The mentalis muscle: an essential component of chin and lower lip position

The soft-tissue chin may become ptotic following surgery in this area. The mentalis muscles which are responsible for proper central lip motion and chin point position may be affected. The mentalis muscle origin may require resuspension at a proper level. This reattachment may be performed by means of an intraoral approach. Non-absorbable sutures are used to hold the soft-tissue chin upward. The exact method involves placing drill holes through the alveolar bone, into which sutures are passed. These sutures are then placed through the lower mentalis muscles and tightened. Chin and lip position may be corrected in certain cases. Ancillary procedures are required to correct vestibular scarring and submental scars.     

Bone graft survival in expanded skin

The effect of tissue expansion on iliac bone graft (onlay) survival was studied on the skulls of 35 New Zealand white rabbits. Wet bone weights at the time of grafting and at sacrifice in control animals (group I) were compared to three experimental groups. Histologic sections of the developing and resolving pseudosheath and skin envelope were performed. A self-inflating 5-mil-thick silicone expander was used for soft-tissue expansion over the rabbit snout. Bone grafts were subsequently placed in this site. Elliptical snout excision without expansion (group II) demonstrated no statistically significant difference in bone graft survival when compared to controls (group I) (p = 0.350). Full tissue expansion followed by immediate bone grafting (group III) within the pseudosheath cavity likewise demonstrated no statistically significant difference in bone graft survival when compared to controls (group I) (p = 0.500); however, when full tissue expansion was followed by delayed (2 weeks) bone grafting to allow for resolution of the giant cell inflammatory reaction of the pseudosheath (group IV), a statistically significant increased bone graft survival was achieved (p less than 0.001). The study demonstrates that the increased vascularity in the pseudosheath and in the expanded soft-tissue envelope significantly increased bone graft survival only when bone grafting was delayed.     

Nonequivalent effects of PKC activation by PMA on murine CD4 and CD8 cell-surface expression

The membrane glycoproteins CD4 (L3T4) and CD8 (Lyt2) are expressed on distinct populations of mature murine T lymphocytes, and are thought to be receptors for monomorphic determinants expressed on MHC class II and class I molecules, respectively. Although they differ in their ligand specificity, it has been presumed that CD4 and CD8 perform equivalent functions in the T cells that bear them. Since activation of protein kinase C (PKC) is known to cause rapid down-regulation of various receptors, including the T cell receptor complex (TcR complex), we treated cells with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA), a PKC activator, to determine whether cell-surface expression of CD4 and CD8 would be similarly affected by this intracellular mediator. Brief or relatively prolonged treatment with PMA induced mature murine T cells to reduce their surface expression of the TcR complex and of CD4, but not of CD8. Similarly, PMA rapidly induced transfected L cells to down-regulate surface CD4 expression, but had no effect on surface CD8 expression. Most significantly, PMA treatment induced CD4+CD8+ immature thymocytes to rapidly reduce their surface CD4 expression, but, again, it had no immediate effect on the surface expression of CD8. These results indicate that CD4 and TcR complex cell-surface expression are both sensitive to PKC activation by brief treatment with PMA, whereas CD8 expression is not, and suggest that CD4 and CD8 surface expression levels are regulated by distinct intracellular mechanisms.     

Characterization of the calcium sensitivity of differentiation in SCC-13 human squamous carcinoma cells

Summary The sensitivity to calcium of the human squamous carcinoma cell line, SCC-13, was demonstrated and characterized. Cultures grown to confluence in the presence of 0.2 to 2 mM calcium had approximately 10-fold higher levels of particulate transglutaminase activity and envelope competence than those grown in low calcium (0.025 to 0.05 mM) medium. Raising the calcium from 0.025 to 1.8 mM induced expression of this enzyme and of competence over the course of a week. Conversely, for cultures grown to confluence in 1.8 mM calcium, subsequent reduction of calcium to 0.025 mM resulted in a substantial decline in transglutaminase over a similar time period. Immunoprecipitable transglutaminase was clearly identifiable in cultures grown in 1.8 mM calcium-containing medium but not in those grown in low calcium medium or in the presence of retinoic acid, suggestive of regulation at the level of mRNA accumulation or translation rather than posttranslational modification. This research was supported by Public Health Service grant AR 27130 from the National Institute of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, Bethesda, MD, and National Research Service postdoctoral fellowship ES 05336 from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Research Triangle Park, NC.     

Studies on the immediate and delayed leucocytosis elicited by brief (30-min) strenuous exercise

Eight healthy male volunteers exercised for two 30-min sessions starting 3 h apart on an electronically braked cycle ergometer at a work load (mean 155.9 W, SD 33.4 W) which required an oxygen consumption that was 70% of their maximal rate of oxygen uptake. Venous blood samples were taken through an indwelling cannula over a period of 6 h beginning shortly before the first bout of exercise and were analysed for routine haematological parameters and for lactate, noradrenaline, adrenaline and cortisol. Both bouts of exercise induced an immediate leucocytosis due to rises in lymphocytes and neutrophils but only the first exercise bout induced a substantial delayed neutrophilia. In at least five subjects, changes in lymphocyte and platelet numbers were correlated (Spearman's rank procedure, P less than 0.05) with simultaneous changes in the plasma concentrations of lactate, noradrenaline and adrenaline over the 6-h period studied. Increases in the plasma concentration of cortisol due to exercise correlated positively with the percentage changes in neutrophil numbers at 3 h and 6 h. These results are consistent with the suggestion that the immediate and delayed leucocytosis induced by exercise are mediated respectively by catecholamine and by cortisol.     

Elemental and isotopic analyses of mammalian fauna from Southern Africa and their implications for paleodietary research

Elemental analyses of mammalian bone (e.g., strontium-calcium ratios, or Sr/Ca) distinguish between herbivores and carnivores; however, the relationships among herbivores are unclear. To study this question, a modern faunal sample from the Nagupande Tsetse Control Area (Zambezi drainage, Northwestern Zimbabwe) was used. This collection has the advantage of well-established geographical controls in addition to a varied fauna, which includes both bovids and suids. The grazing/browsing dietary status of each species was ascertained by means of isotopic analysis of carbon. Clear differences were seen in the δ¹³C of grazing and browsing animals; a specialized grazer was found to have significantly lower Sr/Ca than less specialized grazers and browsers. In this study it was also possible to examine differences in Sr/Ca by sex; female warthogs were found to have significantly lower Sr/Ca than males. The variation in certain animal groups was found to be abnormal. Implications for reconstruction of prehistoric human diets using trace-element techniques are discussed.     

Sex ratio and intrasexual kin competition in mammals

Summary Asymmetries in both intrasexual competition and generation overlap occur in Antechinus (Dasyuridae; Marsupialia). We show that the range of interpopulation variation in the sex ratio of pouch young spans and exceeds the range of sex ratios at birth hitherto recorded from eutherians (Clutton-Brock and Albon 1983). Although postweaning dispersal and male mortality are similar among all Antechinus populations, interpopulation variance in female longevity leads to variable duration of mother/daughter interaction. As this duration increases, parental investment is increasingly biased toward males, supporting the view that local competition among female kin for resources may influence mammalian sex ratios.     

The cellular mechanism of maintenance of neonatally induced tolerance to H-2 class I antigens

We used limiting dilution analysis protocols to investigate the mechanism by which in vitro cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) hyporeactivity is maintained in adult mice that had been neonatally tolerized to major histocompatibility complex-encoded antigens. Class I molecules, presented on donor cells having an H-2 K or D region haplotype difference from recipients, readily induce tolerogen-specific CTL hyporeactivity. All attempts to identify any in vitro effects of active suppressive cells operative in the maintenance of this hyporeactivity have been unsuccessful. We conclude that this cytotoxic deficiency is the consequence of in vivo mediated clonal inactivation of the precursors of tolerogen-specific CTL. A presentation and evaluation of the assumptions inherent in this conclusion are made. In contrast to class I molecules, class II molecules, presented on donor cells having an H-2 I region haplotype difference from recipients, are unable to induce tolerogen-specific CTL hyporeactivity, even when injected neonatally at high doses. This inability of class II molecules to induce CTL tolerance parallels the considerable difficulty of inducing helper T lymphocyte tolerance to class II molecules.