Despite the widespread use of antibiotics, surgical wound infections continue to cause patient discomfort and drain on health care finances. More serious local complications often develop ...concomitantly (eg, cellulitis) or later (eg, incisional hernia). Inadequate treatment of an illness or poor host defenses may lead to serious systemic complications (septicemic shock, multiple organ failure). Therefore, it is essential that every effort be made to minimize the likelihood of infection. The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta convened a group of physicians and surgeons knowledgeable in the practice of infection control. This group developed a set of guidelines that is thought to reflect the state of the art in 1982. The trials, which were objective and preferably randomized or even blinded, determined present options for surgical infection control.
A function of the heparan sulphate proteoglycans (HSPG) found in basement membranes is to produce a polyanion charge barrier, a role important for the correct filtering of blood by the glomerular ...basement membranes (GBM). The first aim of this investigation was to analyse the disaccharide composition of heparan sulphate (HS) glycosaminoglycan (GAG) chains isolated from whole cortex and the GBM of human kidneys. The second aim was to look at the possibility of using mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS) urine samples from Sanfillipo Ilia patients as a source of human HS GAG. Cortex tissue removed from kidneys was diced and either homogenised or forced through sieves in order to isolate glomeruli. GBM was released from the glomeruli by sonication. Both homogenised cortex and GBM tissue were treated with papain to release GAGs from their protein cores. Urine samples were treated with cetylpyridinium chloride in order to precipitate GAGs present. These GAG preparations were then subjected to Benzon Nuclease and Chondroitinase ABC digestion. G25 gel filtration alone was required to isolate HS GAG from GBM preparations, however further S200 gel filtration was required to purify HS GAG from whole cortex and MPS preparations. Results show that GBM made up about 2% of the whole cortex. However, the GBM contained approximately fourteen times the amount of HS GAG (per gram of starting material) compared to whole cortex. Profiles produced following S200 gel filtration showed that the separation of intact HS GAG chains was not as well defined for whole cortex as it was for MPS urine precipitates. The whole cortex preparation contained HS GAGs with a range of values. Gel filtration also revealed that MPS urine precipitates contained HS GAG chains with low molecular weights which could not be clearly resolved from DNA fragments. The presence of the low molecular weight HS GAG could be due to the actions of endogenous enzymes altering HS GAG structure. Disaccharide analysis of the various HS GAG preparations was done by specific enzyme digestion using heparinase I, II and III, followed by P2 gel filtration to isolate disaccharides and finally HPLC analysis. P2 filtration showed that GBM preparations contained a population of sulphated disaccharides that were resistant to initial heparinase digestion. In both whole cortex and GBM preparations the major disaccharide present was ΔUA-GlcNAc, which made up over 50% the GAG. In GBM the proportion of sulphated disaccharides present was generally lower than in whole cortex preparations, an observation which is contrary to the idea of HS GAG being present in the GBM to act as a charge barrier. The disaccharide UA(2S)-GlcNAc was only present in the cortex and GBM preparations in small amounts and completely absent from the urine preparations. Bio-Gel P6 gel filtration analysis of the HS GAG preparations following either heparinase I or heparinase III digestion indicated that HS GAG chains have alternating domains of high and low sulphation. The third aim of this investigation was to assess if anti-DNA antibodies produced in the autoimmune disease Systemic Lupus Erythematosus cross-reacted with HS GAGs present in GBM tissue. HS GAGs isolated from both whole cortex and GBM were therefore used in ELISA against sera from SLE patients. The results show that antibodies present in the sera of SLE patients did not bind to HS GAG preparations. The possible reasons for this lack of reactivity are discussed.
Where is that acre? Simpson, Christopher
National post (Toronto),
12/2006
Newspaper Article
As a day-one reader of the National Post, I've always known it has powers beyond a normal newspaper. I didn't, however, suspect that it had the ability to expand the moon to some 36 times its present ...size.
Telecommunications and Empire Simpson, Christopher
The Journal of American History,
12/2008, Letnik:
95, Številka:
3
Book Review
Recenzirano
The book, men, is not simply about telecommunications regulation, it is an empirical analysis of the intricate tensions between national governments and private corporations in international affairs; ...a review of the decline of European-style colonialism and the emergence of the U.S. "empire project," as Hills terms it; and an examination of some of the mechanics by which ideology and policy adapt to changing circumstances.
In this 21st century of terrorism and nonstate actors, search is becoming an increasingly vital mission. Simpson and Matheson discuss the importance of search missions in today's US Army.
