Dystroglycan is a central component of dystrophin-glycoprotein complex that links extracellular matrix and cytoskeleton in skeletal muscle. Although dystrophic chicken is well established as an animal model of human muscular dystrophy, the pathomechanism leading to muscular degeneration remains unknown. We show here that glycosylation and laminin-binding activity of alpha-dystroglycan (alpha-DG...

Two comparable groups of patients with fractures of the trochanteric region of the femur were studied. One hundred and sixty-five fractures had been fixed with conventional nail-plates and 132 with Ender's nails. Ender's nails gave superior results in the treatment of trochanteric fractures. The operation was quicker and less traumatic than that using conventional nail-plates and both the morta...

The apical membranes of retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE) were isolated from adult, normal (LE), and dystrophic (RCS) rats. The proteins of these RPE subfractions were separated through the use of sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The lectin-binding properties of glycoproteins were examined in western blots through the use of lectin-peroxidase conjugates. No difference...

We have previously demonstrated, based on comparison of homologous amino acid sequences and of two-dimensional CNBr peptide gel patterns, that the myosin heavy chain in pectoralis muscles of Storrs, Connecticut dystrophic chickens is different from that of their normal controls (Huszar, G., Vigue, L., De-Lucia, J. Elzinga, M., and Haines, J. (1985) J. Biol. Chem. 260, 7429-7434). Others have sh...

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a severe X-linked recessive muscle disorder caused by mutations in the dystrophin gene. Nonetheless, secondary processes involving perturbation of muscle regeneration probably exacerbate disease progression, resulting in the fatal loss of muscle in DMD patients. A dysfunction of undifferentiated myogenic cells is the most likely cause for the reduction of re...

Normal retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells were transplanted into retinas of Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) dystrophic rats at different stages of the retinal disease process. RPE-cell transplantation at 10, 17 and 26 days resulted in rescue of photoreceptor cells, such that at 4 months the outer nuclear layer (ONL) was 8-10 cells in thickness as shown in retinas of age-matched control rats...

This 68-year-old patient with Stage 4 chronic kidney disease was reviewed in our low clearance clinic 2 months after formation of a left arteriovenous fistula. The prominent ‘half-and-half’ appearance of his nails was noted. Nail disorders are common in chronic renal failure, affecting up to 70% of haemodialysis patients [1]. Half-and-half or Lindsay nails [2], where the proximal half of the na...