Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to A A Smith.
Free tissue transfer offers two-stage augmentation of the facial soft tissues. Nevertheless, it is not unusual to require additional touch-up procedures. An accurate assessment of the preoperative facial deficit will allow for appropriate flap selection and predictable surgical results.
Normal diploid human embryonic lung fibroblasts (WI-38) produce type I collagen of chain composition [alpha 1(1)]2.alpha 2(1) together with small amounts of type III collagen. We have examined the synthesis and secretion of type I collagen in a clone of SV40-transformed WI-38 fibroblasts (SVWI-38). These cells produced only 20-25% of the total collagen synthesized by their normal counterparts, with no detectable synthesis of alpha 2(1) chains and deposited a type I trimer consisting of overmodified alpha 1(1) chains. Two-dimensional sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of cyanogen bromide peptides of collagens isolated from cells cultured either in the presence or absence of alpha,alpha-dipyridyl revealed that this overmodification occurred along the entire length of the alpha 1(1) chains. Analysis of poly(A+) RNA by Northern blot analysis and total RNA by slot blot analysis using cloned type I procollagen cDNA probes revealed that no alpha 2(1) mRNA was present in the SVWI-38 cells. Primer extension of the RNA confirmed this finding. The SVWI-38 cells had a normal chromosome number, but contained 28 normal and 18 abnormal and marker chromosomes. Restriction mapping of the entire alpha 2(1) procollagen gene did not reveal any gross deletions or insertions within this gene, nor was the gene hypermethylated in the transformed cells, when compared with their normal counterparts. One interesting feature, however, was the fact that certain CpG dinucleotides in the alpha 2(1) gene were methylated in the normal as well as the transformed cells. These SV40-transformed WI-38 fibroblasts therefore do not produce any alpha 2(1) collagen chains due to transcriptional inactivation of their genes.
In 37 cadavers of average age 75.5 years, the calvarium was studied. In all, the diploe and outer and inner tables were found to be definite layers. Although the parietal bone thickness did decrease with age in this study, there was no correlation between age and the outer table or diploe thickness. No significant change with age occurred in the occipital bone. Although this study supports the use of split calvarial grafts in older patients without the necessity for a craniotomy, the relative brittleness of this bone in this population should be considered.
Over the past 25 years, hand and microvascular surgery have emerged and flourished as a super specialty plastic surgery. Successful replantation of a completely amputated extremity on position is now not enough without adequate functional outcome. Free tissue transfer has evolved into a reliable reconstructive option in the treatment of complicated wounds.
The stomach of Anolis carolinensis (Reptilia: Iguanidae) has four histologically and histochemically distinct regions. The gastroesophageal junction has an acidic surface mucin and no glands. The cardia has an acidic surface mucin and mucous glands. This acidic mucin appears to contain neither sulfates nor sialic acid. The fundus has a neutral surface mucin and mucoserous glands. The pylorus has a neutral surface mucin and mucous glands.
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In chemical skin injuries, reduction of the time of exposure to the causative agent and recognition of systemic toxicity are necessary to lessen the severity of the insult, reduce morbidity, and maximize survival. During a 17-year period (1969 through 1985), 87 (2.1%) of the 4,212 burned patients admitted to the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research sustained chemical burns. Twelve of 87 patients died (13.8%). White phosphorous, the most common causative agent, produced cutaneous injury in 49 patients. Acids (13 patients), alkalies (ten patients), and organic solvents (five patients) were the other common causes of injury. Initial treatment consisted of water lavage. Later wound management was carried out with topical antibiotic therapy and excision and grafting as necessary. Systemic toxicity due to phenol, nitrate, and formate absorption occurred, as did acute tubular necrosis following copper sulfate treatment of white phosphorus burns. Inhalation injury occurred in five patients. A decrease in hospital stay for chemically injured patients was observed. To minimize chemical injury, clothing should be removed promptly and water lavage begun. Systemic toxicity and inhalation injury are rare but often severe and increase mortality.
Heterotopic bone formation about joints and in soft tissues is known to cause joint immobilization and permanent physical impairment in burned patients. Despite aggressive physical therapy aimed at prevention, heterotopic bone formation still occurs in a small percentage of patients. Prolonged immobilization in concert with trauma or burn about the involved joint is recognized as being responsible for this heterotopic bone formation. Specifically, immobilization of extremities, particularly the elbow and upper extremity, should be minimized by early grafting for preservation of function. As burn therapy has enabled increasing numbers of patients to survive extensive burns, it is imperative that preservation of function not be ignored and that attention be directed at improved function early in the postburn course.
We have devised an algorithm employing the exclusive use of biosynthetic dressing (Biobrane) to treat the less extensive burn wounds of patients under DRG 460. This protocol has allowed us to decrease the hospital stay of these patients by 46 percent and turn this patient group from a deficit for the hospital to a substantial profit.
Palladium toning is much less expensive than gold toning. Ten minutes in 0.05% potassium hexachloropalladate in 4 N hydrochloric acid tones silver-impregnated reticular fibers as well as 3 min in 0.2% aqueous gold chloride does. Differences in toning of the background depend on the silver stain.
Beta-Adrenergic agonist-stimulated hyperpolarization, whole-cell cAMP accumulation, and activity of isoproterenol-stimulated membrane-bound adenylate cyclase (EC 4.6.1.1) in Xenopus laevis ovarian oocytes are entirely dependent on the presence of nascent follicle cells. A method was developed to remove rapidly and completely all extra-oocyte cell types to yield defolliculated oocytes that exhibited normal viability and resting membrane potentials yet lacked beta-adrenergic receptor (beta AR)-stimulated responses. Purified follicle membranes contained beta AR-stimulated adenylate cyclase activity, whereas oocyte cell membranes did not. Purified oocyte membrane preparations from X. laevis oocytes previously microinjected with C6-2B rat astrocytoma mRNA, and subsequently defolliculated, exhibited novel beta AR and forskolin-stimulated adenylate cyclase activity. These experiments demonstrate that oocytes expressed rat C6-2B mRNA coding for the beta-adrenergic receptor and the components necessary for forskolin-stimulated adenylate cyclase activity.
The regulation of the expression of three Escherichia coli met genes, metB, which codes for cystathionine gamma-synthetase (EC 4.2.99.9), metL, which codes for aspartokinase II-homoserine dehydrogenase II (EC 2.7.2.4-EC 1.1.1.3) and metJ, which codes for the methionine regulon aporepressor, has been studied using highly purified DNA-directed in vitro protein synthesis systems. In a system where the entire gene product is synthesized, the expression of the metB and metL genes is specifically inhibited by MetJ protein (repressor protein) and S-adenosylmethionine (AdoMet). In a simplified system that measures the formation of the first dipeptide of the gene product (fMet-Ala for the metJ gene), MetJ protein and AdoMet partially repress (approximately 40-60%) metJ gene expression. Thus, the metJ gene can be partially autoregulated by its gene product.
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The regulation of the expression of the Escherichia coli metF gene, which codes for 5,10-methylenetet-rahydrofolate reductase (EC 1.1.99.15), has been investigated by using a simplified DNA-directed in vitro system that measures the formation of the first dipeptide (fMet-Ser) of the gene product. The synthesis of fMet-Ser directed by a plasmid containing the metF gene is specifically inhibited by metJ protein (repressor protein). S-Adenosylmethionine enhances the inhibition by the metJ protein of metF gene expression. The inhibition by the metJ protein is at the level of transcription and the results suggest that S-adenosylmethionine is functioning as an allosteric effector.
We have modified a previously isolated metJ plasmid by removing a segment of DNA including the rop gene. Bacterial strains carrying this plasmid produce elevated levels of the metJ gene product, presumably because of the high number of gene copies in the cell. We have isolated the metJ gene product in nearly homogeneous form from such a strain. The subunit size and the amino acid composition are the same as those predicted from the DNA sequence of the metJ gene. Sedimentation equilibrium measurements show that the native metJ gene product is a dimer. The purified dimer protects a short segment of DNA in the regulatory region of the metB and metJ genes from hydrolysis by DNase I.
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Both wild-type and mutant forms of the methionine regulatory gene, metJ, of Escherichia coli K12 have been cloned in derivatives of pBR322. In cells carrying plasmids with a functional copy of metJ, the methionine regulon appears to be repressed even under conditions of methionine limitation. Maxicell labeling experiments show that the plasmids code for a small peptide (12 kilodaltons) only when they carry a functional copy of metJ. The lesions in five independently isolated metJ mutants are located in, or slightly upstream from, a coding sequence proposed to be metJ by Saint-Girons, I., Duchange, N., Cohen, G. N., and Zakin, M. M. [1984) J. Biol. Chem. 259, 14282-14285).
The effects of Mu or transposon 5 insertions on the expression of genes of the metJBLF cluster show that metB and metL form an operon, transcribed from metB to metL, and that metF and metJ are independently transcribed.