Guidelines for selective radiological assessment of inversion ankle injuries.

A prospective study was performed to establish definitive guidelines for selective use of radiography in the assessment of inversion ankle injuries. Five hundred patients were included, representing 3.2% of the workload of the department during the study period. There were 379 soft tissue injuries, 56 malleolar fractures, 40 avulsion fractures, 21 fractures at the base of the fifth metatarsal, and four calcaneal fractures. Multiple logistic regression identified distal fibular tenderness, age, and ability to bear weight as the most important clinical variables in predicting important fractures (p less than 0.001). A policy of requesting x ray examination of only those patients with distal fibular tenderness or inability to bear weight or aged over 60, with a further proviso that no foot radiographs should be obtained, would produce a 60% reduction in ankle radiography in this centre without detriment to patient care.     

Genetic and Developmental Analysis of the Locus vnd in DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER

Genetic and developmental analysis of an X-linked vital locus vnd was undertaken. Embryos hemizygous for the original allele vnd did not hatch and exhibited a disorganized ventral nervous system (VNS). The mutation maps in the region 1B6-7 to 1B9-10, a subregion of an area previously shown to be essential to normal neural development. In this paper, we report isolation of five new alleles at the locus vnd. Genetic complementation analysis of all mutations at the vnd locus, with lethal alleles at adjacent loci, indicates that all lesions at the locus vnd affect only one vital gene function in the region. Four of the five alleles are embryonic lethal; one allele is subvital and behaves like an hypomorphic mutation. Hemizygous embryos for three of the four embryonic lethal alleles were inspected in histological sections; all exhibited disorganized VNS similar to the original allele. The developmental analysis in gynandromorphic genetic mosaics shows that (1) vnd+ gene function is not essential in most imaginal-disc cell derivatives, (2) only about 30% of the mosaic zygotes survive as adults, (3) mosaic zygotes with mutant tissue close to the head cuticle are least likely to survive, and (4) mutant tissue in the thoracic ganglion in the adult is not necessarily lethal. The mosaic data are consistent with the vnd+ gene function being necessary in neural cells derived from the anterioventral region of the blastoderm.     

Prostatic steroid-binding protein. Isolation and characterization of C3 genes

Prostatic steroid-binding protein, whose expression is stimulated by androgens, consists of two subunits, one containing the polypeptides C1 and C3 and the other containing the polypeptides C2 and C3. We have isolated and sequenced cDNA clones specific for C3 mRNA and used them to isolate and characterize genomic clones for two C3 genes. Both genes are 3.2 kilobases with identical exon/intron arrangements, which is similar to the organization of the C1 and C2 genes, suggesting that they may have arisen by duplications of an ancestral gene. Finally, homologous human genes have not been detected.     

Acetylcholine Releases ATP from Varicosities Isolated from Guinea Pig Myenteric Plexus

The effects of cholinergic agonists and antagonists on the release of ATP from isolated myenteric varicosities were studied using a firefly luciferin-luciferase technique. In a previous study, acetylcholine and nicotine released ATP from isolated myenteric varicosities, whereas the muscarinic agonist bethanechol did not. In the present study, release of ATP by acetylcholine was shown to be Ca2+ dependent. d-Tubocurarine competitively antagonized the release of ATP by either acetylcholine or nicotine. Maximal release of ATP by acetylcholine (10(-3) M) was approximately 24% that observed with the depolarizing drug veratridine (5 X 10(-5) M), suggesting either that not all of the varicosities capable of releasing ATP possess nicotinic receptors or that acetylcholine does not depolarize the varicosities to the degree that veratridine does. Tetrodotoxin slightly but significantly reduced ATP release induced by acetylcholine or nicotine, indicating some involvement of Na+ channels in the release process. Finally, 6-hydroxydopamine pretreatment produced a 48% reduction in the acetylcholine-evoked release of ATP, suggesting that much, but possibly not all, of the ATP release occurs from noradrenergic varicosities present in the preparation.     

Use of I region-restricted, antigen-specific T cell hybridomas to produce idiotypically specific anti-receptor antibodies

Murine T cell hybridomas bearing receptors for antigen plus I region gene products were used as immunogens in mice in an effort to raise anti-receptor antisera. The antisera were assayed for anti-receptor activity by the ability to inhibit interleukin 2 production by the T cell hybridomas stimulated by antigen and I region expressing antigen-presenting cells. The T cell hybridomas used in these experiments were made by fusing antigen-specific, I region-restricted BALB/c T cell blasts to the AKR thymoma, BW5147. Three groups of mice were immunized with the T cell hybridomas: (BALB/c X AKR)F1 animals, syngeneic to the hybridoma; (BALB.B X aKR)F1 animals, differing from the hybridomas at H2; and (C.B20 X AKR)F1 animals, differing from the hybridomas at Igh. Mice were immunized multiple times and sera from individual animals were assayed for anti-receptor antibodies. In all groups, some mice produced anti-receptor antibodies by the criterion that they were inhibitory in the assay mentioned above. The frequency of mice producing these inhibitory antibodies varied considerably between groups, with the (BALB.B X AKR)F1 animals producing these antibodies most frequently, and the (BALB/c X AKR)F1 animals producing them least often. All inhibitory antisera were idiotypically specific; they inhibited the response of the immunizing T cell hybridomas, but not the responses of closely related hybridomas with different specificities. Moreover, when they could be absorbed, the inhibitory antibodies could only be absorbed by the immunizing hybridoma. It is hoped that these antisera, and B cell hybridomas prepared from the immunized animals, will be useful in the elucidation of the structure of the receptors for antigen plus I region products on T cells.     

The effect of dantrolene on skeletal-muscle sarcoplasmic-reticulum function in malignant hyperpyrexia in pigs.

The effect of the muscle relaxant dantrolene on isolated sarcoplasmic reticulum was studied in control and malignant-hyperpyrexia-susceptible Landrace pigs. The membranes prepared from both sources showed similar Ca2+-dependent ATPase activities, had comparable phospholipid/protein ratios, and their sodium dodecyl sulphate/polyacrylamide-gel patterns were indistinguishable. Membranes from both sources appeared to bind similar amounts of dantrolene. The drug did not stimulate Ca2+-dependent ATPase activity in preparations from either source. The rates of Ca2+ exchange and Ca2+ efflux appeared to be similar in sarcoplasmic reticulum of control and malignant-hyperpyrexia-susceptible pigs. Dantrolene did not affect either the rates or the amount of Ca2+ lost from the vesicles. These results suggest that dantrolene does not directly affect the movement of Ca2+ across the sarcoplasmic-reticulum membrane.