Frakturen des proximalen Humerus

Trauma und Berufskrankheit - Bei 4–5% aller Frakturen handelt es sich um proximale Humerusfrakturen, begünstigend wirkt v. a. die Osteoporose. Aus diesem Grund ist unter...     

Clinical prognostic criteria in the rehabilitation of cerebral infarct patients

79 patients with ischaemic stroke were investigated, with 31 patients showing a pure hemiparesis, 22 an additional depressive syndrome and 26 a dementia. After an average time intervall of 28 months, a follow-up investigation was performed on these 3 groups relative to their course and rehabilitation outcome. No significant differences were present between the 3 groups as regards age and sex distribution as well as hemisyndrome severity. The neurological and psychiatric findings at follow-up differed significantly from the primary findings. Also, significant differences were found in the degree of disability, and in the self- and family ratings of rehabilitation outcome, with a poorer long-term course, i.e. a higher degree of disability, significantly more frequent in the dementia group. Comparison of self- and family-ratings showed that self-ratings given were significantly worse in the dementia and depressive groups, whereas patients with purely neurological symptoms rated themselves better than their relatives did.     

The development of lymphocytes with T- or B-membrane determinants in the human foetus

The development of T- or B-membrane determinants on human foetal lymphoid cells was studied by the direct immunofluorescence technique, using a tetramethyl rhodamine isothiocyanate (TRITC) labelled horse antihuman T-cell conjugate (ATC) for the detection of T lymphocytes and a fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) labelled goat antihuman Fab conjugate for the demonstration of Ig-bearing B lymphocytes. Human foetal lymphocytes were also tested for spontaneous rosette formation with sheep red blood cells (SRBC).

Cell suspensions of liver, spleen, thymus, bone marrow and blood of twenty-five human foetuses of 5·5–26 weeks of gestational age have been investigated. ATC-positive lymphoid cells were first seen in the liver at 5·5 weeks; E rosette-forming cells (ERFC) and Ig-bearing lymphoid cells were first found at 9 weeks. ERFC were also present in the thymus at 9 weeks. By 12 weeks, fluorescent B and T lymphocytes were found in bone marrow and spleen. ERFC were also found in bone marrow at this age, but not in spleen. At 15 weeks, more than 80% of blood lymphoid cells had T or B determinants.

A difference in the reactivity of lymphoid cells with the ATC and their capacity to form E rosettes was observed. In liver and spleen, the ATC determinant was detectable before the SRBC receptor. In bone marrow, blood and thymus the ATC determinant was found on a higher percentage of lymphoid cells than was the SRBC receptor when those organs were first investigated. During the entire investigated period of gestation, the majority of lymphoid cells in liver and bone marrow did not react with either of the conjugates, nor did they form E rosettes. In all organs investigated, except in the thymus, lymphoid cells were occasionally seen which reacted with both conjugates. By the 16th week of foetal age, more than 90% of lymphoid cells in thymus, spleen and blood had acquired T- or B-membrane determinants.

     

Androgen receptor YAC transgenic mice carrying CAG 45 alleles show trinucleotide repeat instability

X-linked spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA) is caused by a CAG repeat expansion in the first exon of the androgen receptor (AR) gene. Disease-associated alleles (37-66 CAGs) change in length when transmitted from parents to offspring, with a significantly greater tendency to shift size when inherited paternally. As transgenic mice carrying human AR cDNAs with 45 and 66 CAG repeats do not display repeat instability, we attempted to model trinucleotide repeat instability by generating transgenic mice with yeast artificial chromosomes (YACs) carrying AR CAG repeat expansions in their genomic context. Studies of independent lines of AR YAC transgenic mice with CAG 45 alleles reveal intergenerational instability at an overall rate of approximately 10%. We also find that the 45 CAG repeat tracts are significantly more unstable with maternal transmission and as the transmitting mother ages. Of all the CAG/CTG repeat transgenic mice produced to date the AR YAC CAG 45 mice are unstable with the smallest trinucleotide repeat mutations, suggesting that the length threshold for repeat instability in the mouse may be lowered by including the appropriate flanking human DNA sequences. By sequence-tagged site content analysis and long range mapping we determined that one unstable transgenic line has integrated an approximately 70 kb segment of the AR locus due to fragmentation of the AR YAC. Identification of the cis - acting elements that permit CAG tract instability and the trans -acting factors that modulate repeat instability in the AR YAC CAG 45 mice may provide insights into the molecular basis of trinucleotide repeat instability in humans.