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Biomedical subjects

G Roth

Publications and source records attributed to G Roth.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

Fasciculations and their F-response. Localisation of their axonal origin.

A fasciculation with an axonal origin may be followed by its own F-response. The time-lapse between these 2 potentials corresponds to the time for the antidromic wave to travel to the alpha-cell and to return to the trigger-point. This relatively stable interval may be compared with the difference between the latencies of the F- and M-responses of the same muscle evoked by distal nerve stimulation. This permits one to localise the origin of the fasciculation on the axon. This method showed that, of 201 fasciculations followed by their F-response, obtained in normal controls and in neurological patients, 97 and 89% respectively had their origin between the muscle and the stimulation site. In this series, the proportion of pathological fasciculations having an origin between the muscle and a point at half the M-latency, is similar to that found in a former study on unselected fasciculations using a collision method (Roth 1982). Comparison between these 2 studies therefore supports the concept that all or almost all fasciculations have an axonal origin.

Axons

Normal survival of Rh0 (D) negative, LW (a+) red cells in a patient with allo-anti LWa.

The serum of an Rh0 (D)+ Caucasian female with a prior history of transfusions contained anti- LWa , reacting moderately with Rh0 (D)+ and weakly with Rh0 (D)- red cells at the antiglobulin phase. Since transfusions were required, Chromium (51Cr) survival studies and mononuclear phagocyte assays (MPA) were used to predict in vivo survival. The MPA value of 6% of the positive control predicted a low likelihood of clinically significant extravascular destruction and 51Cr survival studies indicated greater than 95% survival at 1 h and 78% survival at 20 h for rr erythrocytes. Transfusion of 4 units of Rh0 (D)-, serologically incompatible red cells increased the hemoglobin from 5.2 to 11.4 g/dl and the titer of anti- LWa against rr red cells from 4 to 1,024 7 days after the transfusion. A second 51Cr survival also indicated normal survival of rr erythrocytes. 3 additional Rh0 (D)- units were successfully transfused.

Aged

[Hereditary fragility of the peripheral nerves. Clinical and neurophysiologic study of 23 cases. Review of the literature].

The literature concerning hereditary neuropathy with liability to pressure palsies is reviewed. We describe 23 affected members of 7 families; one of them studied since 1966. The differential diagnosis with heredofamilial plexus brachialis neuropathy and Charcot-Marie-Tooth syndrome is discussed. Our subjects are similar to those described in the literature; they have presented episodes of recurring painless palsies, most often related to minimal neural trauma. Neuromyographic examinations revealed chronic denervation, slowed conduction velocities particularly at entrapment sites and sometimes neurapraxia. We emphasise the conduction blocks for we believe their tendency to long duration (up to 8 years) and presence at several sites in a same patient are characteristic of this affection. Moreover we suggest that this neurapraxia is related to the existence of the tomacula. The possibilities of prevention and treatment are reviewed (two neurolyses performed in one patient presenting with long lasting conduction blocks at 2 entrapment sites have proved to be a successful treatment.

Adolescent

Tongue evolution in lungless salamanders, family plethodontidae. III. Patterns of peripheral innervation.

Innervation of the tongue and associated musculature in plethodontid salamanders was studied using Palmgren stained sectioned materials, fresh dissection, and whole mounts of experimental specimens treated with horseradish peroxidase (HRP). Species studied were chosen to represent modes of tongue projection recognized by Lombard and Wake ('77). Special attention was given to species of the genera Plethodon, Batrachoseps, Pseudoeurycea, and Hydromantes, but representatives of other genera were investigated. As expected we found that cranial nerves IX and X and spinal nerve 1 supplied the muscles involved in tongue movement. The peripheral courses of the nerves were traced, and both functionally related and phylogenetically determined routes were found. As relative projection length increases, the nerves supplying the tongue tip also increase in length. When the tongue is at rest the long nerves are stored in coils. The coil of ramus lingualis lies between the ceratobranchials, but that of ramus hypoglossus is more variable, although constant within a species. Ramus hypoglossus bifurcates into separate branches to tongue and anterior musculature of the floor of the mouth. In generalized, presumably primitive, modes the bifurcation and coiling are far anterior. In most of the tongue projection modes bifurcation is relatively posterior, but in one, bifurcation is anterior, but coiling is relatively posterior in position. The most unusual condition is in Hydromantes, in which bifurcation is relatively posterior and a coiled ramus hypoglossus joins a coiled ramus lingualis to form a unique, coiled common ramus to the tongue tip. Hydromantes has the greatest projection distance of any salamander.

Anatomy, Comparative

[Reinnervation in obstetrical brachial plexus paralysis].

Post-paralytic associated movements ("co-contractions") in 16 cases with obstetrical brachial plexus palsy (OPP) were studied by a neurographic method. This consisted of stimulating a nerve and searching for heterogeneous motor axon reflexes (HAR) in the muscles of the upper limb and shoulder. HAR can be elicited when branches of a single axon reach two different muscles, even very distant from each other. The anatomy of the plexus and the fact that regenerating axons maintain direction determine the frequency with which two muscles are connected. Most HAR are recorded in muscles innervated by the same nerve or roots. More than 800 of them were recorded, mainly in muscles with associated movements. Motor fibers were also detected in sensory nerves. The synkinesis can be explained by a complexe misdirection ("fausse route complexe"): the branches of a single axon reach several muscles. There is no need to propose a simple misdirection ("fausse route"), implying that an axon simply changes direction to innervate another muscle, nor to call upon modifications of the central motor patterns. The proposed mechanisms of associated movements in the OPP explains the impossibility of suppressing them by reeducation.

Adolescent

Afferent visual projections in three species of lungless salamanders (family Plethodontidae).

Afferent visual projections were demonstrated in three species of plethodontid salamanders by means of anterograde transport of horseradish peroxidase. On the contralateral side three optic tracts and seven neuropil areas can easily be distinguished, which are similar among the three species examined as well as in European salamandrids. On the ipsilateral side the marginal optic tract shows great diversity. The retinal projections of the latter range from weakly labeled terminal fields restricted to the thalamus to heavily labeled fields covering the entire tectum opticum.

Animals

The origin of fasciculations.

A collision method in a single axon was used to determine the origin of 100 fasciculations in various lower motor neuron lesions. For 80% of the fasciculations, it was situated on the distal extremity of the axon regardless of the type of lesion, its duration, or the severity of the denervation. For several reasons, this proportion is underestimated. The fasciculations of distal origin were sometimes, associated with double discharges, the mechanism of production and clinical significance of which probably differ.

Axons

Responses in the optic tectum of the salamander Hydromantes italicus to moving prey stimuli.

In the tectum opticum of Hydromantes italicus neurons were recorded extracellularly which responded selectively to moving visual stimuli. Part of the recorded cells were marked iontophoretically by means of alcian-blue dye for anatomical localization. Out of a total of 110 neurons six groups could be distinguished which preferred the square stimulus but differed strongly in their responses to rectangles oriented either vertically or horizontally. Two of these groups showed stimulus preference inversion if the stimulus velocity was changed. These response patterns displayed characteristic differences with those known in other amphibia, well corresponding to differences in the prey catching behaviors.

Animals

Response characteristics and stratification of tectal neurons in the toad Bufo bufo (L.).

In the optic tectum of Bufo bufo the activity of single neurons was recorded during the presentation of moving visual stimuli. The location of the recorded cells was marked iontophoretically by means of alcian blue dye. A total of 132 cells were studied, most of which showed clear differences within their responses to a square and to rectangles oriented either horizontally or vertically. The cells were found primarily within the tectum layers 8 and 6. The majority of them preferred the square to the horizontal bar, and this stimulus to the vertical one. Another group responded best to the horizontal rectangle. Relatively few cells were found in which the vertical stimulus was preferred to the horizontal one. A considerable number of tectal cells showed a change of stimulus preference if the stimulus velocity was changed. No clear correlation between response types and anatomical distribution within the tectum layers could be found.

Animals

High-performance liquid chromatographic determination of epimers, impurities, and content of the glucocorticoid budesonide and preparation of primary standard.

The new glucocorticoid budesonide, a 1:1 mixture of two epimers, was evaluated analytically with respect to drug content, impurities, and epimer distribution in the drug substance. Reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) systems using octadecylsilane columns with different ethanol-water mixtures as eluents were used. Budesonide and its epimers were determined with recoveries of 100.3% (+/- 0.16 SD) and 99.7% (+/- 0.27 SD), respectively. Individual foreign steroids in the ranges of 0.05--0.2 and 0.2--2% were determined with mean recoveries of 93% (+/- 7.6 SD) and 97% (+/- 2.5 SD), respectively. Analysis of eight small-scale production batches of budesonide gave a recovery of 99.9% (+/- 0.39 SD) for the sum of budesonide and impurities. Analytical data and the procedure for preparation of a budesonide primary standard are given. The proposed HPLC procedure is faster, more accurate, more precise, and more selective than the usual pharmacopeial methods for corticosteroids.

Budesonide

Interaction of hormones with receptors and alterations of these processes with age.

A variety of hormone receptor concentrations appear to decrease during aging. Such reductions seem to be closely, if not causally, related to reduced responsiveness. The receptors appear to be lost from target cells during aging. The simple loss of target cells from target tissues is not a sufficient explanation for decreased hormone concentrations, since we can observe these changes in static cell populations. Currently, we are attempting to elucidate the molecular and neuroendocrine mechanisms that are involved in these changes, and we would like to apply some of the mechanisms of hormone receptor control to these problems of altered responsiveness.

Adipose Tissue

Double discharges of distal origin: influence on the firing rhythm.

Double discharges, or doublets, following the direct M response after peripheral nerve stimulation had a distal origin on the axon and were accompanied bay a back-response. This antidromic wave was demonstrated by collision technique or by its occasional recurrent F wave. Double discharges (DD) with a long interval between the two components had their origin in one subunit and were transmitted to another by motor axon reflex. Increse of the post-doublet interval (PDI) duration during EMG was best explained by invasion of the alpha cell by the back-response and the resetting of a new cycle. This invasion was sometimes followed by a recurrent F wave: a shorter PDI resulted. Normal PDI were probably due to blocking of the back-response at the myelinated-non-myelinated junction, without alpha cell invasion: weak or absent Renshaw inhibitory effect on the alpha cell concerned seemed to play a role.

Adult

The role of early sensory experience in the prey catching responses of Salamandra salamandra to stationary prey.

Two groups of newly metamorphosed Salamandra salamandra (L.) were raised with living and with stationary prey, respectively. One year later, the group which had experience exclusively with stationary prey was significantly better in responding to stationary prey than the group which only had experience with moving prey. This was the case both under light and dark conditions. The experiments show that prey-catching behavior in salamanders can be considerably modified by experience.

Animals