Routine coronary angiography prior to elective aortic reconstruction: results of selective myocardial revascularization in patients with peripheral vascular disease.

Routine coronary angiography to determine the prevalence of severe coronary artery disease (CAD) has been recommended to all patients under consideration for elective peripheral vascular reconstruction at the Cleveland (Ohio) Clinic since April 1978. Those found to have severe, correctable CAD have been advised to undergo myocardial revascularization prior to performance of elective peripheral vascular operations. Forty-one of the 68 patients with abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) and 26 of the 71 patients with aortoiliac occlusive arterial disease (AI) had clinical evidence of CAD; coronary angiography demonstrated severe, correctable CAD in 23 patients with AAA and in 14 patients with AI. Twenty-seven patients with AAA and 45 patients with AI had no clinical evidence of CAD; severe, correctable CAD was found in six patients with AAA and in six patients with AI. Ninety-six patients, including 26 who had staged cardiac procedures performed, have had elective aortic reconstruction, with one operative death.     

Using Intervention Mapping to develop a programme to prevent sexually transmittable infections,including HIV,among heterosexual migrant men

Background  

There is little experience with carefully developed interventions in the HIV/STI prevention field aimed at adult heterosexual target groups in the Netherlands. The ability to apply intervention development protocols, like Intervention Mapping, in daily practice outside of academia, is a matter of concern. An urgent need also exists for interventions aimed at the prevention of STI in migrant populations in the Netherlands. This article describes the theory and evidence based development of HIV/STI prevention interventions by the Municipal Public Health Service Rotterdam Area (MPHS), the Netherlands, for heterosexual migrant men with Surinamese, Dutch-Caribbean, Cape Verdean, Turkish and Moroccan backgrounds.     

缺氧对HRE-TK/GCV系统杀伤骨肉瘤细胞的增强作用

目的:探讨缺氧条件下,缺氧反应元件启动子-胸苷激酶/丙氧鸟苷(HRE-TK/GCV)系统对骨肉瘤细胞系MG63靶向性杀伤作用.方法:构建由HRE启动子驱动的含潮霉素磷酸转移酶-单纯疱疹病毒胸腺嘧啶激酶(Hygromycin phosphotransferase-thymidine kinase,HyTK)融合基因的真核表达质粒pBI-HRE-HyTK,并将其转染入骨肉瘤细胞系MG63.应用PCR和RT-PCR方法检测TK基因的整合及表达;用MTT法和混合共培养实验分别检测转基因细胞在缺氧或不缺氧状态下对GCV的敏感性以及HRE-TK/GCV系统的"旁观者效应";流式细胞仪检测细胞周期改变及电镜观察细胞超微结构变化探讨其作用机制.结果:成功构建了真核表达质粒pBI-HRE-HyTK,得到转基因细胞系MG63TK.检测到MG63TK细胞内TK基因的DNA和mRNA.MG63TK细胞在不缺氧状态下对GCV不敏感,当GCV浓度达50μg/ml时,仅30%左右细胞被杀死;而缺氧状态下,GCV浓度1μg/ml时,50%左右细胞被杀死,GCV浓度50μg/ml时,90%以上细胞被杀死.混合共培养实验中,缺氧状态下,HRE-TK/GCV系统旁观者效应明显增强,MG63细胞存活率显著低于不缺氧状态下.缺氧和GCV共同作用使转基因细胞DNA合成抑制,细胞周期阻滞于G0G1期,细胞发生凋亡和坏死.结论:缺氧可以增强HRE-TK/GCV系统对体外培养骨肉瘤细胞系选择性的杀伤作用和旁观者效应,该系统为骨肉瘤靶向性基因治疗提供了新的有效途径.     

Seasonality of service provision in hip and knee surgery: A possible contributor to waiting times? A time series analysis

Background  

The question of how best to reduce waiting times for health care, particularly surgical procedures such as hip and knee replacements is among the most pressing concern of the Canadian health care system. The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that significant seasonal variation exists in the performance of hip and knee replacement surgery in the province of Ontario.     

Immune and protective abilities of ubiquitinated and non-ubiquitinated pseudorabies virus glycoproteins

Plasmids encoding ubiquitinated (ubi-) or non-ubiquitinated (non-ubi-) glycoproteins of Pseudorabies virus (PRV) were used for vaccination of pigs. We found that the fusion of ubiquitin to viral glycoproteins increased their degradation in proteasomes in vitro, in which ubiquitin plays a key role. In the animals immunized with the plasmids encoding PRV ubi-glycoproteins and then challenged with PRV, we detected a slightly decreased cellular immune response on days 13 and 19 after immunization and a reduced nasal excretion of infectious virus on day 2 after the challenge. Afterwards, no effect of the ubiquitination of the glycoproteins on humoral or cellular immunity and on excretion of infectious virus was observed. Similarly, no effect of the ubiquitination on protective abilities of PRV glycoproteins was found.