Iowa History and Culture : A Bibliography of Materials Published Between 1952 and 1986, 1989

This bibliography was compiled by two reference librarians, Patricia Dawson and David Hudson with the goal of making it easier of tracking down material on Iowa history and culture. This supplements the Iowa History Reference Guide published in 1952 by William Petersen.

Peroxynitrite cytotoxicity on bovine retinal pigmented epithelial cells in culture.

Peroxynitrite induced in vitro a dose dependent toxicity on retinal pigmented epithelial (RPE) cells. Cell death was partially mediated by apoptosis as demonstrated by nuclear fragmentation and TdT-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling assay. Peroxynitrite-induced tyrosine nitration was revealed by immunocytochemistry, both in the cytoplasm and in the nucleus of the cells. Nitration was not observed in RPE cells, producing nitric oxide (NO) after stimulation by lipopolysacharide and interferon-g (IFN-gamma), suggesting that peroxynitrite was not formed in vitro in such conditions. Peroxynitrite could be responsible for the retinal damages observed in pathological conditions in which NO has been demonstrated to be involved. In this context, EGb761, identified as a free radical scavenger, was showed herein to protect RPE cells against peroxynitrite injury.

The long-term culture of porcine urothelial cells and induction of urothelial stratification.

OBJECTIVE: To assess porcine urothelial cell cultures and the in vitro induction of urothelial stratification in long-term cultures, to study their morphological, functional and genetic behaviour, and thus provide potential autologous urothelium for tissue-engineered substitutes for demucosalized gastric or colonic tissue. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Primary cultures of porcine urothelium were established and the cells passaged thereafter. Cell specificity was confirmed by cytokeratin analysis, cell membrane stability assessed using lactate dehydrogenase leakage, cell de-differentiation by gamma-glutamyl transferase activity and genomic stability by karyotype investigations. Histology and scanning electron microscopy were performed to study the cultured cells and the stratified constructs. Furthermore, collagen matrices were tested as cell scaffolds. RESULTS: The cells were cultured for 180 days; 10 subcultures were established during this period. Stratification was induced in a culture flask and on a collagen matrix. Cytokeratins 7, 8, 17 and 18 were expressed in all cultures, and cell membranes were stable, with no evident de-differentiation. The cultures were stable in their genotype and no chromosomal aberrations were found. The histology and immunohistochemistry of the stratified porcine constructs, and cell membrane stability and cell de-differentiation, were compared with those in the human system. CONCLUSION: Pig and human urothelial cells can be cultured over a long period with no signs of senescence. Urothelial stratification can be induced in vitro. The collagen matrix seems to be an excellent scaffold, allowing cell adherence and growth.

A simple blood-culture bacterial pellet preparation for faster accurate direct bacterial identification and antibiotic susceptibility testing with the VITEK 2 system.

An ammonium chloride procedure was used to prepare a bacterial pellet from positive blood cultures, which was used for direct inoculation of VITEK 2 cards. Correct identification reached 99% for Enterobacteriaceae and 74% for staphylococci. For antibiotic susceptibility testing, very major and major errors were 0.1 and 0.3% for Enterobacteriaceae, and 0.7 and 0.1% for staphylococci, respectively. Thus, bacterial pellets prepared with ammonium chloride allow direct inoculation of VITEK cards with excellent accuracy for Enterobacteriaceae and a lower accuracy for staphylococci.

Sleeping Beauty in Chelmno: Jane Yolen's Briar Rose or Breaking the Spell of Silence

AbstractThis article analyses Jane Yolen's Briar Rose (1992) from the perspective of trauma studies as a novelistic transposition of "Sleeping Beauty" in the context of the Holocaust. It argues that the fairy tale fulfils a psychological and even existential role for the fictional survivor of the extermination camp, but also a pedagogical, moral and political one through the figure of the cowitness central to the economy of the novel. Through Becca's recovery of the biographical elements underlying her grandmother's retelling of the story, Yolen shows how the fairy tale can serve to communicate traumatic personal memories and transmit collective cultural knowledge to counter the disappearance of first-hand witnesses.RésuméCet article analyse le recours au conte de fées dans un roman récent de Jane Yolen, Briar Rose, qui transpose le conte de La Belle au bois dormant dans le contexte de l'Holocauste. A partir des études sur le traumatisme (trauma studies), il montre comment le conte de fées remplit plusieurs rôles: psychologique voire existentiel pour la survivante du camp, mais aussi didactique, politique et moral à travers la figure du co-témoin placée au coeur du dispositif narratif. Yolen fait ainsi appel à deux genres pédagogiques, le conte et la literature de jeunesse sur l'Holocauste comme outils pédagogiques permettant la transmission d'une mémoire individuelle et collective qui problématise la question épineuse de la représentation de l'Holocauste et de la fictionnalisation de l'histoire qui accompagne la disparition des témoins directs.

A novel method of dynamic culture surface expansion improves mesenchymal stem cell proliferation and phenotype.

Repeated passaging in conventional cell culture reduces pluripotency and proliferation capacity of human mesenchymal stem cells (MSC). We introduce an innovative cell culture method whereby the culture surface is dynamically enlarged during cell proliferation. This approach maintains constantly high cell density while preventing contact inhibition of growth. A highly elastic culture surface was enlarged in steps of 5% over the course of a 20-day culture period to 800% of the initial surface area. Nine weeks of dynamic expansion culture produced 10-fold more MSC compared with conventional culture, with one-third the number of trypsin passages. After 9 weeks, MSC continued to proliferate under dynamic expansion but ceased to grow in conventional culture. Dynamic expansion culture fully retained the multipotent character of MSC, which could be induced to differentiate into adipogenic, chondrogenic, osteogenic, and myogenic lineages. Development of an undesired fibrogenic myofibroblast phenotype was suppressed. Hence, our novel method can rapidly provide the high number of autologous, multipotent, and nonfibrogenic MSC needed for successful regenerative medicine.