Assessment of precision and reproducibility of a new myograph

Background  

The physiological characteristics of muscle activity and the assessment of muscle strength represent important diagnostic information. There are many devices that measure muscle force in humans, but some require voluntary contractions, which are difficult to assess in weak or unconscious patients who are unable to complete a full range of voluntary force assessment tasks. Other devices, which obtain standard muscle contractions by electric stimulations, do not have the technology required to induce and measure reproducible valid contractions at the optimum muscle length.     

Towards all-european pollen reports

In the first European Pollenflight Symposium in Königswinter, BRD, March 20–21, in 1987 the outlines for an European data bank were published. By that time Vienna, Austria was already in state of readiness. Since that, countries in Europe have an opportunity to send their prevailing pollen data to the data bank in Vienna, where a software server is ready to accept new data and to send reports day and night. The software of the data bank has been customed to facilitate calculations on PC level. The developing data bank gives a possibility e.g., (1) to compare pollen seasons in various parts of Europe, (2) to make pollen forecasts in different parts of Europe more accurately, (3) to find pollenfree sites in Europe for allergic people, (4) to find out long-time changings in regional and overregional flora as well as in the allergen-content of the air and (5) even to make all-European pollen reports. These could be broadcasted by common satellite TV channels and seen in most European countries. The aim of this study was to compare pollen seasons of the most common allergic symptoms causing plants in Europe: Alnus, Corylus, Betula, Poaceae and Artemisia in 1988 and 1989 and their distribution in Europe. Olea and Parietaria, being widespread pollen allergens in the Mediterranean, have not been taken into consideration for this study in terms of missing data from Spain, southern France and Greece. Information on flowering has been received from Austria, Belgium, BRD, DDR, Denmark, Finland, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the newest site in Estonian SSR. As the number of participating countries is still increasing, (Hungary and France are preparing for joining in 1990), there is no doubt that the need and benefit of a common pollen data bank has been realized in whole Europe.     

Rapid preparation of a relatively stable, partially purified lipoprotein lipase from perfused rat heart

Rat hearts, extensively washed with cold 0.15 M NaCl solution, were perfused with 5 ml of 0.15 M NaCl containing 16 U of heparin and 10% glycerol to release endothelium-bound lipoprotein lipase. Approximately 100 mU of enzyme activity could be released from each heart (weighing about 1.7 g). Several hearts could be sequentially perfused with the same heparin solution to enrich it in lipase activity. When compared with other equally rapid and frequently used sources of rat lipoprotein lipase (such as heart acetone powder or postheparin plasma), our enzyme preparation had a much higher specific activity suggesting that a greater purification level had been already achieved in a single step. In addition, this lipoprotein lipase preparation contained only trace amounts of lipids, was stable for an hour at 37 degrees C and retained 75% of its activity after 10 days at 4 degrees C. The described procedure is a quick way to prepare a soluble, partially purified and relatively stable lipoprotein lipase that may be useful especially for the in vitro preparation of triacylglycerol-rich lipoprotein remnants.     

Culture of primary lung tumors using medium conditioned by a lung carcinoma cell line

Medium conditioned by the established lung tumor cell line A549 was used as a supplement to culture cells from primary solid lung tumors. Of 36 cases placed into culture, primary cells were obtained in 33 (91.7%). Of 29 cases in which subcultures were attempted, 18 (62.1%) were successful. Nine cell lines have been established by this technique to date. In growth assays, conditioned medium (CM) was found to stimulate both monolayer colony formation and growth in semi-solid medium of cells cultured from primary solid tumors. CM has been found to contain factors with the properties of both transforming growth factor alpha (TGF alpha) and insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I). The addition of a combination of these factors as purified peptides to basal medium at levels found in CM (0.1-0.5 ng/ml) stimulated colony formation of lung tumor cells by up to fourfold. These results indicate that secretion of growth factors may be important in tumor growth in vivo, and that use of CM may be a valuable tool for obtaining cultures from primary solid tumors.     

Inbreeding and outbreeding depression in Stylidium hispidum: implications for mixing seed sources for ecological restoration

The benefits of composite rather than local seed provenances for ecological restoration have recently been argued, largely on the basis of maximizing evolutionary potential. However, these arguments have downplayed the potentially negative consequences of outbreeding depression once mixed provenances interbreed. In this study, we compared intraspecific F1 hybrid performance and molecular marker differentiation among four populations of Stylidium hispidum, a species endemic to Southwestern Australia. Multivariate ordination of 134 AFLP markers analyzed genetic structure and detected two clusters of paired sites that diverged significantly for marker variation along a latitudinal boundary. To test for outbreeding depression and to determine the consequences of molecular population divergence for hybrid fitness, we conducted controlled pollinations and studied germination and survival for three cross categories (within‐population crosses, short‐ and long‐distance F1 hybrids) for paired sites distributed within and between the two genetically differentiated regions. We found evidence of outbreeding depression in long‐distance hybrids (111–124 km), and inbreeding depression among progeny of within‐population crosses, relative to short‐distance (3–10 km) hybrids, suggesting an intermediate optimal outcrossing distance in this species. These results are discussed in light of the evolutionary consequences of mixing seed sources for biodiversity restoration.     

Stimulation of mucosal uptake of selenium from selenite byl-cysteine in sheep small intestine

The influence of cysteine (Cys) on mucosal uptake of 75Se-labeled selenite in sheep midjejunum was investigated using a short-term uptake technique. L-Cys (concn.: 1.0 mmol/L) significantly stimulated uptake of Se from selenite (concn.: 10 mumols/L). The stimulatory effect of L-Cys on mucosal uptake of Se from selenite was Na(+)- and pH-dependent. In the absence of Na+, or at an acidic pH (5.0), the stimulatory effect of L-Cys was abolished. L-alanine and L-lysine, but not L-glutamic acid inhibited uptake of Se from selenite in the presence of L-Cys. Preincubation of mucosal preparations with 10 mmol/L L-Cys produced enhanced mucosal uptake of Se from selenite. It is concluded from these results that L-Cys stimulates absorption of Se from selenite probably by generation of selenodicysteine and maybe cysteine selenopersulfide that are subsequently transported across the intestinal brush border membrane by Na(+)-dependent amino acid carriers. Furthermore, intracellular generation of selenodicysteine might contribute to the uptake of Se from selenite by maintaining the concentration gradient for diffusive uptake of selenite.