Liver allotransplantation after extracorporeal hepatic support with transgenic (hCD55/hCD59) porcine livers: clinical results and lack of pig-to-human transmission of the porcine endogenous retrovirus.

Background: Whole organ extracorporeal perfusion of a genetically modified humanized (transgenic) pig liver has been proposed as a technology that may sustain patients with severe liver failure while awaiting human liver transplantation.

Methods: We report on two cases of successful extracorporeal perfusion of a transgenic pig liver in patients awaiting transplantation for fulminant hepatic failure. The pig livers used were transgenic for human CD55 (decay-accelerating factor) and human CD59.

Seroreactivity to Chlamydia trachomatis Hsp10 correlates with severity of human genital tract disease.

We have identified the chlamydial heat shock protein Hsp10 as a potential correlate to the immunopathogenic process in women with tubal factor infertility (TFI). The human serologic response to chlamydial Hsp10, Hsp60, and major outer membrane protein (MOMP) was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Three populations of women were studied: uninfected controls (CU), acutely infected (AI) women, and women with TFI.

Characterization of low-density lipoprotein uptake by murine macrophages exposed to Chlamydia pneumoniae.

Exposure to Chlamydia pneumoniae is correlated with atherosclerosis in a variety of clinical and epidemiological studies, but how the organism may initiate and promote the disease is poorly understood. One pathogenic mechanism could involve modulation of macrophage function by C. pneumoniae.

Alcohol consumption and psychological distress in recently widowed older men.

Objective: The relationship between severe adverse life events and subsequent health-related behaviour is not well established for older people. To address this issue, we studied self-reported alcohol consumption in recently widowed older men and matched married men.

Method: We carried out a double cohort study in community-residing men aged 65 years and over.

Chlamydia pneumoniae and atherosclerosis: links to the disease process.

Chlamydia pneumoniae is an obligate intracellular prokaryotic human pathogen responsible for a significant portion of atypical pneumonia and associated with a variety of chronic sequelae, the most significant of which is atherosclerosis. The organism is endowed with several attributes that may contribute to the development of atherosclerotic lesions or promote tissue damage at the site of an existing lesion. Two key events that are directly involved in the atherogenic process include the development of foam cells from macrophages and the oxidation of lipoproteins at the site of lesion development.

Post-liver transplantation lymphoproliferative disorders with and without infusions of donor bone marrow cells.

Donor bone marrow cells (DBMC) infusions have been used in an attempt to decrease the untoward effects of immunosuppressive treatment and to improve immunocompetence in the post-liver transplantation (PLT) period. Between March 1987 and July 1996, 558 orthotopic liver transplantations were performed at Jackson Memorial Hospital/University of Miami. Of these, 164 patients (29%) received 10 x 10(8) DBMC/Kg using various schedules.

Social separation in infant Cebus apella: patterns of behavioral and cortisol response.

34 infant tufted capuchins (Cebus apella) were separated from their social groups for a 2-hour period and videotaped in isolation at the ages of 6 months and 1 year. Baseline and 2-hour blood samples were measured for levels of serum cortisol. Compared to homecage baseline levels, passivity, locomotion and vocalizations increased during separation, while self-directed behavior and environmental exploration decreased.

Cellular oxidation of low-density lipoprotein by Chlamydia pneumoniae.

A spectrum of clinical and epidemiologic studies implicate infectious agents, including Chlamydia pneumoniae, in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. The complexity of atherosclerotic disease necessitates examining the role of infection in the context of defined risk factors, such as high levels of native low-density lipoprotein (LDL). Although native LDL does not have atherogenic properties, cellular oxidation of LDL alters the lipoprotein into a highly atherogenic form.

Previously undetected Chlamydia trachomatis infection, immunity to heat shock proteins and tubal occlusion in women undergoing in-vitro fertilization.

The relationship between a previously undetected Chlamydia trachomatis infection, tubal infertility, immunity to heat shock proteins and subsequent in-vitro fertilization (IVF) outcome was evaluated. Women with tubal occlusion, with or without hydrosalpinges, and no history of C. trachomatis infection were tested for circulating antibodies to the human 60-kDa heat shock protein (Hhsp60), the C.

Treatment of AIDS-related primary central nervous system lymphoma with zidovudine, ganciclovir, and interleukin 2.

AIDS-related primary central nervous system lymphoma (AIDS PCNSL) is a rapidly fatal disease. Conventional therapeutic modalities offer little and new approaches are needed. Previous work has shown that zidovudine (AZT) in combination with other agents is active in retroviral lymphomas.

Ocular-adnexal lymphoid tumors: a clinicopathologic and molecular genetic study of 77 patients.

Purpose: To determine whether molecular genetic analysis of ocular-adnexal lymphoid tumors, combined with histopathology and tumor location, is helpful in predicting which patients will develop systemic lymphoma.

Methods: A combined retrospective and prospective study of 77 patients with ocular-adnexal lymphoid tumors was performed. The tumors were subdivided into conjunctival, orbital, and eyelid lesions, and all were studied using both routine histopathology and molecular genetic analysis.

Prior genital tract infection with a murine or human biovar of Chlamydia trachomatis protects mice against heterotypic challenge infection.

We sought to assess the degree of cross-protective immunity in a mouse model of chlamydial genital tract infection. Following resolution of genital infection with the mouse pneumonitis (MoPn) biovar of Chlamydia trachomatis, mice were challenged intravaginally with either MoPn or human serovar E or L2. The majority of animals previously infected with MoPn were solidly immune to challenge with either of the two human biovars.

Chlamydial heat shock proteins and disease pathology: new paradigms for old problems?

The mucosal pathogen Chlamydia trachomatis affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide and is a significant cause of sexually transmitted disease. Although most acute infections can be easily managed, complications often occur that can be especially severe in women. It has been proposed that increased exposure to conserved chlamydial antigens, such as through reinfection or persistent infection, results in chronic inflammation and tissue scarring and contributes to the pathogenesis of endometrial and fallopian tube damage.

Human complement regulatory proteins protect swine lungs from xenogeneic injury.

Background: Pulmonary xenotransplantation is not possible because of hyperacute lung injury, the pathogenesis of which is unknown. This study evaluates complement-dependent pathways of pulmonary injury during heterologous perfusion of swine lungs.

Methods: Lungs from unmodified swine and swine expressing human decay-accelerating factor and human CD59 (hDAF/hCD59 swine) were perfused with either human plasma or baboon blood.

Is central nervous system prophylaxis necessary in ocular adnexal lymphoma?

Purpose: To examine the frequency of metastasis to the eye and central nervous system (CNS) from ocular adnexal lymphomas and to evaluate whether CNS prophylaxis is appropriate for these tumors.

Patients And Methods: Seventy-one patients with biopsy-confirmed ocular adnexal lymphomas were evaluated between 1989 and 1995. The lymphomas were subclassified histopathologically according to the new Revised European-American Lymphoma (REAL) criteria.

Intracellular tryptophan pool sizes may account for differences in gamma interferon-mediated inhibition and persistence of chlamydial growth in polarized and nonpolarized cells.

Gamma interferon (IFN-gamma) is an important factor in the modulating inhibition of intracellular chlamydial growth and persistence. In human epithelial cells and macrophages, this inhibition is the result of depletion of the essential amino acid tryptophan via the IFN-gamma-induced enzyme indoleamine 2, 3-dioxygenase. Under these conditions, chlamydiae must successfully compete with the host cell for limited resources in order to maintain viability.

Breast carcinoma: vascular density determined using CD105 antibody correlates with tumor prognosis.

Angiogenesis is essential for tumor growth and metastasis. There are conflicting reports as to whether microvessel density (IMD) in breast cancers is associated with prognosis. This could be due to the use of different antibodies to endothelial cell markers, variation in tissue pretreatment protocols, and nonstandardized counting methods.

The setting up and implementation of a venous thromboembolism prophylaxis policy in clinical hospital practice.

Clinical management policies are meant to lead to the delivery of better health care. However, as we demonstrate in this review, having an oral or written venous thromboembolism prophylaxis policy does not necessarily lead to the majority of general surgical inpatients receiving the appropriate prophylaxis. We discovered, through prospective clinical audit, that for a clinical policy to be effective in delivering the appropriate health care, it must be repeatedly scrutinized and implemented in the correct manner.

A Chlamydia pneumoniae component that induces macrophage foam cell formation is chlamydial lipopolysaccharide.

Chlamydia pneumoniae infection is associated with atherosclerotic heart and vessel disease, but a causal relationship between this pathogen and the disease process has not been established. Recently, it was reported that C. pneumoniae induces human macrophage foam cell formation, a key event in early atheroma development, suggesting a role for the organism in atherogenesis.

Benign intracranial hypertension and recombinant growth hormone therapy in Australia and New Zealand.

Benign intracranial hypertension (BIH) is reported in three children from Australia and one from New Zealand, who were being treated with recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH). Three males and one female, aged between 10.5 and 14.

Decreased epinephrine responses to hypoglycemia during sleep.

Background: In patients with type I diabetes mellitus, hypoglycemia occurs commonly during sleep and is frequently asymptomatic. This raises the question of whether sleep is associated with reduced counterregulatory-hormone responses to hypoglycemia.

Methods: We studied the counterregulatory-hormone responses to insulin-induced hypoglycemia in eight adolescent patients with type I diabetes and six age-matched normal subjects when they were awake during the day, asleep at night, and awake at night.

Complement-mediated pulmonary xenograft injury: studies in swine-to-primate orthotopic single lung transplant models.

Background: The pathogenesis of acute pulmonary xenograft injury has not yet been determined. The present study evaluates the role of complement in mediating pulmonary xenograft dysfunction by using cobra venom factor (CVF) to deplete recipient complement and transgenic swine, which express human regulators of complement activation (human decay-accelerating factor [hDAF] and hCD59).

Methods: Fifteen orthotopic lung transplants were performed as follows: group I, swine-to-swine (n=5); group II, unmodified swine-to-baboon (n=3); group III, unmodified swine-to-(CVF treated) baboon (n=3); and group IV, hCD59/hDAF swine-to-baboon (n=4).