Surgical complications requiring early relaparotomy after pancreas transplantation: comparison of the cyclosporine and FK 506 eras.
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Adult↗
Biomedical subjects
C Zheng
Publications and source records attributed to C Zheng.
Primary culture of polarized human salivary epithelial cells for use in developing an artificial salivary gland.
Therapeutic irradiation for head and neck cancer, and the autoimmune disease Sjogren's syndrome, lead to loss of salivary parenchyma. They are the two main causes of irreversible salivary gland hypofunction. Such patients cannot produce adequate levels of saliva, leading to considerable morbidity. We are working to develop an artificial salivary gland for such patients. A major problem in this endeavor has been the difficulty in obtaining a suitable autologous cellular component. This article describes a method of culturing and expanding primary salivary cells obtained from human submandibular glands (huSMGs) that is serum free and yields cells that are epithelial in nature. These include morphological (light and transmission electron microscopy [TEM]), protein expression (immunologically positive for ZO-1, claudin-1, and E-cadherin), and functional evidence. Under confocal microscopy, huSMG cells show polarization and appropriately localize tight junction proteins. TEM micrographs show an absence of dense core granules, but confirm the presence of tight and intermediate junctions and desmosomes between the cells. Functional assays showed that huSMG cells have high transepithelial electrical resistance and low rates of paracellular fluid movement. Additionally, huSMG cells show a normal karyotype without any morphological or numerical abnormalities, and most closely resemble striated and excretory duct cells in appearance. We conclude that this culture method for obtaining autologous human salivary cells should be useful in developing an artificial salivary gland.
Artificial Organs↗
Extracting evoked potentials with the singularity detection technique.
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Algorithms↗
Numerical simulation of a natural gradient tracer experiment for the natural attenuation study: flow and physical transport.
Results are presented for numerical simulations of ground water flow and physical transport associated with a natural gradient tracer experiment conducted within a heterogeneous alluvial aquifer of the Natural Attenuation Study (NATS) site near Columbus, Mississippi. A principal goal of NATS is to evaluate biogeochemical models that predict the rate and extent of natural biodegradation under field conditions. This paper describes the initial phase in the model evaluation process, i.e., calibration of flow and physical transport models that simulate conservative bromide tracer plume evolution during NATS. An initial large-scale flow model (LSM) is developed encompassing the experimental site and surrounding region. This model is subsequently scaled down in telescopic fashion to an intermediate-scale ground water flow model (ISM) covering the tracer-monitoring network, followed by a small-scale transport model (SSM) focused on the small region of hydrocarbon plume migration observed during NATS. The LSM uses inferred depositional features of the site in conjunction with hydraulic conductivity (K) data from aquifer tests and borehole flowmeter tests to establish large-scale K and flow field trends in and around the experimental site. The subsequent ISM incorporates specified flux boundary conditions and large-scale K trends obtained from the calibrated LSM, while preserving small-scale K structure based on some 4000 flowmeter data for solute transport modeling. The configuration of the ISM-predicted potentiometric surface approximates that of the observed surface within a root mean squared error of 0.15 m. The SSM is based on the dual-domain mass-transfer approach. Despite the well-recognized difficulties in modeling solute transport in extremely heterogeneous media as found at the NATS site, the dual-domain model adequately reproduced the observed bromide concentration distributions. Differences in observed and predicted bromide concentration distributions are attributed to aquifer heterogeneity at the decimeter (dm) and smaller scales. The calibrated transport parameters for the SSM (i.e., 1:7 for the ratio of mobile-to-total porosity; 2.5 x 10(-3) day-1 for the mass-transfer coefficient; 1 m for longitudinal dispersivity; and 0.1 m for transverse dispersivity) are consistent with separate numerical simulations of two earlier tracer experiments at the site. The multiscale modeling approach adopted in this study permits the incorporation of both large-scale geologic features important for flow simulation and small-scale heterogeneities critical for transport simulation. In addition, the dual-domain transport model provides a foundation for multispecies reactive transport modeling studies of natural attenuation of hydrocarbons during NATS.
Chemical Phenomena↗
MODFLOW/MT3DMS-based reactive multicomponent transport modeling.
This paper presents a three-dimensional, MODFLOW/MT3DMS-based reactive multicomponent transport model for saturated porous media. Based on a split-operator technique, the model, referred to as PHT3D, couples the transport simulator MT3DMS and the geochemical modeling code PHREEQC-2. Through the flexible, generic nature of PHREEQC-2, PHT3D can handle a broad range of equilibrium and kinetically controlled reactive processes, including aqueous complexation, mineral precipitation/dissolution, and ion exchange. The diversity of potential applications is demonstrated through simulation of five existing literature benchmarks and a new three-dimensional sample problem. The model might be applied to simulate the geochemical evolution of pristine and contaminated aquifers as well as their cleanup. The latter problem class includes the natural and enhanced attenuation/remediation schemes of a wide range of organic and inorganic contaminants. Processes/reactions not included in the standard PHREEQC-2 database but typical for this type of application (e.g., NAPL dissolution, microbial growth/decay) can be defined and included via the extensible PHREEQC-2 database file.
Benchmarking↗
Intratumoral vaccination of adenoviruses expressing fusion protein RM4/tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha induces significant tumor regression.
Recombinant adenovirus (AdV) vectors are highly efficient at in vitro and in vivo gene delivery. VKCK is a murine myeloma cell line expressing the light chain of the fusion protein RM4/tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha. The in vitro transfection of VKCK cells with the AdV AdV5LacZ, which contains the marker gene beta-galactosidase, can reach a maximal 75% at a multiplicity of infection of 1000. Intratumoral injections of AdV5LacZ (2 x 10(9) plaque-forming units) resulted in substantial gene transfer in nearly 50% of VKCK tumors. The AdV pLpA/M4-TNF-alpha, which contains a fused gene M4-TNF-alpha that codes for the heavy chain of fusion protein RM4/TNF-alpha, was constructed. After the in vitro transfection of pLpA/M4-TNF-alpha at a multiplicity of infection of 1000, transfected VKCK cells showed significant secretion of RM4/TNF-alpha (36 ng/mL/10(6) cells) containing the functional TNF-alpha moiety in tissue culture. The secretion peaks at day 3 and is diminished at day 6 following the viral infection. These transfected VKCK cells also became more immunogenic with enhanced expression of major histocompatibility complex class I antigen. Intratumoral injections of 2 x 10(9) plaque-forming units of pLpA/M4-TNF-alpha virus with a repeated booster resulted in significant VKCK tumor regression in immune-competent mice, but not in athymic nude mice with a mean tumor weight of 0.07 g that were compared with 1.58 g and 1.70 g for tumors injected with AdV5LacZ and phosphate-buffered saline, respectively (P < .01). The tumor regression also results in protective immunity against a second challenge with parental tumor cells, which is mainly mediated by VKCK tumor-specific CD8+ T cells. These results indicate that AdV-mediated cytokine gene therapy may be a useful approach in the clinical management of solid human tumors.
Adenoviridae↗