Orthotopic liver transplantation for alcoholic liver disease

Alcohol abuse is the most common cause of end‐stage liver disease in the United States, but many transplant centers are unwilling to accept alcoholic patients because of their supposed potential for recidivism, poor compliance with the required immunosuppression regimen and resulting failure of the allograft. There is also concern that alcohol‐induced injury in other organs will preclude a good result. From July 1, 11982, to April 30, 1988, 73 patients received orthotopic liver transplants at the University of Pittsburgh for end‐stage alcoholic liver disease. Fifty‐two (71%) of these were alive at 25 ± 9 mo (mean ± S. D.) after transplantation, when a phone survey of these patients, their wives/husbands, and their physicians was performed to evaluate their subsequent use of alcohol, current medical condition and employment. Data obtained were compared with those for nonalcoholic patients selected as transplant controls. The recidivism rate has been 11.5%, with most patients drinking only socially. Fifty‐four percent of the survivors are employed, 21% classify themselves as homemakers and only 11 (21%) are unable to work. Twenty‐one patients died after transplantation; the most frequent cause of death was sepsis (43%), and intraoperative death was the next most common cause (28.6%). These data demonstrate that alcoholic patients can be transplanted successfully and achieve good health not significantly different from that of individuals transplanted for other causes. Thus orthotopic liver transplantation is a therapeutic option that should be considered for individuals with end‐stage alcoholic liver disease who desire such therapy. Copyright © 1990 American Association for the Study of Liver Disease

Actinopolyspora algeriensis sp. nov., a novel halophilic actinomycete isolated from a Saharan soil

A halophilic actinomycete strain designated H19T, was isolated from a Saharan soil in the Bamendil region (Ouargla province, South Algeria) and was characterized taxonomically by using a polyphasic approach. The morphological and chemotaxonomic characteristics of the strain were consistent with those of members of the genus Actinopolyspora, and 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis confirmed that strain H19T was a novel species of the genus Actinopolyspora. DNA–DNA hybridization value between strain H19T and the nearest Actinopolyspora species, A. halophila, was clearly below the 70 % threshold. The genotypic and phenotypic data showed that the organism represents a novel species of the genus Actinopolyspora for which the name Actinopolyspora algeriensis sp. nov. is proposed, with the type strain H19T (= DSM 45476T = CCUG 62415T)

HIV infected adults do not have an excess of colonising bacteria in their large airways

BACKGROUND: HIV infected adults have increased susceptibility to bacterial pneumonia but the underlying immune defect is poorly understood. We tested the hypothesis that HIV infection might be associated with increased bacterial colonisation of distal airways by nasal flora, which would then predispose patients to bacterial pneumonia. METHODS: Healthy volunteer adults with normal chest radiographs were recruited. Bronchoscopy was carried out and uncontaminated mucosal samples were collected from proximal and distal sites in the large airways using a protected specimen brush. Samples were cultured to detect typical respiratory tract colonising organisms, and the proportion of samples found to contain colonising bacteria compared between HIV infected and uninfected subjects using non-parametric tests. RESULTS: Forty-nine subjects were studied of whom 27 were HIV infected. Colonising bacteria were identified in the nasopharynx of all subjects including Streptococcus pneumoniae in 6/49 subjects (5 HIV uninfected). Colonising bacteria were found in the distal airway of 6 subjects (3/27 HIV infected vs 3/22 HIV uninfected ; χ(2 )= 0.07, p = 0.8). Streptococcus pneumoniae was identified in the trachea of all subjects with nasal colonisation but in the distal airway of only 1 subject. CONCLUSIONS: There was no evidence to support a hypothesis of increased airway bacterial colonisation in healthy HIV infected subjects

Liver Transplantation for Alcoholic Liver Disease: A Consideration of Reasons For and Against

Orthotopic liver transplantation is a clinical procedure that has been accepted widely as the treatment of choice for individuals with advanced chronic liver disease. As such, its application to the important clinical problem of alcoholic liver disease is inevitable. The arguments for and against liver transplantation for individuals with advanced alcoholic liver disease are presented. Copyright © 1989, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserve

Prescription of topiramate to treat alcohol use disorders in the Veterans Health Administration.

BACKGROUND: As a quality improvement metric, the US Veterans Health Administration (VHA) monitors the proportion of patients with alcohol use disorders (AUD) who receive FDA approved medications for alcohol dependence (naltrexone, acamprosate, and disulfiram). Evidence supporting the off-label use of the antiepileptic medication topiramate to treat alcohol dependence may be as strong as these approved medications. However, little is known about the extent to which topiramate is used in clinical practice. The goal of this study was to describe and examine the overall use, facility-level variation in use, and patient -level predictors of topiramate prescription for patients with AUD in the VHA. METHODS: Using national VHA administrative data in a retrospective cohort study, we examined time trends in topiramate use from fiscal years (FY) 2009-2012, and predictors of topiramate prescription in 375,777 patients identified with AUD (ICD-9-CM codes 303.9x or 305.0x) treated in 141 VHA facilities in FY 2011. RESULTS: Among VHA patients with AUD, rates of topiramate prescription have increased from 0.99% in FY 2009 to 1.95% in FY 2012, although substantial variation across facilities exists. Predictors of topiramate prescription were female sex, young age, alcohol dependence diagnoses, engagement in both mental health and addiction specialty care, and psychiatric comorbidity. CONCLUSIONS: Veterans Health Administration facilities are monitored regarding the extent to which patients with AUD are receiving FDA-approved pharmacotherapy. Not including topiramate in the metric, which is prescribed more often than acamprosate and disulfiram combined, may underestimate the extent to which VHA patients at specific facilities and overall are receiving pharmacotherapy for AUD

Access to recreational physical activities by car and bus : an assessment of socio-spatial inequalities in mainland Scotland

Obesity and other chronic conditions linked with low levels of physical activity (PA) are associated with deprivation. One reason for this could be that it is more difficult for low-income groups to access recreational PA facilities such as swimming pools and sports centres than high-income groups. In this paper, we explore the distribution of access to PA facilities by car and bus across mainland Scotland by income deprivation at datazone level. GIS car and bus networks were created to determine the number of PA facilities accessible within travel times of 10, 20 and 30 minutes. Multilevel negative binomial regression models were then used to investigate the distribution of the number of accessible facilities, adjusting for datazone population size and local authority. Access to PA facilities by car was significantly (p<0.01) higher for the most affluent quintile of area-based income deprivation than for most other quintiles in small towns and all other quintiles in rural areas. Accessibility by bus was significantly lower for the most affluent quintile than for other quintiles in urban areas and small towns, but not in rural areas. Overall, we found that the most disadvantaged groups were those without access to a car and living in the most affluent areas or in rural areas

Time course of airway remodelling after an acute chlorine gas exposure in mice

Accidental chlorine (Cl2) gas inhalation is a common cause of acute airway injury. However, little is known about the kinetics of airway injury and repair after Cl2 exposure. We investigated the time course of airway epithelial damage and repair in mice after a single exposure to a high concentration of Cl2 gas. Mice were exposed to 800 ppm Cl2 gas for 5 minutes and studied from 12 hrs to 10 days post-exposure. The acute injury phase after Cl2 exposure (≤ 24 hrs post-exposure) was characterized by airway epithelial cell apoptosis (increased TUNEL staining) and sloughing, elevated protein in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, and a modest increase in airway responses to methacholine. The repair phase after Cl2 exposure was characterized by increased airway epithelial cell proliferation, measured by immunoreactive proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), with maximal proliferation occurring 5 days after Cl2 exposure. At 10 days after Cl2 exposure the airway smooth muscle mass was increased relative to controls, suggestive of airway smooth muscle hyperplasia and there was evidence of airway fibrosis. No increase in goblet cells occurred at any time point. We conclude that a single exposure of mice to Cl2 gas causes acute changes in lung function, including pulmonary responsiveness to methacholine challenge, associated with airway damage, followed by subsequent repair and airway remodelling

Electrochemical activation of molecular nitrogen at the Ir/YSZ interface.

Nitrogen is often used as an inert background atmosphere in solid state studies of electrode and reaction kinetics, of solid state studies of transport phenomena, and in applications e.g. solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC), sensors and membranes. Thus, chemical and electrochemical reactions of oxides related to or with dinitrogen are not supposed and in general not considered. We demonstrate by a steady state electrochemical polarisation experiments complemented with in situphotoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) that at a temperature of 450 °C dinitrogen can be electrochemically activated at the three phase boundary between N2, a metal microelectrode and one of the most widely used solid oxide electrolytes—yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ)—at potentials more negative than E = −1.25 V. The process is neither related to a reduction of the electrolyte nor to an adsorption process or a purely chemical reaction but is electrochemical in nature. Only at potentials more negative than E = −2 V did new components of Zr 3d and Y 3d signals with a lower formal charge appear, thus indicating electrochemical reduction of the electrolyte matrix. Theoretical model calculations suggest the presence of anionic intermediates with delocalized electrons at the electrode/electrolyte reaction interface. The ex situSIMS analysis confirmed that nitrogen is incorporated and migrates into the electrolyte beneath the electrode