Mycophenolate mofetil inhibits lymphocyte binding and the upregulation of adhesion molecules in acute rejection of rat kidney allografts.

Mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) interacts with purine metabolism and possibly with the expression of adhesion molecules. In the present study, we analysed the expression of these molecules in transplanted kidney allografts treated with RS LBNF1 kidneys were orthotopically transplanted into Lewis rats and either treated with RS (20 mg/kg/day) or vehicle. Rats were harvested 3, 5 and 7 days following transplantation. For binding studies, fresh-frozen sections of transplanted kidneys were incubated with lymph node lymphocytes (LNL) derived from transplanted rats. Additionally, immunohistology was performed with various monoclonal antibodies. In general, MMF resulted in better preservation of graft structure by 7 days. Cellular infiltration and tubular atrophy were less pronounced. At day 3, macrophages were diminished in MMF-treated animals to a high extent, while the number of T cells was almost identical to that of controls. In addition, the number of cells positive for MHC class II and LFA-1 was reduced in the MMF-treated animals. These findings correlated with the binding results. Three days following engraftment, LNL bound to MMF-treated kidneys to a lesser extent compared to controls. In conclusion, MMF resulted in a markedly reduced leucocytic infiltrate, presumably based on a reduced expression of lymphocytic adhesion molecules and an interaction with macrophages

Crystal Structures of Furazanes

Several nitrogen-rich salts of 3-nitramino-4-nitrofurazane and dinitraminoazoxyfurazane were synthesized and characterized by various spectroscopic methods. The crystal structures were determined by low temperature single crystal X-ray diffraction. Moreover the sensitivities toward thermal and mechanical stimuli were determined by differential thermal analysis (DTA) and BAM (Bundesanstalt fur Materialforschung und -prufung) methods. The standard enthalpies of formation were calculated for all compounds at the CBS-4M level of theory, and the energetic performance was predicted with the EXPLO5 V6.02 computer code

An instrument to measure psychosocial determinants of health care professionals’ vaccination behavior:Validation of the Pro-VC-Be questionnaire

International audienc

Haemodynamically irrelevant pericardial effusion is associated with increased mortality in patients with chronic heart failure

Aims Pericardial effusion (PE) is a common finding in cardiac patients with chronic heart failure. The prognostic relevance of a small, haemodynamically non-compromising PE in such patients, however, remains to be determined. Methods and results All patients referred to our heart failure clinic and having a baseline echocardiography and follow-up clinical visits were included. Patients with a haemodynamically relevant PE, acute myo-/pericarditis, systemic sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, heart transplantation, heart surgery within the last 6 months or malignancies within the last 3 years were excluded. Patients with or without a haemodynamically irrelevant PE were compared regarding all-cause mortality as the primary and cardiovascular death or need for heart transplantation as secondary outcomes. A total of 897 patients (824 patients in the control vs. 73 patients in the PE group) were included. In the PE group, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was lower [31%, interquartile range (IQR): 18.0-45.0] than in controls (34%, IQR: 25.0-47.0; P = 0.04), while the end-systolic diameters of the left ventricle and the left atrium were larger (P = 0.01 and P = 0.001, respectively). Similarly, in patients with PE, the right ventricle (RV) systolic function was lower (P < 0.005 for both the fractional area change and the tricuspid annulus movement), the dimensions of RV and right atrium (RA) were larger (P < 0.05 for RV and P < 0.01 for RA), and the degree of tricuspid regurgitation was higher (P < 0.0001). Furthermore, in the PE group, the heart rate was higher (P < 0.001) and the leukocyte count as well as CRP values were increased (P = 0.004 and P < 0.0001, respectively); beta-blocker use was less frequent (P = 0.04), while spironolactone use was more frequent (P = 0.03). The overall survival was reduced in the PE group compared with controls (P = 0.02). Patients with PE were more likely to suffer cardiovascular death (1-year estimated event-free survival: 86 ± 5 vs. 95 ± 1%; P = 0.01) and to require heart transplantation (1-year estimated event-free survival: 88 ± 4 vs. 95 ± 1%; P = 0.009). A multivariate Cox proportional hazard model revealed the following independent predictors of mortality: (a) PE (P = 0.04, hazard ratio (HR): 1.95, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.0-3.7), (b) age (P = 0.04, HR: 1.02, 95% CI: 1.0-1.04) and (c) LVEF <35% (P = 0.03, HR: 1.7, 95% CI: 1.1-2.8). Conclusion In chronic heart failure, even minor PEs are associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality, cardiac death, and need for transplantatio

First observations with CONDOR, a 1.5 THz heterodyne receiver

The THz atmospheric windows centered at roughly 1.3 and 1.5~THz, contain numerous spectral lines of astronomical importance, including three high-J CO lines, the N+ line at 205 microns, and the ground transition of para-H2D+. The CO lines are tracers of hot (several 100K), dense gas; N+ is a cooling line of diffuse, ionized gas; the H2D+ line is a non-depleting tracer of cold (~20K), dense gas. As the THz lines benefit the study of diverse phenomena (from high-mass star-forming regions to the WIM to cold prestellar cores), we have built the CO N+ Deuterium Observations Receiver (CONDOR) to further explore the THz windows by ground-based observations. CONDOR was designed to be used at the Atacama Pathfinder EXperiment (APEX) and Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). CONDOR was installed at the APEX telescope and test observations were made to characterize the instrument. The combination of CONDOR on APEX successfully detected THz radiation from astronomical sources. CONDOR operated with typical Trec=1600K and spectral Allan variance times of 30s. CONDOR's first light observations of CO 13-12 emission from the hot core Orion FIR4 (= OMC1 South) revealed a narrow line with T(MB) = 210K and delta(V)=5.4km/s. A search for N+ emission from the ionization front of the Orion Bar resulted in a non-detection. The successful deployment of CONDOR at APEX demonstrates the potential for making observations at THz frequencies from ground-based facilities.Comment: 4 pages + list of objects, 3 figures, to be published in A&A special APEX issu

Indexing Strategies for Rapid Searches of Short Words in Genome Sequences

Searching for matches between large collections of short (14–30 nucleotides) words and sequence databases comprising full genomes or transcriptomes is a common task in biological sequence analysis. We investigated the performance of simple indexing strategies for handling such tasks and developed two programs, fetchGWI and tagger, that index either the database or the query set. Either strategy outperforms megablast for searches with more than 10,000 probes. FetchGWI is shown to be a versatile tool for rapidly searching multiple genomes, whose performance is limited in most cases by the speed of access to the filesystem. We have made publicly available a Web interface for searching the human, mouse, and several other genomes and transcriptomes with oligonucleotide queries

DEMO-Relevant Gyrotron Research at KIT

The DEMO-relevant gyrotron research at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology is driven by the European concept for a demonstration fusion reactor (EU DEMO). This paper reports on the recent results of the theoretical and experimental studies towards the development of gyrotrons fulfilling the DEMO needs