The cecal ligation perforation (CLP) model of sepsis is known to induce severe diaphragm dysfunction, but the cellular mechanisms by which this occurs remain unknown. We hypothesized that CLP induces diaphragm caspase-3 and calpain activation, and that these two enzymes act at the level of the contractile proteins to reduce muscle force generation. Rats (n = 4/group) were subjected to 1) sham s...

Our previous studies showed that beta(2)-microglobulin knockout mice treated with anti-asialoGM1 (beta2MKO/alphaAsGM1 mice) are resistant to injury caused by cecal ligation and puncture (CLP). However, CLP-induced injury is complex. Potential mechanisms of injury include systemic infection, cecal ischemia, and translocation of bacterial toxins such as endotoxin and superantigens. Currently, it ...

Extended Abstract Constraint logic programming (CLP) is a generalization of the pure logic programming paradigm, having similar model-theoretic, xpoint and operational semantics 9]. Since the basic operational step in program execution is a test for solvability of constraints in a given algebraic structure, CLP has in addition an algebraic semantics. CLP is then a general paradigm which may be ...

Abstract: A new type of reasoning engine for model-based expert system applications is described which employs recent advances in constraint logic programming (CLP), intelligent backtracking (IB) and schema (object-oriented) knowledge representations. Constraint reasoning and logic programming (LP) have been recently joined in the new field of CLP. There is keen research interest and new CLP la...

BACKGROUND HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, such as simvastatin, have been shown to exhibit pronounced immunomodulatory effects independent of lipid lowering but to date have not been used to treat severe inflammatory disease such as sepsis. We thus approached the question of whether treatment with simvastatin might improve cardiovascular function and survival in sepsis. METHODS AND RESULTS Mice...

Sepsis remains a common clinical problem with significant mortality. Activation of the Kupffer cells during sepsis is associated with systemic inflammatory response and multiple organ failure. Kupffer cell activation also leads to structural changes in the liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSECs) during endotoxemia. However, these effects remain to be elucidated in caecal-ligation and punctur...

xvii 1 CLP–MILP: Introduction 1 1.1 Preliminary Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1.2 Thesis’ Outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2 CLP–MILP: Overview of Main Characteristics 7 2.

BACKGROUND Sepsis remains a major clinical challenge in intensive care units. The difficulty in developing new and more effective treatments for sepsis exemplifies our incomplete understanding of the underlying pathophysiology of it. One of the more widely used rodent models for studying polymicrobial sepsis is cecal ligation and puncture (CLP). While a number of CLP studies investigated the en...

OBJECTIVE To determine the effects of phosphocreatine (PCr) depletion on myocellular energetics. DESIGN Randomized controlled study. SETTING University laboratory. MATERIALS Thirty-eight adult male Wistar rats (110-121 g). METHODS The poorly metabolized creatine analogue beta-guanidinopropionic acid, (beta-GPA, 2% of a gel diet) was fed to the rats for 14 days to replace (75%) endogenou...