Friday 23 March 2012

Auditory stimulation of opera music induced prolongation of murine cardiac allograft survival and maintained generation of regulatory CD4+CD25+ cells

Journal of Cardiothoracic Surgery
March 23 2012, 7:26
doi:10.1186/1749-8090-7-26

Masateru Uchiyama [1,2,3], Xiangyuan Jin [2,4], Qi Zhang [2], Toshihito Hirai [5], Atsushi Amano [1], Hisashi Bashuda [3] and Masanori Niimi [2]   

[1] Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Juntendo University Hospital, 2-1-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8421, Japan
[2] Department of Surgery, Teikyo University, 2-11-1 Kaga, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo 173-8605, Japan
[3] Department of Immunology, Juntendo University Hospital, 2-1-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8421, Japan
[4] Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, The 4th Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, 37 Yiyuan Street, Nangang District, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, China
[5] Department of Urology, Tokyo Women's Medical University, 8-1 Kawata-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-8666, Japan

BACKGROUND:

Interactions between the immune response and brain functions such as olfactory, auditory, and visual sensations are likely. This study investigated the effect of sounds on alloimmune responses in a murine model of cardiac allograft transplantation.

METHODS:

Naïve CBA mice (H2k) underwent transplantation of a C57BL/6 (B6, H2b) heart and were exposed to one of three types of music--opera (La Traviata), classical (Mozart), and New Age (Enya)--or one of six different single sound frequencies, for 7 days. Additionally, we prepared two groups of CBA recipients with tympanic membrane perforation exposed to opera for 7 days and CBA recipients exposed to opera for 7 days before transplantation (pre-treatment). An adoptive transfer study was performed to determine whether regulatory cells were generated in allograft recipients. Immunohistochemical, cell-proliferation, cytokine, and flow cytometry assessments were also performed.

RESULTS:

CBA recipients of a B6 cardiac graft that were exposed to opera music and Mozart had significantly prolonged allograft survival (median survival times [MSTs], 26.5 and 20 days, respectively), whereas those exposed to a single sound frequency (100, 500, 1000, 5000, 10,000, or 20,000 Hz) or Enya did not (MSTs, 7.5, 8, 9, 8, 7.5, 8.5 and 11 days, respectively). Untreated, CBA mice with tympanic membrane perforations and CBA recipients exposed to opera for 7 days before transplantation (pre-treatment) rejected B6 cardiac grafts acutely (MSTs, 7, 8 and 8 days, respectively). Adoptive transfer of whole splenocytes, CD4+ cells, or CD4+CD25+ cells from opera-exposed primary allograft recipients resulted in significantly prolonged allograft survival in naive secondary recipients (MSTs, 36, 68, and > 100 days, respectively). Proliferation of splenocytes, interleukin (IL)-2 and interferon (IFN)-γ production was suppressed in opera-exposed mice, and production of IL-4 and IL-10 from opera-exposed transplant recipients increased compared to that from splenocytes of untreated recipients. Flow cytometry studies showed an increased CD4+CD25+ Forkhead box P3 (Foxp3)+ cell population in splenocytes from those mice.

CONCLUSION:

Our findings indicate that exposure to opera music, such as La traviata, could affect such aspects of the peripheral immune response as generation of regulatory CD4+CD25+ cells and up-regulation of anti-inflammatory cytokines, resulting in prolonged allograft survival.

http://www.cardiothoracicsurgery.org/content/7/1/26

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186%2F1749-8090-7-26/fulltext.html

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3338095/

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Thursday 1 March 2012

Holy water of hospital chapels as a possible source for nosocomical infections

Hygiene & Medizin 2012; 37 [3]: 72–76

Hubert Weiß

The ongoing discussion about effective preventive measures against nosocomical infections concentrates very much on activities of hygiene management and on the search for all possible ways of introduction of germs into the clinical area. This analysis investigates whether holy water in hospital chapels may provide a possible reservoir for a contamination of patients in the clinical area as well as hospital equipment. The microbial count and the spectrum of bacteria detected in holy water lead to the conclusion that holy water should be integrated into the monitoring and the hygiene management of hospitals as a critical control point. This paper develops suggestions for the expansion of hygiene management and for the reduction of microbial counts in holy water fonts. Finally, liability issues will be discussed.

http://www.mhp-verlag.de/en/search/1749-Holy-water-of-hospital-chapels-as-a-possible-source-for-nosocomical-infections/

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Float, explode or sink: postmortem fate of lung-breathing marine vertebrates

Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments
March 2012, Volume 92, Issue 1, pp 67-81
Cover Date 2012-03-01
DOI 10.1007/s12549-011-0067-z

Achim G. Reisdorf (1), Roman Bux (2), Daniel Wyler (3), Mark Benecke (4), Christian Klug (5), Michael W. Maisch (6), Peter Fornaro (7), Andreas Wetzel (1)

1. Geologisch-Paläontologisches Institut, Universität Basel, Bernoullistrasse 32, 4056, Basel, Switzerland
2. Institut für Rechtsmedizin und Verkehrsmedizin, Universitätsklinikum Heidelberg, Voßstrasse 2, Gebäude 4420, 69115, Heidelberg, Germany
3. Pathologie und Rechtsmedizin, Kantonsspital, Loëstrasse 170, 7000, Chur, Switzerland
4. Internatinal Forensic Research & Consulting, Postfach 250411, 50520, Köln, Germany
5. Paläontologisches Institut und Museum, Universität Zürich, Karl Schmid-Strasse 4, 8006, Zürich, Switzerland
6. Institut für Geowissenschaften, Eberhard Karls-Universität Tübingen, Hölderlinstr. 12, 72074, Tübingen, Germany
7. Imaging and Media Lab, Universität Basel, Bernoullistrasse 32, 4056, Basel, Switzerland

Abstract

What happens after the death of a marine tetrapod in seawater? Palaeontologists and neontologists have claimed that large lung-breathing marine tetrapods such as ichthyosaurs had a lower density than seawater, implying that their carcasses floated at the surface after death and sank subsequently after leakage of putrefaction gases (or ‘‘carcass explosions’’). Such explosions would thus account for the skeletal disarticulation observed frequently in the fossil record. We examined the taphonomy and sedimentary environment of numerous ichthyosaur skeletons and compared them to living marine tetrapods, principally cetaceans, and measured abdominal pressures in human carcasses. Our data and a review of the literature demonstrate that carcasses sink and do not explode (and spread skeletal elements). We argue that the normally slightly negatively buoyant carcasses of ichthyosaurs would have sunk to the sea floor and risen to the surface only when they remained in shallow water above a certain temperature and at a low scavenging rate. Once surfaced, prolonged floating may have occurred and a carcass have decomposed gradually. Our conclusions are of significance to the understanding of the inclusion of carcasses of lung-breathing vertebrates in marine nutrient recycling. The postmortem fate has essential implications for the interpretation of vertebrate fossil preservation (the existence of complete, disarticulated fossil skeletons is not explained by previous hypotheses), palaeobathymetry, the physiology of modern marine lung-breathing tetrapods and their conservation, and the recovery of human bodies from seawater.

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12549-011-0067-z/fulltext.html

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