A CD18 antibody prevents lung injury but not hypotension after intestinal ischemia-reperfusion

Antibodies to the neutrophil CD18 integrin have been shown to ameliorate the local effects of intestinal ischemia and reperfusion (I/R). In addition to local mucosal injury, intestinal I/R results in systemic hypotension and injury to the lungs with lung leukosequestration. This study tests the effect of a CD18 monoclonal antibody on the hypotension and lung injury after intestinal I/R. In anesthetized rabbits, the superior mesenteric artery was clamped for 60 min followed by 3 h of reperfusion. Animals were treated with saline, an anti-CD18 monoclonal antibody (R15.7 MAb), or nonspecific immunoglobulin G. Another non-ischemic group were sham controls. Neutrophil sequestration was assessed by measure of lung myeloperoxidase (MPO) and permeability by lung-to-blood concentration ratio of 125I-labeled bovine serum albumin and wet-to-dry weight ratio. Immediately after reperfusion, mean arterial pressure fell to 49 +/- 2.1 mmHg and remained at this level. The hypotension was unaffected by treatment with R15.7 MAb. Thirty minutes after reperfusion, the circulating white blood cell count fell to 2.91 +/- 0.53 x 10(3)/mm3 vs. sham 6.40 +/- 0.66 x 10(3)/mm3 (P < 0.05). Treatment with R15.7 MAb prevented this fall in white blood cell count (5.75 +/- 1.59 x 10(3)/mm3). At 3 h of reperfusion in saline-treated animals there was increased MPO, 74.8 +/- 4.9 U/g vs. 42.0 +/- 4.8 U/g in sham animals (P < 0.05).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Laparoscopic tubotubal reanastomosis

Normal patency was restored to the right fallopian tube of a 41-year-old sterilised woman by laparoscopic tubotubal reanastomosis. We believe that this is the first report of this procedure in Australia. Laparoscopic tubotubal reanastomosis combines the high success rates of microsurgical tubotubal reanstomosis with the advantages of the laparoscopic approach.     

Peripheral vascular effects and pharmacokinetics of the antimigraine compound, zolmitriptan, in combination with oral ergotamine in healthy volunteers

Members of the new class of antimigraine compounds, 5HT1B/1D agonists, as well as ergotamine, may cause vasoconstriction through stimulation of 5HT receptors on peripheral vessels. The cardiovascular effects of 20 mg oral zolmitriptan (Zomig, formerly 311C90), 2 mg oral ergotamine and the combination were assessed in a randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover study in 12 healthy subjects. Pharmacodynamic measures included oscillometric blood pressure, systolic blood pressure at the toe and arm using a strain gauge technique, stroke volume and cardiac output using bioimpedance cardiography, high-resolution ultrasound to measure brachial arterial diameter and a novel Doppler method to measure blood flow velocity. Both drugs produced small degrees of peripheral vasoconstriction, including increases in diastolic blood pressure and blood flow velocity and decreases in arterial diameter and toe-arm systolic pressure gradient. These effects were generally additive with the combination but of no clinical importance. There were no significant changes in cardiac output, stroke volume heart rate or ECG. Zolmitriptan, at eight times the likely therapeutic dose, was generally well tolerated both alone and in combination with ergotamine. Ergotamine had no clinically important effects on zolmitriptan pharmacokinetics.     

Pole shifting for families of systems: The dimension one case

We prove that ifR is a one-dimensional ring, then each basic submodule of a freeR-moduleE contains a rank one projective summand ofE. As it is known that this property implies the pole assignability property for rings, it follows that any one-dimensional ring has the pole assignability property. Applications to systems over rings are briefly explained. The authors were partially supported by NSF grants.     

Person memory in intergroup contexts: Categorization versus individuation.

Three experiments were conducted to assess the effects of perceiver group identity and expectancies on whether social information is organized at the level of the individual or the social category. In all 3 experiments, participants viewed a videotaped discussion among 6 people whose category identity was signified by sweatshirt color. In Experiment 1, performance on an identification test was affected by meaningfulness of the category distinction. Results of Experiment 2 indicated that intracategory confusions were higher under conditions of competitive interdependence between groups than under mere categorization or category salience conditions alone. Experiment 3 demonstrated that members of minority categories are individuated less than members of majority categories, except by members of the minority in-group. Results of the 3 experiments are discussed in relation to the concept of perceived "entitativity" of social categories. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Experimental leukocyte-induced pulmonary vasculitis with inquiry into mechanism

Intravenous transfusions of washed allogeneic or autologous leukocytes in rabbits resulted in lesions of pulmonary periarteritis 48 hours later. Intact leukocytes were required. Systemic anaphylaxis, generalized Shwartzman reaction, alternate pathway complement activation and inert particle microembolism failed to produce identical lesions. Leukocytes tagged with radioactive chromium were found within arterial thromboses with proximal vasculitis. Generation or release of inflammatory factors plus thromboembolism would explain the pathogenesis of the lesions described. Specific mechanisms may be quite complex. Similar lesions have not been described in studies of pulmonary leukocyte entrapment or experimental microembolism of the lung. This model may be useful for studying pathogenetic mechanisms in pulmonary vasculitis and may have clinical implications.     

Cytolytic activity of pulmonary and systemic lymphoid cells from C57BL/6 mice following intrapulmonary or intraperitoneal immunization with allogeneic tumor cells

In order to demonstrate whether specific cytotoxic T cells could be induced in lung parenchyma, C57BL/6 mice were immunized by the intrapulmonary route with allogenetic tumor cells (P815). Ten days after administration of 20 x 10(6) allogeneic cells, peak concentrations of cytotoxic cells were found in lung, tracheobronchial lymph node, and spleen. With reduction in immunizing dose, lytic activity disappeared from spleen and lymph node, but persisted in lung. The cytolytic activity was specific for the immunizing alloantigen, was abolished by antitheta serum, and could not be attributed to macrophages. For comparison, C57BL/6 mice were immunized by the intraperitoneal route with 20 x 10(6) P815 cells. The expected cytolytic activity was found in spleen and lymph nodes: however, unexpectedly high levels of cytolytic activity were also found in pulmonary lymphocytes. This activity was confirmed using a wide range of effector to largest cell ratios in the assay system. Quantitative cytolytic assays demonstrated that the maximum rate of cytolysis by pulmonary lymphocytes obtained from mice immunized intraperitoneally exceeded by 10- to 20-fold the rate of cytolysis by pulmonary lymphocytes obtained from mice receiving intrapulmonary immunization. These data demonstrate that cytolytic T-lymphocytes appear in lung parenchyma after either intrapulmonary or intraperitoneal immunization and that the intraperitoneal route is far more efficient than the intrapulmonary route. This cell-mediated immune mechanism potentially is available for host defense of respiratory tissue.