Advanced 1H Solid‐State NMR Spectroscopy on Hydrogels, 1

Summary: The nature of the pH dependent collapse of poly(methacrylic acid) (PMAA) hydrogels is investigated using recent ¹H solid‐state NMR methods. In aqueous solution, PMAA changes from an expanded conformation at high pHs to a compact contracted form at low pHs, where hydrogen bonds play a central role. In solid‐state ¹H NMR spectra, recorded under fast magic angle spinning (MAS), dried PMAA samples previously collapsed at low pHs show characteristic signals in the spectral region of the carboxylic acid protons. With the aid of 2D ¹H‐¹H double‐quantum (DQ) MAS NMR spectra, three signals can be distinguished at 8, 10.5 and 12.5 ppm, which are attributed to free carboxylic groups and two different types of hydrogen bonded forms, respectively. The 12.5 ppm signal arises from the hydrogen bond with the shortest H? H distance, corresponding to the form that is most stable with respect to increasing temperature and pH. The weaker hydrogen‐bonded form (with a signal at 10.5 ppm) requires a slightly lower pH, while the free acid signal (at 8 ppm) emerges under the most acidic medium. Moreover, the stabilities of the hydrogen‐bonded carboxylic acid dimers can be inferred from the proton‐proton distances within the dimers, i.e. (275 ± 5) pm and (295 ± 15) pm for the protons at 12.5 and 10.5 ppm, respectively, which are determined by means of DQ MAS sideband patterns. Both the stability of the hydrogen bonds and the acidity of the protons may be related to the stereochemistry and the conformation of the PMAA chains.

     

702例正常成人红细胞变形性与性别、年龄的相关性

采用激光衍射法对７０２例正常成人的红细胞变形指数ＤＩ值测定，并将测得的各个数据随年龄增长配对分不同年龄（范围）组作相关性研究。结果发现正常成人红细胞变形性随增龄呈抛物线状的改变。性别年龄与红细胞变形性关系有如下特征：（１）１８～２９岁男女组的ＤＩ值随增龄呈上升状态，达到正常成人的高峰，与增龄呈显著正相关，相关有显著意义，Ｐ＜０．０５。（２）１８～４４岁男女组随增龄ＤＩ值开始呈缓慢下降趋势，相关性由１８～２９岁的正相关逐渐过渡到负相关，相关无显著性意义，Ｐ＞０．０５。（３）１８～４９岁开始直至７９岁男女各组随增龄红细胞变形性明显下降，与增龄呈显著负相关，相关有非常显著意义，Ｐ＜０．００１。男女性的ＤＩ值，５４岁以前男女各组间比较，经ｔ检验，无显著性差异，Ｐ＞０．０５；１８～５９、１８～６４、１８～７４和１８～７９岁男女组间比较，有显著性差异，Ｐ＜０．０５。结果提示：正常成人在青年、壮年和老年前期、老年期的红细胞变形性有其不同变化特点，性别年龄与红细胞变形性相关有显著意义。     

Report of the symposium

Summary The past decades have seen considerable shifts of emphasis in surgical care. The recognition that pus was not laudable, was followed by a realisation that not all complications were inevitable and that prophylaxis could effectively reduce the incidence of most common problems in the post-operative period. As anaesthesia has become safer, it has been possible to embark on more intricate and prolonged procedures and for sufficient time to be available to ensure adequate intraoperative care.These two phenomena have firstly increased the complexity of management in the post-operative period, and have brought this aspect of surgical care more obviously to the limelight. However, many separate disciplines are involved in the care of the patient post-operatively, and the Symposium was organised¹ to bring the different groups together to identify the areas of recent development in the different specialities and to integrate the overall care of the individual patient.Abbreviations ARDS adult respiratory distress syndrome - DIC disseminated intravascular clotting     

Stature estimation based on hand length and foot length

This study was carried out to estimate the relationship between hand length, foot length and stature using multiple linear regression analyses based on a sample of male and female adult Turks residing in Adana. Measurements of hand length, foot length and stature were taken from 155 adult Turks (80 male, 75 female) aged 17-23 years. The participants were students of the Medical Faculty of Cukurova University. A multiple linear regression model was fitted to the observed data. Stature was taken as the response or dependent variable, hand length and foot length were taken as explanatory variables or regressors. All possible (simple and multiple) linear regression models for each of males, females and both genders together were tested for the best model. The multiple linear regression model for both genders together was found to be the best model with the highest values for the coefficients of determination R2 = 0.861 and R2adjusted = 0.859, and multiple correlation coefficient R = 0.928.     

Sexual dimorphism in digit‐length ratios of laboratory mice

The lengths of the index finger (2D) and ring finger (4D) are sexually dimorphic in humans, and men have a smaller 2D:4D ratio compared to women. Prenatal androgens appear to be important in the development of the 2D:4D sex difference, since it has been reported in children as young as 2 years old, and since humans exposed to supernormal prenatal androgen levels display a smaller 2D:4D ratio. We tested whether another mammalian species in which the process of peripheral sexual differentiation is androgen‐dependent might also show a sex difference in digit ratios. The 2D:4D ratio of adult outbred mice was calculated for both the left and right rear paws. A sex difference was observed in the right rear paw: female mice had a larger 2D:4D ratio than did males. We also found this difference in prepubescent weanling mice. This sex difference is in the same direction as that observed in humans, and suggests that sexual dimorphism in digit length ratios is a feature common to many, if not all, mammals. The mouse may therefore be a useful animal model for studying the factors that influence finger length patterns, which have recently been correlated with several specific behaviors and disease predispositions in humans. Anat Rec 267:231–234, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Wilms' tumor in adults: aspiration cytology and cytogenetics

The fine-needle aspiration cytologic findings of Wilms' tumor occurring in a 20-yr-old female patient and a 35-yr-old male patient showing blastemal, spindled sarcomatous and rare epithelial components are reported. The male patient had the typical presentation of renal mass with metastasis to lung and pleura, whereas the female patient had an unusual presentation with the tumor originated from the subcapsular nephrogenic zone of the kidney, extending into the liver without invasion into the renal cortex. Cytogenetic analysis of this case identified: 90, XXXX, +2x3-4, -5, -15, -16, -17, -17, i (17)(q10) x2. This finding may represent a genetic change associated with Wilms' tumor of older pediatric and young adult patients. To the best of our knowledge, this case is the sixth case with cytogenetic study and the first case revealing isochromosome 17q of an adult Wilms' tumor.     

心房钠尿肽对脂多糖所致大鼠急性肺损伤的影响

目的:探讨心房钠尿肽(ANP)对脂多糖(LPS)血症大鼠急性肺损伤的作用和机制。方法: 大鼠静脉给予LPS(2 mg·kg^－1)后立即静脉给予ANP(2 μg·kg^－1),记录动物平均动脉血压(MAP)、检测血浆一氧化氮(NO)和内皮素(ET)浓度、测定肺水含量并做肺组织病理学检查。结果: 给予LPS的大鼠,MAP持续下降,至4 h MAP(8.1±2.6)kPa;血浆NO和ET浓度均显著升高(P<0.01 vs control);4 h肺湿干比(5.15±0.43),显著高于对照组(P<0.05);大鼠肺组织病理学检查呈现肺间质水肿。LPS＋ANP组大鼠MAP在给药初期的短暂下降后逐步回升,至4h MAP(13.4±2.9)kPa(P<0.05 vs LPS);4 h血浆NO水平和ET浓度均显著下降(P<0.05 vs LPS),但仍明显高于对照组(P<0.01 vs control);肺湿干比(4.57±0.35)与对照组没有显著差异;肺组织病理学改变较LPS组明显减轻。结论: ANP对LPS引起的急性肺损伤有治疗作用,能调节LPS引起的动脉血压的持续下降,上述作用可能与ANP拮抗ET的产生、降低NO的分泌有关。     

Synthesis and Characterization of Segmented Poly(ether ester)s Containing H‐Bonding Units

A series of poly(ether ester)s containing different H‐bonding units (amide, carbamate, urea) was prepared by polycondensation in bulk, using Ti(OBu)₄ as a catalyst. The copolymers were obtained starting from PEG1000, 1,4‐butanediol, and a symmetrical, bis‐ester terminated monomer carrying H‐bonding units. These materials were designed for biomedical applications, in which ultimate biodegradability of the materials is required. The influence of the nature of the H‐bonding unit and of the length of the methylene spacer between H‐bonding groups on the thermal and solubility properties of copolymers was investigated. Amide containing copolymers were more thermally stable than ones containing carbamate, consistent with the observed behavior of the corresponding monomers. In most cases, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) traces were quite complex because of phase separation and dependent on the applied cooling rate. Copolymers containing urea bonds were less soluble in most organic solvents, but their thermal properties were not significantly different than their amide containing counterparts.

Synthesis of amide‐based diester monomers.     

Adult T cell leukemia/lymphoma with massive involvement of cardiac muscle and valves

An autopsy case of a 58-year-old woman with massive cardiac Involvement of adult T cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL) is reported. She developed cardiac failure due to aortic and mitral regurgitation with cardiac infiltration of ATLL cells, and underwent replacement of both aortic and mitral valves. Studies of the cut-surfaces revealed diffuse thickening of the subendocardial wall of the left chamber with widespread whitish-brown tumor infiltrates. In the regions surrounding the replaced aortic and mitral valves there was also massive tumor cell infiltration. The tumor cells infiltrating the cardiac muscle wall were T cell in origin and exhibited Leu-3a (CD4)-positive immunoreaction. Ultrastructurally, tumor cells contained markedly indented nuclei and some were attached directly to the muscle cells. These findings suggest that this was an unusual form of ATLL with widespread involvement of the heart.     

Plasticity of the central nervous system—a neurosurgeon's experience of cerebral compensation and decompensation

Summary Cerebral plasticity constitutes one of the most decisive factors in recovery and readaptation after cerebral lesions. In contrast to the considerable progress in current studies on normal neuronal plasticity including the idea of l'homme neuronal, the concept of plasticity postulated by Albrecht Bethe in 1929 received little attention. The author, as a neurosurgeon, has tried to describe cranial morphological plasticity, morphological and functional plasticity in infantile encephalopathies and especially in hemiatrophic lesions. It is supposed that a true morphological substrate exists due to compensatory hyperplasia of the uninvolved hemisphere.Modern neurosurgical techniques have demonstrated that the functional plastic capacity is much larger than has been supposed, even in the elderly. Some aspects of the mechanisms of compensation and decompensation of cortical and subcortical structures as well as of the central regulation systems are discussed. The full extent of the amazing recovery and functional reorganization is reached by plastic capacity, personal motivation, adequate training and sufficient time.The contribution ends with an exposition of a personal philosophy concerning psycho-somatic dualism, the body-mind problem, the future of the human brain and the ethical outlook, based on the progressive biological evolution of the basal neocortex and the immanent functional development (H. Spatz).In grateful memory of my paternal friends, the great German brain researchers Julius Hallervorden (1882–1965) and Hugo Spatz (1888–1969).