Comparison of the reliability of Gram-negative and Gram-positive flags of the Sysmex UF-5000 with manual Gram stain and urine culture results.

Objectives: Recently, the fully automated flow cytometry-based UF-5000 (Sysmex Corboration, Kobe, Japan) urine sediment analyzer was developed providing bacteria (BACT) info flags for more accurate bacterial discrimination of urinary tract infections (UTIs). This study aimed to compare the reliability of the UF-5000 BACT-info flags with manual Gram stain and urine culture as the gold standard method.

Methods: A total of 344 urine samples were analyzed on the UF-5000 and compared with manual microscopic Gram stain and urine cultures.

Exercise-Induced Circulating Hematopoietic Stem and Progenitor Cells in Well-Trained Subjects.

It has been proposed that exercise-induced systemic oxidative stress increases circulating hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell (HPC) number in active participants, while HPC clonogenicity is reduced post-exercise. However, HPCs could be protected against exercise-induced reactive oxygen species in a trained state. Therefore, we characterized the acute exercise-induced HPC profile of well-trained participants including cell number, clonogenicity, and clearance.

Acute Exercise in Hypobaric Hypoxia Attenuates Endothelial Shedding in Subjects Unacclimatized to High Altitudes.

Travel of unacclimatized subjects to a high altitude has been growing in popularity. Changes in endothelial shedding [circulating endothelial cells (ECs)] and hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (CPCs) during physical exercise in hypobaric hypoxia, however, are not well understood. We investigated the change in ECs and CPCs when exposed to high altitude, after acute exercise therein, and after an overnight stay in hypobaric hypoxia in 11 healthy unacclimatized subjects.

Comparison of the diagnostic performance of two automated urine sediment analyzers with manual phase-contrast microscopy.

Background Recently, several manufacturers have launched automated urinalysis platforms. This study aimed to compare the diagnostic performance of the UF-5000 (Sysmex Corporation, Kobe, Japan) and the cobas® u 701 (Roche Diagnostics, Rotkreuz, Switzerland) urine sediment analyzers with manual phase-contrast microscopy as the reference method. Methods A total of 195 urine samples were analyzed on both automated platforms and subjected to manual microscopic examination.

25OH-Vitamin D3 Levels in Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome-Unaltered in Young and not Correlated to Carotid IMT in All Ages.

Contradictory results exist for levels of vitamin D measured in patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD), obesity and metabolic syndrome (MetS). To clarify this, we investigated 527 participants of the STYJOBS/ EDECTA cohort (NCT00482924), with ages between 10 and 65 years. A cross-sectional analysis of anthropometry, carotid intima media thickness (IMT), and laboratory measurements for 25OH-Vitamin D3 (vitD), glucose metabolism, ultra-sensitive C-reactive protein (US-CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), lipids, liver-, renal-parameters, and kynurenine to tryptophan ratio were made for a selection of persons who were either obese or of normal weight.

Interleukin 10-coated nanoparticle systems compared for molecular imaging of atherosclerotic lesions.

Atherosclerosis (AS) is one of the leading causes of mortality in high-income countries. Early diagnosis of vulnerable atherosclerotic lesions is one of the biggest challenges currently facing cardiovascular medicine. The present study focuses on developing targeted nanoparticles (NPs) in order to improve the detection of vulnerable atherosclerotic-plaques.

Exercise-induced norepinephrine decreases circulating hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell colony-forming capacity.

A recent study showed that ergometry increased circulating hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell (CPC) numbers, but reduced hematopoietic colony forming capacity/functionality under normoxia and normobaric hypoxia. Herein we investigated whether an exercise-induced elevated plasma free/bound norepinephrine (NE) concentration could be responsible for directly influencing CPC functionality. Venous blood was taken from ten healthy male subjects (25.

Laboratory medicine for molecular imaging of atherosclerosis.

Atherosclerotic plaques are the main cause of life threatening clinical endpoints like myocardial infarction and stroke. To prevent these endpoints, the improved early diagnosis and treatment of vulnerable atherosclerotic vascular lesions are essential. Although originally applied for anticancer treatment, recent advances have also showed the considerable potential of nanotechnology for atherosclerosis.

Human mesenchymal progenitor cells derived from alveolar bone and human bone marrow stromal cells: a comparative study.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the potential of intraoral harvested alveolar bone as an alternative source of multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells for future applications in oral and maxillofacial tissue engineering. Explant cultures were established from 20 alveolar bone samples harvested from the oblique line immediately before wisdom tooth removal. Morphology and proliferation characteristics of the in vitro expanded cells, referred to as human alveolar bone-derived cells (hABDCs), were studied using phase-contrast microscopy.

Molecular evidence for the bi-clonal origin of neuroendocrine tumor derived metastases.

Background: Reports on common mutations in neuroendocrine tumors (NET) are rare and clonality of NET metastases has not been investigated in this tumor entity yet. We selected one NET and the corresponding lymph node and liver metastases as well as the derivative cell lines to screen for somatic mutations in the primary NET and to track the fate of genetic changes during metastasis and in vitro progression.

Results: Applying microarray based sequence capture resequencing including 4,935 Exons from of 203 cancer-associated genes and high-resolution copy number and genotype analysis identified multiple somatic mutations in the primary NET, affecting BRCA2, CTNNB1, ERCC5, HNF1A, KIT, MLL, RB1, ROS1, SMAD4, and TP53.

Exercise increases the frequency of circulating hematopoietic progenitor cells, but reduces hematopoietic colony-forming capacity.

Circulating hematopoietic progenitor cells (CPCs) may be triggered by physical exercise and/or normobaric hypoxia from the bone marrow. The aim of the study was to investigate the influence of physical exercise and normobaric hypoxia on CPC number and functionality in the peripheral blood as well as the involvement of oxidative stress parameters as possibly active agents. Ten healthy male subjects (25.

Link between leptin and interleukin-6 levels in the initial phase of obesity related inflammation.

The mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of obesity-related atherosclerosis remain to be clarified. To investigate the preclinical phase, interleukin-6 (IL-6) plasma levels were analyzed together with clinical, anthropometric, inflammatory, and metabolic variables in a well-defined cohort of 677 young and middle-aged overweight/obese and normal-weight subjects. In the juvenile and adult overweight/obese study group, IL-6 levels were increased significantly compared with normal-weight, age-matched controls (P < 0.

Modification of the alkaline comet assay with human mesenchymal stem cells.

MSCs (mesenchymal stem cells) are planned foruse in regenerative medicine to offset age-dependent alterations. However, MSCs are affected by replicative senescence associated with decreasing proliferation potential, telomere shortening and DNA damage during in vitro propagation. To monitor in vitro senescence, we have assessed the integrity of DNA by the alkaline comet assay.

α1-adrenergic drugs exhibit affinity to a thapsigargin-sensitive binding site and interfere with the intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis in human erythroleukemia cells.

Even though the erythroleukemia cell lines K562 and HEL do not express α1-adrenoceptors, some α1-adrenergic drugs influence both survival and differentiation of these cell lines. Since Ca2+ is closely related to cellular homeostasis, we examined the capacity of α1-adrenergic drugs to modulate the intracellular Ca2+ content in K562 cells. Because of morphological alterations of mitochondria following α1-adrenergic agonist treatment, we also scrutinized mitochondrial functions.

α1-Adrenergic drugs modulate differentiation and cell death of human erythroleukemia cells through non adrenergic mechanism.

Preliminary data showed that α1-adrenergic antagonists induce apoptosis and a switch towards megakaryocytic differentiation in human erythroleukemia cells. To test the hypothesis whether survival and differentiation of erythroleukemia cells are under control of α1-adrenergic signalling, we examined α1-adrenoceptor expression of erythroleukemia cells and compared the in vitro effects of α-adrenergic antagonists with those of agonists. We discovered that α1-adrenergic agonists suppress both erythroid differentiation and growth of erythroleukemia cells concomitant with lipofuscin accumulation, autophagy and necrotic cell death.

Decline of bone marrow-derived hematopoietic progenitor cell quality during aging in the rat.

Several studies have shown that aging is associated with quantitative and qualitative alterations of the stem and progenitor cell compartment. The current results indicate that there is a significant age-associated decline in the proliferative capacity of rat myeloid progenitor cells. In contrast, no difference was found in the frequency of myeloid progenitor cells in the bone marrow of young versus old rats.

The alpha1-adrenergic receptor antagonists, benoxathian and prazosin, induce apoptosis and a switch towards megakaryocytic differentiation in human erythroleukemia cells.

The erythroleukemia cell lines K562 and human erythroleukemia (HEL) are established models to study erythroid and megakaryocytic differentiation in vitro. In this study, we show that the alpha1-adrenergic antagonists, benoxathian and prazosin, inhibit the proliferation and induce apoptosis in K562 and HEL cells. Furthermore, both tested substances induced the expression of the megakaryocytic marker CD41a, whereas the expression of the erythroid marker glycophorin-a was decreased or unchanged.

Haploinsufficiency of senescence evasion factor causes defects of hematopoietic stem cells functions.

The quality of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) is essentially defined by two characteristics, i.e., multilineage differentiation and self-renewal capacity.

Norepinephrine treatment and aging lead to systemic and intracellular oxidative stress in rats.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) play important roles in cellular senescence and organismic aging. Furthermore, they have been implicated in some of the adverse effects of chronic stress due to elevated peripheral levels of catecholamines. Here, we applied three different techniques to individually compare the systemic and intracellular oxidative stress in aged (23 months) and young (5 months) Sprague-Dawley rats, and in young rats treated for 12 or 24 h with norepinephrine (NE).

Comparison of the Effect of Prostaglandin E(1), Prostacycline and Adenosine on Peripheral Vascular Resistance.

Prostacycline, prostaglandin E(1), and adenosine are highly effective vasodilators. These three drugs are widely used in the treatment of peripheral arterial occlusive disease. The aim of the study was to compare the vasodilatory potency of these substances in the isolated perfused guinea pig hind limb.