Venous drainage in the reverse forearm flap

Venograms were performed in three cases of reverse forearm flap. The "crossover pattern" of the communicating branches between the two venae comitantes and the "bypass pattern" of the collateral branches of each vein have been demonstrated. These factors may explain the reverse drainage of venous blood, even though the valves of the vein are intact. Notably, the cephalic vein also shows a good communication with the deep venous system. Thus it can contribute another route for venous drainage in this flap.     

Diverticulum of the urinary bladder in a woman

In the two cases of congenital absence of the vagina reported herein, the embryologic point of arrest of development of the mullerian ducts was identical. Both patients had a rudimentary uterus, and one had a fibroid tumor on the rudimentary uterus. As a part of operation to construct a vagina in such cases, exploratory pelvic laparotomy appears to be a desirable step in order to determine the status of the internal genital organs. The use of a split thickness skin graft sewn around a vaginal mold and inserted into the dissected vaginal space results in more rapid healing, less scar tissue and a vagina that is soft, pliable and normal in appearance, even to the extent of having rugal folds.     

Lymphoid nodules of the urinary bladder in man

Basing on macro- microscopical investigation of the urinary bladder in 94 persons, died at the period of birth up to old years and by the time of death having not any disease of the urinary apparatus, structure and topography of the lymphoid nodules, their amount, density of distribution in the mucous membrane of various parts of the organ have been studied. The germinative centers in the lymphoid nodules of the urinary bladder are not revealed. The external appearance of the nodules is not the same; some have clear contours others have no clearly manifested borders. We call them prenodules. The lymphoid nodules are situated near to each other without any definite order. And only near the ureteral openings they are always revealed in a small amount, in the area of the triangle; they are oriented, as a rule, from the ureteral openings towards the exit from the urinary bladder. The amount of the lymphoid nodules in the organ's wall varies (at an average) from 18, in newborns, up to 415, in adolescents, and up to 129, in old persons. Distribution density of the lymphoid nodules in the fundal area of the urinary bladder is somewhat greater, than in its superior parts. The size of the lymphoid nodules during all age periods is not more than 900 mcm.     

Postnatal restoration of the mouse urinary bladder urothelium

Mouse urothelium is disrupted just before birth, followed by a postnatal restoration process which includes cell proliferation, death and differentiation. We assessed urothelial proliferation by the expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), desquamation by electron microscopy, and apoptosis by TUNEL staining and urothelial differentiation by the expression of uroplakins and cytokeratin 20 (CK20) as well as the apical plasma membrane maturation. Our results indicated that urothelial proliferation was high from birth until about the 14th postnatal day. A majority of basal cells and even occasional superficial cells were PCNA positive during the first 5 postnatal days. Cell death occurred during the first 9 postnatal days. Between birth and day 5, single cells underwent apoptosis, whereas between days 6 and 9 cells mainly desquamated. CK20 and uroplakins were expressed in all superficial cells in postnatal urothelium. Their subcellular distribution characteristically changed in accordance with the progressive differentiation of superficial cells. During the urothelial postnatal development, proliferation activity slowly decreases to the proliferatively quiescent urothelium of the adult animal. Apoptosis is present in the first 9 postnatal days and within a few days of this period it appears simultaneously with desquamation. Superficial urothelial cells gradually differentiate, which is reflected in the changeable morphology of the apical plasma membrane.