Several Protocols (several + protocol)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Reviewing the efficacy of changing prophylactic measures for the prevention of bisphosphonate related osteonecrosis of the jaws (BRONJ) in the management of oral surgery patients

ORAL SURGERY, Issue 3 2010
C.J. Hanson
Abstract Aims:, Many papers postulate treatments for established bisphosphonate related osteonecrosis of the jaws (BRONJ) or advise on ideal long-term strategies to avoid BRONJ. This article demonstrates prophylactic regimes and compares their outcomes when patients' acute symptoms demand active treatments involving bone. It assesses the efficacy of the protocols developed at Dundee Dental Hospital for prophylaxis of BRONJ in the management of patients undergoing oral surgery. Materials and methods:, This prospective study tracked the progress of patients who were treated in the exodontia clinics and had taken, or were taking bisphosphonates. Their consequent recovery was documented over 1, 4, 12 and 24 weeks. The prophylactic protocol followed was recorded. These data were then reviewed for healing, operator, jaw predilection and co-morbidity influences. Results:, In total, 25 patients were treated over the 1 year period of the study 2008,09. This amounted to 33 oral surgery treatments involving 64 extractions. Several protocols had been followed however these were grouped into: antimicrobial or chlorhexidine based protocols. In all cases, complete healing was achieved. Concomitant steroid use and increasing age were the only associated co-morbidities that increased the length of healing time. There were no direct associations of any of the other variables with healing. No prophylactic protocol was superior to another with chlorhexidine rinses proving as efficacious as any of the antibiotic regimes. Conclusion:, For patients taking oral bisphosphonates, simple extractions carried out with minimal trauma by graduate and supervised undergraduate operators with prophylactic chlorhexidine rinses, heal as satisfactorily as those with antibiotic based protocols for prophylaxis. [source]


In vivo DNA gene electro-transfer: a systematic analysis of different electrical parameters

THE JOURNAL OF GENE MEDICINE, Issue 11 2005
Immacolata Zampaglione
Abstract Background Intramuscular plasmid injection followed by electroporation is an efficient method for gene therapy or vaccination. Several protocols have been described that give good transduction levels with several reporter genes. Methods In this work we have explored the efficiency of gene delivery upon variation of the different electrical parameters such as pulse length frequency and voltage monitoring both on short- and long-term protein production. Results Having defined the best performing parameters, we have designed a short electric treatment that gives good levels of plasmid-encoded protein in different species such as mice, rabbits and monkeys. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Evaluation of Immunosuppressive Regimens in ABO-Incompatible Living Kidney Transplantation,Single Center Analysis

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF TRANSPLANTATION, Issue 4 2007
H. Ishida
Several protocols allow the successful ABO incompatible living-related kidney transplantation (ABO-ILKT), yet no single method has emerged as the best. We have made several substantial changes to our ABO-ILKT protocol over the past decade and a half and have attempted to determine whether the changes in immunosuppressive agents have resulted in a better outcome. We used methylprednisolone (MP), cyclosporine (CsA), azathioprine (AZ), antilymphocyte globulin (ALG) and deoxyspergualine (DSG) in the 105 cases of ABO-ILKT (group 1) between 1989 and 1999, and MP, tacrolimus (FK506), mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) in the 117 cases of ABO-ILKT (group 2) between 2000 and 2004. We compared the patient and graft survival rates as well as the incidence rate of acute rejection in these two eras, when different regimens were used. There were significant differences in the 1- and 5-year graft survival rates between groups 1 and 2 (1-year: 78% in group 1 vs. 94% in group 2; 5-year: 73% in group 1 vs. 90% in group 2, p = 0.008). Also, a higher incidence rate of acute rejection was significantly observed in group 1 (50/105, 48%) than in group 2 (18/117, 15%) (p < 0.001). We conclude that the FK/MMF combination regimen provides excellent graft survival results in ABO-ILKT. [source]


Evidence for neural stem cells in the medaka optic tectum proliferation zones,

DEVELOPMENTAL NEUROBIOLOGY, Issue 10 2010
Alessandro Alunni
Abstract Few adult neural stem cells have been characterized in vertebrates. Although teleosts continually generate new neurons in many regions of the brain after embryogenesis, only two types of neural stem cells (NSCs) have been reported in zebrafish: glial cells in the forebrain resembling mammalian NSCs, and neuroepithelial cells in the cerebellum. Here, following our previous studies on dividing progenitors (Nguyen et al. [1999]: J Comp Neurol 413:385,404.), we further evidenced NSCs in the optic tectum (OT) of juvenile and adult in the medaka, Oryzias latipes. To detect very slowly cycling progenitors, we did not use the commonly used BrdU/PCNA protocol, in which PCNA may not be present during a transiently quiescent state. Instead, we report the optimizations of several protocols involving long subsequent incubations with two thymidine analogs (IdU and CldU) interspaced with long chase times between incubations. These protocols allowed us to discriminate and localize fast and slow cycling cells in OT of juvenile and adult in the medaka. Furthermore, we showed that adult OT progenitors are not glia, as they express neither brain lipid-binding protein (BLBP) nor glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). We also showed that expression of pluripotency-associated markers (Sox2, Musashi1 and Bmi1) colocalized with OT progenitors. Finally, we described the spatio-temporally ordered population of NSCs and progenitors in the medaka OT. Hence, the medaka appears as an invaluable model for studying neural progenitors that will open the way to further exciting comparative studies of neural stem cells in vertebrates. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Develop Neurobiol 70: 693,713, 2010 [source]


Adversarial models for priority-based networks,

NETWORKS: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL, Issue 1 2005
C. Ąlvarez
Abstract In this article, we propose several variations of the adversarial queueing model and address stability issues of networks and protocols in those proposed models. The first such variation is the priority model, which is directed at static network topologies and takes into account the case in which packets can have different priorities. Those priorities are assigned by an adversary at injection time. A second variation, the variable priority model, is an extension of the priority model in which the adversary may dynamically change the priority of packets at each time step. Two more variations, namely the failure model and the reliable model, are proposed to cope with dynamic networks. In the failure and reliable models the adversary controls, under different constraints, the failures that the links of the topology might suffer. Concerning stability of networks in the proposed adversarial models, we show that the set of universally stable networks in the adversarial model remains the same in the priority, variable priority, failure, and reliable models. From the point of view of protocols (or queueing policies), we show that several protocols that are universally stable in the adversarial queueing model remain so in the priority, failure, and reliable models. However, we show that the longest-in-system (LIS) protocol, which is universally stable in the adversarial queueing model, is not universally stable in any of the other models we propose. Moreover, we show that no queueing policy is universally stable in the variable priority model. Finally, we analyze the problem of deciding stability of a given network under a fixed protocol. We provide a characterization of the networks that are stable under first-in-first-out (FIFO) and LIS in the failure model (and therefore in the reliable and priority models). This characterization allows us to show that the stability problem under FIFO and LIS in the failure model can be solved in polynomial time. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. NETWORKS, Vol. 45(1), 23,35 2005 [source]


Expansion of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF HEMATOLOGY, Issue 12 2008
Wu Hai-Jiang
Hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs) transplantation is hampered by the low number of stem cells per sample. To tackle this obstacle, several protocols for expansion of HSPCs in vitro are currently in development, such as the use of cytokine cocktails, coculture with mesenchymal stem cells as feeder cells, and cell culture in bioreactors. With the progress in the understanding of the molecular and cellular mechanisms regulating HSPCs maintenance and expansion, more recent approaches have involved transcription regulation, cell cycle regulation, telomerase regulation, and chromatin-modifying agents. The potential clinical application and safety issues relevant to the expanded HSPCs are also discussed in this review. Am. J. Hematol., 2008. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]