Hepatitis G virus: a suitable marker of in vivo efficacy for pathogen inactivation

Being an orphan virus despite a large number of investigations, hepatitis G virus is a blood-borne agent for which screening is not required in blood donations. The in vivo efficacy of pathogen inactivation methods could be assessed by the absence of hepatitis G virus markers after transfusion of pathogen-inactivated blood products, in recipients susceptible to infection before the transfusion.     

Effect of estrogen plasma binding on sexual differentiation of the rat fetus.

alpha-Fetoprotein, the estradiol-binding plasma protein (EBP), binds estradiol but not R 2858 (11beta-methoxy-17-ethynyl-estradiol) specifically. R 2858 interferes more markedly than estradiol with the sexual differentiation of the male rat fetus following treatment of the mother during the final stages of gestation. Moreover, its tissular uptake is higher. These facts suggest that alpha-fetoprotein protects the fetus from the high circulating hormone concentrations present in the pregnant mother. The hormone, once transferred to the fetus, is retained in its vascular bed by EBP.     

Analysis of segmental kinetics of the left ventricle after intravenous administration of urokinase in the acute phase of myocardial infarction

From 1982 to 1984 included, 31 patients under 70 years of age were admitted during the first three hours of a primary myocardial infarction (MI) and are the subject of a randomized prospective study. 16 patients are treated with 5,000 U of heparin given in intravenous bolus, followed with 150,000 IU of urokinase (UK) in intravenous bolus, then 12,000 IU of UK/min for 90 min or a total dose of 1,230,000 IU. 15 patients are treated with heparin alone (intravenous bolus of 5,000 U). Repeated titrations of creatine phosphokinase (CPK) and the coagulation parameters are performed during the first 24 hours. A coronary angiography with ventriculography (RAO 30 degrees) is performed on the 1st day (D1) and the 3rd week (W3). Study of the left ventricular kinetics (LV) is carried out according to the Stanford method. At D1, the rate of coronary patency is 56 p cent (n = 9) in the UK (A) group and 53 p. cent (n = 8) in the control group B (heparin alone). The percentage of late re-thrombosis is 0 p. cent in group A and 12.5 p. cent in group B (heparin alone). 1 patient died in each group. The CPK peak is less high in case of coronary patency in group A than in case of thrombosis (1,444 +/- 413 vs 1,710 +/- 120 U -heparin alone) and occurs earlier (16 +/- 2 h vs 21 +/- 1 h). In group A a significant decrease of fibrinogen (p. 0.01) as well as plasminogen and alpha-2-antiplasmins (p less than 0.001), is noted. No severe haemorrhagic complications nor sustained rhythm disorders are noted.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

A new method of measuring the stiffness of corpus cavernosum penis with ShearWave? Elastography

Objective:

To evaluate the feasibility of measuring the stiffness of corpus cavernosum penis (CCP) with ShearWave™ Elastography (SWE; SuperSonic Imagine, Aix-en-Provence, France).

Methods:

40 healthy volunteers with ages ranging from 19 to 81 years (mean, 36 years; standard deviation, 17 years) were selected in this study. The ultrafast ultrasound device Aixplorer^® (SuperSonic Imagine) was used for the research and the probe selected was SuperLinear™ SL15-4 (SuperSonic Imagine). The shear wave stiffness (SWS) of CCP was measured using SWE images. The measurement indexes of SWS included (1) SWS of CCP measured in the transverse section (SWS-T), (2) SWS of CCP measured in the longitudinal section (SWS-L) and (3) mean of SWS-T and SWS-L (SWS-M). The interval between hormone test and SWE examination of each subject was less than 7 days. The paired t-test was used to analyse the differences between SWS-T and SWS-L. The Pearson correlation was used to analyse the correlation of SWS of CCP with age as well as with sex hormone levels.

Results:

There was no significant difference between SWS-T and SWS-L (p > 0.05). SWS (SWS-T, SWS-L, SWS-M) was negatively correlated with age and oestradiol value, and SWS (SWS-T, SWS-L, SWS-M) was positively correlated with testosterone value.

Conclusion:

SWE could serve as a new non-invasive method of evaluating the stiffness of CCP.

Advances in knowledge:

It is the first time that we have discussed the feasibility of measuring the stiffness of CCP with SWE and analysed the correlation of SWS of CCP with age as well as with sex hormone levels.ShearWave™ Elastography (SWE; SuperSonic Imagine, Aix-en-Provence, France) is a new ultrasound technology that could be used to assess tissue stiffness in clinic and is currently the only elastography technology certified by the US Food and Drug Administration. This technology makes it possible to quantify the tissue stiffness accurately. Unlike early elastography methods, which rely on manual compression and measuring tissue displacement, SWE requires no manual compression, and it uses ultrasonic pulse to make the tissue generate shear waves. A real-time SWE map is produced by detection of shear wave velocity and colour coding. Since the propagation speed of the shear wave is determined by the stiffness of tissue, the real-time SWE map could be used to measure the overall and local stiffness of tissue exactly. Studies have shown that this technology could be used to evaluate the stiffness of intravital tissue accurately.^1–3Furthermore, SWE is a safe, non-ionizing and non-invasive technique that has the same thermal and mechanical energy as conventional Doppler imaging. It is applicable to the examination of human reproductive organs. The tissue structure of corpus cavernosum penis (CCP) has important impact on the stiffness of CCP. Therefore, the stiffness of CCP could be used as an index for assessing the tissue structure of CCP. At the same time, the tissue structure of CCP has important impact on the erectile function. So, it is of great clinical significance to measure the stiffness of CCP.The stiffness of CCP is closely associated with age.⁴ Previous pathological studies have indicated that, with increase in age, sinusoids in CCP gradually decrease, occlusion and fibrosis occur, the smooth muscle cells also atrophy and decrease gradually. These changes in tissue structure and composition of CCP can directly lead to the change of its stiffness. The stiffness of CCP is also associated with sex hormone levels. Testosterone can promote the generation of smooth muscle cells and enhance cell vitality in CCP. Cell vitality and generation of smooth muscle cells in CCP decline with testosterone decrease, which can lead to cell atrophy and reduction in their number and consequently a change of stiffness of CCP.^5–7However, at present, no accurate and non-invasive method can be used to assess stiffness of CCP in clinic. In this study, we evaluated the feasibility of measuring stiffness of CCP with SWE by analysing the correlation of the stiffness value of CCP with age as well as sex hormone levels.     

Genetic variation in thrombin-activatable fibrinolysis inhibitor is associated with the risk of diabetic nephropathy

Diabetic nephropathy is a kidney disease or damage that results as a complication of diabetes, especially Type 2 diabetes, while albuminuria is an early marker for diabetic nephropathy as it can predict cardiovascular events and mortality in diabetic patients. A potent inhibitor of fibrinolysis, the thrombin-activatable fibrinolysis inhibitor (TAFI) has been isolated and characterized from human plasma. We investigated the associations of the activity-related variants in the TAFI coding gene (505A/G,1040C/T) with the risk of diabetic nephropathy by examining 297samples including 140 health controls and 157 confirmed diabetic nephropathy patients. Diabetic nephropathy grades were further categorized by the urine albumin excretion (UAE)-to-creatinine ratios (ACR). We found little difference that was statistically significant in terms of 505A/G among patients and controls. While at 1040C/T, the detected frequency for the T allele in the group of diabetic nephropathy patients was significantly smaller than that of the control group (15.6% vs 25.7%, respectively; p<0.05). This was due to the relative decrease of T/T homozygotes in the patients (p<0.05, 95% odds ratio 0.28, confidence interval 0.11-0.70). Surprisingly, the difference was only observed with initial diabetic nephropathy stages. This study clearly indicates that, at 1040C/T, the frequency for the T allele is strongly associated with increased risk for diabetic nephropathy in a subset of the general population, implying that the T allele confers protection against the onset of diabetic nephropathy only in homozygosity and may function as a recessive trait.     

Effects of recombinant dentin sialoprotein in dental pulp cells

Dentin sialophosphoprotein (DSPP) is critical for dentin mineralization. However, the function of dentin sialoprotein (DSP), the cleaved product of DSPP, remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the signal transduction pathways and effects of recombinant human DSP (rh-DSP) on proliferation, migration, and odontoblastic differentiation in human dental pulp cells (HDPCs). The exogenous addition of rh-DSP enhanced the proliferation and migration of HDPCs in dose- and time-dependent manners. rh-DSP markedly increased ALP activity, calcium nodule formation, and levels of odontoblastic marker mRNA. rh-DSP increased BMP-2 expression and Smad1/5/8 phosphorylation, which was blocked by the BMP antagonist, noggin. Furthermore, rh-DSP phosphorylated extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), Akt, and IκB-α, and induced the nuclear translocation of the NF-κB p65 subunit. Analysis of these data demonstrates a novel signaling function of rh-DSP for the promotion of growth, migration, and differentiation in HDPCS via the BMP/Smad, JNK, ERK, MAPK, and NF-κB signaling pathways, suggesting that rh-DSP may have therapeutic utility in dentin regeneration or dental pulp tissue engineering.