Do children with primary nocturnal enuresis have a retarded bone age? A cross‐sectional study

OBJECTIVE: Nocturnal enuresis is a common pediatric problem, the etiology of which is unclear. In recent years, various studies have been published stating that children with nocturnal enuresis exhibit growth and skeletal maturation retardation. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, we included 27 patients (16 boys, 11 girls) between the ages of 6 and 14 years who had presented with primary nocturnal enuresis (PNE) complaints. We included in the evaluation 19 healthy subjects (12 boys, 7 girls), who were the siblings of the children with PNE, as the control group. RESULTS: The patients in both groups were similar in chronological age, bone age, height and weight, with no significant difference between groups (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: The two groups in our study consisted of the same genetic background. Thus, our results were found to be different from the previous studies. We have concluded that there is no direct relationship between enuresis nocturnal and skeletal maturation.     

Nationales Reanimationsregister

Within the scope of the symposium “Rescue Medicine in Germany” (held at the Reisensburg near Ulm in 2002), the need for a standardized data acquisition set for prehospital cardiac arrest patients was identified. Therefore, the working group “Emergency Medicine” of the German Society of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine (DGAI) created a nationwide data acquisition system for primary medical care in prehospital cardiac arrest patients treated with cardiopulmonary resuscitation procedures. The system is in full accordance with the “Utstein style.” Integration of this data acquisition system, for example into the “Dortmund protocol,” is providing a standardized data web base of all acquired prehospital data analyze and to compare processing and structural quality. As additional modules for this nationwide data web base system, an inhospital module “further clinical treatment” and a “long-term follow-up” module are currently in the developmental process.     

High dose cyclophosphamide, BCNU, and VP-16 (CBV) as a conditioning regimen for allogeneic bone marrow transplantation for patients with acute leukemia

A high dose combination chemotherapy regimen (CBV) consisting of cyclophosphamide (1.5 gm/m2 day 1 to day 4); BCNU (300 mg/m2 day 1) and etoposide (100 mg/m2 every 12 hours for 6 doses), followed by bone marrow transplant from human leukocyte antigen (HLA) identical sibling donors, was evaluated in 29 patients in whom acute leukemia was in relapse or remission. Engraftment of donor cell type occurred in all but one of 21 patients, in whom marker differences between donor and recipient were established. Two of 11 patients transplanted during relapse of the disease, lived beyond 1 year after bone marrow transplantation. One patient died free of leukemia, 41 months after transplantation of meningitis. Two of seven patients transplanted during the second remission of the disease, are alive and free of leukemia at 42+, and 8+ months. All patients transplanted during the third or fourth remission of the disease have died from either a further relapse, or transplant related causes. The low incidence of organ toxicity with CBV allows for further dose escalation of its drug components.     

THE IMPACT OF PRE-CLERKING CLINICS ON SURGICAL OPERATION CANCELLATIONS: A PROSPECTIVE AUDIT

Pre-clerking of all patients undergoing elective general surgical operations was introduced at our hospital in an attempt to reduce an unacceptably high operation cancellation rate. A prospective audit has been performed on the effect of this policy on the cancellation rate. Before the introduction of pre-clerking there was a marked seasonal variation in the number of patients who failed to attend for surgery, which could be explained by absence on holiday. This seasonal variation disappeared after the start of pre-clerking clinics, but there has been no reduction in the number of cancellations for medical reasons.     

Zwei Kammern für die Mikroskopie und Mikrophotometrie vitaler Zellen

Zusammenfassung Es werden zwei Kammern zur mikroskopischen Beobachtung und mikrophotometrischen Untersuchung von lebenden Zellen beschrieben. Mit ihrer Hilfe ist es möglich. Zellen ohne Schädigung mechanisch so zu stabilisiren, dasß sie bis zu Stunden an derselben Stelle liegen bleiben.In der Einstromkammer liegen die Zellen in einlagiger Schicht zwischen einem Deckglas und einer licht- und gasdurchlässigen Folie, die durch Adhäsion festgehalten wird. Der an die Folie angrenzende Raum kann mit gewünschten Gasgemischen durchströmt werden.In der Zweistromkammer liegen die Zellen zwischen zwei lichtdurchlässigen Folien, von denen die eine Gase, die andere auch Flüssigkeiten und gelöste Substanzen durchtreten läßt. Der an die flüssigkeitsdurchlässige Folie angrenzende Raum kann mit gewünschten Lösungen, der andere gleichzeitig mit Gasgemischen beströmt werden. Die Funktionsweise der Zweistromkammer wird am Beispiel der Formänderung von Erythrocyten bei Beströmen mit Lösungen verschiedenen osmotischen Druckes demonstriert. Beide Kammern eignen sich zur Vital-Mikroskopie und Photometrie von einzelnen Zellen, insbesondere Blutzellen und Gewebeschnitten.     

Association of human leucocyte low responsiveness to inducers of interferon alpha with HLA-DR 2

The influence of antigens of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) on the production of interferon (IFN) alpha or IFN gamma by human peripheral blood leucocytes (PBL) in vitro has been studied. Synthesis of IFN gamma by PBL stimulated with purified phytohaemagglutinin (PHA-P) or protein A of Staphylococcus aureus (SpA) appeared not to be controlled by MHC antigens. The production of IFN alpha, however, was influenced by the HLA type of the donor. Low responsiveness of PBL to inducers of IFN alpha (influenza virus, Molt 4 cells) was associated with HLA-DR 2. Implications of these observations for studies of IFN production and natural killer (NK) cell activity are discussed.     

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.