[Is supplemental ear acupuncture for surgical tooth removal with local anesthesia effective? : A pilot study]. / Ist die Supplementierung der Ohrakupunktur bei operativer Zahnentfernung in Lokalanästhesie effektiv? : Eine Pilotstudie.

BACKGROUND: The application of ear acupuncture can contribute to a reduction of acute pain. Data on the application of ear acupuncture following oral surgery in odontology is insufficient. OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the effectiveness of ear acupuncture as an auxiliary analgesic treatment in addition to local anesthesia for operative tooth removal. METHODS: In this prospective open non-randomized pilot study (in accordance with the CONSORT publication) 2 cohorts of 50 patients each with the indications for an operative tooth removal either with or without the application of ear acupuncture in addition to local anesthesia with articain were observed. Patients were allocated to the groups according to their preference. Pain intensity while resting and while chewing was recorded as the primary parameter for a period of 10 days. The secondary parameters were the subjective experience of anxiety and symptoms, such as headaches, dizziness and nausea. RESULTS: The two groups did not differ significantly with respect to demographic variables or the use of local anesthetics. At the various measurement intervals, pain intensity while resting or chewing differed significantly between the two groups (ANOVA, p = 0.004, p = 0.007, respectively). Furthermore, the experience of anxiety (ANOVA, p = 0.0001), the number of patients taking analgesics (χ2-test, p = 0.017) and the total postoperative consumption of analgesics (t-test, 0.001) revealed significant differences. In both groups the numerical rating scales (NRS) for postoperative headaches, dizziness and nausea were low. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Despite a potential bias and methodological limitations of the study design, the results of this investigation suggest that ear acupuncture influences the experience of pain and anxiety in the postoperative period after tooth removal. As a treatment method with low adverse effects ear acupuncture can contribute to postoperative pain control, especially in patients with preoperative anxiety.

Biophysical characterization of fungal phytases (myo-inositol hexakisphosphate phosphohydrolases): molecular size, glycosylation pattern, and engineering of proteolytic resistance.

Phytases (myo-inositol hexakisphosphate phosphohydrolases) are found naturally in plants and microorganisms, particularly fungi. Interest in these enzymes has been stimulated by the fact that phytase supplements increase the availability of phosphorus in pig and poultry feed and thereby reduce environmental pollution due to excess phosphate excretion in areas where there is intensive livestock production. The wild-type phytases from six different fungi, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus terreus, Aspergillus fumigatus, Emericella nidulans, Myceliophthora thermophila, and Talaromyces thermophilus, were overexpressed in either filamentous fungi or yeasts and purified, and their biophysical properties were compared with those of a phytase from Escherichia coli. All of the phytases examined are monomeric proteins. While E. coli phytase is a nonglycosylated enzyme, the glycosylation patterns of the fungal phytases proved to be highly variable, differing for individual phytases, for a given phytase produced in different expression systems, and for individual batches of a given phytase produced in a particular expression system. Whereas the extents of glycosylation were moderate when the fungal phytases were expressed in filamentous fungi, they were excessive when the phytases were expressed in yeasts. However, the different extents of glycosylation had no effect on the specific activity, the thermostability, or the refolding properties of individual phytases. When expressed in A. niger, several fungal phytases were susceptible to limited proteolysis by proteases present in the culture supernatant. N-terminal sequencing of the fragments revealed that cleavage invariably occurred at exposed loops on the surface of the molecule. Site-directed mutagenesis of A. fumigatus and E. nidulans phytases at the cleavage sites yielded mutants that were considerably more resistant to proteolytic attack. Therefore, engineering of exposed surface loops may be a strategy for improving phytase stability during feed processing and in the digestive tract.

Evaluation of suramin, ivermectin and CGP 20376 in a new macrofilaricidal drug screen, Onchocerca ochengi in African cattle.

To aid the development of a macrofilaricidal agent for Onchocerca volvulus, the African bovine parasite, O. ochengi, was evaluated as a drug screen by testing three known filaricidal drugs. Groups of five Zebu cattle, naturally infected with more than 15 palpable O. ochengi nodules in the ventral skin, were treated with either suramin (10 mg/kg/day i.v. for 6 days), ivermectin (200 micrograms/kg, s.c.), CGP 20376 (20 mg/kg orally) or left untreated as controls and examined at intervals up to 137 days post-treatment (d.p.t.). After ivermectin treatment, microfilarial densities in the skin decreased within one week to virtually zero and remained at a very low level. A similar rapid and profound reduction was seen after CGP 20376 treatment, but by 137 d.p.t. microfilarial skin densities were approaching pre-treatment levels. With suramin, skin microfilarial densities fell to very low levels after 12 weeks but rose slightly by 137 d.p.t. Effects on the macrofilariae were assessed by sequential nodulectomies at -3 and 28, 84 and 137 d.p.t. By 137 d.p.t. embryogenesis was almost completely interrupted in the CGP 20376 and ivermectin treated animals, although not in the suramin treated group, but in all three groups the majority of remaining intrauterine microfilariae were pathologically altered. Degenerating intrauterine microfilariae accumulated in the ivermectin and in the CGP 20376, but not in the suramin treated worms. The motility of male and female worms was not reduced by any treatment except for female worms at 84 d.p.t. with CGP 20376. Viability of the worms as indicated by the MTT-formazan reduction assay was not reduced in any of the treatment groups.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Reinfusion of shed blood after coronary operation causes elevation of cardiac enzyme levels.

We studied the effect of reinfusing mediastinal and chest tube drainage (autotransfusion) after coronary artery bypass grafting on circulating levels of creatine kinase, lactate dehydrogenase, and serum glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase in 20 patients. Reinfusion of 469 +/- 171 mL (mean +/- standard deviation) of drainage caused enzyme levels to rise to 372% (creatine kinase), 159% (serum glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase), and 143% (lactate dehydrogenase) of their levels before autotransfusion. The MB fraction of the circulating creatine kinase was not elevated. Enzyme changes caused by autotransfusion can potentially mimic or mask the presence of perioperative myocardial infarction. Enzyme determinations after coronary artery bypass grafting must be carefully interpreted when reinfusion of shed blood is used as a blood salvage technique. Routine measurement of these enzymes after operation may not be warranted.

[Analgosedation as an adjuvant during surgery under local anesthesia]. / Analgosedierung als adjuvante Massnahme bei Eingriffen in Lokalanästhesie.

Twelve systemically healthy patients each (ASA risk groups 1-2) who required oral surgery under local anesthesia received the short-acting benzodiazepin Midazolam for analgosedation as well as the analgesics Pentazocin or Piritramid. Both i.v. medications are suitable as adjuvants for local anesthesia since neither clinically relevant respiratory and circular depression nor major sleepiness were observed.

[Does bone metabolic activity determined scintigraphically correlate with calcium and phosphorus measurements by x-ray microanalysis?]. / Korrelieren szintigraphisch ermittelte Knochenstoffwechselaktivitäten mit der Kalzium- und Phosphorbestimmung durch die Röntgen-Mikroanalyse?

An animal experiment on bone healing of dental implants offered the opportunity of comparing scintigraphic images with histological findings, specially with electron microscope results and analysis of the calcium and phosphorus values in different stages. The clear correspondence between the scintigraphic results and the calcification level of the new bone parts must be seen with reservation because of possible methodical mistakes of the radio-micro-analysis from surfaces and of intraindividual differences.

Co-amplification of rRNA genes with CAD genes in N-(phosphonacetyl)-L-aspartate-resistant Syrian hamster cells.

The amplified CAD genes in N-(phosphonacetyl)-L-aspartate (PALA)-resistant Syrian hamster cells are located in an expanded chromosomal region emanating from the site of the wild-type gene at the tip of the short arm of chromosome B-9. The terminus of B-9 in PALA-sensitive cells contains a cluster of rRNA genes (i.e., a nucleolus organizer, rDNA). We have used a molecular clone containing sequences complementary to Syrian hamster 28S rRNA to investigate whether rDNA is coamplified with CAD genes in the PALA-resistant mutants. In situ hybridization of this probe to metaphase chromosomes demonstrates that rDNA and CAD genes do coamplify in two independently isolated PALA-resistant mutants. The tight linkage of CAD and rDNA genes was demonstrated by their coordinate translocation from B-9 to the end of the long arm of chromosome C-11 in one mutant. Blot hybridization studies substantiate the in situ hybridization results. Both types of analysis indicate that only one or two rDNA genes, on the average, are coamplified per CAD gene. The data are consistent with the model that unequal exchanges between rDNA genes mediate the amplification of CAD genes in the Syrian hamster mutants that were analyzed.

Gene amplification causes overproduction of the first three enzymes of UMP synthesis in N-(phosphonacetyl)-L-aspartate-resistant hamster cells.

Mutant Syrian hamster cells resistant to N-(phosphonacetyl)-L-aspartate (PALA), a transition state analog inhibitor of aspartate transcarbamylase, overproduce CAD, a multifunctional protein which catalyzes the first three reactions of de novo UMP biosynthesis. Increased levels of a single mRNA cause the overproduction of CAD in all PALA-resistant mutants examined thus far. A recombinant plasmid containing a 2,3-kilobase insert complementary to the 3'-proximal region of this 7.9-kilobase mRNA has been prepared and used to show that the CAD gene is amplified in each of the 10 PALA-resistant mutants examined. Rates of association of CAD sequences in DNA isolated from PALA-sensitive and PALA-resistant cells with labeled plasmid DNA indicated that the degree of amplification is approximately equal to the degree of overproduction of protein and mRNA in each mutant. The patterns of digestion of these DNAs with restriction enzymes confirmed this result and showed that the lower limit for the size of the amplified unit is 19 kilobases, much larger than the mRNA. A comparison of restriction endonuclease digests of the cloned cDNA with digests of genomic DNA indicated that part of this difference is attributable to intervening sequences in the CAD gene. A 10.2-kilobase RNA which contains CAD sequences is found in cytoplasmic fractions from some PALA-resistant mutants but not in wild type cells. Restriction patterns were analyzed by a new method in which fragments of DNA are transferred from agarose gels to diazo paper with a high efficiency which is independent of size.