Influence of blood supply of the esophageal and gastric stumps on anastomotic healing after esophagogastrostomy in rabbits]

OBJECTIVE: To study how blood supply of the esophageal and gastric stumps influences the anastomotic healing after esophagogastrostomy in rabbits. METHODS: Twenty-seven New Zealand rabbits were randomly divided into 3 groups to receive esophagogastrostomy, followed by different procedures. Except for those in group I, all the rabbits were subjected to procedures of reducing the blood supply either of the esophageal or the gastric stump (group II and group III, respectively), followed by single-layer esophagogastric anastomoses using interrupted 5-0 polypropylene sutures. Ten days after operation, all the rats were killed and the anastomotic sites excised for measurement of the inner diameter, tensile strength, and hydroxyproline concentration. RESULTS: Healing of the esophagograstric anastomosis was obtained in all the rabbits but one with anastomotic leakage in group I and one with perforation of the gastric fundus in group III. The anastomotic inner diameters were similar in all the three groups, whereas the tensile strength and hydroxyproline concentration at the anastomoses decreased in group III in comparison with the other two groups (P<0.05) that had similar measurements (P>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Extended length of the free esophageal stump does not significantly affect anastomotic healing as decrease of blood supply in the gastric stump.     

慢性心力衰竭病人的临床分析

慢性心力衰竭（CHF）目前是老年人住院和死亡的主要原因，近几年研究结果显示CHF病人出现的肾功能障碍即心肾综合征发病率高，预后差，狭义的心肾综合征特指CHF引起的进行性肾功能损害，并导致肾功能不全，我们回顾性分析我院收治的100例CHF住院病人，着重探讨CHF程度与肾功能不全的发生率及其与住院的时间的关系。现将其临床分析介绍如下。     

668颗后牙镍铬合金PFM边缘适合性的临床观察

目的：观察采用2种边缘形式的后牙烤瓷熔附金属全冠边缘适合性和对牙龈健康的影响.方法：对668颗后牙,分别采用2种边缘形式的后牙烤瓷熔附金属全冠（单冠或桥的基牙）在修复2年后进行复查,检测其边缘适合性及牙龈指数（GI）和牙周探诊深度（PD）,用统计学方法分析修复体边缘形式与牙龈病变间的关系.结果：采用羽状边缘360°金属脚边的PFM边缘适合性明显优于凹面肩台型边缘PFM,凹面肩台型边缘的PFM的牙龈病变发生率,明显高于羽状边缘360°金属脚边的PFM,而边缘适合性差者较适合性好者牙龈病变发生率显著增高.结论：后牙PFM的边缘采用羽状边缘360°金属脚边是一种好的选择.     

Pro-opiomelanocortin messenger ribonucleic acid and posttranslational processing of beta endorphin in spleen macrophages.

We have previously demonstrated low levels of immunoreactive (ir)-beta-endorphin (beta-EP) and ir-ACTH in a subpopulation of mouse spleen macrophages, which is consistent with an involvement of opioid peptides in modulation of immune responses. Gel chromatography studies suggested the presence of an approximately 3.5,000-molecular weight (mol wt) species, putatively beta-EP, an approximately 11.5,000-mol-wt species, putatively beta-lipotropin, and a higher molecular weight species (putative beta-EP precursor, pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC). In this study we have extended our original findings by demonstrating the presence of messenger RNA for POMC by the use of a complementary DNA probe and Northern blot analysis of extracts of mouse and rat spleen. In addition, using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), we have shown that the major endorphin species in mouse spleen macrophages is beta-EP1-31, and that there are smaller amounts of each of the acetylated forms, N-acetyl-beta-EP1-16 (alpha-endorphin), N-acetyl-beta-EP1-17 (gamma-endorphin), N-acetyl-beta-EP1-27, and N-acetyl-beta-EP1-31. We interpret these studies as showing that (a) the spleen is an organ of POMC synthesis and that (b) the predominant COOH-terminal product of macrophage POMC is the opiate-receptor active species beta-EP1-31.     

Point mutation in the parkin gene on patients with Parkinson’s disease

Summary To investigate the distribution of possible novel mutations from parkin gene in variant subset of patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) in China and explore whether parkin gene plays an important role in the pathogenesis of PD, 70 patients were divided into early-onset group and late-onset group; 70 healthy subjects were included as controls. Genomic DNA from 70 normal controls and from those of PD patients were extracted from peripheral blood leukocytes by using standard procedures. Mutations of parkin gene (exon 1–12) in all the subjects were screened by PCR-single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP), and further sequencing was performed in the samples with abnormal SSCP results, in order to confirm the mutation and its location. A new missense mutation Gly284Arg in a patient and 3 abnormal bands in SSCP electrophoresis from samples of another 3 patients were found. All the DNA variants were sourced from the samples of the patients with early-onset PD. It was concluded that Parkin point mutation also partially contributes to the development of early-onset Parkinson’s disease in Chinese. WANG Tao, male, born in 1961, Associate Professor This work was supported by grants from the key program of the special scientific project of Scientific & Technologic Agency of Hubei Province (Serial No. 2001AA308B01) and the Hygienic Research Project of Hygienic Agency of Hubei province (Serial No. WJ 01529).     

Spinal cord injury: prognosis for ambulation based on quadriceps recovery.

The purpose of this study was to determine if early recovery of quadricep muscle strength post spinal cord injury (SCI) is a useful predictor of future ambulation. Seventeen C4-T10 motor incomplete (Frankel C) spinal cord injured patients admitted to our center between March 1988 and April 1990 were examined within 72 hours to one week post injury. All patients had initial quadricep strengths < or = 2/5 in both legs. Strength in the strongest quadricep was followed prospectively at intervals from admission to one year post injury. Recovery time to a > 3/5 quadricep was established for each patient. Patients were categorized into 2 groups: FA (n = 11) were those patients who achieved functional ambulation and NA (n = 6) were those subjects who were nonambulators. Functional ambulators were defined as those patients who were able to walk in the household and/or the community while non ambulators were those who either did not ambulate or did so only for exercise. All patients (n = 9) who achieved a > 3/5 quadricep by 2 months post SCI became functional ambulators whereas in the group of 8 patients who did not achieve a > 3/5 by 2 months, only 2 became functional ambulators. This result was found to be significant using a point-by-serial correlation with p < 0.05. In conclusion, motor incomplete spinal cord injured patients who recovered to a > 3/5 quadricep strength by 2 months post injury had an excellent prognosis for subsequent ambulation by 6 months post injury.     

Production and characterization of genetically engineered antibody molecules

Expression of antibody heavy- and light-chain genes by transfection permits the production of monoclonal antibodies with improved biological and antigen-binding properties. The immunoglobulin genes are placed in vectors containing a gene for encoding a protein that provides a biochemically selectable function in eukaryotic cells; these vectors are transfected into myeloma and hybridoma cells. Selection of drug-resistant cells permits the efficient isolation of the rare cells that express the transfected DNA. By placing heavy and light chains on plasmids with different selectable markers, one can deliver heavy- and light-chain genes simultaneously to the same cell. The transfected immunoglobulin genes are efficiently expressed and the proteins produced are a faithful mirror of the genes that were introduced. Using the standard techniques of genetic engineering and gene transfection, we can now produce antibodies of widely varying structures, including chimeric antibodies with segments derived from different species. These antibodies provide useful reagents to study structure-function relationships within the antibody molecule. Ultimately it will be possible to produce a new generation of antibody molecules with improved antigen-binding properties and effector functions.