Conservation of dorsal-ventral patterning in arthropods and chordates.

Dorsal-ventral patterning within the ectodermal and mesodermal germ layers of Drosophila and Xenopus embryos is specified by a system of genes that has been conserved over 500 million years of evolution. In both organisms, the activity of the TGF-beta family member DPP/BMP4 is antagonized by SOG/CHORDIN. A second Xenopus gene, noggin, has a similar biological activity to chordin.

Tissue factor pathway inhibitor protects the ischemic spinal cord.

Tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI) is a novel agent that binds to tissue factor/VIIa complex and factor-Xa, thereby reducing the effect of tissue factor (TF) on inflammation and the extrinsic pathway of coagulation. We hypothesize that systemic treatment with TFPI may limit ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury. Our experiment was designed to evaluate the effects of TFPI on IR in the spinal cord.

Resection of multiple pulmonary metastases from a recurrent intracranial meningioma.

Surgical resection of multiple pulmonary metastases from a recurrent intracranial meningioma in a 53-year-old woman is presented. The primary tumor was diagnosed in 1984 and partially excised in early 1985. The tumor recurred and was re-excised in 1989 and 1992.

Comparison of measured and predicted creatinine excretion is an unreliable index of compliance in PD patients.

Objective: To evaluate the use of the ratio of measured to predicted creatinine excretion as an index of compliance in peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients.

Design: A prospective analysis.

Setting: Academic teaching hospital dialysis unit.

Factors associated with elevated cutaneous Malassezia pachydermatis populations in dogs with pruritic skin disease.

The prevalences of breeds and concurrent diseases in a group of 40 dogs with pruritic skin disease associated with elevated cutaneous Malassezia pachydermatis populations were compared with samples of a dermatological hospital population. The ages and genders of the affected dogs were comparable to those of the dermatology population. Basset hounds, cocker spaniels and West Highland white terriers were significantly overrepresented.

Prevention of spinal cord injury after transient aortic clamping with tissue factor pathway inhibitor.

Background: Lower limb paralysis that occurs in 11% of patients after treatment of thoracic and thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms is unpredictable and at present not preventable. The proposed cause for the neurologic changes is believed to be spinal cord ischemia combined with ischemia/reperfusion injury. Recombinant tissue factor pathway inhibitor (rTFPI), a multivalent Kunitz-type inhibitor that binds to tissue factor-VIIa complex, was evaluated.

The sheep CD1 gene family contains at least four CD1B homologues.

We identified four cDNA sequences encoding sheep homologues of the CD1 molecule. The sheep sequences were selected from lambdagt11 thymocyte cDNA libraries by hybridization with a human CD1C probe and a homologous sheep probe. The SCD1B-42 and SCD1A25 sequences encode complete CD1 molecules.

Infections during extended circulatory support: University of Alabama at Birmingham experience 1989 to 1994.

Background: The University of Alabama at Birmingham experience with investigational ventricular assist devices (VADs) used as a bridge to transplantation has increased over the past several years; it now includes 27 VAD implantations with 13 VAD runs lasting for extended periods (ie, > 30 days). A review of complications experienced by patients during extended VAD runs is warranted before the further development and testing of chronically implanted mechanical circulatory support devices.

Methods: This study focuses on the infectious complications of extended VAD support; it includes 13 patients who were supported by either a Thoratec or HeartMate VAD for longer than 30 days pending cardiac transplantation.

Identification of a novel 85-kDa lipoprotein lipase binding protein on human aortic endothelial cell surface.

Lipoprotein lipase (LPL), bound to the luminal surface of vascular endothelium catalyzes lipoprotein triglyceride hydrolysis. Studies were performed to identify human aortic endothelial (HAEC) cell-surface proteins having high affinity for LPL. LPL-sepharose affinity chromatography of [35S]O4 labeled HAEC proteins identified a 220-kDa proteoglycan.

A stomatin-like protein necessary for mechanosensation in C. elegans.

The mec-2 gene is required for the function of a set of six touch receptor neurons in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans; mec-2 mutants, which are touch-insensitive, have touch cells that appear morphologically normal. Gene interaction studies suggest that mec-2 positively regulates the activity of the putative mechanosensory transduction channel (and the present paper), comprised in part of proteins encoded by the two degenerin genes mec-4 and mec-10 The central region of the mec-2 protein (MEC-2) is very similar to stomatin, an integral membrane protein (band 7.2b) in human red blood cells that is thought to regulate cation conductance.

Inhibition of tumor necrosis factor induced human aortic endothelial cell adhesion molecule gene expression by an alkoxybenzo[b]thiophene-2-carboxamide.

The effects of a novel anti-inflammatory agent, 5-methoxy-3-(1-methyl-ethoxy)benzo[b]thiophene-2-carboxamide-1-oxide (PD 144795) on adhesion molecule expression in tumor necrosis factor (TNF) stimulated human aortic endothelial cells (HAEC) were examined. PD 144795 treatment markedly inhibited the TNF-induced cell expression of vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) protein and mRNA. Gel shift assays using nuclear extracts from HAEC treated with PD 144795 failed to show a decrease in the activation of NFkB by this compound, whereas pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (PDTC), an antioxidant, markedly inhibited the activation of this transcription factor.

Factors affecting an individual's ability to administer medication.

In this study, the authors identify how well self-care agents function in the self-administration of medication. The sample population included 60 adults who were evaluated on their ability to read three prescription labels and perform the tasks necessary to administer medications correctly. Age, gender, number of medications taken, and type of chronic disease did not contribute significantly to the ability to self-medicate correctly.

Tissue oxygenation with graded dissolved oxygen delivery during cardiopulmonary bypass.

Background: Intravascular perfluorochemical emulsions together with a high oxygen tension may increase the delivery of dissolved oxygen to useful levels. The hypothesis of this study is that increasing the dissolved oxygen content of blood with incremental doses of a perfluorochemical emulsion improves tissue oxygenation during cardiopulmonary bypass in a dose-related fashion.

Methods And Results: Oxygen utilization was studied in a profoundly anemic canine model of hypothermic cardiopulmonary bypass.

Apolipoprotein B and E basic amino acid clusters influence low-density lipoprotein association with lipoprotein lipase anchored to the subendothelial matrix.

Lipoprotein accumulation in the subendothelial matrix is an important step in atherogenesis. We have previously shown that addition of lipoprotein lipase (LPL) markedly increased binding of apolipoprotein B (apoB)-containing lipoproteins to an endothelial cell-derived matrix, and this enhanced lipoprotein binding was inhibited by apoE. In the present studies we examined the role of various regions of apoB in the binding of LDL to LPL-containing endothelial cell matrix and the ability of various apoE domains to decrease lipoprotein retention.

An interactive 24-h recall technique for assessing the adequacy of trace mineral intakes of rural Malawian women; its advantages and limitations.

Objectives: To assess the relative validity of an interactive 24-h recall for estimating mineral intakes of rural Malawian women.

Design: Repeated interactive 24-h recalls were compared with weighed records collected for the same 2 days of food intake, and for 2 days 1-2 weeks prior and subsequent to the weighed record data collection period.

Setting: Three villages in traditional authority Jalasi, Mangochi District, Malawi.

A conserved system for dorsal-ventral patterning in insects and vertebrates involving sog and chordin.

Dorsal-ventral patterning within the ectoderm of the Drosophila embryo requires seven zygotic genes, including short gastrulation (sog). Here we demonstrate that sog, which is expressed in the ventrolateral region of the embryo that gives rise to the nerve cord, is functionally homologous to the chordin gene of Xenopus, which is expressed in the dorsal blastopore lip of the embryo and in dorsal mesoderm, in particular the notochord. We show by injections of messenger RNA that both sog and chordin can promote ventral development in Drosophila, and that sog, like chordin, can promote dorsal development in Xenopus.

Perfluorocarbons are effective oxygen carriers in cardiopulmonary bypass.

Intravascular perfluorochemical (PFC) emulsions together with a high oxygen (O2) tension may increase the delivery of dissolved O2 to useful levels. A severely anemic model of cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) was used to test the hypothesis that a novel PFC emulsion (PFCE; Oxygent [Alliance Pharmaceutical Corp., San Diego, CA] 90% w/v perflubron) used at a high PO2 during bypass delivers sufficient O2 to ameliorate hypoxic myocardial contractile dysfunction.

Left atrial or ventricular cannulation beyond 30 days for a Thoratec ventricular assist device.

The authors used Thoratec left ventricular assist devices (VADs) for more than 30 days in eight patients. There were five left atrial (LA) (total, 513 days; range, 33-202 days) and three left ventricular (LV) cannulations (total, 484 days; range, 44-247 days). The flow provided by LA cannulation was less than that provided by LV cannulation.

Phosphonates and phosphinates: novel leaving groups for benzisothiazolone inhibitors of human leukocyte elastase.

A novel class of alkyl and aryl phosphonate and phosphinate acid-based leaving groups has been developed for utilization in the synthesis of benzoisothiazolone (BIT) inhibitors of human leukocyte elastase (HLE). A number of BITs were synthesized with phosphonate and phosphinate acid-based leaving groups and were found to be potent inhibitors of HLE. Compound 3c with a diethyl phosphonate leaving group is the most potent inhibitor synthesized in this series with Ki* = 0.

Orally bioavailable benzisothiazolone inhibitors of human leukocyte elastase.

Human leukocyte elastase (HLE) has been proposed as a primary mediator of pulmonary emphysema and other inflammatory airway diseases. HLE is capable of cleaving many proteins, including elastin, other components of connective tissue, certain complement proteins, and receptors. Under normal conditions an appropriate balance exists in the lung between HLE and endogenous inhibitors, which scavenge the released enzyme before it exerts deleterious effects in the lung.

Survey of global telemedicine.

The number and scope of telemedicine projects and applications world-wide are growing rapidly along with exponential expansions in national and international information infrastructures and computer capabilities to support them. To track these rapid changes, the Center for Public Service Communications (CPSC) of Arlington, VA, developed the Telemedicine and Information Technologies in Health Care: Project Tracking Document for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). This document is maintained by CPSC and frequently updated.

Canine atopic disease: the prevalence of positive intradermal skin tests at two sites in the north and south of Great Britain.

Results of intradermal skin test responses to the same panel of 53 allergens were compared in 118 dogs with atopic disease presented at two geographical centres, Edinburgh (87 cases) and London (31 cases). The allergens most commonly positive at both centres were human dander and Dermatophagoides farinae, but positive tests to all of the allergens used occurred in at least one case. The mean number of allergens to which positive tests resulted in atopic dogs was 5.

Acyl-coenzyme A:cholesterol-acyltransferase (ACAT) inhibitors modulate monocyte adhesion to aortic endothelial cells.

Increased monocyte adhesion to aortic endothelium is observed in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. The role of endothelial acyl-coenzyme A:cholesterol-acyltransferase (ACAT) in the regulation of monocyte adhesion is not known. To examine the potential role of this enzyme in monocyte adhesion, a specific ACAT inhibitor, CI-976, was utilized.