677 research outputs found
Evolution of Heart Transplantation Surgical Techniques
Organ transplantation has kindled the human imagination since the beginning of time. Prehistorically, transplantation appeared as mythological stories: from creatures with body parts from different species, the heart transplant between two Chinese soldiers by Pien Ch’iao, to the leg transplant by physician Saints Cosmas and Damian. By 19th century, the transplantation concept become possible by extensive contributions from scientists and clinicians whose works had taken generations. Although Alexis Carrel is known as the founding father of experimental organ transplantation, many legendary names had contributed to the experimental works of heart transplantation, including Guthrie, Mann, and Demikhov. The major contribution to experimental heart transplantation before the clinical era were made by a team lead by Richard Lower and Norman Shumway at Stanford University in the early 1960s. They played the vital role in developing experimental and clinical heart transplantation as it is known today. Using Shumway biatrial technique Christiaan Barnard started a new era of clinical heart transplantation, by performing the first in man human-to-human heart transplantation in 1967. The techniques of heart transplant have evolved since the first heart transplant. This chapter will summarize the techniques that have been used in clinical heart transplantation
Spin-dependent transport in a Luttinger liquid
We develop a detailed theory for spin transport in a one-dimensional quantum
wire described by Luttinger liquid theory. A hydrodynamic description for the
quantum wire is supplemented by boundary conditions taking into account the
exchange coupling between the magnetization of ferromagnetic reservoirs and the
boundary magnetization in the wire. Spin-charge separation is shown to imply
drastic and qualitative consequences for spin-dependent transport. In
particular, the spin accumulation effect is quenched except for fine-tuned
parameter regimes. We propose several feasible setups involving an external
magnetic field to detect this phenomenon in transport experiments on
single-wall carbon nanotubes. In addition, electron-electron backscattering
processes, which do not have an important effect on thermodynamic properties or
charge transport, are shown to modify spin-dependent transport through long
quantum wires in a crucial way.Comment: 23 pages, 4 figure
Perioperative donor bone marrow infusion augments chimerism in heart and lung transplant recipients
Background.: We and others have demonstrated that a low level of donor cell chimerism was present for years after transplantation in tissues and peripheral blood of heart and lung recipients; it was associated, in the latter, with a lower incidence of chronic rejection. To augment this phenomenon, we initiated a trial combining simultaneous infusion of donor bone marrow with heart or lung allotransplantation. Methods.: Between September 1993 and January 1995, 15 nonconditioned patients received either heart (n = 10) or lung (n = 5) allografts concurrently with an infusion of unmodified donor bone marrow (3.0 × 108 cells/kg), and were maintained on an immunosuppressive regimen consisting of tacrolimus and steroids. Results.: There was no complication associated with the infusion of donor bone marrow. Chimerism was detectable in 73% of bone marrow-augmented patients up to the last sample tested. Of the 5 control recipients who did not receive bone marrow infusion, only 1 had detectable chimerism by flow on postoperative day 15, which dwindled to an undetectable level by postoperative day 36. None of the patients had evidence of donor-specific immune modulation by mixed lymphocyte reaction. Conclusions.: The combined infusion of donor bone marrow and heart or lung transplantation, without preconditioning of the recipient, is safe and is associated with an augmentation of donor cell chimerism. © 1995 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
Behavior of the Quantum Critical Point and the Fermi-liquid Domain in the Heavy Fermion Superconductor CeCoIn5 studied by resistivity
We report detailed very low temperature resistivity measurements on the heavy
fermion compounds Ce_{1-x}La_{x}CoIn5 (x=0 and x=0.01), with current applied in
two crystallographic directions [100] (basal plane) and [001] (perpendicular to
the basal plane) under magnetic field applied in the [001] or [011] direction.
We found a Fermi liquid (\rho \propto T^{2}) ground state, in all cases, for
fields above the superconducting upper critical field. We discuss the possible
location of a field induced quantum critical point with respect to Hc2(0), and
compare our measurements with the previous reports in order to give a clear
picture of the experimental status on this long debated issue.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures accepted for publication in JPS
Quantum Criticality in Heavy Fermion Metals
Quantum criticality describes the collective fluctuations of matter
undergoing a second-order phase transition at zero temperature. Heavy fermion
metals have in recent years emerged as prototypical systems to study quantum
critical points. There have been considerable efforts, both experimental and
theoretical, which use these magnetic systems to address problems that are
central to the broad understanding of strongly correlated quantum matter. Here,
we summarize some of the basic issues, including i) the extent to which the
quantum criticality in heavy fermion metals goes beyond the standard theory of
order-parameter fluctuations, ii) the nature of the Kondo effect in the quantum
critical regime, iii) the non-Fermi liquid phenomena that accompany quantum
criticality, and iv) the interplay between quantum criticality and
unconventional superconductivity.Comment: (v2) 39 pages, 8 figures; shortened per the editorial mandate; to
appear in Nature Physics. (v1) 43 pages, 8 figures; Non-technical review
article, intended for general readers; the discussion part contains more
specialized topic
Issues in solid-organ transplantation in children: translational research from bench to bedside
In this review, we identify important challenges facing physicians responsible for renal and cardiac transplantation in children based on a review of the contemporary medical literature. Regarding pediatric renal transplantation, we discuss the challenge of antibody-mediated rejection, focusing on both acute and chronic antibody-mediated rejection. We review new diagnostic approaches to antibody-mediated rejection, such as panel-reactive antibodies, donor-specific cross-matching, antibody assays, risk assessment and diagnosis of antibody-mediated rejection, the pathology of antibody-mediated rejection, the issue of ABO incompatibility in renal transplantation, new therapies for antibody-mediated rejection, inhibiting of residual antibodies, the suppression or depletion of B-cells, genetic approaches to treating acute antibody-mediated rejection, and identifying future translational research directions in kidney transplantation in children. Regarding pediatric cardiac transplantation, we discuss the mechanisms of cardiac transplant rejection, including the role of endomyocardial biopsy in detecting graft rejection and the role of biomarkers in detecting cardiac graft rejection, including biomarkers of inflammation, cardiomyocyte injury, or stress. We review cardiac allograft vasculopathy. We also address the role of genetic analyses, including genome-wide association studies, gene expression profiling using entities such as AlloMap®, and adenosine triphosphate release as a measure of immune function using the Cylex® ImmuKnow™ cell function assay. Finally, we identify future translational research directions in heart transplantation in children
Effects of donor bone marrow infusion in clinical lung transplantation
Background. We have demonstrated that donor cell chimerism is associated with a lower incidence of obliterative bronchiolitis (OB) in lung recipients, and that donor chimerism is augmented by the infusion of donor bone marrow (BM). We herein report the intermediate results of a trial combining the infusion of donor BM and lung transplantation. Methods. Clinical and in vitro data of 26 lung recipients receiving concurrent infusion of donor bone marrow (3.0 to 6.0 x 108 cells/kg) were compared with those of 13 patients receiving lung transplant alone. Results. Patient survival and freedom from acute rejection were similar between groups. Of the patients whose graft survived greater than 4 months, 5% (1 of 22) of BM and 33% (4 of 12) of control patients, developed histologic evidence of OB (p = 0.04). A higher proportion (but not statistically significant) of BM recipients (7 of 10, 70%) exhibited donor-specific hyporeactivity by mixed lymphocyte reaction assays as compared with the controls (2 of 7, 28%). Conclusions. Infusion of donor BM at the time of lung transplantation is safe, and is associated with recipients' immune modulation and a lower rate of obliterative bronchiolitis. (C) 2000 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
Quantitative imaging of concentrated suspensions under flow
We review recent advances in imaging the flow of concentrated suspensions,
focussing on the use of confocal microscopy to obtain time-resolved information
on the single-particle level in these systems. After motivating the need for
quantitative (confocal) imaging in suspension rheology, we briefly describe the
particles, sample environments, microscopy tools and analysis algorithms needed
to perform this kind of experiments. The second part of the review focusses on
microscopic aspects of the flow of concentrated model hard-sphere-like
suspensions, and the relation to non-linear rheological phenomena such as
yielding, shear localization, wall slip and shear-induced ordering. Both
Brownian and non-Brownian systems will be described. We show how quantitative
imaging can improve our understanding of the connection between microscopic
dynamics and bulk flow.Comment: Review on imaging hard-sphere suspensions, incl summary of
methodology. Submitted for special volume 'High Solid Dispersions' ed. M.
Cloitre, Vol. xx of 'Advances and Polymer Science' (Springer, Berlin, 2009);
22 pages, 16 fig
Trans Fatty Acids Induce Vascular Inflammation and Reduce Vascular Nitric Oxide Production in Endothelial Cells
Intake of trans fatty acids (TFA), which are consumed by eating foods made from partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, is associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease. This relation can be explained by many factors including TFA's negative effect on endothelial function and reduced nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability. In this study we investigated the effects of three different TFA (2 common isomers of C18 found in partially hydrogenated vegetable oil and a C18 isomer found from ruminant-derived—dairy products and meat) on endothelial NF-κB activation and nitric oxide (NO) production. Human endothelial cells were treated with increasing concentrations of Elaidic (trans-C18:1 (9 trans)), Linoelaidic (trans-C18:2 (9 trans, 12 trans)), and Transvaccenic (trans-C18:1 (11 trans)) for 3 h. Both Elaidic and Linoelaidic acids were associated with increasing NF-κB activation as measured by IL-6 levels and phosphorylation of IκBα, and impairment of endothelial insulin signaling and NO production, whereas Transvaccenic acid was not associated with these responses. We also measured superoxide production, which has been hypothesized to be necessary in fatty acid-dependent activation of NF-κB. Both Elaidic acid and Linoelaidic acid are associated with increased superoxide production, whereas Transvaccenic acid (which did not induce inflammatory responses) did not increase superoxide production. We observed differential activation of endothelial superoxide production, NF-κB activation, and reduction in NO production by different C18 isomers suggesting that the location and number of trans double bonds effect endothelial NF-κB activation
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