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Intermediate Sensitivity (intermediate + sensitivity)
Selected AbstractsActivity of the antimicrobial polypeptide piscidin 2 against fish ectoparasitesJOURNAL OF FISH DISEASES, Issue 6 2008A Colorni Abstract The antiparasitic effects of piscidin 2, an antimicrobial polypeptide (AMPP) first isolated from mast cells of hybrid striped bass, were tested against three protistan ectoparasites of marine fish (the ciliates Cryptocaryon irritans and Trichodina sp., and the dinoflagellate Amyloodinium ocellatum) and one ciliate ectoparasite of freshwater fish (Ichthyophthirius multifiliis). I. multifiliis was the most susceptible parasite, with all theronts killed at 6.3 ,g mL,1 piscidin 2. The most resistant parasite was Trichodina, where a few cells were killed at 12.5 ,g mL,1, but several were still alive even at 100 ,g mL,1. C. irritans was of intermediate sensitivity, with some theronts killed at 12.5 ,g mL,1 and all killed at 25 ,g mL,1. High parasite density apparently exhausted the piscidin 2 before it could attain its maximal effect, but surviving parasites were often visibly damaged. The lower efficacy of piscidin 2 against marine parasites compared with the freshwater ciliate might be related to the inhibitory effects of high sea water cation levels. The tissue concentration of piscidins estimated in healthy hybrid striped bass gill (40 ,g mL,1) suggests that piscidin 2 is lethal to the parasites tested at physiological concentrations and is thus an important component of innate defence in fish expressing this type of AMPP. [source] The differential effects of the radioprotectant drugs amifostine and sodium selenite treatment in combination with radiation therapy on constituent bone cells, ewing's sarcoma of bone tumor cells, and rhabdomyosarcoma tumor cells in vitroJOURNAL OF ORTHOPAEDIC RESEARCH, Issue 11 2008Bryan S. Margulies Abstract The purpose of this study was to determine the differential effects of therapeutic X-radiation on constituent bone cells relative to the pediatric tumor cells: Ewing's sarcoma of bone and rhabdomyosarcoma. In addition, the radioprotectant drugs amifostine and sodium selenite were administered to constituent bone cells and the two tumor cells to determine if the radioprotectants differentially protect bone cells while not benefiting the tumor cells. These studies are a necessary first step in determining the potential clinical benefit of radioprotective therapy. An established in vitro cell culture model employing both constituent bone cells (osteoblasts, primary bone marrow monocytes, osteoclasts chondrocytes, and endothelial cells) and the tumor cells lines (Ewing's sarcoma of bone and rhabdomyosarcoma) were exposed to irradiation, amifostine, and sodium selenite. Cells were then assayed for changes in cell number, cytotoxicity, mineralization, bone resorption, cell attachment, osteocalcin, caspase-3 expression, clonogenic survival, and alkaline phosphatase expression. Radiation therapy differentially decreased cell number; with osteoblasts being shown to be the least sensitive to irradiation, the tumor cells had an intermediate sensitivity and monocytes were the most sensitive. Both amifostine and sodium selenite protected chondrocytes and osteoblasts from the negative effects of irradiation, while not protecting the tumor cells. The pediatric tumor cell lines were generally more radiosensitive than the bone cells examined. The radioprotectant drugs amifostine and sodium selenite provided significant radioprotection to constituent bone cells while not protecting the tumor cells. Finally, amifostine and sodium selenite therapy provided an additional benefit beyond radioprotection by increasing cytotoxicity in nonirradiated and irradiated tumor cells. © 2008 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 26:1512,1519, 2008 [source] Abstracts of the 8th Meeting of the Italian Peripheral Nerve Study Group: 57JOURNAL OF THE PERIPHERAL NERVOUS SYSTEM, Issue 1 2003D Cocito BACKGROUND: Since 1991, five sets of electrophysiological criteria for CIDP have been reported. However, until now, receiver operator characteristic (ROC), such as sensitivity and specificity, of only AAN criteria were investigated, showing a high specificity, but intermediate sensitivity. The application of these criteria may be useful in clinical trials, but is inadequate in clinical practice, since they preclude immunomodulating treatment in patients who do not meet them. OBJECTIVE: 1) to evaluate the ROC and predictive value of five different electrophysiological criteria for CIDP (AAN, INCAT, Rotta et al, Nicholas et al. and Saperstein et al.); 2) to identify the most informative electrophysiological features indicative of demyelination by mean of the likelihood ratio; 3) to determine, in our series of cases, a set of minimal electrophysiological criteria (albeit aspecific) enough sensitive for CIDP diagnosis. PATIENTS AND METHODS: 20 patients with sensorimotor polyneuropathy, progressive for at least 2 months, with weakness in least two limbs and documented improvement in strength in response to immunotherapy. Other potential causes were excluded, including diabetes and IgM paraproteinemia with or without anti-MAG reactivity. Twelve patients with axonal polyneuropathy associated with diabetes and 12 patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis were included as controls. Nerve conduction studies (NCS) were evaluated according to all five sets of NCS criteria and ROC was calculated. Likelihood ratio for CIDP was evaluated for each set of NCS criteria and for presence of each of the following features in different number of nerves: motor conduction velocities (MCV), conduction blocks/temporal dispersion, distal motor (DML) and F-wave latencies (FWL). MCV, DML and FWL were considered indicative of demyelination if decreased or increased as suggested by AAN criteria. Results will be discussed. [source] Genetics of individual differences in bitter taste perception: lessons from the PTC geneCLINICAL GENETICS, Issue 4 2005UK Kim The ability or inability to taste the compound phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) is a classic inherited trait in humans and has been the subject of genetic and anthropological studies for over 70 years. This trait has also been shown to correlate with a number of dietary preferences and thus may have important implications for human health. The recent identification of the gene that underlies this phenotype has produced several surprising findings. This gene is a member of the T2R family of bitter taste receptor genes. It exists in seven different allelic forms, although only two of these, designated the major taster and major non-taster forms, exist at high frequency outside sub-Saharan Africa. The non-taster allele resides on a small chromosomal region identical by descent, indicating that non-tasters are descended from an ancient founder individual, and consistent with an origin of the non-taster allele preceding the emergence of modern humans out of Africa. The two major forms differ from each other at three amino acid positions, and both alleles have been maintained at high frequency by balancing natural selection, suggesting that the non-taster allele serves some function. We hypothesize that this function is to serve as a receptor for another, as yet unidentified toxic bitter substance. At least some of the remaining five haplotypes appear to confer intermediate sensitivity to PTC, suggesting future detailed studies of the relationships between receptor structure and taste function. [source] | ||||||||||