Recurrence risks in complex inheritance with special regard to pyloric stenosis.

A large body of data on segregating families is used to generate specific recurrence risks conditional on sex and birth order for the best-fitting model of polygenes plus maternal effect. The method is general for diseases of complex inheritance, and lies within the competence of any serious genetic clinic. The question of whether consultees demand as much specificity should be subordinate to the question of whether counsellors are justified in providing less.     

Diabetogenic effects of n-nitrosomethylurea in the chinese hamster.

To evaluate the role of the glucose residue of the diabetogenic substance streptozotocin, the effect of its aglucone derivate N-nitrosomethylurea was tested in Chinese hamsters. At a dose of 50 mg/kg body weight of N-nitrosomethylurea a triphasic blood glucose curve was recorded with an initial hyperglycaemic peak after 3 hours followed by a decrease at 6 hours. After 24 hours and during the following days the values were moderately elevated. There was a high mortality in the diabetic animals, about 80 per cent of them dying within one week. The approximate L.D. 50 of N-nitrosomethylurea injected intraperitoneally in non-fasting adult animals was about 125 mg/kg body weight at an observation time of 48 hours. On light microscopy, degenerative changes with nuclear pyknosis were seen after 3 hours in the pancreatic islet cells, followed by cellular disintegration. Both beta-, alpha2- and alpha1-cells were obviously affected. Pretreatment with 500 mg nicotinamide/kg body weight given intraperitoneally 10 minutes before the injection of N-nitrosomethylurea inhibited and hyperglycaemia and seemed to prevent the injurious effects of N-nitrosomethylurea on the islet cells. The results show that the glucose residue of the streptozotocin molecule is not necessary for the induction of diabetes in Chinese hamsters, but it seems to increase the selectivity of the toxic effects for the islet cells. This is a clear advantage in studies of experimental diabetes, especially when longer observation periods are desired.     

Lactobacilli - bacteria-host interactions with special regard to the urogenital tract

Lactobacilli are part of the commensal human mucosal flora. Their application as probiotics in dairy products such as yoghurt has increased during the last century since a health promoting effect has been reported. Much work has been done to study the effects of these bacteria on the immune system and epithelial cells, mainly focused on the intestinal mucosa as the field of first contact. This review is aimed to present and discuss results concerning interactions of lactobacilli and immune system or epithelial cells with focus to urogenital mucosa.     

Variability of electrically evoked muscle contractions with special regard to closed-loop controlled orthosis

One of the essential deficiencies of functional electrical stimulation (FES) as a method of rehabilitation of hemiplegic patients is the great variability of responses. This paper treats quantitatively the variability of isometric responses. The parameters chosen for the evaluation of variability were the dynamics of isometric moment and the static value of the moment during maintained stimulation. Experiments were performed to evaluate both surface and implanted stimulation, as both of these methods have reached the stage of clinical application. It was established that the variability is quite large, relative dispersion being ν≐0.35. Using a closed-loop controller of FES of muscles it was shown that such an actuator is too variable to be used as an efficient orthosis. No significant difference was found between surface and implanted FES. The comparison of data obtained without electrode shifting and with readjustment of the electrodes to the same premarked position has convinced us that one of the main causes for the variability is the unpredictable displacement of different tissues between the electrodes and the stimulated nerve. The influence of reflex action and supraspinal centers was studied on a patient with compression of the peroneal nerve. It was found that this influence is strongly subjective. In some hemiplegics this influence was detectable, though on the average less important than the technological-anatomical properties of the contact between the electrodes and the nerve. Better reproducibility is expected with the introduction of improved electrode technology.     

The dentition of European Speleomantes spp. (Urodela, Plethodontidae) with special regard to sexual dimorphism.

Dentigerous bones and dentition of juveniles and adults of several European Speleomantes-species were investigated using scanning electron microscopy. In the juveniles examined, all dentigerous bones bore bicuspid teeth. The adult males showed the well-known dentitional sexual dimorphism, i.e. monocuspid largely conical, elongated and strongly curved premaxillary teeth. However, teeth of the anterior portion of the maxillae and some teeth of the dentary were also clearly monocuspid; the remaining teeth had differently shaped apices considered to be different grades of bicuspidity. Vomerine teeth were exclusively bicuspid. Monocuspid, but smaller teeth were also found on the premaxilla of an adult female. The conical monocuspid tooth in adults is a modified metamorphosed tooth. Monocuspids, at least on the premaxillae, may be constantly present in males and development of monocuspids probably depends on differential sensitivities of the tooth producing tissue for androgen stimuli.     

Bacterial adherence to endothelial cells from rat heart, with special regard to alpha-hemolytic streptococci

Endothelial cells were prepared from rat heart, and the ability of various bacterial species to adhere to these cells was investigated, with special regard to alpha-hemolytic streptococci. The endothelial cells were identified by morphology and by the presence of F VIII antigen. Seventeen bacterial strains representing various species were used in the in vitro adherence tests; 10 strains represented various strains of alpha-hemolytic streptococci, 5 of which were isolated from patients with infective endocarditis and 5 from the throats of healthy individuals; 2 were Neisseria meningitidis, 2 N. gonorrhoeae, 2 S. aureus and 1 E. coli. The highest adherence rate was found for alpha-hemolytic streptococci isolated from patients with infective endocarditis. The difference compared to carrier strains of alpha-hemolytic streptococci and to the other tested strains was statistically highly significant.     

Psychotherapeutic interventions in alexithymic patients. With special regard to ulcerative colitis and Crohn patients

Starting from the psychosomatic patients in clinico-medical wards and the inherent two primary alexithymic features "highly limited introspective capacity' and "very low motivation concerning dynamic psychotherapy', which we proved empirically, we describe the therapist's attitude and the three steps of supportive psychotherapy which initially represent the most indicated procedure in this patient group. In Hannover, this supportive psychotherapeutic procedure is applied by student auxiliary therapists. On the basis of our empirical findings, the effectivity of supportive psychotherapy, accomplished by students, in the alexithymic psychosomatic clinico-medical inpatients could be clearly demonstrated. Furthermore, we comment on some previous psychotherapeutic findings with regard to Crohn patients. Starting from our pretreatment and our follow-up measurements, we were able to prove that patients who were treated by both supportive psychotherapy and psychoanalytically orientated inpatient ward psychotherapy, showed remarkable improvements at all levels of the measurement techniques. Finally, we outline some clinico-psychosomatic aspects with regard to secondary alexithymia.     

Histotopochemical investigations on elastic membranes of blood vessels with special regard to diabetes mellitus. I. Proteins (author's transl)]

Histochemical investigations on elastic membranes of vessels under normally and diabetic conditions have been accomplished. These studies were made on man (diabetic and non-diabetic subjects) and on rats with streptozotocin-diabetes. The results are comparable among one another. The amino acids histidine, tyrosine and tryptophan were not demonstrable. The detection of primary NH2-groups (ninhydrin-Schiff-method and o-diacetylbenzen-reaction) was positive however. The results of the reactions in healthy men and animals were more distinct than in diabetic human subjects and animals. In healthy children the intensities of the histochemically reactions were higher than in adults.     

Histotopochemical investigations on elastic membranes of blood vessels with special regard to diabetes mellitus. II. Carbohydrates (author's transl)]

Investigations on carbonhydrates were carried out with special regard to acid mucopolysaccharides and glycogen. The fluorescence-microscopical proof of acid micropolysaccharides with acridinorange (pH=3,3) and by means of the pseudoisocyanin-reaction (proof of-SO3H-groups) gave positive results on elastic membranes of blood vessels. These results were correlating to the increase of the diabetes mellitus. Healthy Wistar-rats did not show metachromasia with toluidinblue in the walls of the blood vessels, whereas in streptozotocin-diabetes there was strong metachromasia shown by these structures. The stages of diabetes in man were also correlated to an increase of metachromasia. The PAS-reaction, the staining with Best's carmine and the reaction with alizarinblue S for the proof of glycogen were positive in all blood vessels investigated.