Initial assessment of α-synuclein structure in platelets

Journal of Thrombosis and Thrombolysis - Over the last few years data from our group have indicated that α-synuclein is important in development of immune cells as well as potentially...     

Critical study of hair growth analysis with computer-assisted methods

BACKGROUND: Computer-assisted image analysis has been proposed for human hair growth studies. METHODS: The performances of Trichoscan, a commercially available automated system combining epiluminiscence microscopy with digital image analysis, developed for office-based hair growth measurements, have been evaluated comparatively on the same skin sites using standardized photographic equipment and calibrated processing for contrast-enhanced phototrichogram (CE-PTG) analysis. This reference method has been validated with scalp biopsies and histological examination of serial sectioning. RESULTS: Besides edge effects, hair fibres escaped the Trichoscan analysis for various reasons including, but not limited to, thickness, pigmentation, closeness and crossing. CONCLUSION: Most of these problems have been identified in the late 1980s and remain largely unsolved by the processing software that was evaluated in 2004. Therefore claims promoting the Trichoscan method for accurate hair measurements in clinical trials on scalp and body hair are not supported by the present investigation. The speed at which the analysis is performed is outweighed by the errors in signal detection. Therefore we suggest that improvements must be clearly documented before Trichoscan is established for quantified diagnostic purposes and detailed hair cycle monitoring during hair trials.     

The molecular and clinical impact of hepatocyte growth factor, its receptor, activators, and inhibitors in wound healing

Wound healing involves a number of cellular and molecular events, many of which are controlled by soluble growth factors. In the process of healing, hepatocyte growth factor, a cytokine known to act as mitogen, motogen, and morphogen, has been postulated to play multiple roles during several stages of this complex biological process. Produced primarily by stromal fibroblasts, hepatocyte growth factor regulates angiogenesis, vascular permeability, cell migration, matrix deposition and degradation, and other biological processes. The current article discusses recent progress in understanding the multiple roles played by this growth factor in tissue repair.     

双波长紫外分光光度法测定贝母中腺苷和胸苷的含量

将4种贝母的甲醇提取物经薄层色谱法粗分离后,直接用双波长紫外分光光度法测定其含量。结果表明,该方法线性关系好,腺苷和胸苷标准曲线的相关系数均为0.9999,同时也发现平贝、炉贝和伊贝中腺苷都占核苷总量60%以上,而浙贝中仅占约40%,提示贝母生药的抗凝血活性可能与贝母中核苷类化合物的种类和含量的差别有关。     

The influence of sleeping sickness on mortality in two districts of Northern Nigeria

The object of this enquiry was to obtain some idea of the mortality of untreated sleeping sickness in two non-adjacent districts in Northern Nigeria. The method employed was to obtain data, by methodical questioning of every householder, from which the crude death and other rates could be calculated over a preceding period, and be correlated with the known incidence of sleeping sickness. The figures were worked out village by village, and the villages then combined into groups of sufficient size to make the numbers significant.In the first district, Igabi, a close correlation was obtained, the death rate rising from 71.4 per 1,000 with a sleeping sickness incidence of 18.6 per cent., to 104 per 1,000 with a sleeping sickness incidence of 28.6 per cent. In other words an additional death occurred for approximately every additional three people infected. The infantile mortality rate also showed a close correlation with the sleeping sickness incidence. As infants were not found to be infected, this result was unexpected. The reasons for it are discussed. The birth rate showed no definite correlation.In the second district, Kankara, no correlation was found to exist, and the conclusion is drawn that, during the period under review, sleeping sickness was not fatal; the patients must either have harboured a mild chronic infection carrying no threat to life, or have been undergoing spontaneous cure.The clinical types of the cases found are described. They are similar in the two districts, and would not have been suspected of having so different a prognosis.It is pointed out that Igabi lies in the middle of a sleeping sickness belt, and it is suggested that the virulence of the disease in this district may be accounted for by the very free means of communication which exist, and by the movement in the past of large gangs of labour, tending to disseminate many different strains of trypanosome imported from outside. The infection in Kankara, on the other hand, was probably of later, though not very recent, introduction; and as the district is situated on the very edge of the belt and is traversed by no main roads or railways, the possibility of a multiplicity of strains existing is very much less. If this conclusion is correct, it emphasizes the necessity of careful sleeping sickness control measures in areas which may be opened up in the future.The mean birth rate found in Igabi was 64.7 per 1,000; and the mean death rate 84.2. The corresponding figures for Kankara were 44.1 and 23.6. The reliability of these figures is discussed.