Phenotypic and functional characterization of pulmonary macrophages subpopulations after intratracheal injection of Paracoccidioides brasiliensis cell wall components

A shift in the activation of pulmonary macrophages characterized by an increase of IL-1, INF-alpha and IL-6 production has been induced in mice infected with Paracoccidioides brasiliensis. It is still unclear whether a functional shift in the resident alveolar macrophage population would be responsible for these observations due to the expression of cell surface molecules. We investigated pulmonary macrophages by flow cytometry from mice treated with P. brasiliensis derivatives by intratracheal route. In vivo labeling with the dye PKH26GL was applied to characterize newly recruited pulmonary macrophages from the bloodstream. Pulmonary macrophages from mice inflamed with P. brasiliensis derivatives showed a high expression of the surface antigens CD11b/CD18 and CD23 among several cellular markers. The expression of these markers indicated a pattern of activation of a subpopulation characterized as CD11b(+) or CD23(+), which was modulated in vitro by IFN-gamma and IL-4. Analysis of monocytes labelled with PKH26GL demonstrated that CD11b(+) cells did infiltrate the lung exhibiting a proinflammatoni pattern of activation, whereas CD23(+) cells were considered to be resident in the lung. These findings may contribute to better understand the pathology of lung inflammation caused by P. brasiliensis infection. (C) 2010 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Histoplasma capsulatum Cell Wall beta-Glucan Induces Lipid Body Formation through CD18, TLR2, and Dectin-1 Receptors: Correlation with Leukotriene B(4) Generation and Role in HIV-1 Infection

Histoplasma capsulatum (Hc) is a facultative, intracellular parasite of worldwide significance. Infection with Hc produces a broad spectrum of diseases and may progress to a life-threatening systemic disease, particularly in individuals with HIV infection. Resolution of histoplasmosis is associated with the activation of cell-mediated immunity, and leukotriene B(4) plays an important role in this event. Lipid bodies (LBs) are increasingly being recognized as multifunctional organelles with roles in inflammation and infection. In this study, we investigated LB formation in histoplasmosis and its putative function in innate immunity. LB formation in leukocytes harvested from Hc-infected C57BL/6 mice peaks on day 2 postinfection and correlates with enhanced generation of lipid mediators, including leukotriene B(4) and PGE(2). Pretreatment of leukocytes with platelet-activating factor and BLT1 receptor antagonists showed that both lipid mediators are involved in cell signaling for LB formation. Alveolar leukocytes cultured with live or dead Hc also presented an increase in LB numbers. The yeast alkali-insoluble fraction 1, which contains mainly beta-glucan isolated from the Hc cell wall, induced a dose- and time-dependent increase in LB numbers, indicating that beta-glucan plays a signaling role in LB formation. In agreement with this hypothesis, beta-glucan-elicited LB formation was inhibited in leukocytes from 5-LO(-/-), CD18(low) and TLR2(-/-) mice, as well as in leukocytes pretreated with anti-Dectin-1 Ab. Interestingly, human monocytes from HIV-1-infected patients failed to produce LBs after beta-glucan stimulation. These results demonstrate that Hc induces LB formation, an event correlated with eicosanoid production, and suggest a role for these lipid-enriched organelles in host defense during fungal infection. The Journal of Immunology, 2009, 182: 4025-4035.

Bone defect repair on the alveolar wall of the maxillary sinus using collagen membranes and temporal fascia. An experimental study in monkeys

Few studies has been done using guided bone regeneration in maxillary sinus defects. Aim: To assess the bone repair process in surgical defects on the alveolar wall of the monkey maxillary sinus, which communicates with the sinus cavity, by using collagen membranes: Gen-derm - Genius Baumer, Pro-tape - Proline and autologous temporal fascia. Materials and Methods: In this prospective and experimental study, orosinusal communications were performed in four tufted capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) and histologic analysis was carried out 180 days after. Results: In the defects without a cover (control), bone proliferation predominated in two animals and fibrous connective tissue predominated in the other two. In defects repaired with a temporal fascia flap, fibrous connective tissue predominated in three animals and bone proliferation predominated in one. In the defects repaired with Gen-derm or Pro-tape collagen membranes there was complete bone proliferation in three animals and fibrous connective tissue in one. Conclusions: Surgical defect can be repaired with both bone tissue and fibrous connective tissue in all study groups; collagen membranes was more beneficial in the bone repair process than temporal fascia or absence of a barrier.

Fractured Orbital Wall Reconstruction With an Auricular Cartilage Graft or Absorbable Polyacid Copolymer

Objective: The objective of the study was to compare the functional and aesthetic results of fractured orbital wall reconstruction with an auricular cartilage graft or absorbable polyacid copolymer. Materials and Methods: Twenty patients with blow-out orbital fracture/orbital floor associated or not with the medial wall were assessed by the same craniofacial surgical group. All were evaluated preoperatively and postoperatively by an ophthalmologist for diplopia, enophthalmos, exophthalmos, sensitivity, ophthalmic reflexes, intraocular pressure, and visual field. The patients were subjected to a preoperative facial multislice computed tomographic scan, repeated 6 months after surgery. Eight patients underwent reconstruction with an auricular cartilage graft, and 12 patients, with blade absorbable polyacid copolymer. Subtarsal access was used for all patients. Results: Two patients showed temporary ectropion, 1 in each group. All patients presented satisfactory ocular function, and all tests revealed good orbital delineation, orbital symmetry, periorbital sinus individualization, and reduction of blow-out. Conclusions: The blow-out orbital wall reconstruction can be performed with the use of an auricular cartilage or with a blade absorbable copolymer without differences regarding functional or aesthetic complications and sequelae.

Substitution of crude cell wall for neutral detergent fibre in the equations of the Cornell Net Carbohydrate and Protein System that predict carbohydrate fractions: application to sunflower (Helianthus annulus L.)

Prediction of carbohydrate fractions using equations from the Cornell Net Carbohydrate and Protein System (CNCPS) is a valuable tool to assess the nutritional value of forages. In this paper these carbohydrate fractions were predicted using data from three sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) cultivars, fresh or as silage. The CNCPS equations for fractions B(2) and C include measurement of ash and protein-free neutral detergent fibre (NDF) as one of their components. However, NDF lacks pectin and other non-starch polysaccharides that are found in the cell wall (CW) matrix, so this work compared the use of a crude CW preparation instead of NDF in the CNCPS equations. There were no differences in the estimates of fractions B, and C when CW replaced NDF; however there were differences in fractions A and B2. Some of the CNCPS equations could be simplified when using CW instead of NDF Notably, lignin could be expressed as a proportion of DM, rather than on the basis of ash and protein-free NDF, when predicting CNCPS fraction C. The CNCPS fraction B(1) (starch + pectin) values were lower than pectin determined through wet chemistty. This finding, along with the results obtained by the substitution of CW for NDF in the CNCPS equations, suggests that pectin was not part of fraction B(1) but present in fraction A. We suggest that pectin and other non-starch polysaccharides that are dissolved by the neutral detergent solution be allocated to a specific fraction (B2) and that another fraction (B(3)) be adopted for the digestible cell wall carbohydrates.

Irritative symptoms after colposuspension: Are they due to distortion or overelevation of the anterior vaginal wall and trigone?

Symptoms of bladder irritability are common after incontinence surgery but their cause is unknown. This study tests the hypothesis that irritative symptoms after colposuspension are due to distortion of the trigone. As part of longitudinal follow-up studies, 175 women were examined 6 months to 12 years after either an open or a laparoscopic Burch colposuspension. The main outcome measures were symptoms of bladder irritability (frequency, nocturia and urge incontinence) and ultrasound findings (bladder neck position at rest and on Valsalva, the presence of a colposuspension ridge, ridge depth and ridge distance, and trigonal angle). Two positive associations between ultrasound parameters and symptoms of bladder irritability were observed: urge incontinence was more likely in the presence of bladder neck funneling, and women with nocturia had a higher trigonal angle. Increased distortion of the trigone was associated with a reduced incidence of urge incontinence in the subgroup of patients after laparoscopic colposuspension. The data presented in this study do not support the hypothesis that symptoms of bladder irritability are due to trigonal distortion or overelevation.

Conservative management of mesenchymal hamartomas of the chest wall

Mesenchymal hamartomas of the chest wall are rare benign lesions usually discovered in infancy. The authors present their experience with 3 cases. All of these cases were managed initially conservatively, although 1 child required a thoracotomy and partial tumour resection at 5 months of age because of respiratory compromise. The other 2 children have now reached 5 and 6 years of age with the tumors becoming less prominent. The authors believe many cases can be managed conservatively because malignant change has not been reported, and the lesions often become relatively smaller as the child grows. J Pediatr Surg 36:1346-1349, Copyright (C) 2001 by W.B. Saunders Company.

Influence of wall stress and left ventricular geometry on the accuracy of Dobutamine stress Echocardiography

OBJECTIVES The goal of this study was to determine whether wall stress at rest and during stress could explain the influence of left ventricular (LV) morphology on the accuracy of dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE). BACKGROUND The sensitivity of DSE appears to be reduced in patients with concentric remodeling, but the cause of this finding is unclear. METHODS We studied 161 patients without resting wall motion abnormalities who underwent DSE and coronary angiography. Patients were classified into four groups according to relative wan thickness (normal

The essential work of fracture through the wall of uPVC pipe

The specific essential work of fracture, w(e), has been measured for a relatively thick walled uPVC pipe as a function of position through the wall of the pipe. w(e) was highest at the surface of the pipe and decreased significantly at the centre of the pipe wall. The variation in w(e) through the wall of the pipe correlated with the processing level of the uPVC material as measured by the critical temperature, T-c. The variability in the measured values of w(e) was substantially higher in the centre of the pipe where the processing levels were lower. This was likely to be a result of the variability in the microstructure of the material where poor processing had introduced regions of poor fusion of primary PVC particles. (C) 2002 Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Ductile fabrics in the zone of active oblique convergence near the Alpine Fault, New Zealand: identifying the neotectonic overprint

The mid-crustal Alpine Schist in central Southern Alps, New Zealand has been exhumed during the past similar to3 m.y. on the hanging wall of the oblique-slip Alpine Fault. These rocks underwent ductile deformation during their passage through the similar to 150-km-wide Pacific-Australia plate boundary zone. Likely to be Cretaceous in age, peak metamorphism predates the largely Pliocene and younger oblique convergence that continues to uplift the Southern Alps today. Late Cenozoic ductile deformation constructively reinforced a pre-existing fabric that was well oriented to accommodate a dextral-transpressive overprint. Quartz microstructures below a recently exhumed brittle-ductile transition zone reflect a late Cenozoic increment of ductile strain that was distributed across deeper levels of the Pacific Plate. Deformation was transpressive, including a dextral-normal shear component that bends and rotates a delaminated panel of Pacific Plate crust onto the oblique footwall ramp of the Alpine Fault. Progressive ductile shear in mylonites at the base of the Pacific Plate overprints earlier fabrics in a dextral-reverse sense, a deformation that accompanies translation of the schists up the Alpine Fault. Ductile shear along that structure affects not only the 12-km-thick section of Alpine mylonites, but is distributed across several kilometres of overlying nonmylonitic rocks. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Kinematics of oblique collision and ramping inferred from microstructures and strain in middle crustal rocks, central Southern Alps, New Zealand

The hanging wall of the Alpine Fault near Franz Josef Glacier has been exhumed during the past similar to2-3 m.y. providing a sample of the ductilely deformed middle crust of a modem obliquely convergent orogen. Presently exposed rocks of the Pacific Plate are inferred to have undergone several phases of ductile deformation as they moved westward above a mid-crustal detachment. Initially they were transpressed across the outboard part of the orogen, resulting in oblate fabrics with a down-dip stretch. Later, they encountered the Alpine Fault, experiencing an oblique-slip backshearing on vertical planes. This escalator-like deformation tilted and thinned the incoming crust onto that crustal-scale oblique ramp. This style of hanging wall deformation may affect only the most rapidly uplifting, central part of the Southern Alps because of the low flexural rigidity of the crust in that region and its displacement over a relatively sharp ramp-angle at depth. A 3D transpressive flow affected mylonites locally near the fault, but their shear direction remained parallel to plate motion, ruling out ductile 'extrusion' as an important process in this orogen. Outside the mylonite zone, late Cenozoic shortening is inferred to be modest (30-40%), as measured from deformation of younger biotite grains. Oblique collision is dominated by translation on the Alpine Fault, and rocks migrate rapidly through the deforming zone, preventing the accumulation of large finite strains. Transpression may play a minor role in oblique collision. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

The prediction of sharkskin instability observed during film blowing

The characteristics of sharkskin surface instability for linear low density polyethylene are studied as a function of film blowing processing conditions. By means of scanning electron microscopy and surface profilometry, is it found that for the standard industrial die geometry studied, sharkskin only occurs on the inside of the film bubble. Previous work suggests that this instability may be due to critical extensional stress levels at the exit of the die. Isothermal integral viscoelastic simulations of the annular extrusion process are reported, and confirm that the extensional stress at the die exit is large enough to cause local melt rupture. However the extensional stress level at the outer die wall predicts melt rupture of the outside bubble surface also, which contradicts the experimental findings. A significant temperature gradient is expected to exist across the die gap at the exit of the die, due to the external heating of the die and the low conductivity, of the polymer melt. It is shown that a gradient of 20 degreesC is required to cause sharkskin to only appear on the inner bubble surface.