[Effects of presentation mode on visual-spatial working memory performance in children and adults]. / Effekte des Darbietungsmodus auf die visuell-räumliche Arbeitsgedächtnisleistung bei Kindern und Erwachsenen.

We report two studies investigating the effects of several experimental manipulations on visuo-spatial memory performance in children and adults. In particular, we were interested in memory for the location of objects. A picture reconstruction task was used where picture-like arrangements of four to six items were briefly presented and then reconstructed. In the first experiment with 5- and 8-year-olds and adults, the degree of visual differentiation of the items as well as presentation mode (simultaneous versus serial) were varied. Contrary to our hypothesis, there was a negative effect of simultaneous presentation in children, but only if the degree of visual differentiation was low. There was no such effect in adults. In a second experiment with 6- and 8-year-olds and adults, we again varied presentation mode, but excluded the scene-like character of the arrangements. All the age groups were slightly better with serial presentation. However, reducing the available schematic knowledge led to a severe performance decrease. The results are related to the current discussion about a further fractionation of the VSSP and to different assumptions about internal representations of location information.

The lateral branches of the common iliac artery.

The description of the common iliac artery and its branches varies significantly in various anatomic references. The results of the observations of several authors are discussed. A study of 143 cadavers in which the branches of the common iliac arteries are investigated is reported. In this study 93 cases (65%) showed no branch from the common iliac artery. In 50 cases (35%) a lateral branch was found. Out of these 50, 18 were given off from the right side, 16 from the left and 16 from both sides. The average diameter of the branch lumen was about 3 mm. The branches supplied the iliopsoas muscle (in addition to the iliolumbar artery), occasionally the ureter, lymphnodes or kidney. In operative procedures near the bifurcation of the abdominal aorta it is necessary to look for lateral branches of the common iliac artery.

Trace elements in brains of patients with alcohol abuse, endogeneous psychosis and schizophrenia.

The concentrations of Co, Fe, Rb, Se and Zn were analysed, by means of neutron activation analysis, in the brains of three patients with alcohol abuse, of one patient with endogeneous psychosis and of one patient with schizophrenia. The patients with alcohol abuse suffered from the Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome. The data were compared with results from brains which were not diseased ("normals"). Patients with alcohol abuse had diminished values of rubidium in nearly all analysed samples of cerebral nuclei (greater than 30% compared to normals), whereas the Rb values were normal or diminished in cortical regions. The cobalt values were reduced (greater than 20%) in eight out of 14 nuclei and in five out of nine cortical regions. Differences in the Fe and Se values were mainly located in the cerebral nuclei. In the caudate nucleus the patient with endogeneous psychosis had highly significant elevated values of all analysed elements. The element concentrations of the patient with schizophrenia did not significantly differ from those of normal controls. The loss of nearly all elements was conspicuous in those regions which show neuro-pathological cell degeneration or atrophy in the case of Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome. This loss of element concentrations in patients with alcohol abuse is interpreted as a loss of cellular vitality.

Trace element concentration in the human pineal body. Activation analysis of cobalt, iron, rubidium, selenium, zinc, antimony and cesium.

100 human pineal bodies (56 male and 44 females) were analyzed by means of instrumental neutron activation analysis for trace concentrations of cobalt, iron, rubidium, selenium, zinc, antimony and cesium. The results indicated that the measured element concentrations are not related to body-surface, age and fresh weight. Moreover, the mean absolute cobalt value from 97 pineal bodies is increased by a factor of 1.43 over the mean absolute concentration value of 257 other areas of the brain. The mean zinc content is found to be 3.7 fold higher than the mean zinc value from 269 other samples of brain. The iron values from various brain areas do not differ from those of the pineal body. Compared to other brain regions pineal selenium is increased and rubidium is decreased. Correlating the different element concentrations to each other, a positive correlation is found for selenium and ribidium, a negative correlation for cobalt and zinc. The present data suggest that the measured trace elements are somehow related to specific roles in the physiology and biochemistry of the pineal body. This is supported by the constancy of element concentration over a wide range of increasing fresh weights of the organ. It is considered that zinc, cobalt and iron are involved as constituents of enzymes in the metabolism of amino acids, peptides and proteins of the pineal body. Moreover the conspicuous high zinc content of this organ may be related to a so far undetected neurotransmitter.

[The fine structure of myotendinous and myo-epithelial junctions in the guinea pig tongue (author's transl)]. / Die Feinstruktur der Muskel-Sehnen- und Muskel-Epithelverbindungen in der Zunge des Meerschweinchens.

The insertion of muscle fibers in the subepithelial connective tissue layer of the guinea pig tongue was studied light and electron microscopically. Fibers of the tractus verticalis approach the epithelium penetrating the lamina propria, both the reticular and papillar layer. Terminating muscle fibers split up and form branching finger-like cytoplasmic processes. The myotendinous junctions of such terminal processes fine structurally correspond to myotendinous junctions generally observed in skeletal or smooth muscles. The entire brush-like formation, however, is more far-reaching and highly differentiated. Filament bundles (spine-like profiles) originate from the plasmalemma and extend to the lamina densa of the basal lamina, especially in those regions where actin filaments are attached to the plasmalemma. Microfibrils (10 to 12 nm diameter) reach the lamina densa of the basal lamina. They form bundles which are continuous with fibrotubular strands of elaunin fibers and elastic fiber microfibrils. Furthermore, microfibrils are interwoven with collagen fibrils.

[On a nerve in the foramen thyroideum (author's transl)]. / Uber einen Nerven im Foramen thyroideum.

On the right half of the larynx of a 35-year old man a branch of the ramus externus nervi laryngei superioris was described that entered the inner larynx without vessels through a foramen thyroideum. A foramen thyroideum that appears in adults in more than a quarter of the cases is considered on the one hand as a remaining cleft between the fused cartilagineous skeletal elements of the forth and fifth viszeral arch and on the other hand as a occasionally remaining opening on account of a vessel or nerve running through. In more than half the cases vessels and nerves together pass through a foramen thyroideum and in a further third vessels only. If, in the case described, a nerve only passes through the foramen, this nerve, in human beinges, cannot be the nerve of the fifth veszeral arch on account of phylo-and ontogenetic considerations.

Trace element concentration in human brain. Activation analysis of cobalt, iron, rubidium, selenium, zinc, chromium, silver, cesium, antimony and scandium.

Up to 60 tissue samples were dissected from 13 human brains in defined regions and were analysed by means of neutron activation analysis for trace element concentration of cobalt, iron, rubidium, selesium, zinc, chromium, silver, cesium, antimony and scandium. It was shown that the variation in concentration of the non-essential elements in the different brain regions was greater than the corresponding variations in concentration of the essential elements. The mean values of Fe and Rb concentrations were higher in the basal ganglia than in the cortex areas. With increasing age the Fe concentration in the human brain was found to increase and that of Rb to decrease. Comparison of the trace element concentration in corresponding areas of the right and left hemispheres showed highly significant positive correlations for the essential elements. The concentration of each of the essential elements Fe, Rb and Zn was also found to differ significantly between defined functional regions. The characteristic distribution of essential trace elements in different areas is discussed in the light of known metabolic functions of these elements.