Cerebral vasospasm (CV) and the resulting delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI) significantly contribute to poor outcomes following aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH). Free hemoglobin (Hb) within the subarachnoid space has been implicated in the pathogenesis of CV. Haptoglobin (Hp) binds free pro-oxidant Hb, thereby modulating its harmful effects. Humans can be of three Hp phenotypes: Hp1-1, H...

Milk somatic cell count (SCC) is the gold standard in diagnosis of subclinical mastitis, and is also an important parameter in quality programmes of dairy cooperatives. As routine SCC analysis is usually restricted to central laboratories, much effort has been invested in the search for alternative biomarkers of mastitis and milk quality, including the presence in the milk of the acute phase pr...

The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effects of Burdizzo castration and abrupt weaning on the behaviour, blood traits and performance of beef calves when weaning was conducted concurrently or consecutively to castration. In total, 64 male beef calves aged between 6 and 7 months were assigned to a 2×2 factorial design with the following treatment groups (n=16 animals per treatment):...

Knowledge about the effects of cardiopulmonary bypass on malarial patients is scant. Malaria-induced hemolysis can exercerbate by performing extracorporeal circulation on a patient infected with Plasmodium and may, therefore, lead to a critical hemolysis jeopardizing the clinical outcome. A 52-year-old patient suffering from malaria and endocarditis was scheduled for urgent aortic valve replace...

This new approach to measurement of glycated hemoglobin (Hb A1) is a three-step procedure involving (a) conversion of oxyhemoglobin into NO-hemoglobin by sodium dithionite and sodium nitrite in the presence of inositol hexaphosphate; (b) incubation with haptoglobin, which preferentially binds glycated hemoglobin; and (c) determination of the hemoglobin/haptoglobin complex by its peroxidase acti...

Human plasma haptoglobin (Hp) comprises alpha and beta subunits. The alpha subunit is heterogeneous in size, therefore isolation of Hp and its subunits is particularly difficult. Using Escherichia coli, we show that alpha1, alpha2, beta, and alpha2beta chain was abundantly expressed and primarily present in the inclusion bodies consisting of about 30% of the cell-lysate proteins. Each cloned su...

Studies that blend a comparative approach to immunology with an appreciation for physiological ecology are defining an important new field in biology--ecological immunology. However, a panel of assays that permits a comparative approach to immunology is not yet available. In this paper, we describe several assays of innate immunity that do not require species-specific reagents and therefore ide...

The effect of dietary restriction on the expression of retroviral envelope glycoprotein, gp70, and the formation of gp70-anti gp70 immune complexes was investigated in lupus-prone NZB x NZW F1 hybrid mice. Restricting total calorie intake from the usual 20 to only 10 calories per day after weaning markedly reduced serum levels of both free and antibody-complexed gp70, prevented renal disease, a...

The physicochemical and biochemical properties of hemoglobin associated with haptoglobin were compared with those of hemoglobin bour,d by antihemoglobin antibody. The mechanism of enhanced peroxidase activity of hemoglobin bound by haptoglobin was concluded not to be activation but stabilization of hemoglobin at acidic pH by haptoglobin. Haptoglobin protects hemoglobin from denaturation by acid...

Inflammation may play an important role in atherosclerotic disease. Plasma fibrinogen is an established predictor of cardiovascular events. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether other inflammation-sensitive plasma proteins modify this prediction. We studied the incidence of cardiac events and death in men in relation to fibrinogen levels alone and in combination with other proteins. The...