Recent studies on the sarcoplasmic reticulum and transverse system of skeletal muscle have led to the conclusion that both systems are independent ones and that the transverse tubules (T system) are continuous with the external membrane of the muscle fiber (1). Ferritin penetrates into the lumen of the transverse tubule but is not found inside the sarcoplasmic reticulum (2). Thus, the fluid con...

A new variant of von Willebrand disease (vWD) was identified by a new analytic method which characterizes the ability of plasma von Willebrand Factor (vWF) to bind to purified factor VIII (F.VIII). vWF was isolated from small amounts of plasma by immunoadsorption with a selected monoclonal antibody to vWF previously coated onto wells of microtitration plates. Plasma F.VIII was removed from immo...

It is accepted that the repair of connective tissue is defective in scurvy. Wounds of the cornea, however, may be superficial, involving only the epithelium, or they may be deep and invade the collagenous substantia propria. Moreover, the power of proliferation of the epidermis is not impaired in scurvy (Wolbach & Howe, 1926); in keeping with this finding, Galloway, Garry & Hitchin (1948-9) fou...

BACKGROUND Screening for Down syndrome in the first trimester by a combination of fetal nuchal translucency thickness and maternal serum pregnancy-associated plasma protein A (PAPP-A) and free beta-human chorionic gonadotropin has been shown to be effective and efficient. We aimed to develop a fast point-of-care assay that could be placed in one-stop clinics for the measurement of PAPP-A. MET...

Kodama et al. (9) recently described a passive agglutination test using Toraysphere particles and made a comparative evaluation with conventional Ratz-Randall and NA-Latex-ASC (Hoechst) methods to measure anti-streptolysin O (ASO) titer for the diagnosis of group A streptococcal (GAS) infections such as pharyngitis and scarlet fever, and of rheumatic fever and glomerulonephritis as a consequenc...

SINCE May 2002, a new outbreak of phocine distemper virus (PDV) in harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) has been spreading through the North Sea (Harding and others 2002, Jensen and others 2002). By late September 2002, over 17,200 dead harbour seals had been reported dead in European waters (Reineking 2002), approaching the 18,000 deaths resulting from the PDV outbreak in 1988 (Heide-Jørgensen and o...

Genes uvsW, uvsX and uvsY are dispensable for T 4 growth but are implicated in recombination and in the repair of damaged DNA. We found that large-plaque mutants arose efficiently from smallplaque uvsX and uvsY mutants at 42" and were pseudorevertants containing a new mutation in uusW. Using reconstructed double mutants, we confirmed that a mutation in uvsW partially increases the burst size an...

We have described previously in the Finnish population an inactivating point mutation (C3T) in the human FSH receptor (FSHR) gene. In women, this mutation causes hypergonadotropic ovarian failure with arrest of follicular maturation and infertility, whereas in men, there is variable suppression of spermatogenesis, but no absolute infertility. To determine whether the same FSHR mutation occurs i...

The ethanol extracts of clove (Eugenia caryophyllus Bullock & Harrison) and sweet flag (Acorus calamus Linn.) were investigated for their antifungal activity in comparison with eugenol and amphotericin B (AmB) by using the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards (NCCLs) M27-P broth microdilution method. Two medicinal plant extracts, eugenol and amphotericin B were used to determine...

The effect of gold trichloride on DNA synthesis of human thymocytes and peripheral blood lymphocytes was tested. A stimulation was obtained in both cell types with a concentration of 6–50 μg/ml. Gold trichloride may thus not be used in a lymphocyte transformation test for the diagnosis of contact allergy. Correspondence to: Dr. Klas Nordlind, Department of Dermatology, Karolinska Sjukhuset, S–1...