A prospective observational study to evaluate the magnitude of temperature changes in children undergoing elective MRI under general anesthesia.

CONTEXT: Induction of general anesthesia and mandatory low-ambient temperature in the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) suite renders the pediatric patient prone to fall in core temperature. Previously done studies have shown mixed results with core temperature showing both rise and fall. AIMS: The aim of this study is to evaluate which effect, hypothermia or hyperthermia, predominates in children anesthetized for MRI. Is the change in temperature the same across age groups and for different MRI scanners?. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: Prospective, observational study in a tertiary care teaching hospital. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Two hundred and fifty children of age between 1 month and 16 years scheduled for MRI under propofol-based total intravenous anesthesia (TIVA) were recruited. A baseline core temperature (pre-scan) was recorded with the pediatric nasopharyngeal temperature probe after induction of anesthesia and also after the scan in the recovery room. RESULTS: The study shows that there is a significant fall in temperature of 1.022°C (CI = 0.964, 1.081) following MRI (P < 0.001) but the difference across different age groups and type of MRI scanner used are not significant. There is a significant correlation between duration in the MRI room and a decrease in temperature (P value = 0.003). Using simple linear regression analysis, it is found that if there is a 1-min increase in the duration of MRI, there is a decrease of 0.006°C in temperature. CONCLUSION: Vigilant temperature preservation strategies have to be maintained during the time the anesthetized child is present in the MRI suite. MRI compatible active warming devices are warranted especially in high turnover centers.

A review of methods for nematode identification.

Nematodes are non-segmented roundworms found in soil, aquatic environment, plants, or animals. Either useful or pathogenic, they greatly influence environmental equilibrium, human and animal health, as well as plant production. Knowledge on their taxonomy and biology are key issues to answer the different challenges associated to these organisms. Nowadays, most of the nematode taxonomy remains unknown or unclear. Several approaches are available for parasite identification, from the traditional morphology-based techniques to the sophisticated high-throughput sequencing technologies. All these techniques have advantages or drawbacks depending on the sample origin and the number of nematodes to be processed. This review proposes an overview of all newly available methods available to identify known and/or unknown nematodes with a specific focus on emerging high-throughput molecular techniques.

Monitoring of four DNA extraction methods upstream of high-throughput sequencing of Anisakidae nematodes.

Different methods were evaluated to extract DNA from pooled nematodes belonging to Anisakis, Contracaecum, Pseudoterranova and Hysterothylacium genera isolated from edible fish. Pooled DNA extraction is the first and compulsory step to allow the identification of a large number of samples through high-throughput DNA sequencing with drastic time and cost reductions.

[Oral administration of medications to infants: Implementation of a preliminary risk analysis in a hospital service of pediatrics]. / Administration orale de médicaments au nourrisson : réalisation d'une analyse préliminaire des risques dans un service d'hospitalisation pédiatrique.

PURPOSE: The objective of this study was to reduce the risk of errors when administering oral medications to infants aged 28 days to 2 years. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The method of the preliminary risk analysis (PRA) was implemented by a multidisciplinary group in a hospital service of pediatrics. The study focused on the phase of preparation of drugs by nurses before administration. RESULTS: This analysis revealed 41 scenari, 16 were criticality unacceptable. In particular, their analysis highlighted the impact of the drug dosage form, the lack of scientific information and the human factor on this preparation. Eleven action sheets have been written. DISCUSSION: The risk management requires significant human investment, material resources and organizational solutions: formations, information, i.e. computerized prescribing, dispensing and administering system, centralized drug preparations, automated drugs cabinets or unit drug daily dispensing system. CONCLUSION: Control these risks means to get specific actions at pediatric wards, enhance dispensing system by the hospital pharmacist and the support of the pharmaceutical industry to get commercially available pediatric drugs.

Phage display mutagenesis of the chimeric dual cytokine receptor agonist myelopoietin.

Myelopoietins comprise a class of chimeric cytokine receptor agonists consisting of an hIL-3 (human interleukin-3) receptor agonist and an hG-CSF (human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor) receptor agonist linked head-to-tail at their respective carboxy and amino termini. The combination of an early acting cytokine (hIL-3) with a late acting one (hG-CSF) allows efficient hematopoeitic reconstruction following myeloablative insult, and drives differentiation of non-myelocytic lineages (ie thrombocytic lineages) that are inaccessible using hG-CSF alone, in both preclinical models and clinical settings. A myelopoietin species was displayed and mutagenized on filamentous bacteriophage: both component agonists of myelopoietin were presented in biologically functional conformations as each recognized its corresponding receptor. Five amino acid positions in a short region of the hG-CSF receptor agonist module of myelopoietin that had been identified as important for proliferative activity were mutagenized. Display was used because it allows very 'deep' mutagenesis at selected residues: >10(5) substitution variants were affinity-screened using the hG-CSF receptor and 130 new, active variants of myelopoietin were identified and characterized. None of the selected variants were significantly more active than the parental myelopoietin species in a hG-CSF-dependent cell proliferation assay, though many were as active. Many of these relatively high-activity variants contained parental amino acids at several positions, suggesting the parental sequence may already be optimal at these positions for the assays used, and potentially accounting for the failure to identify enhanced bioactivity variants. Analysis of substitutions of high-activity variants complements and extends previous alanine scanning, and other genetic and biochemical data for hG-CSF variants.

New insights into the role of endothelin-1 in radiation-associated impotence.

The objectives of this work were to: (1) Determine if prostate and penile tissue levels of endothelin-1 (ET-1) are increased in a rat following pelvic irradiation. (2) Determine if an ETa receptor antagonist (BQ-123) potentiates erectile function in these irradiated animals. Rats were divided into three study groups: control, 1000 cGy and 2000 cGy. The experimental groups received a single dose of radiation to the pelvic region. A time course was established to measure the effects of irradiation on prostate and penile tissue levels of endothelin-1 (ET-1)-like immunoreactivity. The effect of intracavernous injection of BQ-123 (25 microg/30 microl) was evaluated by measuring intracavernous pressure (ICP) following cavernous nerve electrical field stimulation. In the 2000 cGy group, a significant rise in ET-1-like immunoreactivity tissue levels was observed at 20 days. A significant decrease in ICP was recorded in the 1000 and 2000 cGy irradiated rats compared to the control group. Only the 2000 cGy group had a significant improvement in erectile function following BQ-123 administration. A significant improvement was observed 20 min post-administration, lasted 90 min, and was back to pre-administered levels at 120 min. The conclusion made was that radiation-induced impotence in irradiated rats is associated with an increased production of ET-1. Preliminary results are suggestive that ETa receptor antagonist may be of use to reverse such radiation-induced impotence in these irradiated animals.

Estafilococos: até onde sua importância em alimentos? / Staphylococci: up to where its importance in food?

Face a evidência de estafilococos coagulase positivos e negativos, usuais ou pauciprodutores de enterotoxinas, como possíveis agentes desencadeadores da intoxicaçäo, revisäo foi realizada de forma a se visualizar a tessitura de elementos e dados como aspectos taxonômicos, ecossistema e fatores de virulência relacionados a este grupo de microrganismos e sua importância em alimentos e saúde pública.

Estafilococos e alimentos: possibilidades de disseminaçäo através do portador humano e animal / Staphylococci and food: dissemination possibilities through human and animal carrier

Tendo em vista o rastreamento epidemiológico das intoxicaçöes estafilocócicas, almejou-se nesta breve revisäo a catalogaçäo atualizada e a importância de estafilococos, sobretudo Staphylococcus aureus, em portadores humanos e animais, dando-se ênfase às pesquisas processadas no Brasil.

Enterotoxinas estafilocócicas: importância e métodos analíticos de detecçäo / Staphylococcal enterotoxins: importance and analytical procedures for its detection

Considerando que a conduta para elucidaçäo de surtos de intoxicaçäo estafilocócica completa-se com a averiguaçäo da presença de enterotoxina no alimento envolvido, bem como sua comprovaçäo de produçäo em fluido sobrenadante de cultura, a presente revisäo busca discorrer sobre diferentes metodologias analíticas de detecçäo e apresenta alguns aspectos de importância de tais substâncias e seu papel em saúde pública.

Estafilococos em pessoal da área de odontologia / Staphylococci from dental personnel

Thirty dental students and five professors were cultured in nares, throat, and hands for the presence of staphylococci. Twenty-four students and two professors were colonized with staphylococci that were classified as S. aureus. Twelve students and one professor were colonized with staphylococci that produced enterotoxin. Care needs to be taken to avoid contaminating patients during dental examination, particularly during any type of surgery

CD80 and CD86 costimulatory molecules on circulating T cells of HIV infected individuals.

The expression of CD80 and CD86 costimulatory molecules, typical for antigen presenting cells (APC), was measured on circulating T cells of 20 HIV-infected individuals and of 11 HIV-negative healthy controls. The CD80 and CD86 molecules were present on both circulating T subsets of HIV-infected individuals (mean of CD80 expression within CD4+ T cells [CD80/CD4]: 5.0%; and CD86/CD4: 2.6%; CD80/CD8 4.1% and CD86/CD8: 2.7%) and were associated with HLA-DR expression. Some CD80 and CD86 expression was also found in normal controls, and only the expression of CD86 was significantly (P < 0.05) increased on CD4 + and CD8 + T cells of HIV-infected individuals. The expression of CD28 was decreased on T cells of HIV-infected individuals and was negatively correlated to the expression of HLA-DR and CD86 (mean CD28 within CD3+T cells: HIV+ 29.5%, HIV - 67.6%; correlation coefficient, - 0.75 and - 0.71, respectively). The more the disease proceeds, the less CD28 and the more DR and CD86 are found on circulating T cells. This suggests that during HIV infection T cells themselves develop an antigen presenting phenotype by upregulating expression of HLA-DR, CD86 and CD80 molecules.

Phage presentation and affinity selection of a deletion mutant of human interleukin-3.

A deletion derivative of the cytokine human interleukin-3 (hIL-3(15-125), comprising amino acids 15-125 of the native protein) was produced as a fusion to the filamentous phage surface protein pIII. The cytokine was detected in association with phage particles by protein immunoblotting. Compared to an equivalent quantity of soluble-cytokine, phage-presented hIL-3(15-125) exhibited reduced biological activity in a hIL-3-dependent cell proliferation assay. The reduction in activity was attributable to presence of phage particles in the assay, rather than directly owing to physical incorporation of the cytokine into the phage particle. Owing to the position of the amber codon in the phagemid vector, the phagemid-produced free hIL-3(15-125) species (designated hIL-3(15-125) epsilon) had 20 amino acids appended to its C-terminus; hIL-3(15-125) epsilon did not exhibit reduced bioactivity. hIL-3(15-125)-presenting phage were affinity-selected with either a hIL-3-reactive polyclonal antibody or with cells expressing the heterodimeric hIL-3 receptor. These data are consistent with the use of phage-display technology for the affinity selection of hIL-3 variants with modified biological properties.

Evaluation of a no-needle penile injector: a preliminary study evaluating tissue penetration and its hemodynamic consequences in the rat.

OBJECTIVES: Intracavernous needle injection is an effective delivery method for pharmacotherapy of erectile dysfunction. Needle phobia, pain, and concern about local tissue injury have stimulated the search for new, less invasive means of inducing penile erection. In this preliminary communication, we evaluate a jet injector as an alternative to needle injection for intracavernous delivery of vasoactive drugs. METHODS: Jet injection was evaluated in three groups of rats receiving either India ink, saline, or papaverine into the penis. The ability of the jet injection to penetrate through the tunica albuginea and deliver liquid to the corpora cavernosa smooth muscle was assessed by the degree of staining within the corpus cavernosum (ink group), histologic change (saline group), and rise in intracavernous pressure (papaverine group). Erectile capacity following cavernous nerve electric stimulation was compared before and 1 hour after injection of saline or papaverine. RESULTS: Ink traversed the skin and tunica albuginea with extensive deposition noted within the cavernous spaces. Varying degree of subcutaneous hemorrhage were seen with saline jet injection; however, the corpus cavernous smooth muscles showed no evidence of injury. Jet injection of papaverine 3250 micrograms significantly increased cavernous pressure (39.4 +/- 4.6 cm H2O) compared with saline injection (2.8 +/- 1.3 cm H2O). CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that acute jet injection is an effective method for intracavernous delivery of drugs. Long-term effects should be evaluated prior to clinical use.

Purification of Staphylococcal enterotoxins B and C2, by dye ligand chromatography - production of antisera

As enterotoxinas estafilocócicas B e C2 foram purificadas a partir do sobrenadante de culturas, através de cromatografia de troca catiônica em resina Amberlite CG-50 e cromatografia de afinidade com o corante Red A. Cem mililitros de sobrenadante de culturas contendo 270 mg de SEB/ml e 150 ml de sobrenadante contendo 93 mg de SEC2/ml proporcionaram uma recuperaçäo final de 59 por cento e 42 por cento, respectivamente. As toxinas purificadas apresentaram-se homogêneas quando analisadas por eletroforese em gel de poliacrilamida dodecil-sulfato de sódio. A imunizaçäo de coelhos com as enterotoxinas purificadas forneceram títulos máximos de 80 para a enterotoxina B e 40 para a enterotoxina C2. A metodologia descrita neste trabalho mostrou-se adequada para a purificaçäo de enterotoxinas B e C2, visando a obtençäo de reagentes e produçäo de anticorpos específicos, utilizando pequenos volumes iniciais de sobrenadante de culturas

Neurogenic erectile dysfunction: the course of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate diaphorase-positive nerve fibers on the surface of the prostate.

OBJECTIVES: Nitric oxide (NO) plays an important role as a neurotransmitter in the peripheral neural regulation of erection. A histochemical stain able to localize fibers releasing NO in combination with an in vivo study were used to evaluate the course and physiologic significance of the nerve fibers innervating the cavernous smooth muscle. METHODS: Morphologic studies in 6 rats and 6 human cadavers were performed, tracing the course of branches of the cavernous nerve branches using a nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate diaphorase staining technique. Electrostimulations in rats were performed before and after transection of the anterolateral part of the prostate capsule. RESULTS: Multiple nerve fibers were documented running on the lateral and ventral surfaces of the prostate distinct from the classically described dorsolateral neurovascular bundle. Transection of these fibers resulted in a loss of electrically induced intracavernous pressure (59.4 +/- 5.6 cm H2O versus 27.0 +/- 4.6 cm H2O). CONCLUSIONS: These preliminary morphologic and physiologic studies support a significant role for these nerve fibers in erection.

7-Nitroindazole: a selective inhibitor of penile erection: an in vivo study in a rat animal model.

OBJECTIVES: The neuronal isoform of nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) has been localized in neurons innervating the penis and is believed to be an important mediator of erection. Using the selective inhibitor 7-nitroindazole (7-NI), we evaluated the possible role of nNOS in penile erection using a rat animal model. METHODS: Eighteen Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into three study groups. A sham group (n = 6) received the vehicle arachis oil, a low-dose group received 5 mg/kg (n = 6), and a high-dose group received 50 mg/kg (n = 6) of 7-NI prior to measurement of blood pressure and cavernous nerve stimulation-induced rise in intracavernous pressure. RESULTS: A dose-dependent inhibition of erection by 7-NI was seen. Control animals had an intracavernous pressure rise of 55.5 +/- 4.0 cm H2O, whereas the low-dose group had 26.5 +/- 2.8 cm H2O and the high-dose group had 6.2 +/- 2.1 cm H2O. A partial recovery of erection was seen in the low- and high-dose groups after 3 hours. Blood pressure was unaffected by 7-NI administration. CONCLUSIONS: 7-NI induced a reversible, dose-dependent inhibition of erection without affecting blood pressure. This in vivo study provides further evidence of the role played by nNOS in erection.

Enterotoxin H in Staphylococcal Food Poisoning.

Seven members of one family became ill with vomiting and diarrhea 4 h after eating a type of cheese produced in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Staphylococcus aureus (2.9 × 108 CFU/g) that produced enterotoxin H (SEH) was isolated from the cheese. A low level of this enterotoxin was detected in the cheese extract before and after concentration 20-fold by copper chelate chromatography. The amount of SEH produced by the staphylococcal strain was 180 ng/ml of culture supernatant with production by the sac culture method. If only the ELISA ball kit had been used, it would have been concluded that enterotoxin D was the cause of the food poisoning.

Staphylococci in breast milk from women with and with and without mastitis

Verificou-se a presença de Staphylococci em leite materno procedente de 19 mulheres, nove consideradas sadias e dez apresentando sintomas clínicos de mastite. Staphylococci foram detectados em todas as amostras de leite, com contagens variando de 10² a 10 a quarta ufc/mL e revelando uma significativa variedade de colônias atípicas e típicas, estas últimas observadas em todas as placas de ágar Baird-Parker, exceto em uma amostra. Staphylococcus aureus, coagulase e termonuclease positivos e fermentadores de manitol em anaerobiose, estavam presentes em 13 amostras. Várias estirpes näo apresentaram uma ou duas,outras evidenciaram todas e uma näo apresentou nenhuma das características bioquímicas citadas. De um total de 19 cepas, 8 sintetizavam quantidade detectáveis de enenterotoxinas pelo método de imunodifusäo em gel e algumas mostraram-se produtoras de pequenas quantidades de enterotoxinas e de toxina da síndrome do choque tóxico, conforme detectado através do método de aglutinaçäo reversa passiva em latex

Assessment of quantitative models for plasmid ColE1 copy number control.

Two quantitative models of plasmid ColE1 copy number control are compared with respect to mathematical logic of derivation and application to experimental observations. Explanatory background material and clarifications are supplied for selected aspects of each model. Contrasting features are emphasized and experiments are suggested to distinguish between predictions of the models.