Effect of Heart Valve Decellularization on Xenograft Rejection.

Objectives: Endothelial cells harbor many antigenic determinants that may be targets for the immune system. The aim of this study was to determine the immunologic effects of decellularization, using 3 different methods, on xenograft rejection.

Materials And Methods: In a sterile plate containing phosphate-buffered saline, fresh sheep aortic heart valves were decellularized using 3 different enzymatic methods: with 900 μg/mL of collagenase at 40°C (method A), with 450 μg/mL of collagenase at 4°C (method B), and with 900 μg/mL of collagenase at 4°C (method C).

Thiotepa versus Bacille Calmette-Guérin in Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer.

Objective: The efficacy of intravesical thiotepa was evaluated compared with administration of Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) in non-muscle invasive bladder cancer.

Patients: In this multicenter, prospective, randomized study, eligible patients were those with proven non-muscle invasive bladder cancer. All patients were randomly allocated to Group A, receiving intravesical thiotepa (at a dose of 30 mg/30 ml) once weekly for 9 consecutive weeks and then monthly for 12 months or Group B, receiving intravesical Bacille Calmette-Guérin (Connaught strain, 80 mg/50 ml) over a 9-week induction course and each week for 3 weeks at 3, 6 and 12 months.

Determination of integron frequency by a polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism method in multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli, which causes urinary tract infections.

The purpose of this study was to determine the presence of integrons in Escherichia coli, which cause urinary tract infections, and to define the association between integrons and antimicrobial susceptibility. Susceptibility of 200 isolates from urine samples of patients suffering from urinary tract infections to 13 antibiotics was determined by the Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method. The existence of class1 and 2 integrons in resistant isolates was assessed by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism and sequencing.