Minimizing ELISA background in the diagnosis of swine trichinellosis.

After confirming that long-term serum storage (frozen at -20 C for greater than 3 mo) causes optical density to drift upward, several modifications of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) protocol were evaluated to identify a protocol that would reduce background in porcine sera tested for trichinellosis. Modifications evaluated included blocking the antigen-coated ELISA plate with sample diluent containing 10% bovine serum albumin (BSA) or 10% nonfat milk powder (bovine lacto transfer optimizer or BLOTTO), diluting sera in sample diluent containing 10% BSA or 10% BLOTTO, and preincubating samples in sample diluent containing 10% BSA or 10% BLOTTO. Overnight preincubation (approximately 12 hr at 2 C) of fresh sera diluted (1:10) in sample diluent containing 10% BLOTTO significantly reduced background and improved the detection of experimentally infected pigs by enhancing positive-negative discrimination. When testing stored sera, the modified protocol effectively reduced the effect of storage and the kit revealed specificity of 98.4%; there was no loss in sensitivity. The effect of long-term storage at -20 C must therefore be considered when testing swine sera for trichinellosis by ELISA and possibly also when conducting other immunoglobulin assays. The modification described here may prove useful if there is no alternative to using serum stored for greater than 3 mo at -20 C.     

Fascioloides magna (Bassi, 1875) in feral swine from southern Texas.

Between 1971 and 1975, Fascioloides magna was found in 46 of 67 (69%) feral swine (Sus scrofa) in southern Texas. Flukes were recovered from swine in areas where F. magna commonly has been recovered from white-tailed deer and cattle. One to 12 flukes were recovered from each infected animal. Their presence was indicated by black hematin pigment on the liver and various other internal organs. Eggs were not detected in the gallbladder or feces of infected animals although mature flukes and eggs were recovered in the livers suggesting that, like cattle, feral swine can be infected but are aberrant hosts for the parasite and do not disseminate eggs.     

Capturing heterogeneity in gene expression studies by surrogate variable analysis

It has unambiguously been shown that genetic, environmental, demographic, and technical factors may have substantial effects on gene expression levels. In addition to the measured variable(s) of interest, there will tend to be sources of signal due to factors that are unknown, unmeasured, or too complicated to capture through simple models. We show that failing to incorporate these sources of heterogeneity into an analysis can have widespread and detrimental effects on the study. Not only can this reduce power or induce unwanted dependence across genes, but it can also introduce sources of spurious signal to many genes. This phenomenon is true even for well-designed, randomized studies. We introduce "surrogate variable analysis" (SVA) to overcome the problems caused by heterogeneity in expression studies. SVA can be applied in conjunction with standard analysis techniques to accurately capture the relationship between expression and any modeled variables of interest. We apply SVA to disease class, time course, and genetics of gene expression studies. We show that SVA increases the biological accuracy and reproducibility of analyses in genome-wide expression studies.     

Homozygosity for a missense mutation in the 67 kDa isoform of glutamate decarboxylase in a family with autosomal recessive spastic cerebral palsy: parallels with Stiff-Person Syndrome and other movement disorders

Background  

Cerebral palsy (CP) is an heterogeneous group of neurological disorders of movement and/or posture, with an estimated incidence of 1 in 1000 live births. Non-progressive forms of symmetrical, spastic CP have been identified, which show a Mendelian autosomal recessive pattern of inheritance. We recently described the mapping of a recessive spastic CP locus to a 5 cM chromosomal region located at 2q24-31.1, in rare consanguineous families.     

IL-11 and IL-11Rα immunolocalisation at primate implantation sites supports a role for IL-11 in placentation and fetal development

Embryo implantation, endometrial stromal cell decidualization and formation of a functional placenta are critical processes in the establishment and maintenance of pregnancy. Interleukin (IL)-11 signalling is essential for adequate decidualization in the mouse uterus and IL-11 promotes decidualization in the human. IL-11 action is mediated via binding to the specific IL-11 receptor α (IL-11Rα). The present study examined immunoreactive IL-11 and IL-11Rα in cycling rhesus monkey endometrium, at implantation sites in cynomolgus and rhesus monkeys and in human first trimester decidua and defined distinct spatial and temporal patterns. In cycling rhesus monkey endometrium, IL-11 and IL-11Rα increased in both basalis and functionalis regions during the secretory compared with the proliferative phase, with changing cellular locations in luminal and glandular epithelium and stroma. The patterns were similar overall to those previously described in human endometrium. Differences were seen in immunostaining during implantation in cynomologus and rhesus monkey. In the cynomolgus, very little staining for IL-11 or IL-11Rα was seen in syncytio- and cyto-trophoblast cells in the villi between days 12 and 150 of pregnancy although there was moderate staining in cytotrophoblast in the shell between days 12 and 17 and in subpopulations of cytotrophoblast cells invading the arteries at day 17. By contrast in the rhesus monkey between days 24 and 35 of pregnancy and in human first trimester placenta, cyto- and syncytio-trophoblast in the villi but not cytotrophoblast in the shell were positively stained. The most intense staining for both IL-11 and IL-11Rα was present within the decidua in the maternal component of implantation sites in all three primates but moderate staining was also present in maternal vascular smooth muscle and glands perivascular cells and epithelial plaques. These results are consistent with a role for IL-11 both during decidualization and placentation in primates.     

Effect of acute exercise on citrate synthase activity in untrained and trained human skeletal muscle

Maximal citrate synthase activity (CS) is routinely used as a marker of aerobic capacity and mitochondrial density in skeletal muscle. However, reported CS has been notoriously variable, even with similar experimental protocols and sampling from the same muscles. Exercise training has resulted in increases in CS ranging from 0 to 100%. Previously, it has been reported that acute exercise may significantly affect CS. To investigate the hypothesis that the large variation in CS that occurs with training is influenced by alterations during the exercise itself, we studied CS in human vastus lateralis both in the rested and acutely exercised state while trained and untrained (n = 6). Tissues obtained from four biopsies (untrained rested, untrained acutely exercised, trained rested, and trained acutely exercised) were analyzed spectrophotometrically for maximal CS. Exercise training measured in a rested state resulted in an 18.2% increase in CS (12.3 +/- 0.3 to 14.5 +/- 0.3 micromol x min(-1) x g tissue(-1), P < or = 0.05). However, even greater increases were recorded 1 h after acute exercise: 49.4% in the untrained state (12.3 +/- 0.3 to 18.3 +/- 0.5 micromol x min(-1) x g tissue(-1), P < or = 0.05) and 50.8% in the trained state (14.5 +/- 0.3 to 21.8 +/- 0.4 micromol x min(-1) x g tissue(-1), P < or = 0.05). Ultrastructural analysis, by electron microscopy, supported an effect of acute exercise with the finding of numerous swollen mitochondria 1 h after exercise that may result in greater access to the CS itself in the CS assay. In conclusion, although unexplained, the increased CS with acute exercise can clearly confound training responses and artificially elevate CS values. Therefore, the timing of muscle sampling relative to the last exercise session is critical when measuring CS and offers an explanation for the large variation in CS previously reported.     

Accelerated hand bone mineral density loss is associated with progressive joint damage in hands and feet in recent-onset rheumatoid arthritis

Introduction

To investigate whether accelerated hand bone mineral density (BMD) loss is associated with progressive joint damage in hands and feet in the first year of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and whether it is an independent predictor of subsequent progressive total joint damage after 4 years.

Methods

In 256 recent-onset RA patients, baseline and 1-year hand BMD was measured in metacarpals 2-4 by digital X-ray radiogrammetry. Joint damage in hands and feet were scored in random order according to the Sharp-van der Heijde method at baseline and yearly up to 4 years.

Results

68% of the patients had accelerated hand BMD loss (>-0.003 g/cm²) in the first year of RA. Hand BMD loss was associated with progressive joint damage after 1 year both in hands and feet with odds ratios (OR) (95% confidence intervals [CI]) of 5.3 (1.3-20.9) and 3.1 (1.0-9.7). In univariate analysis, hand BMD loss in the first year was a predictor of subsequent progressive total joint damage after 4 years with an OR (95% CI) of 3.1 (1.3-7.6). Multivariate analysis showed that only progressive joint damage in the first year and anti-citrullinated protein antibody positivity were independent predictors of long-term progressive joint damage.

Conclusions

In the first year of RA, accelerated hand BMD loss is associated with progressive joint damage in both hands and feet. Hand BMD loss in the first year of recent-onset RA predicts subsequent progressive total joint damage, however not independent of progressive joint damage in the first year.