs horizontal striations with the left and right eye. After this the animals were trained to criterion with 45° vs 135° striations with the left eye open. Thereafter this procedure was repeated with the right eye open. The percentage of savings was 22(SE ± 6).     

A quantitative study of C-mechanoreceptors in hairy skin of the cat.

1. Single C-mechanorecptor afferent units were examined by recording from fibres dissected from the saphenous nerves of cats anaesthetized with chloralose. The receptive fields, averaging 4 X 3 mm when 10-50 X threshold stimuli were used, were in the hairy skin of the leg and foot. 2. The extent and excitability of receptor terminals was tested by two-and three-point field studies. The excitability of terminals in one part of the field of a unit could be depressed without affecting the excitability of terminals elsewhere in the field. 3. The afferent units could be excited by both inward and outward movement of the stimulus probe, in appropriate conditions; that is, there was non-directional sensitivity. 4. After-discharge was found to depend on restorative movements of the skin, not on a persistence of the response of the receptor to the original movement. 5. The response to mechanical stimulation was slowly adapting with two time constants and the stimulus-response relationship was exactly described by a power function, with exponents ranging from 0-6 to 1-3. 6. The C-mechanoreceptors could be depressed by rapidly repeated or prolonged mechanical stimulation and the effect was confined to the excited terminals.     

骶骨骨折的动态冲击试验研究

目的:探讨骶骨在冲击载荷作用下发生骨折的机理。方法:采集人体新鲜骨盆标本10具,分别行动态冲击试验和静态破坏试验,测量动态骨折时的一系列动力学参数,确定骨折的动力学特性。结果:⑴骶骨受垂直冲击时按应力波的传递方向发生骨折,其动力学性质呈粘弹性,应力波呈周期性衰减,得到了骶骨的载荷响应曲线与应变响应曲线;骶骨骨折的平均冲击载荷为(9366±514) N,冲击时间为(2.78±1.02) s,动荷系数为1.21。⑵骶骨的动态破坏机制与静态破坏机制有很大的不同,不但极限载荷不同,而且前者随应变速率的提高而快速增加,冲击能量在25 J以上时呈脆性劈裂状通过骶孔或骶髂关节骨折,并累及神经根损伤,而静态大多为骶髂关节骨折。结论:骶骨骨折大都在高速冲击下发生,与其动力学特性、力的传导以及动载荷响应等诸多因素相关。     

A quantitative study of the effects of cholinergic drugs on carotid chemoreceptors in the cat.

1. Conflicting qualitative evidence exists concerning the effects on chemoreceptor activity of some drugs which influence the cholinergic system. Quantitative evidence has been obtained in the present study which should resolve the conflict. 2. Experiments were performed in pentobarbitone-anaesthetized cats in which the activity of chemoreceptor units in the sinus nerve was used to assess chemoreceptor responses. The effects of drugs on responses to I.A. ACH and NaCN were determined from dose-response data obtained from several animals and expressed as mean dose ratios 3. The chemoreceptor response to ACh was slightly inhibited by atropine, alpha- and beta-bungarotoxin and HC-3, almost completely suppressed by mecamylamine, and markedly potentiated by physostigmine. 4. Concomitant responses to NaCN were unaffected by atropine, beta-bungarotoxin, mecamylamine or physostigmine. There was a slight inhibition following alpha-bungarotoxin and a potentiation after HC-3. 5. The results do not support the theory that ACh is an excitatory sensory transmitter in the carotid body.     

A quantitative study of mast cells in Hodgkin's disease.

Mast cells were counted in 45 specimens from patients with Hodgkin's disease and in five lymph nodes showing follicular hyperplasia. A consistent finding was that of few mast cells in the lymphocyte depleted and lymphocyte predominant Rye subtypes of Hodgkin's disease and in the mixed cellularity variant; however, mast cells were much more prevalent in nodular sclerosing Hodgkin's disease and in the hyperplastic nodes. The mast cells were selectively stained by means of the astra blue technique.