Background
Aluminium tubes for pharmaceutical use are internally lacquered with epoxy resins (ER) based on bisphenol A diglycidyl ether (BADGE). Recently, it was shown that remnants of ER ...polymerization like BADGE are extractable from epoxy‐based coatings of commercially available tubes and may leach into semi‐solid drug preparations. We aimed to evaluate the safety of BADGE‐contaminated macrogol ointments in individuals sensitized to ER based on BADGE by use tests.
Methods
Repeated open application testing (ROAT) in 11 patients sensitized to ER based on BADGE with BADGE in macrogol ointments (3 mg/kg; 30 mg/kg, equivalent to BADGE concentration determined in macrogol ointment after storage in a commercially available tube; 300 mg/kg).
Results
The 30 mg/kg BADGE ointment elicited reactions in three patients, and another three patients reacted to 300 mg/kg BADGE ointment. No reactions to the vehicle control and 3 mg/kg BADGE were observed.
Conclusions
Elevated BADGE concentrations in ER‐coated aluminium tubes pose a risk of developing contact dermatitis to patients sensitized to ER based on BADGE. Quality standards are deemed necessary for the production of ER‐coated aluminium tubes intended for pharmaceutical use and should consider the results of the present ROAT study.
Spider males have evolved a remarkable way of transferring sperm by using a modified part of their pedipalps, the so-called palpal organ. The palpal organ is ontogenetically derived from tarsal ...claws; however, no nerves, sensory organs or muscles have been detected in the palpal bulb so far, suggesting that the spider male copulatory organ is numb and sensorily blind. Here, we document the presence of neurons and a nerve inside the male palpal organ of a spider for the first time. Several neurons that are located in the embolus are attached to the surrounding cuticle where stresses and strains lead to a deformation (stretching) of the palpal cuticle on a local scale, suggesting a putative proprioreceptive function. Consequently, the male copulatory organ of this species is not just a numb structure but likely able to directly perceive sensory input during sperm transfer. In addition, we identified two glands in the palpal organ, one of which is located in the embolus (embolus gland). The embolus gland appears to be directly innervated, which could allow for rapid modulation of secretory activity. Thus, we hypothesize that the transferred seminal fluid can be modulated to influence female processes.
The aim of this study was to validate the estimation of left ventricular end-diastolic and end-systolic volumes (EDV, ESV) and ejection fraction (LVEF) as well as wall motion analysis from gated ...fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) in patients with severe coronary artery disease (CAD) using software originally designed for gated single-photon emission tomography (SPET). Thirty patients with severe CAD referred for myocardial viability diagnostics were investigated using a standard FDG PET protocol enhanced with gated acquisition (8 gates per cardiac cycle). EDV, ESV and LVEF were calculated using standard software designed for gated SPET (QGS). Wall motion was analysed using a visual four-point wall motion score on a 17-segment model. As a reference, all patients were also examined within a median of 3 days with cardiovascular cine magnetic resonance imaging (cMRI) (20 gates per cardiac cycle). Furthermore, all gated FDG PET data sets were reoriented in a second run with deliberately misaligned axes to test the quantification procedure for robustness. Correlation between the results of gated FDG PET and cMRI was very high for EDV and ESV ( R=0.96 and R=0.97) and for LVEF ( R=0.95). With gated FDG PET, there was a non-significant tendency to underestimate EDV (174+/-61 ml vs 179+/-59 ml, P=0.21) and to overestimate ESV (124+/-58 ml vs 122+/-60 ml, P=0.65), resulting in underestimated LVEF values (31.5%+/-9.4% vs 34.2%+/-12.4%, P<0.003). The results of reorientations 1 and 2 showed very high correlations (for all R>/=0.99). Segmental wall motion analysis revealed good agreement between gated FDG PET data and cMRI (kappa =0.62+/-0.03). In conclusion, despite small systematic differences which contributed mainly to the lower temporal resolution of gated FDG PET, agreement between gated FDG PET and cMRI was good across a wide range of volumes and LVEF values as well as for wall motion analysis. Therefore, gated FDG PET provides clinically relevant information on function and volumes, using the commercially available software package QGS.
The cell adhesion protein a-agglutinin is bound to the outer surface of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae cell wall and mediates cell-cell contact in mating. alpha-Agglutinin is modified by addition of a ...glycosyl phosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchor as it traverses the secretory pathway. The presence of a GPI anchor is essential for cross-linking into the wall, but the fatty acid and inositol components of the anchor are lost before cell wall association (Lu, C.F., J. Kurjan, and P.N. Lipke, 1994. A pathway for cell wall anchorage of Saccharomyces cerevisiae alpha-agglutinin. Mol. Cell. Biol. 14:4825-4833.). Cell wall association of alpha-agglutinin was accompanied by an increase in size and a gain in reactivity to antibodies directed against beta 1,6-glucan. Several kre mutants, which have defects in synthesis of cell wall beta 1,6-glucan, had reduced molecular size of cell wall alpha-agglutinin. These findings demonstrate that the cell wall form of alpha-glutinin is covalently associated with beta 1,6-glucan. The alpha-agglutinin biosynthetic precursors did not react with antibody to beta 1,6-glucan, and the sizes of these forms were unaffected in kre mutants. A COOH-terminal truncated form of alpha-agglutinin, which is not GPI anchored and is secreted into the medium, did not react with the anti-beta 1,6-glucan. We propose that extracellular cross-linkage to beta 1,6-glucan mediates covalent association of alpha-agglutinin with the cell wall in a manner that is dependent on prior addition of a GPI anchor to alpha-agglutinin
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