Global change differentially modulates Caribbean coral physiology.

Global change driven by anthropogenic carbon emissions is altering ecosystems at unprecedented rates, especially coral reefs, whose symbiosis with algal symbionts is particularly vulnerable to increasing ocean temperatures and altered carbonate chemistry. Here, we assess the physiological responses of three Caribbean coral (animal host + algal symbiont) species from an inshore and offshore reef environment after exposure to simulated ocean warming (28, 31°C), acidification (300-3290 μatm), and the combination of stressors for 93 days. We used multidimensional analyses to assess how a variety of coral physiological parameters respond to ocean acidification and warming.

Beam-profile-compensated quantum yield measurements of upconverting nanoparticles.

The quantum yield is a critically important parameter in the development of lanthanide-based upconverting nanoparticles (UCNPs) for use as novel contrast agents in biological imaging and optical reporters in assays. The present work focuses on the influence of the beam profile in measuring the quantum yield (ϕ) of nonscattering dispersions of nonlinear upconverting probes, by establishing a relation between ϕ and excitation light power density from a rate equation analysis. A resulting 60% correction in the measured ϕ due to the beam profile utilized for excitation underlines the significance of the beam profile in such measurements, and its impact when comparing results from different setups and groups across the world.

Efficacy of surgical safety checklist: Assessing orthopaedic surgical implant readiness.

Introduction: Our institution employs a Surgical Universal Protocol Preoperative Checklist in accordance with World Health Organization guidelines to promote patient safety. It is used in part to evaluate orthopaedic surgical equipment and implant readiness prior to the initiation of each surgical case. Our goal is to measure the preoperative checklist's efficacy in assessing orthopaedic equipment readiness preoperatively and its ability to prevent orthopaedic equipment failures (OEF).

Development of a scintillation proximity binding assay for high-throughput screening of hematopoietic prostaglandin D2 synthase.

Prostaglandin D2 synthase (PGDS) catalyzes the isomerization of prostaglandin H2 (PGH2) to prostaglandin D2 (PGD2). PGD2 produced by hematopoietic prostaglandin D2 synthase (H-PGDS) in mast cells and Th2 cells is proposed to be a mediator of allergic and inflammatory responses. Consequently, inhibitors of H-PGDS represent potential therapeutic agents for the treatment of inflammatory diseases such as asthma.

Distal peripheral neuropathy after open and arthroscopic shoulder surgery: an under-recognized complication.

Hypothesis: Distal peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is an under-reported complication after anatomic total shoulder arthroplasty (TSA), reverse shoulder arthroplasty (RSA), and arthroscopic rotator cuff repair (RCR).

Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of patients undergoing shoulder arthroplasty or arthroscopic RCR by 4 shoulder surgeons during a 2-year period. The primary outcome measure was the diagnosis of DPN, defined as carpal tunnel syndrome, cubital tunnel syndrome, ulnar tunnel syndrome, and distal radial sensory neuropathy.

Efficient marking of murine long-term repopulating stem cells targeting unseparated marrow cells at low lentiviral vector particle concentration.

HIV-1-derived lentivirus vectors offer unique biological properties for gene delivery to hematopoietic stem cells and, when used at high multiplicities of infection (m.o.i.

Long-term clinical and molecular follow-up of large animals receiving retrovirally transduced stem and progenitor cells: no progression to clonal hematopoiesis or leukemia.

There has been significant progress toward clinically relevant levels of retroviral gene transfer into hematopoietic stem cells (HSC), and the therapeutic potential of HSC-based gene transfer has been convincingly demonstrated in children with severe combined immunodeficiency syndrome (SCID). However, the subsequent development of leukemia in two children with X-linked SCID who were apparently cured after transplantation of retrovirally corrected CD34+ cells has raised concerns regarding the safety of gene therapy approaches utilizing integrating vectors. Nonhuman primates and dogs represent the best available models for gene transfer safety and efficacy and are particularly valuable for evaluation of long-term effects.

Efficient lentiviral gene transfer to canine repopulating cells using an overnight transduction protocol.

The use of lentiviral vectors for the transduction of hematopoietic stem cells has evoked much interest owing to their ability to stably integrate into the genome of nondividing cells. However, published large animal studies have reported highly variable gene transfer rates of typically less than 1%. Here we report the use of lentiviral vectors for the transduction of canine CD34(+) hematopoietic repopulating cells using a very short, 18-hour transduction protocol.

Direct comparison of steady-state marrow, primed marrow, and mobilized peripheral blood for transduction of hematopoietic stem cells in dogs.

The optimal stem cell source for stem cell gene therapy has not been defined. Most gene transfer studies have used peripheral blood or marrow repopulating cells collected after administration of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor and stem cell factor (G-CSF/SCF). For clinical applications, however, growth factor administration may not be feasible.

Methylguanine methyltransferase-mediated in vivo selection and chemoprotection of allogeneic stem cells in a large-animal model.

Clinical application of gene therapy for genetic and malignant diseases has been limited by inefficient stem cell gene transfer. Here we studied in a clinically relevant canine model whether genetic chemoprotection mediated by a mutant of the DNA-repair enzyme methylguanine methyltransferase could circumvent this limitation. We hypothesized that genetic chemoprotection might also be used to enhance allogeneic stem cell transplantation, and thus we evaluated methylguanine methyltransferase-mediated chemoprotection in an allogeneic setting.

Induction of cytotoxic T-lymphocyte responses to enhanced green and yellow fluorescent proteins after myeloablative conditioning.

Lentiviral vectors are increasingly being used for transferring genes into hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) due to their ability to transduce nondividing cells. Whereas results in in vitro studies and the nonobese diabetic/severe combined immunodeficiency (NOD/SCID) model have been highly encouraging, studies in large animals have not confirmed the superior transduction of HSCs using lentiviral vectors versus oncoretroviral vectors. In contrast to the stable gene marking we have consistently achieved with oncoretroviral vectors in animals that received myeloablative conditioning, we observed the complete disappearance of genetically modified enhanced green or yellow fluorescent protein-expressing cells in 5 baboons that received transplants of HSCs transduced with lentiviral vectors alone or in combination with oncoretroviral vectors.

Scaffold attachment region-containing retrovirus vectors improve long-term proviral expression after transplantation of GFP-modified CD34+ baboon repopulating cells.

Sustained high-level proviral expression is important for clinical applications of gene therapy. Genetic elements including the beta-interferon scaffold attachment region (SAR) have been shown to improve transgene expression in hematopoietic cells. We hypothesized that SAR elements might improve expression and allow the preselection of successfully transduced cells.

Distinct hematopoietic stem/progenitor cell populations are responsible for repopulating NOD/SCID mice compared with nonhuman primates.

The nonobese diabetic/severe combined immune-deficient (NOD/SCID) mouse xenotransplantation assay is the most commonly used surrogate assay for the study of human candidate stem cells. In contrast to large animal and human studies, however, it is limited by the short life span of the recipients, the limited proliferative demand placed on the transplanted cells, and the inability to support differentiation into all hematopoietic lineages. In the present study, we directly compared hematopoietic repopulation in NOD/SCID mice with autologous reconstitution in the baboon, a well-established preclinical large animal model for stem cell transplantation.

MglA, a small GTPase, interacts with a tyrosine kinase to control type IV pili-mediated motility and development of Myxococcus xanthus.

The mglA gene encodes a 22 kDa GTPase that is critical for single-cell (A) gliding, type IV pili-mediated (S) gliding and development of Myxococcus xanthus. To identify components that interact with MglA to control these processes, second-site mutations that restore movement to non-motile mglA mutants were sought. An allele-specific extragenic suppressor of mglA8, named mas815 (mglA8 suppressor 15), was obtained.

GidA is an FAD-binding protein involved in development of Myxococcus xanthus.

A gene encoding a homologue of the Escherichia coli GidA protein (glucose-inhibited division protein A) lies immediately upstream of aglU, a gene encoding a WD-repeat protein required for motility and development in Myxococcus xanthus. The GidA protein of M. xanthus shares about 48% identity overall with the small (approximately equal to 450 amino acid) form of GidA from eubacteria and about 24% identity overall with the large (approximately equal to 620 amino acid) form of GidA from eubacteria and eukaryotes.

Baseline reproducibility of B-mode ultrasonic measurement of carotid artery intima-media thickness: the European Lacidipine Study on Atherosclerosis (ELSA).

Background And Objective: The European Lacidipine Study of Atherosclerosis (ELSA) is a prospective, randomized, double-blind, multi-national interventional trial to determine the effect of four-year treatment using the calcium antagonist lacidipine versus the beta-blocker atenolol on the progression of carotid atherosclerosis in 2259 asymptomatic hypertensive patients. B-mode ultrasound is used to measure the primary and secondary endpoints including the mean maximum intima-media thickness (IMT) of the carotid bifurcations and the common carotid arteries (CBM(max)), the mean maximum IMT of 12 standard carotid sites (M(max)) and the overall maximum IMT (T(max)). This paper reports the cross-sectional reproducibility of ultrasound measurements at baseline.

Silica dust and lung cancer in the German stone, quarrying, and ceramics industries: results of a case-control study.

Background: A work force based case-control study of lung cancer was performed in non-silicotic subjects exposed to crystalline silica to investigate the association between silica dust and lung cancer excluding the influence of silicosis.

Methods: Two hundred and forty seven patients with lung cancer and 795 control subjects were enrolled, all of whom had been employed in the German stone, quarrying, or ceramics industries. Smoking was used as a matching criterion.

Renal cell cancer correlated with occupational exposure to trichloroethene.

A previous cohort-study in a cardboard factory demonstrated that high and prolonged occupational exposure to trichloroethene (C2HCl3) is associated with an increased incidence of renal cell cancer. The present hospital-based case/control study investigates occupational exposure in 58 patients with renal cell cancer with special emphasis on C2HCl3 and the structurally and toxicologically closely related compound tetrachloroethene (C2Cl4). A group of 84 patients from the accident wards of three general hospitals in the same area served as controls.

Liver resection with the Sonocut ultrasonic knife.

Previous reports and our findings suggest that resection by ultrasound is of appreciable merit in liver surgery. Blood can be saved and bile leakage diminished as the larger vessels and bile ducts can be skeletonized unharmed, whereas the dissector selectively carries away the parenchyma. Otherwise virtually inaccessible tumours can be approached.

Prediction of the stability of minimally displaced fractures of the lateral humeral condyle.

Fractures of the lateral humeral condyle run a great risk of subsequent displacement. This is also true--although to a lesser extent--for primarily non-displaced or minimally displaced (less than or equal to 2 mm) fractures. The present retrospective investigation aimed at defining radiographic criteria in order to predict the stability of non-displaced or minimally displaced fractures in 159 children.

Blunt abdominal trauma and hollow viscus injury in children: the diagnostic value of plain radiography.

Although blunt abdominal trauma is common in children, the G-I tract is involved only rarely. However, this paper deals with a series of 24 cases in whom a hollow viscus was injured. We present the radiological and operative findings as well as the results of subsequent radiological workup in patients who had no surgery.