New stand magnifiers do not meet rated levels of performance

A new range of stand magnifiers has been released by the COIL company in the United Kingdom. Examination of these magnifiers reveals that they fail to deliver the rated magnifications labelled prominently on the appliances, as a result of the manufacturer's conformance with the requirements of the German DIN standard and the use of back vertex power (F'_v) rather than equivalent dioptric power (F_m) of the magnifier. In this study we provide information on the optometric parameters of these new stand magnifiers that will assist the more accurate specification of improvements in vision expected from their use.     

Supraoptic nucleus afferents from the main olfactory bulb--II. Intracellularly recorded responses to lateral olfactory tract stimulation in rat brain slices

To establish the functional nature of the anatomically demonstrated main olfactory bulb inputs to the supraoptic nucleus, electrophysiological responses of intracellularly recorded supraoptic neurons to lateral olfactory tract stimulation were recorded in horizontal slices of basal forebrain and hypothalamus. A total of 71 synaptically influenced neurons were studied in slices from adult rats of both sexes. Of these, 60 cells (84%) were monosynaptically activated by olfactory tract stimulation; seven cells (10%) were activated via polysynaptic pathways; and four cells (6%) were characterized by long latency inhibitory responses. Lucifer Yellow was injected into 64 cells and subsequent immunocytochemical identification of 44 of these neurons showed that both oxytocin and vasopressin cells, in approximately equal numbers, were excited by olfactory stimulation. Polysynaptically mediated excitation, however, was only associated with oxytocin cells (six of the six identified cells). These results corroborate anatomical tract tracing data showing main olfactory bulb efferents to both supraotic neurons and to neurons of the perinuclear zone. Also supported are earlier speculations of olfactory participation in release of oxytocin and vasopressin during various physiological states.     

Volumetric analysis of a specific language region - the planum temporale.

Planum temporale volumes were determined for 42 control children (ages 4.2-15.7 years) using magnetic resonance imaging. The mean left planum temporale volume was 2729 mm3 (SD = 567) and the mean right planum temporale volume was 2758 mm3 (SD = 546). No significant hemispheric asymmetry was demonstrated. Analysis of co-variance (ANCOVA) showed that the absolute and proportional planum temporale volumes were not significantly associated with age or gender. We also demonstrated a reproducible method for planum temporale volume measurement by acquiring images in the coronal plane and then visualising the sagittal plane to improve accuracy for the posterior border.     

Death certificate coding practices related to diabetes in European countries--the 'EURODIAB Subarea C' Study.

The objective of this study was to compare and analyse coding practices for diabetes mortality data in nine European countries (Belgium, Republic of Ireland, France, Germany, Malta, The Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Switzerland). In each country, a sample of 200 coded death certificates, which mentioned diabetes, was randomly sampled. All death certificates were recoded at the WHO Collaborating Centre for the Classification of Diseases in the French language. The results show wide differences between national coding and central coding. Discrepancies in the underlying cause of death existed at the 3-digit coding level for 26% of all death certificates and for 44% at the 4-digit level. Coding in Northern Ireland and Malta was characterized by a marked tendency to choose diabetes less frequently. In contrast, in The Netherlands and, to a lesser extent, in the Republic of Ireland and France, diabetes was more frequently selected as the underlying cause of death. Most of the differences concerned the coding of an association involving diabetes and circulatory system diseases. In some countries, these coding differences influence the reported level of diabetes mortality. For Northern Ireland and Malta, the number of certificates with diabetes as the underlying cause of death was more than doubled after central recoding and for The Netherlands, in contrast, it was almost halved. To explain the differences a number of factors are considered: a lack of information from the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), on the application of the coding rules, between-country differences in cause of death certification practices, a divergence of opinion about the causal role of diabetes when it is associated with other conditions, a lack of homogeneity between countries in data collection procedures.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma: comparison of MR imaging with CT and I-131 MIBG scintigraphy

To ascertain the magnetic resonance (MR) imaging characteristics of pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas and to compare MR with computed tomography (CT) and iodine-131 metaiodobenzylguanidine (I-131 MIBG), 19 patients (18 with pheochromocytomas, one with a paraganglioma) were studied. The 18 patients with pheochromocytomas had had positive findings with I-131 MIBG scintigraphy. Abdominal pheochromocytomas were generally hypointense compared with normal liver on T1-weighted MR images and extremely hyperintense on T2-weighted MR images. MR imaging was preferable to CT in the evaluation of primary pheochromocytomas due to superior tissue characterization, particularly in the patient with hypertension and borderline catecholamine levels. For patients with recurrent or metastatic disease, the data suggest that I-131 MIBG scintigraphy is the examination of choice.     

Neurosecretory endings in the rat neurohypophysis are en passant

A combination of Golgi, Phaseolus vulgaris leucoagglutinin, and transmission electron microscopic (EM) techniques was used to investigate the morphology of neurosecretory axons and their endings in the neurohypophysis of the rat. Light microscopy indicated that the neurosecretory processes are very tortuous, varicose, and branched, often running in close association with blood vessels. EM, as well as reconstruction from serial thin sections, demonstrated that the combination of synaptoid membrane specializations, dense core vesicles, and accumulations of microvesicles, thought to indicate areas of preferential hormone release, can occur anywhere that the axons contact the basal lamina (BL) lining the perivascular space. Usually, but not always, this was accompanied by some degree of axonal dilation. Individual neurosecretory axons frequently entwined around, or ran adjacent to, blood vessels, a short length of axon forming multiple "endings." Thin glial (pituicyte) processes were interposed between these endings. Axonal processes were also seen to end blindly as end-bulbs suspended in the perivascular space where they were often surrounded by pituicyte processes. The morphology observed suggests that reductions in the contact length of individual nerve terminals could be mediated through increased pituicyte coverage along BL. Conversely, a reduction of pituicyte coverage along the BL could lead to more areas of axonal contact with the BL inducing or allowing the formation of more endings, such as has been reported to occur during lactation or prolonged elevation of plasma testosterone levels.     

Chaperonin-mediated assembly of wild-type and mutant subunits of human propionyl-CoA carboxylase expressed in Escherichia coli

We developed a bacterial expression system for the human alpha and beta cDNAs of propionyl-CoA carboxylase (PCC). These cDNAs (less the putative mitochondrial matrix targeting presequences) were co-expressed in Escherichia coli on one plasmid vector with each cDNA having its own IPTG-inducible promoter. Only negligible amounts of active PCC were measured despite the presence of both alpha and beta subunits as indicated by Western blot analysis and the almost complete biotinylation of the alpha subunit. Co-expression of this plasmid with a second plasmid vector over-expressing the E. coli chaperonin proteins, groES and groEL, resulted in a several hundred-fold increase in PCC specific activity, to a level comparable with that found in crude human liver extracts. PCC was partially purified on monomeric avidin affinity resin and the presence of both alpha and beta subunits was demonstrated, thereby confirming the assembly of both subunits into an active enzyme. Deficiency of either alpha PCC or beta PCC results in propionic acidemia, an autosomal recessive disorder. We used this expression system to characterize one missense mutation previously described in five Japanese alleles, namely C1283T (Thr428lle) in beta PCC. This mutation, when expressed in E.coli under the same conditions as that of wild-type PCC, had null activity, despite the presence of assembled alpha PCC and beta PCC subunits. This bacterial expression system can be useful for analysis of either alpha PCC or beta PCC mutations. Our findings indicated that the groES and groEL chaperonin proteins were essential for folding and assembly of the human PCC heteromeric subunits.