The nature and treatment of trophic pressure sores

The development of trophic sores in an analgesic part of the body is a feature of many conditions, medical and surgical. While the vast majority can be prevented by simple methods, the cure of an established, penetrating trophic ulcer is a difficult and taxing problem. Their management merits most careful attention. Experience with paraplegic patients reveals the marked contrast in the maintenance of fair general condition and consequent speedy rehabilitation in those in whom this complication has been avoided and the dreadful, steady, septic deterioration in the untreated or badly treated case.Our experience is based upon the management of a paraplegic unit of 40 beds. While no fundamentally new principles are iterated, it is felt that-since this is the only such unit in southern Africa-experience gained there could well be applied elsewhere in the country

Astronomical Distance Determination in the Space Age: Secondary Distance Indicators

The formal division of the distance indicators into primary and secondary leads to difficulties in description of methods which can actually be used in two ways: with, and without the support of the other methods for scaling. Thus instead of concentrating on the scaling requirement we concentrate on all methods of distance determination to extragalactic sources which are designated, at least formally, to use for individual sources. Among those, the Supernovae Ia is clearly the leader due to its enormous success in determination of the expansion rate of the Universe. However, new methods are rapidly developing, and there is also a progress in more traditional methods. We give a general overview of the methods but we mostly concentrate on the most recent developments in each field, and future expectations. © 2018, The Author(s)

Whole-genome sequencing reveals host factors underlying critical COVID-19

Critical COVID-19 is caused by immune-mediated inflammatory lung injury. Host genetic variation influences the development of illness requiring critical care1 or hospitalization2,3,4 after infection with SARS-CoV-2. The GenOMICC (Genetics of Mortality in Critical Care) study enables the comparison of genomes from individuals who are critically ill with those of population controls to find underlying disease mechanisms. Here we use whole-genome sequencing in 7,491 critically ill individuals compared with 48,400 controls to discover and replicate 23 independent variants that significantly predispose to critical COVID-19. We identify 16 new independent associations, including variants within genes that are involved in interferon signalling (IL10RB and PLSCR1), leucocyte differentiation (BCL11A) and blood-type antigen secretor status (FUT2). Using transcriptome-wide association and colocalization to infer the effect of gene expression on disease severity, we find evidence that implicates multiple genes—including reduced expression of a membrane flippase (ATP11A), and increased expression of a mucin (MUC1)—in critical disease. Mendelian randomization provides evidence in support of causal roles for myeloid cell adhesion molecules (SELE, ICAM5 and CD209) and the coagulation factor F8, all of which are potentially druggable targets. Our results are broadly consistent with a multi-component model of COVID-19 pathophysiology, in which at least two distinct mechanisms can predispose to life-threatening disease: failure to control viral replication; or an enhanced tendency towards pulmonary inflammation and intravascular coagulation. We show that comparison between cases of critical illness and population controls is highly efficient for the detection of therapeutically relevant mechanisms of disease

The complete amino acid sequence of the ribosomal A protein (L12) from the archaebacterium Sulfolobus acidocaldarius

AbstractThe ribosomal A protein (SacL12) from the archaebacterium Sulfolobus acidocaldarius has been sequenced. The protein contains 105 amio acids, has a composition of Asp2, Asn3, Thr4, Ser6, Glu17, Gln4, Pro3, Gly7, Ala18, Val7, Met2, Ile7, Leu9, Tyr2, Phe1, His1, Lys11, Arg1, and a molecular mass of 11 126 Da. The Sulfolobus protein shows many features in common with the equivalent proteins in the eukaryotes such as 35–40% sequence homology and similar hydrophilicity profiles, features much less evident when this protein is compared to eubacterial L12 proteins. SacL12 contains an unusual sequence of alternating clusters of lysine and glutamic acid (—EKKEEKKEEEKK—) in the C-terminal region. Similar sequences are found in some eukaryotic L12 proteins