The effect of surgical ablation of Brunner's glands on the proximal duodenal mucosa

Neither macroscopic nor microscopic lesions were observed in the gastrointestinal mucosa following the surgical removal of Brunner's glands. This observation leaves some doubt concerning the traditional view that Brunner's glands function primarily in the protection of the proximal duodenal mucosa from acid-pepsin entering from the stomach.     

Morphological, developmental and immunohistochemical observations on the opossum pituitary with emphasis on the pars intermedia.

Development of the pituitary in Didelphis follows the general pattern of that described for most mammalian species. The dorsal region of a multichambered pituitary vesicle, which forms from Rathke's pouch, comes to lie adjacent to the presumptive infundibulum by the 10 1/2 d of gestation. The epithelial wall of this vesicle consists of spindle-shaped cells. The dorsal wall of the upper chamber of the pituitary vesicle forms the pars intermedia; the ventral wall of this chamber gives rise to cells of the pars distalis. Corticotropes, somatotropes, and lactotropes are seen in the presumptive adenohypophysis of the 11 1/2 d embryo. Gonadotropes and thyrotropes appear about 1 d later, shortly after birth. By the 2 postnatal week, the adult distribution of all 5 cell types within the pars distalis appears to have been established. The wall bounding the pituitary cleft in the adult represents an epithelial continuum limited by a basal lamina and corresponds to the upper chamber of the original pituitary vesicle. Ultrastructurally, the limiting walls of the pituitary cleft consists of stellate (marginal) cells, large, bulbous cells, and granulated cells. The latter correspond to the various endocrine cell types normally associated with the pars distalis. Non-granular folliculo-stellate cells also are observed within the epithelial cords of the pars distalis.     

The influence of penbutolol and placebo on blood sugar levels and insulin consumption in the glucose-controlled insulin infusion system (“Artificial endocrine pancreas”)

Summary The aim of the study was to investigate the influence of 40 mg of the beta-blocker penbutolol (BetapressinTM; Hoechst Ltd., Frankfurt/ Main) in comparison to placebo on the insulin consumption on the blood sugar profile in twelve insulin-dependent diabetes (IDDM) patients. The patients were treated with penbutolol and placebo for a period of three days, and then were examined with the help of the glucose-controlled insulin infusion system.The blood sugar profile and insulin consumption over a 24 hour period was not affected by either penbutolol or placebo, nor could any changes be measured in these parameters when measured after food intake.After a submaximal exercise load on the bicycle ergometer (1 watt per kg body weight) following an evening meal, no difference could be observed between penbutolol and placebo in the above-mentioned parameters. The same was also true for hormonal parameters as STH, ACTH, cortisol, and catecholamines.These findings demonstrated that medication of penbutolol over a three-day period has no influence on the baseline blood sugar profile and insulin consumption or on insulin consumption after food intake during rest and physical exercise.Abbreviations IDDM insulin-dependent diabetes - STH somatotropic hormone - GH growth hormone - ACTH adrenocorticotropic hormone - HbA1 glycosylated hemoglobin A1 - mE milli-units - SEM standard error of the mean     

German registry of paediatric deep brain stimulation in patients with childhood-onset dystonia (GEPESTIM)

Background

Data on paediatric deep brain stimulation (DBS) is limited, especially for long-term outcomes, because of small numbers in single center series and lack of systematic multi-center trials.

A spectrophotometric analysis of dentinal leakage in the resected root.

The purpose of this study was to compare dye leakage in the dentin of resected and nonresected roots. Fifty-four single rooted extracted teeth were used. The two groups were subdivided into young, middle age, and old age samples. Each sample was biomechanically prepared in a standard fashion and obturated using lateral condensation with sealer and gutta-percha. All root surfaces were sealed with nail polish, leaving the apical portion exposed. The apical portion of the roots were placed in 2% methylene blue dye for 72 h, rinsed, and placed in 15 ml of 35% HNO3 for 72 h. The supernatant was analyzed at 640 nm using a visible light spectrophotometer. The amount of leakage was extrapolated from a standard linear regression curve constructed from the stock 2% methylene blue dye solution. The percentage of concentration leakage in all samples ranged from less than 0.0600 to 0.1658. It was concluded that there is a greater amount of leakage in resected versus nonresected extracted teeth. The data also suggest that older teeth exhibit less leakage than younger teeth.     

Specificity of mannan antigen and anti‐mannan antibody screening in patients with haematological malignancies at risk for fungal infection

Combination of mannan antigen and anti‐mannan antibody (Mn/A‐Mn) testing has been reported a useful and specific strategy for diagnosis of invasive Candida infections (ICIs). We evaluated Mn/A‐Mn as a screening tool in patients with haematological malignancies. This clinical prospective study was performed at the Division of Hematology, Medical University Graz, Austria between July and December 2012. Patients at risk for fungal infection were included into the study and twice weekly screened by Mn/A‐Mn testing, yielding 650 samples. Of overall 67 patients 66 had no evidence for ICI. From those, 153/640 serum samples (23.9%) were positive for mannan Ab, and nine (1.4%) for Ag. Most false positive Ab results were observed among 375 samples from patients without haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (34.9% resulted positive). Combined specificity of Mn/A‐Mn was 74.8%. Of 10 samples obtained in the single patient with candidemia, five were positive for mannan Ag (from the day of diagnosis up to 40 days after detection of candidemia) and none for Ab. In conclusion, mannan Ab screening yielded a high number of false positive results. While mannan Ag was found to be highly specific and may have potential for diagnostic driven testing, mannan Ab testing cannot be recommended based on our study results.