Journal of anatomy
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The effects of bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) on the expression of surface antigens including major histocompatibility complex (MHC) and complement type 3 (CR3) receptors on microglial cells in the corpus callosum in postnatal rat brain were investigated. When LPS was injected intravenously (i.v.) in 1-d-old rats, the immunostaining of callosal amoeboid microglial cells with OX-18 directed against MHC class I antigen was enhanced 24 h after the injection in comparison with the controls. The expression of MHC class II (Ia) antigen on the same cell type as shown by its immunoreactivity with OX-6 was also elicited especially after 2 intraperitoneal (i.p.) injections of LPS. ⋯ The effect of LPS on the expression of CR3 on amoeboid microglial cells was not obvious after a single injection, but the immunoreactivity with OX-42 was also augmented in rats given 2 i.p. administration of LPS into rats at 1 an 4 d of age. It is concluded from this study that the expression of MHC class I and class II antigens on amoeboid microglial cells in corpus callosum was upregulated and induced respectively after i.v. or i.p. injection of LPS into early postnatal rats. Although relatively fewer in number when compared with OX-18 and OX-42 positive cells, it is suggested that the OX-6 positive cells would have the potentiality to function in antigen presentation in the postnatal rat brain when challenged by the endotoxin.
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The sympathetic vasomotor innervation of the skin of the human hand was studied in 47 subjects who underwent local anaesthetic block of ulnar, median or radial nerves at elbow or wrist levels. Areas of cutaneous anaesthesia were compared with cutaneous territories of paralytic vasodilatation delineated by infrared telethermography. It was found that: (1) during ulnar nerve block the area of vasodilatation matched the area of anaesthesia in all 15 cases; (2) median nerve block induced paralytic vasodilatation which, in 14 of 15 cases, matched the area of cutaneous anaesthesia in median territory, but also extended to the unanaesthetised lateral part of the dorsum of the hand; (3) no vasodilatation developed during radial nerve block in 17 of 18 cases, whereas areas of sympathetic sudomotor paralysis matched the area of radial sensory loss in all 5 subjects in whom sweating function was studied. It is concluded that: (1) the ulnar nerve supplies vasomotor fibres to its cutaneous sensory territory, no less and no more; (2) the median nerve normally provides supplementary vasomotor innervation to the skin of the radial aspect of the dorsum of the hand; (3) the radial nerve supplies sudomotor innervation for the lateral aspect of the dorsum of the hand, but (4) does not normally contribute vasomotor sympathetic fibres to the skin of the hand.
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Historical Article
A comparison of tooth structure in Neanderthals and early Homo sapiens sapiens: a radiographic study.
Tooth components of 1st and 2nd erupted permanent molars were measured from standardised radiographs of Homo sapiens sapiens and Homo sapiens neanderthalensis. Enamel height was greater in Homo sapiens sapiens but pulp height and width and the height of the enamel to floor of the pulp chamber were greater in Homo sapiens neanderthalensis. ⋯ Discriminant analysis between groups, using tooth components, showed accuracy of 93% for identification of Homo sapiens sapiens and 94% for identification of Homo sapiens neanderthalensis. The results support the hypothesis of a distinct evolutionary line for the Neanderthals.
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Observations of the presence of the median artery, providing substantial blood supply to the hand, were conducted on 96 dissected forearms of 15 adult African females and 49 adult males. The artery has a much higher incidence (27.1%) than previously reported by any author. There is no significant difference in its occurrence between sexes, nor between right and left limbs. ⋯ The presence of the artery is not related to age. From a theoretical standpoint it is difficult to accept that a structure present in more than 1 in 4 of individuals should be considered an 'anomaly' or a 'variant'. A different approach to description of normal human anatomy is therefore necessary--that of presenting alternative anatomical patterns of equal standing rather than a single 'normal' pattern.
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Thoracic ratios (TRs) were measured segmentally (T1-12) in the chest radiographs of 412 children aged 0-17 years attending hospital with minimal disorder or diseases (boys 193, girls 219). A new method for measuring TRs was used which calculates the width of the left hemithorax, the right hemithorax and the total thorax relative to T1-T12 distance. The data were analysed in 3 age groups--infancy, childhood and puberty, after the classification of Karlberg (1989). ⋯ Thoracic asymmetry favouring the right chest is found, and more so in puberty than childhood which is connected with the larger size of the thorax and lung in the adult. 8. The evidence suggests that hemithoracic development is caudocranial; this is consistent with an adaptation of the human ribcage to control spinal rotation and counterrotation when bipedal gait was acquired in evolution. 9. In progressive infantile idiopathic scoliosis, the upper chest is funnel-shaped.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)