Emergency Resection in Treatment of Diverticular Disease of Colon Complicated by Peritonitis

Of a consecutive series of 25 patients with peritonitis secondary to colonic diverticular disease all, except one with faecal peritonitis, underwent some form of emergency resection.All the three patients with faecal peritonitis died, but the 22 with purulent peritonitis survived. The average duration of the emergency admission of the 22 survivors was 25.4 days, and in nine (41%) of them intestinal continuity had been restored by the end of that admission.Thus some form of emergency resection is the operation of choice in patients with spreading peritonitis due to diverticular disease of the sigmoid colon.     

Asymmetry of the phospholipid bilayer of rat liver endoplasmic reticulum

The phospholipids of intact microsomal membranes were hydrolysed 50% by phospholipase C of Clostridium welchii, without loss of the secretory protein contents of the vesicle, which are therefore not permeable to the phospholipase. Phospholipids extracted from microsomes and dispersed by sonication were hydrolysed rapidly by phospholipase C-Cl. welchii with the exception of phosphatidylinositol. Assuming that only the phospholipids of the outside of the bilayer of the microsomal membrane are hydrolysed in intact vesicles, the composition of this leaflet was calculated as 84% phosphatidylcholine, 8% phosphatidylethanolamine, 9% sphingomyelin and 4% phosphatidylserine, and that of the inner leaflet 28% phosphatidylcholine, 37% phosphatidylethanolamine, 6% phosphatidylserine and 5% sphingomyelin. Microsomal vesicles were opened and their contents released in part by incubation with deoxycholate (0.098%) lysophosphatidylcholine (0.005%) or treatment with the French pressure cell. Under these conditions, hydrolysis of the phospholipids by phospholipase C-Cl. welchii was increased and this was mainly due to increased hydrolysis of those phospholipids assigned to the inner leaflet of the bilayer, phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylserine. Phospholipase A₂ of bee venom and phospholipase C of Bacillus cereus caused rapid loss of vesicle contents and complete hydrolysis of the membrane phospholipids, with the exception of sphingomyelin which is not hydrolysed by the former enzyme.     

Melanoma progression exhibits a significant impact on connexin expression patterns in the epidermal tumor microenvironment

Melanoma depends on, interacts with and reacts to the stroma in which it is embedded, including fibroblasts, extracellular matrix, endothelial cells and immune cells. However, the impact of melanoma on the epidermal tumor microenvironment—the multilayered epithelium of the skin—is poorly understood. Gap junctions are essential for intercellular communication and involved in proliferation, differentiation and homeostasis of keratinocytes. We have shown previously that the gap junction proteins connexin 26 and 30 (Cx26 and Cx30) are induced in the epidermal tumor microenvironment of skin cancers including melanoma. This study compares the extent of Cx26, Cx30 and Cx43 expression in the epidermal microenvironment of melanocytic nevi and melanomas and its association with melanoma thickness, proliferative index of the tumor and its microenvironment, and with 5-year metastasis and survival. We found that induction of Cx26 and Cx30 cell–cell border expression in the epidermal tumor microenvironment correlates to malignancy. Importantly, there was a significant correlation of tumor thickness with the vertical epidermal Cx26 and Cx30 expression pattern and the horizontal Cx26 dissemination. Furthermore, horizontal Cx26 expression correlated with metastasis. Vertical epidermal expression patterns of Cx26 and Cx30 significantly correlated with the proliferative index in the epidermal tumor microenvironment but not with the proliferative index in the tumor. In contrast, Cx43 did not correlate with malignancy, thickness or proliferative index. In summary, here we show for the first time a significant association between the progression of melanoma and alterations in its epithelial tumor microenvironment.     

Coadministration of methylxanthines and inhibitor compounds potentiates teratogenicity in Xenopus embryos

Inhibitors of DNA synthesis (hydroxyurea and cytosine arabinoside), protein synthesis (cycloheximide and emetine), and nucleic acid synthesis (5-fluorouracil) were administered with each of three methylxanthines (caffeine, theophylline, and theobromine) to determine if teratogenic effects could be potentiated in Xenopus laevis embryos. The animals were exposed for 96 hours to methylxanthine and inhibitor concentrations that, alone, produced low percentages of malformations. Coadministration of caffeine or theophylline with each inhibitor greatly increased the incidence of malformed embryos. Similar potentiation was induced when theobromine and the protein synthesis inhibitors were tested. A lesser potentiative response was produced when theobromine and the nucleic acid synthesis inhibitor were administered together. Teratogenic potentiation did not occur when theobromine was administered in conjunction with the DNA synthesis inhibitors. Growth reduction in the treatments proved to be the most sensitive indicator of the potentiative effects. This study had two significant findings: the teratogenicity of the protein synthesis inhibitors was greatly increased upon coadministration with each methylxanthine, even though they are typically not very teratogenic by themselves, and coadministration of the DNA synthesis inhibitors with theobromine did not result in teratogenic potentiation. Additionally, this study serves as one method of validating the frog embryo teratogenesis assay-Xenopus (FETAX), since the results obtained concur with results from similar mammalian studies.     

ras p21 and other Gn proteins are detected in mammalian cell lines by [gamma-35S]GTP gamma S binding

The presence of guanine nucleotide binding proteins in mouse and human cell lines was investigated using [gamma-35S]GTP gamma S and [gamma-32P]GTP. Cell lysate polypeptides were separated by sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and transferred to nitrocellulose. Incubation of the nitrocellulose blots with [gamma-35S]GTP gamma S identified 9 distinct GTP-binding polypeptides in all lysates. One of these is the ras oncogene product, p21, as demonstrated by subsequent immunochemical staining of the nitrocellulose blots. We have shown that this procedure provides a sensitive method for detection of p21 in culture cell lines.     

Segmentation and moral status in vivo and in vitro: a scientific perspective

A basic consideration in research on human embryos is the controversy about when the embryo acquires moral status. The author refutes the contention that segmentation is the determinant of moral status. She notes that segmentation, as a stage in embryonic development, does not coincide with the development of "irreversible individuality" upon which the segmentation argument depends. Dawson also finds a lack of clarity in the meaning of "individuality." These problems, she maintains, prevent segmentation from being morally important and render the proposed 14-day limit on embryo research unnecessary. Dawson concludes that to introduce a time restriction on embryo research is premature because it is based on an inadequate philosophical argument.