Corneal epithelial cell viability of an ex vivo porcine eye model.

Science.gov (United States)

Chan, Ka Yin; Cho, Pauline; Boost, Maureen

2014-07-01

The aim was to assess the consistency of corneal epithelial cell viability of an ex vivo porcine eye model. Six porcine eye models (four test and two control) were prepared for each experiment. The model has a computer-controlled mechanical arm, which could move the eyelid of the porcine eye and apply phosphate buffered saline to simulate blinking and lacrimation. The four test eyes were set up to simulate evaporative dry eyes with simulated lacrimation and blinking (one blink and one drop of buffered saline per minute) over three hours. Control A models were set up to collect pre-experimental baseline data, while those of control B were the same as the test eyes but without lacrimation and blinking simulation. All porcine eyes were kept in a closed chamber with temperature and humidity well controlled. After three hours, the cells of all eyes (except control A, which were assessed immediately before commencement of the experiment) were assessed. The eyes were first dipped into 0.4 per cent trypan blue solution. Following the dissection and separation of the cells, the number of dead cells were then counted under the microscope with a field size of 0.25 mm(2). The experiment was repeated 11 times. No significant differences were found in the number of dead cells among the four test eyes in both the central and peripheral cornea. There were significantly more dead cells in the test eyes compared to control A but significantly less when compared to control B. More dead cells were found in the central cornea than the peripheral cornea in the test eyes but the difference was not observed in controls A and B. Epithelial cell viabilities among the four porcine eye models with simulated lacrimation and blinking were consistent. The majority of cells were viable before the experiment and simulated lacrimation and blinking maintained more viable cells over time. © 2014 The Authors. Clinical and Experimental Optometry © 2014 Optometrists Association Australia.

Characterisation of the porcine eyeball as an in-vitro model for dry eye.

Science.gov (United States)

Menduni, Francesco; Davies, Leon N; Madrid-Costa, D; Fratini, Antonio; Wolffsohn, James S

2018-02-01

To characterise the anatomical parameters of the porcine eye for potentially using it as a laboratory model of dry eye. Anterior chamber depth and angle, corneal curvature, shortest and longest diameter, endothelial cell density, and pachymetry were measured in sixty freshly enucleated porcine eyeballs. Corneal steepest meridian was 7.85±0.32mm, corneal flattest meridian was 8.28±0.32mm, shortest corneal diameter was 12.69±0.58mm, longest corneal diameter was 14.88±0.66mm and central corneal ultrasonic pachymetry was 1009±1μm. Anterior chamber angle was 28.83±4.16°, anterior chamber depth was 1.77±0.27mm, and central corneal thickness measured using OCT was 1248±144μm. Corneal endothelial cell density was 3250±172 cells/mm 2 . Combining different clinical techniques produced a pool of reproducible data on the porcine eye anatomy, which can be used by researchers to assess the viability of using the porcine eye as an in-vitro/ex-vivo model for dry eye. Due to the similar morphology with the human eye, porcine eyeballs may represent a useful and cost effective model to individually study important key factors in the development of dry eye, such as environmental and mechanical stresses. Copyright © 2017 British Contact Lens Association. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Prevention of primary vascular graft infection with silver-coated polyester graft in a porcine model

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gao, H; Sandermann, J; Prag, J

2010-01-01

To evaluate the efficacy of a silver-coated vascular polyester graft in the prevention of graft infection after inoculation with Staphylococcus aureus in a porcine model.......To evaluate the efficacy of a silver-coated vascular polyester graft in the prevention of graft infection after inoculation with Staphylococcus aureus in a porcine model....

Mouse Model of Burn Wound and Infection

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Calum, Henrik; Høiby, Niels; Moser, Claus

2017-01-01

The immunosuppression induced by thermal injury renders the burned victim susceptible to infection. A mouse model was developed to examine the immunosuppression, which was possible to induce even at a minor thermal insult of 6% total body surface area. After induction of the burn (48 hr) a depres......The immunosuppression induced by thermal injury renders the burned victim susceptible to infection. A mouse model was developed to examine the immunosuppression, which was possible to induce even at a minor thermal insult of 6% total body surface area. After induction of the burn (48 hr...

Evaluation of hands-on seminar for reduced port surgery using fresh porcine cadaver model

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Saseem Poudel

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Background: The use of various biological and non-biological simulators is playing an important role in training modern surgeons with laparoscopic skills. However, there have been few reports of the use of a fresh porcine cadaver model for training in laparoscopic surgical skills. The purpose of this study was to report on a surgical training seminar on reduced port surgery using a fresh cadaver porcine model and to assess its feasibility and efficacy. Materials and Methods: The hands-on seminar had 10 fresh porcine cadaver models and two dry boxes. Each table was provided with a unique access port and devices used in reduced port surgery. Each group of 2 surgeons spent 30 min at each station, performing different tasks assisted by the instructor. The questionnaire survey was done immediately after the seminar and 8 months after the seminar. Results: All the tasks were completed as planned. Both instructors and participants were highly satisfied with the seminar. There was a concern about the time allocated for the seminar. In the post-seminar survey, the participants felt that the number of reduced port surgeries performed by them had increased. Conclusion: The fresh cadaver porcine model requires no special animal facility and can be used for training in laparoscopic procedures.

Evaluation of hands-on seminar for reduced port surgery using fresh porcine cadaver model.

Science.gov (United States)

Poudel, Saseem; Kurashima, Yo; Shichinohe, Toshiaki; Kitashiro, Shuji; Kanehira, Eiji; Hirano, Satoshi

2016-01-01

The use of various biological and non-biological simulators is playing an important role in training modern surgeons with laparoscopic skills. However, there have been few reports of the use of a fresh porcine cadaver model for training in laparoscopic surgical skills. The purpose of this study was to report on a surgical training seminar on reduced port surgery using a fresh cadaver porcine model and to assess its feasibility and efficacy. The hands-on seminar had 10 fresh porcine cadaver models and two dry boxes. Each table was provided with a unique access port and devices used in reduced port surgery. Each group of 2 surgeons spent 30 min at each station, performing different tasks assisted by the instructor. The questionnaire survey was done immediately after the seminar and 8 months after the seminar. All the tasks were completed as planned. Both instructors and participants were highly satisfied with the seminar. There was a concern about the time allocated for the seminar. In the post-seminar survey, the participants felt that the number of reduced port surgeries performed by them had increased. The fresh cadaver porcine model requires no special animal facility and can be used for training in laparoscopic procedures.

Reactive burn models and ignition & growth concept

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Shaw M.S.

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Plastic-bonded explosives are heterogeneous materials. Experimentally, shock initiation is sensitive to small amounts of porosity, due to the formation of hot spots (small localized regions of high temperature. This leads to the Ignition & Growth concept, introduced by LeeTarver in 1980, as the basis for reactive burn models. A homo- genized burn rate needs to account for three meso-scale physical effects: (i the density of active hot spots or burn centers; (ii the growth of the burn fronts triggered by the burn centers; (iii a geometric factor that accounts for the overlap of deflagration wavelets from adjacent burn centers. These effects can be combined and the burn model defined by specifying the reaction progress variable λ = g(s as a function of a dimensionless reaction length s(t = rbc/ℓbc, rather than by specifying an explicit burn rate. The length scale ℓbc(Ps = [Nbc(Ps]−1/3 is the average distance between burn centers, where Nbc is the number density of burn centers activated by the lead shock. The reaction length rbc(t = ∫t0 D(P(t′dt′ is the distance the burn front propagates from a single burn center, where D(P is the deflagration speed as a function of the local pressure and t is the time since the shock arrival. A key implementation issue is how to determine the lead shock strength in conjunction with a shock capturing scheme. We have developed a robust algorithm for this purpose based on the Hugoniot jump condition for the energy. The algorithm utilizes the time dependence of density, pressure and energy within each cell. The method is independent of the numerical dissipation used for shock capturing. It is local and can be used in one or more space dimensions. The burn model has a small number of parameters which can be calibrated to fit velocity gauge data from shock initiation experiments.

Pancreas specific expression of oncogenes in a porcine model

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Berthelsen, Martin Fogtmann; Callesen, Morten Møbjerg; Østergaard, Tanja Stenshøj

2017-01-01

crucial for successful treatment. However, pancreatic cancer is difficult to detect in its earliest stages and once symptoms appear, the cancer has often progressed beyond possibility for curing. Research into the disease has been hampered by the lack of good models. We have generated a porcine m...

Sampling Strategies and Processing of Biobank Tissue Samples from Porcine Biomedical Models.

Science.gov (United States)

Blutke, Andreas; Wanke, Rüdiger

2018-03-06

In translational medical research, porcine models have steadily become more popular. Considering the high value of individual animals, particularly of genetically modified pig models, and the often-limited number of available animals of these models, establishment of (biobank) collections of adequately processed tissue samples suited for a broad spectrum of subsequent analyses methods, including analyses not specified at the time point of sampling, represent meaningful approaches to take full advantage of the translational value of the model. With respect to the peculiarities of porcine anatomy, comprehensive guidelines have recently been established for standardized generation of representative, high-quality samples from different porcine organs and tissues. These guidelines are essential prerequisites for the reproducibility of results and their comparability between different studies and investigators. The recording of basic data, such as organ weights and volumes, the determination of the sampling locations and of the numbers of tissue samples to be generated, as well as their orientation, size, processing and trimming directions, are relevant factors determining the generalizability and usability of the specimen for molecular, qualitative, and quantitative morphological analyses. Here, an illustrative, practical, step-by-step demonstration of the most important techniques for generation of representative, multi-purpose biobank specimen from porcine tissues is presented. The methods described here include determination of organ/tissue volumes and densities, the application of a volume-weighted systematic random sampling procedure for parenchymal organs by point-counting, determination of the extent of tissue shrinkage related to histological embedding of samples, and generation of randomly oriented samples for quantitative stereological analyses, such as isotropic uniform random (IUR) sections generated by the "Orientator" and "Isector" methods, and vertical

Satisfaction with life after burn: A Burn Model System National Database Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Goverman, J; Mathews, K; Nadler, D; Henderson, E; McMullen, K; Herndon, D; Meyer, W; Fauerbach, J A; Wiechman, S; Carrougher, G; Ryan, C M; Schneider, J C

2016-08-01

While mortality rates after burn are low, physical and psychosocial impairments are common. Clinical research is focusing on reducing morbidity and optimizing quality of life. This study examines self-reported Satisfaction With Life Scale scores in a longitudinal, multicenter cohort of survivors of major burns. Risk factors associated with Satisfaction With Life Scale scores are identified. Data from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) Burn Model System (BMS) database for burn survivors greater than 9 years of age, from 1994 to 2014, were analyzed. Demographic and medical data were collected on each subject. The primary outcome measures were the individual items and total Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) scores at time of hospital discharge (pre-burn recall period) and 6, 12, and 24 months after burn. The SWLS is a validated 5-item instrument with items rated on a 1-7 Likert scale. The differences in scores over time were determined and scores for burn survivors were also compared to a non-burn, healthy population. Step-wise regression analysis was performed to determine predictors of SWLS scores at different time intervals. The SWLS was completed at time of discharge (1129 patients), 6 months after burn (1231 patients), 12 months after burn (1123 patients), and 24 months after burn (959 patients). There were no statistically significant differences between these groups in terms of medical or injury demographics. The majority of the population was Caucasian (62.9%) and male (72.6%), with a mean TBSA burned of 22.3%. Mean total SWLS scores for burn survivors were unchanged and significantly below that of a non-burn population at all examined time points after burn. Although the mean SWLS score was unchanged over time, a large number of subjects demonstrated improvement or decrement of at least one SWLS category. Gender, TBSA burned, LOS, and school status were associated with SWLS scores at 6 months

Improved cell line IPEC-J2, characterized as a model for porcine jejunal epithelium.

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Silke S Zakrzewski

Full Text Available Cell lines matching the source epithelium are indispensable for investigating porcine intestinal transport and barrier properties on a subcellular or molecular level and furthermore help to reduce animal usage. The porcine jejunal cell line IPEC-J2 is established as an in vitro model for porcine infection studies but exhibits atypically high transepithelial resistances (TER and only low active transport rates so that the effect of nutritional factors cannot be reliably investigated. This study aimed to properly remodel IPEC-J2 and then to re-characterize these cells regarding epithelial architecture, expression of barrier-relevant tight junction (TJ proteins, adequate TER and transport function, and reaction to secretagogues. For this, IPEC-J2 monolayers were cultured on permeable supports, either under conventional (fetal bovine serum, FBS or species-specific (porcine serum, PS conditions. Porcine jejunal mucosa was analyzed for comparison. Main results were that under PS conditions (IPEC-J2/PS, compared to conventional FBS culture (IPEC-J2/FBS, the cell height increased 6-fold while the cell diameter was reduced by 50%. The apical cell membrane of IPEC-J2/PS exhibited typical microvilli. Most importantly, PS caused a one order of magnitude reduction of TER and of trans- and paracellular resistance, and a 2-fold increase in secretory response to forskolin when compared to FBS condition. TJ ultrastructure and appearance of TJ proteins changed dramatically in IPEC-J2/PS. Most parameters measured under PS conditions were much closer to those of typical pig jejunocytes than ever reported since the cell line's initial establishment in 1989. In conclusion, IPEC-J2, if cultured under defined species-specific conditions, forms a suitable model for investigating porcine paracellular intestinal barrier function.

Porcine models of biofilm infections with focus on pathomorphology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Louise Kruse; Johansen, Anne Sofie Boyum; Jensen, Henrik Elvang

2017-01-01

, and reproducible animal models of the infections. In this review, the advantages of in vivo studies are compared to in vitro studies of biofilm formation in infectious diseases. The pig is the animal of choice when developing and applying large animal models of infectious diseases due to its similarity of anatomy......, physiology, and immune system to humans. Furthermore, conventional pigs spontaneously develop many of the same chronic bacterial infections as seen in humans. Therefore, in this review porcine models of five different infectious diseases all associated with biofilm formation and chronicity in humans...

Quantitative Assessment of Graded Burn Wounds in a Porcine Model using Spatial Frequency Domain Imaging (SFDI) and Laser Speckle Imaging (LSI)

Science.gov (United States)

2014-09-08

diabetic foot ulcer development risk with hyperspectral tissue oximetry,” J. Biomed. Opt. 16(2), 026009 (2011). 21. A. J. Durkin, J. G. Kim, and D...Glucan treatment prevents progressive burn ischaemia in the zone of stasis and improves burn healing : An experimental study in rats,” Burns 39(1), 105...Obara, “Photoacoustic monitoring of burn healing process in rats,” J. Biomed. Opt. 13(6), 064020 (2008). 15. H. F. Zhang, K. Maslov, G. Stoica, and

Porcine model of hemophilia A.

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Yuji Kashiwakura

Full Text Available Hemophilia A is a common X chromosome-linked genetic bleeding disorder caused by abnormalities in the coagulation factor VIII gene (F8. Hemophilia A patients suffer from a bleeding diathesis, such as life-threatening bleeding in the brain and harmful bleeding in joints and muscles. Because it could potentially be cured by gene therapy, subhuman animal models have been sought. Current mouse hemophilia A models generated by gene targeting of the F8 have difficulties to extrapolate human disease due to differences in the coagulation and immune systems between mice and humans. Here, we generated a porcine model of hemophilia A by nuclear transfer cloning from F8-targeted fibroblasts. The hemophilia A pigs showed a severe bleeding tendency upon birth, similar to human severe hemophiliacs, but in contrast to hemophilia A mice which rarely bleed under standard breed conditions. Infusion of human factor VIII was effective in stopping bleeding and reducing the bleeding frequency of a hemophilia A piglet but was blocked by the inhibitor against human factor VIII. These data suggest that the hemophilia A pig is a severe hemophilia A animal model for studying not only hemophilia A gene therapy but also the next generation recombinant coagulation factors, such as recombinant factor VIII variants with a slower clearance rate.

Quantification of Porcine Vocal Fold Geometry.

Science.gov (United States)

Stevens, Kimberly A; Thomson, Scott L; Jetté, Marie E; Thibeault, Susan L

2016-07-01

The aim of this study was to quantify porcine vocal fold medial surface geometry and three-dimensional geometric distortion induced by freezing the larynx, especially in the region of the vocal folds. The medial surface geometries of five excised porcine larynges were quantified and reported. Five porcine larynges were imaged in a micro-CT scanner, frozen, and rescanned. Segmentations and three-dimensional reconstructions were used to quantify and characterize geometric features. Comparisons were made with geometry data previously obtained using canine and human vocal folds as well as geometries of selected synthetic vocal fold models. Freezing induced an overall expansion of approximately 5% in the transverse plane and comparable levels of nonuniform distortion in sagittal and coronal planes. The medial surface of the porcine vocal folds was found to compare reasonably well with other geometries, although the compared geometries exhibited a notable discrepancy with one set of published human female vocal fold geometry. Porcine vocal folds are qualitatively geometrically similar to data available for canine and human vocal folds, as well as commonly used models. Freezing of tissue in the larynx causes distortion of around 5%. The data can provide direction in estimating uncertainty due to bulk distortion of tissue caused by freezing, as well as quantitative geometric data that can be directly used in developing vocal fold models. Copyright © 2016 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Burn-injured tissue detection for debridement surgery through the combination of non-invasive optical imaging techniques.

Science.gov (United States)

Heredia-Juesas, Juan; Thatcher, Jeffrey E; Lu, Yang; Squiers, John J; King, Darlene; Fan, Wensheng; DiMaio, J Michael; Martinez-Lorenzo, Jose A

2018-04-01

The process of burn debridement is a challenging technique requiring significant skills to identify the regions that need excision and their appropriate excision depths. In order to assist surgeons, a machine learning tool is being developed to provide a quantitative assessment of burn-injured tissue. This paper presents three non-invasive optical imaging techniques capable of distinguishing four kinds of tissue-healthy skin, viable wound bed, shallow burn, and deep burn-during serial burn debridement in a porcine model. All combinations of these three techniques have been studied through a k-fold cross-validation method. In terms of global performance, the combination of all three techniques significantly improves the classification accuracy with respect to just one technique, from 0.42 up to more than 0.76. Furthermore, a non-linear spatial filtering based on the mode of a small neighborhood has been applied as a post-processing technique, in order to improve the performance of the classification. Using this technique, the global accuracy reaches a value close to 0.78 and, for some particular tissues and combination of techniques, the accuracy improves by 13%.

Surgical induction of choroidal neovascularization in a porcine model

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lassota, Nathan; Kiilgaard, Jens Folke; Prause, Jan Ulrik

2007-01-01

PURPOSE: To develop a reproducible surgical technique for the induction of choroidal neovascularization (CNV) in the subretinal space of porcine eyes and to analyse the resulting CNV clinically and histologically. METHODS: Two different modifications of a surgical technique previously described...... were compared with the original method. In ten porcine eyes retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells were removed using a silicone tipped cannula, in ten porcine eyes Bruch's membrane was perforated once with a retinal perforator without prior RPE removal and in ten eyes RPE removal was followed...... by a single perforation of Bruch's membrane. Fifteen of the eyes, five from each group, were enucleated 30 minutes after surgery, while the remaining eyes were enucleated after 14 days. Prior to enucleation, at day 14, fundus photographs and fluorescein angiograms were obtained. Eyes were examined by light...

Characterization of a porcine model of chronic superficial varicose veins.

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Gregory T; Grant, Mark W; Thomson, Ian A; Hill, B Geraldine; van Rij, André M

2009-06-01

Previous animal models of venous disease, while inducing venous hypertension and valvular insufficiency, do not produce superficial varicose veins. In this study, we aimed to develop and characterize a pig-based model of superficial varicose veins. Right femoral arteriovenous fistulae (AVF) were surgically fashioned in young adult pigs. Animals were examined at postoperative times up to 15 weeks to determine the development of varicose veins and measurement of both blood pressure and flow velocities within the superficial thigh veins. Histology and vascular corrosion casts were used to characterize the resulting structural venous alterations. Porcine pathophysiological features were compared with those of human primary superficial varicose veins. Gross superficial varicosities developed over the ipsilateral medial thigh region after an initial lag period of 1-2 weeks. Veins demonstrated retrograde filling with valvular incompetence, and a moderate, non-pulsatile, venous hypertension, which was altered by changes in posture and Valsalva. Venous blood flow velocities were elevated to 15-30 cm/s in varicose veins. Structurally, pig varicose veins were enlarged, tortuous, had valvular degeneration, and regions of focal medial atrophy with or without overlying intimal thickening. The superficial varicose veins, which developed within this model, have a pathophysiology that is consistent with that observed in humans. The porcine femoral AVF model is proposed as a suitable experimental model to evaluate the pathobiology of superficial venous disease. It may also be suitable for the evaluation of treatment interventions including drug therapy.

Anatomical manifestations of primary blast ocular trauma observed in a postmortem porcine model.

Science.gov (United States)

Sherwood, Daniel; Sponsel, William E; Lund, Brian J; Gray, Walt; Watson, Richard; Groth, Sylvia L; Thoe, Kimberly; Glickman, Randolph D; Reilly, Matthew A

2014-02-24

We qualitatively describe the anatomic features of primary blast ocular injury observed using a postmortem porcine eye model. Porcine eyes were exposed to various levels of blast energy to determine the optimal conditions for future testing. We studied 53 enucleated porcine eyes: 13 controls and 40 exposed to a range of primary blast energy levels. Eyes were preassessed with B-scan and ultrasound biomicroscopy (UBM) ultrasonography, photographed, mounted in gelatin within acrylic orbits, and monitored with high-speed videography during blast-tube impulse exposure. Postimpact photography, ultrasonography, and histopathology were performed, and ocular damage was assessed. Evidence for primary blast injury was obtained. While some of the same damage was observed in the control eyes, the incidence and severity of this damage in exposed eyes increased with impulse and peak pressure, suggesting that primary blast exacerbated these injuries. Common findings included angle recession, internal scleral delamination, cyclodialysis, peripheral chorioretinal detachments, and radial peripapillary retinal detachments. No full-thickness openings of the eyewall were observed in any of the eyes tested. Scleral damage demonstrated the strongest associative tendency for increasing likelihood of injury with increased overpressure. These data provide evidence that primary blast alone (in the absence of particle impact) can produce clinically relevant ocular damage in a postmortem model. The blast parameters derived from this study are being used currently in an in vivo model. We also propose a new Cumulative Injury Score indicating the clinical relevance of observed injuries.

A porcine ex vivo lung perfusion model with maximal argon exposure to attenuate ischemia-reperfusion injury

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

An Martens

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Argon (Ar is a noble gas with known organoprotective effects in rodents and in vitro models. In a previous study we failed to find a postconditioning effect of Ar during ex vivo lung perfusion (EVLP on warm-ischemic injury in a porcine model. In this study, we further investigated a prolonged exposure to Ar to decrease cold ischemia-reperfusion injury after lung transplantation in a porcine model with EVLP assessment. Domestic pigs (n = 6/group were pre-conditioned for 6 hours with 21% O 2 and 79% N 2 (CONTR or 79% Ar (ARG. Subsequently, lungs were cold flushed and stored inflated on ice for 18 hours inflated with the same gas mixtures. Next, lungs were perfused for 4 hours on EVLP (acellular while ventilated with 12% O 2 and 88% N 2 (CONTR group or 88% Ar (ARG group. The perfusate was saturated with the same gas mixture but with the addition of CO 2 to an end-tidal CO 2 of 35-45 mmHg. The saturated perfusate was drained and lungs were perfused with whole blood for an additional 2 hours on EVLP. Evaluation at the end of EVLP did not show significant effects on physiologic parameters by prolonged exposure to Ar. Also wet-to-dry weight ratio did not improve in the ARG group. Although in other organ systems protective effects of Ar have been shown, we did not detect beneficial effects of a high concentration of Ar on cold pulmonary ischemia-reperfusion injury in a porcine lung model after prolonged exposure to Ar in this porcine model with EVLP assessment.

Open wedge high tibial osteotomy using three-dimensional printed models: Experimental analysis using porcine bone.

Science.gov (United States)

Kwun, Jun-Dae; Kim, Hee-June; Park, Jaeyoung; Park, Il-Hyung; Kyung, Hee-Soo

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of three-dimensional (3D) printed models for open wedge high tibial osteotomy (HTO) in porcine bone. Computed tomography (CT) images were obtained from 10 porcine knees and 3D imaging was planned using the 3D-Slicer program. The osteotomy line was drawn from the three centimeters below the medial tibial plateau to the proximal end of the fibular head. Then the osteotomy gap was opened until the mechanical axis line was 62.5% from the medial border along the width of the tibial plateau, maintaining the posterior tibial slope angle. The wedge-shaped 3D-printed model was designed with the measured angle and osteotomy section and was produced by the 3D printer. The open wedge HTO surgery was reproduced in porcine bone using the 3D-printed model and the osteotomy site was fixed with a plate. Accuracy of osteotomy and posterior tibial slope was evaluated after the osteotomy. The mean mechanical axis line on the tibial plateau was 61.8±1.5% from the medial tibia. There was no statistically significant difference (P=0.160). The planned and post-osteotomy correction wedge angles were 11.5±3.2° and 11.4±3.3°, and the posterior tibial slope angle was 11.2±2.2° pre-osteotomy and 11.4±2.5° post-osteotomy. There were no significant differences (P=0.854 and P=0.429, respectively). This study showed that good results could be obtained in high tibial osteotomy by using 3D printed models of porcine legs. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Creation of Consistent Burn Wounds: A Rat Model

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Elijah Zhengyang Cai

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Background Burn infliction techniques are poorly described in rat models. An accurate study can only be achieved with wounds that are uniform in size and depth. We describe a simple reproducible method for creating consistent burn wounds in rats. Methods Ten male Sprague-Dawley rats were anesthetized and dorsum shaved. A 100 g cylindrical stainless-steel rod (1 cm diameter was heated to 100℃ in boiling water. Temperature was monitored using a thermocouple. We performed two consecutive toe-pinch tests on different limbs to assess the depth of sedation. Burn infliction was limited to the loin. The skin was pulled upwards, away from the underlying viscera, creating a flat surface. The rod rested on its own weight for 5, 10, and 20 seconds at three different sites on each rat. Wounds were evaluated for size, morphology and depth. Results Average wound size was 0.9957 cm2 (standard deviation [SD] 0.1845 (n=30. Wounds created with duration of 5 seconds were pale, with an indistinct margin of erythema. Wounds of 10 and 20 seconds were well-defined, uniformly brown with a rim of erythema. Average depths of tissue damage were 1.30 mm (SD 0.424, 2.35 mm (SD 0.071, and 2.60 mm (SD 0.283 for duration of 5, 10, 20 seconds respectively. Burn duration of 5 seconds resulted in full-thickness damage. Burn duration of 10 seconds and 20 seconds resulted in full-thickness damage, involving subjacent skeletal muscle. Conclusions This is a simple reproducible method for creating burn wounds consistent in size and depth in a rat burn model.

Steady State Investigations of DPF Soot Burn Rates and DPF Modeling

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cordtz, Rasmus Lage; Ivarsson, Anders; Schramm, Jesper

2011-01-01

and soot mass concentrations are used as model boundary conditions. An in-house developed raw exhaust gas sampling technique is used to measure the soot concentration upstream the DPF which is also needed to find the DPF soot burn rate. The soot concentration is measured basically by filtering the soot...... characteristics are used to fit model constants of soot and filter properties. Measured DPF gas conversions and soot burn rates are used to fit model activation energies of four DPF regeneration reactions using O2 and NO2 as reactants. Modeled DPF pressure drops and soot burn rates are compared to the steady...... state DPF experiments in the temperature range between 260 and 480 °C. The model widely reproduces the experimental results. Especially the exponential soot burn rate versus temperature is accurately reproduced by the model....

Model Predictions and Measured Skin Damage Thresholds for 1.54 Micrometers Laser Pulses in Porcine Skin

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Roach, William P; Cain, Clarence; Schuster, Kurt; Stockton, Kevin; Stolarski, David S; Galloway, Robert; Rockwell, Benjamin

2004-01-01

A new source-term thermal model was used to determine the skin temperature rise using porcine skin parameters for various wavelengths, pulse durations, and laser spot sizes and is compared to the Takata thermal model...

Explanatory Model of Resilience in Pediatric Burn Survivors.

Science.gov (United States)

Quezada, Lucía; González, Mónica T; Mecott, Gabriel A

2016-01-01

Identifying factors of adjustment in pediatric burn patients may facilitate appropriate mental health interventions postinjury. The aim of this is study was to explore the roles of both the patient's and caregivers' resilience and posttraumatic stress in pediatric burn survivor adjustment. For the purposes of the study, "51 patient-parent/guardian" dyads participated. Patients answered the Resilience Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents, and caregivers answered the Mexican Resilience Scale and the Davidson Trauma Scale. The roles of patient age, time since the burn, and size of burn injury were also considered. Statistical analyses included Spearman's ρ for correlations and structural equation modeling. P less than .05 was considered significant. Patients and caregivers reported high levels of resilience, and the majority of caregivers reported low severity of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. Pediatric burn survivors' resilience was associated with being younger at the time of the burn and less severity of intrusive and avoidance symptoms in caregivers; it was also associated with a higher resilience in caregivers. It can be concluded that psychological responses of caregivers of pediatric burn survivors affect the well being and positive adjustment of patients; thus psychological services for caregivers would likely have a double benefit for both caregivers and patients.

Reflective THz and MR imaging of burn wounds: a potential clinical validation of THz contrast mechanisms

Science.gov (United States)

Bajwa, Neha; Nowroozi, Bryan; Sung, Shijun; Garritano, James; Maccabi, Ashkan; Tewari, Priyamvada; Culjat, Martin; Singh, Rahul; Alger, Jeffry; Grundfest, Warren; Taylor, Zachary

2012-10-01

Terahertz (THz) imaging is an expanding area of research in the field of medical imaging due to its high sensitivity to changes in tissue water content. Previously reported in vivo rat studies demonstrate that spatially resolved hydration mapping with THz illumination can be used to rapidly and accurately detect fluid shifts following induction of burns and provide highly resolved spatial and temporal characterization of edematous tissue. THz imagery of partial and full thickness burn wounds acquired by our group correlate well with burn severity and suggest that hydration gradients are responsible for the observed contrast. This research aims to confirm the dominant contrast mechanism of THz burn imaging using a clinically accepted diagnostic method that relies on tissue water content for contrast generation to support the translation of this technology to clinical application. The hydration contrast sensing capabilities of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), specifically T2 relaxation times and proton density values N(H), are well established and provide measures of mobile water content, lending MRI as a suitable method to validate hydration states of skin burns. This paper presents correlational studies performed with MR imaging of ex vivo porcine skin that confirm tissue hydration as the principal sensing mechanism in THz burn imaging. Insights from this preliminary research will be used to lay the groundwork for future, parallel MRI and THz imaging of in vivo rat models to further substantiate the clinical efficacy of reflective THz imaging in burn wound care.

Methods for the detection and serum depletion of porcine galectin-3.

Science.gov (United States)

Eliaz, Isaac; Patil, Aarti; Navarro-Alvarez, Nalu; Wang, Zhirui; Eliaz, Amity; Weil, Elaine; Wilk, Barry; Sachs, David H; Huang, Christene A

2017-10-01

Circulating galectin-3 (Gal-3) is elevated in systemic inflammatory disorders, fibrotic diseases, and in cancers. Gal-3 is a promising cancer target where it promotes tumorigenesis and metastasis, as well as in renal, pulmonary, hepatic, and cardiovascular diseases, because of its role as a driver of fibrotic remodeling. This reports goal was to establish methods for the detection and removal of porcine Gal-3 that will enable further studies of the therapeutic potential of Gal-3 depletion by apheresis in porcine disease models. The long-term aim is to develop a safe, effective method of removing Gal-3 via apheresis as a standalone therapeutic tool and as an adjuvant to other therapies. Purified recombinant porcine Gal-3 was prepared and used as the standard for development of a porcine Gal-3 enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Different affinity column matrices that incorporated either a rat IgG2a anti-Gal-3 monoclonal antibody or carbohydrate ligand were assessed for depletion of Gal-3 from porcine serum. A porcine Gal-3 ELISA with a linear range from 0.3 to 20 ng/mL was able to detect native porcine Gal-3 in both fetal (∼150-200 ng/mL) and juvenile (∼5-15 ng/mL) porcine serum samples. Use of an anti-Gal-3 monoclonal antibody affinity column depleted Gal-3 from porcine serum to at least 313 pg/mL, the limit of ELISA detection. Methods have been developed for the detection and depletion of porcine Gal-3. These methods will be used to study the specific effects of Gal-3 depletion via apheresis in porcine models of disease. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Experimental model of the burn wound topical treatment

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Amra Čabaravdić

2003-11-01

Full Text Available AbstractBACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:Clinical research of drugs is a researching step subsequent to the preclinical studies in experimental animals. The aim of our research was to evaluate animal model of wound healing process after the burninducement and effects of the ointment containing natural plants on the process of burn healing.MATERIAL AND METHODS:Burn wounds were experimentally induced in two species of experimental animals which were treated with topically applied herbal preparation with concomitant monitoring of the healing process. Experimental groups (1 of 15 animals each (mice and rats, while control group (2 of 10 animals each (mice and rats that were not being treated with herbal ointment. After the hair removal, burn was induced on the back of animals by heated brass seal. Different clinical symptoms including oedema of surrounding tissue, redness, exudation, size of the burn surface, histological and microbiological findings were monitored on the days 1, 3, 7, 14 and 21. A statistically significant difference was observed throughout descriptive statistics and paired Student's t-test.CONCLUSION:Physiological healing processes of the acute burn wound following the topical application of herbal preparation can be monitored on the utilized animal model. A three-week treatment resulted in the 90% of completed epithelization in both animal species, indicating the effectiveness of topically applied herbal preparation.

Induced Hypothermia Does Not Harm Hemodynamics after Polytrauma: A Porcine Model

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Matthias Weuster

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Background. The deterioration of hemodynamics instantly endangers the patients’ life after polytrauma. As accidental hypothermia frequently occurs in polytrauma, therapeutic hypothermia still displays an ambivalent role as the impact on the cardiopulmonary function is not yet fully understood. Methods. We have previously established a porcine polytrauma model including blunt chest trauma, penetrating abdominal trauma, and hemorrhagic shock. Therapeutic hypothermia (34°C was induced for 3 hours. We documented cardiovascular parameters and basic respiratory parameters. Pigs were euthanized after 15.5 hours. Results. Our polytrauma porcine model displayed sufficient trauma impact. Resuscitation showed adequate restoration of hemodynamics. Induced hypothermia had neither harmful nor major positive effects on the animals’ hemodynamics. Though heart rate significantly decreased and mixed venous oxygen saturation significantly increased during therapeutic hypothermia. Mean arterial blood pressure, central venous pressure, pulmonary arterial pressure, and wedge pressure showed no significant differences comparing normothermic trauma and hypothermic trauma pigs during hypothermia. Conclusions. Induced hypothermia after polytrauma is feasible. No major harmful effects on hemodynamics were observed. Therapeutic hypothermia revealed hints for tissue protective impact. But the chosen length for therapeutic hypothermia was too short. Nevertheless, therapeutic hypothermia might be a useful tool for intensive care after polytrauma. Future studies should extend therapeutic hypothermia.

Induced Hypothermia Does Not Harm Hemodynamics after Polytrauma: A Porcine Model

Science.gov (United States)

Mommsen, Philipp; Pfeifer, Roman; Mohr, Juliane; Ruchholtz, Steffen; Flohé, Sascha; Fröhlich, Matthias; Keibl, Claudia; Seekamp, Andreas; Witte, Ingo

2015-01-01

Background. The deterioration of hemodynamics instantly endangers the patients' life after polytrauma. As accidental hypothermia frequently occurs in polytrauma, therapeutic hypothermia still displays an ambivalent role as the impact on the cardiopulmonary function is not yet fully understood. Methods. We have previously established a porcine polytrauma model including blunt chest trauma, penetrating abdominal trauma, and hemorrhagic shock. Therapeutic hypothermia (34°C) was induced for 3 hours. We documented cardiovascular parameters and basic respiratory parameters. Pigs were euthanized after 15.5 hours. Results. Our polytrauma porcine model displayed sufficient trauma impact. Resuscitation showed adequate restoration of hemodynamics. Induced hypothermia had neither harmful nor major positive effects on the animals' hemodynamics. Though heart rate significantly decreased and mixed venous oxygen saturation significantly increased during therapeutic hypothermia. Mean arterial blood pressure, central venous pressure, pulmonary arterial pressure, and wedge pressure showed no significant differences comparing normothermic trauma and hypothermic trauma pigs during hypothermia. Conclusions. Induced hypothermia after polytrauma is feasible. No major harmful effects on hemodynamics were observed. Therapeutic hypothermia revealed hints for tissue protective impact. But the chosen length for therapeutic hypothermia was too short. Nevertheless, therapeutic hypothermia might be a useful tool for intensive care after polytrauma. Future studies should extend therapeutic hypothermia. PMID:26170533

Establishment and characterization of a differentiated epithelial cell culture model derived from the porcine cervix uteri.

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Miessen, Katrin; Einspanier, Ralf; Schoen, Jennifer

2012-03-19

Cervical uterine epithelial cells maintain a physiological and pathogen-free milieu in the female mammalian reproductive tract and are involved in sperm-epithelium interaction. Easily accessible, differentiated model systems of the cervical epithelium are not yet available to elucidate the underlying molecular mechanisms within these highly specialized cells. Therefore, the aim of the study was to establish a cell culture of the porcine cervical epithelium representing in vivo-like properties of the tissue. We tested different isolation methods and culture conditions and validated purity of the cultured cells by immunohistochemistry against keratins. We could reproducibly culture pure epithelial cells from cervical tissue explants. Based on a morphology score and the WST-1 Proliferation Assay, we optimized the growth medium composition. Primary porcine cervical cells performed best in conditioned Ham's F-12, containing 10% FCS, EGF and insulin. After cultivation in an air-liquid interface for three weeks, the cells showed a discontinuously multilayered phenotype. Finally, differentiation was validated via immunohistochemistry against beta catenin. Mucopolysaccharide production could be shown via alcian blue staining. We provide the first suitable protocol to establish a differentiated porcine epithelial model of the cervix uteri, based on easily accessible cells using slaughterhouse material.

Nicotine permeability across the buccal TR146 cell culture model and porcine buccal mucosa in vitro

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Hanne Mørck; Rassing, Margrethe Rømer

2002-01-01

The present study was conducted to investigate and compare the effect of pH and drug concentration on nicotine permeability across the TR146 cell culture model and porcine buccal mucosa in vitro. As a further characterization of the TR146 cell culture model, it was explored whether the results were...... comparable for bi-directional and uni-directional transport in the presence of a transmembrane pH gradient. Nicotine concentrations between 10(-5) and 10(-2) M were applied to the apical side of the TR146 cell culture model or the mucosal side of porcine buccal mucosa. Buffers with pH values of 5.5, 7.......4 and 8.1 were used to obtain different fractions of non- and mono-ionized nicotine. The apparent permeability (P(app)) of nicotine across both models increased significantly with increasing pH, and the P(app) values obtained with the two models could be correlated in a linear manner. With increasing...

Integrating satellite imagery with simulation modeling to improve burn severity mapping

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Eva C. Karau; Pamela G. Sikkink; Robert E. Keane; Gregory K. Dillon

2014-01-01

Both satellite imagery and spatial fire effects models are valuable tools for generating burn severity maps that are useful to fire scientists and resource managers. The purpose of this study was to test a new mapping approach that integrates imagery and modeling to create more accurate burn severity maps. We developed and assessed a statistical model that combines the...

Deciphering the porcine intestinal microRNA transcriptome

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Keller Andreas

2010-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background While more than 700 microRNAs (miRNAs are known in human, a comparably low number has been identified in swine. Because of the close phylogenetic distance to humans, pigs serve as a suitable model for studying e.g. intestinal development or disease. Recent studies indicate that miRNAs are key regulators of intestinal development and their aberrant expression leads to intestinal malignancy. Results Here, we present the identification of hundreds of apparently novel miRNAs in the porcine intestine. MiRNAs were first identified by means of deep sequencing followed by miRNA precursor prediction using the miRDeep algorithm as well as searching for conserved miRNAs. Second, the porcine miRNAome along the entire intestine (duodenum, proximal and distal jejunum, ileum, ascending and transverse colon was unraveled using customized miRNA microarrays based on the identified sequences as well as known porcine and human ones. In total, the expression of 332 intestinal miRNAs was discovered, of which 201 represented assumed novel porcine miRNAs. The identified hairpin forming precursors were in part organized in genomic clusters, and most of the precursors were located on chromosomes 3 and 1, respectively. Hierarchical clustering of the expression data revealed subsets of miRNAs that are specific to distinct parts of the intestine pointing to their impact on cellular signaling networks. Conclusions In this study, we have applied a straight forward approach to decipher the porcine intestinal miRNAome for the first time in mammals using a piglet model. The high number of identified novel miRNAs in the porcine intestine points out their crucial role in intestinal function as shown by pathway analysis. On the other hand, the reported miRNAs may share orthologs in other mammals such as human still to be discovered.

Bloodless laparoscopic liver resection using radiofrequency thermal energy in the porcine model.

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Tsalis, Konstantinos; Blouhos, Konstantinos; Vasiliadis, Konstantinos; Kalfadis, Stavros; Tsachalis, Theodoros; Savvas, Ioannis; Betsis, Dimitrios

2007-02-01

The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility and safety of laparoscopic hepatectomy using radiofrequency (RF) thermal energy in a porcine model. Fifteen female domestic pigs weighing 29.3 kg (range 25 to 35 kg) were used. Five transversal abdominal incisions (3 of 1 cm and 2 of 0.5 cm) were made for the introduction of the video camera and the other laparoscopic instruments. With the porta hepatis not clamped, the liver was inspected and the preferred lobe each time was divided using RF (cool-tip electrode 3 cm) with minimum bleeding. Serum liver enzymes and blood counts were drawn pre and postoperatively. All animals were killed after 1 week. The mean time of the procedures was 119 minutes (range 100 to 155 min). There were no intraoperative complications. Mean blood loss was 27 mL (range 5 to 60 mL), and the mass of the resected specimen was 132.5 g (range 65 to 305 g). There were no postoperative complications or deaths. Bloodless laparoscopic hepatectomy was technically feasible and safe in the porcine model using cool-tip electrode and 500-kHz RF Generator.

Sequence conservation between porcine and human LRRK2

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Knud; Madsen, Lone Bruhn

2009-01-01

 Leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) is a member of the ROCO protein superfamily (Ras of complex proteins (Roc) with a C-terminal Roc domain). Mutations in the LRRK2 gene lead to autosomal dominant Parkinsonism. We have cloned the porcine LRRK2 cDNA in an attempt to characterize conserved...... and expression patterns are conserved across species. The porcine LRRK2 gene was mapped to chromosome 5q25. The results obtained suggest that the LRRK2 gene might be of particular interest in our attempt to generate a transgenic porcine model for Parkinson's disease...

Scar formation following excisional and burn injuries in a red Duroc pig model.

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Blackstone, Britani N; Kim, Jayne Y; McFarland, Kevin L; Sen, Chandan K; Supp, Dorothy M; Bailey, J Kevin; Powell, Heather M

2017-08-01

Scar research is challenging because rodents do not naturally form excessive scars, and burn depth, size, and location cannot be controlled in human longitudinal studies. The female, red Duroc pig model has been shown to form robust scars with biological and anatomical similarities to human hypertrophic scars. To more closely mimic the mode of injury, recreate the complex chemical milieu of the burn wound environment and enhance scar development, an animal model of excessive burn-induced scarring was developed and compared with the more commonly used model, which involves excisional wounds created via dermatome. Standardized, full-thickness thermal wounds were created on the dorsum of female, red Duroc pigs. Wounds for the dermatome model were created using two different total dermatome settings: ∼1.5 mm and ≥ 1.9 mm. Results from analysis over 150 days showed that burn wounds healed at much slower rate and contracted more significantly than dermatome wounds of both settings. The burn scars were hairless, had mixed pigmentation, and displayed fourfold and twofold greater excess erythema values, respectively, compared with ∼1.5 mm and ≥ 1.9 mm deep dermatome injuries. Burn scars were less elastic, less pliable, and weaker than scars resulting from excisional injuries. Decorin and versican gene expression levels were elevated in the burn group at day 150 compared with both dermatome groups. In addition, transforming growth factor-beta 1 was significantly up-regulated in the burn group vs. the ∼1.5 mm deep dermatome group at all time points, and expression remained significantly elevated vs. both dermatome groups at day 150. Compared with scars from dermatome wounds, the burn scar model described here demonstrates greater similarity to human hypertrophic scar. Thus, this burn scar model may provide an improved platform for studying the pathophysiology of burn-related hypertrophic scarring, investigating current anti-scar therapies, and development of

Full Core Burn-up Calculation at JRR-3 with MVP-BURN

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Komeda, Masao; Yamamoto, Kazuyoshi; Kusunoki, Tsuyoshi

2008-01-01

Research reactors use a burnable poison to suppress an excess reactivity in the beginning of reactor lifetime. The JRR-3 (Japan Research Reactor No.3) has used cadmium wires of radius 0.02 cm as a burnable poison. This report describes burn-up calculations of plate fuel models and full core models with MVP-BURN, which is a burn-up calculation code using Monte Carlo method and has been developed in JAEA (Japan Atomic Energy Agency). As the results of calculations of plate models, between a model composed of one burn-up region along the radius direction and a model composed of a few burn-up regions along the radius direction, the effective absorption cross section of 113 Cd has had different tendency on reaching approximate 40. day (10000 MWd/t). And as results of calculations of full core model, it has been indicated that k eff is almost same till approximate 80. day (22000 MWd/t) between a model composed of one burn-up region along the vertical direction and a model composed of a few burn-up regions along the vertical direction. However difference of 113 Cd burn-up becomes pronounced and each k eff makes a difference after 80. day. (authors)

Burn severity mapping using simulation modeling and satellite imagery

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Eva C. Karau; Robert E. Keane

2010-01-01

Although burn severity maps derived from satellite imagery provide a landscape view of fire impacts, fire effects simulation models can provide spatial fire severity estimates and add a biotic context in which to interpret severity. In this project, we evaluated two methods of mapping burn severity in the context of rapid post-fire assessment for four wildfires in...

The effect of dietary fatty acids on post-operative inflammatory response in a porcine model

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Langerhuus, Sine Nygaard; Jensen, Karin Hjelholt; Tønnesen, Else Kirstine

2012-01-01

), sunflower oil (SO, n 28), or animal fat (AF, n 28) was evaluated with respect to post-operative responses in inflammatory markers in a porcine model on aortic vascular prosthetic graft infection. In the early post-operative period (0 necrosis factor...

Simvastatin Treatment Improves Survival in a Murine Model of Burn Sepsis

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Beffa, David C; Fischman, Alan J.; Fagan, Shawn P.; Hamrahi, Victoria F.; Kaneki, Masao; Yu, Yong-Ming; Tompkins, Ronald G.; Carter, Edward A.

2014-01-01

Infection is the most common and most serious complication of a major burn injury related to burn size. Despite improvements in antimicrobial therapies sepsis still accounts for 50–60% of deaths in burn patients. Given the acute onset and unpredictable nature of sepsis, primary prevention was rarely attempted in its management. However, recent studies have demonstrated that statin treatment can decrease mortality is a murine model of sepsis by preservation of cardiac function and reversal of inflammatory alterations. In addition, it has been shown that treatment with statins is associated with reduced incidence of sepsis in human patients. In the current study groups of CD1 male mice (n=12) were anesthetized and subjected to a dorsal 30% TBSA scald burn injury. Starting 2 hours post burn, the animals were divided into a treatment group receiving 0.2 µ/g simvastatin or a sham group receiving placebo. Simvastatin and placebo were administered by intraperitoneal injection with two dosing regimens; once daily and every 12 hours. On Post burn day 7 cecal ligation and puncture with a 21-gauge needle was performed under ketamine/xylazine anesthesia and the two different dosing schedules were continued. A simvastatin dose dependant improvement in survival was observed in the burn sepsis model. PMID:21145172

Progress, problems and prospects of porcine pluripotent stem cells

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Hanning WANG,Yangli PEI,Ning LI,Jianyong HAN

2014-02-01

Full Text Available Pluripotent stem cells (PSCs, including embryonic stem cells (ESCs and induced PSCs (iPSCs, can differentiate into cells of the three germ layers, suggesting that PSCs have great potential for basic developmental biology research and wide applications for clinical medicine. Genuine ESCs and iPSCs have been derived from mice and rats, but not from livestock such as the pig─an ideal animal model for studying human disease and regenerative medicine due to similarities with human physiologic processes. Efforts to derive porcine ESCs and iPSCs have not yielded high-quality PSCs that can produce chimeras with germline transmission. Thus, exploration of the unique porcine gene regulation network of preimplantation embryonic development may permit optimization of in vitro culture systems for raising porcine PSCs. Here we summarize the recent progress in porcine PSC generation as well as the problems encountered during this progress and we depict prospects for generating porcine naive PSCs.

Risk Factor Analyses for the Return of Spontaneous Circulation in the Asphyxiation Cardiac Arrest Porcine Model

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Cai-Jun Wu

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Background: Animal models of asphyxiation cardiac arrest (ACA are frequently used in basic research to mirror the clinical course of cardiac arrest (CA. The rates of the return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC in ACA animal models are lower than those from studies that have utilized ventricular fibrillation (VF animal models. The purpose of this study was to characterize the factors associated with the ROSC in the ACA porcine model. Methods: Forty-eight healthy miniature pigs underwent endotracheal tube clamping to induce CA. Once induced, CA was maintained untreated for a period of 8 min. Two minutes following the initiation of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR, defibrillation was attempted until ROSC was achieved or the animal died. To assess the factors associated with ROSC in this CA model, logistic regression analyses were performed to analyze gender, the time of preparation, the amplitude spectrum area (AMSA from the beginning of CPR and the pH at the beginning of CPR. A receiver-operating characteristic (ROC curve was used to evaluate the predictive value of AMSA for ROSC. Results: ROSC was only 52.1% successful in this ACA porcine model. The multivariate logistic regression analyses revealed that ROSC significantly depended on the time of preparation, AMSA at the beginning of CPR and pH at the beginning of CPR. The area under the ROC curve in for AMSA at the beginning of CPR was 0.878 successful in predicting ROSC (95% confidence intervals: 0.773∼0.983, and the optimum cut-off value was 15.62 (specificity 95.7% and sensitivity 80.0%. Conclusions: The time of preparation, AMSA and the pH at the beginning of CPR were associated with ROSC in this ACA porcine model. AMSA also predicted the likelihood of ROSC in this ACA animal model.

Establishment and characterization of a differentiated epithelial cell culture model derived from the porcine cervix uteri

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Miessen Katrin

2012-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Cervical uterine epithelial cells maintain a physiological and pathogen-free milieu in the female mammalian reproductive tract and are involved in sperm-epithelium interaction. Easily accessible, differentiated model systems of the cervical epithelium are not yet available to elucidate the underlying molecular mechanisms within these highly specialized cells. Therefore, the aim of the study was to establish a cell culture of the porcine cervical epithelium representing in vivo-like properties of the tissue. Results We tested different isolation methods and culture conditions and validated purity of the cultured cells by immunohistochemistry against keratins. We could reproducibly culture pure epithelial cells from cervical tissue explants. Based on a morphology score and the WST-1 Proliferation Assay, we optimized the growth medium composition. Primary porcine cervical cells performed best in conditioned Ham's F-12, containing 10% FCS, EGF and insulin. After cultivation in an air-liquid interface for three weeks, the cells showed a discontinuously multilayered phenotype. Finally, differentiation was validated via immunohistochemistry against beta catenin. Mucopolysaccharide production could be shown via alcian blue staining. Conclusions We provide the first suitable protocol to establish a differentiated porcine epithelial model of the cervix uteri, based on easily accessible cells using slaughterhouse material.

Description and evaluation of a bench porcine model for teaching surgical residents vascular anastomosis skills

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Jauch Karl-Walter

2010-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Numerous models, of variable quality, exist to impart the complex skills required to perform vascular anastomosis. These models differ with regard to the kinds of materials used, as well as their sizes, the time needed for their preparation, their availability, and the associated costs. The present study describes a bench model that uses formalin-fixed porcine aorta, and its evaluation by young surgical residents during a recent skills course. Findings The aortic segments used were a by-product of slaughtering. They were fixed and stored after harvesting for eventual use. Ten young surgical residents participated, and each performed one end-to-side vascular anastomosis. The evaluation was a questionnaire maintaining anonymity of the participant containing questions addressing particular aspects of the model and the experiences of the trainee, along with their ratings concerning the need for a training course to learn vascular anastomosis techniques. The scoring on the survey was done using a global 6-point rating scale (Likert Scale. In addition, we ranked the present model by reviewing the current literature for models that address vascular anastomosis skills. The trainees who participated were within their first two years of training (1.25 ± 0.46. A strong agreement in terms of the necessity of training for vascular anastomosis techniques was evident among the participating trainees (5.90 ± 0.32, who had only few prior manual experiences (total number 1.50 ± 0.53. The query revealed a strong agreement that porcine aorta is a suitable model that fits the needs for training vascular anastomosis skills (5.70 ± 0.48. Only a few bench models designed to teach surgical residents vascular anastomosis techniques were available in the literature. Conclusions The preparatory and financial resources needed to perform anastomosis skills training using porcine aorta are few. The presented bench model appears to be appropriate for

Sensitivity of molecular marker-based CMB models to biomass burning source profiles

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Sheesley, Rebecca J.; Schauer, James J.; Zheng, Mei; Wang, Bo

To assess the contribution of sources to fine particulate organic carbon (OC) at four sites in North Carolina, USA, a molecular marker chemical mass balance model (MM-CMB) was used to quantify seasonal contributions for 2 years. The biomass burning contribution at these sites was found to be 30-50% of the annual OC concentration. In order to provide a better understanding of the uncertainty in MM-CMB model results, a biomass burning profile sensitivity test was performed on the 18 seasonal composites. The results using reconstructed emission profiles based on published profiles compared well, while model results using a single source test profile resulted in biomass burning contributions that were more variable. The biomass burning contribution calculated using an average regional profile of fireplace emissions from five southeastern tree species also compared well with an average profile of open burning of pine-dominated forest from Georgia. The standard deviation of the results using different source profiles was a little over 30% of the annual average biomass contributions. Because the biomass burning contribution accounted for 30-50% of the OC at these sites, the choice of profile also impacted the motor vehicle source attribution due to the common emission of elemental carbon and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The total mobile organic carbon contribution was less effected by the biomass burning profile than the relative contributions from gasoline and diesel engines.

Predictors of Discharge Disposition in Older Adults With Burns: A Study of the Burn Model Systems.

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Pham, Tam N; Carrougher, Gretchen J; Martinez, Erin; Lezotte, Dennis; Rietschel, Carly; Holavanahalli, Radha; Kowalske, Karen; Esselman, Peter C

2015-01-01

Older patients with burn injury have a greater likelihood for discharge to nursing facilities. Recent research indicates that older patients discharged to nursing facilities are two to three times as likely to die within a 3-year period relative to those discharged to home. In light of these poor long-term outcomes, we conducted this study to identify predictors for discharge to independent vs nonindependent living status in older patients hospitalized for burns. We retrospectively reviewed all older adults (age ≥ 55 years) who were prospectively enrolled in a longitudinal multicenter study of outcomes from 1993 to 2011. Patient, injury, and treatment outcomes data were analyzed. Recognizing that transfer to inpatient rehabilitation may have impacted final hospital discharge disposition: we assessed the likelihood of inpatient rehabilitation stay, based on identified predictors of inpatient rehabilitation. We subsequently performed a logistic regression analysis on the clustered, propensity-matched cohort to assess associations of burn and injury characteristics on the primary outcome of final discharge status. A total of 591 patients aged ≥55 years were treated and discharged alive from three participating U.S. burn centers during the study period. Mean burn size was 14.8% (SD 11.2%) and mean age was 66.7 years (SD 9.3 years). Ninety-three patients had an inpatient rehabilitation stay before discharge (15.7%). Significant factors predictive of inpatient rehabilitation included a burn >20% TBSA, mechanical ventilation, older age, range of motion deficits at acute care discharge, and study site. These factors were included in the propensity model. Four hundred seventy-one patients (80%) were discharged to independent living status. By matched propensity analysis, older age was significantly associated with a higher likelihood of discharge to nonindependent living (P burn centers need to be elucidated to better understand discharge disposition status in older

The CREST reactive-burn model for explosives

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Maheswaran M-A.

2011-01-01

Full Text Available CREST is an innovative reactive-burn model that has been developed at AWE for simulating shock initiation and detonation propagation behaviour in explosives. The model has a different basis from other reactive-burn models in that its reaction rate is independent of local flow variables behind the shock wave e.g. pressure and temperature. The foundation for CREST, based on a detailed analysis of data from particle-velocity gauge experiments, is that the reaction rate depends only on the local shock strength and the time since the shock passed. Since a measure of shock strength is the entropy of the non-reacted explosive, which remains constant behind a shock, CREST uses an entropy-dependent reaction rate. This paper will provide an overview of the CREST model and its predictive capability. In particular, it will be shown that the model can predict a wide range of experimental phenomena for both shock initiation (e.g. the effects of porosity and initial temperature on sustained-shock and thin-flyer initiation and detonation propagation (e.g. the diameter effect curve and detonation failure cones using a single set of coefficients.

Development of Erosive Burning Models for CFD Predictions of Solid Rocket Motor Internal Environments

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Wang, Qun-Zhen

2003-01-01

Four erosive burning models, equations (11) to (14). are developed in this work by using a power law relationship to correlate (1) the erosive burning ratio and the local velocity gradient at propellant surfaces; (2) the erosive burning ratio and the velocity gradient divided by centerline velocity; (3) the erosive burning difference and the local velocity gradient at propellant surfaces; and (4) the erosive burning difference and the velocity gradient divided by centerline velocity. These models depend on the local velocity gradient at the propellant surface (or the velocity gradient divided by centerline velocity) only and, unlike other empirical models, are independent of the motor size. It was argued that, since the erosive burning is a local phenomenon occurring near the surface of the solid propellant, the erosive burning ratio should be independent of the bore diameter if it is correlated with some local flow parameters such as the velocity gradient at the propellant surface. This seems to be true considering the good results obtained by applying these models, which are developed from the small size 5 inch CP tandem motor testing, to CFD simulations of much bigger motors.

Quantifying soil burn severity for hydrologic modeling to assess post-fire effects on sediment delivery

Science.gov (United States)

Dobre, Mariana; Brooks, Erin; Lew, Roger; Kolden, Crystal; Quinn, Dylan; Elliot, William; Robichaud, Pete

2017-04-01

Soil erosion is a secondary fire effect with great implications for many ecosystem resources. Depending on the burn severity, topography, and the weather immediately after the fire, soil erosion can impact municipal water supplies, degrade water quality, and reduce reservoirs' storage capacity. Scientists and managers use field and remotely sensed data to quickly assess post-fire burn severity in ecologically-sensitive areas. From these assessments, mitigation activities are implemented to minimize post-fire flood and soil erosion and to facilitate post-fire vegetation recovery. Alternatively, land managers can use fire behavior and spread models (e.g. FlamMap, FARSITE, FOFEM, or CONSUME) to identify sensitive areas a priori, and apply strategies such as fuel reduction treatments to proactively minimize the risk of wildfire spread and increased burn severity. There is a growing interest in linking fire behavior and spread models with hydrology-based soil erosion models to provide site-specific assessment of mitigation treatments on post-fire runoff and erosion. The challenge remains, however, that many burn severity mapping and modeling products quantify vegetation loss rather than measuring soil burn severity. Wildfire burn severity is spatially heterogeneous and depends on the pre-fire vegetation cover, fuel load, topography, and weather. Severities also differ depending on the variable of interest (e.g. soil, vegetation). In the United States, Burned Area Reflectance Classification (BARC) maps, derived from Landsat satellite images, are used as an initial burn severity assessment. BARC maps are classified from either a Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR) or differenced Normalized Burned Ratio (dNBR) scene into four classes (Unburned, Low, Moderate, and High severity). The development of soil burn severity maps requires further manual field validation efforts to transform the BARC maps into a product more applicable for post-fire soil rehabilitation activities

Applying Quality Function Deployment Model in Burn Unit Service Improvement.

Science.gov (United States)

Keshtkaran, Ali; Hashemi, Neda; Kharazmi, Erfan; Abbasi, Mehdi

2016-01-01

Quality function deployment (QFD) is one of the most effective quality design tools. This study applies QFD technique to improve the quality of the burn unit services in Ghotbedin Hospital in Shiraz, Iran. First, the patients' expectations of burn unit services and their priorities were determined through Delphi method. Thereafter, burn unit service specifications were determined through Delphi method. Further, the relationships between the patients' expectations and service specifications and also the relationships between service specifications were determined through an expert group's opinion. Last, the final importance scores of service specifications were calculated through simple additive weighting method. The findings show that burn unit patients have 40 expectations in six different areas. These expectations are in 16 priority levels. Burn units also have 45 service specifications in six different areas. There are four-level relationships between the patients' expectations and service specifications and four-level relationships between service specifications. The most important burn unit service specifications have been identified in this study. The QFD model developed in the study can be a general guideline for QFD planners and executives.

Lentiviral Vector Gene Transfer to Porcine Airways

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Patrick L Sinn

2012-01-01

Full Text Available In this study, we investigated lentiviral vector development and transduction efficiencies in well-differentiated primary cultures of pig airway epithelia (PAE and wild-type pigs in vivo. We noted gene transfer efficiencies similar to that observed for human airway epithelia (HAE. Interestingly, feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV-based vectors transduced immortalized pig cells as well as pig primary cells more efficiently than HIV-1–based vectors. PAE express TRIM5α, a well-characterized species-specific lentiviral restriction factor. We contrasted the restrictive properties of porcine TRIM5α against FIV- and HIV-based vectors using gain and loss of function approaches. We observed no effect on HIV-1 or FIV conferred transgene expression in response to porcine TRIM5α overexpression or knockdown. To evaluate the ability of GP64-FIV to transduce porcine airways in vivo, we delivered vector expressing mCherry to the tracheal lobe of the lung and the ethmoid sinus of 4-week-old pigs. One week later, epithelial cells expressing mCherry were readily detected. Our findings indicate that pseudotyped FIV vectors confer similar tropisms in porcine epithelia as observed in human HAE and provide further support for the selection of GP64 as an appropriate envelope pseudotype for future preclinical gene therapy studies in the porcine model of cystic fibrosis (CF.

A Preliminary Assessment of the SURF Reactive Burn Model Implementation in FLAG

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Johnson, Carl Edward [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); McCombe, Ryan Patrick [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Carver, Kyle [United States Air Force, Washington, DC (United States)

2017-09-18

Properly validated and calibrated reactive burn models (RBM) can be useful engineering tools for assessing high explosive performance and safety. Experiments with high explosives are expensive. Inexpensive RBM calculations are increasingly relied on for predictive analysis for performance and safety. This report discusses the validation of Menikoff and Shaw’s SURF reactive burn model, which has recently been implemented in the FLAG code. The LANL Gapstick experiment is discussed as is its’ utility in reactive burn model validation. Data obtained from pRad for the LT-63 series is also presented along with FLAG simulations using SURF for both PBX 9501 and PBX 9502. Calibration parameters for both explosives are presented.

Modeling of the solar radiative impact of biomass burning aerosols during the Dust and Biomass-burning Experiment (DABEX)

Science.gov (United States)

Myhre, G.; Hoyle, C. R.; Berglen, T. F.; Johnson, B. T.; Haywood, J. M.

2008-12-01

The radiative forcing associated with biomass burning aerosols has been calculated over West Africa using a chemical transport model. The model simulations focus on the period of January˜February 2006 during the Dust and Biomass-burning Experiment (DABEX). All of the main aerosol components for this region are modeled including mineral dust, biomass burning (BB) aerosols, secondary organic carbon associated with BB emissions, and carbonaceous particles from the use of fossil fuel and biofuel. The optical properties of the BB aerosol are specified using aircraft data from DABEX. The modeled aerosol optical depth (AOD) is within 15-20% of data from the few available Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) measurement stations. However, the model predicts very high AOD over central Africa, which disagrees somewhat with satellite retrieved AOD from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Multiangle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR). This indicates that BB emissions may be too high in central Africa or that very high AOD may be incorrectly screened out of the satellite data. The aerosol single scattering albedo increases with wavelength in our model and in AERONET retrievals, which contrasts with results from a previous biomass burning aerosol campaign. The model gives a strong negative radiative forcing of the BB aerosols at the top of the atmosphere (TOA) in clear-sky conditions over most of the domain, except over the Saharan desert where surface albedos are high. The all-sky TOA radiative forcing is quite inhomogeneous with values varying from -10 to 10 W m-2. The regional mean TOA radiative forcing is close to zero for the all-sky calculation and around -1.5 W m-2 for the clear-sky calculation. Sensitivity simulations indicate a positive regional mean TOA radiative forcing of up to 3 W m-2.

Comparison of commercial and experimental porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) vaccines using a triple challenge with PCV2, porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV), and porcine parvovirus (PPV).

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, H G; Beach, N M; Huang, Y W; Halbur, P G; Meng, X J; Opriessnig, T

2010-08-23

The efficacies of commercial porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) vaccines and a live PCV1-2a chimeric vaccine were compared in conventional, PCV2-positive piglets using a PCV2-porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV)-porcine parvovirus (PPV) coinfection challenge model. Seventy-three, 2-week-old pigs were randomized into seven groups including five vaccinated and two control groups. Pigs in the vaccinated groups were vaccinated at 3 weeks (one dose) or at 3 and 6 weeks (two dose) of age. All vaccine regimens tested were effective in reducing naturally occurring PCV2 viremia at 16 weeks of age and after PCV2 challenge, demonstrating the capability of the products to induce a lasting protective immunity despite the presence of PCV2 viremia at the time of vaccination. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Triple Culture Model of the Blood-Brain Barrier Using Porcine Brain Endothelial cells, Astrocytes and Pericytes.

Science.gov (United States)

Thomsen, Louiza Bohn; Burkhart, Annette; Moos, Torben

2015-01-01

In vitro blood-brain barrier (BBB) models based on primary brain endothelial cells (BECs) cultured as monoculture or in co-culture with primary astrocytes and pericytes are useful for studying many properties of the BBB. The BECs retain their expression of tight junction proteins and efflux transporters leading to high trans-endothelial electric resistance (TEER) and low passive paracellular permeability. The BECs, astrocytes and pericytes are often isolated from small rodents. Larger species as cows and pigs however, reveal a higher yield, are readily available and have a closer resemblance to humans, which make them favorable high-throughput sources for cellular isolation. The aim of the present study has been to determine if the preferable combination of purely porcine cells isolated from the 6 months old domestic pigs, i.e. porcine brain endothelial cells (PBECs) in co-culture with porcine astrocytes and pericytes, would compare with PBECs co-cultured with astrocytes and pericytes isolated from newborn rats with respect to TEER value and low passive permeability. The astrocytes and pericytes were grown both as contact and non-contact co-cultures as well as in triple culture to examine their effects on the PBECs for barrier formation as revealed by TEER, passive permeability, and expression patterns of tight junction proteins, efflux transporters and the transferrin receptor. This syngenic porcine in vitro BBB model is comparable to triple cultures using PBECs, rat astrocytes and rat pericytes with respect to TEER formation, low passive permeability, and expression of hallmark proteins signifying the brain endothelium (tight junction proteins claudin 5 and occludin, the efflux transporters P-glycoprotein (PgP) and breast cancer related protein (BCRP), and the transferrin receptor).

A Triple Culture Model of the Blood-Brain Barrier Using Porcine Brain Endothelial cells, Astrocytes and Pericytes.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Louiza Bohn Thomsen

Full Text Available In vitro blood-brain barrier (BBB models based on primary brain endothelial cells (BECs cultured as monoculture or in co-culture with primary astrocytes and pericytes are useful for studying many properties of the BBB. The BECs retain their expression of tight junction proteins and efflux transporters leading to high trans-endothelial electric resistance (TEER and low passive paracellular permeability. The BECs, astrocytes and pericytes are often isolated from small rodents. Larger species as cows and pigs however, reveal a higher yield, are readily available and have a closer resemblance to humans, which make them favorable high-throughput sources for cellular isolation. The aim of the present study has been to determine if the preferable combination of purely porcine cells isolated from the 6 months old domestic pigs, i.e. porcine brain endothelial cells (PBECs in co-culture with porcine astrocytes and pericytes, would compare with PBECs co-cultured with astrocytes and pericytes isolated from newborn rats with respect to TEER value and low passive permeability. The astrocytes and pericytes were grown both as contact and non-contact co-cultures as well as in triple culture to examine their effects on the PBECs for barrier formation as revealed by TEER, passive permeability, and expression patterns of tight junction proteins, efflux transporters and the transferrin receptor. This syngenic porcine in vitro BBB model is comparable to triple cultures using PBECs, rat astrocytes and rat pericytes with respect to TEER formation, low passive permeability, and expression of hallmark proteins signifying the brain endothelium (tight junction proteins claudin 5 and occludin, the efflux transporters P-glycoprotein (PgP and breast cancer related protein (BCRP, and the transferrin receptor.

HERMES: A Model to Describe Deformation, Burning, Explosion, and Detonation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Reaugh, J E

2011-11-22

HERMES (High Explosive Response to MEchanical Stimulus) was developed to fill the need for a model to describe an explosive response of the type described as BVR (Burn to Violent Response) or HEVR (High Explosive Violent Response). Characteristically this response leaves a substantial amount of explosive unconsumed, the time to reaction is long, and the peak pressure developed is low. In contrast, detonations characteristically consume all explosive present, the time to reaction is short, and peak pressures are high. However, most of the previous models to describe explosive response were models for detonation. The earliest models to describe the response of explosives to mechanical stimulus in computer simulations were applied to intentional detonation (performance) of nearly ideal explosives. In this case, an ideal explosive is one with a vanishingly small reaction zone. A detonation is supersonic with respect to the undetonated explosive (reactant). The reactant cannot respond to the pressure of the detonation before the detonation front arrives, so the precise compressibility of the reactant does not matter. Further, the mesh sizes that were practical for the computer resources then available were large with respect to the reaction zone. As a result, methods then used to model detonations, known as {beta}-burn or program burn, were not intended to resolve the structure of the reaction zone. Instead, these methods spread the detonation front over a few finite-difference zones, in the same spirit that artificial viscosity is used to spread the shock front in inert materials over a few finite-difference zones. These methods are still widely used when the structure of the reaction zone and the build-up to detonation are unimportant. Later detonation models resolved the reaction zone. These models were applied both to performance, particularly as it is affected by the size of the charge, and to situations in which the stimulus was less than that needed for reliable

Growth hormone-specific induction of the nuclear localization of porcine growth hormone receptor in porcine hepatocytes.

Science.gov (United States)

Lan, H N; Hong, P; Li, R N; Shan, A S; Zheng, X

2017-10-01

The phenomenon of nuclear translocation of growth hormone receptor (GHR) in human, rat, and fish has been reported. To date, this phenomenon has not been described in a domestic animal (such as pig). In addition, the molecular mechanisms of GHR nuclear translocation have not been thoroughly elucidated. To this end, porcine hepatocytes were isolated and used as a cell model. We observed that porcine growth hormone (pGH) can induce porcine GHR's nuclear localization in porcine hepatocytes. Subsequently, the dynamics of pGH-induced pGHR's nuclear localization were analyzed and demonstrated that pGHR's nuclear localization occurs in a time-dependent manner. Next, we explored the mechanism of pGHR nuclear localization using different pGHR ligands, and we demonstrated that pGHR's nuclear translocation is GH(s)-dependent. We also observed that pGHR translocates into cell nuclei in a pGH dimerization-dependent fashion, whereas further experiments indicated that IMPα/β is involved in the nuclear translocation of the pGH-pGHR dimer. The pGH-pGHR dimer may form a pGH-GHR-JAK2 multiple complex in cell nuclei, which would suggest that similar to its function in the cell membrane, the nuclear-localized pGH-pGHR dimer might still have the ability to signal. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A One-Dimensional Global-Scaling Erosive Burning Model Informed by Blowing Wall Turbulence

Science.gov (United States)

Kibbey, Timothy P.

2014-01-01

A derivation of turbulent flow parameters, combined with data from erosive burning test motors and blowing wall tests results in erosive burning model candidates useful in one-dimensional internal ballistics analysis capable of scaling across wide ranges of motor size. The real-time burn rate data comes from three test campaigns of subscale segmented solid rocket motors tested at two facilities. The flow theory admits the important effect of the blowing wall on the turbulent friction coefficient by using blowing wall data to determine the blowing wall friction coefficient. The erosive burning behavior of full-scale motors is now predicted more closely than with other recent models.

Development of a reactive burn model based upon an explicit visco-plastic pore collapse model

Science.gov (United States)

Bouton, Eric; Lefrançois, Alexandre; Belmas, Robert

2015-06-01

Our aim in this study is to develop a reactive burn model based upon a microscopic hot spot model to compute the initiation and shock to detonation of pressed TATB explosives. For the sake of simplicity, the hot spots are supposed to result from the viscoplastic collapse of spherical micro-voids inside the composition. Such a model has been incorporated in a lagrangian hydrodynamic code. In our calculations, 8 different pore diameters, ranging from 100 nm to 1.2 μm, have been taken into account and the porosity associated to each pore size has been deduced from the PBX-9502 void distribution derived from the SAXS. The last ingredient of our model is the burn rate that depends on two main variables. The first one is the shock pressure as proposed by the developers of the CREST model. The second one is the number of effective chemical reaction sites calculated by the microscopic model. Furthermore, the function of the reaction progress variable of the burn rate is similar to that in the SURF model proposed by Menikoff. Our burn rate has been calibrated by using pressure profile, material velocities wave forms obtained with embedded particle velocity gauges and run distance to detonation. The comparison between the numerical and experimental results is really good and sufficient to perform a wide variety of simulations including single, double shock waves and the desensitization phenomenon. In conclusion, future works are described.

Radiation sensitivity of bacteria and virus in porcine xenoskin for dressing agent

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jo, Eu-Ri; Jung, Pil-Mun; Choi, Jong-il; Lee, Ju-Woon

2012-01-01

In this study, gamma irradiation sensitivities of bacteria and viruses in porcine skin were evaluated to establish the optimum sterilization condition for the dressing material and a xenoskin graft. Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis were used as model pathogens and inoculated at 10 6 –10 7 log CFU/g. As model viruses, porcine parvovirus (PPV), bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV), and poliovirus were used and inoculated at 10 5 –10 6 TCID 50 /g into porcine skin. The D 10 value of E. coli was found to be 0.25±0.1 kGy. B. subtilis endospores produced under stressful environmental conditions showed lower radiation sensitivity as D 10 was 3.88±0.3 kGy in porcine skin. The D 10 values of PPV, BVDV, and poliovirus were found to be 1.73±0.2, 3.81±0.2, and 6.88±0.3 kGy, respectively. These results can offer the basic information required for inactivating pathogens by gamma irradiation and achieving dressing material and porcine skin grafts.

INPUT DATA OF BURNING WOOD FOR CFD MODELLING USING SMALL-SCALE EXPERIMENTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Petr Hejtmánek

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The paper presents an option how to acquire simplified input data for modelling of burning wood in CFD programmes. The option lies in combination of data from small- and molecular-scale experiments in order to describe the material as a one-reaction material property. Such virtual material would spread fire, develop the fire according to surrounding environment and it could be extinguished without using complex reaction molecular description. Series of experiments including elemental analysis, thermogravimetric analysis and difference thermal analysis, and combustion analysis were performed. Then the FDS model of burning pine wood in a cone calorimeter was built. In the model where those values were used. The model was validated to HRR (Heat Release Rate from the real cone calorimeter experiment. The results show that for the purpose of CFD modelling the effective heat of combustion, which is one of the basic material property for fire modelling affecting the total intensity of burning, should be used. Using the net heat of combustion in the model leads to higher values of HRR in comparison to the real experiment data. Considering all the results shown in this paper, it was shown that it is possible to simulate burning of wood using the extrapolated data obtained in small-size experiments.

Pulsations of stellar models in H and He burning phases

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gurm, H S; Sukhija, H M; Badalia, J K [Punjabi Univ., Patalia (India). Dept. of Astronomy and Space Sciences

1983-02-01

A study of pulsational properties with evolution has been done for a 15.6 Msub(sun) star with Xsub(e)=0.90 and Ysub(e)=0.08. Pulsational properties in the hydrogen-burning stages have been compared with those in helium-burning stages. A comparison with observed characteristics of ..beta.. Cepheids, classical Cepheids and supergiant variables has been made during the course of its evolution. In addition, models of 5, 9, and 15 Msub(sun) with Xsub(e)=0.708, Ysub(e)=0.272 have also been studied for pulsational properties during the helium burning stage. It is also seen that pulsational instability is sensitive to changes in initial chemical composition and opacity parameters, n and s. A low helium abundance could be a reason for the stability of the models, even when lying in the instability strip of the H-R diagram.

Application of transient burning rate model of solid propellant in electrothermal-chemical launch simulation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yan-jie Ni

2016-04-01

Full Text Available A 30 mm electrothermal-chemical (ETC gun experimental system is employed to research the burning rate characteristics of 4/7 high-nitrogen solid propellant. Enhanced gas generation rates (EGGR of propellants during and after electrical discharges are verified in the experiments. A modified 0D internal ballistic model is established to simulate the ETC launch. According to the measured pressure and electrical parameters, a transient burning rate law including the influence of EGGR coefficient by electric power and pressure gradient (dp/dt is added into the model. The EGGR coefficient of 4/7 high-nitrogen solid propellant is equal to 0.005 MW−1. Both simulated breech pressure and projectile muzzle velocity accord with the experimental results well. Compared with Woodley's modified burning rate law, the breech pressure curves acquired by the transient burning rate law are more consistent with test results. Based on the parameters calculated in the model, the relationship among propellant burning rate, pressure gradient (dp/dt and electric power is analyzed. Depending on the transient burning rate law and experimental data, the burning of solid propellant under the condition of plasma is described more accurately.

Porcine endogenous retroviral nucleic acid in peripheral tissues is associated with migration of porcine cells post islet transplant.

Science.gov (United States)

Binette, Tanya M; Seeberger, Karen L; Lyon, James G; Rajotte, Ray V; Korbutt, Gregory S

2004-07-01

Porcine islets represent an alternative source of insulin-producing tissue, however, porcine endogenous retrovirus (PERV) remains a concern. In this study, SCID mice were transplanted with nonencapsulated (non-EC), microencapsulated (EC) or macroencapsulated (in a TheraCyte trade mark device) neonatal porcine islets (NPIs), and peripheral tissues were screened for presence of viral DNA and mRNA. To understand the role of an intact immune system in PERV incidence, mice with established NPI grafts were reconstituted with splenocytes. Peripheral tissues were screened for PERV and porcine DNA using PCR. Tissues with positive DNA were analyzed for PERV mRNA using RT-PCR. No significant difference was observed between non-EC and EC transplants regarding presence of PERV or porcine-specific DNA or mRNA. In reconstituted animals, little PERV or porcine DNA, and no PERV mRNA was detected. No PERV or porcine-specific DNA was observed in animals implanted with a TheraCyte trade mark device. In conclusion, an intact immune system significantly lowered the presence of PERV. Microencapsulation of islets did not alter PERV presence, however, macroencapsulation in the TheraCyte device did. Lower PERV incidence coincided with lower porcine DNA in peripheral tissues, linking the presence of PERV to migration of porcine cells.

Nursing research on a first aid model of double personnel for major burn patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Weiwei; Shi, Kai; Jin, Zhenghua; Liu, Shuang; Cai, Duo; Zhao, Jingchun; Chi, Cheng; Yu, Jiaao

2015-03-01

This study explored the effect of a first aid model employing two nurses on the efficient rescue operation time and the efficient resuscitation time for major burn patients. A two-nurse model of first aid was designed for major burn patients. The model includes a division of labor between the first aid nurses and the re-organization of emergency carts. The clinical effectiveness of the process was examined in a retrospective chart review of 156 cases of major burn patients, experiencing shock and low blood volume, who were admitted to the intensive care unit of the department of burn surgery between November 2009 and June 2013. Of the 156 major burn cases, 87 patients who received first aid using the double personnel model were assigned to the test group and the 69 patients who received first aid using the standard first aid model were assigned to the control group. The efficient rescue operation time and the efficient resuscitation time for the patients were compared between the two groups. Student's t tests were used to the compare the mean difference between the groups. Statistically significant differences between the two groups were found on both measures (P's first aid model based on scientifically validated procedures and a reasonable division of labor can shorten the efficient rescue operation time and the efficient resuscitation time for major burn patients. Given these findings, the model appears to be worthy of clinical application.

Per-Oral Endoscopic Myotomy (POEM) After Previous Laparoscopic Heller Myotomy Is Feasible and Safe in a Porcine Model.

Science.gov (United States)

Miles, Luke F; Frelich, Matthew J; Gould, Jon C; Dua, Kulwinder S; Jensen, Eric S; Kastenmeier, Andrew S

2015-10-01

We sought to evaluate the feasibility, safety, and difficulty of performing the per-oral endoscopic myotomy (POEM) procedure in the setting of a prior Heller myotomy using a survival porcine model. Four pigs underwent laparoscopic Heller myotomy with Dor partial anterior fundoplication followed by the POEM performed 4 weeks later. Two additional pigs served as controls, undergoing only the POEM. All procedures were completed without complications. The revisional POEM was not significantly more difficult than POEM controls based on procedure time, POEM procedure components, or procedure difficulty scores. Revisional POEM had a longer mean operative time when compared with Heller myotomy (126.0 vs. 83.8 min; PHeller myotomy is safe and feasible in the porcine model and has potential as an option for patients suffering from recurrent or persistent symptoms after failed surgical myotomy.

Insights into coronary collateral formation from a novel porcine semiacute infarction model.

Science.gov (United States)

Krackhardt, Florian; Harnoss, Jonathan M; Waliszewski, Matthias W; Ritter, Zully; Granzow, Susanne; Felsenberg, Dieter; Neumann, Konrad; Lerman, Lilian O; Hillmeister, Philipp; Gebker, Rolf; Paetsch, Ingo; Riediger, Fabian; Bramlage, Peter; Buschmann, Ivo R

2018-03-01

For patients with severe ischemic heart disease, complete revascularization by a percutaneous coronary intervention or coronary artery bypass grafting is often not achieved and may still cause residual angina. In case of progressive coronary artery occlusions, therapeutic arteriogenesis constitutes a promising strategy for increasing blood supply to the ischemic myocardium. Whether the formation of collaterals in the hypofused myocardium is angiogenetic in nature or based on preformed coronary artery anastomoses remains debatable. The objectives of this research were (i) the development of an appropriate research methodology to study a humanoid animal semiacute infarction model with low mortality and (ii) to answer the question of whether collateral revascularization follows a pre-existing 'blueprint'. A porcine model was chosen in which a step-wise vessel occlusion was performed by implantation of a copper stent into the distal left anterior descending artery. Vessel occlusion and collateral development were confirmed in vivo every 14 days up to day 56 by repeated coronary angiography and myocardial perfusion measurement using cardiac MRI. After the completion of the in-vivo imaging studies, animals were euthanized and collateral growth was evaluated using microcomputer tomography. Our porcine model of semiacute noninvasive coronary artery occlusion confirmed the existence of preformed coronary anastomoses and the proliferation of functional vessels in hypoperfused myocardium. Repetitive intra-animal MRIs showed the functional impact of these growing collaterals. The confirmation of preformed coronary anastomoses during the process of collateralization (natural bypasses) offers a preclinical avenue to carry out arteriogenetic pharmaceutical research in patients with ischemic heart disease.

Pulsations of stellar models in H and He burning phases

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gurm, H.S.; Sukhija, H.M.; Badalia, J.K.

1983-01-01

A study of pulsational properties with evolution has been done for a 15.6 Msub(sun) star with Xsub(e)=0.90 and Ysub(e)=0.08. Pulsational properties in the hydrogen-burning stages have been compared with those in helium-burning stages. A comparison with observed characteristics of #betta# Cepheids, classical Cepheids and supergiant variables has been made during the course of its evolution. In addition, models of 5, 9, and 15 Msub(sun) with Xsub(e)=0.708, Ysub(e)=0.272 have also been studied for pulsational properties during the helium burning stage. It is also seen that pulsational instability is sensitive to changes in initial chemical composition and opacity parameters, n and s. A low helium abundance could be a reason for the stability of the models, even when lying in the instability strip of the H-R diagram. (orig.)

Formation of reactive aldehydes (MDA, HHE, HNE) during the digestion of cod liver oil: comparison of human and porcine in vitro digestion models.

Science.gov (United States)

Tullberg, Cecilia; Larsson, Karin; Carlsson, Nils-Gunnar; Comi, Irene; Scheers, Nathalie; Vegarud, Gerd; Undeland, Ingrid

2016-03-01

In this work, we investigated lipid oxidation of cod liver oil during gastrointestinal (GI) digestion using two types of in vitro digestion models. In the first type of model, we used human GI juices, while we used digestive enzymes and bile from porcine origin in the second type of model. Human and porcine models were matched with respect to factors important for lipolysis, using a standardized digestion protocol. The digests were analysed for reactive oxidation products: malondialdehyde (MDA), 4-hydroxy-trans-2-nonenal (HNE), and 4-hydroxy-trans-2-hexenal (HHE) by liquid chromatography/atmospheric pressure chemical ionization-mass spectrometry (LC/APCI-MS), and for free fatty acids (FFA) obtained during the digestion by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The formation of the oxidation products MDA, HHE, and HNE was low during the gastric digestion, however, it increased during the duodenal digestion. The formation of the oxidation products reached higher levels when digestive juices of human origin were used (60 μM of MDA, 0.96 μM of HHE, and 1.6 μM of HNE) compared to when using enzymes and bile of porcine origin (9.8, and 0.36 μM of MDA; 0.16, and 0.026 μM of HHE; 0.23, and 0.005 μM of HNE, respectively, in porcine models I and II). In all models, FFA release was only detected during the intestinal step, and reached up to 31% of total fatty acids (FA). The findings in this work may be of importance when designing oxidation oriented lipid digestion studies.

Thermal Ablation of the Pancreas With Intraoperative High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound: Safety and Efficacy in a Porcine Model.

Science.gov (United States)

Dupré, Aurélien; Melodelima, David; Pflieger, Hannah; Chen, Yao; Vincenot, Jérémy; Kocot, Anthony; Langonnet, Stéphan; Rivoire, Michel

2017-02-01

New focal destruction technologies such as high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) may improve the prognosis of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Our objectives were to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of intraoperative pancreatic HIFU ablation in a porcine model. In a porcine model (N = 12), a single HIFU ablation was performed in either the body or tail of the pancreas, distant to superior mesenteric vessels. All animals were sacrificed on the eighth day. The primary objective was to obtain an HIFU ablation measuring at least 1 cm without premature death. In total, 12 HIFU ablations were carried out. These ablations were performed within 160 seconds and on average measured 20 (15-27) × 16 (8-26) mm. The primary objective was fulfilled in all but 1 pig. There were no premature deaths or severe complications. High-intensity focused ultrasound treatment was associated with a transitory increase in amylase and lipase levels, and pseudocysts were observed in half of the pigs without being clinically apparent. All ablations were well delimited at both gross and histological examinations. Intraoperative thermal destruction of porcine pancreas with HIFU is feasible. Reproducibility and safety have to be confirmed when applied close to mesenteric vessels and in long-term preclinical studies.

Modeling of WWER-440 Fuel Pin Behavior at Extended Burn-up

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

El-Koliel, M.S.; Abou-Zaid, A.A.; El-Kafas, A.A.

2004-01-01

Currently, there is an ongoing effort to increase fuel discharge burn-up of all LWRs fuel including WWER's as much as possible in order to decrease power production cost. Therefore, burn-up is expected to be increased to 60 to 70 Mwd/kg U. The change in the fuel radial power distribution as a function of fuel burn up can affect the radial fuel temperature distribution as well as the fuel microstructure in the fuel pellet rim. In this paper, the radial burn-up and fissile products distributions of WWER-440 UO 2 fuel pin were evaluated using MCNP 4B and ORIGEN2 codes. The impact of the thermal conductivity on predicted fission gas release calculations is needed. For the analysis, a typical WWER-440 fuel pin and surrounding water moderator are considered in a hexagonal pin cell well. The thermal release and the athermal release from the pellet rim were modeled separately. The fraction of the rim structure and the excessive porosity in the rim structure in isothermal irradiation as a function of the fuel burn-up was predicted. a computer program; RIMSC-01, is developed to perform the required FGR calculations. Finally, the relevant phenomena and the corresponding models together with their validation are presented

Total inpatient treatment costs in patients with severe burns: towards a more accurate reimbursement model.

Science.gov (United States)

Mehra, Tarun; Koljonen, Virve; Seifert, Burkhardt; Volbracht, Jörk; Giovanoli, Pietro; Plock, Jan; Moos, Rudolf Maria

2015-01-01

Reimbursement systems have difficulties depicting the actual cost of burn treatment, leaving care providers with a significant financial burden. Our aim was to establish a simple and accurate reimbursement model compatible with prospective payment systems. A total of 370 966 electronic medical records of patients discharged in 2012 to 2013 from Swiss university hospitals were reviewed. A total of 828 cases of burns including 109 cases of severe burns were retained. Costs, revenues and earnings for severe and nonsevere burns were analysed and a linear regression model predicting total inpatient treatment costs was established. The median total costs per case for severe burns was tenfold higher than for nonsevere burns (179 949 CHF [167 353 EUR] vs 11 312 CHF [10 520 EUR], interquartile ranges 96 782-328 618 CHF vs 4 874-27 783 CHF, p <0.001). The median of earnings per case for nonsevere burns was 588 CHF (547 EUR) (interquartile range -6 720 - 5 354 CHF) whereas severe burns incurred a large financial loss to care providers, with median earnings of -33 178 CHF (30 856 EUR) (interquartile range -95 533 - 23 662 CHF). Differences were highly significant (p <0.001). Our linear regression model predicting total costs per case with length of stay (LOS) as independent variable had an adjusted R2 of 0.67 (p <0.001 for LOS). Severe burns are systematically underfunded within the Swiss reimbursement system. Flat-rate DRG-based refunds poorly reflect the actual treatment costs. In conclusion, we suggest a reimbursement model based on a per diem rate for treatment of severe burns.

Accuracy of Currently Used Paper Burn Diagram vs a Three-Dimensional Computerized Model.

Science.gov (United States)

Benjamin, Nicole C; Lee, Jong O; Norbury, William B; Branski, Ludwik K; Wurzer, Paul; Jimenez, Carlos J; Benjamin, Debra A; Herndon, David N

Burn units have historically used paper diagrams to estimate percent burn; however, unintentional errors can occur. The use of a computer program that incorporates wound mapping from photographs onto a three-dimensional (3D) human diagram could decrease subjectivity in preparing burn diagrams and subsequent calculations of TBSA burned. Analyses were done on 19 burned patients who had an estimated TBSA burned of ≥20%. The patients were admitted to Shriners Hospitals for Children or the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas, from July 2012 to September 2013 for treatment. Digital photographs were collected before the patient's first surgery. Using BurnCase 3D (RISC Software GmbH, Hagenberg, Austria), a burn mapping software, the user traced partial- and full-thickness burns from photographs. The program then superimposed tracings onto a 3D model and calculated percent burned. The results were compared with the Lund and Browder diagrams completed after the first operation. A two-tailed t-test was used to calculate statistical differences. For partial-thickness burns, burn sizes calculated using Lund and Browder diagrams were significantly larger than those calculated using BurnCase 3D (15% difference, P < .01). The opposite was found for full-thickness burns, with burn sizes being smaller when calculated using Lund and Browder diagrams (11% difference, P < .05). In conclusion, substantial differences exist in percent burn estimations derived from BurnCase 3D and paper diagrams. In our studied cohort, paper diagrams were associated with overestimation of partial-thickness burn size and underestimation of full-thickness burn size. Additional studies comparing BurnCase 3D with other commonly used methods are warranted.

Modeling prescribed burning experiments and assessing the fire impacts on local to regional air quality

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, L.; Baker, K. R.; Napelenok, S. L.; Elleman, R. A.; Urbanski, S. P.

2016-12-01

Biomass burning, including wildfires and prescribed burns, strongly impact the global carbon cycle and are of increasing concern due to the potential impacts on ambient air quality. This modelling study focuses on the evolution of carbonaceous compounds during a prescribed burning experiment and assesses the impacts of burning on local to regional air quality. The Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model is used to conduct 4 and 2 km grid resolution simulations of prescribed burning experiments in southeast Washington state and western Idaho state in summer 2013. The ground and airborne measurements from the field experiment are used to evaluate the model performance in capturing surface and aloft impacts from the burning events. Phase partitioning of organic compounds in the plume are studied as it is a crucial step towards understanding the fate of carbonaceous compounds. The sensitivities of ambient concentrations and deposition to emissions are conducted for organic carbon, elemental carbon and ozone to estimate the impacts of fire on air quality.

Modeling crop residue burning experiments to evaluate smoke emissions and plume transport

Science.gov (United States)

Crop residue burning is a common land management practice that results in emissions of a variety of pollutants with negative health impacts. Modeling systems are used to estimate air quality impacts of crop residue burning to support retrospective regulatory assessments and also ...

Spatial frequency domain imaging of burn wounds in a preclinical model of graded burn severity

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, John Quan; Crouzet, Christian; Mai, Tuan; Riola, Kathleen; Uchitel, Daniel; Liaw, Lih-Huei; Bernal, Nicole; Ponticorvo, Adrien; Choi, Bernard; Durkin, Anthony J.

2013-06-01

Frequent monitoring of early-stage burns is necessary for deciding optimal treatment and management. Both superficial and full thickness burns are relatively easy to diagnose based on clinical observation. In between these two extremes are superficial-partial thickness and deep-partial thickness burns. These burns, while visually similar, differ dramatically in terms of clinical treatment and are known to progress in severity over time. The objective of this study was to determine the potential of spatial frequency domain imaging (SFDI) for noninvasively mapping quantitative changes in chromophore and optical properties that may be an indicative of burn wound severity. A controlled protocol of graded burn severity was developed and applied to 17 rats. SFDI data was acquired at multiple near-infrared wavelengths over a course of 3 h. Burn severity was verified using hematoxylin and eosin histology. From this study, we found that changes in water concentration (edema), deoxygenated hemoglobin concentration, and optical scattering (tissue denaturation) to be statistically significant at differentiating superficial partial-thickness burns from deep-partial thickness burns.

Development of left ventricular hypertrophy in a novel porcine model of mitral regurgitation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ravn, Nathja; Zois, Nora Elisabeth; Moesgaard, Sophia Gry

2014-01-01

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to develop a porcine model for chronic nonischemic mitral regurgitation (MR) to investigate left ventricular (LV) enlargement and eccentric hypertrophy. DESIGN: Nonischemic MR was induced in 30 pigs by open-chest immobilization of the posterior mitral leaflet by transannular...... (LVIDd) from baseline to follow-up was significantly higher in the sMR group compared to that of the control group (P = 0.0017). Furthermore, LV weight was significantly increased in the mMR (P = 0.047) and the sMR (P = 0.0087) groups compared to that of the control group. CONCLUSIONS: A new model...

Chronic Porcine Two-Hit Model with Hemorrhagic Shock and textitPseudomonas aeruginosa Sepsis

OpenAIRE

Eissner, B.;Matz, K.;Smorodchenko, A.;Röschmann, A.;Specht, B. U. v.

2016-01-01

Background: Sepsis is still a major cause of death despite well-developed therapeutical strategies such as antibiotics and supportive medication. The aim of this study was to characterize the long-term effects of a two-hit porcine sepsis model with a hemorrhagic shock as ‘first hit’ followed by a Pseudomonas aeruginosa infusion as ‘second hit’. Materials and Methods: Twelve juvenile healthy pigs were anesthetized and hemodynamically monitored. The two-hit group (n = 6) underwent a hemorrhagic...

Modeling Emissions and Vertical Plume Transport of Crop Residue Burning Experiments in the Pacific Northwest

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, L.; Baker, K. R.; Napelenok, S. L.; Pouliot, G.; Elleman, R. A.; ONeill, S. M.; Urbanski, S. P.; Wong, D. C.

2017-12-01

Crop residue burning has long been a common practice in agriculture with the smoke emissions from the burning linked to negative health impacts. A field study in eastern Washington and northern Idaho in August 2013 consisted of multiple burns of well characterized fuels with nearby surface and aerial measurements including trace species concentrations, plume rise height and boundary layer structure. The chemical transport model CMAQ (Community Multiscale Air Quality Model) was used to assess the fire emissions and subsequent vertical plume transport. The study first compared assumptions made by the 2014 National Emission Inventory approach for crop residue burning with the fuel and emissions information obtained from the field study and then investigated the sensitivity of modeled carbon monoxide (CO) and PM2.5 concentrations to these different emission estimates and plume rise treatment with CMAQ. The study suggests that improvements to the current parameterizations are needed in order for CMAQ to reliably reproduce smoke plumes from burning. In addition, there is enough variability in the smoke emissions, stemming from variable field-specific information such as field size, that attempts to model crop residue burning should use field-specific information whenever possible.

7 CFR 1230.611 - Porcine animal.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 10 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Porcine animal. 1230.611 Section 1230.611 Agriculture... CONSUMER INFORMATION Procedures for the Conduct of Referendum Definitions § 1230.611 Porcine animal. The term Porcine animal means a swine, that is raised: (a) As a feeder pig, that is, a young pig sold to...

Porcine cluster of differentiation (CD) markers 2018 update.

Science.gov (United States)

Dawson, Harry D; Lunney, Joan K

2018-06-01

Pigs are a major source of food worldwide; preventing and treating their infectious diseases is essential, requiring a thorough understanding of porcine immunity. The use of pigs as models for human physiology is a growing area; progress in this area has been limited because the immune toolkit is not robust. The international community has established cluster of differentiation (CD) markers for assessing cells involved in immunity as well as characterizing numerous other cells like stem cells. Overall, for humans 419 proteins have been designated as CD markers, each reacting with a defined set of antibodies (Abs). This paper summarizes current knowledge of swine CD markers and identifies 359 corresponding CD proteins in pigs. A broad-based literature and vendor search was conducted to identify defined sets of monoclonal (mAbs) and polyclonal Abs (pAbs) reacting with porcine CD markers along with other reagents (fusion proteins, ELISAs, PCR assays, and gene edited cell and pig models). This process identified over 800 reagents that are reportedly reactive with 266 pig CD markers. Despite this number, there is a great need to develop and characterize additional CD marker reagents, particularly mAbs, for pig research. There are numerous high priority targets: reagents for the characterization of porcine innate lymphoid cells, polarized macrophages and T regulatory cells and for the detection of porcine CD45 isoforms. Overall, improved technologies and genomics have contributed to dramatic increases in our knowledge of the pig, its immune system, disease and vaccine responses, and utility as a biomedical model. The development of more CD reagents will clearly advance these initiatives. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Porcine head response to blast.

Science.gov (United States)

Shridharani, Jay K; Wood, Garrett W; Panzer, Matthew B; Capehart, Bruce P; Nyein, Michelle K; Radovitzky, Raul A; Bass, Cameron R 'dale'

2012-01-01

Recent studies have shown an increase in the frequency of traumatic brain injuries related to blast exposure. However, the mechanisms that cause blast neurotrauma are unknown. Blast neurotrauma research using computational models has been one method to elucidate that response of the brain in blast, and to identify possible mechanical correlates of injury. However, model validation against experimental data is required to ensure that the model output is representative of in vivo biomechanical response. This study exposes porcine subjects to primary blast overpressures generated using a compressed-gas shock tube. Shock tube blasts were directed to the unprotected head of each animal while the lungs and thorax were protected using ballistic protective vests similar to those employed in theater. The test conditions ranged from 110 to 740 kPa peak incident overpressure with scaled durations from 1.3 to 6.9 ms and correspond approximately with a 50% injury risk for brain bleeding and apnea in a ferret model scaled to porcine exposure. Instrumentation was placed on the porcine head to measure bulk acceleration, pressure at the surface of the head, and pressure inside the cranial cavity. Immediately after the blast, 5 of the 20 animals tested were apneic. Three subjects recovered without intervention within 30 s and the remaining two recovered within 8 min following respiratory assistance and administration of the respiratory stimulant doxapram. Gross examination of the brain revealed no indication of bleeding. Intracranial pressures ranged from 80 to 390 kPa as a result of the blast and were notably lower than the shock tube reflected pressures of 300-2830 kPa, indicating pressure attenuation by the skull up to a factor of 8.4. Peak head accelerations were measured from 385 to 3845 G's and were well correlated with peak incident overpressure (R(2) = 0.90). One SD corridors for the surface pressure, intracranial pressure (ICP), and head acceleration are

Allogeneic amniotic membrane-derived mesenchymal stromal cell transplantation in a porcine model of chronic myocardial ischemia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kimura M

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction. Amniotic membrane contains a multipotential stem cell population and is expected to possess the machinery to regulate immunological reactions. We investigated the safety and efficacy of allogeneic amniotic membrane-derived mesenchymal stromal cell (AMSC transplantation in a porcine model of chronic myocardial ischemia as a preclinical trial. Methods. Porcine AMSCs were isolated from amniotic membranes obtained by cesarean section just before delivery and were cultured to increase their numbers before transplantation. Chronic myocardial ischemia was induced by implantation of an ameroid constrictor around the left circumflex coronary artery. Four weeks after ischemia induction, nine swine were assigned to undergo either allogeneic AMSC transplantation or normal saline injection. Functional analysis was performed by echocardiography, and histological examinations were carried out by immunohistochemistry 4 weeks after AMSC transplantation. Results. Echocardiography demonstrated that left ventricular ejection fraction was significantly improved and left ventricular dilatation was well attenuated 4 weeks after AMSC transplantation. Histological assessment showed a significant reduction in percentage of fibrosis in the AMSC transplantation group. Injected allogeneic green fluorescent protein (GFP-expressing AMSCs were identified in the immunocompetent host heart without the use of any immunosuppressants 4 weeks after transplantation. Immunohistochemistry revealed that GFP colocalized with cardiac troponin T and cardiac troponin I. Conclusions. We have demonstrated that allogeneic AMSC transplantation produced histological and functional improvement in the impaired myocardium in a porcine model of chronic myocardial ischemia. The transplanted allogeneic AMSCs survived without the use of any immunosuppressants and gained cardiac phenotype through either their transdifferentiation or cell fusion.

Irreversible electroporation of the pancreas is feasible and safe in a porcine survival model.

Science.gov (United States)

Fritz, Stefan; Sommer, Christof M; Vollherbst, Dominik; Wachter, Miguel F; Longerich, Thomas; Sachsenmeier, Milena; Knapp, Jürgen; Radeleff, Boris A; Werner, Jens

2015-07-01

Use of thermal tumor ablation in the pancreatic parenchyma is limited because of the risk of pancreatitis, pancreatic fistula, or hemorrhage. This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility and safety of irreversible electroporation (IRE) in a porcine model. Ten pigs were divided into 2 study groups. In the first group, animals received IRE of the pancreatic tail and were killed after 60 minutes. In the second group, animals received IRE at the head of the pancreas and were followed up for 7 days. Clinical parameters, computed tomography imaging, laboratory results, and histology were obtained. All animals survived IRE ablation, and no cardiac adverse effects were noted. Sixty minutes after IRE, a hypodense lesion on computed tomography imaging indicated the ablation zone. None of the animals developed clinical signs of acute pancreatitis. Only small amounts of ascites fluid, with a transient increase in amylase and lipase levels, were observed, indicating that no pancreatic fistula occurred. This porcine model shows that IRE is feasible and safe in the pancreatic parenchyma. Computed tomography imaging reveals significant changes at 60 minutes after IRE and therefore might serve as an early indicator of therapeutic success. Clinical studies are needed to evaluate the efficacy of IRE in pancreatic cancer.

Stochastic modeling for reliability shocks, burn-in and heterogeneous populations

CERN Document Server

Finkelstein, Maxim

2013-01-01

Focusing on shocks modeling, burn-in and heterogeneous populations, Stochastic Modeling for Reliability naturally combines these three topics in the unified stochastic framework and presents numerous practical examples that illustrate recent theoretical findings of the authors.  The populations of manufactured items in industry are usually heterogeneous. However, the conventional reliability analysis is performed under the implicit assumption of homogeneity, which can result in distortion of the corresponding reliability indices and various misconceptions. Stochastic Modeling for Reliability fills this gap and presents the basics and further developments of reliability theory for heterogeneous populations. Specifically, the authors consider burn-in as a method of elimination of ‘weak’ items from heterogeneous populations. The real life objects are operating in a changing environment. One of the ways to model an impact of this environment is via the external shocks occurring in accordance with some stocha...

User assessment of smoke-dispersion models for wildland biomass burning.

Science.gov (United States)

Steve Breyfogle; Sue A. Ferguson

1996-01-01

Several smoke-dispersion models, which currently are available for modeling smoke from biomass burns, were evaluated for ease of use, availability of input data, and output data format. The input and output components of all models are listed, and differences in model physics are discussed. Each model was installed and run on a personal computer with a simple-case...

Isolation and culture of porcine neural progenitor cells from embryos and pluripotent stem cells

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasmussen, Mikkel Aabech; Hall, Vanessa Jane; Hyttel, Poul

2013-01-01

from porcine embryos or induced pluripotent stem cells is presented. The neural induction is performed in coculture and the isolation of rosette structures is carried out manually to ensure a homogenous population of NPCs. Using this method, multipotent NPCs can be obtained in approximately 1 month......The isolation and culture of neural progenitor cells (NPCs) from pluripotent stem cells has facilitated in vitro mechanistic studies of diseases related to the nervous system, as well as discovery of new medicine. In addition, NPCs are envisioned to play a crucial role in future cell replacement...... therapy. The pig has become recognized as an important large animal model and establishment of in vitro-derived porcine NPCs would allow for preclinical safety testing by transplantation in a porcine biomedical model. In this chapter, a detailed method for isolation and in vitro culture of porcine NPCs...

The burning fuse model of unbecoming in time

Science.gov (United States)

Norton, John D.

2015-11-01

In the burning fuse model of unbecoming in time, the future is real and the past is unreal. It is used to motivate the idea that there is something unbecoming in the present literature on the metaphysics of time: its focus is merely the assigning of a label "real."

Monoclonal antibodies specific to heat-treated porcine blood.

Science.gov (United States)

Raja Nhari, Raja Mohd Hafidz; Hamid, Muhajir; Rasli, Nurmunirah Mohamad; Omar, Abdul Rahman; El Sheikha, Aly Farag; Mustafa, Shuhaimi

2016-05-01

Porcine blood is potentially being utilized in food as a binder, gelling agent, emulsifier or colorant. However, for certain communities, the usage of animal blood in food is strictly prohibited owing to religious concerns and health reasons. This study reports the development of monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) against heat-treated soluble proteins (HSPs) of autoclaved porcine blood; characterization of MAbs against blood, non-blood and plasma from different animal species using qualitative indirect non-competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA); and immunoblotting of antigenic components in HSPs of porcine blood. Fifteen MAbs are specific to heat-treated and raw porcine blood and not cross-reacted with other animal blood and non-blood proteins (meat and non-meat). Twelve MAbs are specific to porcine plasma, while three MAbs specific to porcine plasma are cross-reacted with chicken plasma. Immunoblotting revealed antigenic protein bands (∼60, ∼85-100 and ∼250 kDa) in porcine blood and plasma recognized by the MAbs. Selection of MAbs that recognized 60 kDa HSPs of porcine blood and plasma as novel monoclonal antibodies would be useful for detection of porcine plasma in processed food using the immunoassay method. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry.

Burns education for non-burn specialist clinicians in Western Australia.

Science.gov (United States)

McWilliams, Tania; Hendricks, Joyce; Twigg, Di; Wood, Fiona

2015-03-01

Burn patients often receive their initial care by non-burn specialist clinicians, with increasingly collaborative burn models of care. The provision of relevant and accessible education for these clinicians is therefore vital for optimal patient care. A two phase design was used. A state-wide survey of multidisciplinary non-burn specialist clinicians throughout Western Australia identified learning needs related to paediatric burn care. A targeted education programme was developed and delivered live via videoconference. Pre-post-test analysis evaluated changes in knowledge as a result of attendance at each education session. Non-burn specialist clinicians identified numerous areas of burn care relevant to their practice. Statistically significant differences between perceived relevance of care and confidence in care provision were reported for aspects of acute burn care. Following attendance at the education sessions, statistically significant increases in knowledge were noted for most areas of acute burn care. Identification of learning needs facilitated the development of a targeted education programme for non-burn specialist clinicians. Increased non-burn specialist clinician knowledge following attendance at most education sessions supports the use of videoconferencing as an acceptable and effective method of delivering burns education in Western Australia. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd and ISBI. All rights reserved.

Modeling crop residue burning experiments to evaluate smoke emissions and plume transport

Science.gov (United States)

Luxi Zhou; Kirk R. Baker; Sergey L. Napelenok; George Pouliot; Robert Elleman; Susan M. O' Neill; Shawn P. Urbanski; David C. Wong

2018-01-01

Crop residue burning is a common land management practice that results in emissions of a variety of pollutants with negative health impacts. Modeling systems are used to estimate air quality impacts of crop residue burning to support retrospective regulatory assessments and also for forecasting purposes. Ground and airborne measurements from a recent field experiment...

Porcine respiratory disease complex: Interaction of vaccination and porcine circovirus type 2, porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus, and Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae.

Science.gov (United States)

Chae, Chanhee

2016-06-01

Porcine respiratory disease is a multifactorial and complex disease caused by a combination of infectious pathogens, environmental stressors, differences in production systems, and various management practices; hence the name porcine respiratory disease complex (PRDC) is used. Porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2), porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV), and Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae are considered to be the most important pathogens that cause PRDC. Although interactions among the three major respiratory pathogens are well documented, it is also necessary to understand the interaction between vaccines and the three major respiratory pathogens. PRRSV and M. hyopneumoniae are well known to potentiate PCV2-associated lesions; however, PRRSV and mycoplasmal vaccines can both enhance PCV2 viraemia regardless of the effects of the actual PRRSV or M. hyopneumoniae infection. On the other hand, M. hyopneumoniae potentiates the severity of pneumonia induced by PRRSV, and vaccination against M. hyopneumoniae alone is also able to decrease PRRSV viraemia and PRRSV-induced lung lesions in dually infected pigs. This review focuses on (1) interactions between PCV2, PRRSV, and M. hyopneumoniae; and (2) interactions between vaccines and the three major respiratory pathogens. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Novel Porcine Model of Septic Shock Induced by Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome due to Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shuo Wang

2017-01-01

Conclusions: In the present study, we developed a novel porcine model of septic shock induced by ARDS due to severe MRSA pneumonia with characteristic hyperdynamic and hypodynamic phases in 24 h, which mimicked the hemodynamic changing of septic shock in human.

[An experimental model of transgastric ooforectomy using a porcine model].

Science.gov (United States)

Tomulescu, V; Gheorghe, C; Piţigoi, D; Kosa, A; Ciocarlan, M; Pietrăreanu, D; Turcu, F; Copăescu, C; Droc, G; Popescu, H; Grigorescu, B; Stănciulea, O; Herlea, V; Popescu, I

2010-01-01

Transabdominal routes for surgery entail general anaesthesia with its inherent risks and complications (prolonged hospital stay, abdominal incisions that may be difficult in obese patients). Minimally invasive procedures require shorter hospitalization, have shorter recovery periods, less postoperative discomfort, and lower morbidity and complications. The purpose of this study was to use a porcine model to determine the feasibility and the safety of organ resection (oophorectomy and tubectomy). 10 Big White pigs between 25-30 kg underwent transgastric ooforectomy. The first 5 cases were performed in a hybrid procedure (laparoscopic-NOTES) in order to have a better control and supervise the maneuvers done by the mobile endoscope and to guide in the abdominal cavity. Adnexectomy was possible in all ten experiments. Full operative time (from starting endoscopy to complete gastrectomy closing) was 180 min to 270 min. The gastric defect closing was the most difficult manoever lasting from 10 min with OTSC clips to 100 using endoloops and clips. The animals have tolerated well the experiments and there have been no remarkable incidents during our 10 experments. In only one case a bleeding from gastotomy required electric coagulation. Transgastric ooforectomy in an experimental model is a procedure that requires advanced laparoscopical and endoscopical skills. Our early results are promissing. Its application in humans needs further confirmation of the method.

The Fire Locating and Modeling of Burning Emissions (FLAMBE) Project

Science.gov (United States)

Reid, J. S.; Prins, E. M.; Westphal, D.; Richardson, K.; Christopher, S.; Schmidt, C.; Theisen, M.; Eck, T.; Reid, E. A.

2001-12-01

The Fire Locating and Modeling of Burning Emissions (FLAMBE) project was initiated by NASA, the US Navy and NOAA to monitor biomass burning and burning emissions on a global scale. The idea behind the mission is to integrate remote sensing data with global and regional transport models in real time for the purpose of providing the scientific community with smoke and fire products for planning and research purposes. FLAMBE is currently utilizing real time satellite data from GOES satellites, fire products based on the Wildfire Automated Biomass Burning Algorithm (WF_ABBA) are generated for the Western Hemisphere every 30 minutes with only a 90 minute processing delay. We are currently collaborating with other investigators to gain global coverage. Once generated, the fire products are used to input smoke fluxes into the NRL Aerosol Analysis and Prediction System, where advection forecasts are performed for up to 6 days. Subsequent radiative transfer calculations are used to estimate top of atmosphere and surface radiative forcing as well as surface layer visibility. Near real time validation is performed using field data collected by Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) Sun photometers. In this paper we fully describe the FLAMBE project and data availability. Preliminary result from the previous year will also be presented, with an emphasis on the development of algorithms to determine smoke emission fluxes from individual fire products. Comparisons to AERONET Sun photometer data will be made.

Interlaboratory testing of porcine sera for antibodies to porcine circovirus type 2

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

McNair, I.; Marshall, M.; McNeilly, F.

2004-01-01

A panel of 20 porcine sera was distributed to 5 laboratories across Europe and Canada. Each center was requested to test the sera for the presence of porcine circovirus type 2 antibodies using the routine assays, indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) and indirect immunoperoxidase monolayer assa...... than did IFA, and paraformaldehyde gave higher titers than did acetone or ethyl alcohol. This report highlights the need for standardized procedures and biologicals for this virus....

Porcine Burn Shock - Development of a Reliable Model and Response to Sodium, Water, and Plasma Loads Administered for Resuscitation

Science.gov (United States)

1973-06-01

nm.ddt. inital, Diet n*Mf) Thomas L. Wachtel, M.D. G. R. McCahan, Jr., D.V.M. 0 REPORT CATS 70. TOTAL No. Or PAGE Nb O. or mrs June 1973 - w 78 0. CON...observations of caloric uptake of pigskin, rise in temperature at the dermis-fat interface as a function of both time and skin surface temperature and an...of Iso-, Hypo - and Hypertonic Sodium Solutions in the Treatment of Burn Shock in Mice," Surgery, 57: 698-704, May 1965. 24. Rosenthal, S. M

Climate vs. carbon dioxide controls on biomass burning: a model analysis of the glacial-interglacial contrast

Science.gov (United States)

Calvo, M. Martin; Prentice, I. C.; Harrison, S. P.

2014-02-01

Climate controls fire regimes through its influence on the amount and types of fuel present and their dryness; CO2 availability, in turn, constrains primary production by limiting photosynthetic activity in plants. However, although fuel accumulation depends on biomass production, and hence CO2 availability, the links between atmospheric CO2 and biomass burning are not well known. Here a fire-enabled dynamic global vegetation model (the Land surface Processes and eXchanges model, LPX) is used to attribute glacial-interglacial changes in biomass burning to CO2 increase, which would be expected to increase primary production and therefore fuel loads even in the absence of climate change, vs. climate change effects. Four general circulation models provided Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) climate anomalies - that is, differences from the pre-industrial (PI) control climate - from the Palaeoclimate Modelling Intercomparison Project Phase 2, allowing the construction of four scenarios for LGM climate. Modelled carbon fluxes in biomass burning were corrected for the model's observed biases in contemporary biome-average values. With LGM climate and low CO2 (185 ppm) effects included, the modelled global flux was 70 to 80% lower at the LGM than in PI time. LGM climate with pre-industrial CO2 (280 ppm) however yielded unrealistic results, with global and Northern Hemisphere biomass burning fluxes greater than in the pre-industrial climate. Using the PI CO2 concentration increased the modelled LGM biomass burning fluxes for all climate models and latitudinal bands to between four and ten times their values under LGM CO2 concentration. It is inferred that a substantial part of the increase in biomass burning after the LGM must be attributed to the effect of increasing CO2 concentration on productivity and fuel load. Today, by analogy, both rising CO2 and global warming must be considered as risk factors for increasing biomass burning. Both effects need to be included in models to

A comprehensive computational model of sound transmission through the porcine lung.

Science.gov (United States)

Dai, Zoujun; Peng, Ying; Henry, Brian M; Mansy, Hansen A; Sandler, Richard H; Royston, Thomas J

2014-09-01

A comprehensive computational simulation model of sound transmission through the porcine lung is introduced and experimentally evaluated. This "subject-specific" model utilizes parenchymal and major airway geometry derived from x-ray CT images. The lung parenchyma is modeled as a poroviscoelastic material using Biot theory. A finite element (FE) mesh of the lung that includes airway detail is created and used in comsol FE software to simulate the vibroacoustic response of the lung to sound input at the trachea. The FE simulation model is validated by comparing simulation results to experimental measurements using scanning laser Doppler vibrometry on the surface of an excised, preserved lung. The FE model can also be used to calculate and visualize vibroacoustic pressure and motion inside the lung and its airways caused by the acoustic input. The effect of diffuse lung fibrosis and of a local tumor on the lung acoustic response is simulated and visualized using the FE model. In the future, this type of visualization can be compared and matched with experimentally obtained elastographic images to better quantify regional lung material properties to noninvasively diagnose and stage disease and response to treatment.

A novel porcine model of ventilator-associated pneumonia caused by oropharyngeal challenge with Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Science.gov (United States)

Li Bassi, Gianluigi; Rigol, Montserrat; Marti, Joan-Daniel; Saucedo, Lina; Ranzani, Otavio T; Roca, Ignasi; Cabanas, Maria; Muñoz, Laura; Giunta, Valeria; Luque, Nestor; Rinaudo, Mariano; Esperatti, Mariano; Fernandez-Barat, Laia; Ferrer, Miquel; Vila, Jordi; Ramirez, Jose; Torres, Antoni

2014-05-01

Animal models of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in primates, sheep, and pigs differ in the underlying pulmonary injury, etiology, bacterial inoculation methods, and time to onset. The most common ovine and porcine models do not reproduce the primary pathogenic mechanism of the disease, through the aspiration of oropharyngeal pathogens, or the most prevalent human etiology. Herein the authors characterize a novel porcine model of VAP due to aspiration of oropharyngeal secretions colonized by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Ten healthy pigs were intubated, positioned in anti-Trendelenburg, and mechanically ventilated for 72 h. Three animals did not receive bacterial challenge, whereas in seven animals, a P. aeruginosa suspension was instilled into the oropharynx. Tracheal aspirates were cultured and respiratory mechanics were recorded. On autopsy, lobar samples were obtained to corroborate VAP through microbiological and histological studies. In animals not challenged, diverse bacterial colonization of the airways was found and monolobar VAP rarely developed. In animals with P. aeruginosa challenge, colonization of tracheal secretion increased up to 6.39 ± 0.34 log colony-forming unit (cfu)/ml (P VAP was confirmed in six of seven pigs, in 78% of the cases developed in the dependent lung segments (right medium and lower lobes, P = 0.032). The static respiratory system elastance worsened to 41.5 ± 5.8 cm H2O/l (P = 0.001). The authors devised a VAP model caused by aspiration of oropharyngeal P. aeruginosa, a frequent causative pathogen of human VAP. The model also overcomes the practical and legislative limitations associated with the use of primates. The authors' model could be employed to study pathophysiologic mechanisms, as well as novel diagnostic/preventive strategies.

Establishing a Reproducible Hypertrophic Scar following Thermal Injury: A Porcine Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Scott J. Rapp, MD

2015-02-01

Conclusions: Deep partial-thickness thermal injury to the back of domestic swine produces an immature hypertrophic scar by 10 weeks following burn with thickness appearing to coincide with the location along the dorsal axis. With minimal pig to pig variation, we describe our technique to provide a testable immature scar model.

A model to calculate the burn of gadolinium in PWR

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sannazzaro, L.R.

1983-01-01

A cell model to calculate the burnup of a PWR fuel element with gadolinium as a poison, projected by KWU, is presented. With the model proposed, the burn of the gadolinium isotopes is analyzed, as well as the effect of these isotopes in the fuel element behaviour. The results obtained with this cell model are compared with those obtained by a conventional cell model. (E.G.) [pt

Utility of spatial frequency domain imaging (SFDI) and laser speckle imaging (LSI) to non-invasively diagnose burn depth in a porcine model☆

Science.gov (United States)

Burmeister, David M.; Ponticorvo, Adrien; Yang, Bruce; Becerra, Sandra C.; Choi, Bernard; Durkin, Anthony J.; Christy, Robert J.

2015-01-01

Surgical intervention of second degree burns is often delayed because of the difficulty in visual diagnosis, which increases the risk of scarring and infection. Non-invasive metrics have shown promise in accurately assessing burn depth. Here, we examine the use of spatial frequency domain imaging (SFDI) and laser speckle imaging (LSI) for predicting burn depth. Contact burn wounds of increasing severity were created on the dorsum of a Yorkshire pig, and wounds were imaged with SFDI/LSI starting immediately after-burn and then daily for the next 4 days. In addition, on each day the burn wounds were biopsied for histological analysis of burn depth, defined by collagen coagulation, apoptosis, and adnexal/vascular necrosis. Histological results show that collagen coagulation progressed from day 0 to day 1, and then stabilized. Results of burn wound imaging using non-invasive techniques were able to produce metrics that correlate to different predictors of burn depth. Collagen coagulation and apoptosis correlated with SFDI scattering coefficient parameter ( μs′) and adnexal/vascular necrosis on the day of burn correlated with blood flow determined by LSI. Therefore, incorporation of SFDI scattering coefficient and blood flow determined by LSI may provide an algorithm for accurate assessment of the severity of burn wounds in real time. PMID:26138371

An in-depth comparison of the porcine, murine and human inflammasomes; lessons from the porcine genome and transcriptome.

Science.gov (United States)

Dawson, Harry D; Smith, Allen D; Chen, Celine; Urban, Joseph F

2017-04-01

Emerging evidence suggests that swine are a scientifically acceptable intermediate species between rodents and humans to model immune function relevant to humans. The swine genome has recently been sequenced and several preliminary structural and functional analysis of the porcine immunome have been published. Herein we provide an expanded in silico analysis using an improved assembly of the porcine transcriptome that provides an in depth analysis of genes that are related to inflammasomes, responses to Toll-like receptor ligands, and M1 macrophage polarization and Escherichia coli as a model organism. Comparisons of the expansion or contraction of orthologous gene families indicated more similar rates and classes of genes in humans and pigs than in mice; however several novel porcine or artiodactyl-specific paralogs or pseudogenes were identified. Conservation of homology and structural motifs of orthologs revealed that the overall similarity to human proteins was significantly higher for pigs compared to mouse. Despite these similarities, two out of four canonical inflammasome pathways, Absent in melanoma 2 (AIM2) and NLR family and CARD domain containing 4 (NLRC4), were found to be missing in pigs. Pig M1 Mφ polarization in response to interferon-γ (IFN-γ) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was assessed, via the transcriptome, using next generation sequencing. Our analysis revealed predominantly human-like responses however some, mouse-like responses were observed, as well as induction of numerous pig or artiodactyl-specific genes. This work supports using swine to model both human immunological and inflammatory responses to infection. However, caution must be exercised as pigs differ from humans in several fundamental pathways. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Development of a Skin Burn Predictive Model adapted to Laser Irradiation

Science.gov (United States)

Sonneck-Museux, N.; Scheer, E.; Perez, L.; Agay, D.; Autrique, L.

2016-12-01

Laser technology is increasingly used, and it is crucial for both safety and medical reasons that the impact of laser irradiation on human skin can be accurately predicted. This study is mainly focused on laser-skin interactions and potential lesions (burns). A mathematical model dedicated to heat transfers in skin exposed to infrared laser radiations has been developed. The model is validated by studying heat transfers in human skin and simultaneously performing experimentations an animal model (pig). For all experimental tests, pig's skin surface temperature is recorded. Three laser wavelengths have been tested: 808 nm, 1940 nm and 10 600 nm. The first is a diode laser producing radiation absorbed deep within the skin. The second wavelength has a more superficial effect. For the third wavelength, skin is an opaque material. The validity of the developed models is verified by comparison with experimental results (in vivo tests) and the results of previous studies reported in the literature. The comparison shows that the models accurately predict the burn degree caused by laser radiation over a wide range of conditions. The results show that the important parameter for burn prediction is the extinction coefficient. For the 1940 nm wavelength especially, significant differences between modeling results and literature have been observed, mainly due to this coefficient's value. This new model can be used as a predictive tool in order to estimate the amount of injury induced by several types (couple power-time) of laser aggressions on the arm, the face and on the palm of the hand.

Climate versus carbon dioxide controls on biomass burning: a model analysis of the glacial-interglacial contrast

Science.gov (United States)

Calvo, M. Martin; Prentice, I. C.; Harrison, S. P.

2014-11-01

Climate controls fire regimes through its influence on the amount and types of fuel present and their dryness. CO2 concentration constrains primary production by limiting photosynthetic activity in plants. However, although fuel accumulation depends on biomass production, and hence on CO2 concentration, the quantitative relationship between atmospheric CO2 concentration and biomass burning is not well understood. Here a fire-enabled dynamic global vegetation model (the Land surface Processes and eXchanges model, LPX) is used to attribute glacial-interglacial changes in biomass burning to an increase in CO2, which would be expected to increase primary production and therefore fuel loads even in the absence of climate change, vs. climate change effects. Four general circulation models provided last glacial maximum (LGM) climate anomalies - that is, differences from the pre-industrial (PI) control climate - from the Palaeoclimate Modelling Intercomparison Project Phase~2, allowing the construction of four scenarios for LGM climate. Modelled carbon fluxes from biomass burning were corrected for the model's observed prediction biases in contemporary regional average values for biomes. With LGM climate and low CO2 (185 ppm) effects included, the modelled global flux at the LGM was in the range of 1.0-1.4 Pg C year-1, about a third less than that modelled for PI time. LGM climate with pre-industrial CO2 (280 ppm) yielded unrealistic results, with global biomass burning fluxes similar to or even greater than in the pre-industrial climate. It is inferred that a substantial part of the increase in biomass burning after the LGM must be attributed to the effect of increasing CO2 concentration on primary production and fuel load. Today, by analogy, both rising CO2 and global warming must be considered as risk factors for increasing biomass burning. Both effects need to be included in models to project future fire risks.

Reliability enhancement through optimal burn-in

Science.gov (United States)

Kuo, W.

1984-06-01

A numerical reliability and cost model is defined for production line burn-in tests of electronic components. The necessity of burn-in is governed by upper and lower bounds: burn-in is mandatory for operation-critical or nonreparable component; no burn-in is needed when failure effects are insignificant or easily repairable. The model considers electronic systems in terms of a series of components connected by a single black box. The infant mortality rate is described with a Weibull distribution. Performance reaches a steady state after burn-in, and the cost of burn-in is a linear function for each component. A minimum cost is calculated among the costs and total time of burn-in, shop repair, and field repair, with attention given to possible losses in future sales from inadequate burn-in testing.

The development of an erosive burning model for solid rocket motors using direct numerical simulation

Science.gov (United States)

McDonald, Brian A.

A method for developing an erosive burning model for use in solid propellant design-and-analysis interior ballistics codes is described and evaluated. Using Direct Numerical Simulation, the primary mechanisms controlling erosive burning (turbulent heat transfer, and finite rate reactions) have been studied independently through the development of models using finite rate chemistry, and infinite rate chemistry. Both approaches are calibrated to strand burn rate data by modeling the propellant burning in an environment with no cross-flow, and adjusting thermophysical properties until the predicted regression rate matches test data. Subsequent runs are conducted where the cross-flow is increased from M = 0.0 up to M = 0.8. The resulting relationship of burn rate increase versus Mach Number is used in an interior ballistics analysis to compute the chamber pressure of an existing solid rocket motor. The resulting predictions are compared to static test data. Both the infinite rate model and the finite rate model show good agreement when compared to test data. The propellant considered is an AP/HTPB with an average AP particle size of 37 microns. The finite rate model shows that as the cross-flow increases, near wall vorticity increases due to the lifting of the boundary caused by the side injection of gases from the burning propellant surface. The point of maximum vorticity corresponds to the outer edge of the APd-binder flame. As the cross-flow increases, the APd-binder flame thickness becomes thinner; however, the point of highest reaction rate moves only slightly closer to the propellant surface. As such, the net increase of heat transfer to the propellant surface due to finite rate chemistry affects is small. This leads to the conclusion that augmentation of thermal transport properties and the resulting heat transfer increase due to turbulence dominates over combustion chemistry in the erosive burning problem. This conclusion is advantageous in the development of

Modeling and simulation of cement clinkering process with compact internal burning of carbon

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, Hanmin

2014-01-01

This article describes a mathematical model of the thermodynamic process for Cement Clinkering Process with Compact Internal Burning of Carbon. Using simplifying assumptions, results of calculations are presented based on relevant computerized numerical simulation for a set of typical process parameters obtained from the existing cement shaft kiln operation and the electrical furnace test on the mechanical and chemical performance of the compact coal containing cement raw meal pellets. It is revealed that, the carbon internal burning mode, combining fuel combustion and gas solid heat transfer together as well as preheating, calcining, clinkering and cooling of the raw pellets together, is the origin of the process superiority in respect of equipment simplicity, process enhancement, high energy efficiency and low pollution. Important process details are determined, e.g. the features and lengths of the process zones, the material residence time and the burning mode of carbon in each zone, the clinkering reaction course and the maximum burning temperature. It is concluded that numerical simulations could be useful tool for understanding the new process ideas, as well as conducting the technical development and optimizing the process design. - Highlights: • Twin subsystem model is used to simulate a new type of cement shaft kiln process. • Grain-particle structural model is used to describe the pellet solid gas reactions. • The process superiority resulted from the carbon internal burning mode is revealed. • A series of important process details are determined. • An unprecedented comprehensive picture for cement clinkering process is depicted

Comparison of Acute Thrombogenicity for Metallic and Polymeric Bioabsorbable Scaffolds: Magmaris Versus Absorb in a Porcine Arteriovenous Shunt Model.

Science.gov (United States)

Waksman, Ron; Lipinski, Michael J; Acampado, Eduardo; Cheng, Qi; Adams, Lila; Torii, Sho; Gai, Jiaxiang; Torguson, Rebecca; Hellinga, David M; Westman, Peter C; Joner, Michael; Zumstein, Philine; Kolodgie, Frank D; Virmani, Renu

2017-08-01

A comparison in acute thrombogenicity between the Magmaris sirolimus-eluting bioabsorbable magnesium scaffold and the Absorb bioresorbable vascular scaffold has not been performed. This study assessed acute thrombogenicity of Magmaris compared with Absorb and the Orsiro hybrid drug-eluting stent in a porcine arteriovenous shunt model. An ex vivo porcine carotid jugular arteriovenous shunt was established and connected to SYLGARD tubing containing the Magmaris, Absorb, and Orsiro scaffolds/stents and allowed to run in the shunt for a maximum of 1 hour. Twelve shunts (2 shunt runs per pig) were run comparing the 3 scaffolds in alternating order. Nested generalized linear mixed models were used to compare variables between scaffold groups while adjusting for variability between shunt runs. Confocal fluorescent microscopy costaining CD61/CD42b demonstrated that both Magmaris (3.0%) and Orsiro (4.6%) had less platelet coverage of the total scaffold compared with Absorb (21.8%). Scanning electron microscopy demonstrated significantly less thrombus deposition to Magmaris as a percentage of the total scaffold compared with Absorb (5.0% versus 16.1%, P =0.02). Magmaris had significantly less PM-1-positive neutrophil and CD14-positive monocyte adherence compared with both Orsiro and Absorb. Orsiro had significantly less monocyte deposition compared with Absorb. Despite a similar scaffold strut thickness, the Magmaris sirolimus-eluting bioabsorbable magnesium scaffold was significantly less thrombogenic compared with the Absorb bioresorbable vascular scaffold in an ex vivo porcine arteriovenous shunt model. Further studies are needed to determine whether the reduced thrombogenicity of Magmaris will result in reductions in major cardiovascular events. © 2017 American Heart Association, Inc.

Global Burned Area and Biomass Burning Emissions from Small Fires

Science.gov (United States)

Randerson, J. T.; Chen, Y.; vanderWerf, G. R.; Rogers, B. M.; Morton, D. C.

2012-01-01

In several biomes, including croplands, wooded savannas, and tropical forests, many small fires occur each year that are well below the detection limit of the current generation of global burned area products derived from moderate resolution surface reflectance imagery. Although these fires often generate thermal anomalies that can be detected by satellites, their contributions to burned area and carbon fluxes have not been systematically quantified across different regions and continents. Here we developed a preliminary method for combining 1-km thermal anomalies (active fires) and 500 m burned area observations from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) to estimate the influence of these fires. In our approach, we calculated the number of active fires inside and outside of 500 m burn scars derived from reflectance data. We estimated small fire burned area by computing the difference normalized burn ratio (dNBR) for these two sets of active fires and then combining these observations with other information. In a final step, we used the Global Fire Emissions Database version 3 (GFED3) biogeochemical model to estimate the impact of these fires on biomass burning emissions. We found that the spatial distribution of active fires and 500 m burned areas were in close agreement in ecosystems that experience large fires, including savannas across southern Africa and Australia and boreal forests in North America and Eurasia. In other areas, however, we observed many active fires outside of burned area perimeters. Fire radiative power was lower for this class of active fires. Small fires substantially increased burned area in several continental-scale regions, including Equatorial Asia (157%), Central America (143%), and Southeast Asia (90%) during 2001-2010. Globally, accounting for small fires increased total burned area by approximately by 35%, from 345 Mha/yr to 464 Mha/yr. A formal quantification of uncertainties was not possible, but sensitivity

Characterization of serotonergic receptors in rabbit, porcine and human conjunctivae.

Science.gov (United States)

Turner, Helen C; Alvarez, Lawrence J; Candia, Oscar A; Bernstein, Audrey M

2003-10-01

To characterize the serotonin (5-HT) receptors linked to the modulation of adenylyl cyclase activity in rabbit, porcine and human conjunctivae. Serotonin receptor-subtype expression was examined using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and receptor subtype-specific polyclonal antibodies for the immunofluorescent labeling of conjunctival cryosections. In addition, measurements of the effects of serotonergics on the short-circuit current (I(sc)) across rabbit and porcine conjunctivae were contrasted. RT-PCR assays indicated the expression of 5-HT(1B ) and 5-HT(1D) receptors, subtypes negatively coupled to adenylyl cyclase, in the rabbit conjunctiva. This approach also suggested the co-expression of 5-HT(1B), 5-HT(1D), 5-HT(1F), 5-HT(4) and 5-HT(7) mRNA's in the porcine conjunctiva, and 5-HT( 1D), 5-HT(1F) and 5-HT(7) in the human conjunctiva. Since the 5-HT(4) and 5-HT(7) receptors are positively linked to adenylyl cyclase, these results implied that the porcine and human tissues exhibited subtypes both positively and negatively linked to the enzyme. However, immunohistochemical observations, using currently available antibodies solely localized the 5-HT(7) moiety in the porcine and human epithelia, suggested that the 1B/1D forms may be minor elements. Consistent with this prospect, 5-HT was a stimulant of the transepithelial I(sc) across the porcine conjunctiva, an opposite response from earlier findings that demonstrated inhibitory effects by 5-HT on the rabbit I(sc), which are now explained by the localization of the 1B/1D receptors in the rabbit stratified epithelium. The 5-HT receptors expressed by mammalian conjunctivae are not identical. In terms of 5-HT receptor expression, the porcine tissue may be a more appropriate model for human, than is the rabbit, in that 5-HT may serve as a secretagogue in the human epithelium.

Toward Development of Pluripotent Porcine Stem Cells by Road Mapping Early Embryonic Development

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Petkov, Stoyan; Freude, Kristine; Mashayekhi-Nezamabadi, Kaveh

2017-01-01

The lack in production of bona fide porcine pluripotent stem cells has definitely been hampered by a lack of research into porcine embryo development. Embryonic development in mammals is the extraordinary transition of a single-celled fertilized zygote into a complex fetus, which occurs...... in the uterus of the maternal adult during the early stages of gestation. Biomedical pig models could serve as genetic backgrounds for establishment of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) or other pluripotent stem cells (such as iPSC), which may be used to model and study diseases in vitro. This chapter provides...... insight into the current knowledge of pluripotent states in the developing pig embryo and the current status in establishment of bona fide porcine ESC (pESC) and piPSCs. It reflects the potential causes underlying the difficulty in establishing pluripotent stem cells and reviews recent data on global...

Towards more efficient burn care: Identifying factors associated with good quality of life post-burn.

Science.gov (United States)

Finlay, V; Phillips, M; Allison, G T; Wood, F M; Ching, D; Wicaksono, D; Plowman, S; Hendrie, D; Edgar, D W

2015-11-01

As minor burn patients constitute the vast majority of a developed nation case-mix, streamlining care for this group can promote efficiency from a service-wide perspective. This study tested the hypothesis that a predictive nomogram model that estimates likelihood of good long-term quality of life (QoL) post-burn is a valid way to optimise patient selection and risk management when applying a streamlined model of care. A sample of 224 burn patients managed by the Burn Service of Western Australia who provided both short and long-term outcomes was used to estimate the probability of achieving a good QoL defined as 150 out of a possible 160 points on the Burn Specific Health Scale-Brief (BSHS-B) at least six months from injury. A multivariate logistic regression analysis produced a predictive model provisioned as a nomogram for clinical application. A second, independent cohort of consecutive patients (n=106) was used to validate the predictive merit of the nomogram. Male gender (p=0.02), conservative management (p=0.03), upper limb burn (p=0.04) and high BSHS-B score within one month of burn (pburns were excluded due to loss to follow up. For clinicians managing comparable burn populations, the BSWA burns nomogram is an effective tool to assist the selection of patients to a streamlined care pathway with the aim of improving efficiency of service delivery. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd and ISBI. All rights reserved.

Quantification of intervertebral displacement with a novel MRI-based modeling technique: Assessing measurement bias and reliability with a porcine spine model.

Science.gov (United States)

Mahato, Niladri K; Montuelle, Stephane; Goubeaux, Craig; Cotton, John; Williams, Susan; Thomas, James; Clark, Brian C

2017-05-01

The purpose of this study was to develop a novel magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based modeling technique for measuring intervertebral displacements. Here, we present the measurement bias and reliability of the developmental work using a porcine spine model. Porcine lumbar vertebral segments were fitted in a custom-built apparatus placed within an externally calibrated imaging volume of an open-MRI scanner. The apparatus allowed movement of the vertebrae through pre-assigned magnitudes of sagittal and coronal translation and rotation. The induced displacements were imaged with static (T 1 ) and fast dynamic (2D HYCE S) pulse sequences. These images were imported into animation software, in which these images formed a background 'scene'. Three-dimensional models of vertebrae were created using static axial scans from the specimen and then transferred into the animation environment. In the animation environment, the user manually moved the models (rotoscoping) to perform model-to-'scene' matching to fit the models to their image silhouettes and assigned anatomical joint axes to the motion-segments. The animation protocol quantified the experimental translation and rotation displacements between the vertebral models. Accuracy of the technique was calculated as 'bias' using a linear mixed effects model, average percentage error and root mean square errors. Between-session reliability was examined by computing intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC) and the coefficient of variations (CV). For translation trials, a constant bias (β 0 ) of 0.35 (±0.11) mm was detected for the 2D HYCE S sequence (p=0.01). The model did not demonstrate significant additional bias with each mm increase in experimental translation (β 1 Displacement=0.01mm; p=0.69). Using the T 1 sequence for the same assessments did not significantly change the bias (p>0.05). ICC values for the T 1 and 2D HYCE S pulse sequences were 0.98 and 0.97, respectively. For rotation trials, a constant bias (�

The rolling-circle melting-pot model for porcine circovirus DNA replication

Science.gov (United States)

A stem-loop structure, formed by a pair of inverted repeats during DNA replication, is a conserved feature at the origin of DNA replication (Ori) among plant and animal viruses, bacteriophages and plasmids that replicate their genomes via the rolling-circle replication (RCR) mechanism. Porcine circo...

What determines area burned in large landscapes? Insights from a decade of comparative landscape-fire modelling

Science.gov (United States)

Geoffrey J. Cary; Robert E. Keane; Mike D. Flannigan; Ian D. Davies; Russ A. Parsons

2015-01-01

Understanding what determines area burned in large landscapes is critical for informing wildland fire management in fire-prone environments and for representing fire activity in Dynamic Global Vegetation Models. For the past ten years, a group of landscape-fire modellers have been exploring the relative influence of key determinants of area burned in temperate and...

Novel burn device for rapid, reproducible burn wound generation.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, J Y; Dunham, D M; Supp, D M; Sen, C K; Powell, H M

2016-03-01

Scarring following full thickness burns leads to significant reductions in range of motion and quality of life for burn patients. To effectively study scar development and the efficacy of anti-scarring treatments in a large animal model (female red Duroc pigs), reproducible, uniform, full-thickness, burn wounds are needed to reduce variability in observed results that occur with burn depth. Prior studies have proposed that initial temperature of the burner, contact time with skin, thermal capacity of burner material, and the amount of pressure applied to the skin need to be strictly controlled to ensure reproducibility. The purpose of this study was to develop a new burner that enables temperature and pressure to be digitally controlled and monitored in real-time throughout burn wound creation and compare it to a standard burn device. A custom burn device was manufactured with an electrically heated burn stylus and a temperature control feedback loop via an electronic microstat. Pressure monitoring was controlled by incorporation of a digital scale into the device, which measured downward force. The standard device was comprised of a heat resistant handle with a long rod connected to the burn stylus, which was heated using a hot plate. To quantify skin surface temperature and internal stylus temperature as a function of contact time, the burners were heated to the target temperature (200±5°C) and pressed into the skin for 40s to create the thermal injuries. Time to reach target temperature and elapsed time between burns were recorded. In addition, each unit was evaluated for reproducibility within and across three independent users by generating burn wounds at contact times spanning from 5 to 40s at a constant pressure and at pressures of 1 or 3lbs with a constant contact time of 40s. Biopsies were collected for histological analysis and burn depth quantification using digital image analysis (ImageJ). The custom burn device maintained both its internal

7 CFR 1230.18 - Porcine animal.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 10 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Porcine animal. 1230.18 Section 1230.18 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (MARKETING AGREEMENTS... animal. Porcine animal means a swine, that is raised as (a) a feeder pig, that is, a young pig sold to...

Effects of 32P radioactive stents on in-stent restenosis in a double stent injury model of the porcine coronary arteries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Han-Soo; Chan, Rosanna C.; Kollum, Marc; Au, Arthur; Tio, Fermin O.; Yazdi, Hamid A.; Ajani, Andrew E.; Waksman, Ron

2001-01-01

Background: The major limitation of coronary stenting remains in-stent restenosis, due to the development of neointimal proliferation. Radioactive stents have demonstrated the ability to reduce this proliferation in the healthy nonatherosclerotic porcine animal model. However, inhibition of tissue proliferation in the in-stent restenotic lesion in a porcine model is not well characterized. The objective of this study was to examine the efficacy and safety of the 32 P radioactive stent for the treatment of in-stent restenosis in a double stent injury model of the porcine coronaries. Methods and Materials: Eighteen coronary arteries in 9 pigs underwent nonradioactive stent (8 mm in length) implantation. Thirty days after the initial stent implantation, a 32 P radioactive stent (18 mm in length) with an activity of 0 and 18 μCi was implanted to cover the initial stent. The swine were killed 30 days after the second stent implantation. Histomorphometric analysis was performed for vessel area (VA), stent strut area (SSA), intimal area (IA), and lumen area (LA). Results: Injury scores, VA, SSA, and LA were similar among the control and radiated groups. Neointimal formation was significantly reduced after placement of radioactive stents as compared to control in both the overlapped (0.93±0.12 vs. 1.31±0.51 mm 2 , p 2 , p 32 P radioactive stents may be safe and effective in reducing neointimal formation leading to in-stent restenosis. Longer follow-up will be required to examine whether these positive findings can be maintained

Experimental reproduction of postweaning multisystemic wasting syndrome (PMWS) in pigs in Sweden and Denmark with a Swedish isolate of porcine circovirus type 2

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hasslung, F.; Wallgren, P.; Hansen, Anne-Sofie Ladekjær

2005-01-01

An experimental model using 3-day-old snatch-farrowed colostrum-deprived piglets co-infected with porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) and porcine parvovirus (PPV) is at present one of the best methods to study factors affecting development of postweaning multisystemic wasting syndrome (PMWS). A Swed......An experimental model using 3-day-old snatch-farrowed colostrum-deprived piglets co-infected with porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) and porcine parvovirus (PPV) is at present one of the best methods to study factors affecting development of postweaning multisystemic wasting syndrome (PMWS...

Characterization of the porcine TOR1A gene: The first step towards generation of a pig model for dystonia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Henriksen, Carina; Madsen, Lone Bruhn; Bendixen, Christian

2009-01-01

. The TOR1A gene was demonstrated to be localized on porcine chromosome 1. Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis revealed several SNPs in the porcine TOR1A gene, both in the coding region and also in the 3′ UTR region. Overexpression of mutant (Δ∆E303-304) porcine TorsinA in neuroblastoma cells...

Challenges of assessing fire and burn severity using field measures, remote sensing and modelling

Science.gov (United States)

Penelope Morgan; Robert E. Keane; Gregory K. Dillon; Theresa B. Jain; Andrew T. Hudak; Eva C. Karau; Pamela G. Sikkink; Zachery A. Holden; Eva K. Strand

2014-01-01

Comprehensive assessment of ecological change after fires have burned forests and rangelands is important if we are to understand, predict and measure fire effects. We highlight the challenges in effective assessment of fire and burn severity in the field and using both remote sensing and simulation models. We draw on diverse recent research for guidance on assessing...

Porcine cadaver iris model for iris heating during corneal surgery with a femtosecond laser

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Hui; Fan, Zhongwei; Wang, Jiang; Yan, Ying; Juhasz, Tibor; Kurtz, Ron

2015-03-01

Multiple femtosecond lasers have now been cleared for use for ophthalmic surgery, including for creation of corneal flaps in LASIK surgery. Preliminary study indicated that during typical surgical use, laser energy may pass beyond the cornea with potential effects on the iris. As a model for laser exposure of the iris during femtosecond corneal surgery, we simulated the temperature rise in porcine cadaver iris during direct illumination by the femtosecond laser. Additionally, ex-vivo iris heating due to femtosecond laser irradiation was measured with an infrared thermal camera (Fluke corp. Everett, WA) as a validation of the simulation.

Computational modeling and sensitivity in uniform DT burn

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hansen, Jon; Hryniw, Natalia; Kesler, Leigh A.; Li, Frank; Vold, Erik

2010-01-01

Understanding deuterium-tritium (DT) fusion is essential to achieving ignition in inertial confinement fusion. A burning DT plasma in a three temperature (3T) approximation and uniform in space is modeled as a system of five non-linear coupled ODEs. Special focus is given to the effects of Compton coupling, Planck opacity, and electron-ion coupling terms. Semi-implicit differencing is used to solve the system of equations. Time step size is varied to examine the stability and convergence of each solution. Data from NDI, SESAME, and TOPS databases is extracted to create analytic fits for the reaction rate parameter, the Planck opacity, and the coupling frequencies of the plasma temperatures. The impact of different high order fits to NDI date (the reaction rate parameter), and using TOPS versus SESAME opacity data is explored, and the sensitivity to several physics parameters in the coupling terms are also examined. The base model recovers the accepted 3T results for the temperature and burn histories. The Compton coupling is found to have a significant impact on the results. Varying a coefficient of this term shows that the model results can give reasonably good agreement with the peak temperatures reported in multi-group results as well as the accepted 3T results. The base model assumes a molar density of 1 mol/cm 3 , as well as a 5 keV intial temperature for all three temperatures. Different intial conditions are explored as well. Intial temperatures are set to 1 and 3 keV, the ratio of D to T is varied (2 and 3 as opposed to 1 in the base model), and densities are set to 10 mol/cm 3 and 100 mol/cm 3 . Again varying the Compton coefficient, the ion temperature results in the higher density case are in reasonable agreement with a recently published kinetic model.

Computational modeling and sensitivity in uniform DT burn

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hansen, Jon [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Hryniw, Natalia [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Kesler, Leigh A [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Li, Frank [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Vold, Erik [Los Alamos National Laboratory

2010-01-01

Understanding deuterium-tritium (DT) fusion is essential to achieving ignition in inertial confinement fusion. A burning DT plasma in a three temperature (3T) approximation and uniform in space is modeled as a system of five non-linear coupled ODEs. Special focus is given to the effects of Compton coupling, Planck opacity, and electron-ion coupling terms. Semi-implicit differencing is used to solve the system of equations. Time step size is varied to examine the stability and convergence of each solution. Data from NDI, SESAME, and TOPS databases is extracted to create analytic fits for the reaction rate parameter, the Planck opacity, and the coupling frequencies of the plasma temperatures. The impact of different high order fits to NDI date (the reaction rate parameter), and using TOPS versus SESAME opacity data is explored, and the sensitivity to several physics parameters in the coupling terms are also examined. The base model recovers the accepted 3T results for the temperature and burn histories. The Compton coupling is found to have a significant impact on the results. Varying a coefficient of this term shows that the model results can give reasonably good agreement with the peak temperatures reported in multi-group results as well as the accepted 3T results. The base model assumes a molar density of 1 mol/cm{sup 3}, as well as a 5 keV intial temperature for all three temperatures. Different intial conditions are explored as well. Intial temperatures are set to 1 and 3 keV, the ratio of D to T is varied (2 and 3 as opposed to 1 in the base model), and densities are set to 10 mol/cm{sup 3} and 100 mol/cm{sup 3}. Again varying the Compton coefficient, the ion temperature results in the higher density case are in reasonable agreement with a recently published kinetic model.

BEHAVE: fire behavior prediction and fuel modeling system-BURN Subsystem, part 1

Science.gov (United States)

Patricia L. Andrews

1986-01-01

Describes BURN Subsystem, Part 1, the operational fire behavior prediction subsystem of the BEHAVE fire behavior prediction and fuel modeling system. The manual covers operation of the computer program, assumptions of the mathematical models used in the calculations, and application of the predictions.

Putative biomarkers for evaluating antibiotic treatment: an experimental model of porcine Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae infection

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lauritzen, B.; Lykkesfeldt, J.; Skaanild, M.T.

2003-01-01

Biomarkers of infection were screened for their possible role as evaluators of antibiotic treatment in an aerosol infection model of porcine pneumonia caused by Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae (Ap). Following infection of 12 pigs, clinical signs of pneumonia developed within 20 h, whereafter...... antibiotic treatment of acute Ap-infection ill pigs. The present model provides a valuable tool in the evaluation of antibiotic treatments, offering the advantage of clinical and pathological examinations combined with the use of biochemical infection markers....... recovered clinically within 24h after treatment, whereas tiamulin-treated animals remained clinically ill until the end of the study, 48 h after treatment. A similar Picture was seen for the biomarkers of infection. During the infection period, plasma C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 and haptoglobin...

Model comparisons of the reactive burn model SURF in three ASC codes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Whitley, Von Howard [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Stalsberg, Krista Lynn [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Reichelt, Benjamin Lee [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Shipley, Sarah Jayne [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

2018-01-12

A study of the SURF reactive burn model was performed in FLAG, PAGOSA and XRAGE. In this study, three different shock-to-detonation transition experiments were modeled in each code. All three codes produced similar model results for all the experiments modeled and at all resolutions. Buildup-to-detonation time, particle velocities and resolution dependence of the models was notably similar between the codes. Given the current PBX 9502 equations of state and SURF calibrations, each code is equally capable of predicting the correct detonation time and distance when impacted by a 1D impactor at pressures ranging from 10-16 GPa, as long as the resolution of the mesh is not too coarse.

Porcine cluster of differentiation (CD) Markers 2017 Update

Science.gov (United States)

Pigs are a major source of food worldwide; preventing and treating their infectious diseases is essential, requiring a thorough understanding of porcine immunity. The use of pigs as models for human physiology is a growing area; progress in this area has been limited because the immune toolkit is no...

Gastrin-releasing peptide in the porcine pancreas

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Holst, J J; Poulsen, Steen Seier

1987-01-01

to consist of one main form, namely the 27-amino acid peptide originally extracted from porcine stomach, and small amounts of a C-terminal fragment identical with the C-terminal 10-amino acid peptide. Gastrin-releasing peptide-like immunoreactivity released from the isolated perfused porcine pancreas during...... electrical vagal stimulation was shown by gel filtration to consist of the same two forms. By use of immunocytochemical techniques employing an antiserum directed against its N terminus, GRP was localized to varicose nerve fibers in close association with the exocrine tissue of the porcine pancreas...... in particular. Some fibers were found penetrating into pancreatic islets also. Immunoreactive nerve cell bodies as well as fibers were found within intrapancreatic ganglia. The potency of GRP in stimulating exocrine as well as endocrine secretion from the porcine pancreas, its presence in close contact...

Comparative Analysis of the Regulatory T Cells Dynamics in Peripheral Blood in Human and Porcine Polytrauma

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Rafael Serve

2018-03-01

Full Text Available BackgroundSeverely injured patients experience substantial immunological stress in the aftermath of traumatic insult, which often results in systemic immune dysregulation. Regulatory T cells (Treg play a key role in the suppression of the immune response and in the maintenance of immunological homeostasis. Little is known about their presence and dynamics in blood after trauma, and nothing is known about Treg in the porcine polytrauma model. Here, we assessed different subsets of Treg in trauma patients (TP and compared those to either healthy volunteers (HV or data from porcine polytrauma.MethodsPeripheral blood was withdrawn from 20 TP with injury severity score (ISS ≥16 at the admittance to the emergency department (ED, and subsequently on day 1 and at day 3. Ten HV were included as controls (ctrl. The porcine polytrauma model consisted of a femur fracture, liver laceration, lung contusion, and hemorrhagic shock resulting in an ISS of 27. After polytrauma, the animals underwent resuscitation and surgical fracture fixation. Blood samples were withdrawn before and immediately after trauma, 24 and 72 h later. Different subsets of Treg, CD4+CD25+, CD4+CD25+FoxP3+, CD4+CD25+CD127−, and CD4+CD25+CD127−FoxP3+ were characterized by flow cytometry.ResultsAbsolute cell counts of leukocytes were significantly increasing after trauma, and again decreasing in the follow-up in human and porcine samples. The proportion of human Treg in the peripheral blood of TP admitted to the ED was lower when compared to HV. Their numbers did not recover until 72 h after trauma. Comparable data were found for all subsets. The situation in the porcine trauma model was comparable with the clinical data. In porcine peripheral blood before trauma, we could identify Treg with the typical immunophenotype (CD4+CD25+CD127−, which were virtually absent immediately after trauma. Similar to the human situation, most of these cells expressed FoxP3, as assessed by

Utilization of laser Doppler flowmetry and tissue spectrophotometry for burn depth assessment using a miniature swine model.

Science.gov (United States)

Lotter, Oliver; Held, Manuel; Schiefer, Jennifer; Werner, Ole; Medved, Fabian; Schaller, Hans-Eberhard; Rahmanian-Schwarz, Afshin; Jaminet, Patrick; Rothenberger, Jens

2015-01-01

Currently, the diagnosis of burn depth is primarily based on a visual assessment and can be dependent on the surgeons' experience. The goal of this study was to determine the ability of laser Doppler flowmeter combined with a tissue spectrophotometer to discriminate burn depth in a miniature swine burn model. Burn injuries of varying depth, including superficial-partial, deep-partial, and full thickness, were created in seven Göttingen minipigs using an aluminium bar (100 °C), which was applied to the abdominal skin for periods of 1, 3, 6, 12, 30, and 60 seconds with gravity alone. The depth of injury was evaluated histologically using hematoxylin and eosin staining. All burns were assessed 3 hours after injury using a device that combines a laser light and a white light to determine blood flow, hemoglobin oxygenation, and relative amount of hemoglobin. The blood flow (41 vs. 124 arbitrary units [AU]) and relative amount of hemoglobin (32 vs. 52 AU) were significantly lower in full thickness compared with superficial-partial thickness burns. However, no significant differences in hemoglobin oxygenation were observed between these depths of burns (61 vs. 60%). These results show the ability of laser Doppler flowmeter and tissue spectrophotometer in combination to discriminate between various depths of injury in the minipig model, suggesting that this device may offer a valuable tool for burn depth assessment influencing burn management. © 2014 by the Wound Healing Society.

Dynamics of hepatic gene expression and serum cytokine profiles in single and double-hit burn and sepsis animal models

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Rohit Rao

2015-06-01

Full Text Available We simulate the pathophysiology of severe burn trauma and burn-induced sepsis, using rat models of experimental burn injury and cecal ligation and puncture (CLP either individually (singe-hit model or in combination (double-hit model. The experimental burn injury simulates a systemic but sterile pro-inflammatory response, while the CLP simulates the effect of polymicrobial sepsis. Given the liver׳s central role in mediating the host immune response and onset of hypermetabolism after burn injury, elucidating the alterations in hepatic gene expression in response to injury can lead to a better understanding of the regulation of the inflammatory response, whereas circulating cytokine protein expression, reflects key systemic inflammatory mediators. In this article, we present both the hepatic gene expression and circulating cytokine/chemokine protein expression data for the above-mentioned experimental model to gain insights into the temporal dynamics of the inflammatory and hypermetabolic response following burn and septic injury. This data article supports results discussed in research articles (Yang et al., 2012 [1,4]; Mattick et al. 2012, 2013 [2,3]; Nguyen et al., 2014 [5]; Orman et al., 2011, 2012 [6–8].

Aminopeptidase-N-independent entry of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus into Vero or porcine small intestine epithelial cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Ji, Chun-Miao; Wang, Bin; Zhou, Jiyong; Huang, Yao-Wei

2018-04-01

A monkey cell line Vero (ATCC CCL-81) is commonly used for porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) propagation in vitro. However, it is still controversial whether the porcine aminopeptidase N (pAPN) counterpart on Vero cells (Vero-APN) confers PEDV entry. We found that endogenous expression of Vero-APN was undetectable in the mRNA and the protein levels in Vero cells. We cloned the partial Vero-APN gene (3340-bp) containing exons 1 to 9 from cellular DNA and subsequently generated two APN-knockout Vero cell lines by CRISPR/Cas9 approach. PEDV infection of two APN-knockout Vero cells had the same efficiency as the Vero cells with or without neuraminidase treatment. A Vero cells stably expressing pAPN did not increase PEDV production. SiRNA-knockdown of pAPN in porcine jejunum epithelial cells had no effects on PEDV infection. The results suggest that there exists an additional cellular receptor on Vero or porcine jejunal cells independent of APN for PEDV entry. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Regulation of Porcine Hepatic Cytochrome P450 — Implication for Boar Taint

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Martin Krøyer Rasmussen

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Cytochrome P450 (CYP450 is the major family of enzymes involved in the metabolism of several xenobiotic and endogenous compounds. Among substrates for CYP450 is the tryptophan metabolite skatole (3-methylindole, one of the major contributors to the off-odour associated with boar-tainted meat. The accumulation of skatole in pigs is highly dependent on the hepatic clearance by CYP450s. In recent years, the porcine CYP450 has attracted attention both in relation to meat quality and as a potential model for human CYP450. The molecular regulation of CYP450 mRNA expression is controlled by several nuclear receptors and transcription factors that are targets for numerous endogenously and exogenously produced agonists and antagonists. Moreover, CYP450 expression and activity are affected by factors such as age, gender and feeding. The regulation of porcine CYP450 has been suggested to have more similarities with human CYP450 than other animal models, including rodents. This article reviews the available data on porcine hepatic CYP450s and its implications for boar taint.

In vitro porcine blood-brain barrier model for permeability studies: pCEL-X software pKa(FLUX) method for aqueous boundary layer correction and detailed data analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Yusof, Siti R; Avdeef, Alex; Abbott, N Joan

2014-12-18

In vitro blood-brain barrier (BBB) models from primary brain endothelial cells can closely resemble the in vivo BBB, offering valuable models to assay BBB functions and to screen potential central nervous system drugs. We have recently developed an in vitro BBB model using primary porcine brain endothelial cells. The model shows expression of tight junction proteins and high transendothelial electrical resistance, evidence for a restrictive paracellular pathway. Validation studies using small drug-like compounds demonstrated functional uptake and efflux transporters, showing the suitability of the model to assay drug permeability. However, one limitation of in vitro model permeability measurement is the presence of the aqueous boundary layer (ABL) resulting from inefficient stirring during the permeability assay. The ABL can be a rate-limiting step in permeation, particularly for lipophilic compounds, causing underestimation of the permeability. If the ABL effect is ignored, the permeability measured in vitro will not reflect the permeability in vivo. To address the issue, we explored the combination of in vitro permeability measurement using our porcine model with the pKa(FLUX) method in pCEL-X software to correct for the ABL effect and allow a detailed analysis of in vitro (transendothelial) permeability data, Papp. Published Papp using porcine models generated by our group and other groups are also analyzed. From the Papp, intrinsic transcellular permeability (P0) is derived by simultaneous refinement using a weighted nonlinear regression, taking into account permeability through the ABL, paracellular permeability and filter restrictions on permeation. The in vitro P0 derived for 22 compounds (35 measurements) showed good correlation with P0 derived from in situ brain perfusion data (r(2)=0.61). The analysis also gave evidence for carrier-mediated uptake of naloxone, propranolol and vinblastine. The combination of the in vitro porcine model and the software

Preliminary study of laser welding for aortic dissection in a porcine model using a diode laser with indocyanine green.

Science.gov (United States)

Fujita, Masanori; Morimoto, Yuji; Ohmori, Sayaka; Usami, Noriko; Arai, Tsunenori; Maehara, Tadaaki; Kikuchi, Makoto

2003-01-01

The objective of this study was to determine whether a dissected aorta could be welded by a diode laser with a solder using an in vitro porcine aortic dissection model. Porcine aortic strips were dissected into two flaps and the dissected faces were immersed in a solution of indocyanine green. The two flaps were pressed at 0.2 kg/cm2 with contact between the two immersed faces. The pressed flaps were irradiated with a diode laser (810 nm) at intensities of 170-425 W/cm2 for 8 seconds. The welded flaps were studied by light microscopy and the adhesive strengths were measured. The irradiated flaps were successfully welded. The breaking stress, the maximum stress recorded in a stress-strain curve, increased with increase in irradiation intensity up to 396 W/cm2 (2.7 x 10(2) mmHg) and decreased when the intensity reached 425 W/cm2. In the specimen irradiated at 396 W/cm2, the welded faces showed continuous fusion of elastin layers, while some voids were seen between the welded faces in the specimen irradiated at 425 W/cm2. The dissected porcine aortas were successfully welded using a laser with solder. The results suggest that the welded aorta can bear physiological blood pressure. Copyright 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Functional recovery after experimental RPE debridement, mfERG studies in a porcine model

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Nina Buus; Lassota, Nathan; Kyhn, Maria Voss

2013-01-01

BACKGROUND: The correlation between histologically identified regeneration of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and functional outcome measured by multifocal electroretinography (mfERG) following surgical debridement is examined in a porcine model. In humans, visual acuity is reduced in diseases......, and by brushing the Bruch's membrane with a silicone catheter. Immediately following surgery (baseline) and after 2 and 6 weeks respectively, the animals were examined by mfERG, fundus photographs (FPs), fluorescein angiograms (FAs), and histopathology. RESULTS: The mfERG P1 amplitude was decreased 2 weeks (T2....... CONCLUSION: This is the first study to show that the histological regeneration of hypopigmented RPE correlates to a return of the retinal function, measured by mfERG....

Diagnostic investigation of porcine periweaning failure-to-thrive syndrome: lack of compelling evidence linking to common porcine pathogens.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Yanyun; Gauvreau, Henry; Harding, John

2012-01-01

Porcine periweaning failure-to-thrive syndrome (PFTS), an increasingly recognized syndrome in the swine industry of North America, is characterized by the anorexia of nursery pigs noticeable within 1 week of weaning, and progressive loss of body condition and lethargy during the next 1-2 weeks. Morbidity caused by PFTS is moderate, but case fatality is high. The etiology of PFTS is presently unknown and may include infectious agent(s), noninfectious factors, or both. PFTS was identified in a high health status farm with good management in early 2007. A diagnostic investigation was undertaken to identify the pathological lesions of, and infectious agents associated with, pigs demonstrating typical clinical signs. Affected (PFTS-SICK) and unaffected (PFTS-HLTHY) pigs from an affected farm, and unaffected pigs from 2 unaffected farms, were examined. The most prevalent lesions in PFTS-SICK pigs were superficial lymphocytic fundic gastritis, atrophic enteritis, superficial colitis, lymphocytic and neutrophilic rhinitis, mild nonsuppurative meningoencephalitis, and thymic atrophy. Rotavirus A and Betacoronavirus 1 (Porcine hemagglutinating encephalomyelitis virus) were identified only in PFTS-SICK pigs, but the significance of the viruses is uncertain because PFTS is not consistent with the typical presentation following infection by these pathogens. Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus, Porcine circovirus-2, Influenza A virus, Alphacoronavirus 1 (Transmissible gastroenteritis virus), Torque teno virus 1, Brachyspira hyodysenteriae, and Brachyspira pilosicoli were not identified in PFTS-SICK pigs. Suid herpesvirus 2 (Porcine cytomegalovirus), Porcine enteric calicivirus, Torque teno virus 2, pathogenic Escherichia coli, and coccidia were detected in both PFTS-SICK and PFTS-HLTHY pigs. It was concluded that there is a lack of compelling evidence that PFTS is caused by any of these pathogens.

Burning mouth disorder

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anand Bala

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Burning mouth disorder (BMD is a burning or stinging sensation affecting the oral mucosa, lips and/or tongue, in the absence of clinically visible mucosal lesions. There is a strong female predilection, with the age of onset being approximately 50 years. Affected patients often present with multiple oral complaints, including burning, dryness and taste alterations. The causes of BMD are multifactorial and remain poorly understood. Recently, there has been a resurgence of interest in this disorder with the discovery that the pain of burning mouth syndrome (BMS may be neuropathic in origin and originate both centrally and peripherally. The most common sites of burning are the anterior tongue, anterior hard palate and lower lip, but the distribution of oral sites affected does not appear to affect the natural history of the disorder or the response to treatment BMS may persist for many years. This article provides updated information on BMS and presents a new model, based on taste dysfunction, for its pathogenesis.

Astronaut observations of global biomass burning

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wood, C.A.; Nelson, R.

1991-01-01

One of the most fundamental inputs for understanding and modeling possible effects of biomass burning is knowledge of the size of the area burned. Because the burns are often very large and occur on all continents (except Antarctica), observations from space are essential. Information is presented in this chapter on another method for monitoring biomass burning, including immediate and long-term effects. Examples of astronaut photography of burning during one year give a perspective of the widespread occurrence of burning and the variety of biological materials that are consumed. The growth of burning in the Amazon region is presented over 15 years using smoke as a proxy for actual burning. Possible climate effects of smoke palls are also discussed

Improving burn care and preventing burns by establishing a burn database in Ukraine.

Science.gov (United States)

Fuzaylov, Gennadiy; Murthy, Sushila; Dunaev, Alexander; Savchyn, Vasyl; Knittel, Justin; Zabolotina, Olga; Dylewski, Maggie L; Driscoll, Daniel N

2014-08-01

Burns are a challenge for trauma care and a contribution to the surgical burden. The former Soviet republic of Ukraine has a foundation for burn care; however data concerning burns in Ukraine has historically been scant. The objective of this paper was to compare a new burn database to identify problems and implement improvements in burn care and prevention in this country. Retrospective analyses of demographic and clinical data of burn patients including Tukey's post hoc test, analysis of variance, and chi square analyses, and Fisher's exact test were used. Data were compared to the American Burn Association (ABA) burn repository. This study included 1752 thermally injured patients treated in 20 hospitals including Specialized Burn Unit in Municipal Hospital #8 Lviv, Lviv province in Ukraine. Scald burns were the primary etiology of burns injuries (70%) and burns were more common among children less than five years of age (34%). Length of stay, mechanical ventilation use, infection rates, and morbidity increased with greater burn size. Mortality was significantly related to burn size, inhalation injury, age, and length of stay. Wound infections were associated with burn size and older age. Compared to ABA data, Ukrainian patients had double the length of stay and a higher rate of wound infections (16% vs. 2.4%). We created one of the first burn databases from a region of the former Soviet Union in an effort to bring attention to burn injury and improve burn care. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd and ISBI. All rights reserved.

A model for global biomass burning in preindustrial time: LPJ-LMfire (v1.0

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Pfeiffer

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Fire is the primary disturbance factor in many terrestrial ecosystems. Wildfire alters vegetation structure and composition, affects carbon storage and biogeochemical cycling, and results in the release of climatically relevant trace gases including CO2, CO, CH4, NOx, and aerosols. One way of assessing the impacts of global wildfire on centennial to multi-millennial timescales is to use process-based fire models linked to dynamic global vegetation models (DGVMs. Here we present an update to the LPJ-DGVM and a new fire module based on SPITFIRE that includes several improvements to the way in which fire occurrence, behaviour, and the effects of fire on vegetation are simulated. The new LPJ-LMfire model includes explicit calculation of natural ignitions, the representation of multi-day burning and coalescence of fires, and the calculation of rates of spread in different vegetation types. We describe a new representation of anthropogenic biomass burning under preindustrial conditions that distinguishes the different relationships between humans and fire among hunter-gatherers, pastoralists, and farmers. We evaluate our model simulations against remote-sensing-based estimates of burned area at regional and global scale. While wildfire in much of the modern world is largely influenced by anthropogenic suppression and ignitions, in those parts of the world where natural fire is still the dominant process (e.g. in remote areas of the boreal forest and subarctic, our results demonstrate a significant improvement in simulated burned area over the original SPITFIRE. The new fire model we present here is particularly suited for the investigation of climate–human–fire relationships on multi-millennial timescales prior to the Industrial Revolution.

Characterization of porcine MMP-2 and its association with immune traits

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Huang, Honggang; Zhao, Weimin; Tang, Zhonglin

2009-01-01

cloned the 5'-upstream sequence, 3'-downstream sequence as well as other missed genomic sequences of porcine MMP-2, the genomic structure and the promotor sequence were analyzed and found to share high similarity with those of human MMP-2. Porcine MMP-2 was assigned to SSC6p14-p15, and closely linked......Matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) plays important roles in inflammation and immunity besides its basic role in degrading and remodelling extracellular matrix (ECM). The expression of MMP-2 is up-regulated in many human as well as animal models of inflammatory and immune diseases. In this study, we...... to microsatellite SW1108 (53cR, LOD score 7.59) by IMpRH panel. Real-time PCR analysis revealed that the expression of porcine MMP-2 was remarkably different in diverse tissues, a high level expression was observed in the testis and uterus, relatively low expression in other tissues. Allele frequencies...

Burn-center quality improvement: are burn outcomes dependent on admitting facilities and is there a volume-outcome "sweet-spot"?

Science.gov (United States)

Hranjec, Tjasa; Turrentine, Florence E; Stukenborg, George; Young, Jeffrey S; Sawyer, Robert G; Calland, James F

2012-05-01

Risk factors of mortality in burn patients such as inhalation injury, patient age, and percent of total body surface area (%TBSA) burned have been identified in previous publications. However, little is known about the variability of mortality outcomes between burn centers and whether the admitting facilities or facility volumes can be recognized as predictors of mortality. De-identified data from 87,665 acute burn observations obtained from the National Burn Repository between 2003 and 2007 were used to estimate a multivariable logistic regression model that could predict patient mortality with reference to the admitting burn facility/facility volume, adjusted for differences in age, inhalation injury, %TBSA burned, and an additional factor, percent full thickness burn (%FTB). As previously reported, all three covariates (%TBSA burned, inhalation injury, and age) were found to be highly statistically significant risk factors of mortality in burn patients (P value improve the multivariable model. The treatment/admitting facility was found to be an independent mortality predictor, with certain hospitals having increased odds of death and others showing a protective effect (decreased odds ratio). Hospitals with high burn volumes had the highest risk of mortality. Mortality outcomes of patients with similar risk factors (%TBSA burned, inhalation injury, age, and %FTB) are significantly affected by the treating facility and their admission volumes.

Antimicrobial photodynamic therapy in a mouse model of Acinetobacter baumannii burn infection

Science.gov (United States)

Dai, Tianhong; Tegos, George P.; Lu, Zongshun; Zhiyentayev, Timur; Huang, Liyi; Franklin, Michael J.; Baer, David G.; Hamblin, Michael R.

2009-06-01

Multi-drug resistant Acinetobacter baumanii infections represent a growing problem, especially in traumatic wounds and burns suffered by military personnel injured in Middle Eastern conflicts. Effective treatment using traditional antibiotics can be extremely difficult and new antimicrobial approaches are being investigated. One of these antimicrobial alternatives could be the combination of non-toxic photosensitizers (PS) and visible light known as photodynamic therapy (PDT). We report on the establishment of a new mouse model of full thickness thermal burns infected with a bioluminescent derivative of a clinical Iraqi isolate of A. baumannii and its PDT treatment by topical application of a PS produced by covalent conjugation chlorin(e6) to polyethylenimine followed by illumination of the burn surface with red light. Application of 108 A. baumannii cells to the surface of 10-second burns made on the dorsal surface of shaved female BALB/c mice led to chronic infections that lasted on average 22 days characterized by a remarkably stable bacterial bioluminescence. PDT carried out on day 0 soon after applying bacteria gave over three logs of loss of bacterial luminescence in a light exposure dependent manner, while PDT carried out on day 1 and day 2 gave approximately a 1.7-log reduction. Application of PS dissolved in 10% or 20% DMSO without light gave only modest reduction in bacterial luminescence from mouse burns. Some bacterial regrowth in the treated burn was observed but was generally modest. It was also found that PDT did not lead to inhibition of wound healing. The data suggest that PDT may be an effective new treatment for multi-drug resistant localized A. baumannii infections.

Tachykinins in the porcine pancreas

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schmidt, P T; Tornøe, K; Poulsen, Steen Seier

2000-01-01

The localization, release, and effects of substance P and neurokinin A were studied in the porcine pancreas and the localization of substance P immunoreactive nerve fibers was examined by immunohistochemistry. The effects of electrical vagus stimulation and capsaicin infusion on tachykinin release...... and the effects of substance P and neurokinin A infusion on insulin, glucagon, somatostatin, and exocrine secretion were studied using the isolated perfused porcine pancreas with intact vagal innervation. NK-1 and NK-2 receptor antagonists were used to investigate receptor involvement. Substance P immunoreactive...

Second-generation magnesium scaffold Magmaris: device design and preclinical evaluation in a porcine coronary artery model.

Science.gov (United States)

Waksman, Ron; Zumstein, Philine; Pritsch, Martin; Wittchow, Eric; Haude, Michael; Lapointe-Corriveau, Capucine; Leclerc, Guy; Joner, Michael

2017-07-20

The second-generation drug-eluting absorbable magnesium scaffold Magmaris, recently introduced for the treatment of obstructive coronary atherosclerotic lesions, suggests a good safety profile, but preclinical assessment is important for predicting clinical performance. The aim of the present study was to assess subacute and long-term safety as well as pharmacokinetic properties of the Magmaris compared with a current-generation metallic DES and an approved BRS in porcine and rabbit animal models. Ninety Magmaris scaffolds were implanted into non-diseased porcine and rabbit models. A bioresorbable vascular scaffold (Absorb) and a permanent drug-eluting stent (XIENCE Xpedition) served as controls. Scanning electron microscopy showed increased endothelialisation and decreased thrombus formation at three and 28 days in the Magmaris group compared with the Absorb group. In the XIENCE group, inflammation exceeded the level in the Magmaris group at 365 and 730 days. Neointimal growth was greater in the Magmaris group than in the XIENCE group. Late lumen loss decreased over time in both groups. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) showed stable luminal dimensions in both the Magmaris and XIENCE groups. Pharmacokinetic studies demonstrated a retarded elution profile in the Magmaris group with 69.4% of sirolimus released at 90 days. Preclinical results suggest that the Magmaris has a favourable safety profile with advanced healing relative to benchmark, low acute thrombogenicity, and absence of excessive lumen loss up to two years. These results support clinical application of Magmaris for human use.

Reliable porcine coronary model of chronic total occlusion using copper wire stents and bioabsorbable levo-polylactic acid polymer.

Science.gov (United States)

Sim, Doo Sun; Jeong, Myung Ho; Cha, Kyoung Rae; Park, Suk Ho; Park, Jong Oh; Shin, Young Min; Shin, Heungsoo; Hong, Young Joon; Ahn, Youngkeun; Schwartz, Robert S; Kang, Jung Chaee

2012-12-01

Chronic total occlusion (CTO) remains a challenge in interventional cardiology. We investigated the feasibility and reliability of copper wire stents and levo-polylactic acid (l-PLA) as a means of CTO induction in a porcine model. In one group of 20 swine, copper stents were crimped on a 3.0mm angioplasty balloon and inserted into the mid-left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD). In the other group of 20 swine, l-PLA was wrapped on a guidewire and pushed into the distal LAD with a 3.0mm balloon catheter to induce embolization. Of 20 swine which underwent copper stent implantation, 13 died of stent thrombosis. In the remaining 7 swine, total or near total occlusion with collateral circulation was observed at 5 weeks. Of 20 swine which underwent l-PLA embolization, 4 died of ventricular fibrillation during or shortly after the procedure. Serial histopathologic studies showed complete absorption of the polymer with replacement by fibrotic tissue approximately 4 weeks following the polymer implantation. CTO could be reliably induced in porcine coronary arteries by copper stents and l-PLA. These models may support investigation of new percutaneous devices to facilitate CTO interventions. Copyright © 2012 Japanese College of Cardiology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A model study on color and related structural properties of cured porcine batters

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Palombo, R.

1990-01-01

Color, determined by tristimulus colorimeters, and related structural properties, i.e., microstructure, surface rheology, and bulk rheology, of cured porcine meat batters were studied.

Effects of various processing factors (such as, temperature, air pressure during chopping, and

Model development for spatial variation of PM2.5 emissions from residential wood burning

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yong Q, Tian; Peng Gong; Qian Yu; Radke, John D.

2004-01-01

This paper presents a preliminary research result of spatially quantifying and allocating the potential activity of residential wood burning (RWB) by using demographic, hypsographic, climatic and topographic information as independent variables. We also introduce the method for calculating PM 2.5 emission from residential wood combustion with the potential activity as primary variable. A linear regression model was generated to describe spatial and temporal distribution of the potential activity of wood burning as primary heating source. In order to improve the estimation, the classifications of urban, suburban and rural were redefined to meet the specifications of this application. Also, a unique way of defining forest accessibility is found useful in estimating the activity potential of RWB. The results suggest that the potential activity of wood burning is mostly determined by elevation of a location, forest accessibility, urban/non-urban position, climatic conditions and several demographic variables. The analysis results were validated using survey data collected through face-to-face and telephone interviews over the study area in central California. The linear regression model can explain approximately 86% of the variation of surveyed wood burning activity potential. The total PM 2.5 emitted from woodstoves and fireplaces is analyzed for the study region at county level. (Author)

Brief report: biomarkers of aortic vascular prosthetic graft infection in a porcine model with Staphylococcus aureus

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Langerhuus, S. N.; Tønnesen, E. K.; Jensen, K. H.

2010-01-01

Aortic vascular prosthetic graft infection (AVPGI) with Staphylococcus aureus is a feared post-operative complication. This study was conducted to evaluate the clinical signs and potential biomarkers of infection in a porcine AVPGI model. The biomarkers evaluated were: C-reactive protein (CRP......), fibrinogen, white blood cells (WBC), major histocompatibility complex II (MHC II) density, lymphocyte CD4:CD8 ratio and tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) in vitro responsiveness. Sixteen pigs were included in the study, and randomly assigned into four groups (n = 4): “SHAM” pigs had their infra...

Accuracy of real time radiography burning rate measurement

Science.gov (United States)

Olaniyi, Bisola

The design of a solid propellant rocket motor requires the determination of a propellant's burning-rate and its dependency upon environmental parameters. The requirement that the burning-rate be physically measured, establishes the need for methods and equipment to obtain such data. A literature review reveals that no measurement has provided the desired burning rate accuracy. In the current study, flash x-ray modeling and digitized film-density data were employed to predict motor-port area to length ratio. The pre-fired port-areas and base burning rate were within 2.5% and 1.2% of their known values, respectively. To verify the accuracy of the method, a continuous x-ray and a solid propellant rocket motor model (Plexiglas cylinder) were used. The solid propellant motor model was translated laterally through a real-time radiography system at different speeds simulating different burning rates. X-ray images were captured and the burning-rate was then determined. The measured burning rate was within 1.65% of the known values.

Porcine circovirus diseases

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ristoski Trpe

2009-05-01

Full Text Available Porcine circovirus type 2 belongs on the family Circoviridae. This virus family includes small, non-enveloped viruses, with a circular, single-standed DNA genome.This virus causes mainly subclinical infections, but a number of diseases have been linked to it (porcine circovirus diseases, PCVD. The most economically important PCVD is postweaning multisystemic wasting syndrome (PMWS, which mainly affects pigs of 2 to 5 months of age, with progressive wasting, diarrhea and respiratory disorders. Main PMWS lesions are found in lymphoid tissues, which are characterized by lymphocyte depletion with granulomatous (histiocytic and multinucleate giant cell infiltration. PMWS is considered as multifactorial disease, with a number of infectious and non-infectious factors able to act as disease triggering in PCV2 infected pigs. PCVDs are worldwide distributed, and PMWS was diagnosed in Macedonia in 2007.

The effect of a rehabilitation nursing intervention model on improving the comprehensive health status of patients with hand burns.

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Li, Lin; Dai, Jia-Xi; Xu, Le; Huang, Zhen-Xia; Pan, Qiong; Zhang, Xi; Jiang, Mei-Yun; Chen, Zhao-Hong

2017-06-01

To observe the effect of a rehabilitation intervention on the comprehensive health status of patients with hand burns. Most studies of hand-burn patients have focused on functional recovery. There have been no studies involving a biological-psychological-social rehabilitation model of hand-burn patients. A randomized controlled design was used. Patients with hand burns were recruited to the study, and sixty patients participated. Participants were separated into two groups: (1) The rehabilitation intervention model group (n=30) completed the rehabilitation intervention model, which included the following measures: enhanced social support, intensive health education, comprehensive psychological intervention, and graded exercise. (2) The control group (n=30) completed routine treatment. Intervention lasted 5 weeks. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Student's t test were conducted. The rehabilitation intervention group had significantly better scores than the control group for comprehensive health, physical function, psychological function, social function, and general health. The differences between the index scores of the two groups were statistically significant. The rehabilitation intervention improved the comprehensive health status of patients with hand burns and has favorable clinical application. The comprehensive rehabilitation intervention model used here provides scientific guidance for medical staff aiming to improve the integrated health status of hand-burn patients and accelerate their recovery. What does this paper contribute to the wider global clinical community? Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Comparison of Acute Thrombogenicity for Magnesium versus Stainless Steel Stents in a Porcine Arteriovenous Shunt Model.

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Lipinski, Michael J; Acampado, Eduardo; Cheng, Qi; Adams, Lila; Torii, Sho; Gai, Jiaxiang; Torguson, Rebecca; Hellinga, David G; Joner, Michael; Harder, Claus; Zumstein, Philine; Finn, Aloke V; Kolodgie, Frank D; Virmani, Renu; Waksman, Ron

2018-05-08

Aims The aetiology for reduced thrombogenicity of the Magmaris resorbable magnesium scaffold (RMS) when compared with the Absorb bioresorbable vascular scaffold remains unclear. We therefore investigated whether the Magmaris RMS has platelet-repelling properties by comparing its acute thrombogenicity with an equivalent stainless steel stent in an arteriovenous shunt model. Methods and Results An ex vivo porcine carotid jugular arteriovenous shunt was established and connected to Sylgard tubing containing the Magmaris RMS with sirolimus-eluting PLLA coating and an equivalent 316L stainless steel stent with sirolimus-eluting PLLA coating. Six shunts (2 shunt runs per pig) were run comparing the 2 scaffolds (n=9) in alternating order. Nested generalised linear mixed models were employed to compare variables between scaffold groups. Confocal fluorescent microscopy costaining CD61/CD42b demonstrated that the 316L equivalent stent had significantly greater platelet coverage of the total scaffold compared with Magmaris (5.8% vs. 2.8%, Rate ratio 2.21 [1.41, 3.47], p=0.012). Scanning electron microscopy demonstrated significantly greater thrombus deposition on the 316L equivalent stent as a percentage of the total scaffold compared with Magmaris (8.0% vs. 5.3%, p=0.009). Magmaris also had significantly less CD14 positive monocyte deposition and a trend toward less PM-1 positive neutrophil compared with the 316L equivalent stent. Conclusion Despite having identical scaffold characteristics regarding geometrical design, Magmaris had significantly less thrombogenicity and inflammatory cell deposition compared with the equivalent 316L stainless steel stent in a porcine arteriovenous shunt model. These data suggest resorbable magnesium scaffolds may have inherent properties that reduce adhesion of platelets and inflammatory cells.

Model stars with degenerate dwarf cores and helium-burning shells - A stationary-burning approximation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Iben, I. Jr.; Tutukov, A.V. (Illinois Univ., Urbana (USA); Astronomicheskii Sovet, Moscow (USSR))

1989-07-01

The characteristics of model stars consisting of a degenerate dwarf core and an envelope which is burning a nuclear fuel or fuels in its interior are explored. The models are relevant to stars which are accreting matter from a companion, to single stars in late stages of evolution, to stripped noninteracting remnants of binary star evolution, and to merging and merged degenerate dwarfs. For any given mass and choice of nuclear fuels, a sequence of models is constructed which differ with respect to the mass of the degenerate core and the envelope characteristics. Each sequence has at least three distinct branches: a degenerate dwarf branch along which envelope mass increases with decreasing luminosity, a plateau branch characterized by a very small envelope mass and by a nearly constant luminosity which reaches the maximum achievable value for the sequence, and an asymptotic giant branch which is at the lowest temperatures achievable and along which envelope mass decreases with increasing luminosity. 78 refs.

Model stars with degenerate dwarf cores and helium-burning shells - A stationary-burning approximation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Iben, I. Jr.; Tutukov, A.V.

1989-01-01

The characteristics of model stars consisting of a degenerate dwarf core and an envelope which is burning a nuclear fuel or fuels in its interior are explored. The models are relevant to stars which are accreting matter from a companion, to single stars in late stages of evolution, to stripped noninteracting remnants of binary star evolution, and to merging and merged degenerate dwarfs. For any given mass and choice of nuclear fuels, a sequence of models is constructed which differ with respect to the mass of the degenerate core and the envelope characteristics. Each sequence has at least three distinct branches: a degenerate dwarf branch along which envelope mass increases with decreasing luminosity, a plateau branch characterized by a very small envelope mass and by a nearly constant luminosity which reaches the maximum achievable value for the sequence, and an asymptotic giant branch which is at the lowest temperatures achievable and along which envelope mass decreases with increasing luminosity. 78 refs

Modelling Carbon Emissions in Calluna vulgaris–Dominated Ecosystems when Prescribed Burning and Wildfires Interact

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Santana, Victor M.; Alday, Josu G.; Lee, HyoHyeMi; Allen, Katherine A.; Marrs, Rob H.

2016-01-01

A present challenge in fire ecology is to optimize management techniques so that ecological services are maximized and C emissions minimized. Here, we modeled the effects of different prescribed-burning rotation intervals and wildfires on carbon emissions (present and future) in British moorlands. Biomass-accumulation curves from four Calluna-dominated ecosystems along a north-south gradient in Great Britain were calculated and used within a matrix-model based on Markov Chains to calculate above-ground biomass-loads and annual C emissions under different prescribed-burning rotation intervals. Additionally, we assessed the interaction of these parameters with a decreasing wildfire return intervals. We observed that litter accumulation patterns varied between sites. Northern sites (colder and wetter) accumulated lower amounts of litter with time than southern sites (hotter and drier). The accumulation patterns of the living vegetation dominated by Calluna were determined by site-specific conditions. The optimal prescribed-burning rotation interval for minimizing annual carbon emissions also differed between sites: the optimal rotation interval for northern sites was between 30 and 50 years, whereas for southern sites a hump-backed relationship was found with the optimal interval either between 8 to 10 years or between 30 to 50 years. Increasing wildfire frequency interacted with prescribed-burning rotation intervals by both increasing C emissions and modifying the optimum prescribed-burning interval for minimum C emission. This highlights the importance of studying site-specific biomass accumulation patterns with respect to environmental conditions for identifying suitable fire-rotation intervals to minimize C emissions. PMID:27880840

Modelling Carbon Emissions in Calluna vulgaris-Dominated Ecosystems when Prescribed Burning and Wildfires Interact.

Science.gov (United States)

Santana, Victor M; Alday, Josu G; Lee, HyoHyeMi; Allen, Katherine A; Marrs, Rob H

2016-01-01

A present challenge in fire ecology is to optimize management techniques so that ecological services are maximized and C emissions minimized. Here, we modeled the effects of different prescribed-burning rotation intervals and wildfires on carbon emissions (present and future) in British moorlands. Biomass-accumulation curves from four Calluna-dominated ecosystems along a north-south gradient in Great Britain were calculated and used within a matrix-model based on Markov Chains to calculate above-ground biomass-loads and annual C emissions under different prescribed-burning rotation intervals. Additionally, we assessed the interaction of these parameters with a decreasing wildfire return intervals. We observed that litter accumulation patterns varied between sites. Northern sites (colder and wetter) accumulated lower amounts of litter with time than southern sites (hotter and drier). The accumulation patterns of the living vegetation dominated by Calluna were determined by site-specific conditions. The optimal prescribed-burning rotation interval for minimizing annual carbon emissions also differed between sites: the optimal rotation interval for northern sites was between 30 and 50 years, whereas for southern sites a hump-backed relationship was found with the optimal interval either between 8 to 10 years or between 30 to 50 years. Increasing wildfire frequency interacted with prescribed-burning rotation intervals by both increasing C emissions and modifying the optimum prescribed-burning interval for minimum C emission. This highlights the importance of studying site-specific biomass accumulation patterns with respect to environmental conditions for identifying suitable fire-rotation intervals to minimize C emissions.

Aluminum agglomeration involving the second mergence of agglomerates on the solid propellants burning surface: Experiments and modeling

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Ao, Wen; Liu, Xin; Rezaiguia, Hichem; Liu, Huan; Wang, Zhixin; Liu, Peijin

2017-07-01

The agglomeration of aluminum particles usually occurs on the burning surface of aluminized composite propellants. It leads to low propellant combustion efficiency and high two-phase flow losses. To reach a thorough understanding of aluminum agglomeration behaviors, agglomeration processes, and particles size distribution of Al/AP/RDX/GAP propellants were studied by using a cinephotomicrography experimental technique, under 5 MPa. Accumulation, aggregation, and agglomeration phenomena of aluminum particles have been inspected, as well as the flame asymmetry of burning agglomerates. Results reveals that the dependency of the mean and the maximum agglomeration diameter to the burning rate and the virgin aluminum size have the same trend. A second-time mergence of multiple agglomerates on the burning surface is unveiled. Two typical modes of second mergence are concluded, based upon vertical and level movement of agglomerates, respectively. The latter mode is found to be dominant and sometimes a combination of the two modes may occur. A new model of aluminum agglomeration on the burning surface of composite propellants is derived to predict the particulates size distribution with a low computational amount. The basic idea is inspired from the well-known pocket models. The pocket size of the region formed by adjacent AP particles is obtained through scanning electron microscopy of the propellant cross-section coupled to an image processing method. The second mergence mechanism, as well as the effect of the burning rate on the agglomeration processes, are included in the present model. The mergence of two agglomerates is prescribed to occur only if their separation distance is less than a critical value. The agglomerates size distribution resulting from this original model match reasonably with the experimental data. Moreover, the present model gives superior results for mean agglomeration diameter compared to common empirical and pocket models. The average prediction

Electroejaculation functions primarily by direct activation of pelvic musculature: Perspectives from a porcine model

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Adam M.R. Groh

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Ejaculatory dysfunction is a significant cause of infertility in men that have incurred spinal cord injury or iatrogenic lesions to the sympathetic nerves in the retroperitoneum. For such patients, electroejaculation – whereby a voltage is applied transrectally under general anesthesia – is a highly-effective procedure to obtain ejaculate. At present, however, there remains uncertainty as to the physiological mechanism by which electroejaculation prompts seminal emission in males with neurogenic anejaculation. Thus, in the present study, we aimed to determine, for the first time, whether electroejaculation functions by mimicking a neurophysiological response, or by directly activating local pelvic musculature. Using electroejaculation in a novel porcine model, we monitored the strength of contraction of the internal urethral sphincter (a smooth muscle involved in ejaculation before and after lesioning its sympathetic innervation with a combination of progressively-worsening surgical and pharmacological insults in three anesthetized boars (46.1 ± 7.4 kg. Importantly, prior to this investigation, we confirmed the comparative structural anatomy of the porcine model to humans through gross dissection and histological analysis of the infrarenal retroperitoneal sympathetic nerves and ganglia in 18 unembalmed boars. Prior to sacrifice, three of these boars underwent functional testing to confirm control of the internal urethral sphincter by the hypogastric nerves. Our results demonstrate that electroejaculation-induced contraction of the internal urethral sphincter was preserved following each progressive neural insult compared to the control state (p > 0.05. In contrast, these same insults resulted in paralysis/paresis of the internal urethral sphincter when its sympathetic innervation was directly stimulated with bipolar electrodes (p < 0.05. Taken together, our results provide the first empirical evidence to suggest that

Release of galanin from isolated perfused porcine adrenal glands

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Holst, J J; Ehrhart-Bornstein, M; Messell, T

1991-01-01

We found a high concentration of galanin in extracts of porcine adrenal glands (114 pmol/g). By immunohistochemistry, galanin was localized to groups of medullary cells previously shown to produce norepinephrine. To study mechanisms for the release of galanin, we developed the following in vitro...... model: isolated perfused porcine adrenals with intact splanchnic nerve supply. When the nerves were electrically stimulated, epinephrine and norepinephrine secretion increased 276- and 291-fold, respectively, and galanin release increased up to 1,300-fold. Acetylcholine at 10(-6) M stimulated galanin...... release, and hexamethonium almost abolished the response to nerve stimulation. Galanin infusions had no effect on epinephrine and norepinephrine secretion in concentrations of 10(-8) and 10(-7) M, but increased both cortisol and aldosterone secretion (P less than 0.05). Splanchnic nerve stimulation...

Improved Survival of Patients With Extensive Burns: Trends in Patient Characteristics and Mortality Among Burn Patients in a Tertiary Care Burn Facility, 2004-2013.

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Strassle, Paula D; Williams, Felicia N; Napravnik, Sonia; van Duin, David; Weber, David J; Charles, Anthony; Cairns, Bruce A; Jones, Samuel W

Classic determinants of burn mortality are age, burn size, and the presence of inhalation injury. Our objective was to describe temporal trends in patient and burn characteristics, inpatient mortality, and the relationship between these characteristics and inpatient mortality over time. All patients aged 18 years or older and admitted with burn injury, including inhalation injury only, between 2004 and 2013 were included. Adjusted Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to estimate the relationship between admit year and inpatient mortality. A total of 5540 patients were admitted between 2004 and 2013. Significant differences in sex, race/ethnicity, burn mechanisms, TBSA, inhalation injury, and inpatient mortality were observed across calendar years. Patients admitted between 2011 and 2013 were more likely to be women, non-Hispanic Caucasian, with smaller burn size, and less likely to have an inhalation injury, in comparison with patients admitted from 2004 to 2010. After controlling for patient demographics, burn mechanisms, and differential lengths of stay, no calendar year trends in inpatient mortality were detected. However, a significant decrease in inpatient mortality was observed among patients with extensive burns (≥75% TBSA) in more recent calendar years. This large, tertiary care referral burn center has maintained low inpatient mortality rates among burn patients over the past 10 years. While observed decreases in mortality during this time are largely due to changes in patient and burn characteristics, survival among patients with extensive burns has improved.

The effect of intra-abdominal hypertension incorporating severe acute pancreatitis in a porcine model.

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Lu Ke

Full Text Available INTRODUCTION: Abdominal compartment syndrome (ACS and intra abdominal hypertension(IAH are common clinical findings in patients with severe acute pancreatitis(SAP. It is thought that an increased intra abdominal pressure(IAP is associated with poor prognosis in SAP patients. But the detailed effect of IAH/ACS on different organ system is not clear. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of SAP combined with IAH on hemodynamics, systemic oxygenation, and organ damage in a 12 h lasting porcine model. MEASUREMENTS AND METHODS: Following baseline registrations, a total of 30 animals were divided into 5 groups (6 animals in each group: SAP+IAP30 group, SAP+IAP20 group, SAP group, IAP30 group(sham-operated but without SAP and sham-operated group. We used a N(2 pneumoperitoneum to induce different levels of IAH and retrograde intra-ductal infusion of sodium taurocholate to induce SAP. The investigation period was 12 h. Hemodynamic parameters (CO, HR, MAP, CVP, urine output, oxygenation parameters(e.g., S(vO(2, PO(2, PaCO(2, peak inspiratory pressure, as well as serum parameters (e.g., ALT, amylase, lactate, creatinine were recorded. Histological examination of liver, intestine, pancreas, and lung was performed. MAIN RESULTS: Cardiac output significantly decreased in the SAP+IAH animals compared with other groups. Furthermore, AST, creatinine, SUN and lactate showed similar increasing tendency paralleled with profoundly decrease in S(vO(2. The histopathological analyses also revealed higher grade injury of liver, intestine, pancreas and lung in the SAP+IAH groups. However, few differences were found between the two SAP+IAH groups with different levels of IAP. CONCLUSIONS: Our newly developed porcine SAP+IAH model demonstrated that there were remarkable effects on global hemodynamics, oxygenation and organ function in response to sustained IAH of 12 h combined with SAP. Moreover, our model should be helpful to study the mechanisms of IAH

Dermal absorption behavior of fluorescent molecules in nanoparticles on human and porcine skin models.

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Debotton, Nir; Badihi, Amit; Robinpour, Mano; Enk, Claes D; Benita, Simon

2017-05-30

The percutaneous passage of poorly skin absorbed molecules can be improved using nanocarriers, particularly biodegradable polymeric nanospheres (NSs) or nanocapsules (NCs). However, penetration of the encapsulated molecules may be affected by other factors than the nanocarrier properties. To gain insight information on the skin absorption of two fluorescent cargos, DiIC 18 (5) and coumarin-6 were incorporated in NSs or NCs and topically applied on various human and porcine skin samples. 3D imaging techniques suggest that NSs and NCs enhanced deep dermal penetration of both probes similarly, when applied on excised human skin irrespective of the nature of the cargo. However, when ex vivo pig skin was utilized, the cutaneous absorption of DiIC 18 (5) was more pronounced by means of PLGA NCs than NSs. In contrast, PLGA NSs noticeably improved the porcine skin penetration of coumarin-6, as compared to the NCs. Furthermore, the porcine skin results were reproducible when triplicated whereas from various human skin samples, as expected, the results were not sufficiently reproducible and large deviations were observed. The overall findings from this comprehensive comparison emphasize the potential of PLGA NCs or NSs to promote cutaneous bioavailability of encapsulated drugs, exhibiting different physicochemical properties but depending on the nature of the skin. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Research on mouse model of grade II corneal alkali burn

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Jun-Qiang Bai

2016-04-01

Full Text Available AIM: To choose appropriate concentration of sodium hydroxide (NaOH solution to establish a stable and consistent corneal alkali burn mouse model in grade II. METHODS: The mice (n=60 were randomly divided into four groups and 15 mice each group. Corneal alkali burns were induced by placing circle filter paper soaked with NaOH solutions on the right central cornea for 30s. The concentrations of NaOH solutions of groups A, B, C, and D were 0.1 mol/L, 0.15 mol/L , 0.2 mol/L, and 1.0 mol/L respectively. Then these corneas were irrigated with 20 mL physiological saline (0.9% NaCl. On day 7 postburn, slit lamp microscope was used to observe corneal opacity, corneal epithelial sodium fluorescein staining positive rate, incidence of corneal ulcer and corneal neovascularization, meanwhile pictures of the anterior eyes were taken. Cirrus spectral domain optical coherence tomography was used to scan cornea to observe corneal epithelial defect and corneal ulcer. RESULTS: Corneal opacity scores ( were not significantly different between the group A and group B (P=0.097. Incidence of corneal ulcer in group B was significantly higher than that in group A (P=0.035. Incidence of corneal ulcer and perforation rate in group B was lower than that in group C. Group C and D had corneal neovascularization, and incidence of corneal neovascularization in group D was significantly higher than that in group C (P=0.000. CONCLUSION: Using 0.15 mol/L NaOH can establish grade II mouse model of corneal alkali burns.

Biomass burning aerosol over Romania using dispersion model and Calipso data

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Nicolae, Victor; Dandocsi, Alexandru; Marmureanu, Luminita; Talianu, Camelia

2018-04-01

The purpose of the study is to analyze the seasonal variability, for the hot and cold seasons, of biomass burning aerosol observed over Romania using forward dispersion calculations based on FLEXPART model. The model was set up to use as input the MODIS fire data with a degree of confidence over 25% after transforming the emitted power in emission rate. The modelled aerosols in this setup was black carbon coated by organics. Distribution in the upper layers were compared to Calipso retrieval.

Expression and activity levels of chymase in mast cells of burn wound tissues increase during the healing process in a hamster model.

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Dong, Xianglin; Xu, Tao; Ma, Shaolin; Wen, Hao

2015-06-01

The present study aimed to investigate the changes in the expression levels and activity of mast cell chymase in the process of burn wound healing in a hamster model of deep second-degree burn. The hamster model was established by exposing a ~3 cm diameter area of bare skin to hot water (75°C) for 0, 6, 8, 10 or 12 sec. Tissue specimens were collected 24 h after burning and histological analysis revealed that hot water contact for 12 sec was required to produce a deep second-degree burn. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction and a radioimmunoassay were used to the determine changes in chymase mRNA expression levels and activity. The mRNA expression levels and activity of chymase were increased in the burn wound tissues when compared with the normal skin. However, no statistically significant differences were observed in mast cell chymase activity amongst the various post-burn stages. Chymase mRNA expression levels peaked at day 1 post-burn, subsequently decreasing at days 3 and 7 post-burn and finally increasing again at day 14 post-burn. In summary, a hamster model of deep second-degree burn can be created by bringing the skin into contact with water at 75°C for 12 sec. Furthermore, the mRNA expression levels and activity of chymase in the burn wound tissues increased when compared with those in normal skin tissues.

A new and efficient culture method for porcine bone marrow-derived M1- and M2-polarized macrophages.

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Gao, Jiye; Scheenstra, Maaike R; van Dijk, Albert; Veldhuizen, Edwin J A; Haagsman, Henk P

2018-06-01

Macrophages play an important role in the innate immune system as part of the mononuclear phagocyte system (MPS). They have a pro-inflammatory signature (M1-polarized macrophages) or anti-inflammatory signature (M2-polarized macrophages) based on expression of surface receptors and secretion of cytokines. However, very little is known about the culture of macrophages from pigs and more specific about the M1 and M2 polarization in vitro. Porcine monocytes or mononuclear bone marrow cells were used to culture M1- and M2-polarized macrophages in the presence of GM-CSF and M-CSF, respectively. Surface receptor expression was measured with flow cytometry and ELISA was used to quantify cytokine secretion in response to LPS and PAM 3 CSK 4 stimulation. Human monocyte-derived macrophages were used as control. Porcine M1- and M2-polarized macrophages were cultured best using porcine GM-CSF and murine M-CSF, respectively. Cultures from bone marrow cells resulted in a higher yield M1- and M2-polarized macrophages which were better comparable to human monocyte-derived macrophages than cultures from porcine monocytes. Porcine M1-polarized macrophages displayed the characteristic fried egg shape morphology, lower CD163 expression and low IL-10 production. Porcine M2-polarized macrophages contained the spindle-like morphology, higher CD163 expression and high IL-10 production. Porcine M1- and M2-polarized macrophages can be most efficiently cultured from mononuclear bone marrow cells using porcine GM-CSF and murine M-CSF. The new culture method facilitates more refined studies of porcine macrophages in vitro, important for both porcine and human health since pigs are increasingly used as model for translational research. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Cell lineage identification and stem cell culture in a porcine model for the study of intestinal epithelial regeneration.

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Liara M Gonzalez

Full Text Available Significant advances in intestinal stem cell biology have been made in murine models; however, anatomical and physiological differences between mice and humans limit mice as a translational model for stem cell based research. The pig has been an effective translational model, and represents a candidate species to study intestinal epithelial stem cell (IESC driven regeneration. The lack of validated reagents and epithelial culture methods is an obstacle to investigating IESC driven regeneration in a pig model. In this study, antibodies against Epithelial Adhesion Molecule 1 (EpCAM and Villin marked cells of epithelial origin. Antibodies against Proliferative Cell Nuclear Antigen (PCNA, Minichromosome Maintenance Complex 2 (MCM2, Bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU and phosphorylated Histone H3 (pH3 distinguished proliferating cells at various stages of the cell cycle. SOX9, localized to the stem/progenitor cells zone, while HOPX was restricted to the +4/'reserve' stem cell zone. Immunostaining also identified major differentiated lineages. Goblet cells were identified by Mucin 2 (MUC2; enteroendocrine cells by Chromogranin A (CGA, Gastrin and Somatostatin; and absorptive enterocytes by carbonic anhydrase II (CAII and sucrase isomaltase (SIM. Transmission electron microscopy demonstrated morphologic and sub-cellular characteristics of stem cell and differentiated intestinal epithelial cell types. Quantitative PCR gene expression analysis enabled identification of stem/progenitor cells, post mitotic cell lineages, and important growth and differentiation pathways. Additionally, a method for long-term culture of porcine crypts was developed. Biomarker characterization and development of IESC culture in the porcine model represents a foundation for translational studies of IESC-driven regeneration of the intestinal epithelium in physiology and disease.

Reduction of IFNα and IL-10 in central nervous system and increase in peripheral IL-8 in transgenic porcine Huntington´s disease model

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Kovářová, Hana; Valeková, Ivona; Jarkovská, Karla; Kotrčová, Eva; Motlík, Jan; Gadher, S. J.

2015-01-01

Roč. 78, Suppl 2 (2015), s. 10-11 ISSN 1210-7859. [Conference on Animal Models for neurodegenerative Diseases /3./. 08.11.2015-10.11.2015, Liblice] R&D Projects: GA MŠk ED2.1.00/03.0124 Institutional support: RVO:67985904 Keywords : porcine Huntington ´s disease model * IFNα * IL-10 Subject RIV: EB - Genetics ; Molecular Biology

Towards the establishment of a porcine model to study human amebiasis.

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Fabienne Girard-Misguich

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Entamoeba histolytica is an important parasite of the human intestine. Its life cycle is monoxenous with two stages: (i the trophozoite, growing in the intestine and (ii the cyst corresponding to the dissemination stage. The trophozoite in the intestine can live as a commensal leading to asymptomatic infection or as a tissue invasive form producing mucosal ulcers and liver abscesses. There is no animal model mimicking the whole disease cycle. Most of the biological information on E. histolytica has been obtained from trophozoite adapted to axenic culture. The reproduction of intestinal amebiasis in an animal model is difficult while for liver amebiasis there are well-described rodent models. During this study, we worked on the assessment of pigs as a new potential model to study amebiasis. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We first co-cultured trophozoites of E. histolytica with porcine colonic fragments and observed a disruption of the mucosal architecture. Then, we showed that outbred pigs can be used to reproduce some lesions associated with human amebiasis. A detailed analysis was performed using a washed closed-jejunal loops model. In loops inoculated with virulent amebas a severe acute ulcerative jejunitis was observed with large hemorrhagic lesions 14 days post-inoculation associated with the presence of the trophozoites in the depth of the mucosa in two out four animals. Furthermore, typical large sized hepatic abscesses were observed in the liver of one animal 7 days post-injection in the portal vein and the liver parenchyma. CONCLUSIONS: The pig model could help with simultaneously studying intestinal and extraintestinal lesion development.

Preliminary evidence of early bone resorption in a sheep model of acute burn injury: an observational study.

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Klein, Gordon L; Xie, Yixia; Qin, Yi-Xian; Lin, Liangjun; Hu, Minyi; Enkhbaatar, Perenlei; Bonewald, Lynda F

2014-03-01

Treatment with bisphosphonates within the first 10 days of severe burn injury completely prevents bone loss. We therefore postulated that bone resorption occurs early post burn and is the primary explanation for acute bone loss in these patients. Our objective was to assess bone for histological and biomechanical evidence of early resorption post burn. We designed a randomized controlled study utilizing a sheep model of burn injury. Three sheep received a 40 % total body surface area burn under isoflurane anesthesia, and three other sheep received cotton-smoke inhalation and served as control. Burned sheep were killed 5 days post procedure and controls were killed 2 days post procedure. Backscatter scanning electron microscopy was performed on iliac crests obtained immediately postmortem along with quantitative histomorphometry and compression testing to determine bone strength (Young's modulus). Blood ionized Ca was also determined in the first 24 h post procedure as was urinary CTx. Three of three sheep killed at 5 days had evidence of scalloping of the bone surface, an effect of bone resorption, whereas none of the three sheep killed at 2 days post procedure had scalloping. One of the three burned sheep killed at 5 days showed quantitative doubling of the eroded surface and halving of the bone volume compared to sham controls. Mean values of Young's modulus were approximately one third lower in the burned sheep killed at 5 days compared to controls, p = 0.08 by unpaired t test, suggesting weaker bone. These data suggest early post-burn bone resorption. Urine CTx normalized to creatinine did not differ between groups at 24 h post procedure because the large amounts of fluids received by the burned sheep may have diluted urine creatinine and CTx and because the urine volume produced by the burned sheep was threefold that of the controls. We calculated 24 h urinary CTx excretion, and with this calculation CTx excretion/24 h in the burned sheep was

First identification of porcine parvovirus 6 in North America by viral metagenomic sequencing of serum from pigs infected with porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus.

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Schirtzinger, Erin E; Suddith, Andrew W; Hause, Benjamin M; Hesse, Richard A

2015-10-16

Currently, eight species in four genera of parvovirus have been described that infect swine. These include ungulate protoparvovirus 1 (classical porcine parvovirus, PPV), ungulate tetraparvovirus 2 (PPV3), ungulate tetraparvovirus 3 (which includes PPV2, porcine hokovirus, porcine partetravirus and porcine PARV4), ungulate copiparvovirus 2 (which includes PPV4 and PPV5), ungulate bocaparvovirus 2 (which includes porcine bocavirus 1, 2 and 6), ungulate bocaparvovirus 3 (porcine bocavirus 5), ungulate bocaparvovirus 4 (porcine bocavirus 7) and ungulate bocaparvovirus 5 (porcine bocavirus 3, 4-1 and 4-2). PPV6, the most recently described porcine parvovirus, was first identified in China in late 2014 in aborted pig fetuses. Prevalence of PPV6 in China was found to be similar in finishing age pigs from farms with and without evidence of swine reproductive failure. Porcine parvovirus 6 (PPV6) was detected by sequence-independent single primer amplification (SISPA) and confirmed by overlapping and real-time PCR in the serum of porcine reproductive and respiratory virus (PRRSv) positive samples. Seven nearly complete genomes of PPV6 were identified in PRRSv genotype 2 positive serum samples submitted to state veterinary diagnostic laboratories in 2014. Further testing using overlapping and real-time PCR determined PPV6 to be present in 13.2 % of the serums tested. Additionally, PPV6 was present in samples from all of the geographic locations sampled encompassing nine states in the United States and one state in Mexico. The presence of PPV6 in serum indicates that the PPV6 infection is disseminated and not localized to a specific tissue type. Alignments of the near full length genomes, NS1, and capsid genes identified one of the five PPV6 isolates from China (98.6-99.5 % identity with the North American strains) to be the North American strains nearest relative. These results are the first to report the presence of PPV6 in North America and demonstrate that the virus is

Improvement of specific growth rate of Pichia pastoris for effective porcine interferon-α production with an on-line model-based glycerol feeding strategy.

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Min-Jie; Zheng, Zhi-Yong; Wu, Jian-Rong; Dong, Shi-Juan; Li, Zhen; Jin, Hu; Zhan, Xiao-Bei; Lin, Chi-Chung

2012-02-01

Effective expression of porcine interferon-α (pIFN-α) with recombinant Pichia pastoris was conducted in a bench-scale fermentor. The influence of the glycerol feeding strategy on the specific growth rate and protein production was investigated. The traditional DO-stat feeding strategy led to very low cell growth rate resulting in low dry cell weight (DCW) of about 90 g/L during the subsequent induction phase. The previously reported Artificial Neural Network Pattern Recognition (ANNPR) model-based glycerol feeding strategy improved the cell density to 120 g DCW/L, while the specific growth rate decreased from 0.15 to 0.18 to 0.03-0.08 h(-1) during the last 10 h of the glycerol feeding stage leading to a variation of the porcine interferon-α production, as the glycerol feeding scheme had a significant effect on the induction phase. This problem was resolved by an improved ANNPR model-based feeding strategy to maintain the specific growth rate above 0.11 h(-1). With this feeding strategy, the pIFN-α concentration reached a level of 1.43 g/L, more than 1.5-fold higher than that obtained with the previously adopted feeding strategy. Our results showed that increasing the specific growth rate favored the target protein production and the glycerol feeding methods directly influenced the induction stage. Consequently, higher cell density and specific growth rate as well as effective porcine interferon-α production have been achieved by our novel glycerol feeding strategy.

Similarities in the immunoglobulin response and VH gene usage in rhesus monkeys and humans exposed to porcine hepatocytes

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Borie Dominic C

2006-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The use of porcine cells and organs as a source of xenografts for human patients would vastly increase the donor pool; however, both humans and Old World primates vigorously reject pig tissues due to xenoantibodies that react with the polysaccharide galactose α (1,3 galactose (αGal present on the surface of many porcine cells. We previously examined the xenoantibody response in patients exposed to porcine hepatocytes via treatment(s with bioartficial liver devices (BALs, composed of porcine cells in a support matrix. We determined that xenoantibodies in BAL-treated patients are predominantly directed at porcine αGal carbohydrate epitopes, and are encoded by a small number of germline heavy chain variable region (VH immunoglobulin genes. The studies described in this manuscript were designed to identify whether the xenoantibody responses and the IgVH genes encoding antibodies to porcine hepatocytes in non-human primates used as preclinical models are similar to those in humans. Adult non-immunosuppressed rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta were injected intra-portally with porcine hepatocytes or heterotopically transplanted with a porcine liver lobe. Peripheral blood leukocytes and serum were obtained prior to and at multiple time points after exposure, and the immune response was characterized, using ELISA to evaluate the levels and specificities of circulating xenoantibodies, and the production of cDNA libraries to determine the genes used by B cells to encode those antibodies. Results Xenoantibodies produced following exposure to isolated hepatocytes and solid organ liver grafts were predominantly encoded by genes in the VH3 family, with a minor contribution from the VH4 family. Immunoglobulin heavy-chain gene (VH cDNA library screening and gene sequencing of IgM libraries identified the genes as most closely-related to the IGHV3-11 and IGHV4-59 germline progenitors. One of the genes most similar to IGHV3-11, VH3-11cyno, has

Modeling Smoke Plume-Rise and Dispersion from Southern United States Prescribed Burns with Daysmoke

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G L Achtemeier; S L Goodrick; Y Liu; F Garcia-Menendez; Y Hu; M. Odman

2011-01-01

We present Daysmoke, an empirical-statistical plume rise and dispersion model for simulating smoke from prescribed burns. Prescribed fires are characterized by complex plume structure including multiple-core updrafts which makes modeling with simple plume models difficult. Daysmoke accounts for plume structure in a three-dimensional veering/sheering atmospheric...

Use of porcine vaginal tissue ex-vivo to model environmental effects on vaginal mucosa to toxic shock syndrome toxin-1

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Davis, Catherine C.; Baccam, Mekhine [Feminine Care Global Product Stewardship, 6110 Center Hill Road, The Procter and Gamble Company, Cincinnati, OH 45224 (United States); Mantz, Mary J. [Dows Institute for Dental Research, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242 (United States); Osborn, Thomas W.; Hill, Donna R. [Feminine Care Product Development, 6110 Center Hill Road, The Procter and Gamble Company, Cincinnati, OH 45224 (United States); Squier, Christopher A. [Dows Institute for Dental Research, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242 (United States)

2014-01-15

Menstrual toxic shock syndrome (mTSS) is a rare, recognizable, and treatable disease that has been associated with tampon use epidemiologically. It involves a confluence of microbial risk factors (Staphylococcus aureus strains that produce the superantigen—TSST-1), as well as environmental characteristics of the vaginal ecosystem during menstruation and host susceptibility factors. This paper describes a series of experiments using the well-characterized model of porcine vaginal mucosa ex-vivo to assess the effect of these factors associated with tampon use on the permeability of the mucosa. The flux of radiolabeled TSST-1 and tritiated water ({sup 3}H{sub 2}O) through porcine vaginal mucosa was determined at various temperatures, after mechanical disruption of the epithelial surface by tape stripping, after treatment with surfactants or other compounds, and in the presence of microbial virulence factors. Elevated temperatures (42, 47 and 52 °C) did not significantly increase flux of {sup 3}H{sub 2}O. Stripping of the epithelial layers significantly increased the flux of labeled toxin in a dose-dependent manner. Addition of benzalkonium chloride (0.1 and 0.5%) and glycerol (4%) significantly increased the flux of {sup 3}H{sub 2}O but sodium lauryl sulfate at any concentration tested did not. The flux of the labeled toxin was significantly increased in the presence of benzalkonium chloride but not Pluronic® L92 and Tween 20 and significantly increased with addition of α-hemolysin but not endotoxin. These results show that the permeability of porcine vagina ex-vivo to labeled toxin or water can be used to evaluate changes to the vaginal environment and modifications in tampon materials, and thus aid in risk assessment. - Highlights: • Model assessed local effects of tampon use on vaginal mucosa. • Risks were evaluated using two tracers to assess permeability in an ex vivo model. • Mechanical damage to the epithelial surface increased tracer penetration. �

Use of porcine vaginal tissue ex-vivo to model environmental effects on vaginal mucosa to toxic shock syndrome toxin-1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Davis, Catherine C.; Baccam, Mekhine; Mantz, Mary J.; Osborn, Thomas W.; Hill, Donna R.; Squier, Christopher A.

2014-01-01

Menstrual toxic shock syndrome (mTSS) is a rare, recognizable, and treatable disease that has been associated with tampon use epidemiologically. It involves a confluence of microbial risk factors (Staphylococcus aureus strains that produce the superantigen—TSST-1), as well as environmental characteristics of the vaginal ecosystem during menstruation and host susceptibility factors. This paper describes a series of experiments using the well-characterized model of porcine vaginal mucosa ex-vivo to assess the effect of these factors associated with tampon use on the permeability of the mucosa. The flux of radiolabeled TSST-1 and tritiated water ( 3 H 2 O) through porcine vaginal mucosa was determined at various temperatures, after mechanical disruption of the epithelial surface by tape stripping, after treatment with surfactants or other compounds, and in the presence of microbial virulence factors. Elevated temperatures (42, 47 and 52 °C) did not significantly increase flux of 3 H 2 O. Stripping of the epithelial layers significantly increased the flux of labeled toxin in a dose-dependent manner. Addition of benzalkonium chloride (0.1 and 0.5%) and glycerol (4%) significantly increased the flux of 3 H 2 O but sodium lauryl sulfate at any concentration tested did not. The flux of the labeled toxin was significantly increased in the presence of benzalkonium chloride but not Pluronic® L92 and Tween 20 and significantly increased with addition of α-hemolysin but not endotoxin. These results show that the permeability of porcine vagina ex-vivo to labeled toxin or water can be used to evaluate changes to the vaginal environment and modifications in tampon materials, and thus aid in risk assessment. - Highlights: • Model assessed local effects of tampon use on vaginal mucosa. • Risks were evaluated using two tracers to assess permeability in an ex vivo model. • Mechanical damage to the epithelial surface increased tracer penetration. • Surfactants increased

An ex vivo porcine skin model to evaluate pressure-reducing devices of different mechanical properties used for pressure ulcer prevention.

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Yeung, Ching-Yan C; Holmes, David F; Thomason, Helen A; Stephenson, Christian; Derby, Brian; Hardman, Matthew J

2016-11-01

Pressure ulcers are complex wounds caused by pressure- and shear-induced trauma to skin and underlying tissues. Pressure-reducing devices, such as dressings, have been shown to successfully reduce pressure ulcer incidence, when used in adjunct to pressure ulcer preventative care. While pressure-reducing devices are available in a range of materials, with differing mechanical properties, understanding of how a material's mechanical properties will influence clinical efficacy remains limited. The aim of this study was to establish a standardized ex vivo model to allow comparison of the cell protection potential of two gel-like pressure-reducing devices with differing mechanical properties (elastic moduli of 77 vs. 35 kPa). The devices also displayed differing energy dissipation under compressive loading, and resisted strain differently under constant load in compressive creep tests. To evaluate biological efficacy we employed a new ex vivo porcine skin model, with a confirmed elastic moduli closely matching that of human skin (113 vs. 119 kPa, respectively). Static loads up to 20 kPa were applied to porcine skin ex vivo with subsequent evaluation of pressure-induced cell death and cytokine release. Pressure application alone increased the percentage of epidermal apoptotic cells from less than 2% to over 40%, and increased cellular secretion of the pro-inflammatory cytokine TNF-alpha. Co-application of a pressure-reducing device significantly reduced both cellular apoptosis and cytokine production, protecting against cellular damage. These data reveal new insight into the relationship between mechanical properties of pressure-reducing devices and their biological effects. After appropriate validation of these results in clinical pressure ulcer prevention with all tissue layers present between the bony prominence and external surface, this ex vivo porcine skin model could be widely employed to optimize design and evaluation of devices aimed at reducing pressure

Making of a burn unit: SOA burn center

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Jayant Kumar Dash

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Each year in India, burn injuries account for more than 6 million hospital emergency department visits; of which many require hospitalization and are referred to specialized burn centers. There are few burn surgeons and very few burn centers in India. In our state, Odisha, there are only two burn centers to cater to more than 5000 burn victims per year. This article is an attempt to share the knowledge that I acquired while setting up a new burn unit in a private medical college of Odisha.

Mechanics of fresh, frozen-thawed and heated porcine liver tissue.

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Wex, Cora; Stoll, Anke; Fröhlich, Marlen; Arndt, Susann; Lippert, Hans

2014-06-01

For a better understanding of the effects of thermally altered soft tissue, the biothermomechanics of these tissues need to be studied. Without the knowledge of the underlying physical processes and the parameters that can be controlled clinically, thermal treatment of cancerous hepatic tissue or the preservation of liver grafts are based primarily on trial and error. Thus, this study is concerned with the investigation of the influence of temperature on the rheological properties and the histological properties of porcine liver. Heating previously cooled porcine liver tissue above 40 °C leads to significant, irreversible stiffness changes observed in the amplitude sweep. The increase of the complex shear module of healthy porcine liver from room temperature to 70 °C is approximately 9-fold. Comparing the temperatures -20 °C and 20 °C, no significant difference of the mechanical properties was observed. Furthermore, there is a strong relation between the mechanical and histological properties of the porcine liver. Temperatures above 40 °C destroy the collagen matrix within the liver tissue. This results in the alteration of the biomechanical properties. The time-temperature superposition principle is applied to generate temperature-dependent shift factors that can be described by a two-part exponential function model with an inflection temperature of 45 °C. Tumor ablation techniques such as heating or freezing have a significant influence on the histology of liver tissue. However, only for temperatures above body temperature an influence on the mechanical properties of hepatic tissues was noticeable. Freezing up to -20 °C did not affect the liver mechanics.

A fire model with distinct crop, pasture, and non-agricultural burning: use of new data and a model-fitting algorithm for FINAL.1

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Rabin, Sam S.; Ward, Daniel S.; Malyshev, Sergey L.; Magi, Brian I.; Shevliakova, Elena; Pacala, Stephen W.

2018-03-01

This study describes and evaluates the Fire Including Natural & Agricultural Lands model (FINAL) which, for the first time, explicitly simulates cropland and pasture management fires separately from non-agricultural fires. The non-agricultural fire module uses empirical relationships to simulate burned area in a quasi-mechanistic framework, similar to past fire modeling efforts, but with a novel optimization method that improves the fidelity of simulated fire patterns to new observational estimates of non-agricultural burning. The agricultural fire components are forced with estimates of cropland and pasture fire seasonality and frequency derived from observational land cover and satellite fire datasets. FINAL accurately simulates the amount, distribution, and seasonal timing of burned cropland and pasture over 2001-2009 (global totals: 0.434×106 and 2.02×106 km2 yr-1 modeled, 0.454×106 and 2.04×106 km2 yr-1 observed), but carbon emissions for cropland and pasture fire are overestimated (global totals: 0.295 and 0.706 PgC yr-1 modeled, 0.194 and 0.538 PgC yr-1 observed). The non-agricultural fire module underestimates global burned area (1.91×106 km2 yr-1 modeled, 2.44×106 km2 yr-1 observed) and carbon emissions (1.14 PgC yr-1 modeled, 1.84 PgC yr-1 observed). The spatial pattern of total burned area and carbon emissions is generally well reproduced across much of sub-Saharan Africa, Brazil, Central Asia, and Australia, whereas the boreal zone sees underestimates. FINAL represents an important step in the development of global fire models, and offers a strategy for fire models to consider human-driven fire regimes on cultivated lands. At the regional scale, simulations would benefit from refinements in the parameterizations and improved optimization datasets. We include an in-depth discussion of the lessons learned from using the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm in an interactive optimization for a dynamic global vegetation model.

Spatial clustering of porcine cysticercosis in Mbulu district, northern Tanzania.

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Helena A Ngowi

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Porcine cysticercosis is caused by a zoonotic tapeworm, Taenia solium, which causes serious disease syndromes in human. Effective control of the parasite requires knowledge on the burden and pattern of the infections in order to properly direct limited resources. The objective of this study was to establish the spatial distribution of porcine cysticercosis in Mbulu district, northern Tanzania, to guide control strategies. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: This study is a secondary analysis of data collected during the baseline and follow-up periods of a randomized community trial aiming at reducing the incidence rate of porcine cysticercosis through an educational program. At baseline, 784 randomly selected pig-keeping households located in 42 villages in 14 wards were included. Lingual examination of indigenous pigs aged 2-12 (median 8 months, one randomly selected from each household, were conducted. Data from the control group of the randomized trial that included 21 of the 42 villages were used for the incidence study. A total of 295 pig-keeping households were provided with sentinel pigs (one each and reassessed for cysticercosis incidence once or twice for 2-9 (median 4 months using lingual examination and antigen ELISA. Prevalence of porcine cysticercosis was computed in Epi Info 3.5. The prevalence and incidence of porcine cysticercosis were mapped at household level using ArcView 3.2. K functions were computed in R software to assess general clustering of porcine cysticercosis. Spatial scan statistics were computed in SatScan to identify local clusters of the infection. The overall prevalence of porcine cysticercosis was 7.3% (95% CI: 5.6, 9.4; n = 784. The K functions revealed a significant overall clustering of porcine cysticercosis incidence for all distances between 600 m and 5 km from a randomly chosen case household based on Ag-ELISA. Lingual examination revealed clustering from 650 m to 6 km and between 7.5 and 10 km

Melatonin Does Not Affect Oxidative/Inflammatory Biomarkers in a Closed-Chest Porcine Model of Acute Myocardial Infarction

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Halladin, Natalie L.; Ekelof, Sarah; Jensen, Svend Eggert

2014-01-01

Aim: To test whether melatonin reduces oxidative and inflammatory biomarkers in a closed-chest porcine model of acute myocardial infarction. Materials and Methods: Twenty pigs were randomized to receive a total dosage of 200 mg (0.4 mg/ml) of melatonin, or placebo immediately prior to reperfusion....... There was an increase in hs-TnT, but no significant difference between the melatonin-treated and placebo-treated groups. There were no significant differences in development of any of the circulating plasma markers between the two groups. Conclusion: Melatonin treatment did not result in reduction of inflammatory...

Porcine SLITRK1

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Knud Erik; Momeni, Jamal; Farajzadeh, Leila

2014-01-01

The membrane protein SLITRK1 functions as a developmentally regulated stimulator of neurite outgrowth and variants in this gene have been implicated in Tourette syndrome. In the current study we have cloned and characterized the porcine SLITRK1 gene. The genomic organization of SLITRK1 lacks...

A novel model approach for esophageal burns in rats: A comparison of three methods.

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Kalkan, Yildiray; Tumkaya, Levent; Akdogan, Remzi Adnan; Yucel, Ahmet Fikret; Tomak, Yakup; Sehitoglu, İbrahim; Pergel, Ahmet; Kurt, Aysel

2015-07-01

Corrosive esophageal injury causes serious clinical problems. We aimed to create a new experimental esophageal burn model using a single catheter without a surgical procedure. We conducted the study with two groups of 12 male rats that fasted for 12 h before application. A modified Foley balloon catheter was inserted into the esophageal lumen. The control group was given 0.9% sodium chloride, while the experimental group was given 37.5% sodium hydroxide with the other part of the catheter. After 60s, esophagus was washed with distilled water. The killed rats were examined using histopathological methods after 28 days. In comparison with the histopathological changes experienced by the study groups, the control groups were observed to have no pathological changes. Basal cell degeneration, dermal edema, and a slight increase in the keratin layer and collagen density of submucosa due to stenosis were all observed in the group subjected to esophageal corrosion. A new burn model can thus, we believe, be created without the involvement of invasive laparoscopic surgery and general anesthesia. The burn in our experiment was formed in both the distal and proximal esophagus, as in other models; it can also be formed optionally in the entire esophagus. © The Author(s) 2013.

Relative importance of fuel management, ignition management and weather for area burned: Evidence from five landscape-fire-succession models

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Geoffrey J. Cary; Mike D. Flannigan; Robert E. Keane; Ross A. Bradstock; Ian D. Davies; James M. Lenihan; Chao Li; Kimberley A. Logan; Russell A. Parsons

2009-01-01

The behaviour of five landscape fire models (CAFE, FIRESCAPE, LAMOS(HS), LANDSUM and SEMLAND) was compared in a standardised modelling experiment. The importance of fuel management approach, fuel management effort, ignition management effort and weather in determining variation in area burned and number of edge pixels burned (a measure of potential impact on assets...

Porcine Pluripotent Stem Cells Derived from IVF Embryos Contribute to Chimeric Development In Vivo.

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Binghua Xue

Full Text Available Although the pig is considered an important model of human disease and an ideal animal for the preclinical testing of cell transplantation, the utility of this model has been hampered by a lack of genuine porcine embryonic stem cells. Here, we derived a porcine pluripotent stem cell (pPSC line from day 5.5 blastocysts in a newly developed culture system based on MXV medium and a 5% oxygen atmosphere. The pPSCs had been passaged more than 75 times over two years, and the morphology of the colony was similar to that of human embryonic stem cells. Characterization and assessment showed that the pPSCs were alkaline phosphatase (AKP positive, possessed normal karyotypes and expressed classic pluripotent markers, including OCT4, SOX2 and NANOG. In vitro differentiation through embryonic body formation and in vivo differentiation via teratoma formation in nude mice demonstrated that the pPSCs could differentiate into cells of the three germ layers. The pPSCs transfected with fuw-DsRed (pPSC-FDs could be passaged with a stable expression of both DsRed and pluripotent markers. Notably, when pPSC-FDs were used as donor cells for somatic nuclear transfer, 11.52% of the reconstructed embryos developed into blastocysts, which was not significantly different from that of the reconstructed embryos derived from porcine embryonic fibroblasts. When pPSC-FDs were injected into day 4.5 blastocysts, they became involved in the in vitro embryonic development and contributed to the viscera of foetuses at day 50 of pregnancy as well as the developed placenta after the chimeric blastocysts were transferred into recipients. These findings indicated that the pPSCs were porcine pluripotent cells; that this would be a useful cell line for porcine genetic engineering and a valuable cell line for clarifying the molecular mechanism of pluripotency regulation in pigs.

Treatment of severe porcine tracheomalacia with a 3-dimensionally printed, bioresorbable, external airway splint

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Zopf, David A.; Flanagan, Colleen L.; Wheeler, Matthew; Hollister, Scott J.; Green, Glenn E.

2015-01-01

Importance The study demonstrates an application for 3-dimensional (3D) printing that may serve as an effective intervention for severe tracheobronchomalacia. Objective A novel 3D printed, bioresorbable airway splint is tested for efficacy in extending survival in an animal model of severe, life-threatening tracheobronchomalacia. Participants Evaluation of an external airway splint for severe, life-threatening tracheobronchomalacia in a porcine animal model. Setting Multi-institutional and multidisciplinary collaboration between biomedical engineering laboratories and an academic animal surgery center. Interventions Experimental analysis of a 3D printed, bioresorbable airway splint is assessed in a porcine animal model of life-threatening tracheobronchomalacia. The open-cylindrical, bellow shaped porous polycaprolactone splint is placed externally and designed to suspend the underlying collapsed airway. Control animals (n=3) undergoing tracheal cartilage division and inner tracheal lumen dissociation and experimental animals (n=3) receiving the same model with overlying placement of the newly developed airway splint were evaluated. Main Outcomes and Measures An animal model for severe, life-threatening tracheobronchomalacia is proposed. Complete or near complete tracheal lumen collapse was observed in each animal with resolution of symptoms in all of the experimental animals after splint placement. Using our severe tracheobronchomalacia animal model, survival was significantly longer in duration in the experimental group receiving the airway splint after model creation when compared to model creation alone (p = 0.0495). Mortality in the experimental group was related to infection. Conclusions A multidisciplinary effort producing a CAD/CAM, bioresorbable tracheobronchial splint was tested in a porcine model of severe tracheomalacia and was found to extend survival. PMID:24232078

3D thoracoscopic ultrasound volume measurement validation in an ex vivo and in vivo porcine model of lung tumours

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hornblower, V D M; Yu, E; Fenster, A; Battista, J J; Malthaner, R A

2007-01-01

The purpose of this study was to validate the accuracy and reliability of volume measurements obtained using three-dimensional (3D) thoracoscopic ultrasound (US) imaging. Artificial 'tumours' were created by injecting a liquid agar mixture into spherical moulds of known volume. Once solidified, the 'tumours' were implanted into the lung tissue in both a porcine lung sample ex vivo and a surgical porcine model in vivo. 3D US images were created by mechanically rotating the thoracoscopic ultrasound probe about its long axis while the transducer was maintained in close contact with the tissue. Volume measurements were made by one observer using the ultrasound images and a manual-radial segmentation technique and these were compared with the known volumes of the agar. In vitro measurements had average accuracy and precision of 4.76% and 1.77%, respectively; in vivo measurements had average accuracy and precision of 8.18% and 1.75%, respectively. The 3D thoracoscopic ultrasound can be used to accurately and reproducibly measure 'tumour' volumes both in vivo and ex vivo

3D thoracoscopic ultrasound volume measurement validation in an ex vivo and in vivo porcine model of lung tumours

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hornblower, V D M [Canadian Surgical Technologies and Advanced Robotics, London, Ontario (Canada); Yu, E [Canadian Surgical Technologies and Advanced Robotics, London, Ontario (Canada); Fenster, A [Canadian Surgical Technologies and Advanced Robotics, London, Ontario (Canada); Battista, J J [Canadian Surgical Technologies and Advanced Robotics, London, Ontario (Canada); Malthaner, R A [Canadian Surgical Technologies and Advanced Robotics, London, Ontario (Canada)

2007-01-07

The purpose of this study was to validate the accuracy and reliability of volume measurements obtained using three-dimensional (3D) thoracoscopic ultrasound (US) imaging. Artificial 'tumours' were created by injecting a liquid agar mixture into spherical moulds of known volume. Once solidified, the 'tumours' were implanted into the lung tissue in both a porcine lung sample ex vivo and a surgical porcine model in vivo. 3D US images were created by mechanically rotating the thoracoscopic ultrasound probe about its long axis while the transducer was maintained in close contact with the tissue. Volume measurements were made by one observer using the ultrasound images and a manual-radial segmentation technique and these were compared with the known volumes of the agar. In vitro measurements had average accuracy and precision of 4.76% and 1.77%, respectively; in vivo measurements had average accuracy and precision of 8.18% and 1.75%, respectively. The 3D thoracoscopic ultrasound can be used to accurately and reproducibly measure 'tumour' volumes both in vivo and ex vivo.

[Surgical treatment of burns : Special aspects of pediatric burns].

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Bührer, G; Beier, J P; Horch, R E; Arkudas, A

2017-05-01

Treatment of pediatric burn patients is very important because of the sheer frequency of burn wounds and the possible long-term ramifications. Extensive burns need special care and are treated in specialized burn centers. The goal of this work is to present current standards in burn therapy and important innovations in the treatment of burns in children so that the common and small area burn wounds and scalds in pediatric patients in day-to-day dermatological practice can be adequately treated. Analysis of current literature, discussion of reviews, incorporation of current guidelines. Burns in pediatric patients are common. Improvement of survival can be achieved by treatment in burn centers. The assessment of burn depth and area is an important factor for proper treatment. We give an overview for outpatient treatment of partial thickness burns. New methods may result in better long-term outcome. Adequate treatment of burn injuries considering current literature and guidelines improves patient outcome. Rational implementation of new methods is recommended.

Functional verification of a porcine myostatin propeptide mutant.

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Dezun; Jiang, Shengwang; Gao, Pengfei; Qian, Lili; Wang, Qingqing; Cai, Chunbo; Xiao, Gaojun; Yang, Jinzeng; Cui, Wentao

2015-10-01

Myostatin is a member of TGF-β superfamily that acts as a key negative regulator in development and growth of embryonic and postnatal muscles. In this study, the inhibitory activities of recombinant porcine myostatin propeptide and its mutated form (at the cleavage site of metalloproteinases of BMP-1/TLD family) against murine myostatin was evaluated in vivo by intraperitoneal injection into mice. Results showed that both wild type and mutated form of porcine propeptide significantly inhibited myostatin activity in vivo. The average body weight of mice receiving wild type propeptide or its mutated form increased by 12.5 % and 24.14%, respectively, compared to mice injected with PBS, implying that the in vivo efficacy of porcine propeptide mutant is greater than its wild type propeptide. Transgenic mice expressing porcine myostatin propeptide mutant were generated to further verify the results obtained from mice injected with recombinant porcine propeptide mutant. Compared with wild type (non-transgenic) mice, relative weight of gastrocnemius, rectusfemoris, and tibialis anterior increased by 22.14 %, 34.13 %, 25.37%, respectively, in transgenic male mice, and by 19.90 %, 42.47 %, 45.61%, respectively, in transgenic female mice. Our data also demonstrated that the mechanism by which muscle growth enhancement is achieved by these propeptides is due to an increase in fiber sizes, not by an increase in number of fiber cells.

Testing Danegaptide Effects on Kidney Function after Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury in a New Porcine Two Week Model.

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Chris Amdisen

Full Text Available Ischemia/reperfusion injury (I/R-I is a leading cause of acute kidney injury (AKI and is associated with increased mortality. Danegaptide is a selective modifier of the gap junction protein connexion 43. It has cytoprotective as well as anti-arrhythmic properties and has been shown to reduce the size of myocardial infarct in pigs. The aim of this study was to investigate the ischemia-protective effect of Danegaptide in a porcine renal I/R-I model with two weeks follow up.Unilateral renal I/R-I was induced in pigs by clamping the left renal artery over a two hour period. The model allowed examination of renal blood flow by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI and the measurement of single kidney GFR two weeks after injury. Eleven animals were randomized to Danegaptide-infusion while nine animals received placebo. Kidney histology and urinary neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL excretion were included as markers of AKI.Unilateral kidney I/R-I resulted in an immediate ~50% GFR reduction, associated with a four-fold increase in urinary NGAL-excretion. Fourteen days after I/R-I, the total GFR was ~75% of baseline with a significantly lower GFR in the injured left kidney compared to the right kidney. No differences in GFR were observed between the treated and non-treated animals immediately after I/R-I or at Day 14. Furthermore, no differences were observed in the urinary excretion of NGAL, renal blood flow or other markers of renal function.As expected this porcine renal I/R-I model was associated with reduced GFR two weeks after injury. Danegaptide did not improve renal function after I/R-I.

Comparison of the effect of fatty alcohols on the permeation of melatonin between porcine and human skin.

Science.gov (United States)

Andega, S; Kanikkannan, N; Singh, M

2001-11-09

Melatonin (MT) is a hormone secreted by the pineal gland that plays an important role in the regulation of the circadian sleep-wake cycle. It would be advantageous to administer MT using a transdermal delivery system for the treatment of sleep disorders such as delayed sleep syndrome, jet lag in travelers, cosmonauts and shift workers. The porcine skin has been found to have similar morphological and functional characteristics as human skin. The elastic fibres in the dermis, enzyme pattern of the epidermis, epidermal tissue turnover time, keratinous proteins and thickness of epidermis of porcine skin are similar to human skin. However, the fat deposition and vascularisation of the cutaneous glands of porcine skin are different from human skin. In addition, porcine skin has been found to have a close permeability character to human skin. However, the comparative effect of chemical penetration enhancers on the permeation of drugs between porcine and human skin has not been reported. The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of fatty alcohols on the permeability of porcine and human skin using MT as a model compound. The effect of saturated fatty alcohols (octanol, nonanol, decanol, undecanol, lauryl alcohol, tridecanol, myristyl alcohol) and unsaturated fatty alcohols (oleyl alcohol, linoleyl alcohol, linolenyl alcohol) at 5% concentration was tested across dermatomed porcine and human skin. Our studies showed a parabolic relationship between the carbon chain length of saturated fatty alcohols and permeation enhancement of MT with both porcine and human skin. Maximum permeation of MT was observed when fatty alcohol carbon chain length was 10. In general, as the level of unsaturation increased from one to two double bonds, there was an increase in the permeation of MT both in porcine and human skin. However, a decrease in the permeation was observed with three double bonds. Regression analysis using the steady state flux data showed a significant positive

Modeling biomass burning and related carbon emissions during the 21st century in Europe

KAUST Repository

Migliavacca, Mirco; Dosio, Alessandro; Camia, Andrea; Hobourg, Rasmus; Houston-Durrant, Tracy; Kaiser, Johannes W.; Khabarov, Nikolay; Krasovskii, Andrey A.; Marcolla, Barbara; San Miguel-Ayanz, Jesus; Ward, Daniel S.; Cescatti, Alessandro

2013-01-01

In this study we present an assessment of the impact of future climate change on total fire probability, burned area, and carbon (C) emissions from fires in Europe. The analysis was performed with the Community Land Model (CLM) extended with a prognostic treatment of fires that was specifically refined and optimized for application over Europe. Simulations over the 21st century are forced by five different high-resolution Regional Climate Models under the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios A1B. Both original and bias-corrected meteorological forcings is used. Results show that the simulated C emissions over the present period are improved by using bias corrected meteorological forcing, with a reduction of the intermodel variability. In the course of the 21st century, burned area and C emissions from fires are shown to increase in Europe, in particular in the Mediterranean basins, in the Balkan regions and in Eastern Europe. However, the projected increase is lower than in other studies that did not fully account for the effect of climate on ecosystem functioning. We demonstrate that the lower sensitivity of burned area and C emissions to climate change is related to the predicted reduction of the net primary productivity, which is identified as the most important determinant of fire activity in the Mediterranean region after anthropogenic interaction. This behavior, consistent with the intermediate fire-productivity hypothesis, limits the sensitivity of future burned area and C emissions from fires on climate change, providing more conservative estimates of future fire patterns, and demonstrates the importance of coupling fire simulation with a climate driven ecosystem productivity model.

Modeling biomass burning and related carbon emissions during the 21st century in Europe

KAUST Repository

Migliavacca, Mirco

2013-12-01

In this study we present an assessment of the impact of future climate change on total fire probability, burned area, and carbon (C) emissions from fires in Europe. The analysis was performed with the Community Land Model (CLM) extended with a prognostic treatment of fires that was specifically refined and optimized for application over Europe. Simulations over the 21st century are forced by five different high-resolution Regional Climate Models under the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios A1B. Both original and bias-corrected meteorological forcings is used. Results show that the simulated C emissions over the present period are improved by using bias corrected meteorological forcing, with a reduction of the intermodel variability. In the course of the 21st century, burned area and C emissions from fires are shown to increase in Europe, in particular in the Mediterranean basins, in the Balkan regions and in Eastern Europe. However, the projected increase is lower than in other studies that did not fully account for the effect of climate on ecosystem functioning. We demonstrate that the lower sensitivity of burned area and C emissions to climate change is related to the predicted reduction of the net primary productivity, which is identified as the most important determinant of fire activity in the Mediterranean region after anthropogenic interaction. This behavior, consistent with the intermediate fire-productivity hypothesis, limits the sensitivity of future burned area and C emissions from fires on climate change, providing more conservative estimates of future fire patterns, and demonstrates the importance of coupling fire simulation with a climate driven ecosystem productivity model.

Sodium nitroprusside enhanced cardiopulmonary resuscitation improves short term survival in a porcine model of ischemic refractory ventricular fibrillation.

Science.gov (United States)

Yannopoulos, Demetris; Bartos, Jason A; George, Stephen A; Sideris, George; Voicu, Sebastian; Oestreich, Brett; Matsuura, Timothy; Shekar, Kadambari; Rees, Jennifer; Aufderheide, Tom P

2017-01-01

Sodium nitroprusside (SNP) enhanced CPR (SNPeCPR) demonstrates increased vital organ blood flow and survival in multiple porcine models. We developed a new, coronary occlusion/ischemia model of prolonged resuscitation, mimicking the majority of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests presenting with shockable rhythms. SNPeCPR will increase short term (4-h) survival compared to standard 2015 Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) guidelines in an ischemic refractory ventricular fibrillation (VF), prolonged CPR model. Sixteen anesthetized pigs had the ostial left anterior descending artery occluded leading to ischemic VF arrest. VF was untreated for 5min. Basic life support was performed for 10min. At minute 10 (EMS arrival), animals received either SNPeCPR (n=8) or standard ACLS (n=8). Defibrillation (200J) occurred every 3min. CPR continued for a total of 45min, then the balloon was deflated simulating revascularization. CPR continued until return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) or a total of 60min, if unsuccessful. SNPeCPR animals received 2mg of SNP at minute 10 followed by 1mg every 5min until ROSC. Standard ACLS animals received 0.5mg epinephrine every 5min until ROSC. Primary endpoints were ROSC and 4-h survival. All SNPeCPR animals (8/8) achieved sustained ROSC versus 2/8 standard ACLS animals within one hour of resuscitation (p=0.04). The 4-h survival was significantly improved with SNPeCPR compared to standard ACLS, 7/8 versus 1/8 respectively, p=0.0019. SNPeCPR significantly improved ROSC and 4-h survival compared with standard ACLS CPR in a porcine model of prolonged ischemic, refractory VF cardiac arrest. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Targeted Porcine Genome Engineering with TALENs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Luo, Yonglun; Lin, Lin; Golas, Mariola Monika

2015-01-01

confers precisely editing (e.g., mutations or indels) or insertion of a functional transgenic cassette to user-designed loci. Techniques for targeted genome engineering are growing dramatically and include, e.g., zinc-finger nucleases (ZFNs), transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs......, including construction of sequence-specific TALENs, delivery of TALENs into primary porcine fibroblasts, and detection of TALEN-mediated cleavage, is described. This chapter is useful for scientists who are inexperienced with TALEN engineering of porcine cells as well as of other large animals....

Development of porcine model of chronic tachycardia-induced cardiomyopathy.

Science.gov (United States)

Paslawska, Urszula; Gajek, Jacek; Kiczak, Liliana; Noszczyk-Nowak, Agnieszka; Skrzypczak, Piotr; Bania, Jacek; Tomaszek, Alicja; Zacharski, Maciej; Sambor, Izabela; Dziegiel, Piotr; Zysko, Dorota; Banasiak, Waldemar; Jankowska, Ewa A; Ponikowski, Piotr

2011-11-17

There are few experimental models of heart failure (HF) in large animals, despite structural and functional similarities to human myocardium. We have developed a porcine model of chronic tachycardia-induced cardiomyopathy. Homogenous siblings of White Large breed swine (n=6) underwent continuous right ventricular (RV) pacing at 170 bpm; 2 subjects served as controls. In the course of RV pacing, animals developed a clinical picture of HF and were presented for euthanasia at subsequent stages: mild, moderate and end-stage HF. Left ventricle (LV) sections were analyzed histologically and relative ANP, BNP, phospholamban and sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase 2a transcript levels in LV were quantified by real time RT-PCR. In the course of RV pacing, animals demonstrated reduced exercise capacity (time of running until being dyspnoeic: 6.6 ± 0.5 vs. 2.4 ± 1.4 min), LV dilatation (LVEDD: 4.9 ± 0.4 vs. 6.7 ± 0.4 cm), impaired LV systolic function (LVEF: 69 ± 8 vs. 32 ± 7 %), (all baseline vs. before euthanasia, all p<0.001). LV tissues from animals with moderate and end-stage HF demonstrated local foci of interstitial fibrosis, congestion, cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and atrophy, which was not detected in controls and mild HF animals. The up-regulation of ANP and BNP and a reduction in a ratio of sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase 2a and phospholamban in failing myocardium were observed as compared to controls. In pigs, chronic RV pacing at relatively low rate can be used as an experimental model of HF, as it results in a gradual deterioration of exercise tolerance accompanied by myocardial remodeling confirmed at subcellular level. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

A novel porcine cell culture based protocol for the propagation of hepatitis E virus

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Walter Chingwaru

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Objective: To present a comprehensive protocol for the processing of hepatitis E virus (HEV infected samples and propagation of the virus in primary cell cultures. Methods: Hepatitis E was extracted from porcine liver and faecal samples following standard protocols. The virus was then allowed to attach in the presence of trypsin to primary cells that included porcine and bovine intestinal epithelial cells and macrophages over a period of up to 3 h. The virus was propagated by rotational passaging through the cell cultures. Propagation was confirmed by immunoblotting. Results: We developed a comprehensive protocol to propagate HEV in porcine cell model that includes (i rotational culturing of the virus between porcine cell types, (ii pre-incubation of infected cells for 210 min, (iii use of a semi-complete cell culture medium supplemented with trypsin (0.33 µg/mL and (iv the use of simple immunoblot technique to detect the amplified virus based on the open reading frame 2/3. Conclusions: This protocol opens doors towards systematic analysis of the mechanisms that underlie the pathogenesis of HEV in vitro. Using our protocol, one can complete the propagation process within 6 to 9 d.

Porcine aminopeptidase N mediated polarized infection by porcine epidemic diarrhea virus in target cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cong, Yingying; Li, Xiaoxue; Bai, Yunyun [College of Veterinary Medicine, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030 (China); Lv, Xiaonan [College of Veterinary Medicine, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030 (China); CAS Key Lab for Biomedical Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety, National Center for Nanoscience & Technology of China, Beijing 100090 (China); Herrler, Georg [Institute for Virology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Hannover D-30559 (Germany); Enjuanes, Luis [Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología (CNB-CSIC), Campus Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Cantoblanco, Madrid (Spain); Zhou, Xingdong [College of Veterinary Medicine, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030 (China); Qu, Bo [Faculty of Life Sciences, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030 (China); Meng, Fandan [Institute for Virology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Hannover D-30559 (Germany); Cong, Chengcheng [College Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang 110161 (China); Ren, Xiaofeng; Li, Guangxing [College of Veterinary Medicine, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030 (China)

2015-04-15

Infection of polarized intestinal epithelial cells by porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) was characterized. Indirect immunofluorescence assay, real-time PCR, and transmission electron microscopy confirmed PEDV can be successfully propagated in immortalized swine small intestine epithelial cells (IECs). Infection involved porcine aminpeptidase N (pAPN), a reported cellular receptor for PEDV, transient expression of pAPN and siRNA targeted pAPN increased and decreased the infectivity of PEDV in IECs, respectively. Subsequently, polarized entry into and release from both Vero E6 and IECs was analyzed. PEDV entry into polarized cells and pAPN grown on membrane inserts occurs via apical membrane. The progeny virus released into the medium was also quantified which demonstrated that PEDV is preferentially released from the apical membrane. Collectively, our data demonstrate that pAPN, the cellular receptor for PEDV, mediates polarized PEDV infection. These results imply the possibility that PEDV infection may proceed by lateral spread of virus in intestinal epithelial cells. - Highlights: • PEDV infection of polarized intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) was characterized. • Porcine aminpeptidase N (pAPN) facilitated PEDV infection in IECs. • PEDV entry into and release from polarized cell via its apical membrane. • PEDV infection may proceed by lateral spread of virus in IECs.

Porcine aminopeptidase N mediated polarized infection by porcine epidemic diarrhea virus in target cells

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cong, Yingying; Li, Xiaoxue; Bai, Yunyun; Lv, Xiaonan; Herrler, Georg; Enjuanes, Luis; Zhou, Xingdong; Qu, Bo; Meng, Fandan; Cong, Chengcheng; Ren, Xiaofeng; Li, Guangxing

2015-01-01

Infection of polarized intestinal epithelial cells by porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) was characterized. Indirect immunofluorescence assay, real-time PCR, and transmission electron microscopy confirmed PEDV can be successfully propagated in immortalized swine small intestine epithelial cells (IECs). Infection involved porcine aminpeptidase N (pAPN), a reported cellular receptor for PEDV, transient expression of pAPN and siRNA targeted pAPN increased and decreased the infectivity of PEDV in IECs, respectively. Subsequently, polarized entry into and release from both Vero E6 and IECs was analyzed. PEDV entry into polarized cells and pAPN grown on membrane inserts occurs via apical membrane. The progeny virus released into the medium was also quantified which demonstrated that PEDV is preferentially released from the apical membrane. Collectively, our data demonstrate that pAPN, the cellular receptor for PEDV, mediates polarized PEDV infection. These results imply the possibility that PEDV infection may proceed by lateral spread of virus in intestinal epithelial cells. - Highlights: • PEDV infection of polarized intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) was characterized. • Porcine aminpeptidase N (pAPN) facilitated PEDV infection in IECs. • PEDV entry into and release from polarized cell via its apical membrane. • PEDV infection may proceed by lateral spread of virus in IECs

Circovirose suína Porcine circovirosis: a review

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Ticiana do Nascimento França

2005-06-01

Full Text Available Por meio de revisão da literatura pertinente foram coligidos e são apresentados os principais dados relativos aos aspectos epidemiológicos, clínicos, anátomo e histopatológicos observados na infecção por Circovírus Porcino tipo 2 (PCV-2 em suínos. São abordados a Síndrome Definhante Multissistêmica dos Suínos Desmamados (SDMDS, o Tremor Congênito Suíno (TCS, a Síndrome da Nefropatia e Dermatite Porcina (SNDP, bem como outras enfermidades associadas ou correlatas, a Síndrome Respiratória e Reprodutiva Porcina (SRRP, a Pneumonia Necrotizante Proliferativa (PNP e as falhas reprodutivas. Uma vez que a SDMSD já foi registrada na Região Sul do Brasil e no Estado do Rio de Janeiro esse estudo objetiva chamar a atenção para o especial significado dessa virose para a suinocultura brasileira, em função dos prejuízos econômicos por ela determinados.The literature of Porcine Circovirosis, including the main data on epidemiology and clinical, macroscopic and microscopic alterations of the infection of swine by Porcine Circovirus type 2 (PCV-2, is reviewed. There are various forms of infection: the [Porcine] Postweaning Multisystemic Wasting Syndrome (PMWS, Porcine Congenital Tremor, Porcine Dermatitis and Nephropathy Syndrome, and other associated or correlated diseases as the Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome, Proliferative Necrotizing Pneumonia, and reproductive disorders. As PMWS already has been reported from southern Brazil and from the state of Rio de Janeiro, the objective of this review is to draw attention to the implications of this virosis for swine production in Brazil and its economical importance.

Mechanism of porcine liver xanthine oxidoreductase mediated N-oxide reduction of cyadox as revealed by docking and mutagenesis studies.

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Chigang Chen

Full Text Available Xanthine oxidoreductase (XOR is a cytoplasmic molybdenum-containing oxidoreductase, catalyzing both endogenous purines and exogenous compounds. It is suggested that XOR in porcine hepatocytes catalyzes the N-oxide reduction of quinoxaline 1,4-di-N-oxides (QdNOs. To elucidate the molecular mechanism underlying this metabolism, the cDNA of porcine XOR was cloned and heterologously expressed in Spodoptera frugiperda insect cells. The bovine XOR, showing sequence identity of 91% to porcine XOR, was employed as template for homology modeling. By docking cyadox, a representative compound of QdNOs, into porcine XOR model, eight amino acid residues, Gly47, Asn352, Ser360, Arg427, Asp430, Asp431, Ser1227 and Lys1230, were located at distances of less than 4Å to cyadox. Site-directed mutagenesis was performed to analyze their catalytic functions. Compared with wild type porcine XOR, G47A, S360P, D431A, S1227A, and K1230A displayed altered kinetic parameters in cyadox reduction, similarly to that in xanthine oxidation, indicating these mutations influenced electron-donating process of xanthine before subsequent electron transfer to cyadox to fulfill the N-oxide reduction. Differently, R427E and D430H, both located in the 424-434 loop, exhibited a much lower K(m and a decreased V(max respectively in cyadox reduction. Arg427 may be related to the substrate binding of porcine XOR to cyadox, and Asp430 is suggested to be involved in the transfer of electron to cyadox. This study initially reveals the possible catalytic mechanism of porcine XOR in cyadox metabolism, providing with novel insights into the structure-function relationship of XOR in the reduction of exogenous di-N-oxides.

Combined in vivo and ex vivo analysis of mesh mechanics in a porcine hernia model.

Science.gov (United States)

Kahan, Lindsey G; Lake, Spencer P; McAllister, Jared M; Tan, Wen Hui; Yu, Jennifer; Thompson, Dominic; Brunt, L Michael; Blatnik, Jeffrey A

2018-02-01

Hernia meshes exhibit variability in mechanical properties, and their mechanical match to tissue has not been comprehensively studied. We used an innovative imaging model of in vivo strain tracking and ex vivo mechanical analysis to assess effects of mesh properties on repaired abdominal walls in a porcine model. We hypothesized that meshes with dissimilar mechanical properties compared to native tissue would alter abdominal wall mechanics more than better-matched meshes. Seven mini-pigs underwent ventral hernia creation and subsequent open repair with one of two heavyweight polypropylene meshes. Following mesh implantation with attached radio-opaque beads, fluoroscopic images were taken at insufflation pressures from 5 to 30 mmHg on postoperative days 0, 7, and 28. At 28 days, animals were euthanized and ex vivo mechanical testing performed on full-thickness samples across repaired abdominal walls. Testing was conducted on 13 mini-pig controls, and on meshes separately. Stiffness and anisotropy (the ratio of stiffness in the transverse versus craniocaudal directions) were assessed. 3D reconstructions of repaired abdominal walls showed stretch patterns. As pressure increased, both meshes expanded, with no differences between groups. Over time, meshes contracted 17.65% (Mesh A) and 0.12% (Mesh B; p = 0.06). Mesh mechanics showed that Mesh A deviated from anisotropic native tissue more than Mesh B. Compared to native tissue, Mesh A was stiffer both transversely and craniocaudally. Explanted repaired abdominal walls of both treatment groups were stiffer than native tissue. Repaired tissue became less anisotropic over time, as mesh properties prevailed over native abdominal wall properties. This technique assessed 3D stretch at the mesh level in vivo in a porcine model. While the abdominal wall expanded, mesh-ingrown areas contracted, potentially indicating stresses at mesh edges. Ex vivo mechanics demonstrate that repaired tissue adopts mesh properties, suggesting

Immobilization of pseudorabies virus in porcine tracheal respiratory mucus revealed by single particle tracking.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaoyun Yang

Full Text Available Pseudorabies virus (PRV initially replicates in the porcine upper respiratory tract. It easily invades the mucosae and submucosae for subsequent spread throughout the body via blood vessels and nervous system. In this context, PRV developed ingenious processes to overcome different barriers such as epithelial cells and the basement membrane. Another important but often overlooked barrier is the substantial mucus layer which coats the mucosae. However, little is known about how PRV particles interact with porcine respiratory mucus. We therefore measured the barrier properties of porcine tracheal respiratory mucus, and investigated the mobility of nanoparticles including PRV in this mucus. We developed an in vitro model utilizing single particle tracking microscopy. Firstly, the mucus pore size was evaluated with polyethylene glycol coupled (PEGylated nanoparticles and atomic force microscope. Secondly, the mobility of PRV in porcine tracheal respiratory mucus was examined and compared with that of negative, positive and PEGylated nanoparticles. The pore size of porcine tracheal respiratory mucus ranged from 80 to 1500 nm, with an average diameter of 455±240 nm. PRV (zeta potential: -31.8±1.5 mV experienced a severe obstruction in porcine tracheal respiratory mucus, diffusing 59-fold more slowly than in water. Similarly, the highly negatively (-49.8±0.6 mV and positively (36.7±1.1 mV charged nanoparticles were significantly trapped. In contrast, the nearly neutral, hydrophilic PEGylated nanoparticles (-9.6±0.8 mV diffused rapidly, with the majority of particles moving 50-fold faster than PRV. The mobility of the particles measured was found to be related but not correlated to their surface charge. Furthermore, PEGylated PRV (-13.8±0.9 mV was observed to diffuse 13-fold faster than native PRV. These findings clearly show that the mobility of PRV was significantly hindered in porcine tracheal respiratory mucus, and that the obstruction of PRV

Selective Retrograde Venous Revascularization of the Myocardium when PCI or CABG Is Impossible: Investigation in a Porcine Model

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Møller, Christian H; Nørgaard, Martin A; Gøtze, Jens P

2008-01-01

We investigated the possibility of nourishing the myocardium through selective retrograde coronary venous bypass grafting (CVBG) with an off-pump technique and evaluated various methods of monitoring the physiological effects of this procedure. In a porcine model, the left internal mammary artery...... tension decreased, but with time some recovery was seen. Cardiac troponin T was elevated. Histological analysis showed ischemic changes. In control pigs, microdialysis was performed for 1.5 hours up to LAD artery ligation, after which all pigs died in ventricular fibrillation arrest. No increase...

Endoscopic intestinal bypass creation by using self-assembling magnets in a porcine model.

Science.gov (United States)

Ryou, Marvin; Agoston, A Tony; Thompson, Christopher C

2016-04-01

A purely endoluminal method of GI bypass would be desirable for the treatment of obstruction, obesity, or metabolic syndrome. We have developed a technology based on miniature self-assembling magnets that create large-caliber anastomoses (Incisionless Anastomosis System [IAS]). The aim of this study was to evaluate procedural characteristics of IAS deployment and long-term anastomotic integrity and patency. We performed a 3-month survival study of Yorkshire pigs (5 interventions, 3 controls). Intervention pigs underwent simultaneous enteroscopy/colonoscopy performed with the animals under intravenous sedation. The IAS magnets were deployed and coupled with reciprocal magnets under fluoroscopy. Every 3 to 6 days pigs underwent endoscopy until jejunocolonic anastomosis (dual-path bypass) creation and magnet expulsion. Necropsies and histological evaluation were performed. The primary endpoints were technical success; secondary endpoints of anastomosis integrity, patency, and histological characteristics were weight trends. Under intravenous sedation, endoscopic bypass creation by using IAS magnets was successfully performed in 5 of 5 pigs (100%). Given porcine anatomy, the easiest dual-path bypass to create was between the proximal jejunum and colon. The mean procedure time was 14.7 minutes. Patent, leak-free anastomoses formed by day 4. All IAS magnets were expelled by day 12. All anastomoses were fully patent at 3 months with a mean diameter of 3.5 cm. The mean 3-month weight was 45 kg in bypass pigs and 78 kg in controls (P = .01). At necropsy, adhesions were absent. Histology showed full re-epithelialization across the anastomosis without fibrosis or inflammation. Large-caliber, leak-free, foreign body-free endoscopic intestinal bypass by using IAS magnets can be safely and rapidly performed in the porcine by model using only intravenous sedation. Copyright © 2016 American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Experimental porcine cysticercosis using infected beetles with Taenia solium eggs.

Science.gov (United States)

Gomez-Puerta, Luis A; Garcia, Hector H; Gonzalez, Armando E

2018-07-01

Beetles are intermediate hosts for human and animal parasites, and several beetle species have been shown to carry Taenia eggs. An experimental porcine cysticercosis infection model was developed using beetles (Ammophorus rubripes) infected with Taenia solium eggs and then using these beetles for oral pig challenge. A total of 18 three months-old Landrace pigs were divided in four groups. Pigs from groups 1, 2, and 3 (n = 6 pigs per group) were challenged with one, three, and six beetles infected with T. solium eggs, containing approximately 52, 156 or 312 eggs respectively. Pigs were necropsied 12 weeks after infection to assess the presence of T. solium metacestode. Porcine cysticercosis by T. solium was produced in 17 out of 18 pigs (94.4%) challenged with infected beetles, all infected pigs had viable cysts. Only one pig from group 1 was negative to the presence of cysts. The median number of metacestodes per pig in groups 1, 2, and 3 were 2 (range 0-71), 26 (range 5-33) and 40 cysts (range 4-111), respectively. Experimental porcine cysticercosis infection is consistently obtained using beetles as mechanical vectors for T. solium eggs. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The kinetics of interaction of porcine - alpha-, and porcine - beta -trypsin with intact and modified soybean trypsin inhibitor (kunitz)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hamid, M.A.

1994-01-01

The association of porcine trypsin with soybean trypsin inhibitor (Kunitz) resulted in characteristic changes in absorption spectrum, indicating an alteration of the micro environments of the enzyme chromophores as a consequence of the interaction. The rates of formation of the stable trypsin - inhibitor complexes from porcine - alpha - trypsin and soybean trypsin inhibitor and from porcine - beta - trypsin and either intact or modified soybean trypsin inhibitor were measured by mixing the equimolar concentration of the reactants in a Stopped - Flow apparatus at pH (4.5 to 10.0). The reaction of trypsin with soybean trypsin inhibitor was of first order with respect to the concentration of the reactants used. The rates of dissociation of the stable complexes, alpha - trypsin - soybean trypsin inhibitor, beta -trypsin - soybean trypsin inhibitor and beta -trypsin modified soybean trypsin inhibitor were also measured at pH (1.92 to 3.58). The values of first order rate constant, k/sub D/ obtained for the dissociation of all the three complexes were identical with one another. The kinetics results obtained for the porcine trypsin were compared with those of bovine trypsin system and it was suggested that the reaction mechanisms in both these systems were identical. (author)

New radiofrequency device to reduce bleeding after core needle biopsy: Experimental study in a porcine liver model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lim, Sang Hyeok; Rhim, Hyun Chul; Lee, Min Woo; Song, Kyoung Doo; Kang, Tae Wook; Kim, Young Sun; Lim, Hyo Keun

2017-01-01

To evaluate the in vivo efficiency of the biopsy tract radiofrequency ablation for hemostasis after core biopsy of the liver in a porcine liver model, including situations with bleeding tendency and a larger (16-gauge) core needle. A preliminary study was performed using one pig to determine optimal ablation parameters. For the main experiment, four pigs were assigned to different groups according to heparinization use and biopsy needle caliber. In each pig, 14 control (without tract ablation) and 14 experimental (tract ablation) ultrasound-guided core biopsies were performed using either an 18- or 16-gauge needle. Post-biopsy bleeding amounts were measured by soaking up the blood for five minutes. The results were compared using the Mann-Whitney U test. The optimal parameters for biopsy tract ablation were determined as a 2-cm active tip electrode set at 40-watt with a tip temperature of 70–80℃. The bleeding amounts in all experimental groups were smaller than those in the controls; however they were significant in the non-heparinized pig biopsied with an 18-gauge needle and in two heparinized pigs (p < 0.001). In the heparinized pigs, the mean blood loss in the experimental group was 3.5% and 13.5% of the controls biopsied with an 18- and 16-gauge needle, respectively. Radiofrequency ablation of hepatic core biopsy tract ablation may reduce post-biopsy bleeding even under bleeding tendency and using a larger core needle, according to the result from in vivo porcine model experiments

New radiofrequency device to reduce bleeding after core needle biopsy: Experimental study in a porcine liver model

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lim, Sang Hyeok; Rhim, Hyun Chul; Lee, Min Woo; Song, Kyoung Doo; Kang, Tae Wook; Kim, Young Sun; Lim, Hyo Keun [Dept. of Radiology and Center for Imaging Science, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

2017-01-15

To evaluate the in vivo efficiency of the biopsy tract radiofrequency ablation for hemostasis after core biopsy of the liver in a porcine liver model, including situations with bleeding tendency and a larger (16-gauge) core needle. A preliminary study was performed using one pig to determine optimal ablation parameters. For the main experiment, four pigs were assigned to different groups according to heparinization use and biopsy needle caliber. In each pig, 14 control (without tract ablation) and 14 experimental (tract ablation) ultrasound-guided core biopsies were performed using either an 18- or 16-gauge needle. Post-biopsy bleeding amounts were measured by soaking up the blood for five minutes. The results were compared using the Mann-Whitney U test. The optimal parameters for biopsy tract ablation were determined as a 2-cm active tip electrode set at 40-watt with a tip temperature of 70–80℃. The bleeding amounts in all experimental groups were smaller than those in the controls; however they were significant in the non-heparinized pig biopsied with an 18-gauge needle and in two heparinized pigs (p < 0.001). In the heparinized pigs, the mean blood loss in the experimental group was 3.5% and 13.5% of the controls biopsied with an 18- and 16-gauge needle, respectively. Radiofrequency ablation of hepatic core biopsy tract ablation may reduce post-biopsy bleeding even under bleeding tendency and using a larger core needle, according to the result from in vivo porcine model experiments.

A retinaculum-sparing surgical approach preserves porcine stifle joint cartilage in an experimental animal model of cartilage repair.

Science.gov (United States)

Bonadio, Marcelo B; Friedman, James M; Sennett, Mackenzie L; Mauck, Robert L; Dodge, George R; Madry, Henning

2017-12-01

This study compares a traditional parapatellar retinaculum-sacrificing arthrotomy to a retinaculum-sparing arthrotomy in a porcine stifle joint as a cartilage repair model. Surgical exposure of the femoral trochlea of ten Yucatan pigs stifle joint was performed using either a traditional medial parapatellar approach with retinaculum incision and luxation of the patella (n = 5) or a minimally invasive (MIS) approach which spared the patellar retinaculum (n = 5). Both classical and MIS approaches provided adequate access to the trochlea, enabling the creation of cartilage defects without difficulties. Four full thickness, 4 mm circular full-thickness cartilage defects were created in each trochlea. There were no intraoperative complications observed in either surgical approach. All pigs were allowed full weight-bearing and full range of motion immediately postoperatively and were euthanized between 2 and 3 weeks. The traditional approach was associated with increased cartilage wear compared to the MIS approach. Two blinded raters performed gross evaluation of the trochlea cartilage surrounding the defects according to the modified ICRS cartilage injury classification. The traditional approach cartilage received a significantly worse score than the MIS approach group from both scorers (3.2 vs 0.8, p = 0.01 and 2.8 vs 0, p = 0.005 respectively). The MIS approach results in less damage to the trochlear cartilage and faster return to load bearing activities. As an arthrotomy approach in the porcine model, MIS is superior to the traditional approach.

Bacteriospermia in extended porcine semen.

Science.gov (United States)

Althouse, Gary C; Lu, Kristina G

2005-01-15

Bacteriospermia is a frequent finding in freshly extended porcine semen and can result in detrimental effects on semen quality and longevity if left uncontrolled. The primary source of bacterial contamination is the boar. Other sources that have been identified include environment, personnel, and the water used for extender preparation. A 1-year retrospective study was performed on submissions of extended porcine semen for routine quality control bacteriological screening at the University of Pennsylvania. Out of 250 sample submissions, 78 (31.2%) tested positive for bacterial contamination. The most popular contaminants included Enterococcus spp. (20.5%), Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (15.4%), Alcaligenes xylosoxidans (10.3%), Serratia marcescens (10.3%), Acinetobacter lwoffi (7.7%), Escherichia coli (6.4%), Pseudomonas spp. (6.4%), and others (23.0%). Prudent individual hygiene, good overall sanitation, and regular monitoring can contribute greatly in controlling bacterial load. Strategies that incorporate temperature-dependent bacterial growth and hyperthermic augmentation of antimicrobial activity are valuable for effective control of susceptible bacterial loads. Aminoglycosides remain the most popular antimicrobial class used in porcine semen extenders, with beta-lactam and lincosamide use increasing. With the advent of more novel antimicrobial selection and semen extender compositions in swine, prudent application and understanding of in vitro pharmacodynamics are becoming paramount to industry success in the use of this breeding modality.

Satellite data driven modeling system for predicting air quality and visibility during wildfire and prescribed burn events

Science.gov (United States)

Nair, U. S.; Keiser, K.; Wu, Y.; Maskey, M.; Berendes, D.; Glass, P.; Dhakal, A.; Christopher, S. A.

2012-12-01

The Alabama Forestry Commission (AFC) is responsible for wildfire control and also prescribed burn management in the state of Alabama. Visibility and air quality degradation resulting from smoke are two pieces of information that are crucial for this activity. Currently the tools available to AFC are the dispersion index available from the National Weather Service and also surface smoke concentrations. The former provides broad guidance for prescribed burning activities but does not provide specific information regarding smoke transport, areas affected and quantification of air quality and visibility degradation. While the NOAA operational air quality guidance includes surface smoke concentrations from existing fire events, it does not account for contributions from background aerosols, which are important for the southeastern region including Alabama. Also lacking is the quantification of visibility. The University of Alabama in Huntsville has developed a state-of-the-art integrated modeling system to address these concerns. This system based on the Community Air Quality Modeling System (CMAQ) that ingests satellite derived smoke emissions and also assimilates NASA MODIS derived aerosol optical thickness. In addition, this operational modeling system also simulates the impact of potential prescribed burn events based on location information derived from the AFC prescribed burn permit database. A lagrangian model is used to simulate smoke plumes for the prescribed burns requests. The combined air quality and visibility degradation resulting from these smoke plumes and background aerosols is computed and the information is made available through a web based decision support system utilizing open source GIS components. This system provides information regarding intersections between highways and other critical facilities such as old age homes, hospitals and schools. The system also includes satellite detected fire locations and other satellite derived datasets

Modelling fire frequency and area burned across phytoclimatic regions in Spain using reanalysis data and the Canadian Fire Weather Index System

Science.gov (United States)

Bedia, J.; Herrera, S.; Gutiérrez, J. M.

2013-09-01

We develop fire occurrence and burned area models in peninsular Spain, an area of high variability in climate and fuel types, for the period 1990-2008. We based the analysis on a phytoclimatic classification aiming to the stratification of the territory into homogeneous units in terms of climatic and fuel type characteristics, allowing to test model performance under different climatic and fuel conditions. We used generalized linear models (GLM) and multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS) as modelling algorithms and temperature, relative humidity, precipitation and wind speed, taken from the ERA-Interim reanalysis, as well as the components of the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index (FWI) System as predictors. We also computed the standardized precipitation-evapotranspiration index (SPEI) as an additional predictor for the models of burned area. We found two contrasting fire regimes in terms of area burned and number of fires: one characterized by a bimodal annual pattern, characterizing the Nemoral and Oro-boreal phytoclimatic types, and another one exhibiting an unimodal annual cycle, with the fire season concentrated in the summer months in the Mediterranean and Arid regions. The fire occurrence models attained good skill in most of the phytoclimatic zones considered, yielding in some zones notably high correlation coefficients between the observed and modelled inter-annual fire frequencies. Total area burned also exhibited a high dependence on the meteorological drivers, although their ability to reproduce the observed annual burned area time series was poor in most cases. We identified temperature and some FWI system components as the most important explanatory variables, and also SPEI in some of the burned area models, highlighting the adequacy of the FWI system for fire modelling applications and leaving the door opened to the development a more complex modelling framework based on these predictors. Furthermore, we demonstrate the potential usefulness

Determining the Uncertainties in Prescribed Burn Emissions Through Comparison of Satellite Estimates to Ground-based Estimates and Air Quality Model Evaluations in Southeastern US

Science.gov (United States)

Odman, M. T.; Hu, Y.; Russell, A. G.

2016-12-01

Prescribed burning is practiced throughout the US, and most widely in the Southeast, for the purpose of maintaining and improving the ecosystem, and reducing the wildfire risk. However, prescribed burn emissions contribute significantly to the of trace gas and particulate matter loads in the atmosphere. In places where air quality is already stressed by other anthropogenic emissions, prescribed burns can lead to major health and environmental problems. Air quality modeling efforts are under way to assess the impacts of prescribed burn emissions. Operational forecasts of the impacts are also emerging for use in dynamic management of air quality as well as the burns. Unfortunately, large uncertainties exist in the process of estimating prescribed burn emissions and these uncertainties limit the accuracy of the burn impact predictions. Prescribed burn emissions are estimated by using either ground-based information or satellite observations. When there is sufficient local information about the burn area, the types of fuels, their consumption amounts, and the progression of the fire, ground-based estimates are more accurate. In the absence of such information satellites remain as the only reliable source for emission estimation. To determine the level of uncertainty in prescribed burn emissions, we compared estimates derived from a burn permit database and other ground-based information to the estimates by the Biomass Burning Emissions Product derived from a constellation of NOAA and NASA satellites. Using these emissions estimates we conducted simulations with the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model and predicted trace gas and particulate matter concentrations throughout the Southeast for two consecutive burn seasons (2015 and 2016). In this presentation, we will compare model predicted concentrations to measurements at monitoring stations and evaluate if the differences are commensurate with our emission uncertainty estimates. We will also investigate if

South American smoke coverage and flux estimations from the Fire Locating and Modeling of Burning Emissions (FLAMBE') system.

Science.gov (United States)

Reid, J. S.; Westphal, D. L.; Christopher, S. A.; Prins, E. M.; Gasso, S.; Reid, E.; Theisen, M.; Schmidt, C. C.; Hunter, J.; Eck, T.

2002-05-01

The Fire Locating and Modeling of Burning Emissions (FLAMBE') project is a joint Navy, NOAA, NASA and university project to integrate satellite products with numerical aerosol models to produce a real time fire and emissions inventory. At the center of the program is the Wildfire Automated Biomass Burning Algorithm (WF ABBA) which provides real-time fire products and the NRL Aerosol Analysis and Prediction System to model smoke transport. In this presentation we give a brief overview of the system and methods, but emphasize new estimations of smoke coverage and emission fluxes from the South American continent. Temporal and smoke patterns compare reasonably well with AERONET and MODIS aerosol optical depth products for the 2000 and 2001 fire seasons. Fluxes are computed by relating NAAPS output fields and MODIS optical depth maps with modeled wind fields. Smoke emissions and transport fluxes out of the continent can then be estimated by perturbing the modeled emissions to gain agreement with the satellite and wind products. Regional smoke emissions are also presented for grass and forest burning.

Myocardial Autophagy after Severe Burn in Rats

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Qiong; Shi, Xiao-hua; Huang, Yue-sheng

2012-01-01

Background Autophagy plays a major role in myocardial ischemia and hypoxia injury. The present study investigated the effects of autophagy on cardiac dysfunction in rats after severe burn. Methods Protein expression of the autophagy markers LC3 and Beclin 1 were determined at 0, 1, 3, 6, and 12 h post-burn in Sprague Dawley rats subjected to 30% total body surface area 3rd degree burns. Autophagic, apoptotic, and oncotic cell death were evaluated in the myocardium at each time point by immunofluorescence. Changes of cardiac function were measured in a Langendorff model of isolated heart at 6 h post-burn, and the autophagic response was measured following activation by Rapamycin and inhibition by 3-methyladenine (3-MA). The angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor enalaprilat, the angiotensin receptor I blocker losartan, and the reactive oxygen species inhibitor diphenylene iodonium (DPI) were also applied to the ex vivo heart model to examine the roles of these factors in post-burn cardiac function. Results Autophagic cell death was first observed in the myocardium at 3 h post-burn, occurring in 0.008 ± 0.001% of total cardiomyocytes, and continued to increase to a level of 0.022 ± 0.005% by 12 h post-burn. No autophagic cell death was observed in control hearts. Compared with apoptosis, autophagic cell death occurred earlier and in larger quantities. Rapamycin enhanced autophagy and decreased cardiac function in isolated hearts 6 h post-burn, while 3-MA exerted the opposite response. Enalaprilat, losartan, and DPI all inhibited autophagy and enhanced heart function. Conclusion Myocardial autophagy is enhanced in severe burns and autophagic cell death occurred early at 3 h post-burn, which may contribute to post-burn cardiac dysfunction. Angiotensin II and reactive oxygen species may play important roles in this process by regulating cell signaling transduction. PMID:22768082

A novel porcine model of implant associated osteomyelitis: a comprehensive analysis of local, regional and systemic response

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Louise Kruse; Koch, Janne; Dich-Jorgensen, Kirstine

2017-01-01

Pigs are favorable experimental animals for infectious diseases in humans. However, implant associated osteomyelitis (IAO) models in pigs have only been evaluated using high-inoculum infection (>108 CFU) models in 1975 and 1993. Therefore, the aim of this paper was to present a new low inoculum...... porcine model of human IAO based on 42 experimental pigs. The model was created by drilling an implant cavity in the tibial bone followed by insertion of a small steel implant and simultaneous inoculation of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria (n = 32) or saline (n = 10). The infected pigs were either...... inoculated with 104 CFU (n = 26) or 102 and 103 CFU (n = 6). All animals were euthanized five days after insertion of implants. Pigs receiving the high-inoculum infections showed a significantly higher volume of bone lesion, number of neutrophils around the implant, concentrations of acute phase proteins...

Porcine UCHL1: genomic organization, chromosome localization and expression analysis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Knud; Madsen, Lone Bruhn; Bendixen, Christian

2012-01-01

to and protection from Parkinson’s disease. Here we report cloning, characterization, expression analysis and mapping of porcine UCHL1. The UCHL1 cDNA was amplified by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) using oligonucleotide primers derived from in silico sequences. The porcine cDNA codes...... in developing porcine embryos. UCHL1 transcript was detected as early as 40 days of gestation. A significant decrease in UCHL1 transcript was detected in basal ganglia from day 60 to day 115 of gestation...

Burning Mouth Syndrome and "Burning Mouth Syndrome".

Science.gov (United States)

Rifkind, Jacob Bernard

2016-03-01

Burning mouth syndrome is distressing to both the patient and practitioner unable to determine the cause of the patient's symptoms. Burning mouth syndrome is a diagnosis of exclusion, which is used only after nutritional deficiencies, mucosal disease, fungal infections, hormonal disturbances and contact stomatitis have been ruled out. This article will explore the many causes and treatment of patients who present with a chief complaint of "my mouth burns," including symptomatic treatment for those with burning mouth syndrome.

Modelling of pore coarsening in the high burn-up structure of UO{sub 2} fuel

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Veshchunov, M.S.; Tarasov, V.I., E-mail: tarasov@ibrae.ac.ru

2017-05-15

The model for coalescence of randomly distributed immobile pores owing to their growth and impingement, applied by the authors earlier to consideration of the porosity evolution in the high burn-up structure (HBS) at the UO{sub 2} fuel pellet periphery (rim zone), was further developed and validated. Predictions of the original model, taking into consideration only binary impingements of growing immobile pores, qualitatively correctly describe the decrease of the pore number density with the increase of the fractional porosity, however notably underestimate the coalescence rate at high burn-ups attained in the outmost region of the rim zone. In order to overcome this discrepancy, the next approximation of the model taking into consideration triple impingements of growing pores was developed. The advanced model provides a reasonable consent with experimental data, thus demonstrating the validity of the proposed pore coarsening mechanism in the HBS.

The Fire INventory from NCAR (FINN: a high resolution global model to estimate the emissions from open burning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. Wiedinmyer

2011-07-01

Full Text Available The Fire INventory from NCAR version 1.0 (FINNv1 provides daily, 1 km resolution, global estimates of the trace gas and particle emissions from open burning of biomass, which includes wildfire, agricultural fires, and prescribed burning and does not include biofuel use and trash burning. Emission factors used in the calculations have been updated with recent data, particularly for the non-methane organic compounds (NMOC. The resulting global annual NMOC emission estimates are as much as a factor of 5 greater than some prior estimates. Chemical speciation profiles, necessary to allocate the total NMOC emission estimates to lumped species for use by chemical transport models, are provided for three widely used chemical mechanisms: SAPRC99, GEOS-CHEM, and MOZART-4. Using these profiles, FINNv1 also provides global estimates of key organic compounds, including formaldehyde and methanol. Uncertainties in the emissions estimates arise from several of the method steps. The use of fire hot spots, assumed area burned, land cover maps, biomass consumption estimates, and emission factors all introduce error into the model estimates. The uncertainty in the FINNv1 emission estimates are about a factor of two; but, the global estimates agree reasonably well with other global inventories of biomass burning emissions for CO, CO₂, and other species with less variable emission factors. FINNv1 emission estimates have been developed specifically for modeling atmospheric chemistry and air quality in a consistent framework at scales from local to global. The product is unique because of the high temporal and spatial resolution, global coverage, and the number of species estimated. FINNv1 can be used for both hindcast and forecast or near-real time model applications and the results are being critically evaluated with models and observations whenever possible.

Robotic kidney autotransplantation in a porcine model: a procedure-specific training platform for the simulation of robotic intracorporeal vascular anastomosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Tiong, Ho Yee; Goh, Benjamin Yen Seow; Chiong, Edmund; Tan, Lincoln Guan Lim; Vathsala, Anatharaman

2018-03-31

Robotic-assisted kidney transplantation (RKT) with the Da Vinci (Intuitive, USA) platform has been recently developed to improve outcomes by decreasing surgical site complications and morbidity, especially in obese patients. This potential paradigm shift in the surgical technique of kidney transplantation is performed in only a few centers. For wider adoption of this high stake complex operation, we aimed to develop a procedure-specific simulation platform in a porcine model for the training of robotic intracorporeal vascular anastomosis and evaluating vascular anastomoses patency. This paper describes the requirements and steps developed for the above training purpose. Over a series of four animal ethics' approved experiments, the technique of robotic-assisted laparoscopic autotransplantation of the kidney was developed in Amsterdam live pigs (60-70 kg). The surgery was based around the vascular anastomosis technique described by Menon et al. This non-survival porcine training model is targeted at transplant surgeons with robotic surgery experience. Under general anesthesia, each pig was placed in lateral decubitus position with the placement of one robotic camera port, two robotic 8 mm ports and one assistant port. Robotic docking over the pig posteriorly was performed. The training platform involved the following procedural steps. First, ipsilateral iliac vessel dissection was performed. Second, robotic-assisted laparoscopic donor nephrectomy was performed with in situ perfusion of the kidney with cold Hartmann's solution prior to complete division of the hilar vessels, ureter and kidney mobilization. Thirdly, the kidney was either kept in situ for orthotopic autotransplantation or mobilized to the pelvis and orientated for the vascular anastomosis, which was performed end to end or end to side after vessel loop clamping of the iliac vessels, respectively, using 6/0 Gore-Tex sutures. Following autotransplantation and release of vessel loops, perfusion of the

New stepwise cooling system for short-term porcine islet preservation.

Science.gov (United States)

Ikemoto, Tetsuya; Noguchi, Hirofumi; Fujita, Yasutaka; Takita, Morihito; Shimoda, Masayuki; Sugimoto, Koji; Jackson, Andrew; Naziruddin, Bashoo; Shimada, Mitsuo; Levy, Marlon F; Matsumoto, Shinichi

2010-10-01

Porcine islets are the most suitable for xeno-islet transplantation. However, it is necessary to establish an effective preservation method against its fragility. Recently, we developed a new cooling and preservation (Keep and Fresh [KFC]; FUJIYA Co, Tokushima, Japan) system, which can maintain viability of hepatocyte. In this study, we examined the KFC for porcine islet preservation. Isolated porcine islets were preserved in CMRL 1066 culture media with bovine serum at 37°C, 22°C, and 4°C and KFC for 24, 48, and 72 hours. Islet recovery rate, purity, and viability were evaluated. After 24-hour preservation, the recovery rate was the highest in the KFC, but no significant difference was found. After 48-hour preservation, the recovery rate by the KFC was 73.9% ± 17.3%, which was significantly higher than the other groups (48.7% ± 28.6% at 37°C, P KFC group, purities and viabilities were the highest among the groups after 24-, 48-, and 72-hour preservation. The KFC system significantly improved porcine islet preservation; therefore, the KFC might be useful for porcine islet preservation.

The effect of adipose derived stromal vascular fraction on stasis zone in an experimental burn model.

Science.gov (United States)

Eyuboglu, Atilla Adnan; Uysal, Cagri A; Ozgun, Gonca; Coskun, Erhan; Markal Ertas, Nilgun; Haberal, Mehmet

2018-03-01

Stasis zone is the surrounding area of the coagulation zone which is an important part determining the extent of the necrosis in burn patients. In our study we aim to salvage the stasis zone by injecting adipose derived stromal vascular fraction (ADSVF). Thermal injury was applied on dorsum of Sprague-Dawley rats (n=20) by the "comb burn" model as described previously. When the burn injury was established on Sprague-Dawley rats (30min); rat dorsum was separated into 2 equal parts consisting of 4 burn zones (3 stasis zone) on each pair. ADSVF cells harvested from inguinal fat pads of Sprague-Dawley rats (n=5) were injected on the right side while same amount of phosphate buffered saline (PBS) injected on the left side of the same animal. One week later, average vital tissue on the statis zone was determined by macroscopy, angiography and microscopy. Vascular density, inflammatory cell density, gradient of fibrosis and epithelial thickness were determined via immunohistochemical assay. Macroscopic stasis zone tissue viability (32±3.28%, 57±4.28%) (p51, 1.50±0.43) (pzone on acute burn injuries. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd and ISBI. All rights reserved.

Recent Progress and Emerging Issues in Measuring and Modeling Biomass Burning Emissions

Science.gov (United States)

Yokelson, R. J.; Stockwell, C.; Veres, P. R.; Hatch, L. E.; Barsanti, K. C.; Simpson, I. J.; Blake, D. R.; Alvarado, M.; Kreidenweis, S. M.; Robinson, A. L.; Akagi, S. K.; McMeeking, G. R.; Stone, E.; Gilman, J.; Warneke, C.; Sedlacek, A. J.; Kleinman, L. I.

2013-12-01

. The detection rate for the sampled US prescribed fires was zero by burned area and evolution was measured for numerous gas-phase precursors and products, ozone, OA, ions, and BC and BrC mixing state. BC particles were coated within one hour and the smoke evolution was, in general, strongly impacted by the unidentified low volatility gases. An informative synthesis of lab and field fire data with fuels from the same sites was carried out. A preliminary comparison of wildfire and prescribed fire emissions will be presented. Novel schemes are under development to summarize the new emissions data for models, with limited mechanisms and parameterize fast, sub-grid processes. Key current issues to be discussed include: packaging/parameterizing the recent explosion of emissions/evolution data for use in model mechanisms; addressing fires not detected from space; addressing the large amount of unidentified semi-volatile gases emitted by all fires; and developing appropriate airborne and ground-based sampling scales/strategies for local-global models. We briefly summarize a recently funded project that will sample emissions and quantify biomass consumption by peat fires in Indonesia and a pending proposal for comprehensive sampling of cooking fires, brick kilns, garbage burning, diesel super-emitters, etc. in South Asia.

Benchmarks for multidimensional recovery after burn injury in young adults: the development, validation, and testing of the American Burn Association/Shriners Hospitals for Children young adult burn outcome questionnaire.

Science.gov (United States)

Ryan, Colleen M; Schneider, Jeffrey C; Kazis, Lewis E; Lee, Austin; Li, Nien-Chen; Hinson, Michelle; Bauk, Helena; Peck, Michael; Meyer, Walter J; Palmieri, Tina; Pidcock, Frank S; Reilly, Debra; Tompkins, Ronald G

2013-01-01

Although data exist on burn survival, there are little data on long-term burn recovery. Patient-centered health outcomes are useful in monitoring and predicting recovery and evaluating treatments. An outcome questionnaire for young adult burn survivors was developed and tested. This 5-year (2003-2008) prospective, controlled, multicenter study included burned and nonburned adults ages 19 to 30 years. The Young Adult Burn Outcome Questionnaires were completed at initial contact, 10 days, and 6 and 12 months. Factor analysis established construct validity. Reliability assessments used Cronbach α and test-retest. Recovery patterns were investigated using generalized linear models, with generalized estimating equations using mixed models and random effects. Burned (n = 153) and nonburned subjects (n = 112) completed 620 questionnaires (47 items). Time from injury to first questionnaire administration was 157 ± 36 days (mean ± SEM). Factor analysis included 15 factors: Physical Function, Fine Motor Function, Pain, Itch, Social Function Limited by Physical Function, Perceived Appearance, Social Function Limited by Appearance, Sexual Function, Emotion, Family Function, Family Concern, Satisfaction With Symptom Relief, Satisfaction With Role, Work Reintegration, and Religion. Cronbach α ranged from 0.72 to 0.92, with 11 scales >0.8. Test-retest reliability ranged from 0.29 to 0.94, suggesting changes in underlying health status after burns. Recovery curves in five domains, Itch, Perceived Appearance, Social Function Limited by Appearance, Family Concern, and Satisfaction with Symptom Relief, remained below the reference group at 24 months. The Young Adult Burn Outcome Questionnaire is a reliable and valid instrument for multidimensional functional outcomes assessment. Recovery in some domains was incomplete.

Modeling and Mechanisms of Intercontinental Transport of Biomass-Burning Plumes

Science.gov (United States)

Reid, J. S.; Westphal, D. L.; Christopher, S. A.; Prins, E. M.; Justice, C. O.; Richardson, K. A.; Reid, E. A.; Eck, T. F.

2003-12-01

With the aid of fire products from GOES and MODIS, the NRL Aerosol Analysis and Prediction System (NAAPS) successfully monitors and predicts the formation and transport of massive smoke plumes between the continents in near real time. The goal of this system, formed under the joint Navy, NASA, and NOAA sponsored Fire Locating and Modeling of Burning Emissions (FLAMBE) project, is to provide 5 day forecasts of large biomass burning plumes and evaluate impacts on air quality, visibility, and regional radiative balance. In this paper we discuss and compare the mechanisms of intercontinental transport from the three most important sources in the world prone to long range advection: Africa, South/Central America, and Siberia. We demonstrate how these regions impact neighboring continents. As the meteorology of these three regions are distinct, differences in transport phenomenon subsequently result, particularly with respect to vertical distribution. Specific examples will be given on prediction and the impact of Siberian and Central American smoke plumes on the United States as well as transport phenomena from Africa to Australia. We present rules of thumb for radiation and air quality impacts. We also model clear sky bias (both positive and negative) with respect to MODIS data, and show the frequency to which frontal advection of smoke plumes masks remote sensing retrievals of smoke optical depth.

Porcine circovirus type 2 ORF4 protein binds heavy chain ferritin

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

2015-08-13

Aug 13, 2015 ... protein is a newly identified viral protein of PCV2 and is involved in ... The porcine alveolar macrophages (PAMs) of a healthy, 2- .... firmation by restriction analysis and DNA sequencing, the ... croscope (Model LSM510 META, Zeiss). ..... circovirus-like viruses from pigs with a wasting disease in the.

Biomass burning losses of carbon estimated from ecosystem modeling and satellite data analysis for the Brazilian Amazon region

Science.gov (United States)

Potter, Christopher; Brooks Genovese, Vanessa; Klooster, Steven; Bobo, Matthew; Torregrosa, Alicia

To produce a new daily record of gross carbon emissions from biomass burning events and post-burning decomposition fluxes in the states of the Brazilian Legal Amazon (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatistica (IBGE), 1991. Anuario Estatistico do Brasil, Vol. 51. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil pp. 1-1024). We have used vegetation greenness estimates from satellite images as inputs to a terrestrial ecosystem production model. This carbon allocation model generates new estimates of regional aboveground vegetation biomass at 8-km resolution. The modeled biomass product is then combined for the first time with fire pixel counts from the advanced very high-resolution radiometer (AVHRR) to overlay regional burning activities in the Amazon. Results from our analysis indicate that carbon emission estimates from annual region-wide sources of deforestation and biomass burning in the early 1990s are apparently three to five times higher than reported in previous studies for the Brazilian Legal Amazon (Houghton et al., 2000. Nature 403, 301-304; Fearnside, 1997. Climatic Change 35, 321-360), i.e., studies which implied that the Legal Amazon region tends toward a net-zero annual source of terrestrial carbon. In contrast, our analysis implies that the total source fluxes over the entire Legal Amazon region range from 0.2 to 1.2 Pg C yr -1, depending strongly on annual rainfall patterns. The reasons for our higher burning emission estimates are (1) use of combustion fractions typically measured during Amazon forest burning events for computing carbon losses, (2) more detailed geographic distribution of vegetation biomass and daily fire activity for the region, and (3) inclusion of fire effects in extensive areas of the Legal Amazon covered by open woodland, secondary forests, savanna, and pasture vegetation. The total area of rainforest estimated annually to be deforested did not differ substantially among the previous analyses cited and our own.

To burn or not to burn

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Busch, L.

1993-01-01

While taking a match to an oil slick may sound like the making of a chaotic inferno, emergency response specialists say burning may be the most efficient way to remove large oil spills from the ocean's surface. But tests of this technique are being resisted by environmentalists as well as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which has final authority over the matter. The debate over test burning arose most recently in Alaska when a proposal to spill and then ignite 1,000 barrels of crude on the Arctic Ocean this past summer was rejected by the EPA. The EPA didn't object to the technique or to the notion of burning spilled oil. However, it contends that it's not necessary to spill thousands of gallons of oil to conduct tests, and unnecessarily pollute the environment, when plenty of oil is already available from accidental spills. Researchers disagree, claiming they won't be able to use the burning technique on an actual spill until it has been tested in a controlled experiment. Despite such concerns, the Canadian government is going ahead with a test burn off the coast of Newfoundland next year. Faced with a choice of test burning or the kind of shoreline contamination left in the wake of the Exxon Valdez disaster, Environment Canada opts for testing. Learning valuable lessons about rapid oil-spill cleanup is worth the relatively minor risks to the environment that test burning would pose

Extraction Socket Preservation Using Porcine-Derived Collagen Membrane Alone or Associated with Porcine-Derived Bone. Clinical Results of Randomized Controlled Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Renzo Guarnieri

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Objectives: The aim of present randomized controlled clinical trial was to clinically evaluate hard tissue changes after extraction socket preservation procedures compared to natural spontaneous healing. Material and Methods: Thirty patients were enrolled in the present study and underwent single-tooth extraction in the premolar/molar areas. Ten sites were grafted with porcine-derived bone covered by collagen membrane, 10 covered by porcine-derived collagen membrane alone, and 10 underwent natural spontaneous healing. Vertical and horizontal bone changes after 3-month were evaluated at implant placement. Results: The vertical and horizontal bone changes at the extraction sockets treated with collagen membrane alone (vertical: -0.55 [SD 0.11] mm, and horizontal: -1.21 [SD 0.69] mm and collagen membrane plus porcine-derived bone (vertical: -0.37 [SD 0.7] mm, and horizontal: -0.91 [SD 0.53] mm were found significantly lower (P < 0.001, when compared to non-grafted sockets (vertical: -2.09 [SD 0.19] mm, and horizontal: -3.96 [SD 0.87] mm. In type 1 extraction sockets, in premolar sites, and in presence of vestibular bone thicknesses ≥ 1.5 mm, the use of collagen membrane alone revealed similar outcomes to those with additional graft material. Conclusions: At the re-entry surgery, extraction sockets grafted with porcine-derived bone and covered by collagen membrane, and extraction sockets covered by porcine-derived collagen membrane alone, showed significantly lower vertical and horizontal bone changes, compared to extraction sockets sites underwent natural spontaneous healing. However, a complete prevention of remodelling is not achievable, irrespective of the technique used.

Burn wound: Pathophysiology and its management by herbal plants

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dhirender Kaushik

2013-01-01

Full Text Available In human body, wound healing is a normal biological phenomenon. Burns may be acute or chronic depending upon the source and its time of exposure. Burn wounds may be superficial, partial or full thickness wounds. When skin comes in contact with higher temperature, protein denaturation takes place due to which the plasma membrane integrity is lost. When skin is burned, a number of inflammatory mediators and releasing agents such as histamine, nitric oxide, oxygen free radicals, eicosanoid products, tumor necrosis factors, and interleukins etc., are released at the site. For wound healing mechanism, the keratinocytes has to move from uninjured site to the burned area. For deeper burns this process takes a long time. By some unknown mechanisms, burn wounds may convert from one form to another form. So burn wound depth must be accurately measured before starting the treatment to prevent the complications. Burns can be induced in experimental animals by using different models. Many treatments such as herbal drugs, topical agents, gene therapy, volume therapy, and rehabilitation can be employed. This review article mainly deals with the theoretical and practical aspects of burn wound healing. Some burn wound healing plants with their chemical constituents, plant part used, uses and animal models are described here.

Clinical and pathological outcomes after irreversible electroporation of the pancreas using two parallel plate electrodes: a porcine model.

Science.gov (United States)

Rombouts, Steffi J E; van Dijck, Willemijn P M; Nijkamp, Maarten W; Derksen, Tyche C; Brosens, Lodewijk A A; Hoogwater, Frederik J H; van Leeuwen, Maarten S; Borel Rinkes, Inne H M; van Hillegersberg, Richard; Wittkampf, Fred H; Molenaar, Izaak Q

2017-12-01

Irreversible electroporation (IRE) by inserting needles around the tumor as treatment for locally advanced pancreatic cancer entails several disadvantages, such as incomplete ablation due to field inhomogeneity, technical difficulties in needle placement and a risk of pancreatic fistula development. This experimental study evaluates outcomes of IRE using paddles in a porcine model. Six healthy pigs underwent laparotomy and were treated with 2 separate ablations (in head and tail of the pancreas). Follow-up consisted of clinical and laboratory parameters and contrast-enhanced computed tomography (ceCT) imaging. After 2 weeks, pancreatoduodenectomy was performed for histology and the pigs were terminated. All animals survived 14 days. None of the animals developed signs of infection or significant abdominal distention. Serum amylase and lipase peaked at day 1 postoperatively in all pigs, but normalized without signs of pancreatitis. On ceCT-imaging the ablation zone was visible as an ill-defined, hypodense lesion. No abscesses, cysts or ascites were seen. Histology showed a homogenous fibrotic lesion in all pigs. IRE ablation of healthy porcine pancreatic tissue using two plate electrodes is feasible and safe and creates a homogeneous fibrotic lesion. IRE-paddles should be tested on pancreatic adenocarcinoma to determine the effect in cancer tissue. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Two dimensional burn-up calculation of TRIGA core

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Persic, A.; Ravnik, M.; Slavic, S.

1996-01-01

TRIGLAV is a new computer program for burn-up calculation of mixed core of research reactors. The code is based on diffusion model in two dimensions and iterative procedure is applied for its solution. The material data used in the model are calculated with the transport program WIMS. In regard to fission density distribution and energy produced by the reactor the burn-up increment of fuel elements is determined. In this paper the calculation model of diffusion constants and burn-up calculation are described and some results of calculations for TRIGA MARK II reactor are presented. (author)

Porcine embryonic stem cells

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hall, Vanessa Jane

2008-01-01

The development of porcine embryonic stem cell lines (pESC) has received renewed interest given the advances being made in the production of immunocompatible transgenic pigs. However, difficulties are evident in the production of pESCs in-vitro. This may largely be attributable to differences...

A combustion model of vegetation burning in "Tiger" fire propagation tool

Science.gov (United States)

Giannino, F.; Ascoli, D.; Sirignano, M.; Mazzoleni, S.; Russo, L.; Rego, F.

2017-11-01

In this paper, we propose a semi-physical model for the burning of vegetation in a wildland fire. The main physical-chemical processes involved in fire spreading are modelled through a set of ordinary differential equations, which describe the combustion process as linearly related to the consumption of fuel. The water evaporation process from leaves and wood is also considered. Mass and energy balance equations are written for fuel (leaves and wood) assuming that combustion process is homogeneous in space. The model is developed with the final aim of simulating large-scale wildland fires which spread on heterogeneous landscape while keeping the computation cost very low.

Psychiatric aspects of burn

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dalal P

2010-10-01

Full Text Available Burn injuries and their subsequent treatment cause one of the most excruciating forms of pain imaginable. The psychological aspects of burn injury have been researched in different parts of the world, producing different outcomes. Studies have shown that greater levels of acute pain are associated with negative long-term psychological effects such as acute stress disorder, depression, suicidal ideation, and post-traumatic stress disorder for as long as 2 years after the initial burn injury. The concept of allostatic load is presented as a potential explanation for the relationship between acute pain and subsequent psychological outcomes. A biopsychosocial model is also presented as a means of obtaining better inpatient pain management and helping to mediate this relationship.

Endovascular Broad-Neck Aneurysm Creation in a Porcine Model Using a Vascular Plug

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mühlenbruch, Georg; Nikoubashman, Omid; Steffen, Björn; Dadak, Mete; Palmowski, Moritz; Wiesmann, Martin

2013-01-01

Ruptured cerebral arterial aneurysms require prompt treatment by either surgical clipping or endovascular coiling. Training for these sophisticated endovascular procedures is essential and ideally performed in animals before their use in humans. Simulators and established animal models have shown drawbacks with respect to degree of reality, size of the animal model and aneurysm, or time and effort needed for aneurysm creation. We therefore aimed to establish a realistic and readily available aneurysm model. Five anticoagulated domestic pigs underwent endovascular intervention through right femoral access. A total of 12 broad-neck aneurysms were created in the carotid, subclavian, and renal arteries using the Amplatzer vascular plug. With dedicated vessel selection, cubic, tubular, and side-branch aneurysms could be created. Three of the 12 implanted occluders, two of them implanted over a side branch of the main vessel, did not induce complete vessel occlusion. However, all aneurysms remained free of intraluminal thrombus formation and were available for embolization training during a surveillance period of 6 h. Two aneurysms underwent successful exemplary treatment: one was stent-assisted, and one was performed with conventional endovascular coil embolization. The new porcine aneurysm model proved to be a straightforward approach that offers a wide range of training and scientific applications that might help further improve endovascular coil embolization therapy in patients with cerebral aneurysms.

Endovascular Broad-Neck Aneurysm Creation in a Porcine Model Using a Vascular Plug

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Muehlenbruch, Georg, E-mail: gmuehlenbruch@ukaachen.de; Nikoubashman, Omid; Steffen, Bjoern; Dadak, Mete [RWTH Aachen University, Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, University Hospital (Germany); Palmowski, Moritz [RWTH Aachen University, Department of Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital (Germany); Wiesmann, Martin [RWTH Aachen University, Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, University Hospital (Germany)

2013-02-15

Ruptured cerebral arterial aneurysms require prompt treatment by either surgical clipping or endovascular coiling. Training for these sophisticated endovascular procedures is essential and ideally performed in animals before their use in humans. Simulators and established animal models have shown drawbacks with respect to degree of reality, size of the animal model and aneurysm, or time and effort needed for aneurysm creation. We therefore aimed to establish a realistic and readily available aneurysm model. Five anticoagulated domestic pigs underwent endovascular intervention through right femoral access. A total of 12 broad-neck aneurysms were created in the carotid, subclavian, and renal arteries using the Amplatzer vascular plug. With dedicated vessel selection, cubic, tubular, and side-branch aneurysms could be created. Three of the 12 implanted occluders, two of them implanted over a side branch of the main vessel, did not induce complete vessel occlusion. However, all aneurysms remained free of intraluminal thrombus formation and were available for embolization training during a surveillance period of 6 h. Two aneurysms underwent successful exemplary treatment: one was stent-assisted, and one was performed with conventional endovascular coil embolization. The new porcine aneurysm model proved to be a straightforward approach that offers a wide range of training and scientific applications that might help further improve endovascular coil embolization therapy in patients with cerebral aneurysms.

Is proportion burned severely related to daily area burned?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Birch, Donovan S; Morgan, Penelope; Smith, Alistair M S; Kolden, Crystal A; Hudak, Andrew T

2014-01-01

The ecological effects of forest fires burning with high severity are long-lived and have the greatest impact on vegetation successional trajectories, as compared to low-to-moderate severity fires. The primary drivers of high severity fire are unclear, but it has been hypothesized that wind-driven, large fire-growth days play a significant role, particularly on large fires in forested ecosystems. Here, we examined the relative proportion of classified burn severity for individual daily areas burned that occurred during 42 large forest fires in central Idaho and western Montana from 2005 to 2007 and 2011. Using infrared perimeter data for wildfires with five or more consecutive days of mapped perimeters, we delineated 2697 individual daily areas burned from which we calculated the proportions of each of three burn severity classes (high, moderate, and low) using the differenced normalized burn ratio as mapped for large fires by the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity project. We found that the proportion of high burn severity was weakly correlated (Kendall τ = 0.299) with size of daily area burned (DAB). Burn severity was highly variable, even for the largest (95th percentile) in DAB, suggesting that other variables than fire extent influence the ecological effects of fires. We suggest that these results do not support the prioritization of large runs during fire rehabilitation efforts, since the underlying assumption in this prioritization is a positive relationship between severity and area burned in a day. (letters)

Targeted Gene Knockin in Porcine Somatic Cells Using CRISPR/Cas Ribonucleoproteins

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ki-Eun Park

2016-05-01

Full Text Available The pig is an ideal large animal model for genetic engineering applications. A relatively short gestation interval and large litter size makes the pig a conducive model for generating and propagating genetic modifications. The domestic pig also shares close similarity in anatomy, physiology, size, and life expectancy, making it an ideal animal for modeling human diseases. Often, however, the technical difficulties in generating desired genetic modifications such as targeted knockin of short stretches of sequences or transgenes have impeded progress in this field. In this study, we have investigated and compared the relative efficiency of CRISPR/Cas ribonucleoproteins in engineering targeted knockin of pseudo attP sites downstream of a ubiquitously expressed COL1A gene in porcine somatic cells and generated live fetuses by somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT. By leveraging these knockin pseudo attP sites, we have demonstrated subsequent phiC31 integrase mediated integration of green fluorescent protein (GFP transgene into the site. This work for the first time created an optimized protocol for CRISPR/Cas mediated knockin in porcine somatic cells, while simultaneously creating a stable platform for future transgene integration and generating transgenic animals.

Isolation and purification of porcine LH for radioimmunoassay and radioreceptor assay

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ziecik, A.; Goralska, M.; Krzymowski, T.; Pogorzelski, K.

1979-01-01

The procedure of isolation and purification of LH from porcine pituitary glands is described. From 1 kg of pituitary glands 150 mg of LH GPZ-1 preparation of high purity were obtained. Immunization of rabbits with the prepared hormone gave homogeneous antibodies against porcine LH with high affinity and low cross-reactions with FSH. Radioreceptor assay with the use of the prepared porcine LH demonstrated the high capacity of cell membrane receptors of the boar tests for binding this hormone. (author)

Immunological half-life of porcine proinsulin C-peptide

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Oyama, H; Horino, M; Matsumura, S [Kawasaki Medical Coll., Kurashiki (Japan). Div. of Endocrinology; Kobayshi, K; Suetsugu, N [Yamaguchi Univ., Ube (Japan). School of Medicine

1975-11-01

Immunological half-lifes of injected porcine C-peptide and insulin with RIA were studied and calculated as 9.8 and 8.0 minutes. Higher circulating levels of C-peptide as compared to insulin in normal young swines lead to speculation about a longer half-life of C-peptide. This hypothesis was verified in this study. Immunological half-lifes of porcine proinsulin and insulin in the pig were 20 and 6 minutes, respectively.

The effect of subretinal viscoelastics on the porcine retinal function

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Nina Fischer; Ejstrup, Rasmus; Svahn, Thøger Frøsig

2012-01-01

pharmaceutical therapy is needed, and can only be tested in a suitable animal model. The porcine model is promising and the mfERG is well validated in this model. RD was induced in 18 pigs by vitrectomy and healon injection of various concentrations. Preoperatively and 6 weeks postoperatively eight animals were...... examined by mfERG. The major component P1 was analyzed statistically. Indirect ophthalmoscopy and bilateral color fundus photography (FP) were performed. Selected animals underwent high-resolution optical coherence tomography (OCT). Examination by ophthalmoscopy and FP showed that the RDs remained detached...

Development of Metabolic Indicators of Burn Injury: Very Low Density Lipoprotein (VLDL and Acetoacetate Are Highly Correlated to Severity of Burn Injury in Rats

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria-Louisa Izamis

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Hypermetabolism is a significant sequela to severe trauma such as burns, as well as critical illnesses such as cancer. It persists in parallel to, or beyond, the original pathology for many months as an often-fatal comorbidity. Currently, diagnosis is based solely on clinical observations of increased energy expenditure, severe muscle wasting and progressive organ dysfunction. In order to identify the minimum number of necessary variables, and to develop a rat model of burn injury-induced hypermetabolism, we utilized data mining approaches to identify the metabolic variables that strongly correlate to the severity of injury. A clustering-based algorithm was introduced into a regression model of the extent of burn injury. As a result, a neural network model which employs VLDL and acetoacetate levels was demonstrated to predict the extent of burn injury with 88% accuracy in the rat model. The physiological importance of the identified variables in the context of hypermetabolism, and necessary steps in extension of this preliminary model to a clinically utilizable index of severity of burn injury are outlined.

An assessment of burn care professionals' attitudes to major burn.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Murphy, A D

2008-06-01

The resuscitation of severe burn remains a controversial area within the burn care profession. There is ongoing debate as to what percentage burn is associated with a sufficient quality of life to support initial resuscitation efforts. We conducted a survey of delegates at the 39th Annual Meeting of the British Burns Association (2005), regarding attitudes towards resuscitation following major burns. Respondents were asked the maximum percentage total body surface area (TBSA) burn beyond which they would not wish to be resuscitated. They were also asked what maximum TBSA they perceived to be commensurate with an acceptable quality of life (QOL). One hundred and forty three of 300 delegates responded to the questionnaire. Thirty three percent of respondents would not wish to be resuscitated with 50-75% TBSA burns or greater. A further 35% would not wish to have life-sustaining intervention with 75-95% TBSA burns or greater. The remaining 32% indicated that they would not want resuscitation with TBSA burns>95%. Regardless of TBSA affected, 16% would not wish resuscitation if they had full thickness facial burns, a further 10% did not want resuscitation if both their hands and faces were affected. Our survey demonstrates the diversity of personal preference amongst burn care professionals. This would suggest that a unifying philosophy regarding the resuscitation of extensive burns will remain elusive.

Mechanical characterisation of porcine rectus sheath under uniaxial and biaxial tension.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Lyons, Mathew

2014-06-03

Incisional hernia development is a significant complication after laparoscopic abdominal surgery. Intra-abdominal pressure (IAP) is known to initiate the extrusion of intestines through the abdominal wall, but there is limited data on the mechanics of IAP generation and the structural properties of rectus sheath. This paper presents an explanation of the mechanics of IAP development, a study of the uniaxial and biaxial tensile properties of porcine rectus sheath, and a simple computational investigation of the tissue. Analysis using Laplace׳s law showed a circumferential stress in the abdominal wall of approx. 1.1MPa due to an IAP of 11kPa, commonly seen during coughing. Uniaxial and biaxial tensile tests were conducted on samples of porcine rectus sheath to characterise the stress-stretch responses of the tissue. Under uniaxial tension, fibre direction samples failed on average at a stress of 4.5MPa at a stretch of 1.07 while cross-fibre samples failed at a stress of 1.6MPa under a stretch of 1.29. Under equi-biaxial tension, failure occurred at 1.6MPa with the fibre direction stretching to only 1.02 while the cross-fibre direction stretched to 1.13. Uniaxial and biaxial stress-stretch plots are presented allowing detailed modelling of the tissue either in silico or in a surrogate material. An FeBio computational model of the tissue is presented using a combination of an Ogden and an exponential power law model to represent the matrix and fibres respectively. The structural properties of porcine rectus sheath have been characterised and add to the small set of human data in the literature with which it may be possible to develop methods to reduce the incidence of incisional hernia development.

Air-Freshener Burns: A New Paradigm in Burns Etiology?

OpenAIRE

Sarwar, Umran; Nicolaou, M.; Khan, M. S.; Tiernan, E.

2011-01-01

Objectives: We report a rare case of burns following the use of automated air-fresheners. Methods: We present a case report with a brief overview of the literature relating to burns associated with air-fresheners. The mechanism and treatment of these types of injuries are also described. Results: A 44 year-old female was admitted under the care of the burns team following burns secondary to an exploding air-freshener canister. The patient sustained burns to the face, thorax and arms re...

Air-freshener burns: a new paradigm in burns etiology?

Science.gov (United States)

Sarwar, Umran; Nicolaou, M; Khan, M S; Tiernan, E

2011-10-01

We report a rare case of burns following the use of automated air-fresheners. We present a case report with a brief overview of the literature relating to burns associated with air-fresheners. The mechanism and treatment of these types of injuries are also described. A 44 year-old female was admitted under the care of the burns team following burns secondary to an exploding air-freshener canister. The patient sustained burns to the face, thorax and arms resulting in a seven-day hospital admission. The burns were treated conservatively. To our knowledge this is one of the few documented cases of burns as a result of air-fresheners. As they become more ubiquitous, we anticipate the incidence of such cases to increase. As such, they pose a potential public health concern on a massive scale.

Design of a model to predict surge capacity bottlenecks for burn mass casualties at a large academic medical center.

Science.gov (United States)

Abir, Mahshid; Davis, Matthew M; Sankar, Pratap; Wong, Andrew C; Wang, Stewart C

2013-02-01

To design and test a model to predict surge capacity bottlenecks at a large academic medical center in response to a mass-casualty incident (MCI) involving multiple burn victims. Using the simulation software ProModel, a model of patient flow and anticipated resource use, according to principles of disaster management, was developed based upon historical data from the University Hospital of the University of Michigan Health System. Model inputs included: (a) age and weight distribution for casualties, and distribution of size and depth of burns; (b) rate of arrival of casualties to the hospital, and triage to ward or critical care settings; (c) eligibility for early discharge of non-MCI inpatients at time of MCI; (d) baseline occupancy of intensive care unit (ICU), surgical step-down, and ward; (e) staff availability-number of physicians, nurses, and respiratory therapists, and the expected ratio of each group to patients; (f) floor and operating room resources-anticipating the need for mechanical ventilators, burn care and surgical resources, blood products, and intravenous fluids; (g) average hospital length of stay and mortality rate for patients with inhalation injury and different size burns; and (h) average number of times that different size burns undergo surgery. Key model outputs include time to bottleneck for each limiting resource and average waiting time to hospital bed availability. Given base-case model assumptions (including 100 mass casualties with an inter-arrival rate to the hospital of one patient every three minutes), hospital utilization is constrained within the first 120 minutes to 21 casualties, due to the limited number of beds. The first bottleneck is attributable to exhausting critical care beds, followed by floor beds. Given this limitation in number of patients, the temporal order of the ensuing bottlenecks is as follows: Lactated Ringer's solution (4 h), silver sulfadiazine/Silvadene (6 h), albumin (48 h), thrombin topical (72 h), type

Acute retinal ischemia caused by controlled low ocular perfusion pressure in a porcine model. Electrophysiological and histological characterisation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kyhn, Maria Voss; Warfvinge, Karin; Scherfig, Erik

2009-01-01

The purpose of this study was to establish, and characterize a porcine model of acute, controlled retinal ischemia. The controlled retinal ischemia was produced by clamping the ocular perfusion pressure (OPP) in the left eye to 5 mm Hg for 2 h. The OPP was defined as mean arterial blood pressure...... of the amplitudes obtained in the experimental, left eye, and the control, right eye. Quantitative histology was performed to measure the survival of ganglion cells, amacrine cells and horizontal cells 2-6 weeks after the ischemic insult. An OPP of 5 mm Hg for 2h induced significant reductions in the amplitudes...... the ischemic insult. This model seems to be suitable for investigations of therapeutic initiatives in diseases involving acute retinal ischemia....

Role of Daptomycin on Burn Wound Healing in an Animal Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Infection Model.

Science.gov (United States)

Simonetti, Oriana; Lucarini, Guendalina; Orlando, Fiorenza; Pierpaoli, Elisa; Ghiselli, Roberto; Provinciali, Mauro; Castelli, Pamela; Guerrieri, Mario; Di Primio, Roberto; Offidani, Annamaria; Giacometti, Andrea; Cirioni, Oscar

2017-09-01

Prolonged hospitalization and antibiotic therapy are risk factors for the development of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections in thermal burn patients. We used a rat model to study the in vivo efficacy of daptomycin in the treatment of burn wound infections by S. aureus , and we evaluated the wound healing process through morphological and immunohistochemical analysis. A copper bar heated in boiling water was applied on a paraspinal site of each rat, resulting in two full-thickness burns. A small gauze was placed over each burn and inoculated with 5 × 10 7 CFU of S. aureus ATCC 43300. The study included two uninfected control groups with and without daptomycin treatment, an infected control group that did not receive any treatment, and two infected groups treated, respectively, with intraperitoneal daptomycin and teicoplanin. The main outcome measures were quantitative culture, histological evaluation of tissue repair, and immunohistochemical expression of wound healing markers: epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF-2). The highest inhibition of infection was achieved in the group that received daptomycin, which reduced the bacterial load from 10 7 CFU/ml to about 10 3 CFU/g ( P repair by possibly reducing hypertrophic burn scar formation. Copyright © 2017 American Society for Microbiology.

Non-linear analysis of solid propellant burning rate behavior

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Junye Wang [Zhejiang Univ. of Technology, College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Hanzhou (China)

2000-07-01

The parametric analysis of the thermal wave model of the non-steady combustion of solid propellants is carried out under a sudden compression. First, to observe non-linear effects, solutions are obtained using a computer under prescribed pressure variations. Then, the effects of rearranging the spatial mesh, additional points, and the time step on numerical solutions are evaluated. Finally, the behaviour of the thermal wave combustion model is examined under large heat releases (H) and a dynamic factor ({beta}). The numerical predictions show that (1) the effect of a dynamic factor ({beta}), related to the magnitude of dp/dt, on the peak burning rate increases as the value of beta increases. However, unsteady burning rate 'runaway' does not appear and will return asymptotically to ap{sup n}, when {beta}{>=}10.0. The burning rate 'runaway' is a numerical difficulty, not a solution to the models. (2) At constant beta and m, the amplitude of the burning rate increases with increasing H. However, the increase in the burning rate amplitude is stepwise, and there is no apparent intrinsic instability limit. A damped oscillation of burning rate occurs when the value of H is less. However, when H>1.0, the state of an intrinsically unstable model is composed of repeated, amplitude spikes, i.e. an undamped oscillation occurs. (3) The effect of the time step on the peak burning rate increases as H increases. (Author)

Development of the life impact burn recovery evaluation (LIBRE) profile: assessing burn survivors' social participation.

Science.gov (United States)

Kazis, Lewis E; Marino, Molly; Ni, Pengsheng; Soley Bori, Marina; Amaya, Flor; Dore, Emily; Ryan, Colleen M; Schneider, Jeff C; Shie, Vivian; Acton, Amy; Jette, Alan M

2017-10-01

Measuring the impact burn injuries have on social participation is integral to understanding and improving survivors' quality of life, yet there are no existing instruments that comprehensively measure the social participation of burn survivors. This project aimed to develop the Life Impact Burn Recovery Evaluation Profile (LIBRE), a patient-reported multidimensional assessment for understanding the social participation after burn injuries. 192 questions representing multiple social participation areas were administered to a convenience sample of 601 burn survivors. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were used to identify the underlying structure of the data. Using item response theory methods, a Graded Response Model was applied for each identified sub-domain. The resultant multidimensional LIBRE Profile can be administered via Computerized Adaptive Testing (CAT) or fixed short forms. The study sample included 54.7% women with a mean age of 44.6 (SD 15.9) years. The average time since burn injury was 15.4 years (0-74 years) and the average total body surface area burned was 40% (1-97%). The CFA indicated acceptable fit statistics (CFI range 0.913-0.977, TLI range 0.904-0.974, RMSEA range 0.06-0.096). The six unidimensional scales were named: relationships with family and friends, social interactions, social activities, work and employment, romantic relationships, and sexual relationships. The marginal reliability of the full item bank and CATs ranged from 0.84 to 0.93, with ceiling effects less than 15% for all scales. The LIBRE Profile is a promising new measure of social participation following a burn injury that enables burn survivors and their care providers to measure social participation.

BurnCase 3D software validation study: Burn size measurement accuracy and inter-rater reliability.

Science.gov (United States)

Parvizi, Daryousch; Giretzlehner, Michael; Wurzer, Paul; Klein, Limor Dinur; Shoham, Yaron; Bohanon, Fredrick J; Haller, Herbert L; Tuca, Alexandru; Branski, Ludwik K; Lumenta, David B; Herndon, David N; Kamolz, Lars-P

2016-03-01

The aim of this study was to compare the accuracy of burn size estimation using the computer-assisted software BurnCase 3D (RISC Software GmbH, Hagenberg, Austria) with that using a 2D scan, considered to be the actual burn size. Thirty artificial burn areas were pre planned and prepared on three mannequins (one child, one female, and one male). Five trained physicians (raters) were asked to assess the size of all wound areas using BurnCase 3D software. The results were then compared with the real wound areas, as determined by 2D planimetry imaging. To examine inter-rater reliability, we performed an intraclass correlation analysis with a 95% confidence interval. The mean wound area estimations of the five raters using BurnCase 3D were in total 20.7±0.9% for the child, 27.2±1.5% for the female and 16.5±0.1% for the male mannequin. Our analysis showed relative overestimations of 0.4%, 2.8% and 1.5% for the child, female and male mannequins respectively, compared to the 2D scan. The intraclass correlation between the single raters for mean percentage of the artificial burn areas was 98.6%. There was also a high intraclass correlation between the single raters and the 2D Scan visible. BurnCase 3D is a valid and reliable tool for the determination of total body surface area burned in standard models. Further clinical studies including different pediatric and overweight adult mannequins are warranted. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd and ISBI. All rights reserved.

Systemic release of cytokines and heat shock proteins in porcine models of polytrauma and hemorrhage

Science.gov (United States)

Baker, Todd A.; Romero, Jacqueline; Bach, Harold H.; Strom, Joel A.; Gamelli, Richard L.; Majetschak, Matthias

2011-01-01

Objective To define systemic release kinetics of a panel of cytokines and heat shock proteins (HSP) in porcine polytrauma/hemorrhage models and to evaluate whether they could be useful as early trauma biomarkers. Design and Setting Prospective study in a research laboratory. Subjects Twenty-one Yorkshire pigs. Measurements and Main Results Pigs underwent polytrauma (femur fractures/lung contusion, P), hemorrhage (mean arterial pressure 25-30mmHg, H), polytrauma plus hemorrhage (P/H) or sham procedure (S). Plasma was obtained at baseline, in 5-15min intervals during a 60min shock period without intervention and in 60-120min intervals during fluid resuscitation for up to 300min. Plasma was assayed for IL-1β, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12/IL-23p40, IL-13, IL-17, IL-18, IFNγ, TGFβ, TNFα, HSP40, HSP70 and HSP90 by ELISA. All animals after S, P and H survived (n=5/group). Three of six animals after P/H died. IL-10 increased during shock after P and this increase was attenuated after H. TNFα increased during the shock period after P, H and also after S. P/H abolished the systemic IL-10 and TNFα release and resulted in 20-30% increased levels of IL-6 during shock. As fluid resuscitation was initiated TNFα and IL-10 levels decreased after P, H and P/H, HSP 70 increased after P, IL-6 levels remained elevated after P/H and also increased after P and S. Conclusions Differential regulation of the systemic cytokine release after polytrauma and/or hemorrhage, in combination with the effects of resuscitation, can explain the variability and inconsistent association of systemic cytokine/HSP levels with clinical variables in trauma patients. Insults of major severity (P/H) partially suppress the systemic inflammatory response. The plasma concentrations of the measured cytokines/HSPs do not reflect injury severity or physiological changes in porcine trauma models and are unlikely to be able to serve as useful trauma biomarkers in patients. PMID:21983369

Directed differentiation of porcine epiblast-derived neural progenitor cells into neurons and glia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasmussen, Mikkel Aabech; Hall, Vanessa Jane; Carter, T.F.

2011-01-01

Neural progenitor cells (NPCs) are promising candidates for cell-based therapy of neurodegenerative diseases; however, safety concerns must be addressed through transplantation studies in large animal models, such as the pig. The aim of this study was to derive NPCs from porcine blastocysts...

Biomass burning emissions of reactive gases estimated from satellite data analysis and ecosystem modeling for the Brazilian Amazon region

Science.gov (United States)

Potter, Christopher; Brooks-Genovese, Vanessa; Klooster, Steven; Torregrosa, Alicia

2002-10-01

To produce a new daily record of trace gas emissions from biomass burning events for the Brazilian Legal Amazon, we have combined satellite advanced very high resolution radiometer (AVHRR) data on fire counts together for the first time with vegetation greenness imagery as inputs to an ecosystem biomass model at 8 km spatial resolution. This analysis goes beyond previous estimates for reactive gas emissions from Amazon fires, owing to a more detailed geographic distribution estimate of vegetation biomass, coupled with daily fire activity for the region (original 1 km resolution), and inclusion of fire effects in extensive areas of the Legal Amazon (defined as the Brazilian states of Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Maranhao, Mato Grosso, Pará, Rondônia, Roraima, and Tocantins) covered by open woodland, secondary forests, savanna, and pasture vegetation. Results from our emissions model indicate that annual emissions from Amazon deforestation and biomass burning in the early 1990s total to 102 Tg yr-1 carbon monoxide (CO) and 3.5 Tg yr-1 nitrogen oxides (NOx). Peak daily burning emissions, which occurred in early September 1992, were estimated at slightly more than 3 Tg d-1for CO and 0.1 Tg d-1for NOx flux to the atmosphere. Other burning source fluxes of gases with relatively high emission factors are reported, including methane (CH4), nonmethane hydrocarbons (NMHC), and sulfur dioxide (SO2), in addition to total particulate matter (TPM). We estimate the Brazilian Amazon region to be a source of between one fifth and one third for each of these global emission fluxes to the atmosphere. The regional distribution of burning emissions appears to be highest in the Brazilian states of Maranhao and Tocantins, mainly from burning outside of moist forest areas, and in Pará and Mato Grosso, where we identify important contributions from primary forest cutting and burning. These new daily emission estimates of reactive gases from biomass burning fluxes are designed to be used as

Modeling the radiative effects of biomass burning aerosols on carbon fluxes in the Amazon region

Science.gov (United States)

Moreira, Demerval S.; Longo, Karla M.; Freitas, Saulo R.; Yamasoe, Marcia A.; Mercado, Lina M.; Rosário, Nilton E.; Gloor, Emauel; Viana, Rosane S. M.; Miller, John B.; Gatti, Luciana V.; Wiedemann, Kenia T.; Domingues, Lucas K. G.; Correia, Caio C. S.

2017-12-01

Every year, a dense smoke haze covers a large portion of South America originating from fires in the Amazon Basin and central parts of Brazil during the dry biomass burning season between August and October. Over a large portion of South America, the average aerosol optical depth at 550 nm exceeds 1.0 during the fire season, while the background value during the rainy season is below 0.2. Biomass burning aerosol particles increase scattering and absorption of the incident solar radiation. The regional-scale aerosol layer reduces the amount of solar energy reaching the surface, cools the near-surface air, and increases the diffuse radiation fraction over a large disturbed area of the Amazon rainforest. These factors affect the energy and CO2 fluxes at the surface. In this work, we applied a fully integrated atmospheric model to assess the impact of biomass burning aerosols in CO2 fluxes in the Amazon region during 2010. We address the effects of the attenuation of global solar radiation and the enhancement of the diffuse solar radiation flux inside the vegetation canopy. Our results indicate that biomass burning aerosols led to increases of about 27 % in the gross primary productivity of Amazonia and 10 % in plant respiration as well as a decline in soil respiration of 3 %. Consequently, in our model Amazonia became a net carbon sink; net ecosystem exchange during September 2010 dropped from +101 to -104 TgC when the aerosol effects are considered, mainly due to the aerosol diffuse radiation effect. For the forest biome, our results point to a dominance of the diffuse radiation effect on CO2 fluxes, reaching a balance of 50-50 % between the diffuse and direct aerosol effects for high aerosol loads. For C3 grasses and savanna (cerrado), as expected, the contribution of the diffuse radiation effect is much lower, tending to zero with the increase in aerosol load. Taking all biomes together, our model shows the Amazon during the dry season, in the presence of high

Modeling the radiative effects of biomass burning aerosols on carbon fluxes in the Amazon region

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. S. Moreira

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Every year, a dense smoke haze covers a large portion of South America originating from fires in the Amazon Basin and central parts of Brazil during the dry biomass burning season between August and October. Over a large portion of South America, the average aerosol optical depth at 550 nm exceeds 1.0 during the fire season, while the background value during the rainy season is below 0.2. Biomass burning aerosol particles increase scattering and absorption of the incident solar radiation. The regional-scale aerosol layer reduces the amount of solar energy reaching the surface, cools the near-surface air, and increases the diffuse radiation fraction over a large disturbed area of the Amazon rainforest. These factors affect the energy and CO2 fluxes at the surface. In this work, we applied a fully integrated atmospheric model to assess the impact of biomass burning aerosols in CO2 fluxes in the Amazon region during 2010. We address the effects of the attenuation of global solar radiation and the enhancement of the diffuse solar radiation flux inside the vegetation canopy. Our results indicate that biomass burning aerosols led to increases of about 27 % in the gross primary productivity of Amazonia and 10 % in plant respiration as well as a decline in soil respiration of 3 %. Consequently, in our model Amazonia became a net carbon sink; net ecosystem exchange during September 2010 dropped from +101 to −104 TgC when the aerosol effects are considered, mainly due to the aerosol diffuse radiation effect. For the forest biome, our results point to a dominance of the diffuse radiation effect on CO2 fluxes, reaching a balance of 50–50 % between the diffuse and direct aerosol effects for high aerosol loads. For C3 grasses and savanna (cerrado, as expected, the contribution of the diffuse radiation effect is much lower, tending to zero with the increase in aerosol load. Taking all biomes together, our model shows the Amazon during the dry

A biomechanical assessment to evaluate breed differences in normal porcine medial collateral ligaments.

Science.gov (United States)

Germscheid, Niccole M; Thornton, Gail M; Hart, David A; Hildebrand, Kevin A

2011-02-24

Little information is available on the role of genetic factors and heredity in normal ligament behaviour and their ability to heal. Assessing these factors is challenging because of the lack of suitable animal models. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to develop a porcine model in order to evaluate and compare the biomechanical differences of normal medial collateral ligaments (MCLs) between Yorkshire (YK) and red Duroc (RD) breeds. It was hypothesized that biomechanical differences would not exist between normal YK and RD MCLs. Comparisons between porcine and human MCL were also made. A biomechanical testing apparatus and protocol specific to pig MCL were developed. Ligaments were subjected to cyclic and static creep tests and then elongated to failure. Pig MCL morphology, geometry, and low- and high-load mechanical behaviour were assessed. The custom-designed apparatus and protocol were sufficiently sensitive to detect mechanical property differences between breeds as well as inter-leg differences. The results reveal that porcine MCL is comparable in both shape and size to human MCL and exhibits similar structural and material failure properties, thus making it a feasible model. Comparisons between RD and YK breeds revealed that age-matched RD pigs weigh more, have larger MCL cross-sectional area, and have lower MCL failure stress than YK pigs. The effect of weight may have influenced MCL geometrical and biomechanical properties, and consequently, the differences observed may be due to breed type and/or animal weight. In conclusion, the pig serves as a suitable large animal model for genetic-related connective tissue studies. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Reactive Burn Model Calibration for PETN Using Ultra-High-Speed Phase Contrast Imaging

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Carl; Ramos, Kyle; Bolme, Cindy; Sanchez, Nathaniel; Barber, John; Montgomery, David

2017-06-01

A 1D reactive burn model (RBM) calibration for a plastic bonded high explosive (HE) requires run-to-detonation data. In PETN (pentaerythritol tetranitrate, 1.65 g/cc) the shock to detonation transition (SDT) is on the order of a few millimeters. This rapid SDT imposes experimental length scales that preclude application of traditional calibration methods such as embedded electromagnetic gauge methods (EEGM) which are very effective when used to study 10 - 20 mm thick HE specimens. In recent work at Argonne National Laboratory's Advanced Photon Source we have obtained run-to-detonation data in PETN using ultra-high-speed dynamic phase contrast imaging (PCI). A reactive burn model calibration valid for 1D shock waves is obtained using density profiles spanning the transition to detonation as opposed to particle velocity profiles from EEGM. Particle swarm optimization (PSO) methods were used to operate the LANL hydrocode FLAG iteratively to refine SURF RBM parameters until a suitable parameter set attained. These methods will be presented along with model validation simulations. The novel method described is generally applicable to `sensitive' energetic materials particularly those with areal densities amenable to radiography.

In-situ burning of Orimulsion : small scale burns

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fingas, M.F.

2002-01-01

This study examined the feasibility of burning Orimulsion. In-situ burning has always been a viable method for cleaning oil spills on water because it can effectively reduce the amount of spilled oil and eliminate the need to collect, store, transport and dispose of recovered oil. Orimulsion, however, behaves very differently from conventional oil when it is spilled because of its composition of 70 per cent bitumen in 30 per cent water. In-situ burning of this surfactant-stablized oil-in-water emulsion has never been seriously considered because of the perception that Orimulsion could not be ignited, and if it could, ignition would not be sustained. In this study, burn tests were conducted on 3 scales in a Cleveland Open Cup apparatus of 5 cm, 10 cm and 50 cm diameters. Larger scale burns were conducted in specially built pans. All tests were conducted on salt water which caused the bitumen to separate from the water. The objective was to determine if sufficient vapours could be generated to ignite the Orimulsion. The study also measured if a sustained flame would result in successful combustion. Both objectives were successfully accomplished. Diesel fuel was used to ignite the Orimulsion in the specially designed pan for large scale combustion. Quantitative removal of Orimulsion was achieved in all cases, but in some burns it was necessary to re-ignite the Orimulsion. It was noted that when Orimulsion burns, some trapped water droplets in the bitumen explode with enough force to extinguish a small flame. This did not occur on large-scale burns. It was concluded that the potential for successful in-situ burning increases with size. It was determined that approximately 1 mm in thickness of diesel fuel is needed to ignite a burn. 5 refs., 3 tabs., 4 figs

Intracoronary infusion of Wharton’ jelly derived mesenchymal stem cells in the treatment of chronic ischemia cardiomyopathy in porcine model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ning-kun ZHANG

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Objective　To investigate the safety and efficacy of transplantation of allogeneic Wharton' jelly-derived mesenchymal stem cells (WJMSCs in a porcine model of chronic ischemia cardiomyopathy. Methods　Cardiomyopathy models (CIMP were reproduced in 25 minipigs out of 29 by left anterior descending coronary artery balloon occlusion, and the 4 remains served as sham group. The left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF was detected by echocardiography, and the value ≤45% was defined as successful modeling. Of that 25 minipigs, 5 died, 3 failed of modeling and 17 remains were successfully modelled. The dose safety experiment of WJMSCs transplantation was firstly performed in 3 successful models and 3 failed models. Three doses were teste d in turn at 6×106, 1×107 and 2×107 with 1 successful and 1 failed model for each dose, and TIMI 3 was considered safety dosage. The remainder 14 CIMP models were randomly assigned to transplantation group and control group (7 each, and given 2×107 WJMSCs intracoronary infusion or equal amounts of normal saline respectively. Echocardiography, histopathology and immunofluorescence tests were performed 8 weeks after WJMSCs transplantation. Results　LVEF increased by 11.6% (P<0.01 and the left ventricular end systolic volume decreased by 4.1ml (P<0.05 in CIMP models 8 weeks after WJMSCs transplantation, while in control group the ventricular function further deteriorated (LVEF decreased from 42.8% to 35.9%, P<0.01 and the left ventricular further expanded [left ventricular end diastolic volume (LVEDV increased from 42.8±1.2ml to 46.7±1.3ml (P<0.05]. Histopathological assessment showed that the ventricular wall in the infarction area was significantly thickening and the vascular density in the border zone was obviously increased in transplantation group. Immunofluorescence test revealed that the injected Myc-WJMSCs survived in the immunocompetent host heart, and colocalized with cardiac troponin T, α-actin and

Long term mortality in critically ill burn survivors.

Science.gov (United States)

Nitzschke, Stephanie; Offodile, Anaeze C; Cauley, Ryan P; Frankel, Jason E; Beam, Andrew; Elias, Kevin M; Gibbons, Fiona K; Salim, Ali; Christopher, Kenneth B

2017-09-01

Little is known about long term survival risk factors in critically ill burn patients who survive hospitalization. We hypothesized that patients with major burns who survive hospitalization would have favorable long term outcomes. We performed a two center observational cohort study in 365 critically ill adult burn patients who survived to hospital discharge. The exposure of interest was major burn defined a priori as >20% total body surface area burned [TBSA]. The modified Baux score was determined by age + %TBSA+ 17(inhalational injury). The primary outcome was all-cause 5year mortality based on the US Social Security Administration Death Master File. Adjusted associations were estimated through fitting of multivariable logistic regression models. Our final model included adjustment for inhalational injury, presence of 3rd degree burn, gender and the acute organ failure score, a validated ICU risk-prediction score derived from age, ethnicity, surgery vs. medical patient type, comorbidity, sepsis and acute organ failure covariates. Time-to-event analysis was performed using Cox proportional hazard regression. Of the cohort patients studied, 76% were male, 29% were non white, 14% were over 65, 32% had TBSA >20%, and 45% had inhalational injury. The mean age was 45, 92% had 2nd degree burns, 60% had 3rd degree burns, 21% received vasopressors, and 26% had sepsis. The mean TBSA was 20.1%. The mean modified Baux score was 72.8. Post hospital discharge 5year mortality rate was 9.0%. The 30day hospital readmission rate was 4%. Patients with major burns were significantly younger (41 vs. 47 years) had a significantly higher modified Baux score (89 vs. 62), and had significantly higher comorbidity, acute organ failure, inhalational injury and sepsis (all Pburns. In the multivariable logistic regression model, major burn was associated with a 3 fold decreased odds of 5year post-discharge mortality compared to patients with TBSAburn, gender and the acute organ failure score

Refined Use of Satellite Aerosol Optical Depth Snapshots to Constrain Biomass Burning Emissions in the GOCART Model

Science.gov (United States)

Petrenko, Mariya; Kahn, Ralph; Chin, Mian; Limbacher, James

2017-10-01

Simulations of biomass burning (BB) emissions in global chemistry and aerosol transport models depend on external inventories, which provide location and strength for BB aerosol sources. Our previous work shows that to first order, satellite snapshots of aerosol optical depth (AOD) near the emitted smoke plume can be used to constrain model-simulated AOD, and effectively, the smoke source strength. We now refine the satellite-snapshot method and investigate where applying simple multiplicative emission adjustment factors alone to the widely used Global Fire Emission Database version 3 emission inventory can achieve regional-scale consistency between Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) AOD snapshots and the Goddard Chemistry Aerosol Radiation and Transport model. The model and satellite AOD are compared globally, over a set of BB cases observed by the MODIS instrument during the 2004, and 2006-2008 biomass burning seasons. Regional discrepancies between the model and satellite are diverse around the globe yet quite consistent within most ecosystems. We refine our approach to address physically based limitations of our earlier work (1) by expanding the number of fire cases from 124 to almost 900, (2) by using scaled reanalysis-model simulations to fill missing AOD retrievals in the MODIS observations, (3) by distinguishing the BB components of the total aerosol load from background aerosol in the near-source regions, and (4) by including emissions from fires too small to be identified explicitly in the satellite observations. The small-fire emission adjustment shows the complimentary nature of correcting for source strength and adding geographically distinct missing sources. Our analysis indicates that the method works best for fire cases where the BB fraction of total AOD is high, primarily evergreen or deciduous forests. In heavily polluted or agricultural burning regions, where smoke and background AOD values tend to be comparable, this approach

Comparison of 3 vaccination strategies against porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus, Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae, and porcine circovirus type 2 on a 3 pathogen challenge model.

Science.gov (United States)

Jeong, Jiwoon; Kang, Ikjae; Kim, Seeun; Park, Kee Hwan; Park, Changhoon; Chae, Chanhee

2018-01-01

The objective of this study was to compare clinical, microbiologic, immunologic, and pathologic parameters in pigs each concurrently administered porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV), Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae, and porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) vaccine from 1 of 2 commercial sources at 21 days of age and challenged with field strains of each of the 3 pathogens. Pigs were challenged with PRRSV and M. hyopneumoniae at 42 days of age (-14 days post-challenge, dpc) followed by a challenge with PCV2 at 56 days of age (0 dpc). Significant differences were observed between vaccinated challenged and unvaccinated challenged groups in clinical (average daily gain and clinical signs), microbiologic (viremia and nasal shedding), immunologic (antibodies and interferon-γ secreting cells), and pathologic (lesions) outcomes. Significant differences were observed among the 3 vaccinated challenged groups in microbiologic (nasal shedding of M. hyopneumoniae and viremia of PCV2) and immunologic ( M. hyopneumoniae - and PCV2-specific interferon-γ secreting cells) outcomes. The vaccination regimen for PRRSV vaccine, M. hyopneumoniae vaccine, and PCV2 vaccine is efficacious for controlling triple challenge with PRRSV, M. hyopneumoniae, and PCV2 from weaning to finishing period.

[Characteristics of porcine thoracic arteries fixed with polyepoxy compound].

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Xi-Xun; Chen, Huai-Qing

2005-09-01

To investigate the characteristics of porcine thoracic arteries fixed with ethylene glycol diglycidyl ether (EX-810) and to provide the proper scaffold materials for tissue-engineered blood vessel. The porcine thoracic arteries were respectively treated with 40 ml/L EX-810 and 6.25 g/L glutaraldehyde, and then they were examined with naked-eye, light microscope and scanning electron microscope. The fixation index determination, the amino acid analysis and the biomechanics test were also performed. The antigenicity of vascular tissues can be diminished by EX-810 through getting rid of cell in the vascular tissues or reducing the level of free amino groups in the vascular tissues. The structural integrity of vascular tissues can be preserved after treatment with EX-810. It was also found that the EX-810-fixed porcine vascular tissues appeared more similar to the natural vascular tissues in color and mechanical properties, and were more pliable than the glutaraldehyde-fixed tissues. The EX-810-fixed porcine thoracic arteries with low cytotoxicity and low antigenicity showed favorable characteristic similar to those of natural vessel, and it should be a promising material for fabricating scaffold of tissue-engineered blood vessel.

Porcine circovirus type 2 ORF4 protein binds heavy chain ferritin

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Porcine circovirus type 2 ORF4 protein binds heavy chain ferritin. Qizhuang Lv Kangkang Guo Tao Wang ... Keywords. Cellular protein; FHC; ORF4 protein; porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2); yeast two-hybrid ... Journal of Biosciences | News ...

Anti-Inflammatory Effect of Gallic Acid-Eluting Stent in a Porcine Coronary Restenosis Model

Science.gov (United States)

Seob Lim, Kyung; Park, Jun-Kyu; Ho Jeong, Myung; Ho Bae, In; Sung Park, Dae; Won Shim, Jae; Ha Kim, Jung; Kuk Kim, Hyun; Soo Kim, Sung; Sun Sim, Doo; Joon Hong, Young; Han Kim, Ju; Ahn, Youngkeun

2018-01-01

Background Gallic acid (3,4,5-trihydroxybenzoic acid) is a natural polyphenol and strong natural antioxidant found abundantly in red wine and green tea. The aim of this study was to examine the anti-inflammatory effect of a novel gallic acid-eluting stent in a porcine coronary restenosis model. Methods Fifteen pigs were randomized into three groups; in which a total of 30 coronary arteries (10 in each group) were implanted with gallic acid-eluting stents (GESs, n = 10), gallic acid and sirolimus-eluting stents (GSESs, n = 10), or sirolimus-eluting stents (SESs, n = 10). Histopathologic analysis was performed 28 days after stenting. Results There were no significant differences in injury score and fibrin score among the groups, however there were significant differences in the internal elastic lamina (4.0 ± 0.83 mm2 in GES vs. 3.0 ± 0.53 mm2 in GSES vs. 4.6 ± 1.43 mm2 in SES, p < 0.0001), lumen area (2.3 ± 0.49 mm2 in GES vs. 1.9 ± 0.67 mm2 in GSES vs. 2.9 ± 0.56 mm2 in SES, p < 0.0001), neointimal area (1.7 ± 0.63 mm2 in GES vs. 1.1 ± 0.28 mm2 in GSES vs. 1.7 ± 1.17 mm2 in SES, p < 0.05), and percent area of stenosis (42.4% ± 9.22% in GES vs. 38.2% ± 12.77% in GSES vs. 33.9% ± 15.64% in SES, p < 0.05). The inflammation score was significantly lower in the GES and GSES groups compared to that in the SES group [1.0 (range: 1.0 to 2.0) in GES vs. 1.0 (range: 1.0 to 1.0) in GSES vs. 1.5 (range: 1.0 to 3.0) in SES, p < 0.05]. Conclusions The GES group had a greater percent area of stenosis than the SES group. Although gallic acid in the GES and GSES groups did not show a synergistic effect in suppressing neointimal hyperplasia, it resulted in greater inhibition of the inflammatory reaction in the porcine coronary restenosis model than in the SES group. PMID:29844643

Evaluating the influences of biomass burning during 2006 BASE-ASIA: a regional chemical transport modeling

Science.gov (United States)

Fu, J. S.; Hsu, N. C.; Gao, Y.; Huang, K.; Li, C.; Lin, N.-H.; Tsay, S.-C.

2012-05-01

To evaluate the impact of biomass burning from Southeast Asia to East Asia, this study conducted numerical simulations during NASA's 2006 Biomass-burning Aerosols in South-East Asia: Smoke Impact Assessment (BASE-ASIA). Two typical episode periods (27-28 March and 13-14 April) were examined. Two emission inventories, FLAMBE and GFED, were used in the simulations. The influences during two episodes in the source region (Southeast Asia) contributed to the surface CO, O3 and PM2.5 concentrations as high as 400 ppbv, 20 ppbv and 80 μg m-3, respectively. The perturbations with and without biomass burning of the above three species during the intense episodes were in the range of 10 to 60%, 10 to 20% and 30 to 70%, respectively. The impact due to long-range transport could spread over the southeastern parts of East Asia and could reach about 160 to 360 ppbv, 8 to 18 ppbv and 8 to 64 μg m-3 on CO, O3 and PM2.5, respectively; the percentage impact could reach 20 to 50% on CO, 10 to 30% on O3, and as high as 70% on PM2.5. In March, the impact of biomass burning mainly concentrated in Southeast Asia and southern China, while in April the impact becomes slightly broader and even could go up to the Yangtze River Delta region. Two cross-sections at 15° N and 20° N were used to compare the vertical flux of biomass burning. In the source region (Southeast Asia), CO, O3 and PM2.5 concentrations had a strong upward transport from surface to high altitudes. The eastward transport becomes strong from 2 to 8 km in the free troposphere. The subsidence process during the long-range transport contributed 60 to 70%, 20 to 50%, and 80% on CO, O3 and PM2.5, respectively to surface in the downwind area. The study reveals the significant impact of Southeastern Asia biomass burning on the air quality in both local and downwind areas, particularly during biomass burning episodes. This modeling study might provide constraints of lower limit. An additional study is underway for an active

Okanagan indoor wood burning appliance inventory survey

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2001-01-01

A survey was conducted to determine the usage and nature of wood burning appliances used by residents in British Columbia's Okanagan region. The objective was to better understand this source of air quality concern and to facilitate strategic planning, guidelines and legislation. The survey also provides a baseline to track the effectiveness of any reduction strategies. It identifies the different types of wood burning appliances used in the community and presents residential options about potential bylaws to protect air quality. The receptivity of households to switch to more efficient wood burning appliances was also examined. The survey completes a portion of an overall emissions inventory for the Okanagan Valley. Environment Canada uses the particulate loading results to model the air quality in the airshed. Results showed that approximately 21 per cent of the households in the Okanagan use indoor wood burning appliances, and burn an average of 2.3 cords of wood each year. Only 11 per cent of the appliances are considered to have advanced burning technology. It is projected that the use of wood burning appliances in the Okanagan will increase by 5 to 7 per cent in the next 2 years. Most residents have good burning habits, but some improvements can still be made. Many residents are considering exchanging old wood burning appliances for clean burning technology appliances for environmental and health reasons. Most households would support a bylaw to control nuisance amounts of smoke from wood burning appliances. 20 tabs., 5 figs

Burn Injury Assessment Tool with Morphable 3D Human Body Models

Science.gov (United States)

2017-04-21

graphical user interface toolkit, Qt 5.8, for armeabi-v7a processor and linked to Java Development Kit 8 as well as Android NDK (Native Development Kit...demarcation, e.g. armpits and groin regions. We have previously added a skeletal framework to the ANSUR II male model through an Army SBIR Phase II project...of the whole body and each body part independently to simulate compartment swelling after burns. This skeletal framework will be added to our male

Preservation of enucleated porcine eyes for use in a wet laboratory

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nibourg, Lisanne M.; Koopmans, Steven A.

PURPOSE: To design a method to preserve enucleated porcine eyes for use in a wet laboratory. SETTING: Laboratory of Experimental Ophthalmology, University Medical Center Groningen, the Netherlands. DESIGN: Experimental study. METHODS: Porcine eyes were preserved using 15 methods including salt

Modelling carbonaceous aerosol from residential solid fuel burning with different assumptions for emissions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. Ots

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Evidence is accumulating that emissions of primary particulate matter (PM from residential wood and coal combustion in the UK may be underestimated and/or spatially misclassified. In this study, different assumptions for the spatial distribution and total emission of PM from solid fuel (wood and coal burning in the UK were tested using an atmospheric chemical transport model. Modelled concentrations of the PM components were compared with measurements from aerosol mass spectrometers at four sites in central and Greater London (ClearfLo campaign, 2012, as well as with measurements from the UK black carbon network.The two main alternative emission scenarios modelled were Base4x and combRedist. For Base4x, officially reported PM2.5 from the residential and other non-industrial combustion source sector were increased by a factor of four. For the combRedist experiment, half of the baseline emissions from this same source were redistributed by residential population density to simulate the effect of allocating some emissions to the smoke control areas (that are assumed in the national inventory to have no emissions from this source. The Base4x scenario yielded better daily and hourly correlations with measurements than the combRedist scenario for year-long comparisons of the solid fuel organic aerosol (SFOA component at the two London sites. However, the latter scenario better captured mean measured concentrations across all four sites. A third experiment, Redist – all emissions redistributed linearly to population density, is also presented as an indicator of the maximum concentrations an assumption like this could yield.The modelled elemental carbon (EC concentrations derived from the combRedist experiments also compared well with seasonal average concentrations of black carbon observed across the network of UK sites. Together, the two model scenario simulations of SFOA and EC suggest both that residential solid fuel emissions may be higher than

Modelling carbonaceous aerosol from residential solid fuel burning with different assumptions for emissions

Science.gov (United States)

Ots, Riinu; Heal, Mathew R.; Young, Dominique E.; Williams, Leah R.; Allan, James D.; Nemitz, Eiko; Di Marco, Chiara; Detournay, Anais; Xu, Lu; Ng, Nga L.; Coe, Hugh; Herndon, Scott C.; Mackenzie, Ian A.; Green, David C.; Kuenen, Jeroen J. P.; Reis, Stefan; Vieno, Massimo

2018-04-01

Evidence is accumulating that emissions of primary particulate matter (PM) from residential wood and coal combustion in the UK may be underestimated and/or spatially misclassified. In this study, different assumptions for the spatial distribution and total emission of PM from solid fuel (wood and coal) burning in the UK were tested using an atmospheric chemical transport model. Modelled concentrations of the PM components were compared with measurements from aerosol mass spectrometers at four sites in central and Greater London (ClearfLo campaign, 2012), as well as with measurements from the UK black carbon network.The two main alternative emission scenarios modelled were Base4x and combRedist. For Base4x, officially reported PM2.5 from the residential and other non-industrial combustion source sector were increased by a factor of four. For the combRedist experiment, half of the baseline emissions from this same source were redistributed by residential population density to simulate the effect of allocating some emissions to the smoke control areas (that are assumed in the national inventory to have no emissions from this source). The Base4x scenario yielded better daily and hourly correlations with measurements than the combRedist scenario for year-long comparisons of the solid fuel organic aerosol (SFOA) component at the two London sites. However, the latter scenario better captured mean measured concentrations across all four sites. A third experiment, Redist - all emissions redistributed linearly to population density, is also presented as an indicator of the maximum concentrations an assumption like this could yield.The modelled elemental carbon (EC) concentrations derived from the combRedist experiments also compared well with seasonal average concentrations of black carbon observed across the network of UK sites. Together, the two model scenario simulations of SFOA and EC suggest both that residential solid fuel emissions may be higher than inventory

Biomass burning in Africa: As assessment of annually burned biomass

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Delmas, R.A.; Loudjani, P.; Podaire, A.; Menaut, J.C.

1991-01-01

It is now established that biomass burning is the dominant phenomenon that controls the atmospheric chemistry in the tropics. Africa is certainly the continent where biomass burning under various aspects and processes is the greatest. Three different types of burnings have to be considered-bush fires in savanna zones which mainly affect herbaceous flora, forest fires due to forestation for shifting agriculture or colonization of new lands, and the use of wood as fuel. The net release of carbon resulting from deforestation is assumed to be responsible for about 20% of the CO 2 increase in the atmosphere because the burning of forests corresponds to a destorage of carbon from the biospheric reservoir. The amount of reactive of greenhouse gases emitted by biomass burning is directly proportional, through individual emission factors, to the biomass actually burned. This chapter evaluates the biomass annually burned on the African continent as a result of the three main burning processes previously mentioned

Enzyme immunoassay for the detection of porcine gelatine in edible bird's nests.

Science.gov (United States)

Tukiran, Nur Azira; Ismail, Amin; Mustafa, Shuhaimi; Hamid, Muhajir

2015-01-01

Porcine gelatine is a common adulterant found in edible bird's nests (EBNs) used to increase the net weight prior to sale. This study aimed to develop indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) for porcine gelatine adulteration using anti-peptide polyclonal antibodies. Three indirect ELISAs were developed (PAB1, 2 and 3), which had limits of detection (LODs) of 0.12, 0.10 and 0.11 µg g(-1), respectively. When applied to standard solutions of porcine gelatine, the inter- and intra-assays showed coefficients of variation (CVs) less than 20% and were able to detect at least 0.5 ng µg(-1) (0.05%) porcine gelatine in spiked samples. The proposed ELISA offers attractions for quality control in the EBN industry.

Acute and chronic effects of dysfunction of right ventricular outflow tract components on right ventricular performance in a porcine model: implications for primary repair of tetralogy of fallot

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bove, Thierry; Bouchez, Stefaan; de Hert, Stefan; Wouters, Patrick; de Somer, Filip; Devos, Daniel; Somers, Pamela; van Nooten, Guido

2012-01-01

This study investigates the contribution of infundibular versus pulmonary valve (PV) dysfunction on right ventricular (RV) function in a porcine model. Clinical outcome after repair of tetralogy of Fallot is determined by the adaptation of the right ventricle to the physiological sequelae of the

Deoxynivalenol exposure induces autophagy/apoptosis and epigenetic modification changes during porcine oocyte maturation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Han, Jun; Wang, Qiao-Chu; Zhu, Cheng-Cheng; Liu, Jun; Zhang, Yu; Cui, Xiang-Shun; Kim, Nam-Hyung; Sun, Shao-Chen

2016-01-01

Deoxynivalenol (DON) is a widespread trichothecene mycotoxin which contaminates agricultural staples and elicits a complex spectrum of toxic effects on humans and animals. It has been shown that DON impairs oocyte maturation, reproductive function and causes abnormal fetal development in mammals; however, the mechanisms remain unclear. In the present study, we investigate the possible reasons of the toxic effects of DON on porcine oocytes. Our results showed that DON significantly inhibited porcine oocyte maturation and disrupted meiotic spindle by reducing p-MAPK protein level, which caused retardation of cell cycle progression. In addition, up-regulated LC3 protein expression and aberrant Lamp2, LC3 and mTOR mRNA levels were observed with DON exposure, together with Annexin V-FITC staining assay analysis, these results indicated that DON treatment induced autophagy/apoptosis in porcine oocytes. We also showed that DON exposure increased DNA methylation level in porcine oocytes through altering DNMT3A mRNA levels. Histone methylation levels were also changed showing with increased H3K27me3 and H3K4me2 protein levels, and mRNA levels of their relative methyltransferase genes, indicating that epigenetic modifications were affected. Taken together, our results suggested that DON exposure reduced porcine oocytes maturation capability through affecting cytoskeletal dynamics, cell cycle, autophagy/apoptosis and epigenetic modifications. - Highlights: • DON exposure disrupted meiotic spindle by reducing p-MAPK expression. • DON exposure caused retardation of cell cycle progression in porcine oocytes. • DON triggered autophagy and early-apoptosis in porcine oocytes. • DON exposure led to aberrant epigenetic modifications in porcine oocytes.

Deoxynivalenol exposure induces autophagy/apoptosis and epigenetic modification changes during porcine oocyte maturation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Han, Jun; Wang, Qiao-Chu; Zhu, Cheng-Cheng; Liu, Jun; Zhang, Yu [College of Animal Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095 (China); Cui, Xiang-Shun; Kim, Nam-Hyung [Department of Animal Science, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju 361-763 (Korea, Republic of); Sun, Shao-Chen, E-mail: sunsc@njau.edu.cn [College of Animal Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095 (China)

2016-06-01

Deoxynivalenol (DON) is a widespread trichothecene mycotoxin which contaminates agricultural staples and elicits a complex spectrum of toxic effects on humans and animals. It has been shown that DON impairs oocyte maturation, reproductive function and causes abnormal fetal development in mammals; however, the mechanisms remain unclear. In the present study, we investigate the possible reasons of the toxic effects of DON on porcine oocytes. Our results showed that DON significantly inhibited porcine oocyte maturation and disrupted meiotic spindle by reducing p-MAPK protein level, which caused retardation of cell cycle progression. In addition, up-regulated LC3 protein expression and aberrant Lamp2, LC3 and mTOR mRNA levels were observed with DON exposure, together with Annexin V-FITC staining assay analysis, these results indicated that DON treatment induced autophagy/apoptosis in porcine oocytes. We also showed that DON exposure increased DNA methylation level in porcine oocytes through altering DNMT3A mRNA levels. Histone methylation levels were also changed showing with increased H3K27me3 and H3K4me2 protein levels, and mRNA levels of their relative methyltransferase genes, indicating that epigenetic modifications were affected. Taken together, our results suggested that DON exposure reduced porcine oocytes maturation capability through affecting cytoskeletal dynamics, cell cycle, autophagy/apoptosis and epigenetic modifications. - Highlights: • DON exposure disrupted meiotic spindle by reducing p-MAPK expression. • DON exposure caused retardation of cell cycle progression in porcine oocytes. • DON triggered autophagy and early-apoptosis in porcine oocytes. • DON exposure led to aberrant epigenetic modifications in porcine oocytes.

Long-Term Survival of Neonatal Porcine Islets Without Sertoli Cells in Rabbits

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rafael Vald and eacute;s-Gonz and aacute;lez

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Cell-based therapy is a promising treatment for metabolic disorders such as type-1 diabetes. Transplantation protocols have investigated several anatomical sites for cell implantation; however, some of these procedures, such as intraportal infusion, can cause organ failure or thrombosis secondarily. Bio-artificial organs could be the choice, although concerns still remain. Using a subcutaneous device, we are able to preserve neonatal porcine islets without sertoli cells in healthy New Zealand rabbits. Devices were implanted in the back of the animals underneath the skin, and after 3 months the islets were transplanted. Histology showed the presence of inflammatory cells, predominantly eosinophils; however, insulin- and glucagon-positive cell clusters were identified inside the device at different time points for at least 90 days, and porcine C-peptide was also detected during the follow-up, indicating graft functionality. We have found that our device induces the deposition of a fibrous matrix enriched in blood vessels, which forms a good place for cell grafting, and this model is probably able to induce an immunoprivileged site. Under these conditions, transplanted porcine islet cells have the capability of producing insulin and glucagon for at least three months. [Arch Clin Exp Surg 2013; 2(2.000: 101-108

The Effect Of Supraphysiologic Blood Pressure on Traumatic Brain Injury and Proximal Tissue Beds During Resuscitative Balloon Occlusion of the Aorta and Variable Aortic Control in a Porcine Model (Sus scrofa) of Polytrauma.

Science.gov (United States)

2017-04-27

Control In A Porcine Model (Sus Scrofa) Of Polytrauma . PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (PI) / TRAINING COORDINATOR (TC): Lt Col Timothy Williams DEPARTMENT...Mandatory) The Effect of REBOA, Partial Aortic Occlusion and Aggressive Blood Transfusion on Traumatic Brain Injury in a Swine Polytrauma Model

Novel porcine repetitive elements

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nonneman Dan J

2006-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Repetitive elements comprise ~45% of mammalian genomes and are increasingly known to impact genomic function by contributing to the genomic architecture, by direct regulation of gene expression and by affecting genomic size, diversity and evolution. The ubiquity and increasingly understood importance of repetitive elements contribute to the need to identify and annotate them. We set out to identify previously uncharacterized repetitive DNA in the porcine genome. Once found, we characterized the prevalence of these repeats in other mammals. Results We discovered 27 repetitive elements in 220 BACs covering 1% of the porcine genome (Comparative Vertebrate Sequencing Initiative; CVSI. These repeats varied in length from 55 to 1059 nucleotides. To estimate copy numbers, we went to an independent source of data, the BAC-end sequences (Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, covering approximately 15% of the porcine genome. Copy numbers in BAC-ends were less than one hundred for 6 repeat elements, between 100 and 1000 for 16 and between 1,000 and 10,000 for 5. Several of the repeat elements were found in the bovine genome and we have identified two with orthologous sites, indicating that these elements were present in their common ancestor. None of the repeat elements were found in primate, rodent or dog genomes. We were unable to identify any of the replication machinery common to active transposable elements in these newly identified repeats. Conclusion The presence of both orthologous and non-orthologous sites indicates that some sites existed prior to speciation and some were generated later. The identification of low to moderate copy number repetitive DNA that is specific to artiodactyls will be critical in the assembly of livestock genomes and studies of comparative genomics.

30 CFR 816.87 - Coal mine waste: Burning and burned waste utilization.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Coal mine waste: Burning and burned waste...-SURFACE MINING ACTIVITIES § 816.87 Coal mine waste: Burning and burned waste utilization. (a) Coal mine... extinguishing operations. (b) No burning or burned coal mine waste shall be removed from a permitted disposal...

Dynamic Failure Properties of the Porcine Medial Collateral Ligament-Bone Complex for Predicting Injury in Automotive Collisions

Science.gov (United States)

Peck, Louis; Billiar, Kristen; Ray, Malcolm

2010-01-01

The goal of this study was to model the dynamic failure properties of ligaments and their attachment sites to facilitate the development of more realistic dynamic finite element models of the human lower extremities for use in automotive collision simulations. Porcine medial collateral ligaments were chosen as a test model due to their similarities in size and geometry with human ligaments. Each porcine medial collateral ligament-bone complex (n = 12) was held in a custom test fixture placed in a drop tower to apply an axial impulsive impact load, applying strain rates ranging from 0.005 s-1 to 145 s-1. The data from the impact tests were analyzed using nonlinear regression to construct model equations for predicting the failure load of ligament-bone complexes subjected to specific strain rates as calculated from finite element knee, thigh, and hip impact simulations. The majority of the ligaments tested failed by tibial avulsion (75%) while the remaining ligaments failed via mid-substance tearing. The failure load ranged from 384 N to 1184 N and was found to increase with the applied strain rate and the product of ligament length and cross-sectional area. The findings of this study indicate the force required to rupture the porcine MCL increases with the applied bone-to-bone strain rate in the range expected from high speed frontal automotive collisions. PMID:20461229

Integrated predictive modelling simulations of burning plasma experiment designs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bateman, Glenn; Onjun, Thawatchai; Kritz, Arnold H

2003-01-01

Models for the height of the pedestal at the edge of H-mode plasmas (Onjun T et al 2002 Phys. Plasmas 9 5018) are used together with the Multi-Mode core transport model (Bateman G et al 1998 Phys. Plasmas 5 1793) in the BALDUR integrated predictive modelling code to predict the performance of the ITER (Aymar A et al 2002 Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 44 519), FIRE (Meade D M et al 2001 Fusion Technol. 39 336), and IGNITOR (Coppi B et al 2001 Nucl. Fusion 41 1253) fusion reactor designs. The simulation protocol used in this paper is tested by comparing predicted temperature and density profiles against experimental data from 33 H-mode discharges in the JET (Rebut P H et al 1985 Nucl. Fusion 25 1011) and DIII-D (Luxon J L et al 1985 Fusion Technol. 8 441) tokamaks. The sensitivities of the predictions are evaluated for the burning plasma experimental designs by using variations of the pedestal temperature model that are one standard deviation above and below the standard model. Simulations of the fusion reactor designs are carried out for scans in which the plasma density and auxiliary heating power are varied

Sequence and expression analyses of porcine ISG15 and ISG43 genes.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Jiangnan; Zhao, Shuhong; Zhu, Mengjin; Wu, Zhenfang; Yu, Mei

2009-08-01

The coding sequences of porcine interferon-stimulated gene 15 (ISG15) and the interferon-stimulated gene (ISG43) were cloned from swine spleen mRNA. The amino acid sequences deduced from porcine ISG15 and ISG43 genes coding sequence shared 24-75% and 29-83% similarity with ISG15s and ISG43s from other vertebrates, respectively. Structural analyses revealed that porcine ISG15 comprises two ubiquitin homologues motifs (UBQ) domain and a conserved C-terminal LRLRGG conjugating motif. Porcine ISG43 contains an ubiquitin-processing proteases-like domain. Phylogenetic analyses showed that porcine ISG15 and ISG43 were mostly related to rat ISG15 and cattle ISG43, respectively. Using quantitative real-time PCR assay, significant increased expression levels of porcine ISG15 and ISG43 genes were detected in porcine kidney endothelial cells (PK15) cells treated with poly I:C. We also observed the enhanced mRNA expression of three members of dsRNA pattern-recognition receptors (PRR), TLR3, DDX58 and IFIH1, which have been reported to act as critical receptors in inducing the mRNA expression of ISG15 and ISG43 genes. However, we did not detect any induced mRNA expression of IFNalpha and IFNbeta, suggesting that transcriptional activations of ISG15 and ISG43 were mediated through IFN-independent signaling pathway in the poly I:C treated PK15 cells. Association analyses in a Landrace pig population revealed that ISG15 c.347T>C (BstUI) polymorphism and the ISG43 c.953T>G (BccI) polymorphism were significantly associated with hematological parameters and immune-related traits.

Porcine Tricuspid Valve Anatomy and Human Compatibility: Relevance for Preclinical Validation of Novel Valve Interventions.

Science.gov (United States)

Waziri, Farhad; Lyager Nielsen, Sten; Michael Hasenkam, John

2016-09-01

Tricuspid regurgitation may be a precursor for heart failure, reduced functional capacity, and poor survival. A human compatible experimental model is required to understand the pathophysiology of the tricuspid valve disease as a basis for validating novel tricuspid valve interventions before clinical use. The study aim was to evaluate and compare the tricuspid valve anatomy of porcine and human hearts. The anatomy of the tricuspid valve and the surrounding structures that affect the valve during a cardiac cycle were examined in detail in 100 fresh and 19 formalin-fixed porcine hearts obtained from Danish Landrace pigs (body weight 80 kg). All valvular dimensions were compared with human data acquired from literature sources. No difference was seen in the tricuspid annulus circumference between porcine and human hearts (13.0 ± 1.2 cm versus 13.5 ± 1.5 cm; p = NS), or in valve area (5.7 ± 1.6 cm2 versus 5.6 ± 1.0 cm2; p = NS). The majority of chordae types exhibited a larger chordal length and thickness in human hearts compared to porcine hearts. In both species, the anterior papillary muscle (PM) was larger than other PMs in the right ventricle, but muscle length varied greatly (range: 5.2-40.3 mm) and was significantly different in pigs and in humans (12.2 ± 3.2 mm versus 19.2 mm; p human hearts.

Impact of a Newly Implemented Burn Protocol on Surgically Managed Partial Thickness Burns at a Specialized Burns Center in Singapore.

Science.gov (United States)

Tay, Khwee-Soon Vincent; Chong, Si-Jack; Tan, Bien-Keem

2016-03-01

This study evaluated the impact of a newly implemented protocol for superficial to mid-dermal partial thickness burns which involves early surgery and rapid coverage with biosynthetic dressing in a specialized national burns center in Singapore. Consecutive patients with 5% or greater total body surface area (TBSA) superficial to mid-dermal partial thickness burns injury admitted to the Burns Centre at the Singapore General Hospital between August and December 2014 for surgery within 48 hours of injury were prospectively recruited into the study to form the protocol group. Comparable historical cases from the year 2013 retrieved from the burns center audit database were used to form the historical control group. Demographics (age, sex), type and depth of burns, %TBSA burnt, number of operative sessions, and length of stay were recorded for each patient of both cohorts. Thirty-nine burns patients managed under the new protocol were compared with historical control (n = 39) comparable in age and extensiveness of burns. A significantly shorter length of stay (P burns was observed in the new protocol group (0.74 day/%TBSA) versus historical control (1.55 day/%TBSA). Fewer operative sessions were needed under the new protocol for burns 10% or greater TBSA burns (P protocol for surgically managed burns patients which involves early surgery and appropriate use of biosynthetic dressing on superficial to mid-dermal partial thickness burns. Clinically, shorter lengths of stay, fewer operative sessions, and decreased need for skin grafting of burns patient were observed.

Air Pollution Episodes Associated with Prescribed Burns

Science.gov (United States)

Hart, M.; Di Virgilio, G.; Jiang, N.

2017-12-01

Air pollution events associated with wildfires have been associated with extreme health impacts. Prescribed burns are an important tool to reduce the severity of wildfires. However, if undertaken during unfavourable meteorological conditions, they too have the capacity to trigger extreme air pollution events. The Australian state of New South Wales has increased the annual average area treated by prescribed burn activities by 45%, in order to limit wildfire activity. Prescribed burns need to be undertaken during meteorological conditions that allow the fuel load to burn, while still allowing the burn to remain under control. These conditions are similar to those that inhibit atmospheric dispersion, resulting in a fine balance between managing fire risk and managing ambient air pollution. During prescribed burns, the Sydney air shed can experience elevated particulate matter concentrations, especially fine particulates (PM2.5) that occasionally exceed national air quality standards. Using pollutant and meteorological data from sixteen monitoring stations in Sydney we used generalized additive model and CART analyses to profile the meteorological conditions influencing air quality during planned burns. The insights gained from this study will help improve prescribed burn scheduling in order to reduce the pollution risk to the community, while allowing fire agencies to conduct this important work.

Burns

Science.gov (United States)

A burn is damage to your body's tissues caused by heat, chemicals, electricity, sunlight, or radiation. Scalds from hot ... and gases are the most common causes of burns. Another kind is an inhalation injury, caused by ...

Analgesic effects of dexamethasone in burn injury

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Werner, Mads U; Lassen, Birgit Vibeke; Kehlet, Henrik

2002-01-01

and secondary hyperalgesia. RESULTS: The burn injury induced significant increases in erythema (P burn did not differ between dexamethasone and placebo treatments (P >.6). There were no significant......BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Glucocorticoids are well-known adjuvant analgesics in certain chronic pain states. There is, however, a paucity of data on their analgesic efficacy in acute pain. Therefore, the aim of the study was to examine the analgesic effects of dexamethasone in a validated burn...... model of acute inflammatory pain in humans. METHODS: Twenty-two volunteers were investigated in a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled cross-over study. Intravenous dexamethasone 8 mg or placebo was administered on 2 separate study days. Two hours after drug administration, a first-degree burn...

Modelling hydrological connectivity in burned areas. A case study from South of Spain

OpenAIRE

Martínez-Murillo, Juan F.; López-Vicente, Manuel

2016-01-01

Overland flow connectivity depends on the spatio-temporal interactions of hydrological and geomorphic processes as well as on the human footprint on the landscape. This study deals with the modelling of hydrological connectivity in a burned area with different levels of fire severity. Namely, the objectives are to: i) characterize and ii) modelling the pre- (PreF) and post-fire (PostF) scenarios, as well as iii) evaluate the effect of the vegetation changes due to the fire and the initial ...

Molecular characterization of the porcine surfactant, pulmonary-associated protein C gene

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cirera, S.; Nygård, A.B.; Jensen, H.E.

2006-01-01

The surfactant, pulmonary-associated protein C (SFTPC) is a peptide secreted by the alveolar type II pneumocytes of the lung. We have characterized the porcine SFTPC gene at genomic, transcriptional, and protein levels. The porcine SFTPC is a single-copy gene on pig chromosome 14. Two transcripts...

Secretion of pancreastatins from the porcine digestive tract

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boerglum Jensen, T.D.; Holst, J.J.; Fahrenkrug, J.

1994-01-01

Pancreastatin, a 49-amino acid peptide with a COOH-terminal glycine amide, was originally isolated from porcine pancreas, but pancreastatin immunoreactivity has been found in several neuroendocrine tissues. There are strong indications that pancreastatin is derived from chromogranin A, since the amino acid sequence 240-288 in porcine chromogranin A corresponds to pancreastatin flanked by typical signals for proteolytic processing. The authors studied the effect of electric stimulation of the nervous supply to perfused porcine pancreas, antrum, nonantral stomach, and small intestine on the release of immunoreactive pancreastatin, and they have characterized the molecular nature of the secreted immunoreactivity by using a radioimmunoassay specific for the COOH-terminal glycine amide of porcine pancreastatin in combination with chromatography. In all tissues nerve stimulation significantly increased the release of immunoreactive pancreastatin. The secreted immunoreactive pancreastatin was heterogeneous, consisting of pancreastatin itself, a COOH-terminal pancreastatin fragment, and NH 2 -terminally extended pancreastatin forms. Pancreastatin predominated in the perfusate from pancreas and antrum, whereas mainly NH 2 -terminally extended molecular forms were secreted from the antrectomized stomach and small intestine. The different molecular forms of pancreastatin were secreted from the perfused organs in the same molar ratio as they occur in extracts of the corresponding tissues. Thus, pancreastatin and other chromogranin A-derived peptides in organ-specific proportions regularly accompany the secretion of the peptide hormones from the gastrointestinal tissues on appropriate stimulation. 40 refs., 5 figs

Technical tips and advancements in pediatric minimally invasive surgical training on porcine based simulations.

Science.gov (United States)

Narayanan, Sarath Kumar; Cohen, Ralph Clinton; Shun, Albert

2014-06-01

Minimal access techniques have transformed the way pediatric surgery is practiced. Due to various constraints, surgical residency programs have not been able to tutor adequate training skills in the routine setting. The advent of new technology and methods in minimally invasive surgery (MIS), has similarly contributed to the need for systematic skills' training in a safe, simulated environment. To enable the training of the proper technique among pediatric surgery trainees, we have advanced a porcine non-survival model for endoscopic surgery. The technical advancements over the past 3 years and a subjective validation of the porcine model from 114 participating trainees using a standard questionnaire and a 5-point Likert scale have been described here. Mean attitude scores and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used for statistical analysis of the data. Almost all trainees agreed or strongly agreed that the animal-based model was appropriate (98.35%) and also acknowledged that such workshops provided adequate practical experience before attempting on human subjects (96.6%). Mean attitude score for respondents was 19.08 (SD 3.4, range 4-20). Attitude scores showed no statistical association with years of experience or the level of seniority, indicating a positive attitude among all groups of respondents. Structured porcine-based MIS training should be an integral part of skill acquisition for pediatric surgery trainees and the experience gained can be transferred into clinical practice. We advocate that laparoscopic training should begin in a controlled workshop setting before procedures are attempted on human patients.

First update of the International Xenotransplantation Association consensus statement on conditions for undertaking clinical trials of porcine islet products in type 1 diabetes--Chapter 3: Porcine islet product manufacturing and release testing criteria.

Science.gov (United States)

Rayat, Gina R; Gazda, Lawrence S; Hawthorne, Wayne J; Hering, Bernhard J; Hosking, Peter; Matsumoto, Shinichi; Rajotte, Ray V

2016-01-01

In the 2009 IXA consensus, the requirements for the quality and control of manufacturing of porcine islet products were based on the U.S. regulatory framework where the porcine islet products fall within the definition of somatic cell therapy under the statutory authority of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In addition, porcine islet products require pre-market approval as a biologic product under the Public Health Services Act and they meet the definition of a drug under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act). Thus, they are subject to applicable provisions of the law and as such, control of manufacturing as well as reproducibility and consistency of porcine islet products, safety of porcine islet products, and characterization of porcine islet products must be met before proceeding to clinical trials. In terms of control of manufacturing as well as reproducibility and consistency of porcine islet products, the manufacturing facility must be in compliance with current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) guidelines appropriate for the initiation of Phase 1/2 clinical trials. Sponsors intending to conduct a Phase 1/2 trial of islet xenotransplantation products must be able to demonstrate the safety of the product through the establishment of particular quality assurance and quality control procedures. All materials (including animal source and pancreas) used in the manufacturing process of the porcine islet products must be free of adventitious agents. The final porcine islet product must undergo tests for the presence of these adventitious agents including sterility, mycoplasma (if they are cultured), and endotoxin. Assessments of the final product must include the safety specifications mentioned above even if the results are not available until after release as these data would be useful for patient diagnosis and treatment if necessary. In addition, a plan of action must be in place for patient notification and treatment in case the

A review of the human vs. porcine female genital tract and associated immune system in the perspective of using minipigs as a model of human genital Chlamydia infection.

Science.gov (United States)

Lorenzen, Emma; Follmann, Frank; Jungersen, Gregers; Agerholm, Jørgen S

2015-09-28

Sexually transmitted diseases constitute major health issues and their prevention and treatment continue to challenge the health care systems worldwide. Animal models are essential for a deeper understanding of the diseases and the development of safe and protective vaccines. Currently a good predictive non-rodent model is needed for the study of genital chlamydia in women. The pig has become an increasingly popular model for human diseases due to its close similarities to humans. The aim of this review is to compare the porcine and human female genital tract and associated immune system in the perspective of genital Chlamydia infection. The comparison of women and sows has shown that despite some gross anatomical differences, the structures and proportion of layers undergoing cyclic alterations are very similar. Reproductive hormonal cycles are closely related, only showing a slight difference in cycle length and source of luteolysing hormone. The epithelium and functional layers of the endometrium show similar cyclic changes. The immune system in pigs is very similar to that of humans, even though pigs have a higher percentage of CD4(+)/CD8(+) double positive T cells. The genital immune system is also very similar in terms of the cyclic fluctuations in the mucosal antibody levels, but differs slightly regarding immune cell infiltration in the genital mucosa - predominantly due to the influx of neutrophils in the porcine endometrium during estrus. The vaginal flora in Göttingen Minipigs is not dominated by lactobacilli as in humans. The vaginal pH is around 7 in Göttingen Minipigs, compared to the more acidic vaginal pH around 3.5-5 in women. This review reveals important similarities between the human and porcine female reproductive tracts and proposes the pig as an advantageous supplementary model of human genital Chlamydia infection.

Accelerant-related burns and drug abuse: Challenging combination.

Science.gov (United States)

Leung, Leslie T F; Papp, Anthony

2018-05-01

Accelerants are flammable substances that may cause explosion when added to existing fires. The relationships between drug abuse and accelerant-related burns are not well elucidated in the literature. Of these burns, a portion is related to drug manufacturing, which have been shown to be associated with increased burn complications. 1) To evaluate the demographics and clinical outcomes of accelerant-related burns in a Provincial Burn Centre. 2) To compare the clinical outcomes with a control group of non-accelerant related burns. 3) To analyze a subgroup of patients with history of drug abuse and drug manufacturing. Retrospective case control study. Patient data associated with accelerant-related burns from 2009 to 2014 were obtained from the British Columbia Burn Registry. These patients were compared with a control group of non-accelerant related burns. Clinical outcomes that were evaluated include inhalational injury, ICU length of stay, ventilator support, surgeries needed, and burn complications. Chi-square test was used to evaluate categorical data and Student's t-test was used to evaluate mean quantitative data with the p value set at 0.05. A logistic regression model was used to evaluate factors affecting burn complications. Accelerant-related burns represented 28.2% of all burn admissions (N=532) from 2009 to 2014. The accelerant group had higher percentage of patients with history of drug abuse and was associated with higher TBSA burns, ventilator support, ICU stay and pneumonia rates compared to the non-accelerant group. Within the accelerant group, there was no difference in clinical outcomes amongst people with or without history of drug abuse. Four cases were associated with methamphetamine manufacturing, all of which underwent ICU stay and ventilator support. Accelerant-related burns cause significant burden to the burn center. A significant proportion of these patients have history of drug abuse. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd and ISBI. All rights

Functional characterization of the ER stress induced X-box-binding protein-1 (Xbp-1 in the porcine system

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jin Dong-Il

2011-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The unfolded protein response (UPR is an evolutionary conserved adaptive reaction for increasing cell survival under endoplasmic reticulum (ER stress conditions. X-box-binding protein-1 (Xbp1 is a key transcription factor of UPR that activates genes involved in protein folding, secretion, and degradation to restore ER function. The UPR induced by ER stress was extensively studied in diseases linked to protein misfolding and aggregations. However, in the porcine system, genes in the UPR pathway were not investigated. In this study, we isolated and characterized the porcine Xbp1 (pXbp1 gene in ER stress using porcine embryonic fibroblast (PEF cells and porcine organs. ER stress was induced by the treatment of tunicamycin and cell viability was investigated by the MTT assay. For cloning and analyzing the expression pattern of pXbp1, RT-PCR analysis and Western blot were used. Knock-down of pXbp1 was performed by the siRNA-mediated gene silencing. Results We found that the pXbp1 mRNA was the subject of the IRE1α-mediated unconventional splicing by ER stress. Knock-down of pXbp1 enhanced ER stress-mediated cell death in PEF cells. In adult organs, pXbp1 mRNA and protein were expressed and the spliced forms were detected. Conclusions It was first found that the UPR mechanisms and the function of pXbp1 in the porcine system. These results indicate that pXbp1 plays an important role during the ER stress response like other animal systems and open a new opportunity for examining the UPR pathway in the porcine model system.

Comparison of mortality prediction models and validation of SAPS II in critically ill burns patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Pantet, O; Faouzi, M; Brusselaers, N; Vernay, A; Berger, M M

2016-06-30

Specific burn outcome prediction scores such as the Abbreviated Burn Severity Index (ABSI), Ryan, Belgian Outcome of Burn Injury (BOBI) and revised Baux scores have been extensively studied. Validation studies of the critical care score SAPS II (Simplified Acute Physiology Score) have included burns patients but not addressed them as a cohort. The study aimed at comparing their performance in a Swiss burns intensive care unit (ICU) and to observe whether they were affected by a standardized definition of inhalation injury. We conducted a retrospective cohort study, including all consecutive ICU burn admissions (n=492) between 1996 and 2013: 5 epochs were defined by protocol changes. As required for SAPS II calculation, stays burned (TBSA) and inhalation injury (systematic standardized diagnosis since 2006). Study epochs were compared (χ2 test, ANOVA). Score performance was assessed by receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. SAPS II performed well (AUC 0.89), particularly in burns burns <40% TBSA. Ryan and BOBI scores were least accurate, as they heavily weight inhalation injury.

A high-resolution comparative RH map of porcine chromosome (SSC) 2.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rattink, A.P.; Faivre, M.; Jungerius, B.J.; Groenen, M.A.M.; Harlizius, B.

2001-01-01

A high-resolution comparative map was constructed for porcine Chromosome (SSC) 2, where a QTL for back fat thickness (BFT) is located. A radiation hybrid (RH) map containing 33 genes and 25 microsatellite markers was constructed for this chromosome with a 3000-rad porcine RH panel. In total, 16

Radiofrequency thermal ablation of benign cystic lesion: an experimental pilot study in a porcine gallbladder model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Song, Ho Taek; Rhim, Hyun Chul; Choi, Jung Bin; Oh, Jae Cheon; Cho, On Koo; Koh, Byung Hee; Kim, Yong Soo; Seo, Heung Suk; Joo, Kyung Bin

2001-01-01

To determine whether radiofrequency thermal ablation can be used to treat benign cystic lesions in a porcine gallbladder model. This experimental study of radiofrequency thermal ablation involved the use of 15 exvivo porcine gallbladders and 15-G expandable needle electrodes. To investigate optimal temperature parameters, three groups of five were designated according to target temperature:Group A: 70 deg C; Group B: 80 deg C; Group C: 90 deg C. After the target temperature was reached, ablation lasted for one minute. Gallbladder width, height and length were measured before and after ablation , and the estimated volume reduction ratios of the three groups were compared. Whether adjacent liver parenchyma around the gallbladder fossa was ablated by heat conducted from hot bile was also determined, and the thickness of the ablated area of the liver was measured. The volume reduction ratio in Group A, B and C was 42.7%, 41.7% and 42.9%, respectively (ρ>.05). In all 15 cases, gallbladder walls lost their transparency and elasticity at about 70 deg C. In nine of ten cases in Groups B and C, the hepatic capsule around the gallbladder fossa was retracted at about 80 deg C. The mean thickness of liver parenchymal damage adjacent to the gallbladder was 5.4 mm in Group B and 9.8 mm in Group C. In Group A livers, only one case showed minimal gradual parenchymal change. Microscopically, all three groups showed complete coagulation necrosis of the wall. On the basis of this feasibility study, radiofrequency thermal ablation is potentially suitable for the ultrasound-guided treatment of symptomatic cystic lesions including benign hepatic or renal cyst

In-situ burning of heavy oils and Orimulsion : mid-scale burns

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fingas, M.F.; Fieldhouse, B.; Brown, C.E.; Gamble, L.

2004-01-01

In-situ burning is considered to be a viable means to clean oil spills on water. In-situ burning, when performed under the right conditions, can reduce the volume of spilled oil and eliminate the need to collect, store, transport and dispose of the recovered oil. This paper presented the results of bench-scale in-situ burning tests in which Bunker C, Orimulsion and weathered bitumen were burned outdoors during the winter in burn pans of approximately 1 square metre. Each test was conducted on salt water which caused the separation of the bitumen from the water in the Orimulsion. Small amounts of diesel fuel was used to ignite the heavy oils. Quantitative removal of the fuels was achieved in all cases, but re-ignition was required for the Orimulsion. Maximum efficiency was in the order of 70 per cent. The residue was mostly asphaltenes and resins which cooled to a solid, glass like material that could be readily removed. The study showed that the type of oil burned influences the behaviour of the burns. Bunker C burned quite well and Orimulsion burned efficiently, but re-ignition was necessary. It was concluded that there is potential for burning heavy oils of several types in-situ. 6 refs., 7 tabs., 18 figs

Assessing burn depth in tattooed burn lesions with LASCA Imaging

Science.gov (United States)

Krezdorn, N.; Limbourg, A.; Paprottka, F.J.; Könneker; Ipaktchi, R.; Vogt, P.M

2016-01-01

Summary Tattoos are on the rise, and so are patients with tattooed burn lesions. A proper assessment with regard to burn depth is often impeded by the tattoo dye. Laser speckle contrast analysis (LASCA) is a technique that evaluates burn lesions via relative perfusion analysis. We assessed the effect of tattoo skin pigmentation on LASCA perfusion imaging in a multicolour tattooed patient. Depth of burn lesions in multi-coloured tattooed and untattooed skin was assessed using LASCA. Relative perfusion was measured in perfusion units (PU) and compared to various pigment colours, then correlated with the clinical evaluation of the lesion. Superficial partial thickness burn (SPTB) lesions showed significantly elevated perfusion units (PU) compared to normal skin; deep partial thickness burns showed decreased PU levels. PU of various tattoo pigments to normal skin showed either significantly lower values (blue, red, pink) or significantly increased values (black) whereas orange and yellow pigment showed values comparable to normal skin. In SPTB, black and blue pigment showed reduced perfusion; yellow pigment was similar to normal SPTB burn. Deep partial thickness burn (DPTB) lesions in tattoos did not show significant differences to normal DPTB lesions for black, green and red. Tattoo pigments alter the results of perfusion patterns assessed with LASCA both in normal and burned skin. Yellow pigments do not seem to interfere with LASCA assessment. However proper determination of burn depth both in SPTB and DPTB by LASCA is limited by the heterogenic alterations of the various pigment colours. PMID:28149254

Construction of EMSC-islet co-localizing composites for xenogeneic porcine islet transplantation.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Jung-Sik; Chung, Hyunwoo; Byun, Nari; Kang, Seong-Jun; Lee, Sunho; Shin, Jun-Seop; Park, Chung-Gyu

2018-03-04

Pancreatic islet transplantation is an ultimate solution for treating patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D). The pig is an ideal donor of islets for replacing scarce human islets. Besides immunological hurdles, non-immunological hurdles including fragmentation and delayed engraftment of porcine islets need solutions to succeed in porcine islet xenotransplantation. In this study, we suggest a simple but effective modality, a cell/islet co-localizing composite, to overcome these challenges. Endothelial-like mesenchymal stem cells (EMSCs), differentiated from bone-marrow derived mouse mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), and MSCs evenly coated the surface of porcine islets (>85%) through optimized culture conditions. Both MSCs and EMSCs significantly reduced the fragmentation of porcine islets and increased the islet masses, designated as islet equivalents (IEQs). In fibrin in vitro and in vivo angiogenesis analysis, constructed EMSC-islet composites showed higher angiogenic potentials than naked islets, MSC-islet composites, or human endothelial cell-islet composites. This novel delivery method of porcine islets may have beneficial effects on the engraftment of transplanted islets by prevention of fragmentation and enhancement of revascularization. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Fundamental burn-up mode in a pebble-bed type reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, Xue-Nong; Kiefhaber, Edgar; Maschek, Werner

2008-01-01

This paper deals with a pebble-bed type reactor, in which the fuel is loaded from one side (top) and discharged from the other side (bottom). A boundary value problem of a single group diffusion equation coupled with simplified burn-up equations is studied, where the natural radioactive decay processes are neglected in the burn-up modelling. An asymptotic burning wave solution is found analytically in the one-dimensional case, which is called as fundamental burn-up mode. Among this solution family there are two particular cases, namely, a classic fundamental solution with a zero burn-up and a partial solitary burn-up wave solution with a highest burn-up. An example of Th-U conversion is considered and the solutions are presented in order to show the mechanism of the burning wave. (author)

Burning issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Raloff, J.

1993-01-01

The idea of burning oil slicks at sea has intrigued oil-cleanup managers for more than a decade, but it wasn't until the advent of fireproof booms in the mid-1980's and a major spill opportunity (the March 1989 Exxon Valdez) that in-situ burning got a real sea trial. The results of this and other burning experiments indicate that, when conditions allow it, nothing can compete with fire's ability to remove oil from water. Burns have the potential to remove as much oil in one day as mechanical devices can in one month, along with minimal equipment, labor and cost. Reluctance to burn in appropriate situations comes primarily from the formation of oily, black smoke. Analysis of the potentially toxic gases have been done, indicating that burning will not increase the levels of polluting aldehydes, ketones, dioxins, furans, and PAHs above those that normally evaporate from spilled oil. This article contains descriptions of planned oil fires and the discussion on the advantages and concerns of such a policy

An Investigation of the Pathology and Pathogens Associated with Porcine Respiratory Disease Complex in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Mette Sif; Pors, S. E.; Jensen, H. E.

2010-01-01

), porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (both European and US type), porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2), porcine respiratory coronavirus, porcine cytomegalovirus, Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae and Mycoplasma hyorhinis. All cases had cranioventral lobular bronchopneumonia consistent with PRDC....... There was a broad range of microscopical lesions and the cases were characterized as acute (n=10), subacute (n=24) or chronic (n=114) bronchopneumonia. Five bacterial species, five viruses and two Mycoplasma spp. were detected in different combinations. PCV2, M. hyopneumoniae, M. hyorhinis and Pasteurella multocida...

30 CFR 817.87 - Coal mine waste: Burning and burned waste utilization.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Coal mine waste: Burning and burned waste...-UNDERGROUND MINING ACTIVITIES § 817.87 Coal mine waste: Burning and burned waste utilization. (a) Coal mine... extinguishing operations. (b) No burning or unburned coal mine waste shall be removed from a permitted disposal...

Experimental Comparison of Efficiency of First Aid Dressings in Burning White Phosphorus on Bacon Model

Science.gov (United States)

Witkowski, Wojciech; Surowiecka-Pastewka, Agnieszka; Biesaga, Magdalena; Gierczak, Tomasz

2015-01-01

Background The aim of this study was to determine effectiveness of first aid dressings in extinguishing burning white phosphorous (WP), eliminating WP pieces from the surface, inhibiting re-ignition on the model (fresh bacon covered with military uniform), and preventing from late re-ignition caused by persistent WP pieces. Material/Methods Burning WP was extinguished with several dressings: tactical Military Dressing (WJ10), wet gauze, 2 hydrocolloids, and 3 prototypes of hydrocolloids developed by the authors. Results All examined dressings were effective in extinguishing WP provided that the entire area of the burning substance was completely covered. Moist gauze was especially effective in extinguishing WP, and also removed and absorbed the majority of the WP mass, preventing deeper penetration of WP particles. The immediate re-ignition was observed when all the remaining examined dressings were removed from the bacon. A stream of water was dangerous, as it splashed and transferred pieces of WP around. Conclusions Moist gauze placed on burning WP for approximately 3 min was most effective in extinguishing WP and removing most of the WP pieces. We recommend moist gauze, used once or twice, as the best primary means for WP elimination and preventing tissue penetration. As a dressing used for medical evacuation (MEDEVAC), or as a second step after complete removal of visible WP, innovative hydrocolloid or hydrogel dressings should be used. PMID:26264209

Antimicrobial compounds of porcine mucosa

Science.gov (United States)

Kotenkova, E. A.; Lukinova, E. A.; Fedulova, L. V.

2017-09-01

The aim of the study was to investigate porcine oral cavity mucosa (OCM), nasal cavity mucosa (NCM), rectal mucosa (RM) and tongue mucosa (TM) as sources of antimicrobial compounds. Ultrafiltrates with MW >30 kDa, MW 5-30 kDa and MW 30 kDa, the zone of microbial growth inhibition was 7.5 mm, for the MW<5 kDa fraction, it was 7 mm, and for MW 5-30 kDa fraction, it was 4.5 mm. No significant differences were found in high molecular weight proteomic profile, while qualitative and quantitative differences were observed in the medium and low molecular weight areas, especially in OCM and NCM. HPLC showed 221 tissue-specific peptides in OCM, 156 in NCM, 225 in RM, but only 5 in TM. The results observed confirmed porcine mucous tissues as a good source of antimicrobial compounds, which could be an actual alternative for reduction of microbial spoilage of foods.

Classification of Porcine Cranial Fracture Patterns Using a Fracture Printing Interface,.

Science.gov (United States)

Wei, Feng; Bucak, Serhat Selçuk; Vollner, Jennifer M; Fenton, Todd W; Jain, Anil K; Haut, Roger C

2017-01-01

Distinguishing between accidental and abusive head trauma in children can be difficult, as there is a lack of baseline data for pediatric cranial fracture patterns. A porcine head model has recently been developed and utilized in a series of studies to investigate the effects of impact energy level, surface type, and constraint condition on cranial fracture patterns. In the current study, an automated pattern recognition method, or a fracture printing interface (FPI), was developed to classify cranial fracture patterns that were associated with different impact scenarios documented in previous experiments. The FPI accurately predicted the energy level when the impact surface type was rigid. Additionally, the FPI was exceedingly successful in determining fractures caused by skulls being dropped with a high-level energy (97% accuracy). The FPI, currently developed on the porcine data, may in the future be transformed to the task of cranial fracture pattern classification for human infant skulls. © 2016 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Comparing the Global Charcoal Database with Burned Area Trends from an Offline Fire Model Driven by the NCAR Last Millennium Ensemble

Science.gov (United States)

Schaefer, A.; Magi, B. I.; Marlon, J. R.; Bartlein, P. J.

2017-12-01

This study uses an offline fire model driven by output from the NCAR Community Earth System Model Last Millennium Ensemble (LME) to evaluate how climate, ecological, and human factors contributed to burned area over the past millennium, and uses the Global Charcoal Database (GCD) record of fire activity as a constraint. The offline fire model is similar to the fire module within the NCAR Community Land Model. The LME experiment includes 13 simulations of the Earth system from 850 CE through 2005 CE, and the fire model simulates burned area using LME climate and vegetation with imposed land use and land cover change. The fire model trends are compared to GCD records of charcoal accumulation rates derived from sediment cores. The comparisons are a way to assess the skill of the fire model, but also set up a methodology to directly test hypotheses of the main drivers of fire patterns over the past millennium. The focus is on regions selected from the GCD with high data density, and that have lake sediment cores that best capture the last millennium. Preliminary results are based on a fire model which excludes burning cropland and pasture land cover types, but this allows some assessment of how climate variability is captured by the fire model. Generally, there is good agreement between modeled burned area trends and fire trends from GCD for many regions of interest, suggesting the strength of climate variability as a control. At the global scale, trends and features are similar from 850 to 1700, which includes the Medieval Climate Anomaly and the Little Ice Age. After 1700, the trends significantly deviate, which may be due to non-cultivated land being converted to cultivated. In key regions of high data density in the GCD such as the Western USA, the trends agree from 850 to 1200 but diverge from 1200 to 1300. From 1300 to 1800, the trends show good agreement again. Implementing processes to include burning cultivated land within the fire model is anticipated to

Porcine pluripotency cell signaling develops from the inner cell mass to the epiblast during early development

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hall, Vanessa Jane; Christensen, Josef; Gao, Yu

2009-01-01

  The signaling mechanisms regulating pluripotency in porcine embryonic stem cells and embryos are unknown. In this study, we characterize cell signaling in the in-vivo porcine inner cell mass and later-stage epiblast. We evaluate expression of OCT4, NANOG, SOX2, genes within the JAK/STAT pathway...... pluripotency in human embryonic stem cells is detectable in the porcine epiblast, but not in the inner cell mass. Copyright (c) 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.......  The signaling mechanisms regulating pluripotency in porcine embryonic stem cells and embryos are unknown. In this study, we characterize cell signaling in the in-vivo porcine inner cell mass and later-stage epiblast. We evaluate expression of OCT4, NANOG, SOX2, genes within the JAK/STAT pathway...... (LIF, LIFR, GP130), FGF pathway (bFGF, FGFR1, FGFR2), BMP pathway (BMP4), and downstream-activated genes (STAT3, c-Myc, c-Fos, and SMAD4). We discovered two different expression profiles exist in the developing porcine embryo. The D6 porcine blastocyst (inner cell mass stage) is devoid...

Inhibition of early AAA formation by aortic intraluminal pentagalloyl glucose (PGG) infusion in a novel porcine AAA model

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kloster, Brian O; Lund, Lars; Lindholt, Jes S

2016-01-01

to prevent or delay their expansion. In this study, we investigated whether intraluminal delivered pentagalloyl glucose (PGG) can impair the early AAA development in a porcine model. METHODS: The infrarenal aorta was exposed in thirty pigs. Twenty underwent an elastase based AAA inducing procedure and ten...... of these received an additional intraluminal PGG infusion. The final 10 were sham operated and served as controls. RESULTS: All pigs who only had an elastase infusion developed macroscopically expanding AAAs. In pigs treated with an additional PGG infusion the growth rate of the AP-diameter rapidly returned...... and histology. CONCLUSION: In our model, intraluminal delivered PGG is able to penetrate the aortic wall from the inside and impair the early AAA development by stabilizing the elastic lamellae and preserving their integrity. The principle holds a high clinical potential if it can be translated to human...

Evaluation of protocol change in burn-care management using the Cox proportional hazards model with time-dependent covariates.

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Ichida, J M; Wassell, J T; Keller, M D; Ayers, L W

1993-02-01

Survival analysis methods are valuable for detecting intervention effects because detailed information from patient records and sensitive outcome measures are used. The burn unit at a large university hospital replaced routine bathing with total body bathing using chlorhexidine gluconate for antimicrobial effect. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to analyse time from admission until either infection with Staphylococcus aureus or discharge for 155 patients, controlling for burn severity and two time-dependent covariates: days until first wound excision and days until first administration of prophylactic antibiotics. The risk of infection was 55 per cent higher in the historical control group, although not statistically significant. There was also some indication that early wound excision may be important as an infection-control measure for burn patients.

Intracoronary Poloxamer 188 Prevents Reperfusion Injury in a Porcine Model of ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction

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Jason A. Bartos, MD, PhD

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Poloxamer 188 (P188 is a nonionic triblock copolymer believed to prevent cellular injury after ischemia and reperfusion. This study compared intracoronary (IC infusion of P188 immediately after reperfusion with delayed infusion through a peripheral intravenous catheter in a porcine model of ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI. STEMI was induced in 55 pigs using 45 min of endovascular coronary artery occlusion. Pigs were then randomized to 4 groups: control, immediate IC P188, delayed peripheral P188, and polyethylene glycol infusion. Heart tissue was collected after 4 h of reperfusion. Assessment of mitochondrial function or infarct size was performed. Mitochondrial yield improved significantly with IC P188 treatment compared with control animals (0.25% vs. 0.13%, suggesting improved mitochondrial morphology and survival. Mitochondrial respiration and calcium retention were also significantly improved with immediate IC P188 compared with control animals (complex I respiratory control index: 7.4 vs. 3.7; calcium retention: 1,152 nmol vs. 386 nmol. This benefit was only observed with activation of complex I of the mitochondrial respiratory chain, suggesting a specific effect from ischemia and reperfusion on this complex. Infarct size and serum troponin I were significantly reduced by immediate IC P188 infusion (infarct size: 13.9% vs. 41.1%; troponin I: 19.2 μg/l vs. 77.4 μg/l. Delayed P188 and polyethylene glycol infusion did not provide a significant benefit. These results demonstrate that intracoronary infusion of P188 immediately upon reperfusion significantly reduces cellular and mitochondrial injury after ischemia and reperfusion in this clinically relevant porcine model of STEMI. The timing and route of delivery were critical to achieve the benefit.

Molecular characterization, sequence analysis and tissue expression of a porcine gene – MOSPD2

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Yang Jie

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The full-length cDNA sequence of a porcine gene, MOSPD2, was amplified using the rapid amplification of cDNA ends method based on a pig expressed sequence tag sequence which was highly homologous to the coding sequence of the human MOSPD2 gene. Sequence prediction analysis revealed that the open reading frame of this gene encodes a protein of 491 amino acids that has high homology with the motile sperm domain-containing protein 2 (MOSPD2 of five species: horse (89%, human (90%, chimpanzee (89%, rhesus monkey (89% and mouse (85%; thus, it could be defined as a porcine MOSPD2 gene. This novel porcine gene was assigned GeneID: 100153601. This gene is structured in 15 exons and 14 introns as revealed by computer-assisted analysis. The phylogenetic analysis revealed that the porcine MOSPD2 gene has a closer genetic relationship with the MOSPD2 gene of horse. Tissue expression analysis indicated that the porcine MOSPD2 gene is generally and differentially expressed in the spleen, muscle, skin, kidney, lung, liver, fat and heart. Our experiment is the first to establish the primary foundation for further research on the porcine MOSPD2 gene.

Concise classification of the genomic porcine endogenous retroviral gamma1 load to defined lineages.

Science.gov (United States)

Klymiuk, Nikolai; Wolf, Eckhard; Aigner, Bernhard

2008-02-05

We investigated the infection history of porcine endogenous retroviruses (PERV) gamma1 by analyzing published env and LTR sequences. PERV sequences from various breeds, porcine cell lines and infected human primary cells were included in the study. We identified a considerable number of retroviral lineages indicating multiple independent colonization events of the porcine genome. A recent boost of the proviral load in an isolated pig herd and exclusive occurrence of distinct lineages in single studies indicated the ongoing colonization of the porcine genome with endogenous retroviruses. Retroviral recombination between co-packaged genomes was a general factor for PERV gamma1 diversity which indicated the simultaneous expression of different proviral loci over a period of time. In total, our detailed description of endogenous retroviral lineages is the prerequisite for breeding approaches to minimize the infectious potential of porcine tissues for the subsequent use in xenotransplantation.

Burn mortality in patients with preexisting cardiovascular disease.

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Knowlin, Laquanda; Reid, Trista; Williams, Felicia; Cairns, Bruce; Charles, Anthony

2017-08-01

Burn shock, a complex process, which develops following burn leads to severe and unique derangement of cardiovascular function. Patients with preexisting comorbidities such as cardiovascular diseases may be more susceptible. We therefore sought to examine the impact of preexisting cardiovascular disease on burn outcomes. A retrospective analysis of patients admitted to a regional burn center from 2002 to 2012. Independent variables analyzed included basic demographics, burn mechanism, presence of inhalation injury, TBSA, pre-existing comorbidities, and length of ICU/hospital stay. Bivariate analysis was performed and Poisson regression modeling was utilized to estimate the incidence of being in the ICU and mortality. There were a total of 5332 adult patients admitted over the study period. 6% (n=428) had a preexisting cardiovascular disease. Cardiovascular disease patients had a higher mortality rate (16%) compared to those without cardiovascular disease (3%, pwill likely be a greater number of individuals at risk for worse outcomes following burn. This knowledge can help with burn prognostication. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd and ISBI. All rights reserved.

Temperature profiles of different cooling methods in porcine pancreas procurement.

Science.gov (United States)

Weegman, Bradley P; Suszynski, Thomas M; Scott, William E; Ferrer Fábrega, Joana; Avgoustiniatos, Efstathios S; Anazawa, Takayuki; O'Brien, Timothy D; Rizzari, Michael D; Karatzas, Theodore; Jie, Tun; Sutherland, David E R; Hering, Bernhard J; Papas, Klearchos K

2014-01-01

Porcine islet xenotransplantation is a promising alternative to human islet allotransplantation. Porcine pancreas cooling needs to be optimized to reduce the warm ischemia time (WIT) following donation after cardiac death, which is associated with poorer islet isolation outcomes. This study examines the effect of four different cooling Methods on core porcine pancreas temperature (n = 24) and histopathology (n = 16). All Methods involved surface cooling with crushed ice and chilled irrigation. Method A, which is the standard for porcine pancreas procurement, used only surface cooling. Method B involved an intravascular flush with cold solution through the pancreas arterial system. Method C involved an intraductal infusion with cold solution through the major pancreatic duct, and Method D combined all three cooling Methods. Surface cooling alone (Method A) gradually decreased core pancreas temperature to <10 °C after 30 min. Using an intravascular flush (Method B) improved cooling during the entire duration of procurement, but incorporating an intraductal infusion (Method C) rapidly reduced core temperature 15-20 °C within the first 2 min of cooling. Combining all methods (Method D) was the most effective at rapidly reducing temperature and providing sustained cooling throughout the duration of procurement, although the recorded WIT was not different between Methods (P = 0.36). Histological scores were different between the cooling Methods (P = 0.02) and the worst with Method A. There were differences in histological scores between Methods A and C (P = 0.02) and Methods A and D (P = 0.02), but not between Methods C and D (P = 0.95), which may highlight the importance of early cooling using an intraductal infusion. In conclusion, surface cooling alone cannot rapidly cool large (porcine or human) pancreata. Additional cooling with an intravascular flush and intraductal infusion results in improved core porcine pancreas temperature profiles during procurement and

Repeated Gene Transfection Impairs the Engraftment of Transplanted Porcine Neonatal Pancreatic Cells

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Min Koo Seo

2011-02-01

Full Text Available BackgroundPreviously, we reported that neonatal porcine pancreatic cells transfected with hepatocyte growth factor (HGF gene in an Epstein-Barr virus (EBV-based plasmid (pEBVHGF showed improved proliferation and differentiation compared to those of the control. In this study, we examined if pancreatic cells transfected repeatedly with pEBVHGF can be successfully grafted to control blood glucose in a diabetes mouse model.MethodsNeonatal porcine pancreatic cells were cultured as a monolayer and were transfected with pEBVHGF every other day for a total of three transfections. The transfected pancreatic cells were re-aggregated and transplanted into kidney capsules of diabetic nude mice or normal nude mice. Blood glucose level and body weight were measured every other day after transplantation. The engraftment of the transplanted cells and differentiation into beta cells were assessed using immunohistochemistry.ResultsRe-aggregation of the pancreatic cells before transplantation improved engraftment of the cells and facilitated neovascularization of the graft. Right before transplantation, pancreatic cells that were transfected with pEBVHGF and then re-aggregated showed ductal cell marker expression. However, ductal cells disappeared and the cells underwent fibrosis in a diabetes mouse model two to five weeks after transplantation; these mice also did not show controlled blood glucose levels. Furthermore, pancreatic cells transplanted into nude mice with normal blood glucose showed poor graft survival regardless of the type of transfected plasmid (pCEP4, pHGF, or pEBVHGF.ConclusionFor clinical application of transfected neonatal porcine pancreatic cells, further studies are required to develop methods of overcoming the damage for the cells caused by repeated transfection and to re-aggregate them into islet-like structures.

Recent Biomass Burning in the Tropics and Related Changes in Tropospheric Ozone

Science.gov (United States)

Ziemke; Chandra, J. R. S.; Duncan, B. N.; Schoeberl, M. R.; Torres, O.; Damon, M. R.; Bhartia, P. K.

2009-01-01

Biomass burning is an important source of chemical precursors of tropospheric ozone. In the tropics, biomass burning produces ozone enhancements over broad regions of Indonesia, Africa, and South America including Brazil. Fires are intentionally set in these regions during the dry season each year to clear cropland and to clear land for human/industrial expansion. In Indonesia enhanced burning occurs during dry El Nino conditions such as in 1997 and 2006. These burning activities cause enhancement in atmospheric particulates and trace gases which are harmful to human health. Measurements from the Aura Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) and Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) from October 2004-November 2008 are used to evaluate the effects of biomass burning on tropical tropospheric ozone. These measurements show sizeable decreases approx.15-20% in ozone in Brazil during 2008 compared to 2007 which we attribute to the reduction in biomass burning. Three broad biomass burning regions in the tropics (South America including Brazil, western Africa, and Indonesia) were analyzed in the context of OMI/MLS measurements and the Global Modeling Initiative (GMI) chemical transport model developed at Goddard Space Flight Center. The results indicate that the impact of biomass burning on ozone is significant within and near the burning regions with increases of approx.10-25% in tropospheric column ozone relative to average background concentrations. The model suggests that about half of the increases in ozone from these burning events come from altitudes below 3 km. Globally the model indicates increases of approx.4-5% in ozone, approx.7-9% in NO, (NO+NO2), and approx.30-40% in CO.

A sensitive duplex nanoparticle-assisted PCR assay for identifying porcine epidemic diarrhea virus and porcine transmissible gastroenteritis virus from clinical specimens.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Yu; Liang, Lin; Luo, Yakun; Wang, Guihua; Wang, Chunren; Cui, Yudong; Ai, Xia; Cui, Shangjin

2017-02-01

In this study, a novel duplex nanoparticle-assisted polymerase chain reaction (nanoPCR) assay was developed to detect porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) and porcine transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGEV). Two pairs of primers were designed based on the conserved region within the N gene of PEDV and TGEV. In a screening of 114 clinical samples from four provinces in China for PEDV and TGEV, 48.2 and 3.5 % of the samples, respectively, tested positive. Under optimized conditions, the duplex nanoPCR assay had a detection limit of 7.6 × 10 1 and 8.5 × 10 1 copies μL -1 for PEDV and TGEV, respectively. The sensitivity of the duplex nanoPCR assay was ten times higher than that of a conventional PCR assay. Moreover, no fragments were amplified when the duplex nanoPCR assay was used to test samples containing other porcine viruses. Our results indicate that the duplex nanoPCR assay described here is useful for the rapid detection of PEDV and TGEV and can be applied in clinical diagnosis.

Frequency of aneuploidy related to age in porcine oocytes.

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Miroslav Hornak

Full Text Available It is generally accepted that mammalian oocytes are frequently suffering from chromosome segregation errors during meiosis I, which have severe consequences, including pregnancy loss, developmental disorders and mental retardation. In a search for physiologically more relevant model than rodent oocytes to study this phenomenon, we have employed comparative genomic hybridization (CGH, combined with whole genome amplification (WGA, to study the frequency of aneuploidy in porcine oocytes, including rare cells obtained from aged animals. Using this method, we were able to analyze segregation pattern of each individual chromosome during meiosis I. In contrast to the previous reports where conventional methods, such as chromosome spreads or FISH, were used to estimate frequency of aneuploidy, our results presented here show, that the frequency of this phenomenon was overestimated in porcine oocytes. Surprisingly, despite the results from human and mouse showing an increase in the frequency of aneuploidy with advanced maternal age, our results obtained by the most accurate method currently available for scoring the aneuploidy in oocytes indicated no increase in the frequency of aneuploidy even in oocytes from animals, whose age was close to the life expectancy of the breed.

Prolonged C1 Inhibitor Administration Improves Local Healing of Burn Wounds and Reduces Myocardial Inflammation in a Rat Burn Wound Model

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Begieneman, Mark P. V.; Kubat, Bela; Ulrich, Magda M. W.; Hahn, Nynke E.; Stumpf-Stolker, Yvette; Tempelaars, Miranda; Middelkoop, Esther; Zeerleder, Sacha; Wouters, Diana; van Ham, Marieke S.; Niessen, Hans W. M.; Krijnen, Paul A. J.

2012-01-01

In a previous study, the authors found persistent presence of acute inflammation markers such as C-reactive protein and complement factors locally in burn wounds. This persistence of acute inflammation may not only delay local burn wound healing but also have a systemic effect, for instance on the

Systemic thioridazine in combination with dicloxacillin against early aortic graft infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus in a porcine model: In vivo results do not reproduce the in vitro synergistic activity.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michael Stenger

Full Text Available Conservative treatment solutions against aortic prosthetic vascular graft infection (APVGI for inoperable patients are limited. The combination of antibiotics with antibacterial helper compounds, such as the neuroleptic drug thioridazine (TDZ, should be explored.To investigate the efficacy of conservative systemic treatment with dicloxacillin (DCX in combination with TDZ (DCX+TDZ, compared to DCX alone, against early APVGI caused by methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA in a porcine model.The synergism of DCX+TDZ against MSSA was initially assessed in vitro by viability assay. Thereafter, thirty-two pigs had polyester grafts implanted in the infrarenal aorta, followed by inoculation with 106 CFU of MSSA, and were randomly administered oral systemic treatment with either 1 DCX or 2 DCX+TDZ. Treatment was initiated one week postoperatively and continued for a further 21 days. Weight, temperature, and blood samples were collected at predefined intervals. By termination, bacterial quantities from the graft surface, graft material, and perigraft tissue were obtained.Despite in vitro synergism, the porcine experiment revealed no statistical differences for bacteriological endpoints between the two treatment groups, and none of the treatments eradicated the APVGI. Accordingly, the mixed model analyses of weight, temperature, and blood samples revealed no statistical differences.Conservative systemic treatment with DCX+TDZ did not reproduce in vitro results against APVGI caused by MSSA in this porcine model. However, unexpected severe adverse effects related to the planned dose of TDZ required a considerable reduction to the administered dose of TDZ, which may have compromised the results.

Experimental Modeling of the Effect of Terrain Slope on Marginal Burning

Science.gov (United States)

X. Zhou; S. Mahalingam; D. Weise

2005-01-01

A series of laboratory fire spread experiments were completed to analyze the effect of terrain slope on marginal burning behavior of live chaparral shrub fuels that grow in the mountains of southern California. We attempted to burn single species fuel beds of four common chaparral plants under various fuel bed configurations and ambient conditions. Seventy-three (or 42...

The effect of pre-existing malnutrition on pediatric burn mortality in a sub-Saharan African burn unit.

Science.gov (United States)

Grudziak, Joanna; Snock, Carolyn; Mjuweni, Stephen; Gallaher, Jared; Cairns, Bruce; Charles, Anthony

2017-11-01

Nutritional status predicts burn outcomes in the developed world, but its effect on burn mortality in the developing world has not been widely studied. In sub Saharan Africa, burn is primarily a disease of children, and the majority of children in sub-Saharan Africa are malnourished. We therefore sought to determine the prevalence and effect of malnutrition on burn mortality at our institution. This is a retrospective review of children aged 0-5, with anthropomorphic measurements available, who were admitted to our burn unit from July 2011 to May 2016. Age-adjusted Z scores were calculated for height, weight, weight for height, and mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC). Following bivariate analysis, we used logistic regression to construct a fully adjusted model of predictors of mortality. Of the 1357 admitted patients, 839 (61.2%) were aged 0-5. Of those, 512 (62.9%) had one or more anthropomorphic measurements available, and were included in the analysis. 54% were male, and the median age was 28 months. The median TBSA was 15%, with a majority of burns caused by scalds (77%). Mortality was 16%. Average Z-score for any of the indicators of malnutrition was -1.45±1.66. TBSA (OR: 1.08, 95% CI: 1.06, 1.11), decreasing Z-score (OR: 1.19, 95% CI: 1.00, 1.41), and flame burn (OR: 2.51, 95% CI: 1.40, 4.49) were associated with an increase in mortality. Preexisting malnutrition in burn patients in sub-Saharan Africa increases odds of mortality after controlling for significant covariates. Survival of burn patients in this region will not reach that of the developed world until a strategy of aggressive nutritional support is implemented in this population. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd and ISBI. All rights reserved.

Using Lagrangian Chemical Transport Modeling to Assess the Impact of Biomass Burning on Ozone and PM2.5

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Alvarado, M. J.; Lonsdale, C. R.; Brodowski, C. M.

2017-12-01

One of the challenges of using in situ measurements to study the air quality and climate impacts of biomass burning is correctly determining the contribution of biomass burning sources to the measured ambient concentrations. This is especially important for policy purposes, as the ozone (O3) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) from natural wildfires should not be confused with that from controllable anthropogenic sources. We have developed a Lagrangian chemical transport model called STILT-ASP that is able to quantify the impact of wildfire events on O3 and PM2.5 measurements made at surface monitoring sites, by mobile laboratories, or by aircraft. STILT-ASP is built by coupling the Stochastic Time Inverted Lagrangian Transport (STILT) model with AER's Aerosol Simulation Program (ASP), which has been used in many studies of the gas and aerosol chemistry of biomass burning smoke. Here we present recent revisions made in STILT-ASP v2.0, including the use of more detailed chemical speciation of fire emissions and biogenic emissions calculated using the MEGAN model with meteorological inputs consistent with those used to drive STILT. We will present the results of an evaluation of the performance of STILT-ASP v2.0 using surface, mobile lab, and aircraft data from the 2013 Houston DISCOVER-AQ campaign. STILT-ASP v2.0 showed good average performance for O3 during the peak of the high O3 episodes on Sept. 25-26, 2013, with a mean bias of -4 ppbv. We will also demonstrate the use of STILT-ASP to evaluate the impact of biomass burning on O3 and PM2.5 in urban areas and to assess the impact of remote fires on the boundary conditions used in Eulerian chemical transport models like CAMx.

Effects of Burn Injury on Markers of Hypermetabolism in Rats

OpenAIRE

Izamis, Maria-Louisa; Uygun, Korkut; Uygun, Basak; Yarmush, Martin L.; Berthiaume, François

2009-01-01

The basic metrics of hypermetabolism have not been thoroughly characterized in rat burn injury models. We examined three models expected to differ in sensitivity to burn injury to identify that which group(s) exhibited the most clinically relevant metabolic response. Six and 12 weeks old male CD (6 week mCD and 12 week mCD) rats, and 12 weeks old female Fischer (12 week fFI) rats received a 20% total body surface area burn, followed by saline resuscitation. Activity, core body temperature, he...

Human Umbilical Cord-Derived Mesenchymal Stromal Cells Improve Left Ventricular Function, Perfusion, and Remodeling in a Porcine Model of Chronic Myocardial Ischemia

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Chuan-Bin; Huang, He; Sun, Ping; Ma, Shi-Ze; Liu, An-Heng; Xue, Jian; Fu, Jin-Hui; Liang, Yu-Qian; Liu, Bing; Wu, Dong-Ying

2016-01-01

Stem cell therapy has emerged as a new strategy for treatment of ischemic heart disease. Although umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (UC-MSCs) have been used preferentially in the acute ischemia model, data for the chronic ischemia model are lacking. In this study, we investigated the effect of UC-MSCs originated from Wharton’s jelly in the treatment of chronic myocardial ischemia in a porcine model induced by ameroid constrictor. Four weeks after ameroid constrictor placement, the surviving animals were divided randomly into two groups to undergo saline injection (n = 6) or UC-MSC transplantation (n = 6) through the left main coronary artery. Two additional intravenous administrations of UC-MSCs were performed in the following 2 weeks to enhance therapeutic effect. Cardiac function and perfusion were examined just before and at 4 weeks after intracoronary transplantation. The results showed that pigs with UC-MSC transplantation exhibited significantly greater left ventricular ejection fraction compared with control animals (61.3% ± 1.3% vs. 50.3% ± 2.0%, p UC-MSC treatment improves left ventricular function, perfusion, and remodeling in a porcine model with chronic myocardial ischemia. Significance Ischemic heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. Many patients with chronic myocardial ischemia are not suitable for surgery and have no effective drug treatment; they are called “no-option” patients. This study finds that umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stromal cells transplanted by intracoronary delivery combined with two intravenous administrations was safe and could significantly improve left ventricular function, perfusion, and remodeling in a large-animal model of chronic myocardial ischemia, which provides a new choice for the no-option patients. In addition, this study used clinical-grade mesenchymal stem cells with delivery and assessment methods commonly used clinically to facilitate further clinical transformation. PMID

Reasons for Distress Among Burn Survivors at 6, 12, and 24 Months Postdischarge: A Burn Injury Model System Investigation.

Science.gov (United States)

Wiechman, Shelley A; McMullen, Kara; Carrougher, Gretchen J; Fauerbach, Jame A; Ryan, Colleen M; Herndon, David N; Holavanahalli, Radha; Gibran, Nicole S; Roaten, Kimberly

2017-12-16

To identify important sources of distress among burn survivors at discharge and 6, 12, and 24 months postinjury, and to examine if the distress related to these sources changed over time. Exploratory. Outpatient burn clinics in 4 sites across the country. Participants who met preestablished criteria for having a major burn injury (N=1009) were enrolled in this multisite study. Participants were given a previously developed list of 12 sources of distress among burn survivors and asked to rate on a 10-point Likert-type scale (0=no distress to 10=high distress) how much distress each of the 12 issues was causing them at the time of each follow-up. The Medical Outcomes Study 12-Item Short-Form Health Survey was administered at each time point as a measure of health-related quality of life. The Satisfaction With Appearance Scale was used to understand the relation between sources of distress and body image. Finally, whether a person returned to work was used to determine the effect of sources of distress on returning to employment. It was encouraging that no symptoms were worsening at 2 years. However, financial concerns and long recovery time are 2 of the highest means at all time points. Pain and sleep disturbance had the biggest effect on ability to return to work. These findings can be used to inform burn-specific interventions and to give survivors an understanding of the temporal trajectory for various causes of distress. In particular, it appears that interventions targeted at sleep disturbance and high pain levels can potentially effect distress over financial concerns by allowing a person to return to work more quickly. Copyright © 2017 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Purification, characterization and immunolocalization of porcine surfactant protein D

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, C.M.; Nielsen, Ove Lilholm; Willis, A.

2005-01-01

in a dose and Ca2+-dependent manner with a saccharide specificity similar to rat and human SP-D. The purified protein was used for the production of a monoclonal anti-pSP-D antibody. The antibody reacted specifically with pSP-D in the reduced and unreduced state when analysed by Western blotting......Surfactant protein D (SP-D) is a collectin believed to play an important role in innate immunity. SP-D is characterized by having a collagen-like domain and a carbohydrate recognition domain (CRD), which has a specific Ca2+-dependent specificity for saccharides and thus the ability to bind complex...... glycoconjugates on micro-organisms. This paper describes the tissue immunolocalization of porcine SP-D (pSP-D) in normal slaughter pigs using a monoclonal antibody raised against purified pSP-D. Porcine SP-D was purified from porcine bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) by maltose-agarose and immunoglobulin M affinity...

The burning and smoke release rates of sodium pool fires

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Newman, R.N.; Payne, J.F.B.

1976-10-01

The burning rates and smoke release fractions of sodium pool fires have been measured over the pool temperature range 250 0 C to 750 0 C. A theoretical model is derived which satisfactorily predicts the burning rate over the above temperature range. The theory further predicts that the burning rate should be independent of pool diameter, a prediction supported by a comparison of burning rate data from this study and available data from other studies. (author)

Characterisation of an in vitro blood-brain barrier model based on primary porcine capillary endothelial cells in monoculture or co-culture with primary rat or porcine astrocytes and pericytes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thomsen, Louiza Bohn; Larsen, Annette Burkhart; Moos, Torben

to in vivo such as efflux transporters, tight junction proteins, and high transendothelial electric resistance (TEER). Primary BCECs are isolated from a variety of mammals such as rats, mice, cattle and pigs. Often bovine and porcine BCECs are cultured in monoculture or in co-culture with rat astrocytes......In vitro blood-brain barrier (BBB) models based on primary brain capillary endothelial cells (BCECs) in monoculture or in co-culture with primary astrocytes and pericytes are often applied for studying physiology of the BBB. Primary BCECs retain many morphological and biochemical properties similar...... obtained from neonatal rats which have been shown to strengthen the barrier properties of the BCECs. In this study, brain endothelial cells (PBECs), astrocytes and pericytes are isolated from pig brains donated by the local abattoir. The brains are from 6 month old domestic pigs. The availability and high...

Photochemistry of the African troposphere: Influence of biomass-burning emissions

Science.gov (United States)

Marufu, L.; Dentener, F.; Lelieveld, J.; Andreae, M. O.; Helas, G.

2000-06-01

The relative importance of biomass-burning (pyrogenic) emissions from savannas, deforestation, agricultural waste burning, and biofuel consumption to tropospheric ozone abundance over Africa has been estimated for the year 1993, on the basis of global model calculations. We also calculated the importance of this emission source to tropospheric ozone in other regions of the world and compared it to different sources on the African regional and global scales. The estimated annual average total tropospheric ozone abundance over Africa for the reference year is 26 Tg. Pyrogenic, industrial, biogenic, and lightning emissions account for 16, 19, 12, and 27%, respectively, while stratospheric ozone input accounts for 26%. In the planetary boundary layer over Africa, the contribution by biomass burning is ˜24%. A large fraction of the African biomass-burning-related ozone is transported away from the continent. On a global scale, biomass burning contributes ˜9% to tropospheric ozone. Our model calculations suggest that Africa is the single most important region for biomass-burning-related tropospheric ozone, accounting for ˜35% of the global annual pyrogenic ozone enhancement of 29 Tg in 1993.

The National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research Burn Model System: Twenty Years of Contributions to Clinical Service and Research.

Science.gov (United States)

Goverman, Jeremy; Mathews, Katie; Holavanahalli, Radha K; Vardanian, Andrew; Herndon, David N; Meyer, Walter J; Kowalske, Karen; Fauerbach, Jim; Gibran, Nicole S; Carrougher, Gretchen J; Amtmann, Dagmar; Schneider, Jeffrey C; Ryan, Colleen M

The National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) established the Burn Model System (BMS) in 1993 to improve the lives of burn survivors. The BMS program includes 1) a multicenter longitudinal database describing the functional and psychosocial recovery of burn survivors; 2) site-specific burn-related research; and 3) a knowledge dissemination component directed toward patients and providers. Output from each BMS component was analyzed. Database structure, content, and access procedures are described. Publications using the database were identified and categorized to illustrate the content area of the work. Unused areas of the database were identified for future study. Publications related to site-specific projects were cataloged. The most frequently cited articles are summarized to illustrate the scope of these projects. The effectiveness of dissemination activities was measured by quantifying website hits and information downloads. There were 25 NIDILRR-supported publications that utilized the database. These articles covered topics related to psychological outcomes, functional outcomes, community reintegration, and burn demographics. There were 172 site-specific publications; highly cited articles demonstrate a wide scope of study. For information dissemination, visits to the BMS website quadrupled between 2013 and 2014, with 124,063 downloads of educational material in 2014. The NIDILRR BMS program has played a major role in defining the course of burn recovery, and making that information accessible to the general public. The accumulating information in the database serves as a rich resource to the burn community for future study. The BMS is a model for collaborative research that is multidisciplinary and outcome focused.

Evaluating the influences of biomass burning during 2006 BASE-ASIA: a regional chemical transport modeling

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. C. Hsu

2012-05-01

areas, particularly during biomass burning episodes. This modeling study might provide constraints of lower limit. An additional study is underway for an active biomass burning year to obtain an upper limit and climate effects.

Identification of the porcine homologous of human disease causing trinucleotide repeat sequences

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Madsen, Lone Bruhn; Thomsen, Bo; Sølvsten, Christina Ane Elisabeth

2007-01-01

in this paper the identification of porcine noncoding and polyglutamine-encoding TNR regions and the comparison to the homologous TNRs from human, chimpanzee, dog, opossum, rat, and mouse. Several of the porcine TNR regions are highly polymorphic both within and between different breeds. The TNR regions...

Development of continuous energy Monte Carlo burn-up calculation code MVP-BURN

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Okumura, Keisuke; Nakagawa, Masayuki; Sasaki, Makoto

2001-01-01

Burn-up calculations based on the continuous energy Monte Carlo method became possible by development of MVP-BURN. To confirm the reliably of MVP-BURN, it was applied to the two numerical benchmark problems; cell burn-up calculations for High Conversion LWR lattice and BWR lattice with burnable poison rods. Major burn-up parameters have shown good agreements with the results obtained by a deterministic code (SRAC95). Furthermore, spent fuel composition calculated by MVP-BURN was compared with measured one. Atomic number densities of major actinides at 34 GWd/t could be predicted within 10% accuracy. (author)

Burning/Rubble Pits: Environmental information document

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huber, L.A.; Johnson, W.F.; Marine, I.W.

1987-03-01

The Burning/Rubble Pits, located near each of the major operating areas at the Savannah River Plant (SRP), began collecting burnable waste in 1951. The waste was incinerated monthly. All Burning/Rubble Pits are currently closed except for Burning/Rubble Pit 131-1R, which has not been backfilled but is inactive. No soil cores from the Burning/Rubble Pits have been analyzed. There are four groundwater monitoring wells located around each of the pits, which have been sampled quarterly since 1984. The closure options considered for the Burning/Rubble Pits are waste removal and closure, no waste removal and closure, and no action. Modeling calculations were made to determine the risks to human population for the three postulated closure options. An ecological assessment was conducted to predict the environmental impacts on aquatic and terrestrial biota. The relative costs for each of the closure options were estimated. An evaluation of the environmental impacts from the Burning/Rubble Pits indicates that the relative risks to human health and ecosystems for the postulated closure options are low. The ecological assessment shows that the effects of any closure activities on river water quality and wildlife would be insignificant. The cost estimates show the waste removal and closure option to be the most expensive for all of the pits. 38 refs., 35 figs., 47 tabs

An ultrasound needle insertion guide in a porcine phantom model.

Science.gov (United States)

Whittaker, S; Lethbridge, G; Kim, C; Keon Cohen, Z; Ng, I

2013-08-01

We compared nerve blockade with and without the Infiniti(TM) needle guide in an ultrasound in-plane porcine simulation. We recruited 30 anaesthetists with varying blockade experience. Using the guide, the needle tip was more visible (for a median (IQR [range]) of 67 (56-100]) % of the time; and invisible for 2 (1-4 [0-19]) s) than when the guide was not used (respectively 23 (13-43 [0-80]) % and 25 (9-52 [1-198]) s; both p < 0.001). The corresponding block times were 8 (6-10 [3-28]) s and 32 (15-67 [5-225]) s, respectively; p < 0.001. The needle guide reduced the block time and the time that the needle was invisible, irrespective of anaesthetist experience. Anaesthesia © 2013 The Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland.

Bacterial infections in burn patients at a burn hospital in Iran.

Science.gov (United States)

Ekrami, Alireza; Kalantar, Enayat

2007-12-01

The major challenge for a burn team is nosocomial infection in burn patients, which is known to cause over 50% of burn deaths. Most studies on infection in burn patients focus on burn wound infection, whereas other nosocomial infections in these patients are not well described. We undertook this study to determine three types of nosocomial infections viz., burn wound infection, urinary tract infection, and blood stream infection in burn patients in a burn hospital in Iran. During the one year period (May 2003 to April 2004), 182 patients were included in this study. Blood, urine and wound biopsy samples were taken 7 and 14 days after admission to Taleghani Burn hospital. Isolation and identification of microorganisms was done using the standard procedure. Disk diffusion test were performed for all the isolates for antimicrobial susceptibility. Of the 182 patients, 140 (76.9%) acquired at least one type of infection of the 140, 116 patients (82.8%) were culture positive on day 7 while 24 (17.2%) on 14 days after admission. Primary wound infection was most common (72.5%), followed by blood stream (18.6%) and urinary tract infections (8.9 %). The microorganisms causing infections were Pseudomonas aeruginosa (37.5%), Staphylococcus aureus (20.2%), and Acinetobacter baumanni (10.4%). Among these isolates P. aeruginosa was found to be 100 per cent resistant to amikacin, gentamicin , carbenicillin, ciprofloxacin, tobramycin and ceftazidime; 58 per cent of S. aureus and 60 per cent of coagulase negative Staphylococcus were methicillin resistant. High prevalence of nosocomial infections and the presence of multidrug resistant bacteria, and methicillin resistant S. aureus in patients at Taleghani Burn Hospital suggest continuous surveillance of burn infections and develop strategies for antimicrobial resistance control and treatment of infectious complications.

An anatomical study of porcine peripheral nerve and its potential use in nerve tissue engineering

Science.gov (United States)

Zilic, Leyla; Garner, Philippa E; Yu, Tong; Roman, Sabiniano; Haycock, John W; Wilshaw, Stacy-Paul

2015-01-01

Current nerve tissue engineering applications are adopting xenogeneic nerve tissue as potential nerve grafts to help aid nerve regeneration. However, there is little literature that describes the exact location, anatomy and physiology of these nerves to highlight their potential as a donor graft. The aim of this study was to identify and characterise the structural and extracellular matrix (ECM) components of porcine peripheral nerves in the hind leg. Methods included the dissection of porcine nerves, localisation, characterisation and quantification of the ECM components and identification of nerve cells. Results showed a noticeable variance between porcine and rat nerve (a commonly studied species) in terms of fascicle number. The study also revealed that when porcine peripheral nerves branch, a decrease in fascicle number and size was evident. Porcine ECM and nerve fascicles were found to be predominately comprised of collagen together with glycosaminoglycans, laminin and fibronectin. Immunolabelling for nerve growth factor receptor p75 also revealed the localisation of Schwann cells around and inside the fascicles. In conclusion, it is shown that porcine peripheral nerves possess a microstructure similar to that found in rat, and is not dissimilar to human. This finding could extend to the suggestion that due to the similarities in anatomy to human nerve, porcine nerves may have utility as a nerve graft providing guidance and support to regenerating axons. PMID:26200940

Therapeutic effects of zerumbone in an alkali-burned corneal wound healing model.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Jong Won; Jeong, Hyuneui; Yang, Myeon-Sik; Lim, Chae Woong; Kim, Bumseok

2017-07-01

Cornea is an avascular transparent tissue. Ocular trauma caused by a corneal alkali burn induces corneal neovascularization (CNV), inflammation, and fibrosis, leading to vision loss. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of Zerumbone (ZER) on corneal wound healing caused by alkali burns in mice. CNV was induced by alkali-burn injury in BALB/C female mice. Topical ZER (three times per day, 3μl each time, at concentrations of 5, 15, and 30μM) was applied to treat alkali-burned mouse corneas for 14 consecutive days. Histopathologically, ZER treatment suppressed alkali burn-induced CNV and decreased corneal epithelial defects induced by alkali burns. Corneal tissue treated with ZER showed reduced mRNA levels of pro-angiogenic genes, including vascular endothelial growth factor, matrix metalloproteinase-2 and 9, and pro-fibrotic factors such as alpha smooth muscle actin and transforming growth factor-1 and 2. Immunohistochemical analysis demonstrated that the infiltration of F4/80 and/or CCR2 positive cells was significantly decreased in ZER-treated corneas. ZER markedly inhibited the mRNA and protein levels of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) in human corneal fibroblasts and murine peritoneal macrophages. Immunoblot analysis revealed that ZER decreased the activation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), with consequent reduction of MCP-1 production by these cells. In conclusion, topical administration of ZER accelerated corneal wound healing by inhibition of STAT3 and MCP-1 production. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Cardiovascular risk profile in burn survivors.

Science.gov (United States)

Leung, Becky; Younger, John F; Stockton, Kellie; Muller, Michael; Paratz, Jennifer

2017-11-01

Burn patients have prolonged derangements in metabolic, endocrine, cardiac and psychosocial systems, potentially impacting on their cardiovascular health. There are no studies on the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) after-burn. The aim of our study was to record lipid values and evaluate CVD risk in adult burn survivors. In a cross-sectional study patients ≥18 years with burn injury between 18-80% total burn surface area (TBSA) from 1998 to 2012 had total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein (LDL), high density lipoprotein (HDL) and triglycerides measured via finger prick. Means were compared to optimal ranges. Multivariate regression models were performed to assess the association of lipids with age, years after-burn and total body surface area % (TBSA). A p value Risk Score (FGCRS) was calculated. Fifty patients were included in the study. Compared to optimal values, patients had low HDL and high triglycerides. Greater %TBSA was associated with statistically significant elevation of triglycerides (p=0.007) and total cholesterol/HDL ratio (p=0.027). The median FGCRS was 3.9% (low) 10-year risk of CVD with 82% of patients in the low-risk category. Patients involved in medium/high level of physical activity had optimal values of HDL, TC/HDL and triglycerides despite the magnitude of TBSA%. Adult burn survivors had alterations in lipid profile proportional to TBSA, which could be modified by exercise, and no increase in overall formally predicted CVD risk in this cross sectional study. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd and ISBI. All rights reserved.

Burning Mouth Syndrome

Science.gov (United States)

... Care Home Health Info Health Topics Burning Mouth Burning Mouth Syndrome (BMS) is a painful, complex condition often described ... or other symptoms. Read More Publications Cover image Burning Mouth Syndrome Publication files Download Language English PDF — Number of ...

Discovery of a novel putative atypical porcine pestivirus in pigs in the USA.

Science.gov (United States)

Hause, Ben M; Collin, Emily A; Peddireddi, Lalitha; Yuan, Fangfeng; Chen, Zhenhai; Hesse, Richard A; Gauger, Phillip C; Clement, Travis; Fang, Ying; Anderson, Gary

2015-10-01

Pestiviruses are some of the most significant pathogens affecting ruminants and swine. Here, we assembled a 11 276 bp contig encoding a predicted 3635 aa polyprotein from porcine serum with 68 % pairwise identity to that of a recently partially characterized Rhinolophus affinis pestivirus (RaPV) and approximately 25-28 % pairwise identity to those of other pestiviruses. The virus was provisionally named atypical porcine pestivirus (APPV). Metagenomic sequencing of 182 serum samples identified four additional APPV-positive samples. Positive samples originated from five states and ELISAs using recombinant APPV Erns found cross-reactive antibodies in 94 % of a collection of porcine serum samples, suggesting widespread distribution of APPV in the US swine herd. The molecular and serological results suggest that APPV is a novel, highly divergent porcine pestivirus widely distributed in US pigs.

Porcine, murine and human sialoadhesin (Sn/Siglec-1/CD169): portals for porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus entry into target cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Van Breedam, Wander; Verbeeck, Mieke; Christiaens, Isaura; Van Gorp, Hanne; Nauwynck, Hans J

2013-09-01

Porcine sialoadhesin (pSn; a sialic acid-binding lectin) and porcine CD163 (pCD163) are molecules that facilitate infectious entry of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) into alveolar macrophages. In this study, it was shown that murine Sn (mSn) and human Sn (hSn), like pSn, can promote PRRSV infection of pCD163-expressing cells. Intact sialic acid-binding domains are crucial, since non-sialic acid-binding mutants of pSn, mSn and hSn did not promote infection. Endodomain-deletion mutants of pSn, mSn and hSn promoted PRRSV infection less efficiently, but also showed markedly reduced expression levels, making further research into the potential role of the Sn endodomain in PRRSV receptor activity necessary. These data further complement our knowledge on Sn as an important PRRSV receptor, and suggest - in combination with other published data - that species differences in the main PRRSV entry mediators Sn and CD163 do not account for the strict host species specificity displayed by the virus.

Model predictive control of a lean-burn gasoline engine coupled with a passive selective catalytic reduction system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chen, Pingen [Tennessee Technological University (TTU); Lin, Qinghua [Tennessee Technological University (TTU); Prikhodko, Vitaly Y. [ORNL

2017-10-01

Lean-burn gasoline engines have demonstrated 10–20% engine efficiency gain over stoichiometric engines and are widely considered as a promising technology for meeting the 54.5 miles-per-gallon (mpg) Corporate Average Fuel Economy standard by 2025. Nevertheless, NOx emissions control for lean-burn gasoline for meeting the stringent EPA Tier 3 emission standards has been one of the main challenges towards the commercialization of highly-efficient lean-burn gasoline engines in the United States. Passive selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems, which consist of a three-way catalyst and SCR, have demonstrated great potentials of effectively reducing NOx emissions for lean gasoline engines but may cause significant fuel penalty due to ammonia generation via rich engine combustion. The purpose of this study is to develop a model-predictive control (MPC) scheme for a lean-burn gasoline engine coupled with a passive SCR system to minimize the fuel penalty associated with passive SCR operation while satisfying stringent NOx and NH3 emissions requirements. Simulation results demonstrate that the MPC-based control can reduce the fuel penalty by 47.7% in a simulated US06 cycle and 32.0% in a simulated UDDS cycle, compared to the baseline control, while achieving over 96% deNOx efficiency and less than 15 ppm tailpipe ammonia slip. The proposed MPC control can potentially enable high engine efficiency gain for highly-efficient lean-burn gasoline engine while meeting the stringent EPA Tier 3 emission standards.

A cucumber mosaic virus based expression system for the production of porcine circovirus specific vaccines.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Akos Gellért

Full Text Available Potential porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2 capsid protein epitopes, suitable for expression on the surface of cucumber mosaic virus (CMV particles were determined by a thorough analysis of the predicted PCV capsid protein structure. The ab initio protein structure prediction was carried out with fold recognition and threading methods. The putative PCV epitopes were selected on the basis of PCV virion models and integrated into the plant virus coat protein, after amino acid position 131. The recombinants were tested for infectivity and stability on different Nicotiana species and stable recombinant virus particles were purified. The particles were tested for their ability to bind to PCV induced porcine antibodies and used for specific antibody induction in mice and pigs. The results showed that PCV epitopes expressed on the CMV surface were recognized by the porcine antibodies and they were also able to induce PCV specific antibody response. Challenge experiment with PCV2 carried out in immunized pigs showed partial protection against the infection. Based on these results it was concluded that specific antiviral vaccine production for the given pathogen was feasible, offering an inexpensive way for the mass production of such vaccines.

A cucumber mosaic virus based expression system for the production of porcine circovirus specific vaccines.

Science.gov (United States)

Gellért, Akos; Salánki, Katalin; Tombácz, Kata; Tuboly, Tamás; Balázs, Ervin

2012-01-01

Potential porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) capsid protein epitopes, suitable for expression on the surface of cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) particles were determined by a thorough analysis of the predicted PCV capsid protein structure. The ab initio protein structure prediction was carried out with fold recognition and threading methods. The putative PCV epitopes were selected on the basis of PCV virion models and integrated into the plant virus coat protein, after amino acid position 131. The recombinants were tested for infectivity and stability on different Nicotiana species and stable recombinant virus particles were purified. The particles were tested for their ability to bind to PCV induced porcine antibodies and used for specific antibody induction in mice and pigs. The results showed that PCV epitopes expressed on the CMV surface were recognized by the porcine antibodies and they were also able to induce PCV specific antibody response. Challenge experiment with PCV2 carried out in immunized pigs showed partial protection against the infection. Based on these results it was concluded that specific antiviral vaccine production for the given pathogen was feasible, offering an inexpensive way for the mass production of such vaccines.

Enteric porcine viruses in farmed shellfish in Denmark.

Science.gov (United States)

Krog, J S; Larsen, L E; Schultz, A C

2014-09-01

Bivalve shellfish are at constant risk of being exposed to pathogens as a consequence of contamination of the shellfish beds with human or animal waste originating from sewage treatment plants or slurry fertilized fields. Consumption of contaminated oysters and mussels are frequently reported as causes of disease outbreaks caused by norovirus or hepatitis A virus. Other zoonotic pathogens such as hepatitis E virus (HEV), rotavirus (RV) and Salmonella from livestock may also be transmitted to shellfish via this route. In this study, 29 pooled samples from commercial Danish blue mussels were tested for porcine pathogens and indicator bacteria Escherichia coli (E. coli). All samples tested negative for HEV, RV and Salmonella, whereas E. coli and the highly stable porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) were detected in eight and 12 samples, respectively. This is the first study to report the detection of PCV2 in commercial mussels. Based on the detection of PCV2 in clean areas with low prevalence of the normally applied fecal indicator E. coli, testing for PCV2 may be a more sensitive and robust specific porcine waste indicator in shellfish harvesting areas. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Efficiency recovery determination of microorganisms in the assurance of the sterility in radioactive sterile porcine xenograft in the stage of microbiological counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Besnier Joost, Camila

2016-01-01

Use of porcine xenografts as a temporary dressing for treating burns may generate a risk of infection in patients who require due to the transmission of pathogenic microorganisms. Porcine xenografts reach the Chilean Nuclear Energy Commission to be radiosterilized. To accomplish this, a process that ensures sterility of these tissues, called Test of sterility assurance, comprising several stages is performed. In this work the efficiency of its stages, which is the microbiological count (Bioburden) was measured. According to the protocols established by the ISO 1137 standard and the current conditions of the laboratory where this is done. Staphylococcus aureus strain was isolated from pig skins and confirmed in the laboratory of microbiology at the Santo Tomas University. A polluting inoculum to later make an artificial contamination of skin samples was performed previously radioesterilized pig. The bioburden count technique was used in 7 groups with 6 individual repetitions, and in parallel the BAM (Bacteriological Analytical Manual) method was performed to have a benchmark for the Bioburden. It was determined that the average concentration of contaminant inoculum was 4.35 ± 0.13 LOG (cfu/mL), with a recovery of 3.71 ± 0.1 LOG (cfu/g) by the method Bioburden, equivalent at an efficiency of 84 ± 3% recovery of microorganisms, falling within the optimal range for these tests established by the ISO 11137 standard (author)

Educational Materials - Burn Wise

Science.gov (United States)

Burn Wise outreach material. Burn Wise is a partnership program of that emphasizes the importance of burning the right wood, the right way, in the right wood-burning appliance to protect your home, health, and the air we breathe.

A regional chemical transport modeling to identify the influences of biomass burning during 2006 BASE-ASIA

Science.gov (United States)

Fu, J. S.; Hsu, N. C.; Gao, Y.; Huang, K.; Li, C.; Lin, N.-H.; Tsay, S.-C.

2011-01-01

To evaluate the impact of biomass burning from Southeast Asia to East Asia, this study conducted numerical simulations during NASA's 2006 Biomass-burning Aerosols in South-East Asia: Smoke Impact Assessment (BASE-ASIA). Two typical episode periods (27-28 March and 13-14 April) were examined. Two emission inventories, FLAMBE and GFED, were used in the simulations. The influences during two episodes in the source region (Southeast Asia) contributed to CO, O3 and PM2.5 concentrations as high as 400 ppbv, 20 ppbv and 80 μg/m3, respectively. The perturbations with and without biomass burning of the above three species were in the range of 10 to 60%, 10 to 20% and 30 to 70%, respectively. The impact due to long-range transport could spread over the southeastern parts of East Asia and could reach about 160 to 360 ppbv, 8 to 18 ppbv and 8 to 64 μg/m3 on CO, O3 and PM2.5, respectively; the percentage impact could reach 20 to 50% on CO, 10 to 30% on O3, and as high as 70% on PM2.5. An impact pattern can be found in April, while the impact becomes slightly broader and goes up to Yangtze River Delta. Two cross-sections at 15° N and 20° N were used to compare the vertical flux of biomass burning. In the source region (Southeast Asia), CO, O3 and PM2.5 concentrations had a strong upward tendency from surface to high altitudes. The eastward transport becomes strong from 2 to 8 km in the free troposphere. The subsidence contributed 60 to 70%, 20 to 50%, and 80% on CO, O3 and PM2.5, respectively to surface in the downwind area. The study reveals the significant impact of Southeastern Asia biomass burning on the air quality in both local and downwind areas, particularly during biomass burning episodes. This modeling study might provide constraints of lower limit. An additional study is underway for an active biomass burning year to obtain an upper limit and climate effects.

How important is biomass burning in Canada to mercury contamination?

Science.gov (United States)

Fraser, Annemarie; Dastoor, Ashu; Ryjkov, Andrei

2018-05-01

Wildfire frequency has increased in past four decades in Canada and is expected to increase in future as a result of climate change (Wotton et al., 2010). Mercury (Hg) emissions from biomass burning are known to be significant; however, the impact of biomass burning on air concentration and deposition fluxes in Canada has not been previously quantified. We use estimates of burned biomass from FINN (Fire INventory from NCAR) and vegetation-specific emission factors (EFs) of mercury to investigate the spatiotemporal variability of Hg emissions in Canada. We use Environment and Climate Change Canada's GEM-MACH-Hg (Global Environmental Multi-scale, Modelling Air quality and Chemistry model, mercury version) to quantify the impact of biomass burning in Canada on spatiotemporal variability of air concentrations and deposition fluxes of mercury in Canada. We use North American gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) observations (2010-2015), GEM-MACH-Hg, and an inversion technique to optimize the EFs for GEM for five vegetation types represented in North American fires to constrain the biomass burning impacts of mercury. The inversion results suggest that EFs representing more vegetation types - specifically peatland - are required. This is currently limited by the sparseness of measurements of Hg from biomass burning plumes. More measurements of Hg concentration in the air, specifically downwind of fires, would improve the inversions. We use three biomass burning Hg emissions scenarios in Canada to conduct three sets of model simulations for 2010-2015: two scenarios where Hg is emitted only as GEM using literature or optimized EFs and a third scenario where Hg is emitted as GEM using literature EFs and particle bound mercury (PBM) emitted using the average GEM/PBM ratio from lab measurements. The three biomass burning emission scenarios represent a range of possible values for the impacts of Hg emissions from biomass burning in Canada on Hg concentration and deposition. We find

Burn Injury: A Challenge for Tissue Engineers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yerneni LK

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Ever since man invented fire he has been more frequently burning himself by this creation than by the naturally occurring bushfires. It is estimated that over 1.152 million people in India suffer from burn injuries requiring treatment every year and majority of them are women aged between 16-40 years and most of them occur in the kitchen. The treatment for burns basically involves autologous skin grafting, which originated in India more than two thousand years ago (Sushruta Samhita, is still the gold standard for the wound resurfacing, although, autografting is difficult where graftable donor sites are limited. Although, Cadaver skin, porcine or bovine xenografts are used alternatively over the past thirty years, modern approaches like the Bioengineering of skin substitutes emerged during the past 20 years as advanced wound management technologies with no social impediment. They can be broadly categorized as Acellular and Cellular biotechnological products. The acellular products like Alloderm (LifeCell Corporation, Integra (Integra Life Sciences act like template and depend on natural regeneration, while the cellular ones are either ‘Off-the-Shelf’ products like Apligraf (Organogenesis Inc and Orcel (Ortec International have allogenic elements and ‘home grown’ autologous cell products like Cultured Epithelial Autograft (CEA and epidermal-dermal composite skin use synthetic or natural non-human matrices. The CEA is based on the ex-vivo epidermal stem cell-expansion and our laboratory has been engaged in CEA technique development with innovative cost-effective approach and yielded promising preliminary clinical success. The basic methodological approach in CEA technique which is still clinically adopted by several developed countries involves the use of growth arrested mouse dermal fibroblasts as growth supportive matrix and is thus considered a drawback as a whole. Additionally, there is no superior enough method available to augment the

In vivo measurement of nitric oxide production in porcine gut, liver and muscle during hyperdynamic endotoxaemia

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bruins, Maaike J.; Lamers, Wouter H.; Meijer, Alfred J.; Soeters, Peter B.; Deutz, Nicolaas E. P.

2002-01-01

1. During prolonged endotoxaemia, an increase in arginine catabolism may result in limiting substrate availability for nitric oxide (NO) production. These effects were quantitated in a chronically instrumented porcine endotoxaemia model. 2. Ten days prior to the beginning of the experiments, pigs

Renal artery nerve distribution and density in the porcine model: biologic implications for the development of radiofrequency ablation therapies.

Science.gov (United States)

Tellez, Armando; Rousselle, Serge; Palmieri, Taylor; Rate, William R; Wicks, Joan; Degrange, Ashley; Hyon, Chelsea M; Gongora, Carlos A; Hart, Randy; Grundy, Will; Kaluza, Greg L; Granada, Juan F

2013-12-01

Catheter-based renal artery denervation has demonstrated to be effective in decreasing blood pressure among patients with refractory hypertension. The anatomic distribution of renal artery nerves may influence the safety and efficacy profile of this procedure. We aimed to describe the anatomic distribution and density of periarterial renal nerves in the porcine model. Thirty arterial renal sections were included in the analysis by harvesting a tissue block containing the renal arteries and perirenal tissue from each animal. Each artery was divided into 3 segments (proximal, mid, and distal) and assessed for total number, size, and depth of the nerves according to the location. Nerve counts were greatest proximally (45.62% of the total nerves) and decreased gradually distally (mid, 24.58%; distal, 29.79%). The distribution in nerve size was similar across all 3 sections (∼40% of the nerves, 50-100 μm; ∼30%, 0-50 μm; ∼20%, 100-200 μm; and ∼10%, 200-500 μm). In the arterial segments ∼45% of the nerves were located within 2 mm from the arterial wall whereas ∼52% of all nerves were located within 2.5 mm from the arterial wall. Sympathetic efferent fibers outnumbered sensory afferent fibers overwhelmingly, intermixed within the nerve bundle. In the porcine model, renal artery nerves are seen more frequently in the proximal segment of the artery. Nerve size distribution appears to be homogeneous throughout the artery length. Nerve bundles progress closer to the arterial wall in the distal segments of the artery. This anatomic distribution may have implications for the future development of renal denervation therapies. Crown Copyright © 2013. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Poverty, population density, and the epidemiology of burns in young children from Mexico treated at a U.S. pediatric burn facility.

Science.gov (United States)

Patel, Dipen D; Rosenberg, Marta; Rosenberg, Laura; Foncerrada, Guillermo; Andersen, Clark R; Capek, Karel D; Leal, Jesus; Lee, Jong O; Jimenez, Carlos; Branski, Ludwik; Meyer, Walter J; Herndon, David N

2018-03-07

Children 5 and younger are at risk for sustaining serious burn injuries. The causes of burns vary depending on demographic, cultural and socioeconomic variables. At this pediatric burn center we provided medical care to children from Mexico with severe injuries. The purpose of this study was to understand the impact of demographic distribution and modifiable risk factors of burns in young children to help guide prevention. A retrospective chart review was performed with children 5 and younger from Mexico who were injured from 2000-2013. The medical records of 447 acute patients were reviewed. Frequency counts and percentages were used to identify geographic distribution and calculate incidence of burns. Microsoft Powermap software was used to create a geographical map of Mexico based on types of burns. A binomial logistic regression was used to model the incidence of flame burns as opposed to scald burns in each state with relation to population density and poverty percentage. In all statistical tests, alpha=0.05 for a 95% level of confidence. Burns were primarily caused by flame and scald injuries. Admissions from flame injuries were mainly from explosions of propane tanks and gas lines and house fires. Flame injuries were predominantly from the states of Jalisco, Chihuahua, and Distrito Federal. Scalds were attributed to falling in large containers of hot water or food on the ground, and spills of hot liquids. Scald injuries were largely from the states of Oaxaca, Distrito Federal, and Hidalgo. The odds of a patient having flame burns were significantly associated with poverty percentage (ppoverty led to decrease in odds of a flame burn, but an increase in the odds of scald burns. Similarly, we found that increasing population density led to a decrease in the odds of a flame burn, but an increase in the odds of a scald burn. Burns in young children from Mexico who received medical care at this pediatric burn center were attributed to flame and scalds. Potential

Hyperpolarized [1-13C]Pyruvate MRI identifies metabolic differences pertaining to the fasted and fed state in porcine cardiac metabolism

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tougaard, Rasmus Stilling; Søvsø Szocska Hansen, Esben; Laustsen, Christoffer

Standardized large animal models for cardiac hyperpolarized MR metabolic studies are becoming increasingly important as translation into human trials progresses. We employed a porcine (n=17) model of fasting/feeding to study these two states and to examine normal feeding as a standardized model f...

Lipid Supplement in the Cultural Condition Facilitates the Porcine iPSC Derivation through cAMP/PKA/CREB Signal Pathway

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Wei Zhang

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Large numbers of lipids exist in the porcine oocytes and early embryos and have the positive effects on their development, suggesting that the lipids may play an important role in pluripotency establishment and maintenance in pigs. However, the effects of lipids and their metabolites, such as fatty acids on reprogramming and the pluripotency gene expression of porcine-induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs, are unclear. Here, we generated the porcine iPSCs that resemble the mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs under lipid and fatty-acid-enriched cultural conditions (supplement of AlbuMAX. These porcine iPSCs show positive for the ESCs pluripotency markers and have the differentiation abilities to all three germ layers, and importantly, have the capability of aggregation into the inner cell mass (ICM of porcine blastocysts. We further confirmed that lipid and fatty acid enriched condition can promote the cell proliferation and improve reprogramming efficiency by elevating cAMP levels. Interestingly, this lipids supplement promotes mesenchymal–epithelial transition (MET through the cAMP/PKA/CREB signal pathway and upregulates the E-cadherin expression during porcine somatic cell reprogramming. The lipids supplement also makes a contribution to lipid droplets accumulation in the porcine iPSCs that resemble porcine preimplantation embryos. These findings may facilitate understanding of the lipid metabolism in porcine iPSCs and lay the foundation of bona fide porcine embryonic stem cell derivation.

Novel diffuse optics system for continuous tissue viability monitoring: extended recovery in vivo testing in a porcine flap model

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Seung Yup; Pakela, Julia M.; Hedrick, Taylor L.; Vishwanath, Karthik; Helton, Michael C.; Chung, Yooree; Kolodziejski, Noah J.; Stapels, Christopher J.; McAdams, Daniel R.; Fernandez, Daniel E.; Christian, James F.; O'Reilly, Jameson; Farkas, Dana; Ward, Brent B.; Feinberg, Stephen E.; Mycek, Mary-Ann

2017-02-01

In reconstructive surgery, tissue perfusion/vessel patency is critical to the success of microvascular free tissue flaps. Early detection of flap failure secondary to compromise of vascular perfusion would significantly increase the chances of flap salvage. We have developed a compact, clinically-compatible monitoring system to enable automated, minimally-invasive, continuous, and quantitative assessment of flap viability/perfusion. We tested the system's continuous monitoring capability during extended non-recovery surgery using an in vivo porcine free flap model. Initial results indicated that the system could assess flap viability/perfusion in a quantitative and continuous manner. With proven performance, the compact form constructed with cost-effective components would make this system suitable for clinical translation.

Instrumented tube burns: theoretical and experimental observations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yarrington, Cole Davis [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Obrey, Stephen J [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Foley, Timothy J [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Son, Steven F [Los Alamos National Laboratory

2009-01-01

The advent of widely available nanoscale energetic composites has resulted in a flurry of novel applications. One of these applications is the use of nanomaterials in energetic compositions. In compositions that exhibit high sensitivity to stimulus, these materials are often termed metastable intermolecular composites (MIC). More generally, these compositions are simply called nanoenergetics. Researchers have used many different experimental techniques to analyze the various properties of nanoenergetic systems. Among these various techniques, the confined tube burn is a simple experiment that is capable of obtaining much data related to the combustion of these materials. The purpose of this report is to review the current state of the confined tube burn experiment, including the drawbacks of the technique and possible remedies. As this report is intended to focus on the specific experimental technique, data from many different energetic materials, and experimental configurations will be presented. The qualitative and quantitative data that can be gathered using confined tube burn experiments include burning rates, total impulse, pressure rise rate, and burning rate differences between different detector types. All of these measurements lend insight into the combustion properties and mechanisms of specific nanoenergetics. Finally, certain data indicates a more complicated flow scenario which may need to be considered when developing burn tube models.

Factors Influencing Resilience of Burn Patients in South Korea.

Science.gov (United States)

Jang, Mi Heui; Park, Jongui; Chong, Mi Kyong; Sok, Sohyune R

2017-09-01

To examine and identify the factors influencing the degree of resilience among Korean burn patients. A cross-sectional descriptive design was employed. The study sample consisted of 138 burn patients recovering from the acute phase in H hospital, Seoul. The male patient participants numbered 93 (67.4%) and the female participants numbered 45 (32.6%). The average age of the participants was 46.79 years. Measures used were the Beck Depression Inventory, State Trait Anxiety Inventory, self-esteem scale, family support scale, and resilience scale. The analyses showed that the prediction model for resilience among burn patients was significant (F = 33.94, p resilience among burn patients was self-esteem (β = .35), followed by family support (β = .29). This study provides preliminary evidence that self-esteem is a major and primary predictor of resilience among burn patients, next followed by family support. In the nursing practice, nurses need to pay attention to the burn patient's self-esteem and family support. Concrete interventions and strategies to improve the resilience of burn patients are needed. © 2017 Sigma Theta Tau International.

Deciding Where to Burn: Stakeholder Priorities for Prescribed Burning of a Fire-Dependent Ecosystem

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jennifer K. Costanza

2011-03-01

Full Text Available Multiagency partnerships increasingly work cooperatively to plan and implement fire management. The stakeholders that comprise such partnerships differ in their perceptions of the benefits and risks of fire use or nonuse. These differences inform how different stakeholders prioritize sites for burning, constrain prescribed burning, and how they rationalize these priorities and constraints. Using a survey of individuals involved in the planning and implementation of prescribed fire in the Onslow Bight region of North Carolina, we examined how the constraints and priorities for burning in the longleaf pine (Pinus palustris ecosystem differed among three stakeholder groups: prescribed burn practitioners from agencies, practitioners from private companies, and nonpractitioners. Stakeholder groups did not differ in their perceptions of constraints to burning, and development near potentially burned sites was the most important constraint identified. The top criteria used by stakeholders to decide where to burn were the time since a site was last burned, and a site's ecosystem health, with preference given to recently burned sites in good health. Differences among stakeholder groups almost always pertained to perceptions of the nonecological impacts of burning. Prescribed burning priorities of the two groups of practitioners, and particularly practitioners from private companies, tended to be most influenced by nonecological impacts, especially through deprioritization of sites that have not been burned recently or are in the wildland-urban interface (WUI. Our results highlight the difficulty of burning these sites, despite widespread laws in the southeast U.S. that limit liability of prescribed burn practitioners. To avoid ecosystem degradation on sites that are challenging to burn, particularly those in the WUI, conservation partnerships can facilitate demonstration projects involving public and private burn practitioners on those sites. In summary

Alternative splicing of the porcine glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK-3β gene with differential expression patterns and regulatory functions.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Linjie Wang

Full Text Available Glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK3α and GSK3β are serine/threonine kinases involved in numerous cellular processes and diverse diseases including mood disorders, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, and cancer. However, in pigs, the information on GSK3 is very limited. Identification and characterization of pig GSK3 are not only important for pig genetic improvement, but also contribute to the understanding and development of porcine models for human disease prevention and treatment.Five different isoforms of GSK3β were identified in porcine different tissues, in which three isoforms are novel. These isoforms had differential expression patterns in the fetal and adult of the porcine different tissues. The mRNA expression level of GSK3β isoforms was differentially regulated during the course of the insulin treatment, suggesting that different GSK3β isoforms may have different roles in insulin signaling pathway. Moreover, GSK3β5 had a different role on regulating the glycogen synthase activity, phosphorylation and the expression of porcine GYS1 and GYS2 gene compared to other GSK3β isoforms.We are the first to report five different isoforms of GSK3β identified from the porcine different tissues. Splice variants of GSK3β exhibit differential activity towards glycogen synthase. These results provide new insight into roles of the GSK3β on regulating glycogen metabolism.

EFFECT OF NATURAL PLANT EXTRACTS ON PORCINE OVARIAN FUNCTIONS

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Attila Kádasi

2015-02-01

Full Text Available This report provides information about the impact of chosen natural plant extracts on basic ovarian functions. This article summarizes our results concerning the effect of selected plant extracts on proliferation, apoptosis and hormone secretion – release of progesterone (P4, testosterone (T and leptin (L on porcine granulosa cells (GC, We analyzed effects of ginkgo (GB, rooibos (RB, flaxseed (FL, green tea polyphenols (GTPP, green tea - epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG, resveratrol (RSV and curcumin (CURC (0; 1; 10 and 100 μg.ml-1 on markers of proliferation, apoptosis and secretory activity of porcine ovarian granulosa cells by using immunocytochemistry and EIA. It was demonstrated, that all these natural plants and plant molecules inhibited the accumulation of proliferation-related peptide (PCNA and apoptosis-associated peptide (Bax in cultured. Furthermore, it was observed that natural plant extracts altered progesterone, testosterone and leptin release in porcine ovarian cells. It is concluded, that GB, RB, FL, RSV, CURC, GTPP and EGCG can directly affect ovarian cells and therefore they could potentially influence ovarian functions.

Epidemiology of burns

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dokter, Jan

2016-01-01

The aim of this thesis is to understand the epidemiology, treatment and outcomes of specialized burn care in The Netherlands. This thesis is mainly based on historical data of the burn centre in Rotterdam from 1986, combined with historical data from the burn centres in Groningen and Beverwijk from

Actinide-only and full burn-up credit in criticality assessment of RBMK-1500 spent nuclear fuel storage cask using axial burn-up profile

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Barkauskas, V., E-mail: vytenis.barkauskas@ftmc.lt; Plukiene, R., E-mail: rita.plukiene@ftmc.lt; Plukis, A., E-mail: arturas.plukis@ftmc.lt

2016-10-15

Highlights: • RBMK-1500 fuel burn-up impact on k{sub eff} in the SNF cask was calculated using SCALE 6.1. • Positive end effect was noticed at certain burn-up for the RBMK-1500 spent nuclear fuel. • The non-uniform uranium depletion is responsible for the end effect in RBMK-1500 SNF. • k{sub eff} in the SNF cask does not exceed a value of 0.95 which is set in the safety requirements. - Abstract: Safe long-term storage of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) is one of the main issues in the field of nuclear safety. Burn-up credit application in criticality analysis of SNF reduces conservatism of usually used fresh fuel assumption and implies a positive economic impact for the SNF storage. Criticality calculations of spent nuclear fuel in the CONSTOR® RBMK-1500/M2 cask were performed using pre-generated ORIGEN-ARP spent nuclear fuel composition libraries, and the results of the RBMK-1500 burn-up credit impact on the effective neutron multiplication factor (k{sub eff}) have been obtained and are presented in the paper. SCALE 6.1 code package with the STARBUCKS burn-up credit evaluation tool was used for modeling. Pre-generated ARP (Automatic Rapid Processing) crosssection libraries based on ENDF/B-VII cross section library were used for fast burn-up inventory modeling. Different conditions in the SNF cask were modeled: 2.0% and 2.8% initial enrichment fuel of various burn-up and water density inside cavities of the SNF cask. The fuel composition for the criticality analysis was chosen taking into account main actinides and most important fission products used in burn-up calculations. A significant positive end effect is noticed from 15 GWd/tU burn-up for 2.8% enrichment fuel and from 9 GWd/tU for 2.0% enrichment fuel applying the actinide-only approach. The obtained results may be applied in further evaluations of the RBMK type reactor SNF storage as well as help to optimize the SNF storage volume inside the CONSTOR® RBMK-1500/M2 cask without compromising criticality

Actinide-only and full burn-up credit in criticality assessment of RBMK-1500 spent nuclear fuel storage cask using axial burn-up profile

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barkauskas, V.; Plukiene, R.; Plukis, A.

2016-01-01

Highlights: • RBMK-1500 fuel burn-up impact on k_e_f_f in the SNF cask was calculated using SCALE 6.1. • Positive end effect was noticed at certain burn-up for the RBMK-1500 spent nuclear fuel. • The non-uniform uranium depletion is responsible for the end effect in RBMK-1500 SNF. • k_e_f_f in the SNF cask does not exceed a value of 0.95 which is set in the safety requirements. - Abstract: Safe long-term storage of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) is one of the main issues in the field of nuclear safety. Burn-up credit application in criticality analysis of SNF reduces conservatism of usually used fresh fuel assumption and implies a positive economic impact for the SNF storage. Criticality calculations of spent nuclear fuel in the CONSTOR® RBMK-1500/M2 cask were performed using pre-generated ORIGEN-ARP spent nuclear fuel composition libraries, and the results of the RBMK-1500 burn-up credit impact on the effective neutron multiplication factor (k_e_f_f) have been obtained and are presented in the paper. SCALE 6.1 code package with the STARBUCKS burn-up credit evaluation tool was used for modeling. Pre-generated ARP (Automatic Rapid Processing) crosssection libraries based on ENDF/B-VII cross section library were used for fast burn-up inventory modeling. Different conditions in the SNF cask were modeled: 2.0% and 2.8% initial enrichment fuel of various burn-up and water density inside cavities of the SNF cask. The fuel composition for the criticality analysis was chosen taking into account main actinides and most important fission products used in burn-up calculations. A significant positive end effect is noticed from 15 GWd/tU burn-up for 2.8% enrichment fuel and from 9 GWd/tU for 2.0% enrichment fuel applying the actinide-only approach. The obtained results may be applied in further evaluations of the RBMK type reactor SNF storage as well as help to optimize the SNF storage volume inside the CONSTOR® RBMK-1500/M2 cask without compromising criticality safety.

Enzymatic engineering of the porcine genome with transposons and recombinases

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carlson Daniel F

2007-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Swine is an important agricultural commodity and biomedical model. Manipulation of the pig genome provides opportunity to improve production efficiency, enhance disease resistance, and add value to swine products. Genetic engineering can also expand the utility of pigs for modeling human disease, developing clinical treatment methodologies, or donating tissues for xenotransplantation. Realizing the full potential of pig genetic engineering requires translation of the complete repertoire of genetic tools currently employed in smaller model organisms to practical use in pigs. Results Application of transposon and recombinase technologies for manipulation of the swine genome requires characterization of their activity in pig cells. We tested four transposon systems- Sleeping Beauty, Tol2, piggyBac, and Passport in cultured porcine cells. Transposons increased the efficiency of DNA integration up to 28-fold above background and provided for precise delivery of 1 to 15 transgenes per cell. Both Cre and Flp recombinase were functional in pig cells as measured by their ability to remove a positive-negative selection cassette from 16 independent clones and over 20 independent genomic locations. We also demonstrated a Cre-dependent genetic switch capable of eliminating an intervening positive-negative selection cassette and activating GFP expression from episomal and genome-resident transposons. Conclusion We have demonstrated for the first time that transposons and recombinases are capable of mobilizing DNA into and out of the porcine genome in a precise and efficient manner. This study provides the basis for developing transposon and recombinase based tools for genetic engineering of the swine genome.

Pro-apoptotic Effect of Pifithrin-α on Preimplantation Porcine Fertilized Embryo Development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Brendan Mulligan

2012-12-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of a reported p53 inhibitor, pifithrin-α (PFT-α, on preimplantation porcine in vitro fertilized (IVF embryo development in culture. Treatment of PFT-α was administered at both early (0 to 48 hpi, and later stages (48 to 168 hpi of preimplantation development, and its impact upon the expression of five genes related to apoptosis (p53, bak, bcl-xL, p66Shc and caspase3, was assessed in resulting d 7 blastocysts, using real-time quantitative PCR. Total cell numbers, along with the number of apoptotic nuclei, as detected by the in situ cell death detection assay, were also calculated on d 7 in treated and non-treated control embryos. The results indicate that PFT-α, when administered at both early and later stages of porcine IVF embryo development, increases the incidence of apoptosis in resulting blastocysts. When administered at early cleavage stages, PFT-α treatment was shown to reduce the developmental competence of porcine IVF embryos, as well as reducing the quality of resulting blastocysts in terms of overall cell numbers. In contrast, at later stages, PFT-α administration resulted in marginally increased blastocyst development rates amongst treated embryos, but did not affect cell numbers. However, PFT-α treatment induced apoptosis and apoptotic related gene expression, in all treated embryos, irrespective of the timing of treatment. Our results indicate that PFT-α may severely compromise the developmental potential of porcine IVF embryos, and is a potent apoptotic agent when placed into porcine embryo culture media. Thus, caution should be exercised when using PFT-α as a specific inhibitor of p53 mediated apoptosis, in the context of porcine IVF embryo culture systems.

Molecular characterization and analysis of the porcine NURR1 gene

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Knud Larsen

2016-12-01

Here we report the isolation and characterization of porcine NURR1 cDNA. The NURR1 cDNA was RT-PCR cloned using NURR1-specific oligonucleotide primers derived from in silico sequences. The porcine NURR1 cDNA encodes a polypeptide of 598 amino acids, displaying a very high similarity with bovine, human and mouse (99% NURR1 protein. Expression analysis revealed a differential NURR1 mRNA expression in various organs and tissues. NURR1 transcripts could be detected as early as at 60 days of embryo development in different brain tissues. A significant increase in NURR1 transcript in the cerebellum and a decrease in NURR1 transcript in the basal ganglia was observed during embryo development. The porcine NURR1 gene was mapped to chromosome 15. Two missense mutations were found in exon 3, the first coding exon of NURR1. Methylation analysis of the porcine NURR1 gene body revealed a high methylation degree in brain tissue, whereas methylation of the promoter was very low. A decrease in DNA methylation in a discrete region of the NURR1 promoter was observed in pig frontal cortex during pig embryo development. This observation correlated with an increase in NURR1 transcripts. Therefore, methylation might be a determinant of NURR1 expression at certain time points in embryo development.

Prestudy of burn control in NET

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anderson, D.; Hamnen, H.; Lisak, M.

1990-02-01

The present report describes our ongoing work on a number of selected topics, and the plans for the nearest future. In chapter 2 we have specialized the system of the previous report to form an easily tractable, second-order system. In this case one can give an explicit, analytical condition for stability. A code providing quick answers regarding stability, time scales and eigenvectors has been written and tested. The zerodimensional modelling of a burning plasma described by space dependent equations is often done in a heuristic way, with no clear relation between the two systems of equations. We have tried to put the approximation procedure involved in the transition to 0-D models on a more formal basis. This is the topic of chapter 3. The 1-D equilibrium solution is also investigated with respect to its stability properties, which are shown to be the same as those derived from the simplest 0-D space averaged model. Chapter 4 contains a few emerging thoughts on burn control. First, the limited swing of the auxiliary heating gives rise to limitations on the possibilities to intervene against temperature excursions by an auxiliary heating modulation. This problem becomes severe when one operates at high Q values. Another analysis concerns the problem of selecting a proper control action when a temperature profile differs from the equilibrium shape. A couple of alternative schemes for burn control, minor radius alterations and dynamic stabilization are tentatively discussed; no definite answers on their feasibility are obtained. The problem of diagnosing the plasma with respect to burn conditions is the topic of chapter 5. The influence on the energy distribution of control actions and the reliability of neutron measurements are discussed, and the question of how to handle sawteeth is briefly revisited. Chapter 6 is a description of process identification and how it could be used for burn control. A particular advantage is that it can be combined with physical

Burns and military clothing.

Science.gov (United States)

McLean, A D

2001-02-01

Burn injury is a ubiquitous threat in the military environment. The risks during combat are well recognised, but the handling of fuel, oil, munitions and other hot or flammable materials during peacetime deployment and training also imposes an inherent risk of accidental burn injury. Over the last hundred years, the burn threat in combat has ranged from nuclear weapons to small shoulder-launched missiles. Materials such as napalm and white phosphorus plainly present a risk of burn, but the threat extends to encompass personnel in vehicles attacked by anti-armour weapons, large missiles, fuel-air explosives and detonations/conflagrations on weapons platforms such as ships. Large numbers of burn casualties were caused at Pearl Harbor, in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Vietnam, during the Arab/Israeli Wars and in the Falkland Islands conflict. The threat from burns is unlikely to diminish, indeed new developments in weapons seek to exploit the vulnerability of the serviceman and servicewoman to burns. Clothing can be a barrier to some types of burn--both inherently in the properties of the material, but also by trapping air between clothing layers. Conversely, ignition of the clothing may exacerbate a burn. There is hearsay that burnt clothing products within a wound may complicate the clinical management, or that materials that melt (thermoplastic materials) should not be worn if there is a burn threat. This paper explores the incidence of burn injury, the mechanisms of heat transfer to bare skin and skin covered by materials, and the published evidence for the complication of wound management by materials. Even light-weight combat clothing can offer significant protection to skin from short duration flash burns; the most vulnerable areas are the parts of the body not covered--face and hands. Multilayered combat clothing can offer significant protection for short periods from engulfment by flames; lightweight tropical wear with few layers offers little protection. Under