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Conditions Likely (condition + likely)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	60%

Selected Abstracts

Sensitivity of Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans and Capnocytophaga spp. to the bactericidal action of LL-37: a cathelicidin found in human leukocytes and epithelium

MOLECULAR ORAL MICROBIOLOGY, Issue 4 2000
D. Tanaka
The bactericidal activity of synthetic LL-37, a cathelicidin, was assessed against Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans (three strains) and Capnocytophaga spp. (three strains). All strains were sensitive to LL-37, and exhibited 99% effective dose of 7.5-to-11.6 ,g/ml. An amidated form of LL-37, pentamide-37, killed with about the same efficacy as LL-37. Partial inhibition of killing was noted at physiologic concentrations of NaCl, and complete inhibition was observed at 400 mM NaCl. At approximately the 99% effective dose , i.e., 10 ,g/ml , LL-37 also lost activity against A. actinomycetemcomitans in the presence of native or heat-inactivated 10,15% normal human AB serum. Pentamide-37 was less sensitive to serum inhibition than LL-37. In conclusion, certain oral, gram-negative bacteria are sensitive to the bactericidal activity of LL-37 at low concentrations of serum and salt, a condition likely to be found within the membrane-delimited phagolysosome. Modified forms of LL-37, such as pentamide-37, may be more suitable for future therapeutic application in the presence of serum. [source]

Evaluation of a bedside blood ketone sensor: the effects of acidosis, hyperglycaemia and acetoacetate on sensor performance

DIABETIC MEDICINE, Issue 7 2004
A. S. A. Khan
Abstract Aims To assess the performance of a handheld bedside ketone sensor in the face of likely metabolic disturbances in diabetic ketoacidosis, namely: pH, glucose and acetoacetate. Methods The effects of pH (7.44,6.83), glucose (5,50 mmol/l) and acetoacetate (0,5 mmol/l) were examined in venous blood to investigate the accuracy of betahydroxybutyrate measurement (0,5 mmol/l) by a handheld ketone sensor. Sensor results were compared with a reference method. Linear regression models were fitted to the difference between the methods with the concentration of metabolite as the explanatory factor. Results Decreasing pH and increasing glucose had no effect on the accuracy of the handheld ketone sensor; the gradients of the fitted lines were ,0.14 and ,0.003, respectively. The 95% confidence intervals were ,0.7,0.4 and ,0.01,0.004, respectively (P = 0.59 and 0.4, respectively). In the acetoacetate study, a positive relationship between the sensor and reference method results was found, the gradient was 0.09. The 95% confidence interval was 0.05,0.14 (P , 0.001), indicating that high concentrations of acetoacetate interfere with the sensor performance. Conclusions Acidosis and hyperglycaemia have minimal effects on the sensor performance. However, high concentrations of acetoacetate result in some overestimation of betahydroxybutyrate. This bedside ketone sensor provides useful data over a broad range of conditions likely to be encountered during moderate to severe diabetic ketoacidosis. [source]

Professional Employer Organizations and Their Role in Small and Medium Enterprises: The Impact of HR Outsourcing

ENTREPRENEURSHIP THEORY AND PRACTICE, Issue 1 2003
Brian S. Klaas
While effective HR services and programs can help firms gain competitive advantage, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) often lack the internal resources required to develop and deliver these services and programs. As a result, SMEs increasingly are outsourcing HR activities to professional employer organizations (PEOs). Questions remain, however, about the conditions under which SMEs will benefit from outsourcing HR to a PEO, as well as about the type of benefits that are potentially available. The very nature of many HR activities raises questions about the risks associated with market governance and a PEO's ability to ensure service quality for SMEs. In order for these questions to be addressed, it is necessary to understand the process by which PEO utilization affects SME outcomes. In this article, we use transaction cost economics, social exchange theory, and the strategic HR literature to develop a framework for understanding the factors and conditions likely to affect whether and how an SME will benefit from using a PEO. [source]

Contribution of NADH Increases to Ethanol's Inhibition of Retinol Oxidation by Human ADH Isoforms

ALCOHOLISM, Issue 4 2009
Jennifer R. Chase
Background:, A decrease in retinoic acid levels due to alcohol consumption has been proposed as a contributor to such conditions as fetal alcohol spectrum diseases and ethanol-induced cancers. One molecular mechanism, competitive inhibition by ethanol of the catalytic activity of human alcohol dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.1) (ADH) on all-trans-retinol oxidation has been shown for the ADH7 isoform. Ethanol metabolism also causes an increase in the free reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) in cells, which might reasonably be expected to decrease the retinol oxidation rate by product inhibition of ADH isoforms. Methods:, To understand the relative importance of these two mechanisms by which ethanol decreases the retinol oxidation in vivo we need to assess them quantitatively. We have built a model system of 4 reactions: (1) ADH oxidation of ethanol and NAD+, (2) ADH oxidation of retinol and NAD+, (3) oxidation of ethanol by a generalized Ethanoloxidase that uses NAD+, (4) NADHoxidase which carries out NADH turnover. Results:, Using the metabolic modeling package ScrumPy, we have shown that the ethanol-induced increase in NADH contributes from 0% to 90% of the inhibition by ethanol, depending on (ethanol) and ADH isoform. Furthermore, while the majority of flux control of retinaldehyde production is exerted by ADH, Ethanoloxidase and the NADHoxidase contribute as well. Conclusions:, Our results show that the ethanol-induced increase in NADH makes a contribution of comparable importance to the ethanol competitive inhibition throughout the range of conditions likely to occur in vivo, and must be considered in the assessment of the in vivo mechanism of ethanol interference with fetal development and other diseases. [source]

Demographic consequences of unpredictability in fertility outcomes

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF HUMAN BIOLOGY, Issue 2 2002
Paul Leslie
Child survival is probabilistic, but the unpredictability in family formation and completed family size has been neglected in the fertility literature. In many societies, ending the family cycle with too few or too many surviving offspring entails serious social, economic, or fitness consequences. A model of risk- (or variance-) sensitive adaptive behavior that addresses long-term fertility outcomes is presented. The model shows that under conditions likely to be common, optimal, risk-sensitive reproductive strategies deviate systematically from the completed family size that would be expected if reproductive outcome is were predictable. This is termed the "variance compensation hypothesis." Variance compensation may be either positive or negative, resulting in augmented or diminished fertility. Which outcome obtained is a function of identifiable social, economic, and environmental factors. Through its effect on fertility behavior, variance compensation has a direct bearing on birth spacing and completed fertility, and thereby on problems in demography and human population biology ranging from demographic transitions to maternal depletion and child health. Risk-sensitive models will be a necessary component of a general theory of fertility. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 14:168,183, 2002. © 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]