Intestinal Epithelial Serum Amyloid A Modulates Bacterial Growth In Vitro and Pro-Inflammatory Responses in Mouse Experimental Colitis

Background  

Serum Amyloid A (SAA) is a major acute phase protein of unknown function. SAA is mostly expressed in the liver, but also in other tissues including the intestinal epithelium. SAA reportedly has anti-bacterial effects, and because inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) result from a breakdown in homeostatic interactions between intestinal epithelia and bacteria, we hypothesized that SAA is protective during experimental colitis.     

A 16 deg. wedge pad for urography

With the patient supine the long axis of the kidney has an average 16 deg. (SD 5,8 deg.) distal ventral inclination to the horizontal table top plane. A 100 cm long wedge shaped pad with a 16 deg. angle to be placed under the patient's shoulders and back during urography to bring the long axis of the kidney parallel to the horizontal plane is described. This method gives simultaneous good visualization of both the upper and lower outlines of the kidneys on a single tomographic cut.     

Localized outbreak of enteroviral meningitis in adults

During a thorough surveillance of viral infections of the central nervous system an outbreak of aseptic meningitis was discovered in the western part of Finland in late 1985. The 21 diseased young adults were carefully studied by different virological methods. A presumed viral etiology, in all cases of enteroviral origin, was found in 16 of 20 (80%) with adequate specimens. Four different enteroviruses were associated with this episode; in 9 cases the presumed etiological agent was echovirus 5, while coxsackie B5, echo 25 and echo 17 viruses appeared to be responsible for 4, 2 and 1 case, respectively. Sensitivity of different diagnostic methods as regards detection of the echovirus 5 infections was in order: increase of type-specific neutralizing serum antibodies, isolation of virus from faeces, isolation from throat and group diagnosis by demonstrating an increase in complement-fixing antibodies to coxsackie B5 virus antigen.