Adding Bupivacaine to High-potassium Cardioplegia Improves Function and Reduces Cellular Damage of Rat Isolated Hearts after Prolonged, Cold Storage

Background Bupivacaine retards myocardial acidosis during ischemia. The authors measured function of rat isolated hearts after prolonged storage to determine whether bupivacaine improves cardiac protection compared with standard cardioplegia alone. Methods After measuring cardiac function on a Langendorff apparatus, hearts were perfused with cardioplegia alone (controls), cardioplegia containing 500 microm bupivacaine, or cardioplegia containing 2 mm lidocaine; were stored at 4 degrees C for 12 h; and were then reperfused. Heart rate and left ventricular developed pressures were measured for 60 min. Maximum positive rate of change in ventricular pressure, oxygen consumption, and lactate dehydrogenase release were also measured. Results All bupivacaine-treated, four of five lidocaine-treated, and no control hearts beat throughout the 60-min recovery period. Mean values of heart rate, left ventricular developed pressure, maximum positive rate of change in ventricular pressure, rate-pressure product, and efficiency in bupivacaine-treated hearts exceeded those of the control group (P < 0.001 at 60 min for all). Mean values of the lidocaine group were intermediate. Oxygen consumption of the control group exceeded the other groups early in recovery, but not at later times. Lactate dehydrogenase release from the bupivacaine group was less than that from the control group (P < 0.001) but did not differ from baseline. Conclusions Adding bupivacaine to a depolarizing cardioplegia solution reduces cell damage and improves cardiac function after prolonged storage. Metabolic inhibition may contribute to this phenomenon, which is not entirely explained by sodium channel blockade

The transformation of Saperda calcarata (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) into a cellulose digester through the inclusion of fungal enzymes in its diet

The larvae of the aspen borer, Saperda calcarata , which feed on the inner bark and sapwood of living aspen stems, are unable to digest cellulose. However, they can be transformed into cellulose digesters by adding the active cellulase complex of the fungus, Penicillium funiculosum to their diet. S. calcarata larvae are preadapted to exploit the digestive potential of ingested microbial enzymes. We argue that ingested fungal enzymes may be responsible for cellulose digestion in many, perhaps most or even all, cellulose digesting cerambycid beetles.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/47768/1/442_2004_Article_BF00377333.pd

Long-term follow-up and treatment of congenital alveolar proteinosis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Clinical presentation, diagnosis, management and outcome of molecularly defined congenital pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP) due to mutations in the GM-CSF receptor are not well known.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 2 1/2 years old girl was diagnosed as having alveolar proteinosis. Whole lung lavages were performed with a new catheter balloon technique, feasible in small sized airways. Because of some interstitial inflammation in the lung biopsy and to further improve the condition, empirical therapy with systemic steroids and azathioprin, and inhaled and subcutaneous GMCSF, were used. Based on clinical measures, total protein and lipid recovered by whole lung lavages, all these treatments were without benefit. Conversely, severe respiratory viral infections and an invasive aspergillosis with aspergilloma formation occurred. Recently the novel homozygous stop mutation p.Ser25X of the GMCSF receptor alpha chain was identified in the patient. This mutation leads to a lack of functional GMCSF receptor and a reduced response to GMCSF stimulation of CD11b expression of mononuclear cells of the patient. Subsequently a very intense treatment with monthly lavages was initiated, resulting for the first time in complete resolution of partial respiratory insufficiency and a significant improvement of the overall somato-psychosocial condition of the child.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The long term management from early childhood into young adolescence of severe alveolar proteinosis due to GMCSF receptor deficiency requires a dedicated specialized team to perform technically demanding whole lung lavages and cope with complications.</p

Cutting power of lathe turning tools

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The value and meaning attached to genetic relatedness among Australian sperm donors

While in the context of western societies sperm is attributed with a wide range of meanings, in the context of assisted reproduction it has increasingly been treated as an alienable commodity. Yet despite attempts by medical professionals to encourage a disconnect between donors and their sperm, the latter continues in many instances to operate as a synecdoche for the former. This can be seen, for example, both in donor-conceived children's desire to know their donor and in donors' investments in the use of their sperm. This paper explores the latter example by providing a discourse analysis of the narratives of 30 Australian sperm donors, with a focus on how they accounted for the value and meaning of their sperm. Three broad themes are discussed: sperm as a marker of genetic legacy, responsibility for sperm as genetic material, and sperm as a "gift" to others. The implications of these understandings of sperm among donors are discussed in relation to outcomes for all parties involved in donor conception, and suggestions are made for recognizing the investments that donors may have in their sperm.Damien W. Riggs and Brett Schol