Comparative evaluation of corneal incision enlargement after intraocular lens delivery of new preloaded and manual implantation systems.

Purpose: To determine whether total corneal incision enlargement after implantation of an intraocular lens with a new preloaded delivery system is comparable to a standard-of-care manual delivery system using an in vitro human cadaver eye model, despite having a smaller initial incision size.

Methods: Human cadaver phakic whole eye globes were used for these studies (n = 16 per group). Each pair of eyes was randomly assigned to a new preloaded delivery system (UltraSert) or a manual delivery system (MONARCH III D).

Results of cystometry and urethral pressure profilometry in dogs sedated with medetomidine or xylazine.

Objective: To compare effects of medetomidine and xylazine hydrochloride on results of cystometry and micturition reflexes in healthy dogs and results of urethral pressure profilometry (UPP) in sedated and conscious dogs.

Animals: 20 dogs.

Procedures: Urodynamic testing was performed 6 times in each dog (3 times after administration of xylazine [1 mg/kg of body weight, IV] and 3 times after administration of medetomidine (30 microg/kg, IM).

Role of chemokines, neuronal projections, and the blood-brain barrier in the enhancement of cerebral EAE following focal brain damage.

The role of focal brain damage as a trigger for autoimmune inflammation in multiple sclerosis (MS) is unclear. In this study we examine mechanisms by which experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) is enhanced by focal brain damage. EAE was produced in Lewis rats by footpad inoculation; focal brain damage, in the form of a cortical cryolesion (cryolesion-EAE), was induced 8 days post-inoculation (d.

Immediate urodynamic and anatomic response to colposuspension in female Beagles.

Objective: To characterize urodynamic function and anatomy before and after colposuspension in anesthetized female Beagles.

Animals: 12 adult female Beagles. PROCEDURE; During general anesthesia (thiopental sodium induction and halothane maintenance), urethral pressure profiles, leak point pressure measurements with a 50-ml bladder volume, positive contrast cystograms, and retrograde vaginourethrocystograms were performed.

Serial laparoscopic biopsies of liver and spleen from Schistosoma-infected baboons (Papio spp.).

Purpose: To obtain large, serial biopsy samples from the liver and spleen by using laparoscopy. Large samples were needed for measurement of inflammatory mediators during various stages of schistosomiasis.

Methods: Each of the seven female baboons (Papio sp.

Biphasic and regionally-restricted chemokine expression in the central nervous system in the Theiler's virus model of multiple sclerosis.

Intracerebral infection of susceptible strains of mice with Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus (TMEV) induces a biphasic disease characterized by acute polioencephalitis followed by chronic demyelination and viral persistence in the spinal cord white matter. There has been limited study of soluble mediators responsible for the initial recruitment of inflammatory cells into the gray matter, and the secondary influx into the white matter during infection with TMEV. We used sensitive and specific RT - PCR/dot blot hybridization assays to quantitate the relative levels of chemokine mRNA in the brains and spinal cords during the acute and chronic phases of TMEV infection in mice susceptible (B10.

Treatment with BBB022A or rolipram stabilizes the blood-brain barrier in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis: an additional mechanism for the therapeutic effect of type IV phosphodiesterase inhibitors.

We examined the treatment effects of two structurally distinct phosphodiesterase type IV (PDE IV) inhibitors, BBB022 and rolipram, in murine and rat models of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). Based on our data, we propose a mechanism of action which may supplement immunomodulatory effects of PDE IV inhibitors. In particular, PDE inhibitors promote elevation of intracellular cAMP levels, increasing the electrical resistance of endothelial monolayers by stabilizing intercellular junctional complexes.

Stress leak point pressures and urethral pressure profile tests in clinically normal female dogs.

Objective: To develop a stress leak point pressure (LPP) test for dogs, determine LPP for continent female dogs, and determine urethral pressure profile (UPP) values for nonanesthetized, continent female dogs.

Animals: 22 continent female dogs weighing from 21 to 29 kg.

Procedure: A standard UPP test and a modification of the LPP test used in women were performed on all dogs.

Apolipoprotein A-I in bile inhibits cholesterol crystallization and modifies transcellular lipid transfer through cultured human gall-bladder epithelial cells.

Background: Apolipoprotein A-I (Apo A-I), conventionally purified by several steps including organic solvent-delipidation from plasma, inhibits cholesterol crystallization in bile. To observe a significant effect in vitro, however, supraphysiological concentrations above 100 microg/mL are required. For this reason, this protein has not been considered to play a physiological role in vivo.

Selective chemokine mRNA accumulation in the rat spinal cord after contusion injury.

Following traumatic injury to the spinal cord, hematogenous inflammatory cells including neutrophils, monocytes, and lymphocytes infiltrate the lesion in a distinct temporal sequence. To examine potential mechanisms for their recruitment, we measured chemokine mRNAs in the contused rat spinal cord, using specific and sensitive reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) dot-blot hybridization assays. The neutrophil chemoattractant GRO-alpha was 30-fold higher than control values at 6 hr postinjury and decayed rapidly thereafter.

Human gallbladder mucosal function: effects on intraluminal fluid and lipid composition in health and disease.

Gallbladder mucosal absorption of fluid during fasting is a well-known process. Indirect in vivo and recent in vitro evidence for physiologically relevant gallbladder absorption of cholesterol and phospholipids from bile has been observed in humans. The present study explored and compared by indirect means the relative efficiences of human gallbladder mucosal absorption of fluid and lipids in health and disease.

Variations in pigment and carbohydrate content of gallbladder bile affect accurate quantitation of total protein when using the fluorescamine method.

Background: Despite solute dilution and reduced total lipid concentrations, an unexplained increase in protein concentration has been reported to occur in the gallbladder bile of cholesterol gallstone patients.

Methods: Solutes in gallbladder bile from gallstone-free controls and from four study groups were measured using standard methods. Total proteins were measured using amino acid analysis and a conventional fluorescamine method.

Comparison of haptoglobin and apolipoprotein A-I on biliary lipid particles involved in cholesterol crystallization.

Several proteins are known to modulate cholesterol crystallization. We recently demonstrated that haptoglobin has cholesterol crystallization promoting activity. However, this effect is still not well understood mechanistically.

Purification and characterization of a novel human 15 kd cholesterol crystallization inhibitor protein in bile.

Crystallization-inhibiting proteins can explain longer nucleation times associated with bile from gallstone-free subjects as compared with bile from patients with cholesterol gallstones. We partially characterized and examined the crystallization inhibitory potency of a newly purified 15 kd human biliary protein. Gallbladder bile was passed through an anti-apolipoprotein A-I (apo A-I) immunoaffinity column to extract lipid-associated proteins.

Biliary haptoglobin, a potent promoter of cholesterol crystallization at physiological concentrations.

Background/aims: Several proteins present in human bile have been reported to promote cholesterol crystallization and thus are potentially important in the formation of cholesterol crystals as the initial stage in gallstone pathogenesis. To be physiologically relevant, such proteins must either be present in high concentration in bile or have a potent promoting activity. The current study explored several of the more abundant but unexamined biliary proteins based upon their also having sufficiently high serum concentrations that antibodies were available for both their isolation and quantitation.

Identification and induction of cytochrome P450 2E1 in rat Kupffer cells.

Kupffer cells, the resident macrophages of the liver, have a well characterized role in the removal of blood-born foreign substances by phagocytosis. Because Kupffer cells may contribute to hepatic xenobiotic metabolism, the current studies evaluated the presence and inducibility of P450 2E1 in rat Kupffer cells. Hepatocytes and Kupffer cells were isolated from the livers of control and acetone-treated (1% v/v acetone in the drinking water for 7 days) rats.

Limitations to donating adequate autologous blood prior to elective orthopedic surgery.

We reviewed 175 patients who predeposited autologous blood prior to elective orthopedic surgery to define potential limitations of procuring adequate autologous blood. These potential limitations include physician underordering, storage interval, and erythropoietic response. We found that a continuing medical education intervention increased the amount of autologous blood requested by physicians for storage: from 121 U for 50 patients (mean = 2.

A two-institution study of transfusion practice in 78 consecutive adult elective open-heart procedures.

Blood salvage techniques and increasingly conservative physician transfusion practice in cardiac surgery have led to reports of homologous blood exposure in as few as 10% of patients having elective cardiac revascularization surgery (Ann Thorac Surg 1985;40:380). To identify current prevailing transfusion practice between centers, the authors prospectively audited 49 and 29 consecutive adult elective open-heart surgery cases (78 total) at two centers. Thirty-six of 49 patients (73%) received 245 homologous blood units (HBs) at institution 1 (m = 5.