The Drosophila melanogaster tropomyosin II gene produces multiple proteins by use of alternative tissue-specific promoters and alternative splicing.

The structure of the Drosophila melanogaster tropomyosin II (TmII) gene has been determined by DNA sequencing of cDNA clones and the genomic DNA coding for the gene. Two overlapping transcriptional units produce at least four different tropomyosin isoforms. A combination of developmentally regulated promoters and alternative splicing produces both muscle and cytoskeletal tropomyosin isoforms. One promoter is a muscle-specific promoter and produces three different tropomyosin isoforms by alternative splicing of the last three 3' exons. The second promoter has the characteristics of a housekeeping promoter and produces a cytoskeletal tropomyosin isoform. Several internal exons along with a final 3' exon are alternatively spliced in the cytoskeletal transcript. The intron-exon boundaries of the TmII gene are identical to the intron-exon boundaries of all vertebrate tropomyosin genes reported, but are very different from the intron-exon boundaries of the D. melanogaster tropomyosin I gene. The TmII gene is the only reported tropomyosin gene that has two promoters and a quadruple alternative splice choice for the final exon. Models for the mechanism of D. melanogaster tropomyosin gene evolution are discussed.

[Ureteral rupture when changing a suprapubic vesical catheter]. / Ureterruptur beim suprapubischen Katheterwechsel.

We describe, for the first time, a rupture of the ureter caused by changing a suprapubic vesical catheter. The guide wire passed into the ostium of the left ureter during the procedure, and the catheter was pushed over the wire into the left ureter blocking it. The lesion was diagnosed by intravenous pyelography. A pigtail stent was placed in the left ureter.

[Post-operative sclerosing mesenteritis]. / Postoperative sklerosierende Mesenteritis.

For the first time we describe a sclerosing mesenteritis that appeared acutely after abdominal operations. The patient suffered from diffuse abdominal symptoms. There was a hard tumour in the left middle and lower abdomen. Histological analysis revealed fibrosis and bone tissue. Symptoms improved after application of prednisone and high-calorie infusions.

[Retroperitoneal bronchogenic cyst]. / Retroperitoneale bronchogene Zyste.

We describe a 35-year-old female patient who underwent surgery because of a coincidentally occurring cryptic tumour near the left adrenal gland and a right renal carcinoma (pT1, N0, G2, R0). The left-sided tumour was intraoperatively identified as a cystic structure filled with secretion. Histopathological analysis provided the diagnosis of a bronchogenic cyst.

[Villous adenoma of the renal pelvis and ureter]. / Villöses Adenom des Nierenbeckens und Ureters.

Villous adenomas of the urinary tract are extremely rare tumours belonging to the adenoepithelial metaplasias. They can be associated with other neoplasias, especially with carcinomas. We describe the case of an 85-year-old female patient suffering from a villous adenoma of the renal pelvis and ureter.

Nucleotide sequence of a cDNA clone encoding a Drosophila muscle tropomyosin II isoform.

A cDNA clone was sequenced that contains the entire coding region for the muscle tropomyosin II isoform from Drosophila. The cDNA clone is 1253 nucleotides (nt) long and contains an 88-nt 5'-leader sequence and a 310-nt 3'-untranslated sequence. The muscle tropomyosin II isoform consists of 285 amino acids and is 60% homologous with the previously reported muscle tropomyosin I isoform Drosophila and 55% homologous with rabbit muscle tropomyosin.

Women opiate users' perceptions of treatment services in New York City.

This paper focuses on the treatment experiences of women opiate users in New York City. Historically, drug research has used male samples, and drug treatment programs have been based upon the concerns of men. Treatment counselors and administrators are typically male, and female clients are frequently outnumbered by male clients. In addition, unique needs of women are not addressed. Primary among these needs is child care, a provision that is not a standard feature of most programs. Additionally, many women opiate users may be in dysfunctional families and/or have histories of sexual victimization that may require special counselling. Using data from 208 women drug users who had been in an opiate treatment program, this paper examines their perceptions of the extent to which these programs incorporate women's distinctive concerns and the degree to which such provisions are affected by the perceived numbers of women clients in these programs.

[Improved tumor stent for internal palliative urinary diversion]. / Neu entwickelter Tumorstent zur internisierten palliativen Harnableitung.

The disadvantages of high flexible endoureteral stents (DJ) in case of tumorinduced extrinsic ureteral compression are due to an insufficient vertical stability of the used stents leading to stent-compression and consecutive hydro- or pyonephrosis. The new developed tumor-stent used in case of tumor-induced ureteral compression is available from 6 to 8 French in diameter and 24 to 32 cm in length. The corpus consists of a combination of high-stability plastics but is of sufficient elasticity in length. Both ends consist of extremely elastic J-parts guaranteeing an exact fixation. As against common DJ's with the same outside-diameter the new stent has a comparable interior diameter and compared to used "old" tumor stents promises a higher interior flow in case of extrinsic diseases. The application can be undertaken in well-known technique, needs no special instrumentation and no learning-curve. To date 52 stents at our urologic departments were placed without any problems, the latest remaining for 15 months. Tumor-induced compression or a higher rate of encrustation could not be seen. All patients tolerated these stents well. In our opinion the new stabilized endoureteral stent can be seen as a better solution instead of percutaneous nephrostomy or frequent stent changing in patients with tumor induced extrinsic ureteral compression.

Comparison of the clinical efficacy and safety of subcutaneous versus oral administration of methotrexate in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis: results of a six-month, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, controlled, phase IV trial.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the efficacy and safety of subcutaneous (SC) versus oral administration of methotrexate (MTX) in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS: MTX-naive patients with active RA (Disease Activity Score in 28 joints >or= 4) were eligible for the study if they had not previously taken biologic agents and had not taken disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs for 2 weeks prior to randomization. Patients were randomly assigned to receive 15 mg/week of MTX either orally (2 7.5-mg tablets plus a dummy prefilled syringe; n=187 patients) or SC (prefilled syringe containing 10 mg/ml plus 2 dummy tablets; n=188 patients) for 24 weeks. At week 16, patients who did not meet the American College of Rheumatology criteria for 20% improvement (ACR20) were switched from 15 mg of oral MTX to 15 mg of SC MTX and from 15 mg of SC MTX to 20 mg of SC MTX for the remaining 8 weeks, still in a blinded manner. The primary outcome was an ACR20 response at 24 weeks. RESULTS: At week 24, significantly more patients treated with SC MTX than with oral MTX showed ACR20 (78% versus 70%) and ACR70 (41% versus 33%) responses. Patients with a disease duration >or= 12 months had even higher ACR20 response rates (89% for SC administration and 63% for oral). In 52 of the ACR20 nonresponders (14%), treatment was switched at week 16. Changing from oral to SC MTX and from 15 mg to 20 mg of SC MTX resulted in 30% and 23% ACR20 response rates, respectively, in these patients. MTX was well tolerated. The rate of adverse events was similar in all groups. CONCLUSION: This 6-month prospective, randomized, controlled trial is the first to examine oral versus SC administration of MTX. We found that SC administration was significantly more effective than oral administration of the same MTX dosage. There was no difference in tolerability.

[Urologic traumatology in childhood (closed injuries)]. / Urologische Traumatologie im Kindesalter (geschlossene Verletzungen).

Critical injuries of the kidney have to be treated surgically immediately. Here also have to consider the same rules of the surgery that go with an acute abdomen. By slight and severe injuries to the kidneys there is adaequate time for a thorrow diagnostic work up, prior to eventual operative intervention. The extreme rare ureter lesions with the symptomatic of a peritonism due to an urinoma and a retroperitoneal haematoma have to be treated operatively at the earliest possible time. Injuries to the urine bladder have always to be treated operatively with a special urgency since letality increases rapidly after six hours after the injury. Lesions of the urethra have to be treated operatively early by eliminating haematoma and urine and exact anastomosis of urethra's stumps to avoid later complications through scar-building.

Regulation of ribonucleoside diphosphate reductase mRNA synthesis in Escherichia coli.

A RNA-DNA hybridization assay for ribonucleoside diphosphate reductase (RDP reductase) mRNA was used to determine whether control of RDP reductase synthesis in Escherichia coli is at the level of RNA transcription. The correlation observed between the level of RDP reductase enzymatic activity and the rate of RDP reductase mRNA synthesis suggested that the control is at the level of RNA transcription. No increase in RDP reductase enzymatic activity or RDP reductase mRNA was observed during the first 15 min after removal of thymine from a thymine-requiring culture. Thereafter, the rate of RDP reductase mRNA synthesis increased linearly for approximately 75 min before beginning to level off. The addition of thymine to a culture starved for thymine resulted in a decreasing rate of RDP reductase mRNA synthesis. However, 30 min of growth in the presence of thymine was required before the rate of RDP reductase mRNA synthesis dropped to the rate observed in an exponentially growing culture. Inhibition of DNA synthesis caused by shifting a culture of a polC mutant or a dnaB mutant to nonpermissive growth conditions resulted in an increase in the rate of RDP reductase mRNA synthesis similar to that observed for a thymine-starved culture.

Characterization of the mRNA coding for ribonucleoside diphosphate reductase in Escherichia coli.

Total Escherichia coli RNA was separated by electrophoresis on methyl mercury agarose gels, transferred to diazobenzyloxymethyl-paper, and hybridized to various DNA probes containing different segments of the nrd genes to determine the organization of these genes. A 3.2-kilobase polycistronic mRNA transcript which hybridizes to both the nrdA and nrdB genes indicated that the nrdA and nrdB genes are organized in an operon. The polycistronic transcript contained the nrdA gene at the 5' end and the nrdB gene at the 3' end. The size of the polycistronic mRNA was sufficient to code for the 80,000-molecular-weight B1 protein and the 40,000-molecular-weight B2 protein. The results also indicated that the nrdA and nrdB genes are the only genes in E. coli that code for ribonucleoside diphosphate reductase. Two smaller RNA species that hybridized to nrd DNA were observed and probably overlap with the 3.2-kilobase nrd mRNA.

Requirement of protein synthesis for the induction of ribonucleoside diphosphate reductase mRNA in Escherichia coli.

An RNA-DNA hybridization assay was used to quantitate the ribonucleoside diphosphate reductase mRNA synthesis (nrd mRNA) to show that gene expression was dependent on protein synthesis. The increased nrd mRNA synthesis induced by inhibition of DNA synthesis was eliminated by simultaneous inhibition of protein synthesis. It was further found that protein synthesis is required not only initially but continuously during DNA inhibition for increased expression of nrd mRNA synthesis.

Polarization optic investigations on the anatomy of the bladder neck and the vesical fundus in women.

On the basis of an investigation technique, not so far applied in the urinary bladder, whole-organ preparations were rendered transparent and examined at supramicroscopic magnifications. The results available so far with regard to the fiber structure of the neck of the bladder and the vesical fundus were checked in 12 female urinary bladders. The following results were obtained: (1) the structure of the posterior longitudinal muscle is confirmed, as already described previously; (2) an anterior longitudinal muscle almost symmetrical to the posterior longitudinal muscle is demonstrated, and (3) the fiber course of the base plate has so far been described as running in the form of a horseshoe around the urethra. We see that in their main portions the fibers cross under the margins of the deep trigonum, then change their direction and turn laterodorsally, thus acting subtrigonally in the median line. The construction of the investigation instrument and the investigation technique are described in detail. The investigation results are discussed in the context of anatomical and physiological knowledge.

A comparative analysis of drug-using women with and without treatment histories in New York City.

Treatment histories of 459 drug-using women in New York City were examined to determine if there were any differences between women who have ever entered a treatment program and those who have not. Both bivariate and regression procedures were employed. The bivariate analysis revealed that the two groups of women differed significantly with regard to age, race, having children, age at which they began their drug-using careers, and the number of lifetime arrests. Controlling for all other variables in the regression analysis, only three variables significantly contribute to the likelihood of entering treatment: age, age at which regular drug use began, and the number of lifetime arrests. Implications of these findings for targeting younger women for treatment intervention are discussed.

[Observations on polymyalgia rheumatica]. / Beobachtungen bei der Polymyalgia rheumatica.

The polyalgia rheumatica, which appears in one part of the patients together with a giant cell arteritis of the region of shoulder girdle and pelvic girdle. Also intensive temporal artery, is manifest with severe pains of their headache may be dominant in the disease. Observations on 14 own patients who belong to this picture of the disease confirm the initially existing and under glucocorticoids rapidly reversible severe general humoral reactions. Up to now the incompletely tested immunological phenomena are not specific for the polyalgia rheumatica and must be supplemented by further examinations.