University of Bern

About: University of Bern is a education organization based out in Bern, Switzerland. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Medicine. The organization has 35422 authors who have published 79413 publications receiving 3125088 citations. The organization is also known as: Bern University & UNIBE.

Abnormal extension of the femoral head epiphysis as a cause of cam impingement.

Abstract: The etiology of an insufficient femoral head-neck offset has not been identified yet. It was investigated whether a decreased head-neck offset might be correlated with an unusual orientation of the physeal capital scar. Therefore, the femoral head-neck offset and the extension of the physeal scar onto the femoral neck were measured with specific magnetic resonance imaging arthrography. The measurements were done in 15 patients with anterior femoroacetabular impingement attributable to a nonspherical head and were compared with 15 age- and gender-matched control subjects. Eight serial magnetic resonance imaging sections perpendicular to the femoral neck axis were used in each hip to measure the head-neck offset and the epiphyseal extension toward the femoral neck at 16 measurement points. In both groups there was an inverse correlation between the amount of head-neck offset and the relative extension of the capital physeal scar in the cranial hemisphere of the head. Within the anterosuperior head quadrant, there was statistically significant different decrease of the head-neck offset and increase of the lateral epiphyseal extension in the patients compared with the control subjects. These findings suggest a growth abnormality of the capital physis as one probable underlying cause for a nonspherical head.

Genetic engineering of Schizosaccharomyces pombe: a system for gene disruption and replacement using the ura4 gene as a selectable marker.

Abstract: A system is described for gene disruption and replacement in Schizosaccharomyces pombe based on the homologous selectable marker, ura4, the structural gene for orotidine-5'-phosphate decarboxylase The presence of a single copy of the wild-type gene can rescue a ura4 auxotrophic mutant Furthermore, ura4- cells can be selected for in the presence of 5-fluoroorotic acid (5-FOA) This allows a convenient means of selecting for both forward and backward mutations The sequence of a 18 kb HindIII fragment which contains the functional gene is reported It encodes a single open reading frame of 264 amino acids which shows considerable conservation with the orotidine-5'-phosphate (OMP) decarboxylases from other organisms The ura4 transcript is approximately 850 nucleotides long It begins 51 bp upstream of the protein coding sequence and is unusual in that transcription termination occurs at or very close to the translational stop codon To facilitate the use of ura4 in gene disruption experiments we have also constructed a novel strain of S pombe called ura4-D18, in which the 18 kb HindIII fragment has been deleted from the chromosome Using a combination of this strain and vectors containing ura4 as a selectable marker, we present a general method for targeting recombination events to the chromosomal locus under investigation

VIRTOPSY: Minimally Invasive, Imaging-guided Virtual Autopsy

Abstract: Invasive "body-opening" autopsy represents the traditional means of postmortem investigation in humans. However, modern cross-sectional imaging techniques can supplement and may even partially replace traditional autopsy. Computed tomography (CT) is the imaging modality of choice for two- and three-dimensional documentation and analysis of autopsy findings including fracture systems, pathologic gas collections (eg, air embolism, subcutaneous emphysema after trauma, hyperbaric trauma, decomposition effects), and gross tissue injury. Various postprocessing techniques can provide strong forensic evidence for use in legal proceedings. Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging has had a greater impact in demonstrating soft-tissue injury, organ trauma, and nontraumatic conditions. However, the differences in morphologic features and signal intensity characteristics seen at antemortem versus postmortem MR imaging have not yet been studied systematically. The documentation and analysis of postmortem findings with CT and MR imaging and postprocessing techniques ("virtopsy") is investigator independent, objective, and noninvasive and will lead to qualitative improvements in forensic pathologic investigation. Future applications of this approach include the assessment of morbidity and mortality in the general population and, perhaps, routine screening of bodies prior to burial.