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One single intravenous injection of 60 mg/kg of cyclophosphamide caused the development of moderate to medium catarrhal enteritis in calves, within two to four days from injection. --Distally aggravating damage to epithelial cells in the small intestine, accompanied by shortening of villi, as well as usually complete lymphocyte depletion of the lymph follicles of Peyer's patches were the most conspicuous pathohistological findings obtained from the intestinal tract. Regular epithelial damage, including ulcerations and necroses, were recordable also from the colonic mucous membrane. --No remarkable change in the gastro-intestinal flora was recordable from calves killed two days from cyclophosphamide application, but the quantitative composition of the gastro-intestinal germ flora was found to be remarkably altered in those animals which had been killed four days after administration of the cytostatic. --Elevated coli counts in the rumen as well as in the proximal and distal parts of the jejunum and ileum and reduced anaerobic overall germ counts and bacteroides values in the cecum and rectum were the most conspicuous bacteriological findings. --The direct damaging action of cyclophosphamide on the mucous membrane as well as altered immunological reactivity of the experimental animals should be considered the triggering factors which actually caused considerable displacement in the quantitative composition of the gastro-intestinal flora in those calves which had been killed four days after cyclophosphamide application.

Live vaccine prepared from streptomycin-dependent mutants of E. coli was well tolerated in various doses and at various times of administration, for there were no adverse reactions. There was no evidence of reversion to a virulent form. Efficacy was closely related to frequency of application of the vaccine. Vaccination must be performed as early as possible to immunize against infection during the first few days of life. It was possible to confer protection against the diarrhoea that occurs at 3-4 weeks of age. The use of an oral vaccine under intensive husbandry systems was shown to be safe. When the piglets were kept in cages, the vaccine could be administered in the existing mixing tanks for water supply, without the need for special equipment. Oral immunization of pigs already infected or already ill did not aggravate the existing infection, whether the animals were housed individually or in pens. Because of the dilution effect of the mixing tank and water supply pipes, the dose of vaccine, given on ten successive days, should be calculated at 10(9) organisms of the E. coli mutant per animal. This should supply a number close to the desired bacterial count of 10(10) organisms per animal daily. Immunization significantly reduced the frequency of gastrointestinal diseases during the first three weeks of age in piglets.

The author reports on electrophysiologic investigations of extraocular muscles in rabbits in vivo by means of standardized glass microelectrodes. The results of investigation on muscle-fiber membrane resting potentials of 'slow fibers' as well as on postsynaptical potentials of 'slow fibers' are analyzed after having elucidated the problems as well as the methods employed and the experimental setup. By figures and synopses in tabular form the author illustrates the electrophysiologic parameters of three different types of muscle fibers of 'slow fibers' of extraocular muscles that can with certainty be differentiated electrophysiologically. In the discussion references are made to the importance of the submitted results of investigation for basic research and for clinical ophthalmo-electromyography. Finally, the trends of investigation of the electrophysiologic analysis of extraocular muscles are discussed.

The murine homeobox Hox 1.1 (m6) is the first of a cluster of six boxes on chromosome 6. Using probes and synthetic peptides derived from the Hox 1.1 sequence, we were able to isolate cDNAs and antibodies that allowed us to characterize the product of this homeobox-containing gene. From the open reading frame on the cDNA clone B21, a protein could be predicted, made up of 229 amino acids and having a calculated molecular weight of 25,740. A unique feature of this protein is that it has 15 glutamic acid residues as its carboxyl terminus, which gives it a very hydrophilic and acidic carboxyl terminal structure, most probably folding onto an alpha-helix. A second domain of six amino acids is present on the Hox 1.1 protein, which is conserved in other homeodomain proteins. Antibodies generated against synthetic peptides from the homeobox region were used in the immunoblotting procedure and revealed a major protein band of Mr 31,000 in extracts from 3T3 cells and F9 teratocarcinoma cells induced by retinoic acid and cAMP. The nuclear location of the protein was established by immunofluorescence. The presence of this protein in F9 cell nuclei is in faithful accordance with the kinetics established for the 2.4-kilobase Hox 1.1 transcript during differentiation into parietal endoderm cells.

Lipoprotein(a) concentrations were measured by radial immunodiffusion in a cohort of 40-60 year males who had been classified by coronary angiography as CAD+ with 50% stenosis of one or more of the major coronary arteries or CAD- with no signs of coronary lesions. Sample odds ratios were calculated as a measure of association between serum Lp(a) values and the presence of coronary artery disease. An odds ratio of 2.706 (P less than 0.001) was derived for elevated (greater than or equal to 30 mg/dl) Lp(a) levels vs low (less than 5 mg/dl) Lp(a) levels indicating a strong association between the presence of coronary artery disease and elevated Lp(a) concentrations. This association was independent of the known risk factors smoking, hypertension and diabetes as well as the serum concentrations of total triglycerides, HDL-cholesterol, alpha-Lp-cholesterol and pre-beta-Lp-cholesterol. In contrast to these variables the association between Lp(a) and coronary artery disease was dependent upon the serum concentrations of LDL-cholesterol, beta-Lp-cholesterol and total cholesterol. At concentrations below the respective median for each variable, odds ratios of between 1.42 and 1.67 were calculated whereas at concentrations above the respective medians the odds ratios ranged from 4.50 to 6.33 (P less than 0.001). Our data, therefore, suggest that increasing LDL concentrations markedly increase the risk of coronary artery disease due to elevated Lp(a) levels.

The Soviet SESH-2 stereotactic surgical device for micro-electrode examinations offers technical advantages in the derivation of the intracellular muscle fibre membrane potential after resting and of the intracellular potential of the peripheric ocular muscles after irritation as well as in the study of the central irritation of the nuclei of the ocular muscles. The coupling of two hydraulic micromanipulators permits to perform in vivo various investigations of the ocular muscles by means of micro-electrodes. The numerous possibilities of variation and assembly according to the modular principle allows also simultaneous studies on ocular muscle mechanics.

A technique has been developed for quantitative assessment of nasal secretion for the presence of specified groups of bacteria, as a contribution to microbiological treatment of the problem of artificial intranasal bacterial invasion in newborn and nursed calf. Some 10(6) to 10(7) bacteria were recorded from each gram of nasal secretion in calves exposed to natural bacterial invasion. Micrococci and green diplococci were very rare, with only 10(3) to 10(4) or hardly up to 10(5) bacteria per gram of nasal secretion. Streptococci were irregularly found in smaller counts. Bacteria of the coli group went up steeply on the second or not later than the third day of age, and the rise continued to the ninth day. Coliform germs accounted for high or even the highest percentage in total invasion during that period of time.

A micrococcal and a diplocaccal strain isolated from the nasal space of a clinically intact nursed calf were used for artificial bacterial invasion in the first phase of the experiment. Application of bacterial suspension prepared from those strains had no effect upon the rise of coli counts in the nasal secretion of nursed calves during their first days of age nor upon the morbidity or mortality of all 677 test animals in comparison to 665 controls. Therefore, an avirulent E.-coli strain was used in subsequent bacterial invasion experiments. The strain was retrievable up to the seventh day of age, the count having been about 10(5) bacteria per gram nasal secretion. Application of a bacterial suspension prepared from that E.-coli strain did not reduce morbidity and mortality among 820 test animals that were compared to 809 controls. Results are discussed in this paper with reference to literature.

A report is given of an animal experimental study for determination of the duration of the "mechanical effective period" of the muscle fiber membrane action potential and the "electromechanical latency period" of "fast fibers" of the external ocular muscles in rabbits in vivo. The studies were carried out with an internationally standardized glass microelectrode technique. The statistical values are based on 250 tests employing the superposition technique. The mean "mechanical effective period" of the muscular fiber membrane action potential was determined with SE=0.52 ms, SD 0.08 ms. The confidence thresholds were 99% statistically reliable with 0.43 ms and 0.55 ms. According to these studies, the duration of the "mechanical effective period" of the "fast fibers" of the external ocular muscles was only one-third off the "mechanical effective period" of the skeletal muscles. The mean duration of the "electromechanical fast-fiber latency period" was calculated with SE=1.97 ms, SD=0.30 ms. The confidence threshold was 99% statistically reliable with 1.86 ms and 2.08 ms. The "electromechanical latency period" of the "fast fibers" of the external ocular muscles was therefore significantly less than the skeletal muscles, lying under the 50% limit of the "electromechanical latency period" of the analogous skeletal musculature. These studies permit determination of the most important electrophysiological parameters which define a threshold value of maximal speed in vision direction changes.

The authors have attempted by means of a statistical survey to quantify changes in the course and, in particular the phase-related and non-phase-related form of cyclothymic phases during long-term lithium treatment.

Studies were conducted into the quantitative composition of the gastro-intestinal flora in clinically intact store pigs. The methods are described in greater detail, followed by presentation of results. In the discussion particular reference is made to literature. Conclusions are drawn regarding the topographic distribution of the various germ groups in the gastro-intestinal tract of the store pig.

In veterinary medicine since the beginning of the seventieth several derivatives of imidazole are mainly and successfully used for therapy of pig dysentery. Daily metronidazole doses of 25-100 mg/kg body mass resulted in no provable effect on the normal quantitative composition of the germ flora of healthy porkers. Even in such high doses of 100 mg/kg body mass per day that substance revealed well tolerant. A singular occurrence of colienterotoxemia was disconnected with the metronidazole application.

Damage to the corneal endothelium caused by sulfur hexafluoride was analyzed in 14 rabbits. Fourteen eyes were used for testing, while the other 14 served as controls. Three stages of endothelial reaction resulting from long-term contact with sulfur hexafluoride were established by morphologic and morphometric analyses. The first stage - acute necrosis of the endothelial cells - covers all stages of destruction up to total obliteration in the exposed area of the endothelium, which is clearly demarcated from the rest of the endothelium. The second, repair stage, begins as early as 24 hours after the operation and includes the diverse forms of endothelial cell spread, transformations of the hexagonal endothelial cells, and endothelial cell migration with polymorphia and formation of rosettes. The third, proliferative phase of the endothelial cell reaction follows directly after the second phase and is characterized by the production of more giant cells, the production of giant rosettes, compaction of cell membranes and filling of the intercellular space with amorphous substances. The results of this research are of major practical relevance, since they show that a 40/60% sulfur hexafluoride/air mixture cannot be regarded as inert.

Pathological-anatomical and histological investigations were performed in 49 calves aged from 1 to 18 days, 26 of them being affected by diarrhoea, 23 being without clinical signs. In both the groups above all rhinitis, gastritis and typhlocolitis could be observed, thus the affection could be characterized as rhinogastrocolitis. Significant differences only existed between diarrhoea affected and clinical incospicuous calves concerning the macroscopic signs of the colon, periportal infiltrates of the liver and thymus in involution. The peak of inflammatory reaction is in general reached at the 7. to 10. day of life. In concordance with bacteriological findings the results refer to an affection not due to coli infection. Virus etiology may not be excluded and has to be examined in further studies.

Quantitative composition of gastro-intestinal-flora was determined in 23 clinically healthy calves and the course of germ spreading was followed up. In comparison with these healthy animals in 25 diarrhoea affected calves at the age of 4 to 17 days there could be observed signigicant differences only in few parts of the gastro-intestinal-tract concerning the quantitative composition of germ flora. Only in 3 animals enterotoxin producing E coli strains could be detected.

Pigs of various age groups were found to have lyzozyme in all segments of the mucous membrane of the digestive tract, though typical Paneth's cells were absent. While no significant difference was found to exist between gastro-intestinal lyzozyme concentrations in store pigs, on the one hand, and sows, on the other, lyzozyme levels in piglets before weaning were found to differ by positions. Those in the distal jejunum were significantly higher than the proximal jejunum values, while the large intestine levels were below those of the ileum. The lyzozyme concentrations in all intestinal sections of store pigs were significantly in excess of those in piglets before weaning, all except for the stomach level. The proximal and distal jejunum and large intestine values and concentrations of that ferment in sows were lower than those in store pigs. Lyzozyme concentrations in the mucous membrane of the small intestine and in the lymph nodes of weaned piglets could not be raised by intraperitoneal nor oral immunisation, using Smd Escherichia coli mutants of serogroup O149:K91(B), K88ac. The above findings are discussed under the aspect of new insights into the importance of lyzozyme to local defence in the gastro-intestinal tract.

The case report of a 5-year-old girl suffering from an acute peripheral facial paralysis is used to discuss the clinical picture of Bell's paralysis. In the present case the sign was due to a brain-stem encephalitis, the diagnosis being based on brain-stem acoustically evoked potentials. Although not significantly influencing further practical procedure the authors consider it worth mentioning that apparently banal "peripheral" facial paralyses can actually be part of complex CNS lesions.

Quantitative germ flora analyses were applied to 22 SPF piglets, aged between four hours and 14 days, to follow up the development of their gastro-intestinal flora. The development of a fairly stable gastro-intestinal flora was delayed. Escherichia coli strains were isolated from SPF piglets which had died following diarrhoea and septicaemia, but they did not fall in those E. coli sero-groups known for pathogenicity to swine. The outcome of raising was greatly stabilised and amounted to about 70 per cent by administration of something between 80 ml and 100 ml of radiation-sterilised sow colostrum.

The redox potential (ROP) dropped strongly in a calf, from two hours after birth to 48 hours of age. The drop in the colon was more strongly pronounced than that in the small intestine. -The Eh values recorded throughout the small intestine of clinically intact calves, aged between four and ten days, were more negative than those in the stomach. The most negative ROP values, which differed with significance from those of all proximal gastro-intestinal sections, were recorded from the caecum. -Intracolonic negativation of ROP in calves, during the first hours of life, must be attributed to progressing germ population. The same relationship is borne out clearly by a pronounced rise in anaerobic germ count accompanied by significant ROP negativation in the colon. -Growing age was accompanied by drastic change in ROP values throughout the gastro-intestinal tract. Calves aged between six and nine weeks were compared to animals aged between four and ten days. ROP values in stomach, proximal and distal jejunum as well as in the ileum of the former group were negative with significance, whereas ROP values in the caecum and colon of the same group were more positive. -Animals with diarrhoea exhibited significant ROP deviations only in the ileum. They were more negative, as compared to clinically intact calves aged between four and ten days. Pathophysiological intestinal disorders which could be measured via ROP were found to play no role at all in the genesis and course of diarrhoea of calf. -No pronounced gastro-intestinal ROP deviations were exhibited by calves with experimentally induced Escherichia coli infection and manifest coli dysentery nor by animals which received cyclophosphamide treatment.

In order to gain insight into the function of the Hox 1.1 gene, we studied the expression of the murine homeo box gene product, the Hox 1.1 protein. Monoclonal antibodies were raised against synthetic peptides of the Hox 1.1 protein to study the localization and expression pattern of this protein under various culture conditions. By means of indirect immunofluorescence we localized the Hox 1.1 protein to the nucleus in differentiated F9 and NIH 3T3 cells. During mitosis the protein was found to be associated with chromatin. Confluent NIH 3T3 cells harbored little if any Hox 1.1 protein. After "wounding" the cells in this confluent monolayer, we observed an induction of the expression of the Hox 1.1 protein. However, addition of insulin to F9 and contact-inhibited NIH 3T3 cells led to an increase of the Hox 1.1 RNA and protein expression. Thus, the induction of the Hox 1.1 protein is associated not only with the differentiation of embryonal carcinoma (EC) cells, but may also correlate with stages of cell growth.

The action of experimental and natural stressors on the humoral immune response of calf was studied. Particular attention was given to the H-antigen of S.dublin and equine erythrocytes,the degradation rate of passively acquired humoral antibody, as well as the quantity and topographic distribution of certain groups of germs in the gastrointestinal tract. The following results were obtained:1. Antibody formation was impededby repeated or lasting stressor effect (ACTH injections). 2. The immunological reactions of the calves involved to antigen injection immediately after transport into the rearing unit were stronger than those to antigen application three days from transfer. Immunisation of animals transferred to rearing or fattening units, therefore, should be applied immediately after arrival in the new accomodation, but no interval of three or four days should be allowed. 3. Antibody formation was no longer impaired in calves immunised two weeks from transfer, as compared to those immunised immediately after arrival in the rearing unit. This seemed to suggest that by that time adaptation of the animals to their new environment had been almost complete. 4. Lasting stress (slow drip infusion of ACTH, cortisol, colibacteria or coli-endotoxin) led to no detectable by paper electrophoresis. 5. Calves that had been given three weekly dosesof 1 IU ACTH per kilogram of live weight through four weeks,did not differ,withthe authors'method,from the controls regarding the decomposition rate of passively acquired humoral antibody. 6. ACTH slow drip infusions of calves over several days caused higher concentrations of colibacteria throughout the intestinal tract, including those proximal sections of the small intestine in which little or no colibacteria should occur under physiological conditions in calves of that age.

A patient with subtotal small bowel resection after mesenterial vein thrombosis presented with muscular weakness and pain. An increase in the activities of enzymes of muscular origin and of myoglobin in serum was found and myoglobinuria was detected. Muscle damage in this patient is attributed to electrolyte disturbances following extensive small bowel resection.

The author reports on animal experimental investigations of the electrophysiologic parameters of 'fast fibers' of extraocular muscles in rabbits in vivo by means of standardized glass microelectrode. The submitted results of investigation enlarge our knowledge of the electrophysiologic parameters of 'fast fibers'. The statistically analyzed results on musclefiber action potential parameters, on musclefiber membrane resting potentials, strengthduration curves and the data on the electro-mechanical latency period of 'fast fibers' are illustrated by figures. The most important conclusions for basic research on 'fast fibers', for clinical ophthalmo-electromyography and for the duality concept of eyemovement control are given.

The lysozyme level was found to reach its highest point on the second day from parturition, followed by strong decline to a much lower value which then remained constant up to the 30th day of lactation. The rise recorded from the period between farrowing and the second day after birth as well as the decline up to the fourth day and the constant level up to the 30th day from parturition were statistically secured. Lysozyme levels in the milk of sows with no previous lactation record was found to be lower with significance than those recordable from sows with something between six and nine previous lactations. The conclusion has been that lysozyme levels are strongly affected by both lactation time and number of lactations. Lysozyme concentrations in sow milk on the first and second days from parturition were betweeen 6.8 and 11.0 microgram/ml, depending on the number of previous lactations. Such high lysozyme levels in sow foremilk over the first three days of age as well as all findings so far gained on the structure of bacterial cell walls are likely to suggest that the above enzyme affects bacterial population of the gastro-intestinal tract of suckling.

Opium tincture and Spasmentral were applied to piglets early after weaning and reduced their gastro-intestinal motility, which, however, caused only very minor changes in quantitative germ flora composition in those first days. Short-time suppression of gastro-intestinal motility obviously does not result in detrimental consequences to the organism as a whole, since there seem to be several factors which are involved in the control and regulation of the intestinal germ flora. Impairment of gastro-intestinal motility appeared to be of no importance to the pathogenesis of coli-enterotoxaemia, as it was not followed by higher incidence of the disease.

Retroviral enhancers seem to play an integral role in determining tissue tropism. In an attempt to define the sequences essential for Moloney murine sarcoma virus (Mo-MSV) enhancer activity, we have undertaken deletion and insertion mutational analyses of the 72-bp repeats. We demonstrate that, in contrast to simian virus 40 (SV40), the proximal 19 bp of the 72-bp unit of Mo-MSV are not essential for enhancer function in mouse fibroblasts. Our analysis further localizes the 5' boundary of the Mo-MSV enhancer to a 5'-CAGGAT-3' region.

Store pigs with spontaneous outbreaks and experimental endotoxin shock were kept under observation in the context of coagulation analysis. Heparin was applied to some of the animals to disrupt the plasmatic coagulation system. The thrombocyte count in animals with endotoxin infusion declined by some 50 to 65 percent of the original level. No statistically secured difference was found to exist between heparinised animals, on the one hand, and non-heparinised, on the other. The aggregation and adhesion of thrombocytes in all shock animals was more pronounced than that in the controls. The fibrinogen levels were lowered in both the animals with spontaneous outbreaks and the experimental animals. Thrombocyte alteration was not found to have been dependent on activation of the plasmatic coagulation system. In endotoxin shock cases activation of plasmatic coagulation proteins was found to be preceded by rise in thrombocyte aggregation.

The redox potential (ROP) was found to undergo negativation in all gastro-intestinal sections of piglets, from the time of birth to the age of three days. Negativation was relatively low in the small intestine, but it accounted for more than 300 mV in stomach and colon. ROP values recorded from stomach and rectum of weaned piglets were more negative with significance than those established from animals before weaning. ROP, as an important environmental factor in the gastro-intestinal tract, did not undergo significant change due to weaning which might support any conclusion as to pathogenesis of coli-enterotoxaemia, in spite of the implied change of feeding and keeping conditions. ROP in store pigs was found to be more or less one and the same, except for more positive values in the proximal jejunum, with most negative values being recordable from the stomach. Progressing age was found to be accompanied by sizeable ROP change in the gastro-intestinal tract of swine. ROP values in the distal jejunum and ileum of sows were more negative with significance than those recorded from store pigs, but values were more positive in the colonic cone and rectum. Unambiguous ROP negativation in the proximal and distal jejunum and ileum as well as in the gastro-intestinal tract of sows was accompanied only by moderate rise in overall anaerobic germ count. ROP values recorded from the colonic cone and rectum, where highest germ counts were detectable, were more positive than those recorded from any other intestinal section. Hence, gastro-intestinal ROP of sows is, probably, not controlled by metabolism of the germ flora.

Studies were conducted into the quantitative composition of the gastro-intestinal flora of 30 naturally raised piglets in four age groups. The gastro-intestinal tract was found to be "flooded" by Escherichia coli, Clostridium perfringens, micrococci, streptococci, proteus, and lactobacteria over the first hours after birth. Development of the intestinal flora was complete at the age of four days. The groups of germs recordable from naturally and artificially raised piglets were, basically, the same. Piglets, consequently, have no specific "lactoflora".