Peak velocities of visually and nonvisually guided saccades in smooth-pursuit and saccadic tasks

 Smooth pursuit typically includes corrective catch-up saccades, but may also include such intrusive saccades away from the target as anticipatory or large overshooting saccades. We sought to differentiate catch-up from anticipatory and overshooting saccades by their peak velocities, to see whether the higher velocities of visually rather than nonvisually guided saccades in saccadic tasks may be found also in saccades in pursuit. In experiment 1, 12 subjects showed catch-up, anticipatory, and overshooting saccades to comprise 70.4% of all saccades in pursuit of periodic, 30°/s constant-velocity targets. Catch-up saccades were faster than the others. Saccadic tasks were run as well, on 19 subjects, including the 12 whose pursuit data were analyzed, with target-onset, target-remaining (saccade to the remaining target when the other three extinguish), and antisaccade tasks. For 17 of the 19 subjects, antisaccade velocities were lower than for either target-onset or target-remaining tasks. Velocities for the target-remaining task were near those for target onset, indicating that target presence, not its onset, defines visually guided saccades. Error and reaction-time data suggest greater cognitive difficulty for target remaining than for target onset, so that the cognitive difficulty of typical nonvisually guided saccade tasks is not sufficient to produce their lowered velocity. To produce reliably, in each subject, catch-up and anticipatory saccades with comparable amplitude distributions, nine new subjects were asked in experiment 2 to make intentional catch-up and anticipatory saccades in pursuit, and were presented with embedded target jumps to elicit catch-up saccades, all with periodic target trajectories of 15°/s and 30°/s. Velocities of intentional anticipatory saccades were lower than velocities of intentional catch-up saccades, while velocities of intentional and embedded catch-up saccades were similar. Target-onset and remembered-target saccadic tasks were run, showing the expected higher velocity for the target-onset task in each subject. Both experiments demonstrate higher peak velocities for catch-up saccades than for anticipatory saccades, suggesting that cortical structures preferentially involved in nonvisually guided saccades may initiate the anticipatory and overshooting saccades in pursuit. Received: 1 December 1995 / Accepted: 25 February 1997     

人心房肌细胞特殊颗粒的电镜酶细胞化学和免疫电镜研究

本研究应用电镜CMP酶细胞化学和心钠素免疫电镜胶体金,分别标记人心房肌细胞中初级溶酶体和心钠素,进行鉴别定位观察和定量分析。心钠素颗粒数量居多,占78.7～79.3％,大小均一,直径0.20±0.05μm(x±s),分布于整个细胞质内,多成簇,尤以肌膜下,核极区多见。而溶酶体大小不一,直径0.30±0.19μm(x±s),显著大于心钠素颗粒(P<0.001),一般在核极区成簇分布,也见肌原纤维之间和肌膜下单个散在分布。     

HCV HVR1准种在不同基因型丙型肝炎患者中的分布

目的:通过研究丙型肝炎病毒高变区1(HCV HVR1)准种复杂性与基因型之间的关系,探讨不同基因型HCV致病性差异的机制.方法:采用C区型特异性引物PCR法进行HCV基因分型,采用单链构象多态性聚合酶链反应法(SSCP法)检测HCV HVR1准种.结果:68例丙型肝炎患者中,Ⅱ型49例(72%),Ⅲ型13例(19%),Ⅱ、Ⅲ混合型6例(9%).Ⅱ型和Ⅱ、Ⅲ混合型HCV感染患者的HCV HVR1准种复杂性(SSCP条带数)明显高于Ⅲ型感染的患者,且与疾病严重程度关系密切.结论:HCV HVR1准种复杂性的差异可能是导致不同基因型HCV致病性差异的因素之一.     

Decreased expression of DMPK: correlation with CTG repeat expansion and fibre type composition in myotonic dystrophy type 1

Abstract Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) is an autosomal dominant disease caused by a trinucleotide repeatexpansion, cytosine-thymine-guanine (CTG)_n, in the 3′ untranslated region of a gene encoding the myotonic dystrophy protein kinase (DMPK). To correlate CTG expansion and protein expression, we studied muscle specimens from 16 adult DM1 patients using three anti-DMPK antibodies for immunoblotting. We estimated the amount of the full-length DMPK (85 kDa) in muscle biopsies from normal controls and from DM1 patients carrying different (CTG)_n expansions. We found that DMPK concentration was decreased to about 50% in DM patients’ muscles; the protein decrease did not seem correlated with the CTG repeat length. However, the fibre type composition in skeletal muscle seemed somehow to affect DMPK decrease, as the lowest level of the enzyme was found in patients with the lowest content of type 1 fibre.     

抗戊型肝炎病毒重组蛋白单克隆抗体的制备和初步应用

目的:制备抗-戊型肝炎病毒的单克隆抗体,并将其用于分析戊型肝炎病毒不同毒株结构蛋白的抗原表位。方法:采用来自墨西哥株(Mexicanstrain)的戊型肝炎病毒重组蛋白(p166Mex)免疫Balb/c小鼠,取其脾细胞与SP2/0骨髓瘤细胞进行融合,经酶联免疫吸附试验(ELISA)法筛选阳性克隆,并将获得的单克隆抗体与戊型肝炎病毒缅甸株(Burmastrain)和美国株(USAstrain)的重组蛋白(p166Bur、p166US)进行交叉反应测定。结果:最终获得4株能稳定分泌抗-p166Mex的杂交瘤细胞株,即D8G10、E5E12、D4A3、B7E6。其中D8G10,E5E12和B7E6细胞株的培养上清液,还能分别与p166Bur和p166US重组蛋白发生阳性反应。结论:利用已获得的抗-p166Mex单克隆抗体,初步确定3种不同的戊型肝炎病毒重组蛋白(p166Bur、p166US、p166Mex)含有一种共同的抗原表位。     

湖南省乙肝病毒基因型分布及临床意义

目的 :研究湖南省乙肝病毒 (HBV)基因型分布及临床意义。方法 :选择湖南省HBVDNA阳性慢性乙肝病人共 185例 ,其中病毒携带者 (ASC) 4 2例 ,慢性轻、中度肝炎 (CH) 38例 ,重型肝炎 (FHF) 80例 (伴有肝硬化者 4 9例 ) ,肝细胞癌 (HCC) 2 5例 ,采用聚合酶链反应 限制性片段长度多态性 (PCR RFLP)方法检测HBV基因型。结果 :基因型B136例 (73.5 % ) ,基因型C 4 9例 (2 6 .5 % )。基因型B在FHF中占绝对优势 (83.7% ) ,其次为HCC(76 % ) ,与ASC(5 7.1% )比较 ,差异有显著性 (P <0 .0 1)。与基因型B相比 ,基因型C在垂直传播感染者中多见 (38.8%与 13.2 % ,P <0 .0 0 1) ;HBeAg阳性率明显增高 (5 7.1%与 30 .9% ,P <0 .0 0 1) ;抗HBe阳性率明显下降 (36 .9%与 6 6 .2 % ,P <0 .0 0 1)。与基因型C相比 ,基因型B感染者ALT水平明显增高 (2 6 4 .5± 2 5 6 .5与 10 0± 12 0 .6 ,P <0 .0 0 1)。结论 :湖南省存在乙肝病毒基因型B和基因型C ;基因型B为优势基因型并与肝脏疾病活动性相关 ,基因型C与母婴垂直传播感染有关     

Child with a tail

An interesting case of a child with a tail is reported. The child had a tail like structure in the back since birth, increasing with age. It was 20 cm. long, the longest tail so far described in the English literature. There was no functional complain. The result was excellent after excision as the problem was only cosmetic.     

Naturally occuring antibodies against nerve growth factor in human and rabbit sera: comparison between control and herpes simplex virus-infected patients

Antibodies against nerve growth factor (NGF) in sera were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA), by their isolation after passage of sera through NGF immunoadsorbent columns and by their specificity to bind and immunoprecipitate mouse NGF as well as to stain by immunohistochemical methods cellular sites of NGF synthesis. Increased levels of anti-NGF antibodies were found in sera of herpes simplex virus (HSV)-infected patients but not in HSV-inoculated rabbits. As HSV latency is known to be promoted by NGF in vitro, these results may suggest that anti-NGF antibodies modulate the cytokine function of NGF and thus might play a role in HSV infection. The biological function of circulating antibodies against NGF, in general, is now open to future investigation.     

The thymus in seronegative myasthenia gravis patients

Summary In 5–10% of all patients with typical generalised myasthenia gravis (MG), serum antibody to the acetylcholine receptor (AChR) is undetectable. To determine whether these represent a distinct subgroup, we have compared the thymuses of 14 seronegatives, 70 seropositives and 12 non-myasthenic controls. By quantitative immunohistology on coded sections, the 7 seronegative samples were clearly distinguishable from the controls by the pronounced lymph node-type T-cell areas in the medulla. While these closely resembled those in the seropositive cases, germinal centres were significantly sparser, and total in vitro IgG production was disproportionately low (per B cell) in the 12 cases tested. Furthermore, specific anti-AChR production was never detected in any of these cultures. The data support the view that the medullary T-cell areas are the most consistent abnormalitiy in the MG thymus (though it may not be primary), and they strongly imply that seronegative and seropositive MG are distinct entities.     

新疆出血热病毒与流行性出血热病毒的生物学特性比较

本文通过免疫荧光(IF)和电镜(EM)技术对新疆出血热(XHF)及流行性出血热(EHF)病毒的生物学特性在Vero E_6及LLC-MK_2两株传代细胞上进行了比较。两种病毒感染两株细胞后免疫荧光染色有两种不同的荧光形态特征,两种病毒对细胞的敏感性明显不同,XHF病毒在LLC-MK_2细胞上感染后6～8天可出现明显的细胞病变,而EHF病毒感染此细胞后则不引起病变。电镜观察到两种病毒在LLC-MK_2细胞中都能形成与布尼病毒相似的形态特征。