BACKGROUND: Deep sternal wound infection is a serious and potentially lethal complication of cardiac surgery when performed through a median sternotomy. We describe the outcome of a new treatment strategy with C-reactive protein level-guided vacuum-assisted closure used at our department. METHODS: Data from 16 consecutive adult patients who had deep sternal wound infections after cardiac surgery w

Current atrial fibrillation (AF) management guidelines suggest that initially a decision must be made to apply either a rate control or rhythm control strategy in the individual patient. However, patients' selection remains substantially empirical and the strategy initially chosen often proves unsuccessful and alternative therapies must be adopted. Thus, it seems desirable to develop and apply tes

Moraxella catarrhalis ubiquitous surface proteins A1 and A2 (UspA1/A2) interfere with the classical pathway of the complement system by binding C4b-binding protein. In this study we demonstrate that M. catarrhalis UspA1 and A2 noncovalently and in a dose-dependent manner bind both the third component of complement (C3) from EDTA-treated serum and methylamine-treated C3. In contrast, related Moraxe

BACKGROUND: Recent studies have suggested that reactive oxygen species may be involved in the development of diabetic retinopathy. METHODS: Nitro blue tetrazolium (NBT) staining, a marker of reductants which may be induced by free radicals such as superoxide, and catalase activity, as an indirect measure of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) generation, were studied in the rat retina in three conditions kno

A new signal processing method for the detection of cyclic variations in atrial fibrillation frequency is presented. The objective was to investigate whether or not respiration, through the autonomic nervous system, modulates the fibrillation frequency in patients with permanent atrial fibrillation. A group of eight patients with permanent atrial fibrillation, atrioventricular block III and a perm

The paper describes a project aiming at the construction of functional mimics of the oxygen evolving complex of Photosystem II, coupled to photoinduced charge separation. Biomimetic electron donors - manganese complexes and tyrosine - have been linked to a Ru(II)-polypyridine photosensitizer. Oxidation of the donors by intramolecular electron transfer from the photo-oxidized Ru(III) complex was de

This paper addresses a problem for theories of epistemic democracy. In a decision on a complex issue which can be decomposed into several parts, a collective can use different voting procedures: Either its members vote on each sub-question and the answers that gain majority support are used as premises for the conclusion on the main issue (premise based-procedure, pbp), or the vote is conducted on

The high-resolution X-ray crystal structures of the carbohydrate recognition domain of human galectin-3 were solved in complex with N-acetyllactosamine (LacNAc) and the high-affinity inhibitor, methyl 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-4-O-(3-deoxy-3-[4-methoxy-2,3,5,6-tetrafluorobenzamido]--D-galactopyranose)--D-glucopyranoside, to gain insight into the basis for the affinity-enhancing effect of the 4-methoxy-2

Simian virus 40 (SV40), a polyoma virus of the rhesus macaque was discovered in 1960 as a contaminant of human polio vaccines produced in monkey cells. A number of studies have reported the detection of SV40 nucleotide sequences in human tumors, mainly mesotheliomas, but the reports have not been consistent. The presence of SV40 in 26 consecutive cases of malignant mesothelioma of biphasic type wa

The aim of this study was to examine the relation between pain and bone metastases in a group of patients with prostate or breast cancer that had been referred for bone scintigraphy. Whole-body bone scans, anterior and posterior views obtained with a dual detector gamma camera were studied from 101 consecutive patients who had undergone scintigraphy (600 MBq Tc-99m MDP) because of suspected bone m

We consider the problem of obtaining information about an inaccessible half-space from electromagnetic measurements made in the accessible half-space. If the measurements are of limited precision, some scatterers will be undetectable because their scattered fields are below the precision of the measuring instrument. How can we make optimal measurements? In other words, what incident fields should

Complement is a key arm of the innate immune defenses against the pathogenic neisseriae. We previously identified lipooligosaccharide on Neisseria meningitidis as an acceptor for complement C4b. Little is known about other neisserial targets for complement proteins C3 and C4, which covalently attach to bacterial surfaces and initiate opsonization and killing. In this study we demonstrate that N. g

Incidence of cardiovascular (CV) and metabolic disease is increasing, in parallel with associated risk factors. These factors, such as low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol, elevated blood pressure, obesity, and insulin resistance have a continuous, progressive impact on total CV risk, with higher levels and numbers of factors translating into greater risk. Evaluation of all known modifiable r

Blood coagulation involves a series of enzymatic protein complexes that assemble on the surface of anionic phospholipid. To investigate whether apolipoproteins affect coagulation reactions, they where included during the preparation of anionic phospholipid vesicles using a detergent solubilization-dialysis method. Apolipoprotein components of high-density lipoproteins, especially apolipoprotein A-

New radiative lifetimes have been measured for the 5s (3)P(0,1,2)degrees and 5s (1)P(1)degrees levels of Ge I using a laser-produced plasma subject to selective laser excitation. A diffraction grating based emission spectrometer of moderately high resolution has been used to remeasure the branching ratios of the 4p-5s depopulating transitions. The oscillator strengths of astrophysical interest, wh

Optical properties are important parameters in port wine stain laser treatment models. In this study we investigated whether changes in blood optical properties occur during a 0.5 ms laser pulse, Blood from three volunteers was irradiated in vitro with laser pulses (radiant exposure 2-12 J cm(-2), wavelength 586 nm, pulse length 0.5 ms). Reflection and transmission coefficients, measured using dou