Engineering angiogenesis following spinal cord injury: a coculture of neural progenitor and endothelial cells in a degradable polymer implant leads to an increase in vessel density and formation of the blood–spinal cord barrier

Angiogenesis precedes recovery following spinal cord injury and its extent correlates with neural regeneration, suggesting that angiogenesis may play a role in repair. An important precondition for studying the role of angiogenesis is the ability to induce it in a controlled manner. Previously, we showed that a coculture of endothelial cells (ECs) and neural progenitor cells (NPCs) promoted the formation of stable tubes in vitro and stable, functional vascular networks in vivo in a subcutaneous model. We sought to test whether a similar coculture would lead to the formation of stable functional vessels in the spinal cord following injury. We created microvascular networks in a biodegradable two-component implant system and tested the ability of the coculture or controls (lesion control, implant alone, implant + ECs or implant + NPCs) to promote angiogenesis in a rat hemisection model of spinal cord injury. The coculture implant led to a fourfold increase in functional vessels compared with the lesion control, implant alone or implant + NPCs groups and a twofold increase in functional vessels over the implant + ECs group. Furthermore, half of the vessels in the coculture implant exhibited positive staining for the endothelial barrier antigen, a marker for the formation of the blood–spinal cord barrier. No other groups have shown positive staining for the blood–spinal cord barrier in the injury epicenter. This work provides a novel method to induce angiogenesis following spinal cord injury and a foundation for studying its role in repair.     

Needs assessment for persons with severe mental illness: What services are needed for successful community living?

The development and implementation of effective community support systems are goals of many public mental health authorities who are attempting to shift the focus and dollars for mental health services from inpatient to community care. This article presents the results of a survey which asked 90 community mental health agency case managers to assess the community support and residential needs of over 1400 of their clients. Medication monitoring and therapy were rated high priority needs. Psychosocial treatment, day and vocational activities also ranked high. Survey responses regarding residential services indicated a need for more supported and supervised options.The study reported was a collaborative effort by county and agency staff.     

Pheochromocytoma manifesting with shock presents a clinical paradox: a case report

A 46-year-old man presented with shock and adult respiratory distress syndrome. Investigations revealed an adrenal mass that was diagnosed, by fine-needle aspiration biopsy, as pheochromocytoma. Because biopsy is contraindicated in patients with pheochromocytoma, this confusing presentation underscores the value of excluding this diagnosis by biochemical means before performing fine-needle aspiration of adrenal tumours.     

Effects of MR imaging on murine natural killer cell cytotoxicity

To determine the effect of MR imaging on the immune system, 21 male C57BL/6 X DBA/2 F1 mice were exposed to MR imaging at a field strength of 0.15 T for 2 hr. Another nine mice (controls) were sham exposed for the same amount of time. Mice were sacrificed and their spleens removed 24, 72, and 144 hr after the exposure (MR or sham). Spleen cell suspensions were passed over nylon wool columns and then used as effector cells in a short-term natural killer cell cytotoxicity assay with 51Cr-labeled YAC-1 cells as target cells. The results showed no evidence of decreased cytotoxicity due to exposure to MR. On the contrary, at all three times after exposure and for all target-to-effector cell ratios, mean cytotoxicity was greater for MR-exposed groups than for sham-exposed groups. The results show that MR exposure has no adverse effect on the immune system, as evidenced by natural killer cell activity.     

Cypress (Cupressus sempervirens) pollen allergens: identification by protein blotting and improved detection of specific IgE antibodies

On the basis of results of an investigation of the effects of different treatments employed, a dialysed and reduced extract of Cupressus sempervirens was separated electrophoretically on sodium dodecylsulphate-polyacrylamide gels before being transferred and then fixed with glutaraldehyde to nitrocellulose membrane. Probing with sera from 91 subjects allergic to C. sempervirens pollen followed by detection of bound IgE antibodies with [125I]-labelled anti-human IgE revealed 17 IgE-binding proteins in the molecular weight range 14-96 kilodaltons (kDa). One component, of molecular weight approximately 42 kDa, reacted with IgE antibodies in the sera of 81.3% of the allergic subjects and, for each of the subjects, this component bound the greatest quantity of IgE. Almost 50% of the sera recognized only the approximately 42 kDa component, reinforcing the conclusion that this component is the major allergen of C. sempervirens pollen. A comparative study employing C. sempervirens pollen allergen discs prepared commercially or in the laboratory showed that values of the uptakes of [125I]-anti-IgE indicating the presence of pollen-reactive IgE antibodies obtained with the latter discs were consistently higher (means 4.5 vs. 0.88), and that false-negative results were obtained when many sera were used with the commercial discs. The results of this study provide an essential basis for the production of standardized, safe and effective C. sempervirens pollen extract applicable to diagnosis and therapy of cypress pollen allergy.     

Normative data of hemoglobin concentration and free erythrocyte protoporphyrin in a private pediatric practice: a 1990 update

Free erythrocyte protoporphyrin (FEP) and hemoglobin (Hgb) concentrations were tested in 790 children in a private pediatric office; results were compared to those obtained in 1984. Only 16 children (2%) had abnormal FEPs in 1990 compared to 76 children (9.6%) in the earlier study. The mean FEP in the normal group also decreased significantly in each age group studied. The hemoglobin concentrations were not significantly different in most of the age groups studied. Screening for iron deficiency in our pediatric practice by determining hemoglobin and FEP concentrations had a much lower yield in 1990 than in 1984.     

Promoting clinically effective practice: general practitioners' awareness of sources of research evidence

BACKGROUND: Practitioners are being encouraged to base their clinical practice on research evidence. In order to do this, they must be aware of and use the sources of evidence. METHODS: A questionnaire survey was undertaken to establish GPs' awareness of research evidence in their clinical practice and, in fundholding practices, its influence on purchasing plans. Questionnaires were sent to 360 lead fundholders in North Thames Region and 440 of a random sample of the remaining general practitioners in the region for comparison. RESULTS: Questionnaires were returned by 62% of lead fundholders and 63% of GPs in the random sample. There was limited use of the electronic sources of clinical effectiveness. There was greater reported awareness of published sources of research evidence and fundholding GPs were significantly more likely to have referred to publications summarizing research evidence. CONCLUSIONS: GPs seem to make more use of published clinical effectiveness sources than the electronic databases. Consequently, they need educational and technical support if they are to make full use of the available sources of research evidence available in other media.      

Large-scale identification of mammalian proteins localized to nuclear sub-compartments

Many nuclear components participating in related pathways appear concentrated in specific areas of the mammalian nucleus. The importance of this organization is attested to by the dysfunction that correlates with mis-localization of nuclear proteins in human disease and cancer. Determining the sub-nuclear localization of proteins is therefore important for understanding genome regulation and function, and it also provides clues to function for novel proteins. However, the complexity of proteins in the mammalian nucleus is too large to tackle this on a protein by protein basis. Large-scale approaches to determining protein function and sub-cellular localization are required. We have used a visual gene trap screen to identify more than 100 proteins, many of which are normal, located within compartments of the mouse nucleus. The most common discrete localizations detected are at the nucleolus and the splicing speckles and on chromosomes. Proteins at the nuclear periphery, or in other nuclear foci, have also been identified. Several of the proteins have been implicated in human disease or cancer, e.g. ATRX, HMGI-C, NBS1 and EWS, and the gene-trapped proteins provide a route into further understanding their function. We find that sequence motifs are often shared amongst proteins co-localized within the same sub-nuclear compartment. Conversely, some generally abundant motifs are lacking from the proteins concentrated in specific areas of the nucleus. This suggests that we may be able to predict sub-nuclear localization for proteins in databases based on their sequence.