Auxiliary liver transplantation and bioartificial bridging procedures in treatment of acute liver failure.

The aim of this review is to discuss the place of auxiliary liver transplantation (ALT) and other cellular based bridging procedures such as hepatocyte transplantation, ex vivo liver perfusion, and bioartificial livers, in the treatment of acute liver failure, vis à vis conventional orthotopic liver transplantation. Hepacocyte transplantation, and ex vivo pig or human liver perfusion are still experimental procedures. Bioartificial livers using human tumoral hepatocytes or porcine hepatocytes have been used in clinical situations as a bridge to transplantation, i.

Neurological complications and pleural lavage with a fibrinolytic agent. A two-case report.

We report on an unusual, albeit potentially severe, complication of the performance of a pleural lavage with streptokinase in two patients demonstrating parapneumonic pleural effusion. During the time they underwent repeated pleural lavages with saline and streptokinase, they suddenly demonstrated focal neurological signs. As a result of early diagnosis and emergency hyperbaric oxygenation, both patients recovered without delayed sequelae.

Favorable outcome in a large left heart air embolism: lessons from an unusual complication of a noninvasive chest scan.

Objective: To report an unusual life-threatening complication of the performance of a computed tomographic (CT) scan of the chest.

Design: Case report.

Setting: University hospital.

Streptothricin resistance as a novel selectable marker for transgenic plant cells.

 Streptothricins are known as antimicrobial agents produced by Streptomyces spp. Bacterial resistance to streptothricin is mediated by specific enzymes exhibiting an acetyltransferase activity which renders the drug non-toxic for bacteria. The nucleotide sequence of several streptothricin resistance genes from bacteria have been described.

[Wound healing and hyperbaric oxygen. Experimental study of the angiogenesis phase in the rat].

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO) is widely reported as highly favourable to wound healing. The experimental models generally used to investigate its effects are difficult to set up and reliable quantification of the results obtained is rarely achieved. The underlying pathophysiological mechanisms occurring during HBO remain poorly understood and its mode of application for clinical practice is difficult to standardise.

[Role of hygiene and bacteriological laboratories in the management of an epidemic of Enterobacter aerogenes multiresistant to antibiotics].

We describe a multiresistant Enterobacter aerogenes outbreak in an intensive care-unit. An epidemiology study based on phenotypic characters (species diagnosis and antibiotype) was completed by a genotypic study (pulsed field electrophoresis) to confirm bacterial clonality. The hygiene laboratory proposed numerous preventive measures to limit bacterial dispersion.

[Auditory P300 in subjects in a post-anoxic coma. Preliminary data].

The first results concerning the role of event related potentials (P300) in assessing a prognosis in comatose patients reported in the literature have been encouraging. The cause of the coma is an important prognostic factor by itself, especially when traumatic and anoxic comas are compared, with a less favorable prognosis in anoxic coma. In our study, only anoxic patients have been investigated using somatosensory evoked potentials, brainstem auditory evoked potentials P300 auditory event-related potentials.

Plasma and urine concentrations of atropine after the ingestion of cooked deadly nightshade berries.

Background: Adult intoxications due to ingestion of deadly nightshade berries is uncommon.

Case Reports: Collective intoxication of eight persons occurred after accidental ingestion of ripened Atropa belladonna berries. Three of the four adults displayed delirious states with visual hallucinations; one patient fell into a coma and required mechanical ventilation.

Plasma cyclic GMP concentrations and their relationship with changes of blood pressure levels in pre-eclampsia.

Background: One of the possible mechanisms responsible for pre-eclampsia is a loss of efficiency of the L-arginine-nitric oxide pathway with subsequent inactivation of the guanylyl cyclases of the vascular smooth muscle cells. As a result there should be a decrease in plasma cyclic 3'-5' guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) concentrations in pre-eclampsia. We assessed the behavior of this nucleotid in the plasma of pre-eclamptic women.

A new open reading frame, encoding a putative regulatory protein, in Agrobacterium rhizogenes T-DNA.

We report the presence of an open reading frame, named ORF13a, encoding a putative regulatory protein on the T-DNA of Agrobacterium rhizogenes 8196 Ri plasmid. Homologous ORFs are present at the same location in two other types of Ri plasmids. We present evidence that ORF13a is transcriptionally active.

In vivo evidence of enhanced guanylyl cyclase activation during the hyperdynamic circulation of acute liver failure.

Nitric oxide and atrial natriuretic peptides are the main activators of guanylyl cyclases, which transform GTP into cyclic GMP and thereby contribute to the decrease of vascular tone. To investigate the increase, if any, of plasma cyclic GMP concentrations in human patients with hyperdynamic circulation resulting from acute liver failure and to ascertain whether guanylyl cyclase activation is involved in the decline of systemic vascular resistance that occurs in this pathophysiological condition, we simultaneously recorded hemodynamic data and cyclic GMP levels in patients with fulminant liver failure before and after liver transplantation and in normokinetic patients undergoing abdominal nonseptic surgery. We also compared these data with those recorded in patients with hyperkinetic shock resulting from gram-negative sepsis or nitric oxide-independent vasomotor agent (carbamate) over-dose.

Characterization of genes for synthesis and catabolism of a new rhizopine induced in nodules by Rhizobium meliloti Rm220-3: extension of the rhizopine concept.

Rhizopines are selective growth substrates synthesized in nodules only by strains of rhizobia capable of their catabolism. We report the isolation and study of genes for the synthesis and catabolism of a new rhizopine, scyllo-inosamine (sIa), from alfalfa nodules induced by Rhizobium meliloti Rm220-3. This compound is similar in structure to the previously described rhizopine 3-O-methyl-scyllo-inosamine from R.

[Developmental modalities of septic states. Multiple organ failure syndrome].

Sepsis syndrome occurs when an acute infection results in an host generalized inflammatory response including cytokines production. Death is a frequent and unpredictable sequel of this pathological condition. It may be due either to uncontrolled circulatory failure, or to multiple organ failure.

Plasma cyclic guanosine 3'-5' monophosphate concentrations and low vascular resistance in human septic shock.

Objective: To investigate the increase in plasma cyclic GMP (cGMP) concentrations in humans with hyperkinetic septic shock (SS) and to evaluate its relationship to low systemic vascular resistance (SVR).

Design: Prospective clinical investigation.

Setting: Medical intensive care unit of a university hospital.

A T-DNA transfer stimulator sequence in the vicinity of the right border of pRi8196.

An 8 bp sequence repeated 6 times is present to the right of the mannopine type pRi8196 T-DNA right-border sequence. Experiments were designed to test whether these repeats have a role in T-DNA transfer. Several constructs in which different lengths of pRi8196 right-border region were linked to the cucumopine synthesis gene on an Agrobacterium-Escherichia coli shuttle vector were made.

Methylene blue increases systemic vascular resistance in human septic shock. Preliminary observations.

We report the hemodynamic improvements induced by intravenous methylene blue (MB), a guanylate cyclase inhibitor, in 2 patients with hyperdynamic septic shock treated with norepinephrine (NE) infusion, mechanical ventilation and hemodialysis. MB injection augmented the low vascular resistance, mean arterial pressure and induced a slight decrease of cardiac index, without any change of heart rate and pulmonary artery wedge pressure. Plasma cyclic GMP levels decreased without a significant change of atrial natriuretic factor levels.

Single rol Genes from the Agrobacterium rhizogenes T(L)-DNA Alter Some of the Cellular Responses to Auxin in Nicotiana tabacum.

Two kinds of cellular responses to auxin, the hyperpolarization of protoplasts and the division of protoplast-derived cells, were compared in Nicotiana tabacum plants transformed by different T-DNA fragments of Agrobacterium rhizogenes strain A4. Using transmembrane potential difference measurements to characterize hormonal sensitivity of mesophyll protoplasts, we found a 30-fold increase in sensitivity to auxin in protoplasts transformed by the whole Ri A4 T-DNA. Furthermore, the rol genes of the Ri A4 T(L)-DNA, together or as single genes, were able to increase the sensitivity to auxin by factors up to 10(4).

Agrobacterium rhizogenes pRi8196 T-DNA: mapping and DNA sequence of functions involved in mannopine synthesis and hairy root differentiation.

This paper presents the map and DNA sequence analysis of pRi8196 transferred DNA (T-DNA) genes encoding root-inducing and mannopine synthesis functions. A canonical 24-base-pair border repeat as well as two "pseudoborders" are present at the functional right T-DNA border. To the left of this border are homologs of the mas1' and mas2' genes of TR pRiA4.

High Sensitivity to Auxin is a Common Feature of Hairy Root.

The responses to auxin of Lycopersicon esculentum roots transformed by (T(l)+T(r))-DNA of the Ri plasmid of agropine-type Agrobacterium rhizogenes strain 15834 and Catharanthus trichophyllus roots transformed by the (T(l)+T(r))-DNA, and by T(l)- or T(r)- DNA alone of the same bacterial strain were compared to that of their normal counterparts. The transmembrane electrical potential difference of root protoplasts was measured as a function of the concentration of exogenous naphthalene acetic acid. The sensitivity to auxin expressed by this response was shown to be independent of the measurement conditions and of the basal polarization of isolated protoplasts.

Auxin regulates the promoter of the root-inducing rolB gene of Agrobacterium rhizogenes in transgenic tobacco.

The regulation in tobacco of the rolB and rolC promoters of Agrobacterium rhizogenes pRi 1855 TL-DNA was studied by using the beta-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter system in transgenic plants. A 20- to 100-fold increase of GUS activity was selectively induced by auxin in rolB-GUS transformed mesophyll protoplasts, whereas this auxin-dependent increase was only 5-fold in rolC-GUS protoplasts. Moreover, both gene fusions exhibited similar tissue-specific expression in aerial parts but different patterns in roots.

Localization and characterization of the region encoding catabolism of mannopinic acid from the octopine-type Ti plasmid pTi15955.

The region of the octopine-type tumor-inducing (Ti) plasmid pTi15955 encoding catabolism of mannopinic acid was localized to an 18-kilobase (kb) segment mapping between Ti plasmid coordinates 70 and 88. A subclone containing only this region normally did not allow utilization of any other mannityl opine. However, spontaneous mutants of the plasmid were isolated that conferred catabolism of agropinic acid.