Medical Library

Complications of collagenous colitis.

Microscopic forms of colitis have been described, including collagenous colitis. This disorder generally has an apparently benign clinical course. However, a number of gastric and intestinal complications, possibly coincidental, may develop with collagenous colitis. Distinctive inflammatory disorders of the gastric mucosa have been described, including lymphocytic gastritis and collagenous gastritis. Celiac disease and collagenous sprue (or collagenous enteritis) may occur. Colonic ulceration has been associated with use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, while other forms of inflammatory bowel disease, including ulcerative colitis and Crohn\’s disease, may evolve from collagenous colitis. Submucosal \”dissection\”, colonic fractures or mucosal tears and perforation from air insufflation during colonoscopy may occur and has been hypothesized to be due to compromise of the colonic wall from submucosal collagen deposition. Similar changes may result from increased intraluminal pressure during barium enema contrast studies. Finally, malignant disorders have also been reported, including carcinoma and lymphoproliferative disease.

Freeman HJ.

Department of Medicine Gastroenterology, University of British Columbia, 2211 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver V6T 1W5, Canada. hugfree@shaw.ca.

Novel therapeutic approaches for hepatocellulcar carcinoma: Fact and fiction.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary liver cancer and accounts for 80%-90% of this class of malignancy. So far, understanding of its pathogenesis and effective therapeutic methods are rather limited. In this issue, 11 invited review articles are published to address current advance of underlying molecular mechanisms for the deve-lopment of HCC, and novel therapeutic approaches for HCC. This series of review articles provide an in-depth unders-tanding of HCC that has led to or may lead to the development of novel therapies for HCC.

Zhang YY, Xia HH.

Department of Microbiology and Microbial Engineering, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China. zhangyy@sibs.ac.cn.

Enhancement of biogenic sulfide production in a packed-bed bioreactor via critical inoculum design and carrier material selection.

Sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) are commonly used in environmental bioprocesses for the treatment of acid mine drainage and sulfate wastewaters. Biogenic H(2)S is also a potential source of H(2) fuel with the recent development of H(2)S splitting technologies. In this study, a sulfate reducing packed bed bioreactor (PBR) capable of rapidly achieving high volumetric productivities was developed using a novel method of rational inoculum design and the selection of improved biomass carrier materials. An inoculum with initial composition of approximately 95% Desulfovibrio desulfuricans (ATCC 7757) and 5% SRB consortium was designed based on the pure strain\’s superior immobilization potential and the SRB consortium\’s superior kinetics. Diatomaceous earth (DE) pellets, porous glass beads, polyurethane foam and bone char were evaluated as potential biomass carrier materials. The DE pellets immobilized the most biomass and were employed in two packed bed bioreactor fermentations. Using the designed inoculum and DE pellets, a packed bed bioreactor achieved a volumetric productivity of 493 mol H(2)S m(-3) day(-1) (based on a 308 mL working volume) with a dissolved sulfide concentration of 9.9 mM. This occurred after 8.3 days of operation and represents a tenfold reduction in the start-up period compared to other sulfate reducing PBRs described in the literature. Biotechnol. Bioeng. (c) 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

McMahon MJ, Daugulis AJ.

Department of Chemical Engineering, Queen\’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7L 3N6; telephone: 613‐533‐2784; fax: 613‐533‐6637.

Axonal dysfunction in chronic multiple sclerosis: Meltdown in the membrane.

Waxman SG.

Department of Neurology and Center for Neuroscience and Regeneration Research, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, and VA Connecticut Healthcare, West Haven, CT.

Reply.

Trojano M, Pellegrini F.

Department of Neurological and Psychiatric Sciences, University of Bari, Bari.

Superoxide dismutase: The cause of all amyotrophic lateral sclerosis?

Matias-Guiu J, Galan L, Garcia-Ramos R, Barcia JA.

Department of Neurology, Hospital Clinico San Carlos, Madrid, Spain.

Epitope of autoantibodies to N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor heteromers in paraneoplastic limbic encephalitis.

Takahashi Y.

Department of Research, National Epilepsy Center, Shizuoka Institute of Epilepsy and Neurological Disorders, Urushiyama Aoi‐ku Shizuoka, Japan.

The bipedalism of the Dmanisi hominins: Pigeon-toed early Homo?

In the recent description of the hominin postcranial material from Dmanisi, Georgia, Lordkipanidze and colleagues (Lordkipanidze et al. [2007] Nature 449: 305-310) claim that the Dmanisi hominins walked with more medially oriented feet than do modern humans. They draw this functional inference from two postcranial features: a wide talar neck angle and a slight medial torsion of the tibia. However, we believe that the data provided by the authors fail to support their conclusions. Talar neck angle and tibial torsion values from the Dmanisi specimens fall comfortably within the range of modern human variation. We further submit that foot orientation cannot be reliably deduced from the tibia and talus alone. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2008. (c) 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Wallace IJ, Demes B, Jungers WL, Alvero M, Su A.

Interdepartmental Doctoral Program in Anthropological Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794.

Genetic investigation of the patrilineal kinship structure of early medieval Ireland.

A previous study of Irish Y-chromosomes uncovered a likely patrilineal kinship basis to the most prominent early Irish tribal entity/kingdom, the Uí Néill, who dominated the North of the Island during the early medieval period (600-1,000 AD). However, it is unknown to what extent this was a general feature of the multitude of Irish kingdoms that existed over the same period. Irish surnames are patrilineally inherited in a similar manner to the Y-chromosome and their origin can often be traced to pre-existing tribal units. We genotyped 17 microsatellites in 247 Y-chromosomes from men with surnames that are purported to be derived from two different tribes (Eóganacht and Dál Cais) from the Southern province of Munster, as well as a third cohort of random names from the same geographic area. Although there is some sharing of Y-chromosomes between surnames of the same putative origin, there was no clear distinction between either grouping and the control, suggesting that the level of Uí Néill patrilineal kinship was not a universal feature of Irish tribal units. In turn this argues that an extensive extended clan or biological legacy of an eponymous founding ancestor was not necessarily a crucial factor in their establishment. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2008. (c) 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

McEvoy B, Simms K, Bradley DG.

School of Genetics and Microbiology, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland.

Septal aperture of the humerus in a mediaeval human skeletal population.

Humeral septal aperture is studied in a large Mediaeval skeletal series from England. The aims are to investigate associations between septal aperture and sex, age, side and humeral robusticity; and to evaluate any associations with relative projection of ulna coronoid and olecranon processes. In this way, it is hoped to shed light on age at occurrence and the causation of the trait. Results showed a paucity of cases in juveniles. In adults, the trait was more common in left bones and in females. No association was found with humeral robusticity or humero-ulnar conformation. Detailed morphological study of humeral septa of individuals with and without apertures suggested that septal aperture forms via resorption from the anterior surface of the septum. In this group, apertures appear generally to form in early adult life. It is suggested that in the study group septal aperture generally arises from impingement on the humeral septum by the coronoid and olecranon processes, chiefly the former. It is tentatively suggested that frequency of septal aperture may be an index of joint hypermobility in earlier populations. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2008. (c) 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Mays S.

Ancient Monuments Laboratory, English Heritage Centre for Archaeology, Fort Cumberland, Eastney, Portsmouth PO4 9LD, UK.