Survival after total-body irradiation. I. Effects of partial small bowel shielding

The small intestine of the rat was shielded during total-body irradiation (TBI) to evaluate the effects of radiation dose and length of intestine shielded on survival. Sprague-Dawley rats were anesthetized in groups of 10. Using aseptic surgical procedures 80, 40, 20, or 10 cm, or none of the proximal or distal small intestine were temporarily exteriorized and shielded during irradiation with photons from an 18 MeV linear accelerator. Less than 17% of the dose was delivered to the shielded intestines. In unshielded animals deaths occurred from Days 4 to 6 with 13, 15, or 17 Gy and from Days 8 to 30 with 9, 11, and 12 Gy. However, in all animals exposed to 15 Gy with all or part of the small intestine shielded, survival was increased to between 5 and 9 days. Shielding of the distal small intestine was more effective in prolonging survival than shielding of the proximal small intestine. The previously identified target of radiation damage in the small intestine is the crypt stem cell. In this study, the analysis of histological specimens of shielded and irradiated small intestine suggested that humoral factors also influence intestinal histology and survival after irradiation. These humoral factors are thought to originate from the irradiated body tissues, the shielded proximal intestine, and the shielded distal intestine. Further studies are required to identify these factors and to determine their mode of action and their therapeutic potential after radiation damage to the small intestine.     

No narcosis for bone marrow harvest in autologous bone marrow transplantation

A prospective study with mild general analgesia and sedation together with local anesthesia during bone marrow harvest was performed. Thirty-one patients underwent 33 bone marrow collections. Pretreatment consisted of 100 mg meperidine i.m. and 20 mg diazepam i.m. 1 h before start of procedure. Eight patients got additional meperidine and diazepam during the procedure, all patients got lidocaine 1% locally. A mean volume of 1.321 was obtained with 42.5 punctures. Twenty-two patients had no complications, 4 vomited, 4 had easily correctable hypotension of short duration, one got oxygen for cyanosis of short duration. Acceptance was good in 23 patients, in 6 reasonably well, in two bad. Only one patient experienced pain problems, due to suction. Anxiety was no major problem due to good information before the procedure and mild sedation. This form of anesthesia for bone marrow collection is a safe procedure, it is generally well accepted by the patient and it can be performed on an out-patient basis.     

Microsphere embolisation as an alternative for alcohol in percutaneous transluminal septal myocardial ablation

Background

Percutaneous transluminal septal myocardial ablation using microsphere embolisation is a new interventional technique to treat patients with hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy.

Methods and results

In two patients, considered at high risk for myectomy, targeted septal perforators were occluded with microsphere embolisation instead of alcohol ablation to reduce left ventricular outflow gradient. In both cases the left ventricular outflow tract gradient was immediately reduced. No adverse events occurred.

Conclusion

This is the first clinical experience with Embozene® Microspheres in the Netherlands as an alternative for alcohol septal ablation. In both cases it resulted in immediate improvement in the haemodynamics, without any adverse events.     

STING Millennium Suite: integrated software for extensive analyses of 3d structures of proteins and their complexes

Background  

The integration of many aspects of protein/DNA structure analysis is an important requirement for software products in general area of structural bioinformatics. In fact, there are too few software packages on the internet which can be described as successful in this respect. We might say that what is still missing is publicly available, web based software for interactive analysis of the sequence/structure/function of proteins and their complexes with DNA and ligands. Some of existing software packages do have certain level of integration and do offer analysis of several structure related parameters, however not to the extent generally demanded by a user.     

Granule-bound starch synthase: structure, function, and phylogenetic utility

Interest in the use of low-copy nuclear genes for phylogenetic analyses of plants has grown rapidly, because highly repetitive genes such as those commonly used are limited in number. Furthermore, because low- copy genes are subject to different evolutionary processes than are plastid genes or highly repetitive nuclear markers, they provide a valuable source of independent phylogenetic evidence. The gene for granule-bound starch synthase (GBSSI or waxy) exists in a single copy in nearly all plants examined so far. Our study of GBSSI had three parts: (1) Amino acid sequences were compared across a broad taxonomic range, including grasses, four dicotyledons, and the microbial homologs of GBSSI. Inferred structural information was used to aid in the alignment of these very divergent sequences. The informed alignments highlight amino acids that are conserved across all sequences, and demonstrate that structural motifs can be highly conserved in spite of marked divergence in amino acid sequence. (2) Maximum-likelihood (ML) analyses were used to examine exon sequence evolution throughout grasses. Differences in probabilities among substitution types and marked among-site rate variation contributed to the observed pattern of variation. Of the parameters examined in our set of likelihood models, the inclusion of among-site rate variation following a gamma distribution caused the greatest improvement in likelihood score. (3) We performed cladistic parsimony analyses of GBSSI sequences throughout grasses, within tribes, and within genera to examine the phylogenetic utility of the gene. Introns provide useful information among very closely related species, but quickly become difficult to align among more divergent taxa. Exons are variable enough to provide extensive resolution within the family, but with low bootstrap support. The combined results of amino acid sequence comparisons, maximum-likelihood analyses, and phylogenetic studies underscore factors that might affect phylogenetic reconstruction. In this case, accommodation of the variable rate of evolution among sites might be the first step in maximizing the phylogenetic utility of GBSSI.      

The function of communities in protein interaction networks at multiple scales

Background  

If biology is modular then clusters, or communities, of proteins derived using only protein interaction network structure should define protein modules with similar biological roles. We investigate the link between biological modules and network communities in yeast and its relationship to the scale at which we probe the network.     

Air trapping on chest CT is associated with worse ventilation distribution in infants with cystic fibrosis diagnosed following newborn screening

Background

In school-aged children with cystic fibrosis (CF) structural lung damage assessed using chest CT is associated with abnormal ventilation distribution. The primary objective of this analysis was to determine the relationships between ventilation distribution outcomes and the presence and extent of structural damage as assessed by chest CT in infants and young children with CF.

Methods

Data of infants and young children with CF diagnosed following newborn screening consecutively reviewed between August 2005 and December 2009 were analysed. Ventilation distribution (lung clearance index and the first and second moment ratios [LCI, M₁/M₀ and M₂/M₀, respectively]), chest CT and airway pathology from bronchoalveolar lavage were determined at diagnosis and then annually. The chest CT scans were evaluated for the presence or absence of bronchiectasis and air trapping.

Results

Matched lung function, chest CT and pathology outcomes were available in 49 infants (31 male) with bronchiectasis and air trapping present in 13 (27%) and 24 (49%) infants, respectively. The presence of bronchiectasis or air trapping was associated with increased M₂/M₀ but not LCI or M₁/M₀. There was a weak, but statistically significant association between the extent of air trapping and all ventilation distribution outcomes.

Conclusion

These findings suggest that in early CF lung disease there are weak associations between ventilation distribution and lung damage from chest CT. These finding are in contrast to those reported in older children. These findings suggest that assessments of LCI could not be used to replace a chest CT scan for the assessment of structural lung disease in the first two years of life. Further research in which both MBW and chest CT outcomes are obtained is required to assess the role of ventilation distribution in tracking the progression of lung damage in infants with CF.     

Drosophilid Assemblages at Different Urbanization Levels in the City of Porto Alegre, State of Rio Grande do Sul, Southern Brazil

The present study analyzed the drosophilid assemblages in different levels of urbanization in the city of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Collections were carried out in 2008 in three different environments: a highly urbanized area????Jardim Botanico,?? a forested area with intermediary urbanization????Parque Gabriel Knijnik,?? and in a relatively well-preserved forested area, although threatened by the urban growth????Morro Santana.?? In Jardim Botanico, 36 species belonging to four genera were found, with high abundance of exotic species as Drosophila simulans Sturtevant and Zaprionus indianus (Gupta). In Parque Gabriel Knijnik, 33 species that belonged to four genera were found, with higher abundances of native species belonging to the Drosophila tripunctata species group and Drosophila willistoni species subgroup, and lower abundance of exotic species. As for Morro Santana, 32 species and three genera were found, with higher abundances of native groups, low representativeness of exotic species, and absence of Zaprionus indianus. The analysis of the Jaccard index showed higher similarity in the species composition between samples collected in summer and autumn, and between samples collected in winter and spring. On the other hand, the Morisita index differentiated Jardim Botanico from the other two studied sites. Our results show that Morro Santana is an important area of native biodiversity, reinforcing, therefore, the inclusion of this area in the project for the creation of an ecological corridor as proposed by the Ministry of the Environment of Brazil.