Atherosclerosis is responsible for the death of thousands of Americans each year. The carotid constriction model of plaque development has recently been presented as a model for unstable plaque formation in mice. In this study we 1) validate ultrasound biomicroscopy (UBM) for the determination of carotid plaque size, percent stenosis, ...

The aim of this study was to investigate if blood levels of trace and/or heavy metals are related to atherosclerosis in a cross-sectional study in elderly. In the population-based Prospective Investigation of the Vasculature in Uppsala Seniors (PIVUS) study (1016 subjects, all aged 70), the prevalence of carotid artery plaques ...

Objective: The purpose of this clinical study was to compare the retention rates of two flowable restorative systems (Admira Flow and Grandio Flow) with that of a conventional resin-based sealant (Fissurit F). Materials and Methods: The study was planned as a clinical trial with a split-mouth design. A total of ...

Background: The clinical use of an enamel matrix derivative (EMD) has been shown to promote formation of new cementum, periodontal ligament and bone and to significantly enhance the clinical outcomes following regenerative periodontal surgery. At the time being it is unknown to what extent the bleeding during periodontal surgery may ...

Arteriovenous malformations are extremely rare conditions in that can result from abnormalities in the structure of blood vessels, which may be potentially fatal. A 30-year-old female patient visited our hospital with a complaint of swelling on the right maxillary posterior gingiva along with the large port-wine stain on right side ...

PURPOSE: To combine a motion-sensitized driven equilibrium (MSDE) preparation with a multi-echo spoiled gradient-echo sequence (SPGR) to suppress the blood signal intensity in T2* mapping of carotid plaques and liver. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The analytical solution of the Bloch equations for the multi-echo SPGR sequence, with and without the MSDE ...

Aims: To evaluate the plaque characteristics that predispose to the slow flow phenomenon during percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). The slow flow phenomenon is a serious complication of PCI and is associated with poor prognosis. It is difficult to predict this phenomenon from greyscale intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) data obtained before PCI. ...

It is essential for a dental surgeon or a periodontist to detect blood glucose level for patients whose signs and symptoms are suggestive of diabetes. Seventy patients in the age group of 40 to 80 years of either sex were selected for the study. The study population included patients with ...

Background: The objective of this study was to measure the intra operative bleeding during periodontal flap surgery. Methods: Patients scheduled for periodontal surgery were recruited for this study. Data regarding patients smoking habits, general health and medications were collected. The amount of the local anesthetic that was injected was than ...

Radially oriented anthracene nanowires and their self-assembled concentric ring arrays were prepared through a facial solvent-evaporation method. The successful growth of anthracene nanowires can be attributed to a combined mechanism of molecular self-assembly facilitated by strong π-π intermolecular interactions together with evaporation-induced capillary flow and fingering instability. Their radial orientation ...

Purpose: To determine whether wide-volume perfusion computed tomography (CT) performed with a new generation scanner can allow evaluation of the effects of chemotherapy combined with antiangiogenetic treatment on the whole tumor mass in patients with locally advanced lung adenocarcinoma and to determine if changes in CT numbers correlate with the ...

Ex vivo circuits are commonly used to evaluate biomaterials or devices used for extracorporeal blood purification. However, various aspects of the ex vivo circuit, apart from the circuit materials, may affect inflammation and coagulation. One such aspect is temperature. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of ...

This work presents a novel method for concurrent estimation of the fractional blood volume and the mean vessel size of tumors based on a multi-gradient-echo-multi-spin-echo sequence and the injection of a super-paramagnetic blood-pool agent. The approach further comprises a post-processing technique for simultaneous estimation of changes in the transverse relaxation ...

Purpose: To quantify tumor blood flow by using contrast material-enhanced destruction-replenishment ultrasonography (US) to evaluate tumor response to different doses of an agent for antiangiogenic treatment in hepatoma-bearing mice, with histologic measurements of microvascular density (MVD) as the reference standard. Materials and Methods: Experiments were approved by the regional animal ...

Abstract Background. Successful tumor targeting of systemically administered oncolytic adenoviruses may be hindered by interactions with blood components. Materials and methods. Blood distribution of oncolytic adenoviruses featuring type 5 adenovirus fiber, 5/3 capsid chimerism, or RGD-4C in the fiber knob was investigated in vitro and in patients with refractory solid ...

Since 2000, blood donor screening for parvovirus B19 (B19) by nucleic acid testing (NAT) at the Ulm Institute has been conducted 6 to 8 weeks postdonation, that is, after transfusion of cellular blood products, whereas at the Frankfurt Institute all donations are screened before releasing any blood product. In this ...

INTRODUCTION. Periodontal diseases are among the most common chronic infections in humans. Chronic low-level bacteremia and a septicemic inflammatory response have been suggested as a pathogenetic link between periodontal disease and atherosclerosis, diabetes and other systemic diseases. All this significantly increases the relevance of the search for the means for ...

Recent evidence has suggested that the presence and proliferation of vasa vasorum (VV) in the plaque is correlated to an increase in plaque inflammation and destabilization, leading to acute coronary events (e.g., heart attacks). Therefore, the detection and quantification of VV in plaque (i.e., extra luminal blood perfusion) is an ...

The causal association of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) with bovine spongiform encephalopathy has raised significant concerns for public health. Assays for vCJD infection are vital for the application of therapeutics, for the screening of organ donations, and to maintain a safe blood supply. Currently the best diagnostic tools for vCJD ...

In this report, we demonstrate a semi-integrated electrical biosensor for the detection of rare circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in blood. The sample was first enriched through a combination of immunomagnetic isolation and size filtration. The integration of both methods provided a high enrichment performance with a recovery rate above 70%, ...

Little is known about blood flow in sarcomas. Our purpose was to study glucose metabolism and blood flow in untreated localized musculoskeletal tumors of the extremities using [(18)F]fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG), oxygen-15 labeled water ([15O]H(2)O) and positron emission tomography (PET). Six patients with high-grade osteosarcoma (OS), two with soft-tissue sarcoma (STS) and ...

Oxidative stress, which is present in Alzheimer's disease (AD), results in the formation of various end-products of free radical reactions with proteins and lipids. At present there are no reliable diagnostic biomarkers of AD in the blood. Therefore, specific products of lipid peroxidation in the blood of AD patients were ...

Efforts to reduce the risk of transfusion-transmitted infectious diseases began more than 4 decades ago with testing donated blood for syphilis. During the subsequent 4 decades, the number of recognized blood-borne transmissible agents and new laboratory tests has proliferated to a logistical breaking point. Further, the number of "emerging agents" ...

In-line leukoreduction (LR) filters decrease adverse clinical sequelae caused by residual white blood cells (WBCs). Such filtration, however, can remove platelets (PLTs) needed for production of PLT concentrates (PCs). This study measured in vitro and in vivo efficacy of a new whole blood PLT-sparing LR filter (WBPSF) system that performs ...

To determine whether older dogs will have a more pronounced pro-inflammatory response and blunted anti-inflammatory response to pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) compared with younger dogs. Prospective. University teaching hospital. Thirty-eight privately owned sexually altered dogs of various ages. Blood was collected for HCT, WBC count, plasma biochemical analysis, and whole ...

To screen micro-organisms for inducing the production of dragon's blood, which is normally produced by stem xylem and by leaf of Dracaena cochinchinensis, and to evaluate the product by comparing with the standard. Thirty microbial strains were isolated from D. cochinchinensis leaves. Three of them were confirmed to elicit the ...

The present study evaluates the effect of isolated fractions of Harpagophytum procumbens (devil's claw) on cyclooxygenase (COX-1 and COX-2) activities and NO production using a whole blood assay. The activity of COX-1 was quantified as platelet thromboxane B(2) production in blood clotting and COX-2 as prostaglandin E(2) production in LPS-stimulated ...

A history of anaphylaxis after transfusion of immunoglobulin A (IgA)-containing blood products in selective IgA-deficient (sIgAD) patients can be a major problem, particularly in emergencies, when large quantities of blood products are required. A 19-year-old woman with end-stage Type 2 autoimmune hepatitis required liver transplantation as her only remaining treatment ...

Aqueous humor production is a metabolically active process sustained by the delivery of oxygen and nutrients and removal of metabolic waste by the ciliary circulation. This article describes our investigations into the relationship between ciliary blood flow and aqueous humor production. The results presented indicate that there is a dynamic ...

In 2008 the Australian government decided to remove white blood cells from all blood products. This policy of universal leucodepletion was a change to the existing policy of supplying leucodepleted products to high risk patients only. The decision was made without strong information about the cost-effectiveness of universal leucodepletion. The ...

In high-volume processing environments, manual breakage of in-line closures can result in repetitive strain injury (RSI). Furthermore, these closures may be incorrectly opened causing shear-induced hemolysis. To overcome the variability of in-line closure use and minimize RSI, Fresenius Kabi developed a new in-line closure, the CompoFlow, with mechanical openers. The ...

The use of blood donor history and state-of-the-art FDA-licensed serological and nucleic acid testing (NAT) assays have greatly reduced the "infectious window" for several transfusion-transmitted pathogens. Currently transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), Human T-cell Lymphotropic Virus (HTLV), hepatitis viruses and West Nile Virus are rare events. The seroprevalence of ...

Pathogen reduction of labile blood products offers the opportunity to introduce to the blood banking community the same mechanism of protection that is employed for fractionated or pooled plasma products today--blood components that have been treated with methods to inactivate or reduce the infectivity of a variety of organisms that ...

Abstract Various types of porous resin adsorbents based on polystyrene, agarose, and cellulose as matrixes coupling with DNA, amino acids and other biological active molecules as ligands were extensively studied in China. Molecular recognition between the ligand and pathogenic molecule was investigated. Several commercialized products are now widely used in ...

Microfluidic flow-focusing technology is used to investigate the effect on drop formation due to the production of a surfactant via an interfacial chemical reaction. The reactants are an aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and a mixture of oleic acid (C(17)H(33)-COOH) and mineral oil, for the dispersed and continuous phase ...

To establish blood product usage and wastage within a UK emergency department (ED). A retrospective case note review of patients presenting to the ED requiring blood products. Between 1 January 2007 and 31 December 2007, 770 transfusion requests were identified, representing 3209 units of blood products. Gastrointestinal bleeding was the ...

The past two decades saw tremendous achievements in blood safety, which are due to the commitment of blood establishments and industry, progress in technology such as the improvement of serological and NAT screening tests, and stringent regulatory control. Milestones in the legislation were the inclusion of plasma derivatives in the ...

This article reconstructs governance practices related to blood policy that have developed within in the European Union (EU) over the last 15 years. It describes core aspects of the policy and argues that, despite an integrated cooperative approach between policy-makers and practitioners, this policy remains an open and evolving process. ...

Following the publication of recent retrospective and highly debated studies, transfusionists are increasingly asking for improved tools to assess the quality of transfusion-relevant products. At its dawn, proteomics emerged as a potential candidate for in-depth investigations of blood components and plasma derivatives. As its maturity is now at hand, the ...

The use of stainless steel, a metal employed in a wide range of technology applications, has been characterized for 51 countries and the world for the years 2000 and 2005. We find that the global stainless steel flow-into-use increased by more than 30% in that 5 year period, as did ...

Since Darwins' pioneering experiments, monocot coleoptiles have been used to investigate indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) production and polar transport. In a recent study, using maize coleoptiles, we first showed that the asymmetric IAA flow from the tip in response to gravistimulus directly affects the TIR/AFBs-mediated auxin signaling pathway, which results in ...

Technologic advances in diagnostic testing, vaccinations, pathogen inactivation, and vigilant donor screening have greatly reduced the risk of transmitting pathogens through blood transfusion. Nevertheless, transfusion-related infections and fatalities continue to be reported, and emerging pathogens continue to become an increasing threat to the blood supply. This threat is even greater ...

In the developed world, blood products are tested for the presence of some of pathogens prior to administration. There exists a small, but definite risk of transmission of infectious agents. The risk of transmission of viral infection is due to the "window period": the period of time between the infection ...

A critical aspect of blood transfusion is the timely provision of high quality blood products. This task remains a significant challenge for many blood services and blood systems reflecting the difficulty of balancing the recruitment of sufficient donors, the optimal utilization of the donor's gift, the increasing safety related restrictions ...

In this study, we demonstrate that a moderate amount of protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA) coupled to a novel surround optical fibre immunoassay (SOFIA) detection scheme can be used to detect the disease-associated form of the prion protein (PrP(Sc)) in protease-untreated plasma from preclinical and clinical scrapie sheep, and white-tailed ...

A new strategy for chemoselective reaction using a two inlet micro-flow reactor is described. In this system, the combined use of suitable flow mode and corresponding cathode material enables chemoselective cathodic reduction to control the product regioselectivity in carbonyl allylation.

A concise, flow-based synthesis of Imatinib, a compound used for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukaemia, is described whereby all steps are conducted in tubular flow coils or cartridges packed with reagents or scavengers to effect clean product formation. An in-line solvent switching procedure was developed enabling the procedure to ...

Formerly developed resuscitation fluids solely imitated the main function of the blood -oxygen transport. A research driven by the army requested an oxygen carrier that does not need cross typing and cooled storage. Artificial oxygen carriers (AOC) use either the molecular oxygen bondage to hemoglobin: HBOC- "hemoglobin based oxygen carriers" ...

Historically, the Australian Defence Force (ADF) has sourced all its blood supplies from the Australian Red Cross Blood Service. Recent ADF operations in the Middle East have highlighted a need to rely on other nations' blood supply systems. In 2008, the ADF embedded a surgical and intensive care team into ...

Since the genomic era has not fully kept its promises, studies addressing the protein complement to the genome have been recently gaining momentum. Proteomics investigations could be potentially used from bench to bedside, in order to test the quality of collected blood components prior to or during storage. In parallel, ...