Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to M Müller.
Squamous cell carcinoma in the axilla, unilaterally as well as bilaterally, is described pathologically in three love-birds and two budgerigars. The deep, hemorrhagic ulceration with secondary bacterial and/or mycotic infection corresponds to the "EMA-Syndrome".
Scales on the badness of 10 offenses/crimes are derived by using the five most common scaling methods: averaging of the badness-ratings of the stimuli on an 11-point scale; mean ranks of complete rankings of the 10 stimuli; Thurstone scales for complete forced-choice and constant-sum pair comparisons, resp.; and ratio scales derived from pairwise ratio judgments for all pairs. From older investigations, a logarithmic correspondence of ratio scales and Thurstone or average ratings, resp., can be predicted. The data corroborate this prediction. They show furthermore that the ratio scale has an exceedingly close, logarithmic relation to each of the other four scales. We therefore conclude that, once a universe has been shown to be scalable, a scale can be constructed very economicaly by simply averaging ratings.
Experiments performed on 71 Wistar rats confirm that preexisting interruption of lymph drainage by ligation of the ductus thoracicus can have a major influence on the development of pancreatitis. The effect of a ductus hepatopancreaticus blockade in experimental group A (32 animals) was greatly exacerbated by previous ligation of the ductus thoracicus (experimental group B; 34 animals). Edema of the interstitial pancreatic tissue led to lipolytic necrotizing pancreatitis with a slight hemorrhagic component, increasing ascites after the 12 th hour of the experiment, and numerous abdominal fat necroses after about 19 hours, but only relatively minor necroses of acinar parenchyma cells in the pancreas. Fat tissue necroses were only found in almost 20% of the animals in group A, and these probably resulted from manipulation of the duodenum during the implantation of a shunt to divert the bile, whereas they were found in all animals of group B after the 19th hour of the experiment, usually in large numbers. The sometimes considerable increases in serum amylase and particularly lipase activity were caused by obstruction of the efferent ducts, but did not increase appreciably after disturbance of the lymph drainage systems. On the contrary, under these circumstances, drainage of the salivary edema via the peritoneal mesothelium and into retroperitoneal fat tissue must be considered responsible for ascites and the initiation of fat cell necroses by lipase and other enzymes.
Subcutaneous fibrosis is intensified for neutron therapy compared with photon irradiation. It can be a dose limiting factor. Quantification of subcutaneous fibrosis is possible using CT scans and measuring the tissue density in Hounsfield units. With this technique the time dependent development of fibrosis after neutron irradiation was determined in ten patients, who had been treated for recurrent recto-sigmoidal tumors.
The utilization of [2-14C] pyruvate via the citric acid cycle of rabbit reticulocytes was studied to elucidate the importance of carboxylation- and decarboxylation reactions in this cell type. Unknown flux rates were determined by fitting the observed time-dependent labeling of CO2, alanine, glutamate and aspartate (all carbon atoms and C alpha) to the corresponding set of differential equations. The results reveal a high activity of the shuttle rate between mitochondrial pyruvate and the C4 pool catalysed by the pyruvate carboxylase (v = 19.1 nM/ml cells/min) and the malic enzyme (v = 57.5 mM/ml cells/min) which is comparable with the flux rate within the citrate cycle (v2 = 46.2 nM/ml cells/min). Moreover, our studies provide strong indications for the existence of a pyruvate utilizing metabolic pathway which has not been described so far.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Cytochrome C oxidase was solubilized with a nonionic detergent n-decanoyl-N-methyl glucamide from the membranes of Sulfolobus acidocaldarius, a thermoacidophilic archaebacterium, and was purified. The enzyme oxidized horse heart cytochrome C with a Vmax of 63 mumols/min/mg at 50 degrees C. The activity was sensitive to cyanide. The enzyme also catalyzed oxygen uptake detergent on N, N, N', N'-tetramethyl p-phenylene diamine. An apparent molecular mass was estimated to be 150 kDa. The enzyme is composed of three subunits of 37, 23 and 14 kDa. Spectral characteristics were similar to typical bacterial aa3 except for the presence of a novel 583 nm peak observed in reduced minus oxidized difference spectrum.
Due to their conjugated double bonds the leukotrienes themselves are photolabile compounds and may therefore be used directly for photoaffinity labeling of leukotriene binding sites. Cryofixation eliminates unspecific labeling taking place in solution by photoisomers and photodegradation products of leukotrienes. After fixation of receptor ligand interactions by shock-freezing of the samples, irradiation-induced highly reactive excited states and/or intermediates can form covalent bonds with the respective binding site in the frozen state. After cryofixation of a solution of albumin incubated with [3H8]leukotriene E4, irradiation at 300 nm resulted in time-dependent incorporation of radioactivity into the protein. Photoaffinity labeling of rat as well as of human blood serum with [3H8]leukotriene E4 after cryofixation revealed that only one polypeptide with an Mr of 67,000 was labeled. This polypeptide was identified as albumin. Photoaffinity labeling of rat liver membrane subfractions enriched with sinusoidal membranes resulted in the labeling of a polypeptide with an apparent Mr of 48,000, whereas no polypeptide was predominantly labeled in the subfraction enriched with canalicular membranes. Photoaffinity labeling of isolated hepatocytes disclosed different leukotriene E4 binding polypeptides. In the particulate fraction of hepatocytes a polypeptide with an apparent Mr of 48,000 was labeled predominantly, whereas in the soluble fraction several polypeptides were labeled to a similar extent. One of these, with an apparent Mr of 25,000, was identified as subunit 1 of glutathione transferases by immunoprecipitation. The method of direct photoaffinity labeling in the frozen state after cryofixation using leukotrienes as photoactivatable compounds, as exemplified by leukotriene E4, may be most useful for the identification and characterization of various leukotriene binding sites, including receptors, leukotriene-metabolizing enzymes, and transport systems.
Some dementias in the elderly are due to vascular diseases in particular arteriosclerosis of cerebral arteries. The question whether US examination of the extracranial cerebral supply vessels is a reliable means of recognizing this form of dementia has been investigated in patients with the clinical diagnosis of vascular dementia. Using direct/indirect Doppler and real-time techniques, we were able to detect pathological lesions in the extracranial supply vessels in only one-third of these patients. Thus, US examination of the vessels in the neck would appear to be of only limited differential diagnostic value.
The structure of the Antennapedia homeodomain from Drosophila melanogaster was determined by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy in solution. It includes three well-defined helices (residues 10-21, 28-38, and 42-52) and a more flexible fourth helix (residues 53-59). Residues 30-50 form a helix-turn-helix motif virtually identical to those observed in various prokaryotic repressors. Further comparisons of the homeodomain with prokaryotic repressors showed that there are also significant differences in the molecular architectures. Overall, these studies support the view that the third helix of the homeodomain may function as the DNA recognition site. The elongation of the third helix by the fourth helix is a structured element that so far appears to be unique to the Antennapedia homeodomain.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
ATP-dependent release of TCA-precipitable peptides from mitochondria-containing stroma (MCS) is described. The process is independent of ubiquitin, but is sensitive to hemin and to heat treatment. Neither chloramphenicol nor EGTA inhibit. 50% of the activity is dependent on charged tRNA. The peptides released from MCS possess a molecular mass of about 1-5 kDa and are degraded to TCA-soluble compounds by a cytosolic protease system (fraction II) without ubiquitin.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Analogues of staurosporine were synthesized and their ability to inhibit protein kinases was examined. Staurosporine is a potent but non-selective inhibitor of in vitro protein kinase C(PKC) activity (IC50 6.0 nM). The derivative CGP 41 251 had reduced PKC activity with an IC50 of 50 nM but showed a high degree of selectivity when assayed for inhibition of cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase (IC50 2.4 microM), S6 kinase (IC50 5.0 microM) and tyrosine-kinase-specific activity of epidermal growth factor receptor (IC50 3.0 microM). Staurosporine and CGP 41 251 exerted growth inhibition in the human bladder carcinoma line T-24, human promyelocytic leukemia line HL-60 and bovine corneal endothelial cells at concentrations which correlated well with in vitro PKC inhibition. In addition, both compounds inhibited the release of H2O2 from human monocytes pre-treated with 12-O-tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate at non-toxic concentrations. In vivo anti-tumor activity was examined in T-24 human bladder carcinoma xenografts in athymic nude mice. Tumor growth inhibition tests revealed significant anti-tumor activity (2p less than 0.001) at 1/10 of the maximum tolerated doses for both compounds. By contrast, a closely related derivative of staurosporine (CGP 42 700) was inactive at concentrations of over 100 microM in all in vitro enzyme and anti-proliferative assays as well as in animal tumor models. Our data suggest an association between PKC inhibition and anti-proliferative and anti-tumor activity.
We demonstrate here the in vitro translocation of yeast acid phosphatase into rough endoplasmic reticulum. The precursor of the repressible acid phosphatase from Saccharomyces cerevisiae encoded by the PHO5 gene, was synthesized in a yeast lysate programmed with in vitro transcribed PHO5 mRNA. In the presence of yeast rough microsomes up to 16% of the acid phosphatase synthesized was found to be translocated into the microsomes, as judged by proteinase resistance, and fully core-glycosylated. The translocation efficiency however, decreased to 3% if yeast rough microsomes were added after synthesis of acid phosphatase had been terminated. When a wheat-germ extract was used for in vitro synthesis, the precursor of acid phosphatase was translocated into canine pancreatic rough microsomes and thereby core-glycosylated in a signal-recognition-particle-dependent manner. Replacing canine with yeast rough microsomes in the wheat-germ translation system, however, resulted in a significant decrease in the ability to translocate and glycosylate the precursor. Translocation and glycosylation were partially restored by a high-salt extract prepared from yeast ribosomes. The results presented here suggest that yeast-specific factors are needed to translocate and glycosylate acid phosphatase efficiently in vitro.
A magnesium ion selective microelectrode based on a synthetic neutral carrier is presented. The selectivity of Mg2+ over Na+, K+, H+, and Ca2+ is sufficient for assays of intracellular magnesium ion activities. The microelectrodes with an optimized membrane composition have a resistance of about 5 x 10(10) omega and a 90% response time of less than or equal to 3 s for a tip diameter around 1 microns. The lifetime of the microelectrode cell assembly is longer than 1 week and the emf drift after equilibration is less than or equal to 0.3 mV/h.
Plasma membranes from rat mammary gland containing a high concentration of [3H]oxytocin binding sites (2.8 pmol/mg protein) were used for photoaffinity labelling experiments. Competitive binding experiments show that these receptors bind with high affinity the specific oxytocin agonist [Thr4, Sar7]oxytocin and the analogue of 1-deamino-[8-lysine]vasopressin containing a photoreactive azidobenzoyl group (Abz) at the side chain of lysine. The tritium-labelled (50 Ci/mol) photoreactive analogue incorporated into a membrane protein with an apparent relative molecular mass of 65,000 +/- 3000 Da (n = 16). The labelling of this protein was completely suppressed by an excess of oxytocin.