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Biomedical subjects

P Hoppe

Publications and source records attributed to P Hoppe.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

[Aggressive fibromatosis in the jaw and facial region with bone involvement. A review].

BACKGROUND: Aggressive fibromatosis (AF) involving bones of the head is rare and surgery is often complicated by a high recurrence rate. Interdisciplinary treatment is of the utmost importance to avoid extensive, mutilating resection. Two cases emphasize the difficulties in the management. CASE REPORTS: A 67-year-old woman was referred to our unit with a blepharochalasis of the left upper palpebra and a palsy of the face on the left side. Her medical history included 12 operations over the previous 4 years for an extensive AF. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Our review includes all case reports of AF involving bones of the head published between 1960 and 2004. Additionally, our two cases are presented. Signs, symptoms and outcome were analyzed in relation to different treatment options. CONCLUSION: According to the literature, surgery is the most common treatment for AF in the head and neck region. Alternative modes of therapy must be considered because of the high recurrence rate and to avoid mutilating operations.

Aged↗

Contrast agent specific imaging modes for the ultrasonic assessment of parenchymal cerebral echo contrast enhancement.

Previous work has demonstrated that cerebral echo contrast enhancement can be assessed by means of transcranial ultrasound using transient response second harmonic imaging (HI). The current study was designed to explore possible advantages of two new contrast agent specific imaging modes, contrast burst imaging (CBI) and time variance imaging (TVI), that are based on the detection of destruction or splitting of microbubbles caused by ultrasound in comparison with contrast harmonic imaging (CHI), which is a broadband phase-inversion-based implementation of HI. Nine healthy individuals with adequate acoustic temporal bone windows were included in the study. Contrast harmonic imaging, CBI, and TVI examinations were performed in an axial diencephalic plane of section after an intravenous bolus injection of 4 g galactose-based microbubble suspension in a concentration of 400 mg/mL. Using time-intensity curves, peak intensities and times-to peak-intensity (TPIs) were calculated off-line in anterior and posterior parts of the thalamus, in the region of the lentiform nucleus, and in the white matter. The potential of the different techniques to visualize cerebral contrast enhancement in different brain areas was compared. All techniques produced accurate cerebral contrast enhancement in the majority of investigated brain areas. Contrast harmonic imaging visualized signal increase in 28 of 36 regions of interest (ROIs). In comparison, TVI and CBI examinations were successful in 32 and 35 investigations, respectively. In CHI examinations, contrast enhancement was most difficult to visualize in posterior parts of the thalamus (6 of 9) and the lentiform nucleus (6 of 9). In TVI examinations, anterior parts of the thalamus showed signal increase in only 6 of 9 examinations. For all investigated imaging modes, PIs and TPIs in different ROIs did not differ significantly, except that TVI demonstrated significantly higher PIs in the lentiform nucleus as compared with the thalamus and the white matter (P < 0.05). The current study demonstrates for the first time that CBI and TVI represent new ultrasonic tools that allow noninvasive assessment of focal cerebral contrast enhancement and that CBI and TVI improve diagnostic sensitivity as compared with CHI.

Adult↗

In situ discovery of graphite with interstellar isotopic signatures in a chondrule-free clast in an L3 chondrite

Optical and scanning electron microscopy of a chondrule-free clast in the unequilibrated L3 chondrite Khohar revealed a spherical object consisting of an aggregate of small ( approximately 2- micrometer diameter), Ni-poor (0.5 to 2.89 weight percent) metal particles and fine-grained graphite (<1-micrometer diameter). The graphite has large D and 15N excesses (deltaD approximately 1500 per mil and delta15N approximately 1300 per mil) with two isotopically distinct signatures: N rich with a high D/H ratio and N poor with a high 15N/14N ratio. These excesses are the largest D and 15N excesses observed in situ in a well-characterized phase in a meteorite. The isotopic characteristics are suggestive of an interstellar origin, probably by ion-molecule reactions at low temperature in the interstellar molecular cloud from which the solar system formed. The structure and nonchondritic composition of the metal particles suggest they did not form under equilibrium conditions in the solar nebula.

Journal Article↗

Evidence that lysosomal storage of proteolipids is a cell autonomous process in the motor neuron degeneration (mnd) mouse, a model of neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis.

The motor neuron degeneration (mnd) mouse has been documented to accumulate proteolipid and thus is a model of neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis [Dunn, W.A., Raizada, M.K., Vogt, E.S. and Brown, E.A., Int. J. Dev. Neurosci., 12 (1994) 185-196; Faust, J.R., Rodman, J.S., Daniel, P.F., Dice, J.F. and Bronson, R.T., J. Biol. Chem., 269 (1994) 10150-10155]. While accumulation of proteolipid in the hippocampus of chimeric mice composed of mnd and +/+ cells was found to be proportional to the contribution of mnd in the brain, accumulation within individual cells was the same for cells from chimeric and age-matched mnd mice. Bone marrow transplantation was used to altering the milieu of circulating factors to determine whether this might modify the disease phenotype in mnd mice. Transplantation of bone marrow in neonatal or young mice did not reduce the age-associated accumulation of proteolipid within hippocampal neurons. The results of these experiments indicate that mnd results in a cell autonomous defect.

Aging↗

Type II Supernova Matter in a Silicon Carbide Grain from the Murchison Meteorite

The circumstellar silicon carbide (SiC) grain X57 from the Murchison meteorite contains large amounts of radiogenic calcium-44 (20 times its solar system abundance) and has an anomalous silicon isotopic composition, different from other circumstellar SiC grains. Its inferred initial 44Ti/Si and 44Ti/48Ti ratios are 1.6 x 10(-4) and 0.37. In addition, it contains radiogenic magnesium-26; the inferred initial 26Al/27Al ratio is 0.11. The isotopic and elemental data of X57 can be explained by selective mixing of matter from different zones of a typical type II supernova of 25 solar masses during its explosion. The high 44Ti/Si ratio requires contributions from the innermost nickel zone of the supernova to the SiC condensation site, as similarly suggested by astronomical observations.

Journal Article↗

Small SiC grains and a nitride grain of circumstellar origin from the Murchison meteorite: implications for stellar evolution and nucleosynthesis.

We report the results of SIMS isotopic analyses of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and silicon made on 849 small (approximately 1 micrometer) individual silicon carbide grains from the Murchison meteorite. The isotopic compositions of the major elements carbon and silicon of most grains (mainstream) are similar to those observed in larger grain studies suggesting an AGB star origin of these grains. In contrast, the trace element nitrogen shows a clear dependency on grain size. 14N/15N ratios increase with decreasing grain size, suggesting different stellar sources for grains of different size. Typically observed 14N/15N ratios in the small grains of this study are approximately 2700, clearly larger than the values expected from model calculations of AGB stars. In addition to the three dredge-up episodes characteristic for the evolution of AGB stars, extra-mixing of CNO-processed matter in low mass AGB stars appears to be a promising possibility in order to explain the high 14N/15N ratios of the small circumstellar SiC grains. A small fraction of grains shows a silicon isotopic signature not observed in larger circumstellar SiC grains from Murchison. Their stellar origin is still uncertain. The minor type A, B, Y, and X grains were found to be present at a level of a percent, which is similar to their abundance in the larger-grain SiC separates from Murchison. Oxygen isotopic compositions are normal within the experimental uncertainties of several 10%, indicating that oxygen of stellar origin is rare or even absent in the SiC grains. We conclude that most of the oxygen is a contaminant which was introduced into the SiC grains after their formation, e.g., during sample processing in the laboratory. We identified a nitride grain, most likely Si3N4 with little carbon, with highly anomalous isotopic compositions (12C/13C = 157 +/- 33, 14N/15N = 18 +/- 1, delta 29 Si = -43 +/- 56%, delta 30 Si = -271 +/- 50%). The isotopic patterns of carbon, nitrogen, and silicon resemble those of the rare SiC X grains suggesting that these two rare constituents of circumstellar matter formed in the same type of stellar source, namely, Type II supernovae.

Carbon↗

The vegetalizing factor. A member of the evolutionarily highly conserved activin family.

The mesoderm and endoderm inducing vegetalizing factor was partially sequenced after BrCN cleavage. A sequence which is highly conserved in activin A near the C-terminal end was identified. This shows that the factor belongs to the activin family. The activins are not confined to embryos and gonads, but widely distributed in other tissues like calf kidney and calf liver. Functional aspects are discussed.

Activins↗

Spatial restriction of AChR gene expression to subsynaptic nuclei.

Acetylcholine receptors (AChRs) and the mRNAs encoding the four AChR subunits are highly concentrated in the synaptic region of skeletal myofibers. The initial localization of AChRs to synaptic sites is triggered by the nerve and is caused, in part, by post-translational mechanisms that involve a redistribution of AChR protein in the myotube membrane. We have used transgenic mice that harbor a gene fusion between the murine AChR delta subunit gene and the human growth hormone gene to show that innervation also activates two independent transcriptional pathways that are important for establishing and maintaining this non-uniform distribution of AChR mRNA and protein. One pathway is triggered by signal(s) that are associated with myofiber depolarization, and these signals act to repress delta subunit gene expression in nuclei throughout the myofiber. Denervation of muscle removes this repression and causes activation of delta subunit gene expression in nuclei in non-synaptic regions of the myofiber. A second pathway is triggered by an unknown signal that is associated with the synaptic site, and this signal acts locally to activate delta subunit gene expression only in nuclei within the synaptic region. Synapse-specific expression, however, does not depend upon the continuous presence of the nerve, since transcriptional activation of the delta subunit gene in subsynaptic nuclei persists after denervation. Thus, the nuclei in the synaptic region of multinucleated skeletal myofibers are transcriptionally distinct from nuclei elsewhere in the myofiber, and this spatially restricted transcription pattern is presumably imposed initially by the nerve.

Animals↗

5' flanking sequences of the rat tyrosine hydroxylase gene target accurate tissue-specific, developmental, and transsynaptic expression in transgenic mice.

Transgenic mice were generated in which sequences that flank the rat tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) gene were linked to the bacterial chloramphenicol acetyl transferase (CAT) gene. Mice bearing 4.8 kilobases (kb) of 5' flanking DNA exhibited correct tissue-specific expression in the CNS and periphery. Expression was more robust in the CNS than in the periphery, although CAT activity was clearly detected in sympathetic ganglia (superior cervical ganglia) and the adrenal, the two peripheral tissues that contain TH-positive cells. Within the brain, CAT expression was seen in all the expected areas containing TH-positive cell bodies, with little or no expression in other regions. In the olfactory bulb, which contains the majority of the CNS TH cells, developmental expression of CAT was quantifiable and was found to parallel the postnatal rise in endogenous TH, with both TH and CAT reaching adult levels by postnatal day 21. Since TH activity in the olfactory bulb requires afferent input, the dependence of CAT activity on transsynaptic input was also assayed in transgenic mice. Like the endogenous TH activity, CAT levels were also reduced by deafferentation, in parallel with loss in endogenous dopamine levels. While previous experiments demonstrated that shorter 5' flanking regions (2.5 kb and 3.5 kb of 5' upstream sequences of the human and mouse TH gene, respectively) failed to direct accurate tissue-specific expression, our data demonstrate that 4.8 kb of 5' flanking sequence of the rat TH gene contains sufficient regulatory information to mediate appropriate tissue-specific expression in all CNS and PNS tissues, as well as to mediate developmental and transsynaptic expression in the olfactory bulb.

Animals↗

The vegetalizing factor from chicken embryos: its EDF (activin A)-like activity.

The erythroid differentiation capacity of the HPLC-purified mesoderm- and endoderm-inducing vegetalizing factor from chicken embryos and of recombinant erythroid differentiation factor (EDF = activin A), an evolutionary highly conserved member of the TGF-beta protein superfamily have been compared. Both factors stimulate the synthesis of hemoglobin in erythroleukemia cells in the same concentration range. The EDF-activity of the mesoderm-inducing HPLC-fractions is inhibited by follistatin, an EDF-binding protein. The factor induces in ectoderm of Triturus taeniatus all kinds of mesodermal organs. The wide spectrum of organs is very likely to be induced by secondary interactions. At higher concentration (15 ng/ml), notochord- and endoderm-like tissues are induced in a high percentage.

Activins↗

Isolation of a vegetalizing inducing factor after extraction with acid ethanol. Concentration-dependent inducing capacity of the factor.

A vegetalizing factor has been isolated from chicken embryos by an improved method. The factor is extracted with acid/ethanol and finally purified by four consecutive steps of reversed phase HPLC. The molecular mass is about 25 kDa. The factor dissociates after reduction with dithiothreitol into two subunits of about 13 kDa. The factor was tested on Triturus alpestris by the implantation method, and on isolated ectoderm of Xenopus laevis in solution. The factor induces as the crude fractions all types of mesodermal tissues dependent on the concentration of the factor.

Acids↗

Plastidic Isoprenoid Synthesis during Chloroplast Development : Change from Metabolic Autonomy to a Division-of-Labor Stage.

The chloroplast isoprenoid synthesis of very young leaves is supplied by the plastidic CO(2) --> pyruvate --> acetyl-coenzyme A (C(3) --> C(2)) metabolism (D Schulze-Siebert, G Schultz [1987] Plant Physiol 84: 1233-1237) and occurs via the plastidic mevalonate pathway. The plastidic C(3) --> C(2) metabolism and/or plastidic mevalonate pathway of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) seedlings changes from maximal activity at the leaf base (containing developing chloroplasts with incomplete thylakoid stacking but a considerable rate of photosynthetic CO(2)-fixation) almost to ineffectivity at the leaf tip (containing mature chloroplasts with maximal photosynthetic activity). The ability to import isopentenyl diphosphate from the extraplastidic space gradually increases to substitute for the loss of endogenous intermediate supply for chloroplast isoprenoid synthesis (change from autonomic to division-of-labor stage). Fatty acid synthesis from NaH(14)CO(3) decreases in the same manner as shown for leaf sections and chloroplasts isolated from these. Evidence has been obtained for a drastic decrease of pyruvate decarboxylase-dehydrogenase activity during chloroplast development compared with other anabolic chloroplast pathways (synthesis of aromatic amino acid and branched chain amino acids). The noncompetition of pyruvate and acetate in isotopic dilution studies indicates that both a pyruvate-derived and an acetate-derived compound are simultaneously needed to form introductory intermediates of the mevalonate pathway, presumably acetoacetyl-coenzyme A.

Journal Article↗

Covalent coupling of neuralizing factors from Xenopus to Sepharose beads: no decrease of inducing activity.

Two neural inducing factors extracted from Xenopus gastrulae, a basic protein from ribonucleoprotein particles and an acidic protein from the high speed supernatant were covalently bound to CNBr-Sepharose or cross-linked CNBr-Sepharose particles. The protein-Sepharose complexes cannot be taken up by the competent ectoderm cells, but both factors remain fully active. The inducing activity is not due to a release of the bound factors. The experiments suggest that both neural inducing factors act on the cell surface of the competent ectoderm cells.

Animals↗