Extraction of a broken intracoronary PTCA guide wire perforating the circumflex artery, using a Dotter retrieval catheter

Coronary artery perforation is a rare but potentially lethal complication during percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA). To avoid pericardial tamponade, it has been suggested that perforating wires or balloons should not be withdrawn and that the patient should be transferred immediately to surgery. We report a case with a perforating and broken intracoronary guide wire which was successfully extracted using a Dotter intravascular retriever catheter. The only consequence was a small pericardial effusion not requiring pericardial puncture. Thus, emergency surgery is not inevitable after coronary artery perforation caused by thin intracoronary guide wires.     

Intraaxonal and extraaxonal transport of 125I-tetanus toxin in early local tetanus

The distribution of radioactivity in the sciatic nerve, the spinal ganglia, the ventral roots and the spinal cord was studied by means of histoautoradiography after injection of 125I-labelled tetanus toxin into gastrocnemius muscles of cats. In the sciatic nerve the major part of the radioactivity was found in the epineurium, but some axons also contained radioactivity. In the ventral root the radioactivity was strictly confined to a few axons; no radioactivity was found in other parts of the ventral root. In the spinal cord the radioactivity was confined to a few motoneurones where it was found in the soma as well as in the dendrites. Transient cooling of the ventral roots prevented the ascent of radioactivity into the spinal cord. Colchicine and vinblastine, after local application to the sciatic nerve, reduced the amount of radioactivity found in the ventral roots and in the spinal cord. However, the same effect was also obtained but to a lesser degree with lumicolchicine. It is concluded that the intraaxonal compartment is involved in the neural ascent of tetanus toxin into the spinal cord.     

The PWM model of the immunoglobulin synthesis capacity of human peripheral blood lymphocytes. II. Modification of the immunofluorescent detection of cytoplasmic immunoglobulins (cIg+)

To detect intracytoplasmic antibodies after PWM-stimulation of peripheral mononuclear cells we used class specific antisera against IgG, A and M and ascertained the whole number of cIg+-cells by addition. The number of cIg+-cells after culturing 7 days without mitogen was below 1%, with PWM-stimulation 14,7% +/- 8,5 (n = 29, blood donors). We discussed the requirements for the culture conditions and for the immunofluorescence detection.     

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Radiation and breast cancer: a review of current evidence

This paper summarizes current knowledge on ionizing radiation-associated breast cancer in the context of established breast cancer risk factors, the radiation dose-response relationship, and modifiers of dose response, taking into account epidemiological studies and animal experiments. Available epidemiological data support a linear dose-response relationship down to doses as low as about 100 mSv. However, the magnitude of risk per unit dose depends strongly on when radiation exposure occurs: exposure before the age of 20 years carries the greatest risk. Other characteristics that may influence the magnitude of dose-specific risk include attained age (that is, age at observation for risk), age at first full-term birth, parity, and possibly a history of benign breast disease, exposure to radiation while pregnant, and genetic factors.     

Intraspinal distribution and reaction in the grey matter with tetanus toxin of intracisternally injected anti-tetanus toxoid F (ab′)2 fragments

Anti-tetanus toxoid F(ab′)₂ fragments were purified using immune-affinity chromatography on tetanus toxoid-Sepharose. Fragments were labeled with¹²⁵I. Labeled or non-labeled fragments were injected into the intrathecal space of rats. The labeled fragments were found in the spinal cord outside but not inside neurons.Tetanus toxin was injected into a muscle and 36 h later labeled fragments were injected intracisternally. After another 24 h the label was elevated in the spinal cord half segments giving neural supply to the injected muscle and in these half-segments the label was concentrated around some α-motoneurons.[¹²⁵I]Tetanus toxin was injected into a muscle and at different times thereafter non-labeled fragments were injected intracisternally. The development of hindlimb rigidity but not the accumulation of [¹²⁵I]tetanus toxin in α-motoneurons was prevented by early intracisternal injection of fragments. Injection of fragments after the appearance of hindlimb rigidity did not revert the rigidity but prevented the further development of symptoms.It is concluded that an action of tetanus toxin inside α-motoneurons is of no importance for the development of motor symptoms in clinical tetanus. The data suggest that in order to evoke spinal symptoms of toxicity tetanus toxin has to reach interneurons by transneuronal migration. In the very early stages of clinical tetanus the intrathecal injection of fragments may be useful.