RETRACTED ARTICLE: Mast cells are the main interleukin 17-positive cells in anticitrullinated protein antibody-positive and -negative rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis synovium

Introduction  

Mast cells have been implicated to play a functional role in arthritis, especially in autoantibody-positive disease. Among the cytokines involved in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), IL-17 is an important inflammatory mediator. Recent data suggest that the synovial mast cell is a main producer of IL-17, although T cells have also been implicated as prominent IL-17 producers as well. We aimed to identify IL-17 expression by mast cells and T cells in synovium of arthritis patients.     

Sequence variation in a newly identified HLA-B35-restricted epitope in the influenza A virus nucleoprotein associated with escape from cytotoxic T lymphocytes

Here, we describe a new HLA-B*3501-restricted cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) epitope in the influenza A virus (H3N2) nucleoprotein, which was found to exhibit a high degree of variation at nonanchor residues. The influenza virus variants emerged in chronological order, and CTLs directed against old variants failed to recognize more recent strains of influenza A virus, indicating an escape from CTL immunity.     

IL-10- and IL-12-independent down-regulation of allergic sensitization by stimulation of CD40 signaling

Interaction between CD154 (CD40 ligand) on activated T lymphocytes and its receptor CD40 has been shown to be critically involved in the generation of cell-mediated as well as humoral immunity. CD40 triggering activates dendritic cells (DC), enhances their cytokine production, up-regulates the expression of costimulatory molecules, and induces their maturation. It is unknown how stimulation of CD40 during sensitization to an airborne allergen may affect the outcome of allergic airway inflammation. We took advantage of a mouse model of allergic asthma and a stimulatory mAb to CD40 (FGK45) to study the effects of CD40-mediated DC activation on sensitization to OVA and subsequent development of OVA-induced airway inflammation. Agonistic anti-CD40 mAb (FGK45) injected during sensitization with OVA abrogated the development of allergic airway inflammation upon repeated airway challenges with OVA. Inhibition of bronchial eosinophilia corresponded with reduced Th2 cytokine production and was independent of IL-12, as evidenced by a similar down-regulatory effect of anti-CD40 mAb in IL-12 p40-deficient mice. In addition, FGK45 equally down-regulated allergic airway inflammation in IL-10-deficient mice, indicating an IL-10-independent mechanism of action of FGK45. In conclusion, our results show that CD40 signaling during sensitization shifts the immune response away from Th2 cytokine production and suppresses allergic airway inflammation in an IL-12- and IL-10-independent way, presumably resulting from enhanced DC activation during sensitization.     

Comparison of the adhesion and proliferation characteristics of HUVEC and two endothelial cell lines (CRL 2922 and CRL 2873) on various substrata

Endothelial cell coverage of blood-contacting devices is crucial to their eventual success in the clinic. Two established human cell lines derived from HUVEC (human umbilical vascular endothelial cells), CRL 2922 and CRL 2873, have been widely utilized to study and model endothelial cell biology. However, it is not clear if these two cell lines would be useful for modeling primary endothelial cell interaction with newly-formulated biomaterials in tissue engineering applications. Hence, this study was conducted to compare the adhesion and proliferation characteristics of HUVEC grown on seven different substrata, tissue culture polystyrene (TCPS), gelatin, chitosan, poly-L-lysine, hyaluronan, poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA), and polylactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA). The short-term adhesive behavior (2 h) of HUVEC on the various substrata was not closely-replicated by either CRL 2873 or CRL 2922. This was likely because the 2 h timeframe is too short for identification of differences in the interaction among the three cell types grown on various substrata. There was much faster proliferation of CRL 2922 on all seven substrata when compared to HUVEC and CRL 2873. Moreover, the proliferation rates of CRL 2922 on the various substrata showed little variation. In contrast, HUVEC and CRL 2873 displayed similar trends in proliferation rates, with gelatin and TCPS yielding the highest rates, and PLLA and PLGA yielding the lowest rates. Hence, CRL 2873 is better suited for modeling primary endothelial cell interaction with newly-formulated biomaterials than CRL 2922. The advantage of using CRL 2873 over HUVEC for biomaterial screening is that it is immortalized and displays much less inter-batch variability than primary culture.     

Factors Associated with Nursing Home Placement of All Patients Admitted for Inpatient Rehabilitation in Singapore Community Hospitals from 1996 to 2005: A Disease Stratified Analysis

Objectives

To (1) identify social and rehabilitation predictors of nursing home placement, (2) investigate the association between effectiveness and efficiency in rehabilitation and nursing home placement of patients admitted for inpatient rehabilitation from 1996 to 2005 by disease in Singapore.

Design

National data were retrospectively extracted from medical records of community hospital.

Data Sources

There were 12,506 first admissions for rehabilitation in four community hospitals. Of which, 8,594 (90.3%) patients were discharged home and 924 (9.7%) patients were discharged to a nursing home. Other discharge destinations such as sheltered home (n = 37), other community hospital (n = 31), death in community hospital (n = 12), acute hospital (n = 1,182) and discharge against doctor’s advice (n = 24) were excluded.

Outcome Measure

Nursing home placement.

Results

Those who were discharged to nursing home had 33% lower median rehabilitation effectiveness and 29% lower median rehabilitation efficiency compared to those who were discharged to nursing homes. Patients discharged to nursing homes were significantly older (mean age: 77 vs. 73 years), had lower mean Bathel Index scores (40 vs. 48), a longer median length of stay (40 vs. 33 days) and a longer time to rehabilitation (19 vs. 15 days), had a higher proportion without a caregiver (28 vs. 7%), being single (21 vs. 7%) and had dementia (23 vs. 10%). Patients admitted for lower limb amputation or falls had an increased odds of being discharged to a nursing home by 175% (p<0.001) and 65% (p = 0.043) respectively compared to stroke patients.

Conclusions

In our study, the odds of nursing home placement was found to be increased in Chinese, males, single or widowed or separated/divorced, patients in high subsidy wards for hospital care, patients with dementia, without caregivers, lower functional scores at admission, lower rehabilitation effectiveness or efficiency at discharge and primary diagnosis groups such as fractures, lower limb amputation and falls in comparison to strokes.     

Stereospecific effect of hexachlorocyclohexane on activity and structure of soil methanotrophic communities

In the past decades, large amounts of non-insecticidal hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) isomers (alpha-, beta-, delta- and epsilon-HCH) have been dumped as side-products of the insecticide gamma-HCH (lindane). This study investigates the effect of HCH isomers on methane oxidation, an important soil function performed by methanotrophic bacteria. Both activity and structure of the methanotrophic community were assessed, using methane oxidation assays and PCR-DGGE (polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis) respectively. Methane oxidation assays with historically polluted soils revealed that on the long-term methane oxidation was inhibited by HCH pollution. PCR-DGGE and diversity analysis based on Lorenz curves showed that the type I methanotrophic community was less evenly distributed in historically HCH-polluted soils compared with less polluted reference soils. Short-term experiments with methane-enriched consortia further demonstrated that only gamma- and delta-isomers inhibited methane oxidation. Type I methanotrophs of methane-enriched microbial consortia that received gamma- or delta-HCH evolved towards higher species richness. Apparently, for historically HCH-polluted soils, a narrow community remained after long-term exposure while in case of short-term exposures, methane-enriched consortia were converted into less active, but richer communities when they were stressed by the presence of gamma- or delta-HCH. This work demonstrates the importance of incorporating all isomers and possible other side-products in risk assessment studies of persistent organic pollutants and the use of structural analysis of type I methanotrophic communities as evaluating tool.     

好氧反硝化生物脱氮技术的研究进展

好氧反硝化生物脱氮技术自提出以来,凭借能实现同步硝化反硝化、节省基建投资及运行费用等诸多优点,受到国内外环境领域学者的广泛关注。本文首先总结了近年来好氧反硝化菌种的筛选分离情况,以及环境因子对好氧反硝化菌脱氮效能的影响,包括溶解氧(dissolved oxygen,DO)、碳氮比(C/N)、温度等。然后深入探讨了好氧反硝化生物脱氮技术的原理,好氧反硝化过程中的关键功能基因及酶,同时介绍了分子生物技术在好氧反硝化研究过程中的应用,以及好氧反硝化生物脱氮技术在实际应用方面的研究现状。最后,基于目前的研究瓶颈问题,对未来好氧反硝化生物脱氮技术的研究方向提出了科学展望。