The Relationship Between DSM-IV Cluster B Personality Disorders and Psychopathy According to Hare's Criteria: Clarification and Resolution of Previous Contradictions

This study examines the relationship between DSM-cluster B personality disorders (PDs) and psychopaths according to Hare's criteria as detected by the Psychopathy Checklist (PCL:SV) in 299 violent offenders. To clarify some contradictions among several previous studies on this issue, individual cluster B PDs were looked at alone, excluding any cases of comorbidity with other PDs of this cluster. We found highly significant relationships between antisocial and borderline PD and Factor II of the PCL and a highly significant correlation between narcissistic PD and Factor I of the PCL. These results were to be expected from the theoretical basis of the development of the PCL and provide a contribution to the construct validity of the PCL, which until now has not been validated on such a large sample in Germany

Platelet adhesion studies on dipyridamole coated polyurethane surfaces

Surface modification of polyurethanes (PUs) by covalent attachment of dipyridamole (Persantinregistered) is known to reduce adherence of blood platelets upon exposure to human platelet rich plasma (PRP). This effect was investigated in further detail. First platelet adhesion under static conditions was studied with four different biomaterial surfaces: untreated PU, PU immobilised with conjugate molecule 1, PU immobilised with conjugate molecule 2, and PU immobilised with conjugate molecule 3. In PU immobilised with 1 dipyridamole is directly linked to the surface, in PU immobilised with 2 there is a short hydrophilic spacer chain in between the surface and the dipyridamole, while conjugate molecule 3 is merely the spacer chain. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to characterise platelet adhesion from human PRP under static conditions, and fluorescence imaging microscopy was used to study platelet adhesion from whole blood under flow. SEM experiments encompassed both density measurements and analysis of the morphology of adherent platelets. In the static experiments the surface immobilised with 2 showed the lowest platelet adherence. No difference between the three modified surfaces emerged from the flow experiments. The surfaces were also incubated with washed blood platelets and labeled with Oregon-Green Annexin V. No capture of Oregon-Green Annexin V was seen, implying that the adhered platelets did not expose any phosphatidyl serine at their exteriour surface

Development of novel membranes for blood purification therapies based on copolymers of N-vinylpyrrolidone and n-butylmethacrylate

Developments in membrane based blood purification therapies often come with longer treatment times and therefore longer blood–material contact, which requires long-term membrane biocompatibility. In this study, we develop for the first time membranes for blood purification using the material SlipSkin™, which is a copolymer, made from N-vinylpyrrolidone (NVP) and butylmethacrylate (BMA). Specific attention is focused on understanding the mechanism of pore formation and the tailoring of the membrane mechanical and transport properties to obtain the optimal membrane for blood purification therapies. Polymer composition, solvent type and solvent evaporation time influence membrane morphology and membranes with sieving properties of cascade filters in plasma fractionation applications are developed. The new membranes have very good blood compatibility properties; in fact compared to benchmark flat membranes currently used in the clinic, they have lower platelet adhesion while all other properties (contact activation, thrombogenicity, leukocyte adhesion, hemolysis and complement activation) are also very good and comparable to the benchmarks