Cross-national agreement on disability weights: the European Disability Weights Project

Background  

Disability weights represent the relative severity of disease stages to be incorporated in summary measures of population health. The level of agreement on disability weights in Western European countries was investigated with different valuation methods.     

Inhibition by albumin of merocyanine 540-mediated photosensitization of platelets and viruses

The effect of the photosensitizer merocyanine 540 (MC 540) on platelets and on three marker viruses was examined to assess its potential in reducing virus transmission by blood products. The results demonstrated several deleterious effects of MC 540 (4-24 micrograms/mL) on platelet morphology and function in both the absence and presence of light (450-600 nm). Treatment of washed platelets with MC 540 in the dark resulted in a significant release of serotonin in the absence of added agonist, as well as a diminished response to thrombin as measured in vitro. In addition, photosensitization caused spontaneous platelet aggregation and release of 92 percent of the releasable serotonin without the addition of an agonist. Because photo-treatment of blood products is likely to be performed in a protein-rich medium, the influence of albumin on the phototoxic effects on platelets was assessed. Albumin added to the suspension medium at concentrations greater than or equal to 1.0 percent protected the platelets against the effects of MC 540 in the dark, whereas 5-percent albumin was required for protection against the phototoxic effects of MC 540 on the platelet response to thrombin. The antiviral activity of MC 540 and light was examined by using the lipid-containing viruses herpes simplex virus (HSV) and bacteriophages phi 6 and PM2. Of the lipid-enveloped viruses, HSV was 25 times more photosensitive to MC 540 than was phi 6 (15 micrograms/mL). PM2, which has an internal lipid layer, was almost 300 times less sensitive to MC 540 and light than was HSV.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Establishment and characterization of a primary effusion (body cavity- based) lymphoma cell line (BC-3) harboring kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV/HHV-8) in the absence of Epstein-Barr virus

The recently identified Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV), also known as human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8), has been found to be consistently associated with an unusual subset of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome-related lymphomas, the so-called body cavity- based lymphomas (BCBL) or primary effusion lymphomas (PEL). These lymphomas are characterized by a unique spectrum of morphologic and molecular characteristics, and grow as lymphomatous effusions without an identifiable contiguous tumor mass. Until now, efforts to delineate the role of KSHV in the pathogenesis of PELs have been hampered by the lack of appropriate model systems and the concomitant presence of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in nearly all cases examined, and in all previously established cell lines. We now report the establishment and characterization of a novel PEL cell line, BC-3, which is KSHV+ by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) but EBV- as assessed by a variety of methods including PCR for EBER, EBNA-2, and EBNA-3C. This cell line was established from a lymphomatous effusion obtained from an HIV- patient, and has immunophenotypic and molecular features consistent with the diagnosis of PEL, including an indeterminate immunophenotype with a B- cell immunogenotype and lack of c-myc proto-oncogene rearrangements. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis shows an intact KSHV genome of about 170 kb both in the cell line and in the viral isolate, whereas herpesvirus-like capsids are visible by electron microscopy. Consequently, the BC-3 cell line represents an invaluable tool as a source of KSHV, for both the evaluation of the pathogenic potential of this virus and the mechanistic characterization of its role in the development of Kaposi's sarcoma and malignant lymphoma.     

Granulopoietic progenitors in suspension culture: a comparison of stimulatory cells and conditioned media

Kinetic studies have been carried out to investigate the functional heterogeneity previously observed in populations of human marrow or peripheral blood cells separated by velocity sedimentation. The results obtained confirm the earlier results, in that slowly-sedimenting cells were found to stimulate both colony formation by granulopoietic progenitors and an increase in numbers of granulopoietic progenitors in suspension culture, while rapidly-sedimenting cells stimulated only colony formation and not increased progenitors in suspension cultures. Investigations of the properties of media conditioned by these two subpopulations of cells revealed no clear differences between them; both stimulated suspension cultures as well as colony formation, and both lost the former activity, but not the latter, after dialysis. The results contribute to the evidence that more than one process is regulated in cultures of granulopoietic progenitor cells.