OBJECTIVE.The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of percutaneous transcatheter coil embolization of pulmonary arteriovenous malformations on arterial oxygen saturation, pulmonary gas exchange, anatomic right-to-left shunt, and lung function and to assess the complications of the procedure.
1 The effect on platelet aggregation of glyceryl trinitrate in the presence of cultured vascular smooth muscle cells was determined turbidometrically. U46619 (a thromboxane mimetic) was used as agonist and experiments were performed in the presence of aspirin. Inorganic nitrite production from glyceryl trinitrate by vascular smooth muscle cells was also measured, to provide an indirect index of nitric oxide synthesis. 2 The combination of vascular smooth muscle cells together with glyceryl trinitrate, at concentrations that had little effect individually, profoundly inhibited platelet aggregation. 3 The inhibitory effect on platelet aggregation of vascular smooth muscle cells together with glyceryl trinitrate was markedly attenuated by haemoglobin, an inhibitor of nitric oxide. 4 These results show that vascular smooth muscle cells inhibit platelet aggregation when exposed to glyceryl trinitrate and suggest that this is due to generation of nitric oxide from glyceryl trinitrate by vascular smooth muscle.
We aimed to provide evidence of thymic reconstitution after highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in HIV-1 infected patients and to correlate this with the restoration of peripheral naïve T cells.
MethodsPositron emission tomography (PET) enables definitive evidence of thymic activity, indicating functional potential. In this case study, a single patient who initiatiated HAART demonstrated reconstitution of the naïve T-cell pool and underwent thymic PET scans at baseline and 2 and 6 months following initiation of therapy. Two patients who failed to demonstrate such reconstitution acted as controls. These patients (mean age 27 years) had chronic HIV infection with low CD4 T-cell counts (mean 82, range 9-160 cells/mL blood). Increased function of the thymus visualized by PET was correlated with phenotypic changes in CD4 and CD8 T cells in the periphery measured by flow cytometry, and with numbers of recent thymic emigrants measured by quantification of the numbers of T-cell receptor excision circles (TRECs) in peripheral cells.
ResultsIn one patient, clear correlations could be drawn between visible activity within the thymus, as measured by increased [F18]fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake, and regeneration of naïve CD4 (CD45RA/CD62L) T cells, increased numbers of CD4 T cells, controlled viraemia and increased numbers of recent thymic emigrants. A second patient displayed no increase in peripheral CD4 count and no increase in thymic activity. The third patient elected to stop therapy following the 2-month time point.
ConclusionsThe use of PET suggests that thymic activity may increase after HAART, indicating that the thymus has the potential to be functional even in HIV-1 infected persons with low CD4 T-cell counts.
Contrary to expectation, recruits with higher-grade stress fractures were not less likely to complete basic military training compared with recruits with lower grade stress fractures.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.