Postaxial type-B polydactyly. Prevalence and treatment.

A prospective screening program of 11,161 newborns identified twenty-one infants who had postaxial type-B polydactyly (a prevalence of one in 531 live births). Sixteen infants (76 per cent) had bilateral postaxial type-B polydactyly. Eighteen infants (86 per cent) had a family history of the anomaly. The racial prevalence was one in 143 live births of black infants and one in 1339 live births of white infants. The duplicated small fingers were treated in the newborn nursery with suture ligation at the base of the pedicle. One infant had a second procedure to remove a blackened digit that remained firmly attached one month after the initial treatment. No other complications occurred. Fifteen patients (twenty-eight fingers) were reexamined at an average age of twenty months (range, twelve to thirty-seven months). Twelve fingers (43 per cent) had a residual bump, with an average diameter of two millimeters (range, one to six millimeters). Despite the residual bumps, all of the parents were satisfied with the cosmetic result.

The use of a proprietary organic sample oxidiser to determine 14CO2 and 14C-carbonates of trace level specific radioactivity.

The specific radioactivity of 14CO2 (greater than 3 nCi mol-1) can be determined by conversion to an insoluble carbonate followed by re-evolution of the gas, using a mineral acid, through a proprietary organic sample oxidiser (Packard 306 Oxidiser, Packard Instruments Ltd, Caversham, Berks, U.K.).

Controlling Wine Malolactic Fermentation with Nisin and Nisin-Resistant Strains of Leuconostoc oenos.

The polypeptide nisin (100 U/ml) prevented malolactic fermentation in wines by indigenous or intentionally added lactic acid bacteria. Nisin (100 U/ml)-resistant mutants of Leuconostoc oenos were obtained and used with nisin in wine to carry out a pure-culture malolactic fermentation in the presence or absence of other lactic acid bacteria. Nisin degradation by mutants was not observed, and residual nisin was detectable in wines 4 months after it was added. Results indicated that nisin or nisin with resistant bacterial starter cultures can be used to control malolactic fermentation in wines.