Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to E Werner.
The dynamics of tuberculosis is decisively influenced by factors, such as demography, BCG-vaccinations, infection rate by mycobacteria, diseases, cures, relapses and death. With national combatting programmes it is possible to develop the epidemetrical models to a dynamic-prognostic system.
Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase and poly(ADP-ribose) glycohydrolase have been detected in chromatin extracts from the dinoflagellate Crypthecodinium cohnii. Poly(ADP-ribose) glycohydrolase was detected by the liberation of ADP-ribose from poly(ADP-ribose). Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase was proved by (a) demonstration of phosphoribosyl-AMP in the phosphodiesterase digest of the reaction product, (b) demonstration of ADP-ribose oligomers by fractionation of the reaction product on DEAE-Sephadex. The (ADP-ribose)-protein transfer is dependent on DNA; it is inhibited by nicotinamide, thymidine, theophylline and benzamide. The protein-(ADP-ribose bond is susceptible to 0.1 M NaOH (70%) and 0.4 M NH2OH (33%). Dinoflagellates, nucleated protists, are unique in that their chromatin lacks histones and shows a conformation like bacterial chromatin [Loeblich, A. R., III (1976) J. Protozool. 23, 13--28]; poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase, however, has been found only in eucaryotes. Thus our results suggest that histones were not relevant to the establishment of poly(ADP-ribose) during evolution.
The subphrenic displacement of the colon (Chilaiditi's syndrome) is an interposition of the flexura hepatica coli between liver and diaphragm caused by an anomaly of the liver ligaments occurring in adults about 1: 50 000. The distinction from air in the peritoneal cavity is the most important differential diagnostic problem.
The article shows the main prerequisites of the pathogenesis of the haematogenic tuberculosis of man. An account is given of the latency between bacteriaemia and clinical manifestation of various forms of organic tuberculosis and they are illustrated in a table.
Tuberculin testings with 2 T.U. (PPD RT 23 + Tween 80) of fifteen- and sixteen-year-old people cause reactions only in 17.4%. BCG-vaccinations of all sixteen-year-old persons are still necessary.
A method for the partial purification of scrapie infectivity from hamster brain is described. About a 100-1000-fold, 20-fold, and 200-fold enrichment in scrapie infectivity with respect to protein, RNA, and DNA content has been achieved using differential centrifugation, enzyme and detergent treatment. The inbred CLAC strain of hamsters used in our experiments contained about 10 times less infectivity in brain than has been found in randomly bred animals or other inbred strains.
The multiform pathogenesis of tuberculosis in vastly clear now. In the article are quoted the main perceptions, and the possible developments of pulmonary tuberculosis are illustrated by a diagram.
The effect of DNA methylation on polyoma virus and simian virus 40 gene expression was investigated. For this purpose, the cytosines of all C-G dinucleotides of the viral DNAs were methylated by the use of rat liver methylase and the completeness of methylation was verified by dinucleotide analysis and restriction endonuclease treatment. The biological activity of unmethylated and fully methylated DNAs was tested by microinjecting them into tissue culture cells. The functions analyzed included early and late viral gene expression, viral DNA replication, oncogenic transformation efficiency, and virus maturation. No difference in any of these biological functions was observed between methylated and unmethylated DNA. Early gene expression of methylated DNA is not the result of demethylation because viral DNA reextracted from the injected cells, under nonpermissive conditions, retained the methylation pattern of the input DNA. In contrast, viral DNA extracted from transformed cells or from intact virus particles was partially or completely demethylated.
Chronic open-angle glaucoma is reported to be more common in blacks than in whites. The reasons for a higher prevalence of this disease in blacks are unclear. Two recent small case series from clinical practice have been published in which secondary open-angle glaucoma was diagnosed in blacks with sickle cell trait who had experienced either traumatic or nontraumatic hyphema. The association of sickle cell trait and chronic open-angle glaucoma has been tested only in a small case-control study of uncontrolled chronic open-angle glaucoma patients undergoing surgery. No significant association was found. However, the higher prevalence of sickle cell trait in blacks compared with whites raises the question of whether the presence of sickle hemoglobin is a risk factor for chronic open-angle glaucoma in the black population. To test for a possible association between this disease and sickle cell trait, we conducted a case-control study in black ophthalmic patients at the University of Pennsylvania and affiliated hospitals between December 1981 and July 1982. Sickle cell trait, as measured by the sickle cell preparation test, was no more prevalent in patients with chronic open-angle glaucoma than in age- and sex-matched ophthalmic clinic controls. It is unlikely that hemoglobin SA is a risk factor for chronic open-angle glaucoma.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Measurements in incubators revealed the presence of formaldehyde concentrations involving a health risk for premature and normal newborns kept and cared for in incubators. Prior to measurements, the incubators had been disinfected by means of formaldehyde vapours in an "Aseptor" disinfecting cabinet (Drägerwerk AG, Lübeck) and then ventilated in strict adherence to operating instructions. The elevated formaldehyde concentrations found had been due to residues of paraformaldehyde and urotropin on the surfaces of the disinfected apparatus, liberating formaldehyde by hydrolysis depending on temperature and relative humidity. There should be a basic reconsideration of the present practice of incubator disinfection. From experiments with activated-carbon filters in incubators it would seem that there is a chance of reducing such formaldehyde concentrations.
In a short survey the connections between tuberculous diseases of man and those of mammals are described. For the combat against tuberculosis a good knowledge of the interactions involved is necessary. The characteristics of such causative agents as Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium bovis and atypical mycobacteria are made clear.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
As compared to control animals, guinea-pigs to the shaved backs of which a dose of 0.16 ml of a 0.12% solution of PES/100g. of body mass had been applied twice daily for periods of 28 and 90 d, respectively (5 d of application being followed by 2 d without treatment), showed erythema, loss of hair, slower increase in mass, increased heart rate, smaller body mass/kidney mass and body mass/spleen mass ratios, increases in leucocytes, ASAT, ALAT, LDH I and LDH III. In the 28-d test, slight inflammatory symptoms of the liver, kidneys and heart were observed in the experimental animals. These symptoms were more marked in the 90-d test, granulomata in the livers being particularly striking. A pneumonia of moderate to very marked degree is suggestive of the activation of a clinically latent PES infect whereby the inflammatory alterations in the kidneys might be explained by the formation of metastases.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Evaluation of materials for bone and joint replacement has led to contradictory results in a number of cases: some researchers have reported the formation of good load-bearing bone structures along the surface of a particular material, e.g. dense, high strength Al2O3-ceramics, others found the same material encapsulated by soft tissue. Considering the results of various animal experiments and the evaluation of clinical follow-up studies, it can be shown that many of these conflicting observations are due to different biomechanical conditions at the site of examination. Failure to consider the local load situation at the interface between the implanted specimen and the bone tissue can lead to misleading statements about the possible applications of a material.
Haematological and folic acid status were assessed in 200 women in the 6th month of pregnancy. Folic acid deficiencies with no or little haematological impairment were found in one third of the cases, and their occurrence increased when the socioeconomic level was low. During the last trimester of pregnancy, the women were given either iron alone or iron and folic acid supplementation. In the mothers, the rise of folate values in serum and red blood cells, in the folic acid-supplemented group, had no obvious haematological consequences, showing that iron therapy alone can, in developed countries, prevent the anaemia in pregnancy. In the infants, there was no difference in the haematological indices, whatever the mothers' treatment had been. However, a significant difference appeared for the gestational age and, therefore, the height and weight. Folic acid supplementation during pregnancy increased its duration by virtually 1 week.