The role of CD8 and CD4 T cells in intestinal allograft rejection: a comparison of monoclonal antibody-treated and knockout mice

Studies were performed to determine the effects of PTH and related compounds on phosphatidylcholine (PC) hydrolysis in UMR-106 cells and the pathway by which the PTH effects occurred. The responses were compared with those of phorbol 12,13-dibutyrate (PDBu). Both bovine PTH-(1-34) [bPTH-(1-34)] and PDBu stimulated PC hydrolysis within 10 min. Significant effects were elicited by concentrations of 0.3-1 nM bPTH-(1-34) and 5 nM PDBu. Dose-dependent increases were seen at higher concentrations of both compounds, however, the response to bPTH-(1-34) was reduced at 30 nM. Bovine or human PTH-(1-34) and human PTH-related peptide-(1-34) [hPTHrP-(1-34)] were equipotent in their effects, whereas bovine [Nle(8,18)Tyr34]PTH-(3-34) amide [bPTH-(3-34)] and hPTH-(1-31) amide [hPTH-(1-31)] were less potent than bPTH-(1-34). bPTH-(3-34) did not antagonize the effects of bPTH-(1-34). Down-regulation of protein kinase C isozymes by 24-h treatment with PDBu completely prevented the stimulatory effect of PDBu on PC hydrolysis, but did not significantly affect the stimulatory effect of bPTH-(1-34). Both bPTH-(1-34) and PDBu stimulated transphosphatidylation of PC, indicating a phospholipase D-stimulated mechanism. The results suggest that in the UMR-106 cell line PTH can stimulate activation of PLD by a mechanism other than through protein kinase C.     

Neuropsychological differentiation of depression and anxiety.

The high comorbidity of depression and anxiety is well established empirically but not well understood conceptually, in terms of either psychological or biological mechanisms. A neuropsychological model of regional brain activity in emotion provides contrasting hypotheses for depression and anxiety, with depression associated with a relative decrease and anxiety with a relative increase in right-posterior activity. These hypotheses received support in a comparison of individuals diagnosed with depression and community controls, and also in a separate study of nonpatients administered a measure of perceptual asymmetry. Hierarchical regressions revealed that depression and anxiety were uniquely and jointly associated with perceptual asymmetry. In light of consistent empirical support for the model, implications for conceptualizations of the comorbidity of depression and anxiety are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Viability after myocardial infarction: can it be assessed within five minutes by low-dose dynamic iodine-123-iodophenylpentadecanoic acid imaging with a multicrystal gamma camera?

Although positron emission tomography (PET) assesses myocardial viability (V) accurately, a rapid, inexpensive substitute is needed. Therefore, the authors developed a low-dose (1 mCi) Iodine-123-Iodophenylpentadecanoic Acid (IPPA) myocardial viability scan requiring analysis of only the first three minutes of data acquired at rest with a standard multicrystal gamma camera. Twenty-one patients > 2 weeks after myocardial infarction (MI) (24 MIs, 10 anterior, 14 inferoposterior, 21 akinetic or dyskinetic) had cardiac catheterization and resting IPPA imaging. V was determined by either transmural myocardial biopsy during coronary bypass surgery (12 patients, 14 MIs) or reinjection tomographic thallium scan (9 patients, 10 MIs), and 50% of MIs were viable. The IPPA variables analyzed were: time to initial left ventricular (LV) uptake in the region of interest (ROI), the ratio of three-minute uptake in the ROI to three-minute LV uptake, three-minute clearing (counts/pixel) in the ROI (decrease in IPPA after initial uptake), and three-minute accumulation (increase in IPPA after initial uptake) in the ROI. Rules for detecting V were generated and applied to 10 healthy volunteers to determine normalcy. While three-minute uptake in nonviable MIs was only 67% of volunteers (P < 0.0001) and 75% of viable MIs, uptake alone identified only 50% of viable MIs and 75% of nonviable MIs. IPPA clearing, however, was > or = 13.5 counts/pixel in 10/12 (83%) of viable MIs, and IPPA accumulation > or = 6.75 counts/pixel identified one more viable MI, for a sensitivity for V of 11/12 (92%), with a specificity of 11/12 (92%), and a 100% normalcy rate. The authors conclude low-dose IPPA (five-minute acquisition with analysis of the first three minutes of data) has potential for providing rapid, inexpensive V data after MI. Since newer multicrystal cameras are mobile, IPPA scans can be done in emergency rooms or coronary care units generating information that might be useful in decisions regarding thrombolysis, angioplasty, or bypass surgery.     

Attribution difficulty and memory for attribution-relevant information.

Compared the processing and retrieval of attribution-relevant information when the attributional inference is easy or difficult to make. Ss attributed behavioral events to the person or to the situation, based on several items of context information. Each context sentence implied either the person or the entity as causal agent. When the attributional inference was difficult to make (an equal number of context sentences implied actor and entity as the causal agent), Ss recalled more of the behavioral events, recalled more context sentences, and were less confident in their attributions than when the attributional inference was easy to make (most context sentences implied the same causal agent). Ss also recalled context information that was implicationally incongruent with the majority of the other context sentences with a higher probability than when that same information was implicationally congruent. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Induction of proinflammatory cytokine and antioxidant enzyme gene expression following brief myocardial ischaemia

PURPOSE: In a recent study we found an increased resistive index immediately after extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) in patients older than 60 years, which suggests renovascular disturbance. The present 26-month followup study was undertaken to investigate the relevance of elevated resistive index levels and the incidence of new onset hypertension. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Of the initial 76 patients 57, including 20 of the 23 at risk patients 60 or greater years, group 3), were followed for more than 26 +/- 6 months after ESWL. Followup included 2 resistive index measurements by Doppler ultrasound of the treated and the contralateral kidney, at least 2 blood pressure measurements 1 week apart and excretory urography as well as determination of plasma renin activity in 9 patients. RESULTS: With 1 exception, elevated resistive index levels and hypertension were observed exclusively in patients older than 60 years. In these patients the resistive index ranged between 0.65 and 0.86 (mean plus or minus standard deviation 0.74 +/- 0.05, normal less than 0.7). This increase in resistive index was statistically significant (p < 0.0001). Compared to the levels obtained immediately after ESWL, the resistive index continued to increase in all 9 patients older than 60 years who had hypertension (45%), whereas in the normotensive patients the resistive index was either stable or decreased. There was a strong positive correlation (0.903) between pathological resistive index levels and blood pressure. CONCLUSIONS: Patients older than 60 years are at risk for disturbances of renal perfusion as assessed by the resistive index, and 45% of these patients have new onset hypertension within 26 months of treatment.     

Carcinoid of the gallbladder. A report of a clinical case treated by video laparoscopic cholecystectomy

The authors report a clinical case of the gallbladder carcinoid tumour treated with laparoscopic cholecystectomy. After a short analysis of the classification, the malignant potentiality and the symptoms of gallbladder carcinoids, they conclude that it is possible to treat carcinoids with laparoscopic cholecystectomy, but only in some selected cases, that is to say in the absence of factors indicative of local invasion and that in the other cases it is preferable the classic surgical treatment of laparotomic resection.     

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Simplified gravimetric determination of total fat in food composites after chloroform-methanol extraction

A modification of Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC) method 983.23 for the quantitative determination of total lipid in food composites was evaluated for the measurement of total fat. The procedure is based on the Bligh and Dyer chloroform/methanol total lipid extraction. Relative to AOAC 983.23, the proposed method is less labor-intensive and is applicable to batch analysis of a larger number of samples, thus reducing the cost of analysis and increasing sample throughput. Total lipid values from the proposed method are comparable to those from AOAC 983.23 and slightly higher than total fat determined by acid hydrolysis (AOAC 954.02, 945.44, or 922.06). Recoveries of standard additions of different food-grade oils from a mixed food composite were essentially quantitative, ranging from 96 to 101%. Total lipid measured in Total Diet Standard Reference Material 1548 (SRM 1548, National Institute of Standards and Technology) was 101% of the certified mean total fat content and within the certified range. The method is to be suitable for analysis of food composites with between 0.15 and 1.5 g total fat (3 to 30% by weight). More than 600 samples of a variety of total diet composites were collected and assayed as diet quality control samples for two National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute-sponsored multicenter clinical feeding trials: DELTA (Dietary Effects on Lipoproteins and Thrombogenic Activity) and DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension). The mean coefficient of variation was 1.2% for duplicate assays of these samples over the course of two years and multiple analysts. In addition, total lipid values for more than 200 samples of a diet composite quality control material, used in this laboratory over a two-year period, had a 3.99% coefficient of variation. Although the accuracy of all gravimetric total fat methods with respect to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Nutritional Labeling and Education Act (NLEA) definition of total fat as the sum of triglycerides remains to be determined, the reported modification of AOAC 983.23 yields a total fat content of acceptable accuracy relative to other gravimetric methods, and with proper quality control the method has excellent precision.