Flap failure after microvascular free-tissue transfer: the fate of a second attempt

In most cases, the loss of a free-tissue transfer is a disaster for both the patient and the surgeon. Seven patients received a second microvascular free-tissue transfer after loss of the first. The indications for free-tissue transfer included chronic osteomyelitis of the lower leg (four patients), acute traumatic defect of the leg (one patient), acute traumatic defect of the arm (one patient), and esophageal defect after surgical excision (one patient). In three patients, the interval between the first and second procedures was less than 2 weeks. The remaining four patients had their second free-tissue transfer performed 5 weeks to 21 months after the first. Six of the seven free flaps were successful. Two patients with venous obstruction occurring after the second free-tissue transfer were salvaged by reexploration. Partial loss of the flap was noted in one of these patients. It is concluded from this select group of patients that failure of a free-tissue transfer does not contraindicate a second microtissue transfer does not contraindicate a second microvascular free-tissue transfer.     

Processing of the gp55-116 envelope glycoprotein complex (gB) of human cytomegalovirus.

The processing pathway of the major envelope glycoprotein complex, gp55-116 (gB), of human cytomegalovirus was studied using inhibitors of glycosylation and endoglycosidases. The results of these studies indicated that the mature gp55-116 is synthesized by the addition of both simple and complex N-linked sugars to a nonglycosylated precursor of estimated Mr 105,000. In a rapid processing step, the Mr 105,000 precursor is glycosylated to a protein of Mr 150,000 (gp150) which contains only endoglycosidase H-sensitive sugar linkages. The gp150 is then processed relatively slowly to a Mr 165,000 to 170,000 species (gp165-170), which is then cleaved to yield the mature gp55-116. Monensin prevented the final processing steps of the gp150, including cleavage, suggesting that transport through the Golgi apparatus is required for complete processing. Digestion of the intracellular forms of this complex as well as the virion forms confirmed the above findings and indicated that the mature virion form of gp55 contains 8,000 daltons of N-linked sugars. The virion gp116 contains some 52,000 to 57,000 daltons of N-linked carbohydrates and approximately 5,000 daltons of O-linked sugars.     

The interpretation of morphometric data of 10- to 13-year-old school children from the survey year 1978 of the Braunschweig Longitudinal Study]

The paper represents a cross-sectional study from a sample of 1800 out of 3000 school-children from the Braunschweiger L?ngsschnitt. In this methodical approach we first eliminate approximately the influence of age and stature on the raw data from all body measurements with regression equations. The transformed data were attached to three "types" named 'below normal', 'normal', and 'above normal', in course of which 'normal' means all cases in the range of the standard deviation, whereas the two other "types" are corresponding to the adjacent ranges of values. Subsequently each transformation on the mean of age and stature a discriminant analysis has been performed grouping the cases by the "types" of the width of pelvis, resp. shoulders. There were found great influences of the stature on the chosen measures of width in our investigated class of age. They could be made clear alone by using allometrical methods. Only before correction of the body height the given grouping is supported by other variables, at which different sets of variables dominate the discriminant functions for boys and girls. Out of this new aspects and considerations result for the understanding of the physique and the physique typologies, which would be significant in our opinion for acceleration phenomenon as well as for the comparative examinations on populations.     

Subculturing of a polychlorinated biphenyl-dechlorinating anaerobic enrichment on solid media.

An anaerobic culture capable of dechlorinating polychlorinated biphenyls was subcultured under strict anaerobic conditions on solid media containing sterilized river sediment. The dechlorination activity was transferred as a bacterial colony on a solid medium three times. After two transfers on solid medium, the culture was no longer methanogenic but still dechlorinated a mixture of tri- and tetrachlorobiphenyls. This demonstrates that anaerobic bacteria are responsible for the polychlorinated biphenyl dechlorination and can be grown without polychlorinated biphenyl on solid media.     

Cerebrospinal fluid gradients of acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase activity in healthy aging

Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) activities were measured in 13 sequential 2 ml aliquots of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) obtained by lumbar puncture from 7 young and 7 elderly healthy normal subjects. The slopes of the rostrocaudal gradients of AChE and BChE were calculated and compared to those of total protein concentration and the major dopaminergic metabolite homovanillic acid (HVA), for which a pronounced rostrocaudal gradient (with highest concentrations of HVA in more rostral CSF) is consistent with HVA originating primarily from the brain. AChE activity was higher in more caudal fractions of young, but not elderly subjects and there was a significant difference between the mean AChE gradient slopes in the young and old groups. These results suggest that the spinal cord makes an important contribution to AChE activity in lumbar CSF. Furthermore, the absence of a negative AChE gradient in elderly subjects may be the result of a greater rate of entry of cerebral AChE into CSF, possibly as a consequence of an increased ventricular surface area and shorter diffusion distances in atrophic elderly brains. In contrast to AChE, BChE activity and total protein concentrations were higher in more caudal CSF fractions of not only young but also old subjects. In addition, there was a significant correlation between the gradient slopes of BChE activity and total protein concentrations, suggesting that the majority of BChE activity in lumbar CSF derives from the same source as the majority of total protein, namely plasma. The diffuse (i.e. brain and spinal cord) origin of AChE in lumbar CSF would explain the relatively modest changes in lumbar CSF AChE activity in diseases involving certain central cholinergic systems, most notably Alzheimer's disease.     

Applications of fractals in ecology

Fractal models describe the geometry of a wide variety of natural objects such as coastlines, island chains, coral reefs, satellite ocean-color images and patches of vegetation. Cast in the form of modified diffusion models, they can mimic natural and artificial landscapes having different types of complexity of shape. This article provides a brief introduction to fractals and reports on how they can be used by ecologists to answer a variety of basic questions, about scale, measurement and hierarchy in, ecological systems.     

DPB1 * BR: an Mhc class II DPB1 allele (DPB1 * 6601) of negroid origin

The nucleotide sequence data reported in this paper have been submitted to the EMBL nucleotide sequence database and have been assigned the accession number X96986. The nameDPB1 ^* 6601 was officially assigned by the WHO Nomenclature Committee in May 1996. This follows the agreed policy that, subject to the conditions stated in the most recent Nomenclature Report (Bodmer et al. 1995), names will be assigned to new sequences as they are identified. Lists of such sequences will be published in the following WHO Nomenclature Report     

Degradation of cocaine by a mixed culture of Pseudomonas fluorescens MBER and Comamonas acidovorans MBLF.

A mixed culture that could utilize cocaine as the sole source of carbon and energy for growth was isolated by selective enrichment. The individual microorganisms within this mixed culture were identified as Pseudomonas fluorescens (termed MBER) and Comamonas acidovorans (termed MBLF). Each microorganism was shown to be unable to grow to any appreciable extent on 10 mM cocaine in the absence of the other. C. acidovorans MBLF was found to possess an inducible cocaine esterase which catalyzed the hydrolysis of cocaine to ecgonine methyl ester and benzoate. C. acidovorans was capable of growth on benzoate at concentrations below 5 mM but was unable to metabolize ecgonine methyl ester. P. fluorescens MBER was capable of growth on either benzoate as the sole source of carbon or ecgonine methyl ester as the sole source of carbon and nitrogen. P. fluorescens MBER was found to initiate the degradation of ecgonine methyl ester via ecgonine, pseudoecgonine, and pseudoecgonyl-coenzyme A. Subcellular studies resulted in the identification of an ecgonine methyl esterase, an ecgonine epimerase, and a pseudoecgonyl-coenzyme A synthetase which were induced by growth on ecgonine methyl ester or ecgonine. Further metabolism of the ecgonine moiety is postulated to involve nitrogen debridging, with the production of carbonyl-containing intermediates.