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Significant Expansion (significant + expansion)
Selected AbstractsHumoral and Cellular Immune Responses after Influenza Vaccination in Kidney Transplant RecipientsAMERICAN JOURNAL OF TRANSPLANTATION, Issue 10 2009S Candon It has been speculated that influenza vaccination of renal allograft recipients could be associated with de novo production and/or increased titers of anti-HLA antibodies (HLA-Ab). To directly address this issue, we recruited 66 stable renal transplant recipients and 19 healthy volunteers during the 2005,2006 vaccination campaign. At day 0 and day 30 following vaccination, HLA-Ab were screened and in parallel influenza-specific antibody and T-cell responses were assessed. Humoral postvaccinal responses to A/H1N1 and A/H3N2 strains, but not B strain, were less frequent in transplanted patients than in control subjects. Significant expansion of influenza-specific IFN-,-producing T cells was observed at similar frequencies in patients and controls. There was no correlation between cellular and humoral postvaccinal responses. No impact of sex, age or immunosuppressive regimen could be evidenced. Vaccination was not associated with any significant change in preexisting or de novo anti-HLA sensitization. No episode of allograft rejection was recorded in any of the patients. Our results suggest that flu vaccination is safe in stable renal transplanted patients. Larger studies are needed for definitive statistical proof of the safety and effectiveness, with regard to the quality of the immune response, of yearly influenza vaccination in immunosuppressed patients. [source] Expanding access to priority health interventions: a framework for understanding the constraints to scaling-upJOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, Issue 1 2003Kara Hanson The Commission on Macroeconomics and Health recommended a significant expansion in funding for health interventions in poor countries. However, there are a range of constraints to expanding access to health services: as well as an absolute lack of resources, access to health interventions is hindered by problems of demand, weak service delivery systems, policies at the health and cross-sectoral levels, and constraints related to governance, corruption and geography. This special issue is devoted to analysis of the nature and intensity of these constraints, and how they can best be overcome. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Kinetics of host immune responses and cytomegalovirus resistance in a liver transplant patientLIVER TRANSPLANTATION, Issue 10 2009Kirsten Schaffer Among solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients, donor-seropositive/recipient-seronegative (D+/R,) cytomegalovirus (CMV) status is associated with the highest risk of ganciclovir-resistant CMV disease, which has been reported for patients receiving oral ganciclovir but not valganciclovir prophylaxis. We report a case of CMV breakthrough infection in a D+/R, liver transplant patient while he was receiving oral valganciclovir. Forty samples collected over 6 months were analyzed for the CMV viral load, lymphocyte counts, cytokine levels, and lymphocyte differentiation status. Genotypic resistance testing of the viral UL97 gene was performed when the patient failed to respond. CMV viremia occurred on day 50 post-transplant, and 5 samples taken between days 50 and 85 showed the wild-type UL97 genotype. The appearance of deletion 594-595 was observed from day 114 post-transplant. Viral loads declined when foscarnet was commenced and remained below 10,000 copies/mL when the lymphocyte count was greater than 1000/,L (P = 0.02). T cell responses revealed significant expansion of CD8+ terminal effector memory cells. CD4+ cells were largely populations of naïve and central memory cells. Circulating interleukin 10 (IL-10) levels correlated with the viral load (P < 0.0001). Seroconversion occurred on day 230. The CMV viral load in combination with lymphocyte counts and IL-10 may be a predictive marker for the risk of development of resistant CMV disease in D+/R, SOT patients. Liver Transpl 15:1199,1203, 2009. © 2009 AASLD. [source] "Seeing the Baby": Pleasures and Dilemmas of Ultrasound Technologies for Primiparous Australian WomenMEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGY QUARTERLY, Issue 1 2004Gillian Harris The practice of obstetric ultrasound scans has undergone significant expansion in the last two decades and is now a standard part of many women's antenatal care in Australia as elsewhere. This article reviews recent evidence about the value of obstetric ultrasound, summarizing debates and contradictions in research literature and practitioner guidelines. Pregnant women's interpretations of the significance of ultrasound are examined through multiple interviews with 34 study participants. We find that ultrasound has become an integral part of women's embodied experience of pregnancy, with its own pleasures and dilemmas. The increasing use the technology has augmented the role of scientific biomedicine in the government of pregnancy. This must be understood in the light of trends toward individualized risk management in which the pregnant woman increasingly takes responsibility for the successful outcome of the pregnancy, in a context where pregnancy is discursively constructed as a risky domain of gendered experience in contemporary Australian society, [discourse, obstetric ultrasound, embodiment, pregnancy, feminist] [source] Comparative genomics enabled the isolation of the R3a late blight resistance gene in potatoTHE PLANT JOURNAL, Issue 2 2005Sanwen Huang Summary Comparative genomics provides a tool to utilize the exponentially increasing sequence information from model plants to clone agronomically important genes from less studied crop species. Plant disease resistance (R) loci frequently lack synteny between related species of cereals and crucifers but appear to be positionally well conserved in the Solanaceae. In this report, we adopted a local RGA approach using genomic information from the model Solanaceous plant tomato to isolate R3a, a potato gene that confers race-specific resistance to the late blight pathogen Phytophthora infestans. R3a is a member of the R3 complex locus on chromosome 11. Comparative analyses of the R3 complex locus with the corresponding I2 complex locus in tomato suggest that this is an ancient locus involved in plant innate immunity against oomycete and fungal pathogens. However, the R3 complex locus has evolved after divergence from tomato and the locus has experienced a significant expansion in potato without disruption of the flanking colinearity. This expansion has resulted in an increase in the number of R genes and in functional diversification, which has probably been driven by the co-evolutionary history between P. infestans and its host potato. Constitutive expression was observed for the R3a gene, as well as some of its paralogues whose functions remain unknown. [source] Observational evidence for expansion in the SSS spectra of novaeASTRONOMISCHE NACHRICHTEN, Issue 2 2010J.-U. Ness Abstract For several novae, a bright X-ray source with a spectrum resembling the class of Super Soft X-ray Sources (SSS) has been observed a few weeks to months after outburst. Novae are powered by explosive nuclear burning on the surface of a white dwarf, and enough energy is produced to power a radiatively driven wind. Owing to the evolution of the opacity of the ejecta, the observable spectrum gradually shifts from optical to soft X-rays (SSS phase). It has sometimes been assumed that at the beginning of the SSS phase no more mass loss occurs. However, high-resolution X-ray spectra of some novae have shown highly blue-shifted absorption lines, indicating a significant expansion. In this paper, I show that all novae that have been observed with X-ray gratings during their SSS phase show significant blue shifts. I argue that all models that attempt to explain the X-ray bright SSS phase have to accommodate the continued expansion of the ejecta (© 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [source] Tissue edema does not change gadolinium-diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (Gd-DTPA)-enhanced T1 relaxation times of viable myocardium,,JOURNAL OF MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING, Issue 6 2005Gang Li MD Abstract Purpose To determine whether tissue edema changes gadolinium-diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (Gd-DTPA)-enhanced T1 relaxation times of the viable myocardium. Materials and Methods A total of 16 isolated pig hearts were divided into four groups (N = 4/group) and perfused in a Langendorff apparatus. Gd-DTPA was injected into the aortic perfusion line. Tissue edema was then induced by two hours of simultaneous arterial/venous perfusion (SAVP). Myocardial water content and T1 relaxation times were monitored throughout SAVP. The volumes of the extracellular and intracellular compartments were assessed using 31P MRS-detectable markers, phenylphosphonic acid (PPA) and dimethyl methylphosphonate (DMMP). Results Tissue water content in both viable and infarcted myocardium increased significantly during two-hour SAVP. However, Gd-DTPA-enhanced T1 relaxation times of the viable myocardium remained relatively unchanged. Infarcted myocardium, on the other hand, exhibited significant T1 shortening during SAVP. Furthermore, SAVP resulted in significant expansions of both extracellular and intracellular compartments, but the ratio of the volumes of the two compartments remained relatively constant. Conclusion Tissue edema in the viable myocardium does not increase the relative distribution volume of the contrast agent. As a result, edema does not change Gd-DTPA-enhanced T1 relaxation times of the viable myocardium. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2005;21:744,751. Published 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Activated T cell subsets in human type 1 diabetes: evidence for expansion of the DR+ CD30+ subpopulation in new-onset diseaseCLINICAL & EXPERIMENTAL IMMUNOLOGY, Issue 3 2007C. Baker Summary An important limitation in T cell studies of human autoimmune (type 1) diabetes is lack of direct access to cells infiltrating the pancreas. We hypothesized that cells recently released from the pancreas into the blood might express a characteristic combination of markers of activation. We therefore examined the recently activated circulating T cell population [CD3+, human leucocyte antigen D-related (HLA-DR+)] using cytokine production and 10 additional subset markers [CD69, CD25, CD122, CD30, CD44v6, CD57, CD71, CCR3 (CD193), CCR5 (CD195) or CXCR3 (CD183)], comparing newly diagnosed adult (ND) (age 18,40 years) patients (n = 19) to patients with diabetes for > 10 years [long-standing (LS), n = 19] and HLA-matched controls (C, n = 16). CD3+ DR+ cells were enriched by two-step immunomagnetic separation. No differences in basal or stimulated production of interleukin (IL)-4, IL-10, IL-13 or interferon (IFN)-, by CD3+ DR+ enriched cells were observed between the different groups of subjects. However, among the CD3+ DR+ population, significant expansions appeared to be present in the very small CD30+, CD69+ and CD122+ subpopulations. A confirmatory study was then performed using new subjects (ND = 26, LS = 15), three-colour flow cytometry, unseparated cells and three additional subset markers (CD38, CD134, CD4/CD25). This confirmed the expansion of the CD3+ DR+ CD30+ subpopulation in ND subjects. We conclude that a relative expansion in the T cell subpopulation with the activated phenotype CD3+ DR+ CD30+ is seen in the peripheral blood of subjects with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes. This subpopulation represents less than 0·7% of circulating T cells and may provide a rich source of disease-specific T cells that can be isolated from blood. [source] | |||||||||||||