Evolving experience with prevention and treatment of splenic artery syndrome after orthotopic liver transplantation.

Impaired hepatic arterial perfusion after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) may lead to ischemic biliary tract lesions and graft-loss. Hampered hepatic arterial blood flow is observed in patients with hypersplenism, often described as arterial steal syndrome (ASS). However, arterial and portal perfusions are directly linked via the hepatic arterial buffer response (HABR).

How social processes distort measurement: the impact of survey nonresponse on estimates of volunteer work in the United States.

The authors argue that both the large variability in survey estimates of volunteering and the fact that survey estimates do not show the secular decline common to other social capital measures are caused by the greater propensity of those who do volunteer work to respond to surveys. Analyses of the American Time Use Survey (ATUS)--the sample for which is drawn from the Current Population Survey (CPS)--together with the CPS volunteering supplement show that CPS respondents who become ATUS respondents report much more volunteering in the CPS than those who become ATUS nonrespondents. This difference is replicated within subgroups.

An unhappy triad: hemochromatosis, porphyria cutanea tarda and hepatocellular carcinoma-a case report.

Liver fibrosis and cirrhosis are predisposing factors for the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Hemosiderosis has also been described to trigger carcinogenesis. A significant iron overload, as found in hereditary hemochromatosis (HHC), is a risk factor for HCC and may also promote the symptoms of porphyria cutanea tarda (PCT).

De novo esophageal neoplasia after liver transplantation.

The purpose of the study was to determine the incidence, risk factors, treatment, and influence on survival of patients with de novo esophageal cancer after liver transplantation (LT). From 1988 to 2006, 1,926 patients underwent LT in our institution. A total of 9 patients (0.

The effects of response rate changes on the index of consumer sentiment.

From 1979 to 1996, the Survey of Consumer Attitudes response rate remained roughly 70 percent. But number of calls to complete an interview and proportion of interviews requiring refusal conversion doubled. Using call-record histories, we explore what the consequences of lower response rates would have been if these additional efforts had not been undertaken.

Consequences of reducing nonresponse in a national telephone survey.

Critics of public opinion polls often claim that methodological shortcuts taken to collect timely data produce biased results. This study compares two random digit dial national telephone surveys that used identical questionnaires but very different levels of effort: a "Standard" survey conducted over a 5-day period that used a sample of adults who were home when the interviewer called, and a "Rigorous" survey conducted over an 8-week period that used random selection from among all adult household members. Response rates, computed according to AAPOR guidelines, were 60.

Latency and amplitude variability in serial median nerve SEP recordings.

Objectives: Intra-individual variability of SEP parameters was investigated by serial SEP recordings.

Methods: Median nerve SEP of 53 normal subjects (mean age 25.5+/-2.

Characterization of modulation of western equine encephalomyelitis virus by Culex tarsalis (Diptera: Culicidae) maintained at 32 degrees C following parenteral infection.

Two lines of Culex tarsalis Coquillett genetically selected for low or high western equine encephalomyelitis (WEE) virus production (low viral producer [LVP] or high viral producer [HVP], respectively) modulated WEE (i.e., decreased the concentration of virus to < 10(4) plaque-forming units after intrathoracic inoculation).

Effects of water quality on the vector competence of Culex tarsalis (Diptera: Culicidae) for western equine encephalomyelitis (Togaviridae) and St. Louis encephalitis (Flaviviridae) viruses.

The effects of water quality during immature development on the vector competence of adult female Culex tarsalis Coquillett for western equine encephalomyelitis (WEE) and St. Louis encephalitis (SLE) viruses was evaluated during 6 field and 4 laboratory experiments. Immatures of the Bakersfield Field Station laboratory strain and the F1 progeny of field-collected females were reared in the field or laboratory and then infected by feeding on pledgets, after which remnants (head, thorax, abdomen), legs, and salivary secretions were tested for WEE or SLE virus to estimate infection, dissemination, and transmission rates, respectively.

Mouse and baby chicken virulence of enzootic strains of western equine encephalomyelitis virus from California.

Eight enzootic strains of western equine encephalomyelitis (WEE) virus isolated from Culex tarsalis or Aedes melanimon collected in several geographic areas of California were evaluated for their virulence in suckling mice, adult mice, and one-day-old baby chickens. The epidemic Fleming strain and the cloned B628(Cl 15) variant were used as virulent and avirulent control viruses, respectively, in adult mice. Enzootic strains of WEE virus were grouped into three phenotypes on the basis of their neurovirulent and neuroinvasive properties in adult mice.

Genotypic and phenotypic variation of selected Saint Louis encephalitis viral strains isolated in California.

The mechanism for long-term maintenance of St. Louis encephalitis (SLE) virus in California is unknown. Two possibilities are 1) that the virus is maintained locally in discrete enzootic foci by one or more reservoir mechanisms, and/or 2) that the foci are ephemeral in nature and virus is reintroduced periodically from other enzootic areas by migratory birds or movement of vectors.

Landscape ecology of arboviruses in southeastern California: temporal and spatial patterns of enzootic activity in Imperial Valley, 1991-1994.

Western equine encephalomyelitis (WEE) and St. Louis encephalitis (SLE) viruses were detected in the Imperial Valley during the summers of 1991-1994 by isolation from the primary vector, Culex tarsalis Coquillett, and by the seroconversion of sentinel chickens. Enzootic transmission consistently was not detected first each year at sampling sites near specific landscape features such as a heron rookery and other riparian habitats along the New River, sites along the Mexican border, or saline and freshwater marshes along the southern shore of the Salton Sea.

Ecology of mosquitoes and lack of arbovirus activity at Morro Bay, San Luis Obispo County, California.

During 1994-95, totals of 17,656 adult females and 111,104 adults reared from field-collected immatures comprising 19 species in 4 genera of mosquitoes were collected from Morro Bay estuary and surrounding environs in San Luis Obispo County, California. Aedes dorsalis was the dominant summer mosquito, whereas Aedes squamiger and Ae. washinoi were abundant during winter and early spring.

Prevalence of antibodies to mosquito-borne encephalitis viruses in residents of the Coachella Valley, California.

Sera from 19 (2.6%) and 118 (16.4%) of 719 outpatients attending clinics in the southeastern Coachella Valley, California during 1993 and 1994 exhibited IgG antibodies to western equine encephalomyelitis and St.

Effect of different co-culture systems in early human embryo development.

The objective of this study was to examine the effects of different culture systems on the development of early human embryos in vitro. A total of 460 fertilized oocytes from 82 cycles of patients was transferred into one of four systems: (1) into droplets of Ham's F10 medium + 12% normal human serum (NHS); (2) co-cultured on a human granulosa monolayer; (3) co-cultured with bovine oviductal epithelial cells (BOEC); or (4) co-cultured with bovine uterine epithelial cells (BUEC). The percentage of cleavage and the morphological appearance of embryos were recorded daily for 72 h in each system using an inverted phase-contrast microscope.

Seasonal variation in the vector competence of Culex tarsalis (Diptera:Culicidae) from the Coachella Valley of California for western equine encephalomyelitis and St. Louis encephalitis viruses.

The vector competence of Culex tarsalis Coquillett from the Coachella Valley of California for western equine encephalomyelitis (WEE) and St. Louis encephalitis (SLE) viruses was monitored monthly from February to November 1993. The concentration of WEE virus required to infect 50% of the females increased during summer coincidentally with ambient temperature and was highest during July.

Landscape ecology of arboviruses in southern California: temporal and spatial patterns of vector and virus activity in Coachella Valley, 1990-1992.

Consistent temporal and spatial patterns in the activity of Culex tarsalis Coquillett and western equine encephalomyelitis (WEE) and St. Louis encephalitis (SLE) viruses were delineated that were useful in developing a stratified surveillance program. Vernal increases in Cx.

Viremia and serological responses in adult chickens infected with western equine encephalomyelitis and St. Louis encephalitis viruses.

Adult hens, similar to those used for arbovirus surveillance, were experimentally infected with western equine encephalomyelitis (WEE) and St. Louis encephalitis (SLE) viruses to describe the viremia response, to compare serological testing methods, and to evaluate a new method of collecting whole blood onto filter paper strips from lancet pricks of the chicken comb. Young (19 weeks), but not old (38 weeks), hens developed a low-titer, transient viremia for a 1-day period.

Natural vertical transmission of western equine encephalomyelitis virus in mosquitoes.

The mechanism by which western equine encephalomyelitis (WEE) virus and other mosquito-borne alphaviruses (Togaviridae) survive during periods of vector inactivity is unknown. Recently, three strains of WEE virus were isolated from adult Aedes dorsalis collected as larvae from a salt marsh in a coastal region of California. This provides evidence of vertical transmission of WEE virus in mosquitoes in nature.

Isolations of Jamestown canyon virus (Bunyaviridae: California serogroup) from mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) in the western United States, 1990-1992.

Nearly 80,000 immature and adult mosquitoes in three genera were collected in high-elevation (> 1,000 m) areas of California (68,229), Nevada (3,721), Oregon (5,918), and Washington (1,629) during 1990-1992 and tested for virus as adult males or females in 1,799 pools. Collections comprised primarily alpine Aedes in the Aedes communis (De Geer) group of the subgenus Ochlerotatus. Thirteen strains of Jamestown Canyon (JC) virus were recovered by plaque assay in Vero cell culture from three members of the Ae.

A possible bimodal effect of estrogen on insulin sensitivity in postmenopausal women and the attenuating effect of added progestin.

Objective: To determine the effects of estrogen and of added progestin on carbohydrate tolerance in postmenopausal women.

Design: An insulin tolerance test (ITT) was used to assess insulin resistance in healthy post-menopausal women and to determine the effects of oral estrogen with and without added progestin on insulin sensitivity.

Setting: A menopause research clinic at a University Medical Center.

Vector competence of selected mosquito species (Diptera: Culicidae) for California strains of Northway virus (Bunyaviridae: Bunyavirus).

Selected mosquito species from Central Valley, coastal, and alpine habitats of California were evaluated for their vector competence for Northway (NOR) virus. Culiseta incidens Thomson, Culiseta inornata (Williston), and Anopheles freeborni Aitken were the only competent vectors when fed virus. Aedes sierrensis (Ludlow), as well as alpine snow pool Aedes (i.