A Consensus Framework for the Humanitarian Surgical Response to Armed Conflict in 21st Century Warfare.

Importance: Armed conflict in the 21st century poses new challenges to a humanitarian surgical response, including changing security requirements, access to patients, and communities in need, limited deployable surgical assets, resource constraints, and the requirement to address both traumatic injuries as well as emergency surgical needs of the population. At the same time, recent improvements in trauma care and systems have reduced injury-related mortality. This combination of new challenges and medical capabilities warrants reconsideration of long-standing humanitarian surgery protocols.

[Orthopedic surgery with limited resources after mass disasters and during armed conflicts : First international guidelines for the management of limb injuries and the experience of Doctors Without Borders].

Disasters and armed conflicts are often the unfortunate basis for aid projects run by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). The nature of war and disasters means that surgery is an integral part of this medical emergency aid. In these situations, resources are usually limited.

Deletion of the G2A receptor fails to attenuate experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.

Lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) is a chemotactic lysolipid produced during inflammation by the hydrolytic action of phospholipase A(2) enzymes. LPC stimulates chemotaxis of T cells in vitro through activation of the G protein-coupled receptor, G2A. This has led to the proposition that G2A contributes to the recruitment of T cells to sites of inflammation and thus promotes chronic inflammatory autoimmune diseases associated with the generation and subsequent tissue infiltration of auto-antigen-specific effector T cells.

Complement in BuB/BnJ mice revisited: serum C3 levels and complement opsonic activity are not elevated.

With the exception of a few strains such as BuB/BnJ, complement activity in most inbred strains of mice is remarkably similar. The BuB/BnJ strain reportedly has high levels of complement activity and elevated serum levels of C3 and other complement proteins. However, we observed that BuB/BnJ mice have serum C3 levels comparable to those seen in C57BL/6, Balb/c and several other strains of inbred mice.

PSGL-1 is not required for development of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.

Adhesion molecules are essential mediators for lymphocyte trafficking through the blood-brain barrier into the CNS in multiple sclerosis and its animal model experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). However, the role of the selectin molecules and their ligand, P-selectin glycoprotein-1 (PSGL-1) which mediates tethering and rolling of the leukocytes in demyelinating disease remains controversial. This study demonstrates that mice deficient in PSGL-1 are not significantly different in the development and progression of EAE compared to wild type controls.

Impaired CD14-dependent and independent response of polymorphonuclear leukocytes in preterm infants.

Unlabelled: Preterm newborn infants are especially susceptible to Gram-negative sepsis that is associated with a lethality of up to 40%.

Aims: We tested whether polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) from preterm infants exhibit an impaired antibacterial response upon stimulation with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from Escherichia coli when compared to full term newborns or adults.

Methods: We studied the effect of LPS on the expression of the surface proteins CD11b and CD14 and the secretion of elastase by PMN from preterm infants, term infants and adults ex vivo.