Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to A Schaller.
This paper refers to one of the entrances to the former 'delivery house' of the old Vienna General Hospital, namely the door in Rotenhausgasse. It was used for 70 years, from 1784 to 1854. According to the wishes of Emperor Joseph II, unmarried women could be supported by specialists, anonymously and thus escaping shame. Connected with it was the protection of the newborn against exposure and infanticide.
A protein of 50-kDa (SBP50) was identified in plasma membranes of tomato leaves which resembles proteases of the family of Kex2p-like prohormone convertases. To our knowledge, proteases of this class have not been reported in plants previously. A biotinylated derivative of systemin, the 18-aa polypeptide inducer of proteinase inhibitors in tomato and potato leaves, was bound by SBP50 with high specificity. When a systemin derivative was labeled with biotin at residue 8 and with [35S]methionine at position 15, the biotin moiety but not the radioactive label was bound by SBP50. At least 4 aa from the C terminus that included [35S]methionine were missing, indicating that proteolytic cleavage had occurred. Whereas residues in systemin most important for binding SBP50 appear to be located in the N-terminal half of the molecule, amino acids crucial for proteinase inhibitor induction are located within the C terminus. The residues important for binding include a cleavage site for furin, a member of the family of Kex2p-like prohormone-processing enzymes. Processing of systemin at the predicted furin cleavage site was confirmed in vitro. An antiserum against a Kex2p-like protease from Drosophila inhibited binding of biotinylsystemin to SBP50 and recognized a protein of about 60 kDa in Western blot analyses of tomato plasma membrane proteins. The data suggest a possible role for a membrane bound, furin-like protease in the mechanism of defense gene signaling by systemin.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Report on prenatal sonographic diagnosis of osteogenesis imperfecta of the classical type Ekman Lobstein (osteopsathyrosis) in the 35th week of pregnancy. We could demonstrate the marked penetration of ultrasound through the characteristically very thin long bones even before the occurrence of fractures. Difficulties in attributing our case to one of the four groups of osteogenesis imperfecta according to Sillence are discussed, as well as the obstetrical management of these prenatally diagnosed cases.
Description of the painting "Wertheim bei einer gynäkologischen Operation" ('Wertheim performing a gynecological operation') by the famous Austrian portraitist John Quincey Adams. The surgeon Ernst Wertheim is being assisted by his private assistant Theodor Micholitsch (1st assistant) and by Wilhelm Weibel (2nd assistant). The names of the doctor performing the anesthesia and of the surgical nurse who is handling him the instruments--a sister of the order of the Sisters of Saint Vincent of Paul--are unknown. The painting--signed 1907--was painted during Ernst Wertheim's period as head of the gynecological department (the Bettina-Stiftungspavillon) at the "Kaiserin-Elisabeth-Spital", Vienna.
In a interdisciplinary scientific cooperation involving human and veterinarian obstetricians and meteorologists, an attempt was made to correlate the obstetrical data of cows and pigs with meteorologically defined weather events. During the observation period of 10 years the parturitions of cattle (n = 645) showed no significant statistical connection to the weather on day of delivery, the day before parturition or the day after. The only significant result in cattle was a shortening of the gestation period by 4.9 days in a group of cows that went into labour on, or after, the sixth day of a constant weather situation. Significant variations in the duration of gestation in swine (n = 786) were related to the weather on the day of delivery; central high-gradient anticyclonic spring, summer and autumn weather was linked to an extension of the pregnancy by nearly 1 day, while cyclonic central low-gradient weather during autumn was related to a shortening of pregnancy by approximately 1 day. The weather on the day before parturition was also correlated with the duration of gestation in swine. In this respect, low-gradient cyclonic autumn weather coincided with gestation periods that were reduced by 0.95 days, while central anticyclonic winter and spring weather coincided with extensions of gestation of 0.98 and 1.12 days, respectively. Compared with labour during low-gradient anticyclonic weather, the course of labour in pigs was significantly protracted by approximately 1.5 h during low-gradient cyclonic weather. Weather fronts on the day before, the day after or on the day of labour had no influence on the gestation and parturition data collected in either species.
The 'Wiener Schulzange' was first used by the Second Medical School in Vienna, the beginning of which must be assumed around the year 1848, and goes back to Sir James Young Simpson in Edinburgh and Carl Braun Ritter von Fernwald in Vienna. The forceps was produced in Vienna by Josef Leiter, who was well known for making surgical instruments. Names like Francis Henry Ramsbotham, John Aitken, David Evans, Dietrich Wilhelm Heinrich Busch and Hermann Josef Brünninghausen are connected with the development of the Viennese forceps; its English lock goes back to William Smellie. The arms of the Viennese forceps, which, being a forceps of the crossed type, forms a two-armed lever, were originally forged from one piece each and brazed with the separately manufactured handles.
500 years ago Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, called Paracelsus, was born near Einsiedeln, the famous place of pilgrimage in Switzerland. Two gynecologists who later on became well-known medicohistorians--Bernhard Aschner (born in Vienna) and Paul Diepgen (born in Aachen)--created the basis for a summary of the etiopathogenetic ideas and therapeutic experiences of Paracelsus in gynecology. One must be aware of the fact that, living in a period between the Middle Ages and modern times, the great physician was not always able to differentiate between metaphysics and physics, e.g. in regard to menstruation, pregnancy, birth, tumors or hysteria. The hostility of his opponents and those who envied him during his lifetime as well as in the centuries after his death seems to continue today in a lack of respect for the great physician's privacy.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Full-length cDNA clones encoding shikimate kinase (EC 2.7.1.71), an enzyme of the central section of the shikimate pathway, have been isolated from tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L., cv. UC82b). The open reading frame has the capacity to encode a peptide of 300 amino acids. The in-vitro synthesized peptide catalysed the phosphorylation of shikimate thus confirming the identity of the isolated cDNA clones. The N-terminal portion of the deduced amino acid sequence resembles known chloroplast-specific transit peptides. The existence of such a transit peptide was proven by the uptake of the in-vitro synthesized peptide as well as its processing by isolated chloroplasts. Multiple sites of polyadenylation were observed in shikimate kinase mRNAs. The results of Northern and Southern blot analyses are consistent with the existence of only one shikimate kinase gene per haploid genome in tomato. These results are discussed with respect to the dual pathway hypothesis of the shikimate pathway in higher plants.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Chorismate synthase catalyzes the last common step in the biosynthesis of the three aromatic amino acids in microorganisms and plants. We have cloned a cDNA for this enzyme from the higher plant Corydalis sempervirens. This is the first chorismate synthase cDNA from a eukaryotic organism. The nucleotide sequence was determined and the identity of the cDNA was confirmed by the amino acid sequence of tryptic peptides obtained from purified chorismate synthase. The homology to the two known bacterial sequences is about 48%. The cDNA contains an open reading frame of 1341 base pairs, encoding a protein of 447 amino acids. This protein with a molecular mass of 48,100 daltons resembles a chorismate synthase precursor targeted for chloroplast import. Multiple sites of polyadenylation were observed in chorismate synthase mRNAs.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Chorismate synthase was purified 1200-fold from Euglena gracilis. The molecular mass of the native enzyme is in the range of 110 to 138 kilodaltons as judged by gel filtration. The molecular mass of the subunit was determined to be 41.7 kilodaltons by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Purified chorismate synthase is associated with an NADPH-dependent flavin mononucleotide reductase that provides in vivo the reduced flavin necessary for catalytic activity. In vitro, flavin reduction can be mediated by either dithionite or light. The enzyme obtained from E. gracilis was compared with chorismate synthases purified from a higher plant (Corydalis sempervirens), a bacterium (Escherichia coli), and a fungus (Neurospora crassa). These four chorismate synthases were found to be very similar in terms of cofactor specificity, kinetic properties, isoelectric points, and pH optima. All four enzymes react with polyclonal antisera directed against chorismate synthases from C. sempervirens and E. coli. The closely associated flavin mononucleotide reductase that is present in chorismate synthase preparations from E. gracilis and N. crassa is the main difference between those synthases and the monofunctional enzymes from C. sempervirens and E. coli.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
In 1823 Josef Goetz and Franz Wirer v. Rettenbach established the first brine bath at Ischl. Having finished a cure there, Archduchess Sophie, who had been childless, gave birth to a son, who subsequently became Emperor Franz Joseph. For 65 years (as from 1849) Ischl was his summer residence. Wirer, Josef Brenner-Felsach and Max Mayer founded the first hospitals for the inhabitants of Ischl. Another medical institution was the Emperor Franz Joseph Children's Hospital of the City of Vienna at Ischl/Sulzbach. In 1943 the military hospital of the German Air Force for treatment of airmen with injuries of the brain, spinal cord and nerves was transferred to Ischl from Berlin. Under Dietrich Wolfgang Krüger it became the cradle of Austrian neurosurgery after the war (till 1968). The neurologist Karl Theodor Dussik, head of the neurological ward of the Military Hospital at Ischl was the first to use ultrasound for the diagnosis of diseases of the central nervous system. He is internationally regarded to be the father of ultrasonic diagnosis.