Prediction of non-recovery from ventilator-demanding acute respiratory failure, ARDS and death using lung damage biomarkers: data from a 1200-patient critical care randomized trial.

Background: It is unclear whether biomarkers of alveolar damage (surfactant protein D, SPD) or conductive airway damage (club cell secretory protein 16, CC16) measured early after intensive care admittance are associated with one-month clinical respiratory prognosis. If patients who do not recover respiratory function within one month can be identified early, future experimental lung interventions can be aimed toward this high-risk group. We aimed to determine, in a heterogenous critically ill population, whether baseline profound alveolar damage or conductive airway damage has clinical respiratory impact one month after intensive care admittance.

A variation of the Nijmegen-Bethesda assay using heat or a novel heat/cold pretreatment for the detection of FIX inhibitors in the presence of residual FIX activity.

Introduction: The inclusion of a heat treatment step has improved the classic Nijmegen-Bethesda assay for detection of factor VIII (FVIII) inhibitors in the presence of residual FVIII activity (FVIII:C). However, information regarding heat-modified Nijmegen-Bethesda assays for the detection of FIX inhibitors is still limited.

Methods: Three methods to measure FIX inhibitors in the presence or absence of residual FIX activity (FIX:C) using three different activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) reagents were investigated.

Sleep and delirium in unsedated patients in the intensive care unit.

Background: Sleep deprivation and delirium are major problems in the ICU. We aimed to assess the sleep quality by polysomnography (PSG) in relation to delirium in mechanically ventilated non-sedated ICU patients.

Methods: Interpretation of 24-h PSG and clinical sleep assessment in 14 patients.

Electroconvulsive therapy as a treatment for protracted refractory delirium in the intensive care unit--five cases and a review.

Purpose: Delirium in the intensive care unit (ICU) is conventionally treated pharmacologically but can progress into a protracted state refractory to medical treatment--a potentially life-threatening condition in itself.

Methods: We treated 5 cases of severe protracted delirium in our ICU with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) after failure of conventional medical therapy.

Results: The delirious state of long standing agitation, anxiety, and discomfort was controlled in all patients.

Sleep in the Intensive Care Unit measured by polysomnography.

Background: Sleep deprivation has deleterious effects on most organ systems. Patients in the Intensive care unit (ICU) report sleep deprivation as the second worst experience during their stay only superseded by pain. The aim of the review is to provide the clinician with knowledge of the optimal sleep-friendly care and environment.

Co-incubation with IL-18 potentiates antigen-specific IFN-γ response in a whole-blood stimulation assay for measurement of cell-mediated immune responses in pigs experimentally infected with Lawsonia intracellularis.

The whole-blood interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) assay is a quantitative in vitro assay for a direct read-out of Ag-specific cell-mediated immune (CMI) responses to infectious diseases. The IFN-γ assay is robust in severe intracellular infections like Brucella or mycobacteria, but more difficult to evaluate for less severe or immunocompromising infections. Here we investigated the performance of the assay when recombinant co-stimulatory cytokines IL-12 and/or IL-18 were added along with Ag or PBS to cultures of whole-blood from pigs infected with Lawsonia intracellularis.

Early pathogenesis in porcine proliferative enteropathy caused by Lawsonia intracellularis.

The intestinal bacterium Lawsonia intracellularis, the cause of proliferative enteropathy (PE) in pigs, is believed to infect mitotically active epithelial cells of the intestinal crypts and then multiply and spread in these cells as they divide. Further spread of infection is thought to occur by shedding of bacteria from infected crypts followed by infection of new crypts. The early stages of the pathogenesis of PE, from 0 to 48 hours post-infection (hpi), have not been studied in vivo.

Detection of Lawsonia intracellularis in formalin-fixed porcine intestinal tissue samples: comparison of immunofluorescence and in-situ hybridization, and evaluation of the effects of controlled autolysis.

Two methods, an immunofluorescence assay (IFA; with a Lawsonia intracellularis-specific monoclonal antibody) and fluorescent in-situ hybridization (FISH; with a specific oligonucleotide probe targeting 16S ribosomal RNA of the bacterium), were compared for their ability to detect L. intracellularis (the cause of porcine proliferative enteritis [PE]) in formalin-fixed samples of intestinal tissue. Of 69 intestinal samples with gross lesions of PE, 63 were positive by both FISH and IFA, but six were positive only by IFA.

Expression of CPEB, GAPDH and U6snRNA in cervical and ovarian tissue during cancer development.

Persistent infection with high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) and expression of the proteins E6 and E7 is a prerequisite for development of cervical cancer. The distal non-coding part of E6/E7 messengers from several HPV types is able to downregulate synthesis of a reporter gene through mechanisms with involvement of cytoplasmic polyadenylation elements (CPEs) in the messengers. We here show that the mRNA levels of one of the four known CPE-binding proteins (CPEBs), the CPEB3, were downregulated in HPV-positive cervical cancers, whereas in ovarian cancer the CPEB1 mRNA level was downregulated.

Characterization of high molecular weight plasma protein complexes induced by clotting factor rFXIII-treatment in the cynomolgus monkey.

Background: In cynomolgus monkeys, suprapharmacological doses of clotting recombinant factor XIII (rFXIII) cause a generalized coagulopathy, associated with formation of circulating high molecular weight protein complexes (HMEX). HMEX consist of plasma protein substrates cross-linked by FXIII transglutaminase activity.

Objective: To characterize HMEX, with a view to develop safety biomarker assays.

Development, characterization and diagnostic application of a monoclonal antibody specific for a proteinase K resistant Lawsonia intracellularis antigen.

Proliferative enteropathy (PE) is one of the most important infections in pigs caused by Lawsonia intracellularis, an obligate intracellular bacterium. The purpose of the present investigation was to develop monoclonal antibodies with specificity to L. intracellularis useful both for diagnostic purposes (by immunohistochemistry) and for bacterial characterization.

Sexual behavior during the first eight weeks after legal termination of pregnancy.

Background: The aim of the study was to describe sexual symptoms and resumption of sexual activity during the first 8 weeks after unrestricted first-trimester termination of pregnancy (TOP).

Methods: Questionnaires 2 and 8 weeks after legal first-trimester abortion in 1327 women.

Results: The 8-week questionnaire was returned by 941 (71%).

The influence of diet on Lawsonia intracellularis colonization in pigs upon experimental challenge.

The objective of this investigation was to study if different feeding strategies influence experimental infections of pigs with Lawsonia intracellularis, the causative agent of proliferative enteropathy. In three sequential trials, a total of 144 weaned pigs were fed five different diets all made from a standard diet based on wheat and barley as carbohydrate source and soybean as protein source. The five diets were: a standard diet (fine ground and pelleted), the standard diet fed as fermented liquid feed, the standard diet added 1.

Emergency contraception: knowledge and use among Danish women requesting termination of pregnancy.

The aim of this study was to describe knowledge about and use of emergency contraception (EC) among Danish women requesting termination of pregnancy. The study included 1514 women (response rate 83.7%) referred during the period August 2000 to May 2001.

Role of flagellum and chemotactic motility of Vibrio anguillarum for phagocytosis by and intracellular survival in fish macrophages.

The role of the flagellum and chemotactic motility of Vibrio anguillarum for phagocytosis by and intracellular survival in fish macrophages was determined using a wild-type strain, a mutant without the flagellum, a mutant with a truncated flagellum and a non-chemotactic mutant. For all strains, the numbers of intracellular bacteria were relatively low and fell steadily during the observation period. The presence of a flagellum did not influence the uptake by the macrophages, but the smooth swimming phenotype of a non-chemotactic mutant increased its intracellular presence.

In vitro interactions between rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) macrophages and Vibrio anguillarum serogroup O2a.

The sensitivity of Vibrio anguillarum serogroup O2a to killing by rainbow trout macrophages in the presence or absence of specific antibodies and complement components was evaluated using an in vitro assay. Fluorescence microscopy revealed that V. anguillarum serogroup O2a was phagocytosed by rainbow trout macrophages.

Vibrio anguillarum resistance to rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) serum: role of O-antigen structure of lipopolysaccharide.

The sensitivity of Vibrio anguillarum to the bactericidal effect of rainbow trout serum was investigated with different strains of serogroups O1 and O2a, which are the most frequently found serogroups in clinical outbreaks of vibriosis. All of the V. anguillarum strains were able to activate complement in rainbow trout serum, but smooth strains of V.

Human T cell responses induced by vaccination with Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guérin.

Many aspects of the widely used bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine against tuberculosis are still the subject of controversy. There is a huge variation in efficacy from one clinical trial to another and no relationship between vaccine-induced skin test conversion and subsequent protection. We have studied in vitro cell-mediated immune responses primed by BCG vaccination in 22 healthy Danish donors with different levels of in vitro purified protein derivative (PPD) reactivity before vaccination.

Human T-cell responses to secreted antigen fractions of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

The T-cell response of human donors to secreted antigen fractions of Mycobacterium tuberculosis was investigated. The donors were divided into five groups: active pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) patients with minimal and with advanced disease, Mycobacterium bovis BCG-vaccinated donors with and without contact with TB patients, and nonvaccinated individuals. We found that patients with active minimal TB responded powerfully to secreted antigens contained in a short-term culture filtrate.