Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy as a Sole Agent Is Not Immunosuppressant in a Highly Immunogenic Mouse Model

Background. Hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) therapy, which is used for many conditions, may also have immunosuppressive effects and could be used for prevention or treatment of graft-versus-host disease (GvHD). If HBO is immunosuppressant, then we hypothesize that HBO therapy will delay the T-cell mediated skin graft rejection. Methods. C57/BL6 black-coated (H2B) mice received skin graft from CBA (H2D) white-coated mice. Mice were treated with either 19 session of 240 kpa oxygen or 29 session of 300 kpa oxygen, for 90 minutes. Mice were housed either 4 per cage or separately, to prevent friction and mechanical factors that may affect graft survival. Skin grafts were assessed daily. Results. There was no difference in length of graft survival between mice that received either regimens of HBO therapy and mice that did not receive HBO therapy. Conclusions. HBO therapy, as a sole agent, did not delay skin graft rejection in a highly immunogenic mouse model

Review of an Influenza Surveillance System, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

This system enabled detection of the onset and peak of an epidemic

Early Enzyme Replacement Therapy Improves Hearing and Immune Defects in Adenosine Deaminase Deficient-Mice

Background: Inherited defects in adenosine deaminase (ADA) cause severe immune deficiency, which can be corrected by ADA enzyme replacement therapy (ERT). Additionally, ADA-deficient patients suffer from hearing impairment. We hypothesized that ADA-deficient (–/–) mice also exhibit hearing abnormalities and that ERT from an early age will improve the hearing and immune defects in these mice.Methods: Auditory brainstem evoked responses, organ weights, thymocytes numbers, and subpopulations, lymphocytes in peripheral blood as well as T lymphocytes in spleen were analyzed in ADA–/– and ADA-proficient littermate post-partum (pp). The cochlea was visualized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The effects of polyethylene glycol conjugated ADA (PEG-ADA) ERT or 40% oxygen initiated at 7 days pp on the hearing and immune abnormalities were assessed.Results: Markedly abnormal hearing thresholds responses were found in ADA–/– mice at low and medium tone frequencies. SEM demonstrated extensive damage to the cochlear hair cells of ADA–/– mice, which were splayed, short or missing, correlating with the hearing deficits. The hearing defects were not reversed when hypoxia in ADA–/– mice was corrected. Progressive immune abnormalities were detected in ADA–/– mice from 4 days pp, initially affecting the thymus followed by peripheral lymphocytes and T cells in the spleen. ERT initiated at 7 days pp significantly improved the hearing of ADA–/– mice as well as the number of thymocytes and T lymphocytes, although not all normalized.Conclusions: ADA deficiency is associated with hearing deficits and damage to cochlear hair cells. Early initiation of ERT improves the hearing and immune abnormalities

Differential expression of membrane-anchored proteoglycans in rabbit articular chondrocytes cultured in monolayers and in alginate beads. Effect of transforming growth factor-β1

International audienc

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy as a Sole Agent Is Not Immunosuppressant in a Highly Immunogenic Mouse Model

Background. Hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) therapy, which is used for many conditions, may also have immunosuppressive effects and could be used for prevention or treatment of graft-versus-host disease (GvHD). If HBO is immunosuppressant, then we hypothesize that HBO therapy will delay the T-cell mediated skin graft rejection. Methods. C57/BL6 black-coated (H2B) mice received skin graft from CBA (H2D) white-coated mice. Mice were treated with either 19 session of 240 kpa oxygen or 29 session of 300 kpa oxygen, for 90 minutes. Mice were housed either 4 per cage or separately, to prevent friction and mechanical factors that may affect graft survival. Skin grafts were assessed daily. Results. There was no difference in length of graft survival between mice that received either regimens of HBO therapy and mice that did not receive HBO therapy. Conclusions. HBO therapy, as a sole agent, did not delay skin graft rejection in a highly immunogenic mouse model.Peer Reviewe

Preparation of a mesoporous Cu-Mn/TiO2 composite for the degradation of Acid Red 1

Heterogeneous catalysts which show high catalytic performance, structural stability, and low toxicity, are greatly required to efficiently degenerate organic pollutants in waste water in advanced oxidation processes (AOPs). In this paper, a mesoporous Cu-Mn/TiO2 composite heterogeneous catalyst was successfully prepared, which has a stable crystalline TiO2 mesostructure as the support, and well-dispersed Cu-Mn oxides as the catalytic active sties. Its Cu, Mn content is measured to be 5.7 and 6.0 wt%, and the BET surface area is measured to be 97 m2 g-1 with a pore size of approx. 6.0 nm and pore volume of 0.15 cm3 g-1. Using the prepared Cu-Mn/TiO2 composite as an AOPs catalyst for the degeneration of Acid Red 1, it can efficiently (\u3e99%) degenerate the model pollutant in water within only 90 min. Compared with homogeneous catalysts, it can retain its catalytic performance over a wide pH range (3-9) and can be recycled for at least five times while still possessing the decolorization efficiency of 89%. By analyzing the catalytic process, a possible catalytic procedure for the degradation of Acid Red 1 has been proposed. Furthermore, using bulk Cu-Mn oxides, Cu-Mn/P25, and Cu-Mn/SBA-15 as reference catalysts, we propose that the excellent catalytic performance of Cu-Mn/TiO2 could be ascribed to the anatase mesoporous TiO2, which not only offers a stable matrix with high surface area for Cu-Mn catalysts, but also serves as a type of catalytic promoter for the synergistic catalytic degeneration of Acid Red 1