Angiographic evaluation of conjoined twins

Two sets of conjoined twins were studied by angiocardiography and cerebral angiography. Conjoined heart was demonstrated in the thoracopagus twins and surgical separation was impossible. Cerebral angiography disclosed the separate circulations in craniopagus twins and surgical separation was performed.Presented at 14th Meeting of the European Society of Pediatric Radiology, Luzern, May 11–14, 1977     

A Bayesian hierarchical assessment of gastric emptying with the linear,power exponential and modified power exponential models

Background Many studies assessed gastric retention over time utilizing different models, mostly with scintigraphic measures at varied endpoints from limited number of normal volunteers. With a standardized 4‐h gastric emptying (GE) protocol, we compared model fit by the linear, power exponential (PE), and modified power exponential (MPE) models to contrast differences in GE among different groups based on clinical diagnosis and gender. Methods We retrospectively collected 320 patient records with four consecutive hourly scintigraphic measures of percent intragastric residual at the Kansas University Medical Center. We obtained parameter estimates with the Bayesian hierarchical models using informative priors from previous research. Key Results The PE or MPE model captured the time dependent GE rate better than the linear model. The estimated GE rates more than doubled for those without gastroparesis compared to patients diagnosed with gastroparesis. Males tended to empty gastric content faster but were not significantly different from females at the 5% level. Conclusions & Inferences The point estimates and 95% credible interval for GE rates obtained with the PE and MPE models may provide an alternative diagnostic tool for clinicians since it utilizes gastric emptying scintigraphy measures at multiple endpoints which may be sensitive to different aspects of the disease. No agreement in lag phases was obtained by the three models based on respective definitions from previous researches, but similar results would be obtained with the PE and MPE models if both defined lag phase by back projecting the regression lines to the same gastric retention level.     

Excretory urography with iohexol: evaluation in children

A multicenter clinical study was conducted using iohexol, a second-generation nonionic contrast medium, for excretory urography performed in 130 children. Doses of iohexol (300 mg iodine/ml) ranged between 150 and 660 mgI/kg (0.5 and 2.2 ml/kg). Iohexol was tolerated well, and no significant adverse reactions occurred. Sixty-five iohexol urograms were evaluated to determine the minimum dose for adequate visualization of the kidneys and collecting systems. A dose greater than 300 mgI/kg (1.0 ml/kg) always resulted in a urogram of diagnostic quality, while visualization was insufficient for diagnosis in 10% of studies done with doses of 150-300 mgI/kg (0.5-1.0 ml/kg). Another 65 iohexol urograms were compared in a blinded manner with a similar number of studies performed using iothalamate meglumine at comparable iodine concentration and dose. Visualization of calyces and pelvoinfundibular structures achieved with iohexol was rated better with statistical significance, but there was no difference in visualization of the renal parenchyma or ureters. Use of iohexol in excretory urography may be advantageous in children who are at greatest risk for an adverse reaction to contrast media or in those most likely to benefit from use of a low osmolality contrast agent.     

Regulation of anti-immunoglobulin-induced B lymphoma growth arrest by transforming growth factor beta 1 and dexamethasone.

Exposure of the murine B lymphoma cell line WEHI-231 to anti-immunoglobulin M (anti-IgM) antibodies results in growth arrest in the G1 phase of the cell cycle followed by programmed cell death. This response may be analogous to the clonal deletion of immature B cells that occurs when the membrane IgM on these cells is engaged by self-antigens or by anti-IgM antibodies. Thus the WEHI-231 cell line has been a useful in vitro system for identifying factors that modulate anti-Ig-induced growth inhibition and/or clonal deletion. For example, both antigen-induced tolerance induction in immature B cells and anti-Ig-induced growth arrest of WEHI-231 cells are prevented by bacterial lipopolysaccharide or by the products of activated T helper cells. Since negative signaling by membrane Ig may also be regulated by additional factors, we asked whether other cytokines or hormones would regulate the growth of WEHI-231 cells or its response to anti-IgM antibodies. We show here that two compounds that are generally immunosuppressive, transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-beta 1) and the synthetic corticosteroid, dexamethasone, blocked the ability of lipopolysaccharide and T cell-derived lymphokines to protect WEHI-231 cells from anti-IgM-induced growth arrest. In addition, TGF-beta 1 and dexamethasone slightly inhibited the growth of WEHI-231 cells by themselves and also potentiated the growth inhibitory effects of anti-IgM antibodies. Thus for WEHI-231 cells, TGF-beta 1 and dexamethasone are inhibitory factors which favor growth arrest.     

The influence of intestinal ischaemia on energy balance in the myocardium during ischaemia-reperfusion induced cardiac injury in the rat

Inflammation Research -     

组织工程细胞支架的免疫原性研究

目的：以组织工程血管脱细胞支架和仿生髓核组织工程细胞支架、周围神经去细胞神经基膜管为例,介绍组织工程脱细胞支架的免疫原性研究情况. 方法：应用计算机检索Medline 1997-01/2007-03关于免疫原性的文章.检索词“Immunotoxicology”并限定文章的语种类为English.同时利用计算机检索中国期刊全文数据库1997-01/2007-03的相关文章,限定文章语言种类为中文,检索词“组织工程,免疫原性”. 结果：主要组织相容性复合体Ⅰ免疫组织化学方法能够检测血管脱细胞支架的免疫原性;组织学观察及反转录-聚合酶链反应检测γ-干扰素、白细胞介素2、白细胞介素4、白细胞介素10 mRNA表达,可以反映仿生髓核组织工程支架的免疫原性;主要组织相容性复合体Ⅱ抗原可以反映出经过化学萃取后的去细胞预变性神经基膜血管结构保留较完整,免疫原性低. 结论：脱细胞可以极大地降低组织工程支架的免疫原性,从而使得组织工程产品有更广阔的使用前景.