Stability of specific IgE antibodies to common food and inhalant allergens.

Objective: To determine the optimum storage temperature for serum allergen specific IgE antibodies (sIgE) to common food and inhalant allergens.

Methods: Patient sera with sIgE concentrations ≥0.7kIU/l were pooled accordingly: pool 1-peanut and hazelnut, pool 2-egg white, cow's milk and cod fish, pool 3-soy, wheat and shrimp and pool 4-dust mite Dermatophagoides farinae, dog dander, cat dander, Timothy grass pollen, and silver birch pollen.

Ganglioside Intake Increases Plasma Ganglioside Content in Human Participants.

Background: Preclinical studies reveal associations between intestinal ganglioside content and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Since a low level of ganglioside is associated with higher production of proinflammatory signals in the intestine, it is important to determine safety and bioavailability of dietary ganglioside for application as a potential therapeutic agent.

Materials And Methods: Healthy volunteers (HVs; n = 18) completed an 8-week supplementation study to demonstrate safety and bioavailabity of ganglioside consumption.

Increased catabolism and decreased unsaturation of ganglioside in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

Aim: To investigate whether accelerated catabolism of ganglioside and decreased ganglioside content contribute to the etiology of pro-inflammatory intestinal disease.

Methods: Intestinal mucosa from terminal ileum or colon was obtained from patients with ulcerative colitis or inflammatory Crohn's disease (n = 11) undergoing bowel resection and compared to control samples of normal intestine from patients with benign colon polyps (n = 6) and colorectal cancer (n = 12) in this observational case-control study. Gangliosides and phospholipids of intestinal mucosa were characterized by class and ceramide or fatty acid composition using liquid chromatography triple-quad mass spectrometry.

The effect of paraproteins and rheumatoid factor on four commercial immunoassays for vancomycin: implications for laboratorians and other health care professionals.

Background: Paraproteins, immunoglobulins (Igs), which are elevated in various autoimmune disorders, are known to interfere with various laboratory immunoassays, including vancomycin (VANC). Rheumatoid factor (RF), a known immunoassay interferant, may cause falsely elevated results.

Objectives: The aims of this study were to (1) evaluate the effect of 3 paraproteins (IgA, IgG, and IgM) on 4 commercial VANC immunoassays [fluorescence polarization immunoassay; enzyme multiplied immunoassay; 2 particle-enhanced turbidimetric inhibition immunoassays]; (2) determine the concentration at which the effect is obtained, and (3) examine the influence of RF on the VANC methods.

Dietary ganglioside reduces proinflammatory signaling in the intestine.

Gangliosides are integral to the structure and function of cell membranes. Ganglioside composition of the intestinal brush border and apical surface of the colon influences numerous cell processes including microbial attachment, cell division, differentiation, and signaling. Accelerated catabolism of ganglioside in intestinal disease results in increased proinflammatory signaling.

Evaluation of the analytical performance of the Nova StatSensor creatinine meter and reagent strip technology for whole blood testing.

Objective: To evaluate the analytical performance of the Nova StatSensor creatinine meter.

Design And Methods: Imprecision, linearity, patient correlation and interference studies were completed.

Results: Total imprecision was 4.

Uptake and fate of ganglioside GD3 in human intestinal Caco-2 cells.

Ganglioside GD3 is a glycosphingolipid found in colostrum, developing tissues, and tumors and is known to regulate cell growth, differentiation, apoptosis, and inflammation. Feeding a GD3-enriched diet to rats increases GD3 in intestinal lipid rafts and blood. The mechanism, efficiency, and fate of ganglioside absorption by human enterocytes have not been investigated.

Ganglioside composition of differentiated Caco-2 cells resembles human colostrum and neonatal rat intestine.

Gangliosides are glycosphingolipids found in cell membranes and human milk with important roles in cell proliferation, differentiation, growth, adhesion, migration, signalling and apoptosis. Similar changes in ganglioside composition occur during embryonic development, lactation and cancer cell differentiation. It is not known, however, whether ganglioside compositional changes that occur in differentiating colon cancer cells reflect changes that occur during intestinal development.

Necrotizing enterocolitis: a multifactorial disease with no cure.

Necrotizing enterocolitis is an inflammatory bowel disease of neonates with significant morbidity and mortality in preterm infants. Due to the multifactorial nature of the disease and limitations in disease models, early diagnosis remains challenging and the pathogenesis elusive. Although preterm birth, hypoxic-ischemic events, formula feeding, and abnormal bacteria colonization are established risk factors, the role of genetics and vasoactive/inflammatory mediators is unclear.

Dexrazoxane (ICRF-187) protects cardiac myocytes against doxorubicin by preventing damage to mitochondria.

The clinically approved antioxidant cardioprotective agent dexrazoxane (ICRF-187) was examined for its ability to protect neonatal rat cardiac myocytes from doxorubicin-induced damage. Doxorubicin is thought to induce oxidative stress on the heart muscle, both through reductive activation to its semiquinone form, and by the production of hydroxyl radicals mediated by its complex with iron. Hydrolyzed dexrazoxane metabolites prevent site-specific iron-based oxygen radical damage by displacing iron from doxorubicin and chelating free and loosely bound iron.