Comparison of differentiated dendritic cell infiltration of autoimmune and osteoarthritis synovial tissue

Objective. Infiltration of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) synovial tissue (ST) by differentiated dendritic cells (DC) is a consistent feature in patients with active disease. However, mononuclear cells (MNC), including DC, may be nonspecifically chemoattracted to inflammatory sites regardless of etiology, Therefore, to evaluate the specificity of ST infiltration by differentiated DC, synovial biopsies from patients with RA, spondylarthropathy (SpA), osteoarthritis (OA), and gout were examined. Methods. Formalin-fixed ST sections were analyzed by double immunohistochemical staining for vascularity and infiltration by differentiated DC, lymphocytes, and macrophages. Results, DC containing nuclear RelB were found in perivascular MNC aggregates from patients with all arthritides studied. Infiltration by differentiated DC was similar in RA and SpA ST, but reduced in OA ST. Differentiated DC were always observed in close association with lymphocytes, and the correlation between these variables suggested that the infiltration of inflammatory sites by DC and lymphocytes was associated. Conclusion, Perivascular infiltration by DC, lymphocytes, and macrophages is nonspecifically related to inflammation, but signals present in RA and SpA ST lead to more intense cellular infiltration and accumulation.

Communication and health beliefs - Mass and interpersonal influences on perceptions of risk to self and others

This study investigated the impact of media coverage of a health issue (skin cancer) on judgements of risk to self and others and the role of related communication processes. Consistent with predictions derived from the impersonal impact hypothesis, the effects of mass communication were more evident in perceptions of risk to others rather than in perceptions of personal risk. Perceptions of personal risk were more strongly correlated with interpersonal communication. However, as suggested by media system dependency theory, the relationship between mass communication and beliefs was complex. The impact of mass communication on both personal and impersonal perceptions was bound to be moderated by self-reported dependence on mass mediated information. The effect of this two-way interaction 071 perceptions of personal risk was partially mediated through interpersonal communication. Results point to the interdependence of mass and interpersonal communication as sources of social influence and the role of media dependency in shaping media impact.

Hydromorphone-3-glucuronide - A more potent neuro-excitant than its structural analogue, morphine-3-glucuronide

In humans, hydromorphone (HMOR) is metabolised principally by conjugation with glucuronic acid to form hydromorphone-3-glucuronide (H3G), a close structural analogue of morphine-3-glucuronide (M3G), the major metabolite of morphine. In a previous study we described the biochemical synthesis of H3G together with a preliminary evaluation of its pharmacology which revealed that it is a neuro-excitant in rats in a manner analogous to M3G. Thus the aims of the current study were to quantify the neuro-excitatory behaviours evoked by intracerebroventricular (icv) H3G in the rat and to define its potency relative to M3G. Groups of adult male Sprague-Dawley rats received icy injections (1 muL) of H3G (1 - 3 mug), M3G (2 - 7 mug) or vehicle via a stainless steel guide cannula that had been implanted stereotaxically seven days prior to drug administration. Behavioural excitation was monitored by scoring fifteen different behaviours (myoclonic jerks, chewing, wet-dog-shakes, rearing, tonic-clonic-convulsions, explosive motor behaviour, grooming, exploring, general activity, eating, staring, ataxia, righting reflex, body posture, touch evoked agitation) immediately prior to icy injection and at the following post-dosing times: 5, 15, 25, 35, 50, 65 and 80 min. H3G produced dose-dependent behavioural excitation in a manner analogous to that reported previously for M3G by our laboratory and reproduced herein. H3G was found to be approximately 2.5-fold more potent than M3G, such that the mean (+/- S.D.) ED50 values were 2.3 (+/- 0.1) mug and 6.1 (+/- 0.6) mug respectively. Thus, our data clearly imply that if H3G crosses the BBB with equivalent efficiency to M3G, then the myoclonus, allodynia and seizures observed in some patients dosed chronically with large systemic doses of HMOR, are almost certainly due to the accumulation of sufficient H3G in the central nervous system, to evoke behavioural excitation. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.

Separable states are more disordered globally than locally

A remarkable feature of quantum entanglement is that an entangled state of two parties, Alice (A) and Bob (B), may be more disordered locally than globally. That is, S(A) > S(A, B), where S() is the von Neumann entropy. It is known that satisfaction of this inequality implies that a state is nonseparable. In this paper we prove the stronger result that for separable states the vector of eigenvalues of the density matrix of system AB is majorized by the vector of eigenvalues of the density matrix of system A alone. This gives a strong sense in which a separable state is more disordered globally than locally and a new necessary condition for separability of bipartite states in arbitrary dimensions.

Development and characterisation of recombinant hepatitis delta virus-like particles

Injection of particulate hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg) in mice leads to the induction of a HBsAg-specific class-I-restricted cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) response. It is proposed that any protein internal to HBsAg will also be able to elicit a specific CTL response. In this study, several carboxy-terminal truncations of hepatitis C virus (HCV) core protein were fused to varying lengths of amino-terminal truncated large hepatitis delta antigen (L-HDAg). These constructs were analysed for their ability to be expressed and the particles secreted in the presence of HBsAg after transfection into HuH-7 cells. The secretion efficiency of the various HCV core-HDAg chimeric proteins was generally poor. Constructs containing full length HDAg appeared to be more stable than truncated versions and the length of the inserted protein was restricted to around 40 amino acids. Thus, the use of L-HDAg as a chimera to package foreign proteins is limited. Consequently, a polyepitope (polytope) containing a B-cell epitope from human papillomavirus (HPV 16) and multiple T-cell epitopes from the HCV polyprotein was used to create the construct, L-HDAg-polyB. This chimeric protein was shown to be reliant on the co-expression of HBsAg for secretion into the cell culture fluid and was secreted more efficiently than the previous HCV core-HDAg constructs. These L-HDAg-polyB virus-like particles (VLPs) had a buoyant density of similar to 1.2 g/cm(3) in caesium chloride and similar to 1.15 g/cm(3) in sucrose. The VLPs were also immunoprecipitated using an anti-HBs but not an anti-HD antibody. Thus, these recombinant VLPs have similar biophysical properties to L-HDAg VLPs.

Outcome of the acute abdomen in patients with previous spinal cord injury

Background: Patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) have always posed difficulties for the diagnosis of an acute abdomen. The aim of the present study was to define this problem retrospectively at Princess Alexandra Hospital and to assess the results of treatment for these patients. Methods: A retrospective review was conducted of 133 SCI patients admitted with an acute abdomen in the 16 years prior to this analysis at the Spinal Injuries Unit (SIU) of Princess Alexandra Hospital. There were 21 patients who conformed to the study criteria. All the patients had sustained traumatic SCI at or above the level of T11, more than 1 month prior to admission. Results: There were 13 male and eight female patients. The time lapse between SCI and the onset of an acute abdomen ranged from 1.5 months to 27 years. The age range was 26-79 years. The majority of patients had C6 injuries (six patients). There were 18 patients with injury levels above T6 and three patients with injuries below this level. The time taken to diagnose the cause of the acute abdomen ranged between 1 day and 3 months. Investigations were found to be useful in making the diagnoses in 61.9% of cases. There were 14 patients who had surgical interventions. Five patients had surgical complications and there were two deaths in the study. The length of follow up was 1-132 months. The mortality in the study was 9.5%. Conclusion: An aggressive approach to the diagnosis and treatment of the acute abdomen in SCI patients with suspicious symptoms is recommended. A high index of suspicion should be maintained in those patients with pre-existing SCI who present with abdominal trauma.

Begging and food distribution in crimson rosella (Platycercus elegans) broods: why don't hungry chicks beg more?

Altricial nestlings solicit food by begging and engaging in scramble competition. Solicitation displays can thus signal both hunger and competitive ability. I examined nestling solicitation and parental responses in crimson rosellas (Platycercus elegans), a species in which parents engage in complex patterns of food allocation and appear to control the distribution of food. By manipulating the hunger of individual chicks and entire broods, I assessed how chick behaviours and parental food allocation varied with hatching rank, level of hunger, and intensity of nestling competition. Last-hatched chicks begged more than first-hatched chicks irrespective of individual hunger levels. The two parents combined fed individually hungry chicks more, but mothers and fathers varied in their responses to begging chicks: fathers fed last-hatched chicks in proportion to their begging intensity, whereas mothers fed chicks equally. Since fathers generally allocate more food to first-hatched chicks, fathers appear to use begging rates to adjust food allocation to non-preferred chicks within the brood. When I manipulated brood hunger levels, begging rates increased for first- and last-hatched chicks suggesting that chick begging rates are sensitive to the level of competition. This study shows that begging by rosella chicks does not correlate with hunger in a straightforward way and that the primary patterns of food allocation by parents art: not influenced by chick begging. Thus the benefits of increased begging may be limited for nestlings in this species.

Mark-recapture may reveal more about ecology than about population trends: Demography of a threatened ghost bat (Macroderma gigas) population

Since European settlement in Australia, the geographical range of ghost bats (Macroderma gigas) has contracted northwards. Ghost bats are thought to occur in disjunct populations with little interpopulation migration, raising concerns over the current status and future viability of the southernmost colony, which has also been threatened by mining activity. To address these concerns, demographic parameters of the southernmost colony were estimated from a mark-recapture study conducted during 1975-1981. Female bats gave birth to a single young in late spring, but only 40% (22-70%, 95% CI) of females bred in their second year, increasing to 93% (87-97%, 95% CI) for females greater than or equal to 2 years old. Sixty-five percent of juveniles caught were female. Annual adult survival ranged between 0.57-0.77 for females and 0.43-0.66 for males, and was lowest over winter-spring and greatest in autumn-winter. Juvenile survival for the first year ranged between 0.35-0.46 for females and 0.29-0.42 for males. Adult survival varied among seasons, was negatively associated with rainfall, but was not associated with temperature beyond being lower in late winter. Poor survival may result from the inferior daytime roosts that bats must use if water seepage forces them to leave their normal roosts. Although these age-specific rates of fecundity and survival suggested a declining population, mark-recapture estimates of the population trend indicated stability over the study period. Counts at daytime roosts also suggested a population decline, but were considered unreliable because of an increasing tendency of bats to avoid detection. It is therefore likely that some assumptions in estimating survival were violated. These results provide a caution against the uncritical use of population projections derived from mark-recapture estimates of demographic parameters, and the use of untested indices as the basis for conservation decisions.

G551D CF mice display an abnormal host response and have impaired clearance of Pseudomonas lung disease

Several cystic fibrosis (CF) mouse models demonstrate an increased susceptibility to Pseudomonas aeruginosa lung infection, characterized by excessive inflammation and high rates of mortality. Here we developed a model of chronic P. aeruginosa lung disease in mice homozygous for the murine CF transmembrane conductance regulator G551D mutation that provides an excellent model for CF lung disease. After 3 days of infection with mucoid P. aeruginosa entrapped in agar beads, the G551D animals lost substantially more body weight than non-CF control animals and were less able to control the infection, harboring over 40-fold more bacteria in the lung. The airways of infected G551D animals contained altered concentrations of the inflammatory mediators tumor necrosis factor-alpha, KC/N51, and macrophage inflammatory protein-2 during the first 2 days of infection, suggesting that an ineffective inflammatory response is partly responsible for the clearance defect.