Mucosal surfaces provide first-line defense against microbial invasion through their complex secretions. The antimicrobial activities of proteins in these secretions have been well delineated, but the contributions of lipids to mucosal defense have not been defined. We found that normal human nasal fluid contains all major lipid classes (in micrograms per milliliter), as well as lipoproteins an...

Leptospirosis is a zoonotic disease of global importance with a mortality of up to 50% among patients requiring intensive care medicine. Meningitis or meningoencephalitis due to leptospires are considered to be an immunologically mediated disease and to occur mainly during the second phase of disease. Herein, we report a patient with severe meningo-encephalitis due to leptospirosis with evidenc...

It has been shown that interstitial fluid pressure (IFP) is elevated in many solid tumors. The elevated IFP in tumors is responsible, at least in part, for the poor blood supply, inadequate delivery of therapeutic agents to solid tumors and poor treatment response in patients. The present study was carried out to examine alterations in malignant phenotypes in oral squamous cell carcinoma cells ...

We present a discrete element model for the simulation, at the grain scale, of gas migration in brine-saturated deformable media. We account rigorously for the presence of two fluids in the pore space by incorporating grain forces due to pore fluid pressures, and surface tension between fluids. The coupled model permits investigating an essential process that takes place at the base of the hydr...

BACKGROUND Poly (ethylene glycol)-poly (ɛ-caprolactone)-poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG-PCL-PEG, PECE) hydrogel has been demonstrated to be biocompatible and thermosensitive. In this study, its potential efficacy and mechanisms of preventing postsurgical abdominal adhesions were investigated. RESULTS PECE hydrogel was transformed into gel state from sol state in less than 20 seconds at 37°C. None...

Certain materials may mimic natural cartilage to provide an amenable cellular microenvironment for the chondrogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells. The chondrogenic differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) has been demonstrated to be induced by collagen-based hydrogels in vivo, but whether the induction is material-driven or self-differentiation has not been eluc...

OBJECTIVE To characterize subgroups of preterm prelabor rupture of membranes (PPROM) and short-term neonatal outcomes based on the presence and absence of intraamniotic inflammation (IAI) and/or microbial invasion of the amniotic cavity (MIAC). METHODS One hundred and sixty-six Caucasian women with singleton pregnancies were included in this study. Amniotic fluid samples were obtained by tran...

BACKGROUND Glioma cells are exposed to elevated interstitial fluid flow during the onset of angiogenesis, at the tumor periphery while invading normal parenchyma, within white matter tracts, and during vascular normalization therapy. Glioma cell lines that have been exposed to fluid flow forces in vivo have much lower invasive potentials than in vitro cell motility assays without flow would ind...

Mammalian cell invasion by the protozoan parasite, Trypanosoma cruzi, is facilitated by the activation of host cell phosphatidylinositol 3 (PI 3)-kinases. We demonstrate that the well-characterized Ca2+-regulated lysosome-mediated parasite entry pathway is abolished by wortmannin pretreatment. In addition, we have characterized a novel route of T. cruzi invasion unexpectedly revealed in the cou...

The presence of free-floating hyperechogenic material within the amniotic fluid in close proximity to the uterine cervix (Figures 1 (cover) and 2 and Videoclips S1 and S2) has been described previously in women with an episode of preterm labor1, in women with a history of preterm delivery or threatened preterm labor2, and in asymptomatic women at risk for spontaneous preterm delivery in the mid...