Somatic tinnitus prevalence and treatment with tinnitus retraining therapy.

OBJECTIVES: Somatic tinnitus originates from increased activity of the dorsal cochlear nucleus, a cross-point between the somatic and auditory systems. Its activity can be modified by auditory stimulation or somatic system manipulation. Thus, sound enrichment and white noise stimulation might decrease tinnitus and associated somatic symptoms. The present uncontrolled study sought to determine somatic tinnitus prevalence among tinnitus sufferers, and to investigate whether sound therapy with counselling (tinnitus retraining therapy; TRT) may decrease tinnitus-associated somatic symptoms. METHODS: To determine somatic tinnitus prevalence, 70 patients following the TRT protocol completed the Jastreboff Structured Interview (JSI) with additional questions regarding the presence and type of somatic symptoms. Among 21 somatic tinnitus patients, we further investigated the effects of TRT on tinnitus-associated facial dysesthesia. Before and after three months of TRT, tinnitus severity was evaluated using the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI), and facial dysesthesia was assessed with an extended JSI-based questionnaire. RESULTS: Among the evaluated tinnitus patients, 56% presented somatic tinnitus-including 51% with facial dysesthesia, 36% who could modulate tinnitus by head and neck movements, and 13% with both conditions. Self-evaluation indicated that TRT significantly improved tinnitus and facial dysesthesia in 76% of patients. Three months of TRT led to a 50% decrease in mean THI and JSI scores regarding facial dysesthesia. CONCLUSIONS: Somatic tinnitus is a frequent and underestimated condition. We suggest an extension of the JSI, including specific questions regarding somatic tinnitus. TRT significantly improved tinnitus and accompanying facial dysesthesia, and could be a useful somatic tinnitus treatment.

[Somatic tinnitus (review). A consequence of plasticity and bimodal integration in the dorsal cochlear nucleus]. / Les somatoacouphènes (revue) : une conséquence de la plasticité et de l'int gration bimodale dans le noyau cochléaire dorsal.

Somatic tinnitus is a peculiar tinnitus type that can be defined as a tinnitus that can be modulated in intensity and/or pitch by manipulating some regions of the head and neck but also as tinnitus associated with facial pain or dysesthesis in the same area. Those areas are innervated by the trigeminal nerve and the cervical plexus. This can be explained by functional connections between the trigeminal system and the auditory brainstem and mid-brain. A literature overview shows how different messages coming from the head and neck are able to modulate the hearing information. Tinnitus is generated by an increase of the spontaneous discharges of the dorsal cochlear nucleus neurons, tonotopic reorganisation and an increase of the neural synchronism in the auditory cortex. Trigeminal stimulations have an influence on the activity of the dorsal cochlear nucleus especially in case of an associated hearing loss.

DNA uptake by Streptomyces species.

Uptake of homologous and heterologous radioactively labelled DNA was studied in ten Streptomyces species. Among these, S. kasugaensis and S. virginiae were shown to take up 0.5-2.0% of the supplied donor DNA at a well-defined point in their growth cycle. The heterologous donor DNA taken up retained its original buoyant density in CsCl gradients. Other strains either extensively degraded the donor DNA or showed poor uptake efficiency.

Rapid isolation of Escherichia coli minicells by glass-fiber filtration: study of plasmid-coded polypeptides.

A filtration technique is described to purify Escherichia coli chi 1488 minicells much more rapidly than the usual method involving sucrose gradient centrifugation, and to produce minicells that have not been subjected to osmotic stress. The minicells so prepared are metabolically active as indicated by the in vivo incorporation of [35S]methionine into plasmid-coded polypeptides.

A plasmid-based method to quantitate homologous recombination frequencies in gram-negative bacteria.

A method is described which enables quantitative evaluation of the ability of gram-negative bacterial cells to perform homologous recombination between DNA molecules. This method is particularly useful in cases where the stringency of rec mutations is to be determined. The procedure is based on a wide-host-range vector (pRK404) in which two unequally truncated and overlapping fragments of the neo gene were cloned. When introduced into gram-negative bacteria either by transformation or by conjugation, molecules of this plasmid, pBX404-7, undergo unequal crossing-over leading to the restoration of a functional neo gene. The stringency of putative rec mutations can thus be determined by measuring the frequency at which kanamycin-resistant colonies appear in bacterial strains harboring pBX404-7.

Transient expression and histological localization of a gus chimeric gene after direct transfer to mature cowpea embryos.

Transient expression of a chimeric gus reporter gene was demonstrated in cowpea embryonic cells after direct gene transfer. This report shows that seed-derived embryos express the reporter gene at high frequency after passive or electroporation-mediated DNA transfer.

Gene transfer by electroporation.

Electroporation of cells in the presence of DNA is widely used for the introduction of transgenes either stably or transiently into bacterial, fungal, animal, and plant cells. A review of the literature shows that electroporation parameters are often reported in an incomplete or incorrect manner, forcing researchers to rely too much on a purely empirical trial and error approach. The goal of this article is to provide the reader with an understanding of electrical circuits used in electroporation experiments as well as physical and biological aspects of the electroporation process itself. Further, a simple paradigm is provided which unites all electroporation parameters. This article should be particularly useful to those new to the technique.

Electroporation-mediated gene transfer into intact nodal meristems in planta. Generating transgenic plants without in vitro tissue culture.

Transient expression and stable integration and expression of transgenes were observed in the tissues and offspring of certain leguminous plants after electroporation of DNA into intact nodal meristems in planta. The method described in this article thus allows the study of transgene expression in tissues differentiating from meristematic cells present in the treated buds. In addition, transgenic plants can be recovered in the offspring of electroporated individuals. Therefore, this technique allows the production of transgenic leguminous plants without the need for in vitro tissue culture, often a major hurdle with this family.

Transgenic grain legumes obtained by in planta electroporation-mediated gene transfer.

Electroporation-mediated gene transfer into intact plant tissues was demonstrated in pea, cowpea, lentil, and soybean plants. Transient expression of a chimeric gus reporter gene was used to monitor the uptake and expression of the introduced DNA in electroporated nodal axillary buds in vivo. The branches that grew out of the nodal meristems were chimeric and expressed the introduced gene up to 20 d after electroporation. Transgenic R1 pea, lentil, and cowpea plants were recovered from seeds originating on these chimeric branches as shown by Southern blot hybridization and GUS expression. Transgenic R2 soybean and lentil plants were also obtained. Segregation ratios in these populations showed a strong bias against transgene presence or expression.

Half-embryo cocultivation technique for estimating the susceptibility of pea (Pisum sativum L.) and lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) cultivars to Agrobacterium tumefaciens.

Longitudinally sliced embryonic axes from pea and lentil mature seeds cocultivated with A. tumefaciens carrying a gus reporter gene in its T-DNA provided a convenient means to evaluate the efficiency of gene transfer to tissues in different cultivars and cocultivation conditions. Use of this technique demonstrated wide variation in susceptibility to Agrobacterium among several pea and lentil commercial genotypes.

Distribution of intercalative dye binding sites in chromatin.

Actinomycin D (AMD) and ethidium bromide (EB) were found to bind to chromatin isolated from a variety of gander tissues according to a strong and weak process analogous to that found for deproteinized DNA. Distribution of the dye intercalation sites in chromatin and DNA were evaluated at low r-values (dye bound per nucleotide) by following the appearance of free dye released from chromatin and DNA during thermal denaturation. The AMD dissociation profiles closely resembled the DNA or chromatin-DNA denaturation profiles; whereas the EB derivative dissociation profiles, indicated 3 major transitions for transcriptionally active chromatin with the main component corresponding to the single component which characterizes DNA. The DNA-like component was greatly reduced for mature erythrocyte chromatin but could be generated by removal of histone I and V. Removal of residual non acid-soluble proteins from dehistonized chromatin, urea treatment or dissociation and reconstitution of chromatin favoured conversion to the DNA-like component with loss of the other two. This study indicates that more than one type of binding exists generally in chromatin.

Uptake of bacterial DNA by Chlamydomonas reinhardi.

Escherichia coli [3H]DNA supplied to vegetative cultures of wild-type (mt+) and CW15 (mt+;mutant lacking the cell wall) Chlamydomonas reinhardi could bind to the cell wall of the wild-type and to the cell membrane of CW15 mutant cells. The extent of this binding decreased with time and was to a large degree (over 90%) DNA-ase-sensitive. Nevertheless, about 0.01% of the bacterial DNA remained irreversibly associated with the cells when they reached stationary phase. The irreversible binding of the donor bacterial DNA to Chlamydomonas cells could be increased by treatment of the cultures with polycations such as DEAE-dextran, poly-L-lysine and poly-L-ornithine. Although the CW15 cells rapidly degraded bacterial DNA in the culture medium wild-type cells showed only a small effect on the molecular weight of the donor DNA. The acid-insoluble radioactivity irreversibly bound to WT (+) cells consisted mainly of oligonucleotides with a small proportion present as less depolymerized donor DNA. No radioactivity, however, was found to be associated with the recipient high molecular weight Chlamydomonas DNA. No labeled donor DNA could be recognized in the cells given bacterial [3H]DNA in early stationary phase. Instead, radioactivity found in Chlamydomonas DNA corresponded to reutilization of [3H]thymine derivatives released as a result of [3H]DNA degradation. No evidence for the integration of detectable amounts of donor DNA sequences into the host cell DNA was obtained.

Study of plant protoplast-bacterial spheroplast and cell interactions by flow cytometry.

The analyzer component of the Becton-Dickinson Fluorescence Activated Cell Sorter (FACS) 420 was used to investigate the binding of bacterial spheroplasts and cells to plant protoplasts. Several binding parameters (incubation time, protoplast density and spheroplast/protoplast ratio were determined.

[A case of abdominal aortic coarctation]. / A propos d'un cas de coarctation de l'aorte abdominale.

Report of a case with segmental thrombosis of the infrarenal abdominal aorta in a young person secondary to coarctation (probably congenital). Review of the literature.

Surgical pathology of aorta and arteries of the lower limbs in the elderly.

From 1.1.1988 tot 31.8.1991, 42 surgical revascularisations of the aorta and the lower limbs were performed on patients aged 75 and more (men: 24--women: 18; extreme ages: 75-84; average age: 80). In all cases surgery was absolutely indicated: for advanced arteriopathy in the lower limbs (stage III or IV of Fontaine's classification) (37 cases) and ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (5 cases). No primary major amputation was performed in the peripheral vascular group stages III and IV. Peripheral vascular occlusive disease (30 cases) was operated under locoregional anaesthesia and consisted of the femoro-distal popliteal bypass with in situ saphenous vein (23 cases). Patients with proximal lesions preferably underwent an extra-anatomic bypass under general anaesthesia (7 cases). Ruptured infrarenal aortic aneurysm also needs a general anesthesia and represents a high surgical risk (5 cases). For the 42 patients, we observed 38 good immediate functional results and 4 peri-operative deaths. Of the 38 immediate good results, we observed 6 secondary obliterations of the bypass within a period of 5 to 18 months, among which 2 were successfully disobliterated. The other 4 patients underwent lower limb amputation.

Atraumatic splenic rupture in the course of a pneumonia with Streptococcus pneumoniae. Case report and literature review.

Atraumatic splenic ruptures in the course of infectious diseases are rare but have been reported. Various germs of viruses can be at the origin of such rupture. The more often quoted viral disease is infectious mononucleosis. The more frequently involved bacteria are Streptococcus non pneumoniae, Pseudomonas, staphylococci and Clostridium. Rupture mechanism is not clearly elucidated; it can be connected with sepsis diffusion at spleen level via haematogenic way and consequently splenomegaly. Splenic rupture following septicaemia does not always entail major splenomegaly nor abscess formation but the attack of the splenic tissue itself is sometimes sufficient to bring about the rupture. The present case of atraumatic splenic rupture on spleen sepsis, no abscess, starting from a pulmonar infection with Streptococcus pneumoniae is, to our knowledge, the first case reported in literature.

[Malignant retroperitoneal paraganglioma. Case report and literature review]. / Paragangliome malin rétropéritonéal. Case report et revue de la littérature.

The authors report a case with a retroperitoneal recurrent malignant non-secretory neuroendocrine tumor. The diagnosis of this rare pathology is based on immunohistochemical and electron microscopic techniques. Due to radio- and chemotherapeutic resistance of the tumor, the therapy has to be surgical. The locoregional recurrent nature of the disease asks for a close clinical and radiological follow-up.

[Neonatal ovarian cyst. Case report and literature review]. / Kyste de l'ovaire néonatal. Case report et revue de la littérature.

The authors report a case of antenatal ultrasound diagnosis of a large fetal ovarian cyst; surgical extirpation in the neonatal period due to locoregional complications. Review of the literature; diagnosis, treatment, complications.

[Mesenteric venous infarction and antithrombin III deficiency: description of 2 cases and literature review]. / Infarcissement veineux mésentérique et déficit en antithrombine III: description de deux observations et revue de la littérature.

Congenital deficiency of antithrombin III, the main physiological inhibitor of blood coagulation, enhances recurrent venous thromboses, usually in the mesenteric network. Two such cases are reported.

[Surgical interruption of the inferior vena cava]. / Interruption chirurgicale de la veine cave inférieure.

The historical review of the different techniques of inferior vena cava interruption allows to take into consideration the improvement in the treatment and prophylaxis of thromboembolism. On the one hand, technological progresses led to less invasive, often endoluminal surgical procedures. On the other hand, owing to administration of anticoagulant and fibrinolytic drugs, the indications of permanent and temporary vena cava filters become clearer and more precise.