Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to A Weber.
We present a case of a perforated duodenal ulcer in an elderly malnourished, septic, diabetic patient with abnormal renal function. This patient was treated successfully with laparoscopic surgery. We suggest that similar cases can be treated by this method.
Data were collected from 39 cattle herds in Northern Bavaria with confirmed outbreaks of salmonellosis and analysed regarding the use of herd-specific Salmonella vaccines in control of this infectious disease. The inactivated vaccine was applied intranasally three times at intervals of 1 week (each dose of 5 ml; concentration of antigen about 10(10) organisms/ml, inactivated by heat at 100 degrees C). Efficacy of vaccine was evaluated by comparing bacteriological examination of fecal shedding of Salmonellae before and after vaccination. The number of Salmonella-positive fecal samples was reduced within one week p. vacc. from 25% to less than 1% of all examined fecal samples. Two thirds (65.7%) of the herds were free of infection within 3 weeks p. vacc. Best results after vaccination were obtained when each animal, including the calves, was vaccinated. Further it could be determined that smaller farms with up to 70 cattle did better than larger farms, where often only a part of the herd was immunized (82.6% and 33.3%).
Prototheca spp. were culturally detected in 64 (28.9%) fecal samples of 221 pigs and in 3 (21.4%) fecal samples of 14 wild boars by using a selective medium, developed by PORE (1973). 25 (39.1%) of 64 Prototheca positive fecal samples of pigs contained Prototheca (P.) zopfii in monoculture, while in 39 fecal samples (60.9%) a mixed culture of P. zopfii and P. moriformis was found. All 3 fecal samples of wild boards contained a monoculture of P. zopfii. The results of this study permit the conclusion that pigs as well as wild boars can harbour and shed Prototheca spp. in variable frequency.
Fecal samples of 146 horses were culturally investigated for occurrence of Prototheca spp. using a selective medium, developed by PORE (1973). Prototheca zopfii could be isolated in monoculture from 9 fecal samples (6.2%). The results of this pilot study show that horses too can harbour and shed Prototheca spp. in variable frequency.
Listeria (L.) spp. were isolated from fecal samples of 9 (30.0%) from 30 tortoises, of 4 (12.1%) from 33 lizards, of 3 (60.0%) from 5 amphibia and of 1 (1.3%) of 76 snakes. All animals were kept as pets. 8 isolates were identified as L. monocytogenes, whereas 4 strains were serovar 4ab (3 tortoises and 1 amphibia), 3 strains serovar 4b (2 tortoises and 1 snake) and 1 strain serovar 4e (1 amphibia). Further 4 isolates were identified as L. ivanovii serovar 5 (3 lizards and 1 tortoise), 3 strains as L. innocua serovar 6b (3 tortoises) and 2 strains as L. welshimeri serovar 6a (1 lizard) respectively serovar 6b (1 amphibia).
126 Pasteurella (P.) multocida strains isolated from nasal swabs of pigs were investigated for producing toxin, comparing tissue culture (EBL cells) and DAKO ELISA-PMT-Kit. With help of ELISA 13 toxigenic P. multocida strains were identified, with help of tissue culture 12 strains producing toxin. In 14 of 219 examined nasal swab bacteria cultures of pigs toxin of P. multocida was detected by the commercially available ELISA. Because of an abundant mixed bacteria culture in 7 of these 14 swabs suspected colonies of P. multocida could not be isolated.
Prototheca spp. were detected in 146 (48.7%) of culturally examined fecal samples of cattle, using the selective medium, developed by Pore (1973). 114 fecal samples (78.1%) contained a monoculture of Prototheca (P.) zopfii, while 10 fecal samples (6.8%) contained a monoculture of P. moriformis. In further 22 fecal samples (15.1%) a mixed culture of P. zopfii and P. moriformis was detected. The results of this study permit to conclude that cattle can harbour and shed Prototheca spp. in variable frequency.
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Quantitative measurements of the interactions of T beta 4 with muscle actin suggest that its only physiological role is monomer sequestration. T beta 4 forms a 1:1 complex with monomeric actin under physiological salt conditions. Its Kd for actin is not affected by calcium. T beta 4 binds only to actin monomers and not to filament ends or alongside the filament. T beta 4-actin complexes do not elongate actin filaments at either the barbed or the pointed end, and, unlike actobindin, T beta 4 does not specifically suppress the nucleation of polymerization. We assessed the fraction of monomeric actin that can be sequestered by T beta 4 in resting platelets. This was done on the basis of (a) its Kd of 0.4-0.7 microM for platelet actin, which had been prepared by a newly devised simpler method, and (b) the values for the concentrations of monomeric actin and of T beta 4 which we measured as 280 and 560 microM, respectively. Using the higher Kd value of 0.7 microM, the T beta 4-complexed actin is calculated to be between 70 and 240 microM, depending on the steady-state free G-actin concentration. This may vary from 0.1 to 0.5 microM, the critical concentrations for uncapped and for fully barbed-end-capped actin filaments. If the Kd in the platelet is the same as in vitro, most of the sequestered actin would be bound to T beta 4 if more than 95% of the actin filaments are capped at their barbed ends in resting platelets.
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Mycobacterium (M.) paratuberculosis was isolated from fecal samples of 3 (21.4%) from 14 mouflons, of 10 (20.4%) from 49 dwarf goats, of 5 (14.3%) from 35 Cameroon sheep and of 1 (9.1%) from 11 alpine ibex. M. paratuberculosis could not found by cultural method in fecal samples of 22 Pinzgauer goats, of 15 bantengs, of 9 wild goats, of 9 skuddens, of 6 four-horned sheep, of 3 red-head sheep, and of 1 chamois. From all 19 animals with cultural positive fecal samples complement binding antibodies against M. paratuberculosis could not be found in the corresponding serum samples. The results confirm that M. paratuberculosis is more frequently in small zoo ruminants than up to now was suspected. The cultural examination of fecal samples has been proved to be a better method for detecting animal excretors than serological investigations by means of the complement fixation test.
We demonstrate that the profilin-G-actin complex can elongate actin filaments directly at the barbed end but cannot bind to the pointed end. During elongation, the profilin-actin complex binds to the barbed filament end, whereupon profilin is released, leaving the actin molecule behind. This was first proposed by Tilney [Tilney, L. G., et al. (1983) J. Cell Biol. 97, 112-124] and demonstrated by Pollard and Cooper [(1984) Biochemistry 23, 6631-6641] by electron microscopy. We show that a model without any outside energy supply, in contrast to the mechanism proposed by Pollard and Cooper, can be fitted to our and their [Kaiser et al. (1986) J. Cell Biol. 102, 221-226] findings. Input of outside energy is necessary only if profilin-mediated elongation continues after free G-actin has been lowered to or below the critical concentration observed at the barbed end in the absence of profilin.
30 lymph nodes with tuberculous changes from slaughter animals were investigated, comparing radiometric and usual cultural methods for presence of mycobacteria. Mycobacteria were isolated with help of radiometric method (BACTEC 460-TB) from 24 lymph nodes ("sensitivity" 96%, "specificity" 83.3%), and with help of usual cultural method from 22 lymph nodes ("sensitivity" 88%, "specificity" 62.5%). The radiometric method is suitable for isolating of mycobacteria in veterinary medicine diagnostic also.
The effects of the orally active prostacyclin mimetic cicaprost on morphologic and functional alterations of rabbit aorta was investigated in experimental hypercholesterolemia. Oral cicaprost resulted in a significantly reduced aortic atheromatous plaque formation and partially prevented hypercholesterolemia-induced impairment of endothelium-dependent relaxations. It is concluded that long-term substitution with PGI2 may beneficially influence the progression of atherosclerosis.
Oral treatment of cholesterol-fed rabbits with the PGI2 mimetic cicaprost largely reduces hypercholesterolemia-induced platelet and neutrophil hyperreactivity. In addition, cicaprost prevents atherosclerosis-induced platelet desensitization for PGI2. These effects persist after cicaprost treatment is withdrawn. Since platelets and leukocytes are supposed to contribute to atherogenesis, this suggests a favourable effect of long-term oral PGI2 substitution in hypercholesterolemia.
Within the framework of a longitudinal study, 127 chimney sweeps from the area of Upper and Middle Franconia (Bavaria, Germany), who had participated in a first medical check-up in 1974, were offered follow-up examinations in 1990. Eighty-one subjects participated in these examinations; in addition individual occupational case histories and medical case histories were obtained for a further 15 and 35 chimney sweeps, respectively. Five test subjects had died before the evaluation deadline (August 15, 1990). The causes of death were a non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a bladder carcinoma, pulmonary metastases with unknown primary tumour, a suicide and an acute myocardial infarction. Conspicuous results were carcinoma of the oesophagus in one case and leucoplakia of the mucous membranes in the mouth and pharyngeal region in three cases; furthermore one chimney sweep had two haemorrhagic lumps on his vocal cords. Taking into account important non-occupational hazards (alcohol and nicotine abuse) as possible causes of these changes and the lack of relevant occupational exposure to products of incineration over a number of years, none of these cases nor any of the other ascertained results could be considered likely to be causally related to occupational activities. Due to the small number of cases, an epidemiological risk evaluation did not seem useful. Comparison with the results of other chimney sweep studies published in the international literature is not helpful due to the differences in study design, the varying case frequencies, and the different conditions of exposure.
The pineal contains a large number of classical transmitters and neuropeptides. Some of these neurochemicals are involved in the regulation of serotonin N-acetyltransferase (NAT) activity and hence in melatonin synthesis. Synaptic ribbons present in the pineal gland also exhibit a numerical day/night rhythm parallel to that of NAT activity. There is scarcity of information regarding the regulation of synaptic ribbon (SR) numbers. In the present study, we have investigated in vitro effects of a number of classical neurotransmitters and neuropeptides. NAT activity was used to monitor melatonin synthesis under the experimental conditions used. Norepinephrine (NE), Delta sleep-inducing peptide (DSIP), vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP), adenosine and N-acetyl-asp-glu (NAAG) significantly increased NAT activity in rat pineal. DSIP and VIP also increase the stimulatory effect of NE on NAT activity. These neurochemicals had no effect on SR numbers. Gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA), serotonin and taurine affected neither NAT activity nor SR. Somatostatin increased SR numbers significantly, without having any effect on NAT activity. The effect of somatostatin is regarded to be pharmacologic, since rather high dosages (10(-4) M) were required to obtain a significant effect. Although somatostatin is present in the pineal and may change rhythmically, the inconsistency of the day/night rhythmicity and the lack of such a rhythm in female rats and male gerbils speaks against an important physiological role of somatostatin in regulating SR numbers.