The present study was carried out to characterize the patterns of expression of matrix metalloproteinases or their tissue inhibitor (TIMP-1) in normally healing, acute vs. chronic, skin wounds. In situ hybridization was performed to localize collagenase, stromelysin-1, stromelysin-2, matrilysin, urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) and TIMP-1 mRNAs in 14 chronic venous ulcers and 10 normally healing wounds, representing different time points after wounding. Surgical wounds, made in piglets harvested at several time points, were studied as controls. Collagenase, stromelysin-1 and -2, as well as uPa, were expressed in keratinocytes in both acute and chronic wounds, while epithelial TIMP-1 mRNA was not detected in any chronic wound biopsies studied. However, TIMP-1 was expressed at the epithelial edges of both acute human and pig wounds. Our results suggest that the balance between metalloenzymes and their inhibitor TIMP-1, is disturbed, in poorly healing wounds.

The present study was carried out to characterize the patterns of expression of matrix metalloproteinases or their tissue inhibitor (TIMP-1) in normally healing, acute vs. chronic, skin wounds. In situ hybridization was performed to localize collagenase, stromelysin-1, stromelysin-2, matrilysin, urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) and TIMP-1 mRNAs in 14 chronic venous ulcers and 10 normally healing wounds, representing different time points after wounding. Surgical wounds, made in piglets harvested at several time points, were studied as controls. Collagenase, stromelysin-1 and -2, as well as uPa, were expressed in keratinocytes in both acute and chronic wounds, while epithelial TIMP-1 mRNA was not detected in any chronic wound biopsies studied. However, TIMP-1 was expressed at the epithelial edges of both acute human and pig wounds. Our results suggest that the balance between metalloenzymes and their inhibitor TIMP-1, is disturbed, in poorly healing wounds.

Temperature effects on spectral properties of the two types of rod photoreceptors in toad retina, "red" and "green" rods, were studied in the range 0-38 degrees C. Absorbance spectra of the visual pigments were recorded by single-cell microspectrophotometry (MSP) and spectral sensitivities of red rods were measured by electroretinogram (ERG) recording across the isolated retina. The red-rod visual pigment is a usual rhodopsin (lambda(max) = 503.6 nm and 502.3 nm at room temperature (21degrees C) in, respectively, Bufo marinus and Bufo bufo), that of green rods (lambda(max) = 432.6 nm in Bufo marinus) belongs to the "blue" cone pigment family. In red rods, lambda(max) depended inversely and monotonically on temperature, shifting by -2.3 nm when temperature was raised from 0 degrees C to 38 degrees C. Green-rod lambda(max) showed no measurable dependence on temperature. In red rods, warming caused a relative increase of sensitivity in the long-wavelength range. This effect can be used for estimating the energy needed for photoexcitation, giving Ea = 44.3 +/- 0.6 kcal/mol for Bufo marinus rhodopsin and 48.8 +/- 0.5 kcal/mol for Bufo bufo rhodopsin. The values are significantly different (P < 0.001), although the two rhodopsins have very similar absorption spectra and thermal isomerization rates. Our recording techniques did not allow measurement of the corresponding effect at long wavelengths in green rods. Although spectral effects of temperature changes in the physiological range are small and of little significance for visual function, they reveal information about the energy states and different spectral tuning mechanisms of the visual pigments.

SUMMARYThe visual pigments of rods and cones were studied in eight Fennoscandian populations of nine-spined stickleback (Pungitius pungitius). The wavelength of maximum absorbance of the rod pigment ( max ) varied between populations from 504 to 530nm. Gene sequencing showed that the rod opsins of all populations were identical in amino acid composition, implying that the differences were due to varying proportions of chromophores A1 and A2. Four spectral classes of cones were found (two Scones, M-cones and L-cones), correlating with the four classes of vertebrate cone pigments. For quantitative estimation of chromophore proportions, we considered mainly rods and M-cones. In four populations, spectra of both photoreceptor types indicated A2 dominance (population mean  max 525-530nm for rods and 535-544nm for M-cones). In the four remaining populations, however, rod spectra (mean  max 504-511nm) indicated strong A1 dominance, whereas M-cone spectra (mean  max 519-534nm) suggested substantial fractions of A2. Quantitative analysis of spectra by three methods confirmed that rods and cones in these populations use significantly different chromophore proportions. The outcome is a shift of M-cone spectra towards longer wavelengths and a better match to the photic environment (light spectra peaking >560nm in all the habitats) than would result from the chromophore proportions of the rods. Chromophore content was also observed to vary partly independently in M-and L-cones with potential consequences for colour discrimination. This is the first demonstration that selective processing of chromophore in rods and cones, and in different cone types, may be ecologically relevant. Supplementary material available online at

We found a noticeable developmental risk for specific language impairment in children with nonsyndromic SSC, and that the deviant language development is observable already in early infancy. Contrary to previous beliefs, the developmental risk for defective language development in deformational posterior plagiocephaly was found in both operated and non-operated subjects.