Mesenteric Microcirculatory Dysfunctions and Translocation of Indigenous Bacteria in a Rat Model of Strangulated Small Bowel Obstruction

PRUPOSE: Bacterial translocation has been shown to occur in critically ill patients after extensive trauma, shock, sepsis, or thermal injury. The present study investigates mesenteric microcirculatory dysfunctions, the bacterial translocation phenomenon, and hemodynamic/metabolic disturbances in a rat model of intestinal obstruction and ischemia. METHODS: Anesthetized (pentobarbital 50 mg/kg, i.p.) male Wistar rats (250-350 g) were submitted to intestinal obstruction or laparotomy without intestinal obstruction (Sham) and were evaluated 24 hours later. Bacterial translocation was assessed by bacterial culture of the mesenteric lymph nodes (MLN), liver, spleen, and blood. Leukocyte-endothelial interactions in the mesenteric microcirculation were assessed by intravital microscopy, and P-selectin and intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-1 expressions were quantified by immunohistochemistry. Hematocrit, blood gases, lactate, glucose, white blood cells, serum urea, creatinine, bilirubin, and hepatic enzymes were measured. RESULTS: About 86% of intestinal obstruction rats presented positive cultures for E. coli in samples of the mesenteric lymph nodes, liver, and spleen, and 57% had positive hemocultures. In comparison to the Sham rats, intestinal obstruction induced neutrophilia and increased the number of rolling (~2-fold), adherent (~5-fold), and migrated leukocytes (~11-fold); this increase was accompanied by an increased expression of P-selectin (~2-fold) and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (~2-fold) in the mesenteric microcirculation. Intestinal obstruction rats exhibited decreased PaCO2, alkalosis, hyperlactatemia, and hyperglycemia, and increased blood potassium, hepatic enzyme activity, serum urea, creatinine, and bilirubin. A high mortality rate was observed after intestinal obstruction (83% at 72 h vs. 0% in Sham rats). CONCLUSION: Intestinal obstruction and ischemia in rats is a relevant model for the in vivo study of mesenteric microcirculatory dysfunction and the occurrence of bacterial translocation. This model parallels the events implicated in multiple organ dysfunction (MOD) and death

Economic segregation and urban growth

Many studies have investigated the socioeconomic consequences of residential economic segregation in U.S. urban areas. These studies mainly focus on the impact of economic segregation on the poor or minorities and almost universally find that economic segregation hurts these groups in many ways. However, few studies investigate how economic segregation relates to the economic growth of an urban area as a whole. While there are papers that study this issue theoretically, empirical evidence is lacking. The motivation of this paper is to fill this gap. Using U.S. census data, this study documents a significant negative relationship between the initial levels of economic segregation in 1980 and the subsequent economic growth, indexed by metropolitan population growth, in 1980-2000 in U.S. metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs). Holding other things constant, MSAs having higher initial levels of economic segregation experienced substantially slower subsequent population growth

The theory of the firm and its critics: a stocktaking and assessment

Includes bibliographical references."Prepared for Jean-Michel Glachant and Eric Brousseau, eds. New Institutional Economics: A Textbook, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.""This version: August 22, 2005."Since its emergence in the 1970s the modern economic or Coasian theory of the firm has been discussed and challenged by sociologists, heterodox economists, management scholars, and other critics. This chapter reviews and assesses these critiques, focusing on behavioral issues (bounded rationality and motivation), process (including path dependence and the selection argument), entrepreneurship, and the challenge from knowledge-based theories of the firm