Myasthenia Gravis: Anesthetic and Surgical Management of the Patient Undergoing Thymectomy

Experience in the anesthetic and surgical management of 25 patients with myasthenia gravis is recorded. These are subdivided into two groups: those operated on during the period 1950-1958 and those operated on during the period 1959-1964. The purpose of this paper is to indicate improvement in mortality and morbidity due to three major advances: (1) use of the decamethonium diagnostic test in a myasthenia gravis clinic; (2) improvements in assessment and management of respiratory insufficiency; and (3) avoidance of anticholinesterase treatment in the immediate and early postoperative recovery period.Fourteen patients with myasthenia gravis, including five with thymoma and two who were refractory to medication, were in the second (1959-1964) group. There were no deaths and no myasthenic or cholinergic crises. Three prophylactic tracheostomies were performed. No emergency bronchoscopies or tracheostomies were required.     

Molecular requirements for T cell activation by the staphylococcal toxic shock syndrome toxin-1

The activation of Ag-specific, Ia molecule-restricted, TCR V beta 3+ T cell clones by staphylococcal toxic shock syndrome toxin-1 (TSST-1), was investigated. The results show that although Ag- and TSST-1-induced activation of T cell clones both require TCR expression and similar biologic activation signals, the Ia molecule requirement for TSST-1 recognition was much less stringent than that observed for antigenic peptide recognition. In addition, T cell clones recognized TSST-1 without processing by APC. These results suggest that the ability of TSST-1 to polyclonally activate T cells is dependent on TCR recognition of the intact toxin molecule bound to a nonpolymorphic region(s) of the Ia molecule resulting in the same activation events induced by Ag recognition.     

Prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii antibodies in dingoes

Serum samples from 62 dingoes (Canis familiaris dingo) trapped in five areas of southeastern New South Wales, Australia were tested for antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii. Six (10%) of the dingoes had direct agglutination test titers for T. gondii of greater than or equal to 1:64, and four of these animals had T. gondii-specific IgM, suggesting recent exposure.     

Parallel β-domains: a new fold in protein structures

A new type of structural domain, composed of parallel β-strands folded into a coiled structure, has been observed in several protein structures within the past year. An analysis of the basic motif indicates that there are two distinct types, with variations likely to be discovered in the future.     

The origin of the Fagaceous cupule

A review of methods used in the taxonomy of the Fagaceae is presented, with a critical focus made on the nomenclature of extant and fossil taxa, notablyNothofagus. The most recent classifications of the family and the problems of character weighting are considered, and an argument is made to reduce the subfamilies to tribes. The origin of the cupule is then discussed. Interpretations of the cupule as a series of reduced dichasial axes are criticized for their essentialistic approach, lack of evolutionary evidence and failure of application to the family as a whole. With the postulating of an ancestral form, the origin of the cupule involving a combination of characters from an outer tripartite perianth whorl and the pericarp is proposed. The theory provides for the evolution of the thin-walled dry pericarp and all the cupule forms found in the family today.     

Significance of betaines in the increased chlorophyll content of plants treated with seaweed extract

Seaweed extract, prepared by alkaline extraction of Ascophyllum nodosum (L.) Le Jol., applied either to the soil or to the foliage of tomato plants, produced leaves with higher chlorophyll levels than those of control plants. The effects on leaf chlorophyll content were investigated using a cucumber bioassay procedure devised for cytokinins. The seaweed extract was shown to increase the chlorophyll levels of the cucumber cotyledons, but ‘peaks’ of activity were obtained when widely different concentrations were used. The possibility that these effects were the result of betaines present in the extract was considered. Glycinebetaine, γ-aminobutyric acid betaine and δ-aminovaleric acid betaine all produced significantly enhanced chlorophyll concentrations in the cotyledons. ‘Peaks’ of activity were observed for each betaine: for glycinebetaine at 10⁻⁶ and between 10⁻⁴ and 10¹ mg 1⁻¹, for γ-aminobutyric acid betaine at 10⁻⁶, between 10⁻⁴ and 10⁻¹, and 10¹ mg 1⁻¹, and for δ-aminovaleric acid betaine between 10⁻⁵ and 10¹ mg 1⁻¹. It was concluded that the effects of enhancing chlorophyll levels produced by the seaweed extract were due, at least in part, to betaines.     

A modified direct phosphate assay for studying ATPases

A simple, rapid assay for purified ATPases is presented, based upon the formation of phosphomolybdate and its extraction into butyl acetate. The inclusion of imidazole makes the assay more sensitive and reproducible apparently because of the formation of an imidazole-phosphomolybdate complex. Protein (100 micrograms), Hepes buffer [4-(2-hydroxyethyl)-1-piperazineethanesulfonic acid] (0.1 M) and nucleotides (1 mM) were all shown to cause interference. The interference by nucleotides could be counteracted by using more molybdate. Butyl acetate was shown to extract virtually all of the phosphomolybdate almost instantaneously upon vortex mixing.