Phase-Changing Glauber Salt Solution for Medical Applications in the 28-32 °C Interval.

(1) Background: The field of medicine requires simple cooling materials. However, there is little knowledge documented about phase change materials (PCM) covering the range of 28 to 40 degrees Celsius, as needed for medical use. Induced mild hypothermia, started within 6 h after birth, is an emerging therapy for reducing death and severe disabilities in asphyxiated infants. Currently, this hypothermia is accomplished with equipment that needs a power source and a liquid supply. Neonatal cooling is more frequent in low-resource settings, where ~1 million deaths are caused by birth-asphyxia. (2) Methods: A simple and safe cooling method suitable for medical application is needed for the 28 to 37.5 °C window. (3) Results: Using empirical experiments in which the ingredients in Glauber salt were changed, we studied the effects of temperature on material in the indicated temperature range. The examination, in a controlled manner, of different mixtures of NaCl, Na2SO4 and water resulted in a better understanding of how the different mixtures act and how to compose salt solutions that can satisfy clinical cooling specifications. (4) Conclusions: Our Glauber salt solution is a clinically suited PCM in the temperature interval needed for the cooling of infants suffering from asphyxia.

Neonatal eosinophils possess efficient Eotaxin/IL-5- and N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine-induced transmigration in vitro.

The majority of premature infants develop eosinophilia and abnormalities in eosinophil trafficking during the first period of postnatal life. We therefore thought to assess the ability of neonatal eosinophils to transmigrate in vitro toward chemotactic stimuli mimic either bacterial infections, or to allergic inflammation in vivo, and to compare the results with eosinophils in adults. We used an in vitro transmigration method and the chemotactic stimuli N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (fMLP) or a combination of IL-5 and eotaxin. The expression of the adhesion-promoting molecule CD11b and the fMLP receptor were assessed by flow cytometry. Both the fMLP- and IL5/eotaxin-induced eosinophil transmigration capacity was significantly more efficient in neonates than in adults (p < 0.0001 and p < 0.0002, respectively). The fMLP-induced up-regulation of CD11b on eosinophils was significantly (p < 0.0003) higher in neonates compared with that in adults. We also assessed a significant (p < 0.0001) higher expression of the fMLP receptor on resting eosinophils in neonates compared with that in adults. The integrated impact of increased transmigration capacity, fMLP receptor expression, and CD11b expression on eosinophil by bacterial peptide fMLP suggests that neonatal eosinophils possess the potential to play an alternative role compared with eosinophils in adults.

Nestin enhancer requirements for expression in normal and injured adult CNS.

The nestin gene is expressed in many CNS stem/progenitor cells, both in the embryo and the adult, and nestin is used commonly as a marker for these cells. In this report we analyze nestin enhancer requirements in the adult CNS, using transgenic mice carrying reporter genes linked to three different nestin enhancer constructs: the genomic rat nestin gene and 5 kb of upstream nestin sequence (NesPlacZ/3), 636 bp of the rat nestin second intron (E/nestin:EGFP), and a corresponding 714 bp region from the human second intron (Nes714tk/lacZ). NesPlacZ/3 and E/nestin:EGFP mice showed reporter gene expression in stem cell-containing regions of brain and spinal cord during normal conditions. NesPlacZ/3 and E/nestin:EGFP mice showed increased expression in spinal cord after injury and NesPlacZ/3 mice displayed elevated expression in the periventricular area of the brain after injury, which was not the case for the E/nestin:EGFP mice. In contrast, no expression in adult CNS in vivo was seen in the Nes714tk/lacZ mice carrying the human enhancer, neither during normal conditions nor after injury. The Nes714 tk/lacZ mice, however, expressed the reporter gene in reactive astrocytes and CNS stem cells cultured ex vivo. Collectively, this suggests a species difference for the nestin enhancer function in adult CNS and that elements outside the second intron enhancer are required for the full injury response in vivo.