Women are conferred with greater immunologic and survival benefits compared to men. Female sex steroids contribute to this sexual dimorphism. Furthermore, during human pregnancy when female sex ...hormones are elevated, neutrophil apoptosis is delayed. This study examines the specific effects of estradiol and progesterone on neutrophil apoptosis and function in healthy adult men and women. We also examined the contribution of these hormones to the persistence and resolution of an inflammatory response. Spontaneous apoptosis was significantly decreased in women compared with men. Physiologic doses of estradiol and progesterone caused a further delay in spontaneous apoptosis in both men and women but did not diminish Fas antibody-induced apoptosis. The delay in apoptosis was mediated at the level of the mitochondria with decreased release of cytochrome c, which may alter caspase cleavage and activity. There were no associated alterations in neutrophil CD11b, but production of reactive oxygen intermediates (ROIs) in women was increased. Thus, female sex hormones mediate delayed neutrophil apoptosis in both sexes and enhance female intracellular production of ROIs. Modulating hormonal responses may be an effective therapeutic tool in combating inflammatory diseases. (Blood. 2003;102:2653-2659)
Bright-field, diffraction-contrast imaging in the transmission electron microscope has been applied to the determination of the diameter and height populations of a single layer of buried, pure, ...InAs/InP quantum dots (QDs). Plan-view diffraction contrast from the QDs was observed to increase significantly when the sample was tilted away from the 0
0
1 growth direction to near the 1
1
1 zone-axis orientation. This added contrast was a result of contributions to the displacement of atoms in a direction perpendicular to the electron beam arising from strain in the growth direction. Since the strain in the growth direction was about an order of magnitude larger than the strain perpendicular to the growth direction, as the sample is tilted away from the 0
0
1 zone-axis condition, the larger strain component increases the projected strain thereby increasing the QD contrast in the image. For the sample studied, both of the populations for the QD diameter and the image contrast were observed to be multimodal with the seven peaks in the contrast distribution correlating with seven distinct populations of QDs each differing in height by one monolayer (ML), from 3 to 9
MLs. An analysis of the theoretically expected and experimentally observed standard deviations in the Gaussian fits to the QD diameter and height distributions provided an additional constraint in the selection of the optimal model for the multimodal distributions.
Summary Objectives To describe the species distribution and antifungal susceptibility trends for documented episodes of candidemia at the Royal Hospitals, Belfast, 2001–2006. Methods Laboratory-based ...retrospective observational study of all episodes of candidemia. Results There were 151 episodes of candidemia. The species recovered were: 96 C. albicans ; 26 C. glabrata ; 18 C. parapsilosis ; five C. tropicalis ; four C. guilliermondii ; one C. famata and one C. dubliniensis . We separated the data into two periods 2001–2003 and 2004–2006; contrary to the findings of other investigators, there was a notable trends toward increasing frequency of C. albicans and decreasing frequency of non-albicans species over time. Although the proportion of C. albicans , C. parapsilosis and C. tropicalis isolates susceptible to fluconazole was unchanged over time, a trend of decreased susceptibility of C. glabrata to fluconazole was noted over the six-year period. Overall, 73% and 7.7% of C. glabrata isolates had susceptible-dose-dependent and resistant phenotypes, respectively. The percentage of C. glabrata isolates susceptible to fluconazole (MIC <8 μg/ml) decreased from 36% in 2001–2003 to 0% in 2004–2006. Flucytosine resistance was detected in only 4 (2.7%) isolates. None of the isolates had an amphotericin B MIC <1 μg/ml. Conclusion A shift towards increasing dominance of C. albicans contrasts both with reports from other countries and previous data from Northern Ireland. Upwards fluconazole MIC drift among C. glabrata has important implications for empirical therapeutic decisions.
The purpose of this study was to review the chest radiographic, CT, and MRI appearances of primary pulmonary lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma (LELC).
Primary pulmonary LELC is histopathologically ...identical to nasopharyngeal carcinoma. The radiographic, CT, and MRI features of primary pulmonary LELC are nonspecific, often resembling those of bronchogenic carcinoma. Primary pulmonary LELC usually presents as a poorly circumscribed, enhancing, peripheral solitary pulmonary nodule on CT; necrosis may be present and is considered a poor prognostic sign. MRI shows isointense to low-intensity signal on T1-weighted images and mildly increased signal on T2-weighted images; enhancement of abnormal tissue is typical. Most patients present with early-stage disease. Primary pulmonary LELC should be suspected in selected patients and requires differentiation from bronchogenic carcinoma and metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
Objective: To determine the messenger RNA expression patterns of estrogen receptor (ER)α and ERβ in human vaginal tissue. Study Design: Reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction was performed ...on tissue samples of 75 patients having anterior colporrhaphy (25 premenopausal, 25 postmenopausal receiving estrogen replacement therapy ERT, 25 postmenopausal not receiving ERT). Levels of mRNA were normalized and ratios were calculated to assess relative levels of expression. Results: All samples showed expression of the ERα isoform. Significant differences existed in ERα expression among the 3 cohorts (P =.023). Greater differences (P <.001) existed in ERβ expression. For both isoforms, the premenopausal group had the highest level, and the postmenopausal group receiving ERT had the lowest level. No significant difference in ERβ expression existed between postmenopausal groups. Conclusion: Significant differences exist between premenopausal and postmenopausal women in presence and expression of ERα and ERβ in vaginal tissue. Expression of ERβ markedly declines in menopause, regardless of ERT use. (Am J Obstet Gynecol 2001;185:1325–31.)
Basin physiography and fluvial processes structure the availability of salmonid spawning habitat in river networks. However, methods that allow us to explicitly link hydrologic and geomorphic ...processes to spatial patterns of spawning at scales relevant to management are limited. Here we present a method that can be used to link the abundance of spawning salmonids to fluvial processes at the mesoscale. We show that the frequency of spawning activity at individual morphological units (riffles, pools, runs) is quantitatively related to a number of fluvial parameters. Of these, bankfull excess shear stress ( τ
xs
) was the best predictor of spawning frequency. Results suggest that τ
xs
can be used to represent the fluvial regimes that spawning salmon are responsive to as well as to assess the likely impacts of altered flow regimes.
Giant cell tumour of bone (GCTB) is a highly vascular tumour, sporadically complicated by massive bleeding during surgery. We report a rare case of GCTB in an HIV-positive patient who suffered ...massive blood loss intra- and postoperatively. The patient was a 46-year-old HIV-positive female with symptoms and signs of a pelvic mass, and ultrasound evidence of an ovarian mass. Surgery was performed, and a highly vascular retroperitoneal mass originating from her sacrum was identified. Massive blood loss occurred, which required aggressive resuscitation and transfusion of blood products. Damage control surgery was performed, and bleeding was ultimately only controlled postoperatively using bilateral internal iliac artery radiological embolisation. The patient suffered acute kidney injury, which was multifactorial in aetiology, which recovered within 6 days. She was discharged from ICU in a stable condition 7 days postoperatively. S Afr J Crit Care 2015;31(1):30-31. DOI: 10.7196/SAJCC.177
Recent detections of high-redshift absorption by both atomic hydrogen and molecular gas in the radio spectra of quasars have provided a powerful tool for measuring possible temporal and spatial ...variations of physical ‘constants’ in the universe. We compare the frequency of high-redshift hydrogen 21-cm absorption with that of associated molecular absorption in two quasars to place new (1σ) upper limits on any variation in y≡gpα2 (where α is the fine-structure constant, and gp is the proton g-factor of at redshifts z = 0.25 and 0.68. These quasars are separated by a comoving distance of 3000 Mpc (H0= 75 km s−1 Mpc−1 and q0). We also derive limits on the time rates of change and between the present epoch and z= 0.68. These limits are more than an order of magnitude smaller than previous results derived from high-redshift measurements.
The feeding behaviour of pigs can be continuously recorded using sensors, providing promising avenues for automatic monitoring of pig performance and welfare. To utilise this potential, however, the ...data must be cleaned and aggregated meaningfully. A common aggregation is from visits into meals, in which visits separated by intervals shorter than a meal criterion (s or min) are merged. Methods to determine the criterion and the criteria themselves vary widely between studies, and have been applied indiscriminately or only when no pen mates visited the feeder during the interval. Aggregation choices should be biologically relevant, but there is no empirical knowledge on how pigs behave during these intervals or how the intervals are influenced by feeder competition. This study had three aims: 1) test the method that classifies intervals using a three-part probability density function (short, intermediate and long intervals); 2) determine whether feeder competition differed between interval types and application methods; and 3) describe and compare the behaviours of pigs between intervals. Visit intervals were obtained from 110 barrows in ten pens with one IVOGⓇ electronic feeding station each. A three-part probability density function was fitted to the log-transformed intervals, and its fit was assessed visually. For each pig, a short and an intermediate interval were selected for behavioural observations from camera. We found that pigs had relatively more intermediate intervals (1–28 min) than cows and that the fit of the three-part function was suboptimal. Nevertheless, identified meal criteria were in similar ranges as for other species. Intermediate intervals were more often initiated by displacements than short intervals (≤1 min), and there was more aggression and less pen exploration if pen mates visited the feeder during these intervals. Short intervals reflected interruptions in feeding behaviour, shown by standing (e.g. vigilance/chewing outside the feeder) and pen exploration (e.g. rooting, searching for pellets), while intermediate intervals contained non-feeding behaviours, such as social nosing, drinking and, predominantly, lying inactive. We conclude that intermediate intervals indicated completed feeding bouts, while short intervals reflected continued feeding-focused behaviours. Therefore, only visits separated by short intervals should be merged into meals. The exact criterion depends on the dataset but may, considering the suboptimal fit of the function, be more precisely determined using other methods. Whether visits should be merged indiscriminately or only when no pen mates entered the EFS during the interval depends on whether competition effects are of interest in the study.
•Swiftly successive feeder visits (<20–30 min apart) are commonly merged into meals.•Pig feeder visits occur with relatively many intermediate intervals (INTs, ±1–28 min).•We observed pig behaviour during short (≤ ±1 min) and intermediate INTs.•Short INTs reflect feeding interruptions, while intermediate INTs terminate feeding.•In pigs, only visits separated by short INTs should be merged into meals.
We report on XMM-Newton observations of GRO J1655-40 and GRS 1009-45, which are two black hole X-ray transients currently in their quiescent phase. GRO J1655-40 was detected with a 0.5–10 keV ...luminosity of $5.9 \times 10^{31}$ erg s-1 with 20% accuracy, taking into account both statistical errors and uncertainty on the distance. This luminosity is comparable to a previous Chandra measurement, but ten times lower than the 1996 ASCA value, most likely obtained when the source was not yet in a true quiescent state. Unfortunately, XMM-Newton failed to detect GRS 1009-45. A stringent upper limit of $8.9 \times 10^{30}$ erg s-1 was derived by combining data from the EPIC-MOS and PN cameras. The X-ray spectrum of GRO J1655-40 is very hard as it can be fitted with a power law model of photon index ~$1.3\pm 0.4$. Similarly hard spectra have been observed from other systems; these rule out coronal emission from the secondary or disk flares as the origin of the observed X-rays. On the other hand, our observations are consistent with the predictions of the disc instability model in the case that the accretion flow forms an advection dominated accretion flow (ADAF) at distances less than a fraction (~$0.1{-}0.3$) of the circularization radius. This distance corresponds to the greatest extent of the ADAF that is thought to be possible.
PDF
