Growth/differentiation factor 5 enhances chondrocyte maturation.

Growth/differentiation factor 5 (GDF5) is required for limb mesenchymal cell condensation and joint formation during skeletogenesis. Here, we use a model consisting of long-term, high-density cultures of chick embryonic limb mesenchymal cells, which undergo the entire life history of chondrocyte development, to examine the effects of GDF5 overexpression on chondrocyte maturation. Exposure to GDF5 significantly enhanced chondrocyte hypertrophy and maturation, as determined by the presence of alkaline phosphatase activity, collagen type X protein production, and the presence of a sulfated proteoglycan-rich extracellular matrix. Histologic analysis also revealed an increase in cell volume and cellular encasement in larger lacunae in GDF5-treated cultures. Taken together, these results support a role for GDF5 in influencing chondrocyte maturation and the induction of hypertrophy in the late stages of embryonic cartilage development, and provide additional mechanistic insights into the role of GDF5 in skeletal development.     

Hydra: a C-language environment for real-time DOS multitasking at the bedside

Patient monitoring at the bedside is an inherently parallel job, best handled by multiple individual tasks running concurrently. Cost and diffusion considerations strongly favor the use of PC's at the bedside, but their most widespread operating system, DOS, is not built for multitasking. Hence, a software platform in C language has been prepared, allowing the intermediate programmer to easily write independent modules which will then run simultaneously without conflicts.Such a platform aims at allowing effortless sharing of data among concurrently running processes, while providing strong insulation between tasks, enough to allow multiple copies of any one task to run simultaneously unknown to each other. A cooperative, memory sharing multitasking paradigm has been chosen, which offers fine granularity of timeslicing and low execution overhead at the price of some loss in generality of design.Speed, data exchange capability and number of stackable windows are greater than with commercial packages like Windows or LabWinows. Dynamical reprioritization of tasks is built in, allowing the computerized monitor to focus its attention and resources on urgent tasks.     

Gastric and duodenal obstruction in patients with cholangiocarcinoma in the porta hepatis: increased prevalence after radiation therapy.

OBJECTIVE. Our objective was to study the imaging findings in patients who had gastric and duodenal obstruction as a long-term complication of cholangiocarcinoma and to determine if the obstruction was associated with radiation therapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS. Between 1973 and 1989, 96 patients had either curative resection or palliative stenting for cholangiocarcinoma involving the hepatic duct bifurcation. Sixty-three (66%) also received adjuvant radiation therapy ranging from 4960 to 7220 rad (cGy). Gastric outlet or duodenal obstruction or both developed subsequently in seven of the 63 patients treated with radiation therapy. Radiographic studies, including upper gastrointestinal series and CT, and medical and surgical records for these seven patients were retrospectively reviewed. RESULTS. Upper gastrointestinal series in the seven patients with obstruction showed narrowing of the lumen, deformity and enlargement of gastric and duodenal mucosal folds, and delayed gastric emptying. CT performed in five of the seven patients showed thickening of the wall of the gastric antrum and small bowel and retained food and fluid within the stomach. All seven patients required gastrojejunostomy; at surgery, dense adhesions and fibrosis were found, and it was not evident whether the obstruction was due to the tumor or to radiation fibrosis. However, because this complication was seen only after radiotherapy, it was presumed to be radiation fibrosis. CONCLUSION. Our experience suggests that radiation therapy increases the risk of postoperative gastric and duodenal obstruction in patients undergoing surgery for cholangiocarcinoma.     

Fat absorption in premature infants: medium-chain triglycerides and long-chain triglycerides are absorbed from formula at similar rates

Fat absorption from two different premature infant formulas and one full-term formula containing three different fat blends was investigated in two groups of premature infants. The first group of nine infants (gestational age, 29.1 +/- 0.88 weeks; postnatal age, 3.13 +/- 0.71 weeks) was fed alternately for 1 week each SMA preterm formula containing either high levels (50%) of medium-chain triglycerides (MCT) (6:0, 8:0, and 10:0) or high levels (86%) of long-chain triglycerides (LCT) (greater than or equal to C12). Except for fat blends, the formulas were otherwise identical. The second group of 11 infants (gestational age, 30.5 +/- 0.77 weeks, studied at a postnatal age of 4.33 +/- 0.91 weeks) was fed for 1 week a full-term infant formula, S-26, containing 98% LCT. Fat absorption (studied during a 3-day fat balance period) was similar irrespective of fat blend: 89.08 +/- 2.37% during feeding of preterm SMA, 50% MCT; 87.0 +/- 3.81% during feeding of preterm SMA, 86% LCT; and 83.00 +/- 2.89% during feeding of S-26, 98% LCT. Weight gain (grams per day) and increase in length (centimeters per day) were 23.2 +/- 1.7, 21.20 +/- 1.7, and 14.28 +/- 2.9, and 0.17 +/- 0.06, 0.16 +/- 0.04, and 0.22 +/- 0.07 during feeding of the three fat blends, respectively. Lipase activity levels in fasting gastric aspirates were higher during feeding of the LCT than the MCT formula. The possible stimulation of gastric lipase secretion secondary to long-chain fatty acid stimulation of cholecystokinin secretion might be related to the efficient digestion of formula fat, irrespective of triglyceride-fatty acid chain length.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)