Arthroskopische Behandlung des femoroazetabulären Impingements

Zusammenfassung: Eine erst kürzlich etablierte, aber häufige Ätiologie der Hüftschmerzen beim jungen Erwachsenen ist das femoroazetabuläre Impingement (FAI), das eine leichte Form der frühzeitigen degenerativen Erkrankung des Hüftgelenks darstellt. Die klinischen Aspekte und diagnostischen Möglichkeiten sollen im Folgenden diskutiert und eine komplett arthroskopische Korrektur dieser Pathologie präsentiert werden. Mit dieser Technik können die azetabuläre Komponente ebenso wie die pathologischen Veränderungen am Femurkopf behandelt werden. Das schließt — falls notwendig — auch eine Labrumnaht mit ein. Neurologische Komplikationen durch lange Distraktionszeiten können durch die Anwendung einer invasiven Distraktionsmethode vermieden werden. Die Ergebnisse der arthroskopischen Behandlung sind mit denen der offenen chirurgischen Technik vergleichba

Temporal dynamics of aquatic communities and implications for pond conservation

Conservation through the protection of particular habitats is predicated on the assumption that the conservation value of those habitats is stable. We test this assumption for ponds by investigating temporal variation in macroinvertebrate and macrophyte communities over a 10-year period in northwest England. We surveyed 51 ponds in northern England in 1995/6 and again in 2006, identifying all macrophytes (167 species) and all macroinvertebrates (221 species, excluding Diptera) to species. The alpha-diversity, beta-diversity and conservation value of these ponds were compared between surveys. We find that invertebrate species richness increased from an average of 29. 5 species to 39. 8 species between surveys. Invertebrate gamma-diversity also increased between the two surveys from 181 species to 201 species. However, this increase in diversity was accompanied by a decrease in beta-diversity. Plant alpha-, beta and gamma-diversity remained approximately constant between the two periods. However, increased proportions of grass species and a complete loss of charophytes suggests that the communities are undergoing succession. Conservation value was not correlated between sampling periods in either plants or invertebrates. This was confirmed by comparing ponds that had been disturbed with those that had no history of disturbance to demonstrate that levels of correlation between surveys were approximately equal in each group of ponds. This study has three important conservation implications: (i) a pond with high diversity or high conservation value may not remain that way and so it is unwise to base pond conservation measures upon protecting currently-speciose habitats; (ii) maximising pond gamma-diversity requires a combination of late and early succession ponds, especially for invertebrates; and (iii) invertebrate and plant communities in ponds may require different management strategies if succession occurs at varying rates in the two groups

The impacts of environmental warming on Odonata: a review

Climate change brings with it unprecedented rates of increase in environmental temperature, which will have major consequences for the earth's flora and fauna. The Odonata represent a taxon that has many strong links to this abiotic factor due to its tropical evolutionary history and adaptations to temperate climates. Temperature is known to affect odonate physiology including life-history traits such as developmental rate, phenology and seasonal regulation as well as immune function and the production of pigment for thermoregulation. A range of behaviours are likely to be affected which will, in turn, influence other parts of the aquatic ecosystem, primarily through trophic interactions. Temperature may influence changes in geographical distributions, through a shifting of species' fundamental niches, changes in the distribution of suitable habitat and variation in the dispersal ability of species. Finally, such a rapid change in the environment results in a strong selective pressure towards adaptation to cope and the inevitable loss of some populations and, potentially, species. Where data are lacking for odonates, studies on other invertebrate groups will be considered. Finally, directions for research are suggested, particularly laboratory studies that investigate underlying causes of climate-driven macroecological patterns

When is the Best Time to Sample Aquatic Macroinvertebrates in Ponds for Biodiversity Assessment?

Ponds are sites of high biodiversity and conservation value, yet there is little or no statutory monitoring of them across most of Europe. There are clear and standardized protocols for sampling aquatic macroinvertebrate communities in ponds but the most suitable time(s) to undertake the survey(s) remains poorly specified. This paper examined the aquatic macroinvertebrate communities from 95 ponds within different landuse types over three seasons (spring, summer and autumn) to determine the most appropriate time to undertake sampling to characterise biodiversity. The combined samples from all three seasons provided the most comprehensive record of the aquatic macroinvertebrate taxa recorded within ponds (alpha and gamma diversity). Samples collected during the autumn survey yielded significantly greater macroinvertebrate richness (76% of the total diversity) than either spring or summer surveys. Macroinvertebrate diversity was greatest during autumn in meadow and agricultural ponds but taxon richness among forest and urban ponds did not differ significantly temporally. The autumn survey provided the highest measures of richness for Coleoptera, Hemiptera and Odonata. However, richness of the aquatic insect order Trichoptera was highest in spring and lowest in autumn. The results illustrate that multiple surveys, covering more than one season, provide the most comprehensive representation of macroinvertebrate biodiversity. When sampling can only be undertaken on one occasion, the most appropriate time to undertake surveys to characterise the macroinvertebrate community biodiversity is during the autumn; although this may need to be modified if other floral and faunal groups need to be incorporated in to the sampling programme

Insights into the Importance of Hydrogen Bonding in the γ-Phosphate Binding Pocket of Myosin: Structural and Functional Studies of Serine 236†,‡

The active site of myosin contains a group of highly conserved amino acid residues whose roles in nucleotide hydrolysis and energy transduction might appear to be obvious from the initial structural and kinetic analyses but become less clear on deeper investigation. One such residue is Ser236 (Dictyostelium discoideum myosin II numbering) which was proposed to be involved in a hydrogen transfer network during γ-phosphate hydrolysis of ATP, which would imply a critical function in ATP hydrolysis and motility. The S236A mutant protein shows a comparatively small decrease in hydrolytic activity and motility, and thus this residue does not appear to be essential. To understand better the contribution of Ser236 to the function of myosin, structural and kinetic studies have been performed on the S236A mutant protein. The structures of the D. discoideum motor domain (S1dC) S236A mutant protein in complex with magnesium pyrophosphate, MgAMPPNP, and MgADP·vanadate have been determined. In contrast to the previous structure of wild-type S1dC, the S236A·MgAMPPNP complex crystallized in the closed state. Furthermore, transient-state kinetics showed a 4-fold reduction of the nucleotide release step, suggesting that the mutation stabilizes a closed active site. The structures show that a water molecule approximately adopts the location of the missing hydroxyl of Ser236 in the magnesium pyrophosphate and MgAMPPNP structures. This study suggests that the S236A mutant myosin proceeds via a different structural mechanism than wild-type myosin, where the alternate mechanism is able to maintain near normal transient-state kinetic values

In Silico Prediction and Analysis of Caenorhabditis EF-hand Containing Proteins

Calcium (Ca+2) is a ubiquitous messenger in eukaryotes including Caenorhabditis. Ca+2-mediated signalling processes are usually carried out through well characterized proteins like calmodulin (CaM) and other Ca+2 binding proteins (CaBP). These proteins interact with different targets and activate it by bringing conformational changes. Majority of the EF-hand proteins in Caenorhabditis contain Ca+2 binding motifs. Here, we have performed homology modelling of CaM-like proteins using the crystal structure of Drosophila melanogaster CaM as a template. Molecular docking was applied to explore the binding mechanism of CaM-like proteins and IQ1 motif which is a ∼25 residues and conform to the consensus sequence (I, L, V)QXXXRXXXX(R,K) to serve as a binding site for different EF hand proteins. We made an attempt to identify all the EF-hand (a helix-loop-helix structure characterized by a 12 residues loop sequence involved in metal coordination) containing proteins and their Ca+2 binding affinity in Caenorhabditis by analysing the complete genome sequence. Docking studies revealed that F165, F169, L29, E33, F44, L57, M61, M96, M97, M108, G65, V115, F93, N104, E144 of CaM-like protein is involved in the interaction with IQ1 motif. A maximum of 170 EF-hand proteins and 39 non-EF-hand proteins with Ca+2/metal binding motif were identified. Diverse proteins including enzyme, transcription, translation and large number of unknown proteins have one or more putative EF-hands. Phylogenetic analysis revealed seven major classes/groups that contain some families of proteins. Various domains that we identified in the EF-hand proteins (uncharacterized) would help in elucidating their functions. It is the first report of its kind where calcium binding loop sequences of EF-hand proteins were analyzed to decipher their calcium affinities. Variation in Ca+2-binding affinity of EF-hand CaBP could be further used to study the behaviour of these proteins. Our analyses postulated that Ca+2 is likely to be key player in Caenorhabditis cell signalling