免疫学技术在棘球蚴病临床免疫诊断中的应用

免疫学方法是人体包虫病重要的辅助诊断方法,是手术前确诊和临床治疗后随访的重要指标。近些年来,随着免疫学、分子生物学等生物技术的发展,为包虫感染的试验诊断提供更多的方法和信息。本文主要通过对皮内实验、抗原的检查、抗体的检查、免疫复合物的检查以及DNA的检查的逐个分析,探讨目前临床上对棘球蚴病的免疫学诊断方法研究进展。     

A Comparison of Pressure-Volume Curve Data Analysis Techniques

Schulte, P. J. and Hinckley, T. M. 1985. A comparison of pressure-volumecurve data analysis techniques.—J. exp. Bot. 36: 1590–1602. Computer assisted analysis of data derived with the pressure-volumetechnique is currently feasible. In this study, various computeralgorithms were used to analyse a variety of pressure-volumecurve data sets. Comparisons were made with respect to estimatesof osmotic potential, turgor loss point, symplastic fraction,and bulk modulus of elasticity. While osmotic potential estimationwas fairly insensitive to the model used, estimates of the bulkmodulus of elasticity appear to be highly dependent on the modelused for analysis of the data. Key words: Pressure-volume, computer analysis, elasticity     

Novel Statistical Approaches for Non-Normal Censored Immunological Data: Analysis of Cytokine and Gene Expression Data

Background

For several immune-mediated diseases, immunological analysis will become more complex in the future with datasets in which cytokine and gene expression data play a major role. These data have certain characteristics that require sophisticated statistical analysis such as strategies for non-normal distribution and censoring. Additionally, complex and multiple immunological relationships need to be adjusted for potential confounding and interaction effects.

Objective

We aimed to introduce and apply different methods for statistical analysis of non-normal censored cytokine and gene expression data. Furthermore, we assessed the performance and accuracy of a novel regression approach in order to allow adjusting for covariates and potential confounding.

Methods

For non-normally distributed censored data traditional means such as the Kaplan-Meier method or the generalized Wilcoxon test are described. In order to adjust for covariates the novel approach named Tobit regression on ranks was introduced. Its performance and accuracy for analysis of non-normal censored cytokine/gene expression data was evaluated by a simulation study and a statistical experiment applying permutation and bootstrapping.

Results

If adjustment for covariates is not necessary traditional statistical methods are adequate for non-normal censored data. Comparable with these and appropriate if additional adjustment is required, Tobit regression on ranks is a valid method. Its power, type-I error rate and accuracy were comparable to the classical Tobit regression.

Conclusion

Non-normally distributed censored immunological data require appropriate statistical methods. Tobit regression on ranks meets these requirements and can be used for adjustment for covariates and potential confounding in large and complex immunological datasets.     

Scalable Predictive Analysis in Critically Ill Patients Using a Visual Open Data Analysis Platform

With the accumulation of large amounts of health related data, predictive analytics could stimulate the transformation of reactive medicine towards Predictive, Preventive and Personalized (PPPM) Medicine, ultimately affecting both cost and quality of care. However, high-dimensionality and high-complexity of the data involved, prevents data-driven methods from easy translation into clinically relevant models. Additionally, the application of cutting edge predictive methods and data manipulation require substantial programming skills, limiting its direct exploitation by medical domain experts. This leaves a gap between potential and actual data usage. In this study, the authors address this problem by focusing on open, visual environments, suited to be applied by the medical community. Moreover, we review code free applications of big data technologies. As a showcase, a framework was developed for the meaningful use of data from critical care patients by integrating the MIMIC-II database in a data mining environment (RapidMiner) supporting scalable predictive analytics using visual tools (RapidMiner’s Radoop extension). Guided by the CRoss-Industry Standard Process for Data Mining (CRISP-DM), the ETL process (Extract, Transform, Load) was initiated by retrieving data from the MIMIC-II tables of interest. As use case, correlation of platelet count and ICU survival was quantitatively assessed. Using visual tools for ETL on Hadoop and predictive modeling in RapidMiner, we developed robust processes for automatic building, parameter optimization and evaluation of various predictive models, under different feature selection schemes. Because these processes can be easily adopted in other projects, this environment is attractive for scalable predictive analytics in health research.     

Immunological Analysis of Mycoplasma Membranes

The antigens responsible for the production of antibodies to Mycoplasma laidlawii and M. gallisepticum causing growth and metabolic inhibition of these organisms were localized in the cell membrane. Various membrane fractions were tested for serological activity. Membrane lipids were completely or almost completely inactive, whereas several preparations of defatted membrane proteins retained some serological activity, shown by their ability to stimulate metabolic inhibition antibody in rabbits and to adsorb metabolic inhibition antibody and form precipitation lines with an antiserum to the membrane. When the membranes were heated to 65 C for 1 hr, they virtually lost their ability to adsorb metabolic inhibition antibody, which suggests that the antigenic determinants are proteins. Serological activity was retained in reaggregated membranes obtained by dialysis against Mg²⁺ of membranes solubilized in sodium dodecyl sulfate. The amount of solubilized membrane protein and lipid incorporated into the reaggregated membranes could be regulated by varying the Mg²⁺ concentration. As the serological tests indicated that the various membrane antigens were selectively incorporated into the different reaggregated membranes, the use of controlled reaggregation of solubilized membranes is suggested as a new tool for the fractionation and antigenic analysis of membrane proteins.     

The GBIF Integrated Publishing Toolkit: Facilitating the Efficient Publishing of Biodiversity Data on the Internet

The planet is experiencing an ongoing global biodiversity crisis. Measuring the magnitude and rate of change more effectively requires access to organized, easily discoverable, and digitally-formatted biodiversity data, both legacy and new, from across the globe. Assembling this coherent digital representation of biodiversity requires the integration of data that have historically been analog, dispersed, and heterogeneous. The Integrated Publishing Toolkit (IPT) is a software package developed to support biodiversity dataset publication in a common format. The IPT’s two primary functions are to 1) encode existing species occurrence datasets and checklists, such as records from natural history collections or observations, in the Darwin Core standard to enhance interoperability of data, and 2) publish and archive data and metadata for broad use in a Darwin Core Archive, a set of files following a standard format. Here we discuss the key need for the IPT, how it has developed in response to community input, and how it continues to evolve to streamline and enhance the interoperability, discoverability, and mobilization of new data types beyond basic Darwin Core records. We close with a discussion how IPT has impacted the biodiversity research community, how it enhances data publishing in more traditional journal venues, along with new features implemented in the latest version of the IPT, and future plans for more enhancements.     

Isolation of A Cytoplasmic Polyhedrosis Virus by Physical and Immunological Techniques

Procedures are described for the separation and purification of cytoplasmic polyhedrosis viruses obtained from multiply infected Heliothis armigera larvae. Separation was achieved by differential centrifugation and density gradient zone electrophoresis followed by complexing with nuclear polyhedrosis virus specific antibody. The yield of cytoplasmic polyhedrosis virus was increased by passage in larvae reared on synthetic media.     

Application of some Multivariate Analysis Techniques to Data on Effect of Air-Pollution on Morbidity

In this article an attempt has been made to analyze the data obtained from an air-pollution study to investigate the effects of the levels of air pollution exposure in causing morbidity, using some multivariate statistical techniques. Considering the importance of the theoretical aspect of the problem, the usual theory related to the application of these methods has also been described.     

18. Isolation of a Cytoplasmic Polyhedrosis Virus by Physical and Immunological Techniques

ABSTRACT

Procedures are described for the separation and purification of cytoplasmic polyhedrosis viruses obtained from multiply infected Heliothis armigera larvae. Separation was achieved by differential centrifugation and density gradient zone electrophoresis followed by complexing with nuclear polyhedrosis virus specific antibody. The yield of cytoplasmic polyhedrosis virus was increased by passage in larvae reared on synthetic media.     

Extracting Wave Structure from Biological Data with Application to Responses in Turtle Visual Cortex

Waves have long been thought to be a fundamental mechanism for communicating information within a medium and are widely observed in biological systems. However, a quantitative analysis of biological waves is confounded by the variability and complexity of the response. This paper proposes a robust technique for extracting wave structure from experimental data by calculating "wave subspaces" from the KL decomposition of the data set. If a wave subspace contains a substantial portion of the data set energy during a particular time interval, one can deduce the structure of the wave and potentially isolate its information content. This paper uses the wave subspace technique to extract and compare wave structure in data from three different preparations of the turtle visual cortex. The paper demonstrates that wave subspace caricatures from the three cortical preparations have qualitative similarities. In the numerical model, where information about the underlying dynamics is available, wave subspace landmarks are related to activation and changes in behavior of other dynamic variables besides membrane potential.     

Studying Visual Cues in Fish Behavior: A Review of Ethological Techniques

This paper reviews the variety of approaches available to fish ethologists to study the role of visual cues in fish behavior. Examples of studies that have used live fish, mirror images, dummies (i.e. models), or video playback as stimuli to investigate fish behavior are described and discussed. These examples represent a diversity of functional categories of behavior exhibited by fishes, including aggression, courtship, aggregation, or schooling behavior, parent–offspring, predator–prey, and cleaner–host interactions. The specific techniques that fish biologists have used to control or manipulate body shape, size, posture, morphological structures, color, marking patterns, or movement are systematically discussed, and the importance of each of these visual features to fish behavior is documented through examples. Studies that have used these techniques to investigate the interaction between visual and nonvisual cues are also considered. Each section encompassing a general experimental approach ends with a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of that approach for studying fish behavior.     

Molecular Techniques in Ecohealth Research Toolkit: Facilitating Estimation of Aggregate Gastroenteritis Burden in an Irrigated Periurban Landscape

Assessment of microbial hazards associated with certain environmental matrices, livelihood strategies, and food handling practices are constrained by time-consuming conventional microbiological techniques that lead to health risk assessments of narrow geographic or time scope, often targeting very few pathogens. Health risk assessment based on one or few indicator organisms underestimates true disease burden due a number of coexisting causative pathogens. Here, we employed molecular techniques in a survey of Cryptosporidium parvum, Giardia lamblia, Campylobacter jejuni, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella spp., Shigella spp., Vibrio cholera, and Rotavirus A densities in canal water with respect to seasonality and spatial distribution of point–nonpoint pollution sources. Three irrigational canals stretching across nearly a 150-km² periurban landscape, traditionally used for agricultural irrigation but function as vital part of municipal wastewater stabilization in recent years, were investigated. Compiled stochastic data (pathogen concentration, susceptible populations) and literature-obtained deterministic data (pathogen dose–response model parameter values) were used in estimating waterborne gastroenteritis burden. Exposure scenarios include swimming or fishing, consuming canal water-irrigated vegetables, and ingesting or inhaling water aerosols while working in canal water-irrigated fields. Estimated annual gastroenteritis burden due individual pathogens among the sampling points was −10.6log₁₀ to −2.2log₁₀ DALYs. Aggregated annual gastroenteritis burden due all the target pathogens per sampling point was −3.1log₁₀ to −1.9log₁₀ DALYs, far exceeding WHO acceptable limit of −6.0log₁₀ DALYs. The present approach will facilitate the comprehensive collection of surface water microbiological baseline data and setting of benchmarks for interventions aimed at reducing microbial hazards in similar landscapes worldwide.     

玉米醇溶蛋白动物体内植入后的免疫学分析方法初探

目的：为了考察玉米醇溶蛋白作为生物医用材料的应用前景,需要检测玉米醇溶蛋白植入后的免疫反应。本实验中我们将玉米醇溶蛋白管植入SD（Sprague Dawley）大鼠皮下,流式细胞仪检测植入后大鼠外周血中CD4^＋和CD8^＋T淋巴细胞含量的变化;对不同部位植入材料的组织学切片方法进行改进,用于后续机体免疫反应分析。方法：雄性SD大鼠八只,随机分成两组：空白对照组、材料植入组。分别于植入后一、二和四周对实验大鼠进行眼眶取血,并用流式细胞仪检测外周血中CD4^＋和CD8^＋T淋巴细胞的含量。皮下或肌袋植入材料四周后,将玉米醇溶蛋白管或三维多孔支架连同周围组织一起取出,用改进的石蜡切片方法制备组织切片,HE染色后观察。结果：玉米醇溶蛋白管植入后一周,蛋白管植入组CD4^＋（T—test,P〈0．01）和CD8^＋（T-test,P〈0．05）T淋巴细胞的含量下降。植入后两周和四周,蛋白管植入组CD4^＋和CD8^＋T淋巴细胞的含量（T—test,P〉0．05）均无明显变化。植入后一、二和四周,与空白对照组相比,蛋白管植入组CD4^＋／CD8^＋的比值（T—Test,P〉0．05）均无显著差异。改进后的切片方法可以制备出完整的、并且耐HE（hematoxylin—eosin）和免疫组化染色处理的组织学切片。结论：利用流式细胞仪检测出了大鼠皮下植入玉米蛋白管后外周血中CD4^＋、CD8^＋T淋巴细胞的含量变化。并且,克服了切片制备过程中材料的脆性问题和贴片不牢固问题,可以进行HE和免疫组化染色处理,为进一步深入地分析玉米醇溶蛋白植入机体后的免疫反应打下了基础。     

褶合光谱分析法在农业科学分析中的应用

褶合光谱分析法是一种新的光谱信号分析法,刚刚开始应用于农业科学分析。本文详尽地介绍了它的产生,测定原理和在农业上适测领域,旨在推动此分析技术在农业上的应用。     

Effects of Mountain Ultra-Marathon Running on ROS Production and Oxidative Damage by Micro-Invasive Analytic Techniques

Purpose

Aiming to gain a detailed insight into the physiological mechanisms involved under extreme conditions, a group of experienced ultra-marathon runners, performing the mountain Tor des Géants® ultra-marathon: 330 km trail-run in Valle d’Aosta, 24000 m of positive and negative elevation changes, was monitored. ROS production rate, antioxidant capacity, oxidative damage and inflammation markers were assessed, adopting micro-invasive analytic techniques.

Methods

Forty-six male athletes (45.04±8.75 yr, 72.6±8.4 kg, 1.76±0.05 m) were tested. Capillary blood and urine were collected before (Pre-), in the middle (Middle-) and immediately after (Post-) Race. Samples were analyzed for: Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) production by Electron Paramagnetic Resonance; Antioxidant Capacity by Electrochemistry; oxidative damage (8-hydroxy-2-deoxy Guanosine: 8-OH-dG; 8-isoprostane: 8-isoPGF2α) and nitric oxide metabolites by enzymatic assays; inflammatory biomarkers (plasma and urine interleukin-6: IL-6-P and IL-6-U) by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA); Creatinine and Neopterin by HPLC, hematologic (lactate, glucose and hematocrit) and urine parameters by standard analyses.

Results

Twenty-five athletes finished the race, while twenty-one dropped out of it. A significant increase (Post-Race vs Pre) of the ROS production rate (2.20±0.27 vs 1.65±0.22 μmol^.min^-1), oxidative damage biomarkers (8-OH-dG: 6.32±2.38 vs 4.16±1.25 ng^.mg^-1 Creatinine and 8-isoPGF2α: 1404.0±518.30 vs 822.51±448.91 pg^.mg^-1Creatinine), inflammatory state (IL-6-P: 66.42±36.92 vs 1.29±0.54 pg^.mL^-1 and IL-6-U: 1.33±0.56 vs 0.71±0.17 pg^.mL¹) and lactate production (+190%), associated with a decrease of both antioxidant capacity (-7%) and renal function (i.e. Creatinine level +76%) was found.

Conclusions

The used micro-invasive analytic methods allowed us to perform most of them before, during and immediately after the race directly in the field, by passing the need of storing and transporting samples for further analysis. Considered altogether the investigated variables showed up that exhaustive and prolonged exercise not only promotes the generation of ROS but also induces oxidative stress, transient renal impairment and inflammation.     

Immunological indices of patients with ragweed pollinosis

A comparative study of local and humoral immunity in patients with increased sensitivity to ragweed pollen and in healthy persons has been carried out. In untreated patients a six-fold increase of the levels of total IgE and specific anti-ragweed IgE-antibodies in the blood sera and secretions has been registered, which corresponds to the 3rd and 4th grade reaction in the enzyme immunoassay; simultaneously, a decrease in the characteristics of immune responsiveness has been observed. As the levels of total IgE and specific IgE-antibodies are of particular diagnostic value in immediate-type allergic diseases, the authors have examined the patients with ragweed pollenosis at the periods of the absence of clinical manifestations and in the exacerbation of the disease during blossoming with pollen formation. During exacerbation the level of immunoglobulins of all classes, specific IgE-antibodies in the blood sera and secretions of patients, as well as some characteristics of immune responsiveness, are higher than in remission, which is indicative of the increased antigenic stimulation of the body and of the developing immune response.