Sclerosing peritonitis. A complication of LeVeen peritoneovenous shunt

Sclerosing peritonitis (abdominal cocoon syndrome) is a rare chronic affection of the peritoneum; its etiology is multifactorial and it affects all ages. Capsulating membranes seem to grow from a poorly cellular connective deposition in many layers on the intestinal peritoneum and are casually detected by surgery or autopsy. The placement of the peritoneovenous shunt can favour the deposition of fibrin on the visceral peritoneum, determining the formation of sclerosing membranes. When mechanical occlusion occurs, surgery is the choice therapy in order to remove the obstacle and, if possible, the membranes as well.     

Comparison of SAPS II, MPM II24 and SAPS in intensive care

OBJECTIVE: To compare the performance of the new SAPS II, new MPM2 and SAPS in a cohort of patients admitted to our polyvalent ICU. METHODS: Design: the ability of the SAPS II scoring system to predict the probability of hospital mortality was assessing calibration and discrimination (ROC curve) measures obtained using published coefficients and within relevant subgroups using formal statistic assessment (goodness of fit). Patients: from May 1997 to May 1998, 420 consecutive patients over 18 years old. RESULTS: When the parameters based on the standard model were applied, the SAPS II discrimination (area under ROC curve) was = 0.889 and calibration (chi square test) of SAPS II was = 4.448 with p = 0.879; MPM2 chi 2 = 0.9385, p = 0.402 and SAPS chi 2 = 27.089, p = 0.0001. The performance of SAPS II model was very good. Worst predictive accuracy was achieved in trauma and elective surgery patients. CONCLUSIONS: SAPS II model gave good results in terms of calibration and discrimination. SAPS II has better accuracy then SAPS and MPM2. Concerning the performance of models, large differences were apparent in relevant subgroups: trauma and sepsis patients. Moreover the choice of adequate statistic method to compare intensive care populations appeared to need more research.     

Study of the relationships between common fragile sites, chromosome breakages and sister chromatid exchanges

This paper reports the results of an investigation into therelationship between common fragile sites and sister chromatidexchanges (SCE). Human leukocyte cultures were grown in twodifferent media, one complete (RPMI 1640) and one deficientin folic acid and thymidine (199M). Some of the cultures weretreated with DAPI, a non-intercalating compound which bindspreferentially to the AT bases of DNA and is capable of inducingfragile sites. Bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) was added to all thecultures for SCE analysis. Chromomycin A₃ was used for mappinglesions and SCEs by R-banding. A total of 400 cells was examined.The main results show that: BrdU, probably by re-equilibratingthe unbalanced nucleotide pool of the 199 culture medium, interfereswith the synergism between this culture medium and DAPI in inducingthe expression of fragile sites; the SCE frequency per cellis not increased by DAPI in both culture media, therefore thiscompound does not seem to cause any damage to the DNA and seemsmerely to act by inhibiting the normal condensation of a subsetof fragile sites that possess DAPI-specific base sequences;even in the absence of chromosomal lesions, the fragile sitesare significantly preferred as SCE sites to non-fragile sites,whereas in the presence of a lesion, both fragile and non-fragilesites have the same likelihood of undergoing SCE. All this indicatesthat the presence of a lesion strongly favours SCE formationand that common fragile sites are probably chromosome regionspreferentially damaged during the S phase. ³To whom correspondence should be addressed     

Further observations on the sensitive innervation of some bird's proctodeum

The AA. studied the autonomic and sensitive somatic innervation of some female bird's proctodeum, through the properly modified Ruffini's gold chloride method. The vegetative component was constituted by ganglion cells of different size, isolated or grouped to form ganglia, found along the course of nerve trunks or in the concurrent point of different nerve bundles. The sensitive somatic innervation was represented by free and encapsulated endings differently distributed in the thickness of the wall. The former were composed of thin networks, while the latter, located more frequently in the muscular tunica and in the subadventitial connective, were composed of encapsulated receptors classified as Pacini, Pacini-like and Herbst corpuscles. The morphology of these receptors was described and hypotheses were brought up about their probable functional role. The AA, also found, even if very rarely, helicoidal collagen fibres around nerve fascicles.     

A Short Latency Vestibulomasseteric Reflex Evoked by Electrical Stimulation Over the Mastoid in Healthy Humans

We describe EMG responses recorded in active masseter muscles following unilateral and bilateral electrical vestibular stimulation (EVS, current pulses of 5 mA intensity, 2 ms duration, 3 Hz frequency). Averaged responses in unrectified masseter EMG induced by unilateral EVS were examined in 16 healthy subjects; effects induced by bilateral (transmastoid) stimulation were studied in 10 subjects. Results showed that unilateral as well as bilateral EVS induces bilaterally a clear biphasic response (onset latency ranging from 7.2 to 8.8 ms), that is of equal amplitude and latency contra- and ipsilateral to the stimulation site. In all subjects, unilateral cathodal stimulation induced a positive—negative response termed p11/n15 according to its mean peak latency; the anodal stimulation induced a response of opposite polarity (n11/p15) in 11/16 subjects. Cathodal responses were significantly larger than anodal responses. Bilateral stimulation induced a p11/n15 response significantly larger than that induced by the unilateral cathodal stimulation. Recordings from single motor units showed that responses to cathodal stimulation corresponded to a brief (2–4 ms) silent period in motor unit discharge rate. The magnitude of EVS-induced masseter response was linearly related to current intensity and scaled with the mean level of EMG activity. The size of the p11/n15 response was asymmetrically modulated when subjects were tilted on both sides; in contrast head rotation did not exert any influence. Control experiments excluded a possible role of cutaneous receptors in generating the masseter response. We conclude that transmastoid electrical stimulation evokes vestibulomasseteric reflexes in healthy humans at latencies consistent with a di-trisynaptic pathway.     

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) glycoprotein h is partially processed in a cell line that expresses the glycoprotein and fully processed in cells infected with deletion or is mutants in the known hsv glycoproteins

Cell lines that constitutively express herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) glycoprotein H (gH-1 ) failed to synthesize the mature form of gH and accumulated a precursor-like form of the glycoprotein, which was retained intracellularly, most likely in RER. Fine-structure analysis of the oligosaccharides present in recombinant gH revealed oligosaccharides processed by RER enzymes; sialylated complex-type and biantennary oligosaccharides, which are assembled in the trans-Golgi, were absent. A small fraction had the characteristics of oligosaccharides processed by the early mannosidases of the Golgi. These findings suggest that a defect in the transport out of RER to the Golgi may account for the intracellular retention of the immature form of gH in cells that express the glycoprotein constitutively. Upon superinfection of cells expressing gH-1 with HSV-2, recombinant gH-1 underwent maturation, indicating that a viral function is required to attain full processing of gH. The known HSV glycoproteins do not appear to carry out this function, since in cells infected with deletion mutants in gD, gG, gE, and gE-gl, with a spontaneous gC- mutant, or with a temperature-sensitive mutant in gB, maturation of gH occurred independently of the presence or of the maturation of the single glycoproteins tested. The present findings together with previous observations on HSV, human CMV, and the EBV homologue of gH suggest that inability of gH to undergo full processing in the absence of viral protein (s) is a property of gH.     

Offence-Supportive Cognitions,Atypical Sexuality,Problematic Self-Regulation,and Perceived Anonymity Among Online and Contact Sexual Offenders Against Children

Archives of Sexual Behavior - Cognitions that support sexual offending, atypical sexuality, and problems with self-regulation are important indicators of offending among men who engage in contact...     

Establishment and characterization of a new cell line from primary human breast carcinoma

Summary A new cell line (BRC-230) was established from surgical material of primary ductal infiltrating breast carcinoma. The epithelial nature of this cell line was confirmed by ultrastructural analysis and demonstrated the retention of structural properties characteristic of the original tumor. The BRC-230 cell line induced tumor in athymic Cr1:nu/nu(CD-1)BR nude mice, it possessed an abnormal karyotype with a modal chromosome number between 60–61 with eight recurrent marker chromosomes, and it presented a doubling time of 30.5 hr. Scatchard analysis demonstrated that both primary tumor and BRC-230 cells were estrogen and progesterone receptor negative.Immunoenzymatic and radioimmunoassays showed a production of marker antigens (CEA, TPA, CA125, CA15-3, CA19-9) which was similar in the patient's serum and BRC-230 cells. Thein vitro drug sensitivity assay of the cell line and of the parental tumor tissue showed overlapping results to all tested antiblastic drugs. BRC-230 cells were resistant to 4-Idroperoxy-cyclophosphamide, Idarubicinol, Mitoxantrone, Etoposide, 4Epidoxorubicin, and Doxorubicin, showing a multiple drug resistance phenotype. Amplification or rearrangement of Her-2neu, Ha-ras, and C-myc genes was observed neither in the original tumor nor in BRC-230 cells; the mdr-1 gene was also present in a single copy.We conclude from these studies that the BRC-230 cell line maintains the same characteristics as the original tumor and may provide us with a good model to studyin vitro the biology of drug resistance of breast cancer.