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Biomedical subjects

A Brunner

Publications and source records attributed to A Brunner.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

The genome of black cottonwood, Populus trichocarpa (Torr. & Gray).

We report the draft genome of the black cottonwood tree, Populus trichocarpa. Integration of shotgun sequence assembly with genetic mapping enabled chromosome-scale reconstruction of the genome. More than 45,000 putative protein-coding genes were identified. Analysis of the assembled genome revealed a whole-genome duplication event; about 8000 pairs of duplicated genes from that event survived in the Populus genome. A second, older duplication event is indistinguishably coincident with the divergence of the Populus and Arabidopsis lineages. Nucleotide substitution, tandem gene duplication, and gross chromosomal rearrangement appear to proceed substantially more slowly in Populus than in Arabidopsis. Populus has more protein-coding genes than Arabidopsis, ranging on average from 1.4 to 1.6 putative Populus homologs for each Arabidopsis gene. However, the relative frequency of protein domains in the two genomes is similar. Overrepresented exceptions in Populus include genes associated with lignocellulosic wall biosynthesis, meristem development, disease resistance, and metabolite transport.

Arabidopsis↗
PubMed2005

Granulomatous reactions cause symptoms or clinically imitate treatment resistance in small lymphocytic lymphoma/chronic lymphocytic leukaemia more frequently than in other non-Hodgkin lymphomas.

AIMS: The electronic database of the institute of pathology, Medical University of Innsbruck, was reviewed and patient histories studied to analyse systematically the coincidence of granulomatous reactions and lymphomas in a large patient collective, and to find distinct clinicopathological correlations. Five cases of small lymphocytic lymphoma/chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) associated with granulomatous reactions in lymph nodes and bone marrow were identified, all clinically associated with signs of progressive disease. METHODS: Cases were acquired by reviewing an electronic database comprising approximately 715,000 patients diagnosed between 1993 and 2003. Histochemical, immunohistochemical, and molecular techniques were used to verify diagnosis and associated infectious diseases. Clinical data were obtained from reviewing the charts. RESULTS: Of 2044 bone marrow and 411 lymph node non-Hodgkin lymphoma biopsy samples, CLL was most frequently associated with bone marrow (two cases) and lymph node granulomas (three cases). These granulomas were mostly composed of epithelioid cells, with or without giant cells, and in all but one case did not show necrosis. All patients with CLL had clinical symptoms primarily caused by the granulomatous disease: two suffered from acid fast bacilli infections (Mycobacterium tuberculosis and mycobacteria other than tuberculosis) and three presented with clinical manifestations of sarcoidosis (the reason a diagnostic biopsy was performed). CONCLUSIONS: Granulomatous reactions in patients with CLL might obscure diagnosis and imitate disease progression and Richter's transformation. Careful histological examination, exclusion of infectious agents, and a detailed clinical history are essential for correct diagnosis.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Prognostic significance of tenascin-C expression in superficial and invasive bladder cancer.

AIMS: Tenascin-C (Tn-C) is an extracellular matrix glycoprotein that is upregulated in malignant tumours. Tn-C promotes cell growth, cell migration, and angiogenesis. It has been suggested to be a prognostic factor in various types of malignant tumours, but there is little information on its significance in bladder cancer with regard to overall survival (OS) and recurrence free survival (RFS). METHODS: Tn-C expression was studied in 106 patients with bladder cancer diagnosed between 1994 and 1997. Immunohistochemistry was performed using a monoclonal antibody against Tn-C. RFS and OS were estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method and compared by the log rank test in univariate analysis and by the Cox multistep regression method in multivariate analysis. RESULTS: Within the mean follow up period of 126 months, patients with diffuse Tn-C staining in the tumour stroma had a significantly worse OS than those with negative staining or only moderate Tn-C expression (p = 0.025). Patients with cytoplasmic expression of Tn-C had a significantly better OS than those without (p = 0.001). Multivariate analysis, taking into consideration age, grade, stage, tumour associated carcinoma in situ, progression, and Tn-C staining in tumour stroma, showed that only expression of Tn-C in invasive tumour cells was an independent positive prognostic factor for OS (p = 0.049). CONCLUSIONS: Tn-C may provide important prognostic information in bladder cancer depending on the expression pattern in the tumour stroma or cytoplasm of the tumour cells.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

[Health and human rights--development of a questionnaire for measuring perceived human rights status].

Health and human rights as interlinked concepts are a promising new avenue in public health. The aim of this study was the development of a reliable and valid instrument for the measurement of the human right status. The reliability and validity of this new questionnaire for human rights (HRS = human right scale) was measured within a group of Public Health students (n = 42) and the participants of the KORA-fracture-study. Test-retest-reliability was 0.73 (ICC: 0.69) and Cronbach's alpha was 0.66-0.79. The evaluation of the validity with the help of a factor analysis and a reconstruction study pointed out, that the perceived human rights status has to be treated as an interlinked and not divisible concept. Both study groups showed deficits for items in the dimension justice and participation.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Diagnostic potential of neutrophil elastase inhibitor complex in the routine care of critically ill newborn infants.

UNLABELLED: It has been suggested that determination of the neutrophil elastase alpha1-proteinase inhibitor complex (E-alpha1PI) improves the diagnosis of bacterial infection in newborns. We evaluated the use of E-alpha1PI measurements in 143 newborns, consecutively admitted to a tertiary intensive care unit, employing a new random access assay and a sampling procedure that minimises post-collection artefacts. The 95% range for noninfected newborns was 20-110 microg/l up to the 5th day of life and 20-85 microg/l thereafter. The sensitivity as to the diagnosis of culture-proven bloodstream infection was 80% for E-alpha1PI, 86% for the immature to total neutrophil ratio, 64% for C-reactive protein and 37% for the total white blood cell count. The corresponding specificity amounted to 97%, 85%, 85% and 86%, respectively. E-alpha1PI increases preceded elevations of C-reactive protein by 18 h. Like C-reactive protein, E-alpha1PI levels did not distinguish between bloodstream infection and non-bacterial inflammatory responses. Results of E-alpha1PI became available within 1 h of collection and usually 2-3 h before manual leucocyte counts. CONCLUSION: Determination of neutrophil elastase alpha1-proteinase inhibitor levels yields diagnostic advantages comparable to those of manual differential counts but provide faster turnaround times.

Cohort Studies↗
PubMed2000

Beyond prejudice as simple antipathy: hostile and benevolent sexism across cultures.

The authors argue that complementary hostile and benevolent components of sexism exist across cultures. Male dominance creates hostile sexism (HS), but men's dependence on women fosters benevolent sexism (BS)--subjectively positive attitudes that put women on a pedestal but reinforce their subordination. Research with 15,000 men and women in 19 nations showed that (a) HS and BS are coherent constructs that correlate positively across nations, but (b) HS predicts the ascription of negative and BS the ascription of positive traits to women, (c) relative to men, women are more likely to reject HS than BS, especially when overall levels of sexism in a culture are high, and (d) national averages on BS and HS predict gender inequality across nations. These results challenge prevailing notions of prejudice as an antipathy in that BS (an affectionate, patronizing ideology) reflects inequality and is a cross-culturally pervasive complement to HS.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

pH and osmotic pressure inside biodegradable microspheres during erosion.

PURPOSE: To measure changes in pH as well as osmotic pressure in aqueous pores and cavities inside biodegradable microspheres made from polymers such as poly(D,L-lactic acid) (PLA) and poly(D,L-lactic acid -co- glycolic acid) (PLGA). METHODS: The internal osmotic pressure inside eroding PLA microspheres was analyzed with differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) in a temperature range of 10 to--25 degrees C. The osmotic pressure was calculated from the melting peaks of the aqueous phase using purity analysis. For pH determination, PLGA microspheres were loaded with a pH-sensitive spin probe which allowed the determination of pH by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). RESULTS: The osmotic pressure in PLA microspheres increased to 600 mOsm within four days and decreased to 400 mOsm after two weeks. The pH in PLGA microspheres in this study was < or =4.7. Basic drugs such as gentamicin free base or buffering additives led to a pH increase. In no case, however, did the internal pH exceed a value of 6 within 13 hours. CONCLUSIONS: DSC and EPR are useful techniques to characterize the chemical microenvironment inside eroding microspheres. This data in combination with detailed information on peptide and protein stability could allow in the future to predict the stability of such compounds within degradable polymers.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1998

Labelling peptides with fluorescent probes for incorporation into degradable polymers.

Two peptides, atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and salmon calcitonin (sCT) were conjugated with a fluorescent, amine-reactive probe 5-(and 6-)carboxytetramethylrhodamine,-succinimidylester (5-(6)-TAMRA-SE). The labelling reaction was followed by HPLC and found to be complete after 2 h. The labelled peptides were purified by gel filtration chromatography and characterised by [1H]NMR, UV/VIS and fluorescence spectroscopy. NMR-spectra confirmed the conjugation of dye to the peptides. Two absorption maxima between 500 and 600 nm were recorded in the UV/VIS-spectra. The fluorescence spectra were found to be pH-dependent, which allowed the measurement of pH in aqueous solution. The labelled peptides were encapsulated into poly(lactic acid) (PLA) microspheres using a double emulsion technique. Probe attachment permitted location of the peptides in the polymer.

Atrial Natriuretic Factor↗
PubMed1995

Compatibility considerations for low-mass rigid-belt vehicles.

A number of staged impacts performed by our group with the aid of a test device representing a low-mass vehicle (LMV) indicates that a rigid-belt body (RBB) is a valid means for providing adequate occupant safety also for LMVs in the strict sense (curb mass less than 600 kg). The RBB concept raises the problem of compatibility, however. Ideally, the deformability of car front structures should increase with increasing vehicle weight in order to ascertain compatibility. Published data on frontal deformation characteristics substantiate in contrast that conventional cars today exhibit an opposite behaviour. To evaluate the compatibility properties of ultrastiff LMVs, two crash experiments were performed along with a theoretical model analysis. An LMV with a mass of 680 kg (including batteries, 50% mass of two dummies, instrumentation) designed according to the RBB concept and a conventional care of 1320 kg--(equivalent loading conditions as LMV)--were crashed at 56 km/h in a frontal direction against a deformable barrier (FMVSS 214). Furthermore, a mathematical model was based on estimated deformation characteristics of conventional vehicles to predict intrusion distances into the FMVSS barrier in hypothetical frontal crashes with 56 km/h. The results indicate that due to its low mass an LMV does not represent an excessive compatibility problem for other car occupants in spite of the stiff RBB characteristics.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed1994

Isolation and 1H-NMR spectroscopic identification of poly(3-hydroxybutanoate) from prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. Determination of the absolute configuration (R) of the monomeric unit 3-hydroxybutanoic acid from Escherichia coli and spinach.

Trace amounts of poly[(R)-3-hydroxybutanoate] were isolated from competent Escherichia coli, spinach, bovine serum albumin, beef heart mitochondria, and aortal tissues, all sources in which it is not accumulated as storage material. Its identity was in all cases proved by 1H-NMR spectroscopy. In some runs, the poly[(R)-3-hydroxybutanoate] isolated from competent E. coli also contained some 3-hydroxyvalerate, an observation confirmed by 1H-NMR spectroscopy and gas chromatography. The absolute configuration of the polymers isolated from E. coli and spinach was shown to be (all-R) by gas chromatography on chiral columns.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

Collision safety of a hard-shell low-mass vehicle.

Low-mass vehicles and in particular low-mass electric vehicles as produced today in very small quantities are in general not designed for crashworthiness in collisions. Particular problems of compact low-mass cars are: reduced length of the car front, low mass compared to other vehicles, and heavy batteries in the case of an electric car. With the intention of studying design improvements, three frontal crash tests were run last year: the first one with a commercial, lightweight electric car; the second with a reinforced version of the same car; and the last one with a car based on a different structural design with a "hard-shell" car body. Crash tests showed that the latter solution made better use of the small zone available for continuous energy absorption. The paper discusses further the problem of frontal collisions between vehicles of different weight and, in particular, the side collision. A side-collision test was run with the hard-shell vehicle following the ECE lateral-impact test procedure at 50 km/h and led to results for the EuroSID1-dummy well below current injury tolerance criteria.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed1994

Increased levels of soluble serum interleukin-2 receptor in extrinsic allergic alveolitis correlate with interleukin-2 receptor expression on alveolar macrophages.

In a group of 20 patients with extrinsic allergic alveolitis (10 with farmer's lung, 9 with bird-breeder's lung, and 1 with humidifier's lung), we observed increased levels of soluble serum interleukin-2 receptor (ssIL-2R) with an average of 75.2 pmol (control group average, 40.6 pmol). Analysis of bronchoalveolar lavage cells by immunocytochemistry with a CD25 antibody revealed only a slight increase to 4.2% IL-2R+ cells among alveolar lymphocytes but a pronounced rise to 21.2% IL-2R+ cells among alveolar macrophages. Furthermore, cytometry revealed a fourfold higher IL-2R expression on a per cell basis for alveolar macrophages as compared with alveolar lymphocytes. A clear-cut positive correlation (p = 0.006) was found for ssIL-2R and IL-2R+ alveolar macrophages, but only a borderline correlation was found for ssIL-2R and IL-2R+ alveolar lymphocytes (p = 0.04). The finding of a concomitant decrease of IL-2R+ alveolar macrophages and of ssIL-2R on allergen avoidance further supports the notion that alveolar macrophages may be the main source of the increased ssIL-2R in patients with extrinsic allergic alveolitis.

Adult↗