Despite the therapeutic potential of human embryonic stem (HES) cells, many people believe that HES cell research should be banned. The reason is that the present method of extracting HES cells involves the destruction of the embryo, which for many is the beginning of a person. This paper examines a number of compromise solutions such as parthenogenesis, the use of defective embryos, geneticall...

Hypereosinophilic syndrome (HES) comprises a group of rare disorders characterized by persistence of blood hypereosinophilia (>1500 mm ') for >6 months; and definite signs of organ involvement without the secondary causes of eosinophilia ( 1 ). Cutaneous findings are present in up to 50% of patients with HES, e.g. pruritic papules, eczema-like patches, urticarial plaques, and angioedema ( 1). I...

Hüter and colleagues recently published an experimental paper about possible pathomechanisms of hydroxyethyl-starch (HES)-induced adverse effects on renal function in an isolated perfusion model of 6 hours [1]. The authors should be congratulated for their attempt to shed light on the influence of different HES preparations on renal function, combining functional results and histological data. ...

BACKGROUND Recently, human embryonic stem (hES) cells have become very important resources for basic research on cell replacement therapy and other medical applications. The purpose of this study was to test whether pluripotent hES cell lines could be successfully derived from frozen-thawed embryos that were destined to be discarded after 5 years in a routine human IVF-embryo transfer programme...

BACKGROUND The gut is considered an important target organ of injury after severe insult such as sepsis, trauma and shock. Hydroxyethyl starch (HES) 130/0.4 has been developed to improve the pharmacokinetics of current medium molecular weight HES solutions. We investigated the protective effects of HES 130/0.4 on intestinal inflammatory response and survival in a rat polymicrobial sepsis model ...

Prolonged propagation of human embryonic stem (hES) cells is currently achieved by coculture with primary mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) serving as feeder cells. Unlike mouse ES cells, adding growth factors such as leukemia inhibitory factor is insufficient to maintain undifferentiated hES cells without feeder cells. The presence of uncharacterized rodent cells or crude extracts imposes a r...

The idiopathic hypereosinophilic syndrome (HES) developed in a 15-year-old boy who presented with colitis, cough, rash, and hepatitis. Molecular analysis failed to demonstrate the Fip1-like1-Platelet Derived Growth Factor Receptor alpha chain (FIP1L1-PDGFRA) mutation described in adult patients with HES. There are significant clinical differences between the pediatric and adult presentations of...

OBJECTIVE Rates of hospital presentation for self-harm in England were compared using different national and local data sources. DESIGN The study was descriptive and compared bespoke data collection methods for recording self-harm presentations to hospital with routinely collected hospital data. SETTING Local area data on self-harm from the 3 centres of the Multicentre Study of Self-harm in...

To the Editor: With some degree of amazement, we read the article by Kashy et al.1 on the influence of 6% hydroxyethyl starch (HES) 670/0.75 (Hextend; Hospira Inc., USA) on perioperative acute kidney injury in patients undergoing noncardiac surgery. The data are derived from a database of more than 120,000 patients treated in Cleveland hospitals, in which 6% HES 670/0.75 was the most commonly u...

Background: Hydroxyethyl starch (HES) solutions are used for perioperative fluid management. However, robust renal safety data in surgical patients are lacking. Methods: A meta-analysis was performed of randomised clinical trials comparing HES with non-HES control fluid in adult surgical patients. The endpoint was recourse to renal replacement therapy (RRT). Eligible trials were identified by m...