Glycocalyx damage biomarkers in healthy controls,abdominal surgery,and sepsis: a scoping review

Abstract

Objective

Despite wide interest in glycocalyx biomarkers, their values in healthy individuals, patients after abdominal surgery, and septic patients have been poorly understood.     

Urinary hormone analysis assists reproductive monitoring and sex identification of bell frogs (Litoria raniformis)

With the world currently facing a global amphibian extinction crisis, the development of techniques to help meet the needs of conservation managers and researchers studying the reproductive biology of amphibians is needed. Here, we developed enzyme immunoassays to measure estrone, testosterone, and progesterone hormone metabolites in the urine of Litoria raniformis, the southern bell frog. Concentrations of urinary estrone, testosterone, and progesterone increased during the breeding season for females (P < 0.05). Concentrations of urinary testosterone and progesterone increased for males during the breeding season compared with that for months where no reproductive behaviors were observed (P < 0.05). Furthermore, urinary estrone concentrations proved to be a reliable sexing tool for adult frogs, with no overlap between the sexes in 98% of cases, regardless of season. There was no difference in estrone (P = 0.204) or testosterone (P = 0.485) metabolite concentrations between samples taken immediately upon capture and those taken 12 to 24 h later from the same individual. Progesterone metabolite concentrations were lower on Day 2 than upon collection (P = 0.004). This is the first study to show that urinary hormone analysis can be a useful technique for reproductive monitoring in an amphibian. Additionally, hormone metabolite measures offer promise as sex identification tools for monomorphic species and for those whose secondary sex characteristics are visible only during the breeding season.     

Measurement of DNA damage in rat urinary bladder transitional cells: Improved selective harvest of transitional cells and detailed Comet assay protocols

Urinary bladder transitional epithelium is the main site of bladder cancer, and the use of transitional cells to study carcinogenesis/genotoxicity is recommended over the use of whole bladders. Because the transitional epithelium is only a small fraction of the whole bladder, the alkaline single cell gel electrophoresis assay (Comet assay), which requires only a small number of cells per sample, is especially suitable for measuring DNA damage in transitional cells. However, existed procedures of cell collection did not yield transitional cells with a high purity, and pooling of samples was needed for Comet assay. The goal of this study was to develop an optimized protocol to evaluate DNA damage in the urinary bladder transitional epithelium. This was achieved by an enzymatic stripping method (trypsin–EDTA incubation plus gentle scraping) to selectively harvest transitional cells from rat bladders, and the use of the alkaline Comet assay to detect DNA strand breaks, alkaline labile sites, and DNA–protein crosslinks. Step by step procedures are reported here. Cells collected from a single rat bladder were sufficient for multiple Comet assays. With this new protocol, increases in DNA damage were detected in transitional cells after in vitro exposure to the positive control agents, hydrogen peroxide or formaldehyde. Repair of the induced DNA damage occurred within 4 h. This indicated the capacity for DNA repair was maintained in the harvested cells. The new protocol provides a simple and inexpensive method to detect various types of DNA damage and to measure DNA damage repair in urinary bladder transitional cells.     

Bioactive peptides derived from the Limulus anti-lipopolysaccharide factor: structure-activity relationships and formation of mixed peptide/lipid complexes.

The design of peptides that would interact and neutralise bacterial endotoxins or LPS could have benefited from the analysis of comparative structure-activity relationships among close-related analogues. Here, we present a comparative structural characterisation of selected peptides derived from the LALF obtained by single-amino-acid replacement, which differ in biological activity. The peptides were characterised in solution using nuclear magnetic resonance, circular dichroism and fluorescence spectroscopies. Membrane mimetic peptide interactions were studied using fluorescence resonance energy transfer with the aid of extrinsic fluorescent probes that allowed the identification of mixed peptide/lipid complexes. Copyright (c) 2008 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

医院获得性真菌尿路感染的临床特点

目的 :了解我院真菌尿路感染现状 ,探讨防治对策。方法 :回顾分析 1998～ 2 0 0 0年我院医院感染调查中 73例真菌尿路感染的临床特点。结果 :平均年龄 5 4 4 9岁 ,≥ 6 0岁占 4 2 4 7% ,平均住院日5 4 76d ;见于多种基础疾病 ,与恶性肿瘤、长期卧床、危重疾病有关 ;发生真菌感染前抗生素使用率 10 0 % ,78 0 8%联用两种以上抗生素 ,平均使用抗生素时间为 (35± 14 )d ;感染前应用激素者 2 7,4 0 % ,化疗16 4 4 % ,导尿等泌尿操作 4 7 95 % ;临床表现不典型 ,抗真菌治疗效果欠佳 ,病死率 2 4 6 6 %。结论 :年龄大、住院时长、长期卧床及需长期应用抗生素者 ,无论是否导尿 ,均易发生真菌尿路感染 ,应随时监测 ,以便及时采取综合治疗措施 ,降低病死率。     

Is a foetus developing in a sterile environment?

Novel findings in microbiology question the long‐standing paradigm that a healthy pregnancy implies a sterile uterus. It now seems that the placenta is frequently colonized with bacteria, and a placental microbiome has been identified. Recent literature findings are summarized here, and an attempt is made to separate pathological bacterial presence from a naturally occurring microbiome.     

Bacteriological conversion in twenty urinary tuberculosis patients treated with ofloxacin, rifampin and isoniazid: a 10-year follow-up study

Twenty patients with urinary tuberculosis were treated with ofloxacin (200 mg/day, 6 months), rifampin (600 mg/day, 3 months) and isoniazid (300 mg/day, 3 months) between 1989 and 1990. All patients were new cases, diagnosed by observation and/or isolation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in one of the three morning urine samples. Bacteriological culture conversion (negativization) was assessed as a clinical guide of efficacy, comparing it, as the only parameter, against a control group (150 patients) with urinary tuberculosis who received conventional therapy. Bacteriological follow-up studies were performed in both groups monthly for 6 months, then again 6 months later and then every year for 10 years after completion of treatment. In the 20 patients, the initial culture was positive with over 100 colonies per culture (>50%); the smear was positive in 45% of the patients (most were 2+). All strains were susceptible to rifampin, isoniazid and ofloxacin. Two patients discontinued treatment. Beginning with the first month of treatment, the bacteriological conversion was 100%, 89.5% and 100% in the remaining controls. In the control group, which received conventional treatment, the conversion was: 90%, 87%, 93% and 100% in the remaining controls. Treatment with ofloxacin resulted in a bacteriological conversion similar to that following conventional treatment (p>0.05, Fisher's exact test). After 10 years of patient follow-up, we conclude that ofloxacin, in combination with rifampin and isoniazid (both for 3 months only is effective against M. tuberculosis, providing satisfactory bacteriological and clinical efficacy. Electronic Publication     

脓毒症大鼠心肌腺苷酸环化酶活性的变化及其机理探讨

本研究证明，脓毒症（结扎盲肠及穿刺，ＣＰＬ）大鼠心肌肌膜腺苷酸环化酶（ＡＣ）的活性及其部分纯化的ＡＣ最大活性，在早期脓毒症（ＥＳ，ＣＬＰ后９ｇ（时明显增高，在晚期脓毒症（ＬＳ，ＣＬＰ后１８ｈ）时明显降低。其心肌肌膜蛋白激酶Ｃ（ＰＫＣ）的活性亦呈现类似变化。ＥＳ和ＬＳ大鼠心肌肌膜ＡＣ的增敏和失敏与ＰＫＣ的激活和抑制有关。上述ＡＣ和ＰＫＣ的双相变化不是肾上腺能β－受体和α１－受体系统依赖的。ＥＳ大鼠心