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- Mattsson, E., et al.
(författare)
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Staphylococcus aureus induces release of bradykinin in human plasma
- 2001
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Ingår i: Infection and Immunity. - 0019-9567. ; 69:6, s. 3877-3882
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Staphylococcus aureus is a prominent human pathogen. Here we report that intact S. aureus bacteria activate the contact system in human plasma in vitro, resulting in a massive release of the potent proinflammatory and vasoactive peptide bradykinin. In contrast, no such effect was recorded with Streptococcus pneumoniae. In the activation of the contact system, blood coagulation factor XII and plasma kallikrein play central roles, and a specific inhibitor of these serine proteinases inhibited the release of bradykinin by S. aureus in human plasma. Furthermore, fragments of the cofactor H-kininogen of the contact system efficiently blocked bradykinin release. The results suggest that activation of the contact system at the surface of S. aureus and the subsequent release of bradykinin could contribute to the hypovolemic hypotension seen in patients with severe S. aureus sepsis. The data also suggest that the contact system could be used as a target in the treatment of S. aureus infections.
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- Vrethem, Magnus, 1955-, et al.
(författare)
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Increased plasma homocysteine levels without signs of vitamin B12 deficiency in patients with multiple sclerosis assessed by blood and cerebrospinal fluid homocysteine and methylmalonic acid
- 2003
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Ingår i: Multiple Sclerosis Journal. - : SAGE Publications. - 1352-4585 .- 1477-0970. ; 9:3, s. 239-245
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate if multiple sclerosis (MS) is associated with vitamin B12 (cobalamin) deficiency. Methods: We measured serum vitamin B12, plasma folate, serum methylmalonic acid (MMA), plasma homocysteine (tHcy) and also cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) MMA and tHcy in 72 patients with MS and 23 controls. Results: The mean plasma tHcy level was significantly increased in MS patients (11.6 ╡mol/L) compared with controls (7.4╡mol/L) (P = 0.002). Seven patients showed low serum vitamin B12 levels but only one of them had concomitant high plasma tHcy. None of them showed high serum MMA. Plasma or blood folate levels did not differ between MS patients and controls. We found no significant differences in mean values or frequency of pathological tests of serum B12, serum MMA, mean corpuscular volume (MCV), haemoglobin concentration, CSF tHcy or CSF MMA between patients and healthy subjects. There were no correlations between CSF and serum/plasma levels of MMA or tHcy. Serum vitamin B12, serum MMA, plasma tHcy, CSF Hey or CSF MMA were not correlated to disability status, activity of disease, duration of disease or age. Conclusions: The relevance of the increased mean value of plasma tHcy thus seems uncertain and does not indicate functional vitamin B12 deficiency. We can not, however, exclude the possibility of a genetically induced dysfunction of the homocysteine metabolism relevant for the development of neuroinflammation/degeneration. Our findings indicate that, regardless of a significant increase in plasma tHcy in MS patients, the MS disease is not generally associated with vitamin B12 deficiency since we did not find any other factors indicating vitamin B12 deficiency. Analysis of CSF MMA and CSF tHcy, which probably reflects the brain vitamin B12 status better than serum, are not warranted in MS. We conclude that B12 deficiency, in general, is not associated with MS.
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- Eide, M.H., et al.
(författare)
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Life cycle assessment (LCA) of cleaning-in-place processes in dairies
- 2003
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Ingår i: Lebensmittel-Wissenschaft + Technologie. - 0023-6438 .- 1096-1127. ; 36:3, s. 303-314
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Four Cleaning-In-Place (CIP) methods for dairies were compared using life cycle assessment (LCA). The methods were conventional alkaline/acid cleaning with hot water disinfection, one-phase alkaline cleaning with acid chemical disinfection, enzyme-based cleaning with acid chemical disinfection and the conventional method with disinfection by cold nitric acid at pH 2. Production of detergents, transport, the user phase in the dairy and waste management of containers were included. The user phase was found to be the most important part of the life cycle. The CIP methods with small volumes and low temperatures, such as enzyme-based cleaning and one-phase alkaline cleaning, turned out to be the best alternatives for the impact categories energy use, global warming, acidification, eutrophication and photo-oxidant formation. Milk residues flushed out in the rinsing phase were the main contributor to eutrophication, but the phosphorus and nitrogen in the detergents also influenced the results. Evaluation of toxic substances poses a methodological problem in LCA. In this study, detergents partly composed of toxic substances were included, and the overall assessment was that the one-phase alkaline cleaning method was preferable from an environmental point of view. A qualitative assessment of toxicity was performed. © 2003 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. on behalf of Swiss Society of Food Science and Technology.
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- Granberg, H., et al.
(författare)
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Forward scattering of fiber-containing surfaces studied by 3-D reflectance distribution simulations and measurements
- 2003
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Ingår i: Optical Engineering. - : SPIE-Intl Soc Optical Eng. - 0091-3286 .- 1560-2303. ; 42:8, s. 2384-2390
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Recent studies have shown that the angular distribution of diffuse reflectance, obtained from bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) measurements, differs strongly between paper sheets with and without fibers present in the top surface layer. For fiber-containing surfaces, in contrast to pigment-coated paper surfaces, there is a distinct forward scattering at angles much larger than the specular reflection angle. In the search for an explanation of this phenomenon, we have made calculations of reflectance distributions of a simulated paper web, containing randomly distributed hollow fibers. We did this on the assumption that fibers present in paper are considerably larger than the wavelength of visible light, and that the surface microroughness of the fibers can be treated as a diffraction broadening superposed on the ray calculated reflectance distribution. We investigate whether the structural shape and distribution of wood fibers can explain some of the observed forward-scattering phenomenon. We also compare these Monte-Carlo ray tracing calculations qualitatively with experimental BRDF measurements of the diffuse reflectance from a fiber-containing surface. From the calculations we found that the reflection at the inner fiber wall of the hollow fibers constituting the topmost layer plays a major role in forming a forward-scattering reflectance distribution. We also found that the Monte-Carlo-calculated bulk scattering distribution, i.e., the distribution of reflected light after a large number of reflections within the web structure, tended to be elongated perpendicular to the sheet plane of the fiber web, rather than being uniform.
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