16 Finally, the few NS populations that have been tested for GM are almost monomorphic for haplotype GM 1,17 5*. This represents an extreme differentiation compared with NC, which is explainable by rapid genetic drift through

isolation. Actually, NS populations are spread discontinuously over a vast geographic area extending from East (Ethiopia) to West (Mali) Africa throughout the Sahara Desert, and may have been submitted to repeated episodes of demographic contraction and gene flow with local neighbours, depending on climatic variation, which extensively modified the environments. Variation of GM has also been highly informative for anthropological studies in East Asia. A north–south genetic cline is clearly observed, with high frequencies of GM 1,17 21 and GM 1,2,17 21 and low frequencies of GM 1,3 5* in the north, the reverse situation being EPZ-6438 order observed

in the south. Here again, the linguistic information is relevant: we observe continuous genetic differentiations between (from one end of the cline to the other) Altaic, Japanese and Korean; North Tibeto-Burman; Northern Chinese (all Mandarin but Southeastern); Wu and Southeastern Mandarin; Southern Chinese and Southern Tibeto-Burman; and Austro-Asiatic, Tai-Kadai and Austronesian populations.17,18 However, contrary to the situation found in Africa, in East Asia the linguistic families are found in specific geographic areas and it is hard to establish whether the observed genetic patterns have mostly been shaped by linguistic or by geographic differentiations in the past. As discussed in more click here detail below for the HLA polymorphism, GM genetic variation is compatible with the ‘pincer’ model of migrations from West Asia, suggesting that some populations followed a southern (maybe coastal) route through India to Southeast Asia, and others a route north to the Himalaya Mountains to Northeast Asia (although at a different period), both groups

of populations later intermixing through north–south migrations in East Asia. As for HLA, a higher level of internal diversity (higher heterozygosity) is observed in Northeast Asia compared with Southeast Asia, indicating higher levels nearly of gene flow, whereas Southeast Asian populations may have undergone rapid differentiation through genetic drift.19 Another crucial example pertains to the peopling history of Taiwan. In a previous study, we investigated the GM polymorphism of several Aboriginal populations from this island (Siraya, Pazeh, Taroko, Atayal, Tsou, Bunun and Puyuma, as well as Yami located in Lan-Yu island off the southeastern coast of Taiwan).20 We found a decrease in heterozygosity from (north)western to southern and southeastern regions (with a higher frequency of GM 1,3 (–23) 5* in the west, whereas GM 1,3 23 5* is (almost) fixed in the south and/or southeast).

CD8 DCs are considered the classic cross-presenting DC and, for a long time, have been assumed to be the only mouse DC population with the ability to cross-present cell-associated antigens to CD8+ T cells. CD8 DCs display more efficient phagocytic uptake of dead cells and loading of antigenic

peptides into MHC class I than many other DC populations. In addition, CD8 DCs are able to produce high levels of bioactive IL-12p70 that helps in their induction of Th1/Tc1 responses. click here However, their capacity to present antigens in MHC class II to CD4+ T cells under conditions of limiting antigen is relatively poor (reviewed in [52]). Our studies show that FLT3L treatment greatly expanded the recently described mcDC population, that potently primes both CD4+ and CD8+ T cell to cell-associated antigens [12,23]. Importantly, T cells primed to cell-associated antigens by mcDC displayed greater primary expansion and development into memory cells than those primed by other DC populations.

The superior T cell priming capacity of mcDC can be contributed to several mechanisms. mcDC store phagoytosed materials in non-acid organelles and use this as an antigen depot which allows for prolonged antigen presentation [24]. Increasing the length of antigenic stimulation has been shown to positively affect T cell expansion, acquisition of effector functions and memory development [53–56]. Secondly, the type I IFN production by mcDC upon Small Molecule Compound Library uptake of apoptotic material is likely to provide an adjuvant effect in both an autocrine and paracrine Gemcitabine molecular weight fashion (manuscript in preparation). Moreover, our previous observations indicated that mice deficient in type I IFN sensing failed to induce protective CD8+ T cell responses when treated with autologous tumour vaccines [12,23]. Besides the production of type I IFN, the mcDCs capacity to prime strong CD4+ T cell responses to cell-associated antigens

is also instrumental in the induction of anti-tumour CD8+ T cell responses. We and others have shown that CD4+ T cell help during priming of CD8+ T cells is required for optimal CD8+ T cell activation, primary expansion, acquisition of effector function and the development of memory [42,57,58]. Supportively, increasing CD4+ T cell help through transfer of (transgenic) CD4+ T cells or preimmunization of mice enhances the induction of CD8+ T cell responses [59,60]. In addition, ample studies indicate that CD4+ T cell help plays a supporting role in the maintenance, reactivation and expansion of existing memory cells [61–63]. FLT3L was shown recently to increase a DC population that had the ability to cross-present cell-associated antigens to CD8+ T cells without the need to express CD8α[64].

Animals were then sacrificed and the colon analysed by histopathology. A semiquantitative score was adapted from the TJL score 26, replacing the score for hyperplasia by a score for oedema (1=mild, 2=moderate, 3=severe). LPS (Escherichia coli serotype 055:B5; Sigma-Aldrich) was injected i.p. (5 μg/kg body weight) in 200–300 μL sterile PBS. Animals (8–12 wk old) were sacrificed 6 h later and serum samples from cardiac blood were stored at −80°C until further processing. Cytokines and chemokines were quantified using a mouse cytokine twenty-plex kit (Invitrogen) Smoothened Agonist on a Luminex 100® LiquiChip® Workstation (Qiagen) with Luminex 100® IS Software v2.3. Male mice (6–8 wk old) were orally

infected with 160–200 embryonated eggs of T. muris E-isolate. Mice were sacrificed at different time points and the worm burden was assessed by counting larvae that were present in their caecum. Statistical

analysis was performed with GraphPad Prism5 (GraphPad Software). This paper is dedicated to Jacques Chiller. M. C. P. was supported by the DFG through GRK 705II. N. F. was supported by a Marie Curie Early PD98059 in vivo Stage Research Training Fellowship (MEST-CT-2004-504990). F. P. was supported by IMDEMI. The work was supported by the DFG, Sonderforschungsbereich 621, Project A2 and the European Union Grant MUGEN LSHG-CT-2005-005203. The authors thank M. Ebel, S. Keilholz-Gast, M. Baier, A. Samuels and A. Rinkel for technical assistance. Finally, the authors thank Kathryn Else for providing us with the T. muris infection model. Conflict of interest: The authors declare no financial or commercial conflict of interest. Detailed facts of importance to specialist readers are published Cetuximab as ”Supporting Information”. Such documents are peer-reviewed, but not copy-edited or typeset. They are made available as submitted by the authors. “
“The aim of this study was to estimate the

incidence of the disease and to analyze laboratory data of 23 newborns undergoing serologic testing for alloimmune neonatal neutropenia (ANN) during the 1998–2008 period in Croatia. Laboratory data on 23 newborns undergoing serologic testing for ANN during the 1998–2008 period and epidemiologic data on the number of live births in Croatia were analyzed. Laboratory testing for ANN included serologic screening of maternal and neonatal sera and granulocytes (neutrophils) by immunofluorescence (IF) method. The monoclonal antibody immobilization of neutrophil antigens (MAINA) was employed to determine anti-HNA antibody specificity. Anti-HNA antibodies were detected in seven (54%) of 13 cases of serologically positive ANN. Only anti-HLA class I antibodies were demonstrated in four (31%) of 13 cases In the 2007–2008 period of prospective data collection, the number of serologically verified ANN cases was one case per 17,323 live births.

Amorolfine is effective in several dermatophytoses, selleck screening library especially tinea unguium (1, 3, 5, 6); however, it is only used topically. For systemic use, itraconazole or terbinafine is generally available. Lecha et al. [3] and Baran et al. [5] described satisfactory

results using combinations of amorolfine and terbinafine or itraconazole, respectively, in vivo. We selected amorolfine and itraconazole to investigate combinations of antifungal drugs. The former is a non-azole agent that is used topically (externally) and the latter an azole drug that is used systemically (internally). Both agents are commonly used for dermatomycoses. We observed a synergistic effect in 7 of 27 strains with FIC indexes ≤0.5. Using a checkerboard method, Santos et al. demonstrated synergistic interactions between azoles and cyclopiroxamine against T. rubrum and T. mentagrophytes [9]. Harman et al. also reported a synergistic effect (≤1) of a combination of amorolfine and itraconazole in 46% of all organisms tested, including dermatophytes and non-dermatophytes [6]. In the present study, we used a stricter criterion for determination of synergy (≤0.5)

selleck compound and confirmed that a combination of these drugs had a synergistic (≤0.5) effect in 25.9% of samples and an additive (FIC index ≥1 and ≤0.5) effect in 59.3% of samples. In total, these agents showed additive or synergistic effects on more than 85% of the strains examined. In particular, we found additive or synergistic effects in 19 of 21 Trichophyton strains (90%) and in three strains of M. gypseum (100%). We identified no additive or synergistic Phospholipase D1 effects in two of three strains of E. floccosum and detected no antagonistic effects in any of the 27 dermatophytes. These results suggest that the combination of these two drugs can be expected to act additively or synergistically in the treatment of dermatomycoses.

Further investigation is required to examine the effects of antifungal drug combination against these and other clinically important dermatophytes. Although several studies have examined the synergic effects of antifungal agents [34, 35], few have provided explanations for the mechanisms of drug synergy [36]. In this study, we found additive or synergistic effects of amorolfine and itraconazole in most of dermatophytes; we do not have an explanation for this. To ascertain the mechanisms of drug synergy between amorolfine and itraconazole, we need to profile changes in cellular environment after drug administration. The authors thank the participating laboratories and hospitals for their cooperation and for providing the fungal isolates described in this report. K.M. has received research grants from the following companies: Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical (Tokyo, Japan), Seikagaku Biobusiness (Tokyo, Japan), Kaken Pharmaceutical (Tokyo, Japan), Dai-Nippon Sumitomo Pharmaceutical (Tokyo, Japan), Sato Pharmaceutical (Tokyo, Japan), Galderma (Tokyo, Japan), and Japan Space Forum.

The segments of genomic DNA of strain NUM 1720T encoding the DNA gyrase

β-subunit (gyrB) and the RNA polymerase β-subunit (rpoB) gene were amplified by PCR and sequenced. The gyrB and rpoB primers were designed based on an alignment of the nucleotide sequence of each gene from S. ficaria. The gyrB and rpoB sequences used for the phylogenetic studies were obtained from the DDBJ and GenBank databases. DNA-DNA hybridization was performed fluorometrically by the method of Ezaki et al. (8) using photobiotin-labelled DNA probes and microdilution wells. A heat-denatured sample of DNA (1 μg) was immobilized in each well of a microplate (Immuno plate II; Nunc, GDC-0980 supplier Roskilde, Denmark) at 30°C for 2 hr. The microplate was dried at 45°C for 2 hr and then photobiotin-labelled heat-denatured probe DNA (0.125 μg per well) was used for the hybridization (incubated at 46.8°C for 3 hr). Other procedures were conducted according to the original instructions. The guanine-plus-cytosine (G + C) contents of the DNA preparations were determined see more by the (HPLC) method (9). Biochemical analysis was conducted using the API

50 CH and API ZYM (Biomérieux, Marcy l’Etoile, France) system according to the manufacturers’ instructions. For quantitative analysis of the cellular fatty acid composition and isoprenoid quinone analysis, cells were harvested from an NG agar (l−1:8.0 g nutrient broth, 8.0 g glucose, 5.0 g NaCl, 0.5 g yeast extract) incubated at 30°C for 2 days as described by Ajithkumar et al. (10). Fatty acid methyl esters were prepared and find more identified by following the instructions of the Microbial Identification

system, as described by Sasser (11). Isoprenoid quinones were extracted from lyophilized cells and subjected to HPLC as described previously (12). The partial nucleotide sequences of the 16S rRNA, gyrB and rpoB genes from strain NUM 1720T were determined and phylogenetic trees based on these data were constructed by the neighbor-joining method. The 16S rRNA gene sequence of NUM 1720T showed 99.4%, 97.2%, 97.2% and 97.1% similarity to those of G. quercinecans, P. rwandensis, S. ficaria and K. ascorbata, respectively. The phylogenetic tree of 16S rRNA gene sequence (Fig. 1) showed that strain NUM 1720T was related most closely to G. quercinecans. The gyrB gene sequence of strain NUM 1720T showed 98.0%, 87.4%, 86.8% and 86.8% similarity with those of G. quercinecans, Serratia rubidaea, Serratia odorifera and Serratia grimesii. The rpoB gene sequence of strain NUM 1720T showed 98.2%, 93.2%, 93.0% and 92.6% similarity to those of G. quercinecans, Serratia. nematodiphila, S. ficaria and Serratia. marcescens subsp. marcescens. The gyrB and rpoB gene trees showed similar topologies and a close phylogenetic relationship between strain NUM 1720T and G. quercinecans (Fig. 2, 3).

Balanced frequencies are often observed for the centromeric KIR A and B haplotypes; the frequency of Cen-A (i.e. characterized by the presence of KIR2DL3, KIR2DP1 and KIR2DL1) in most populations worldwide

is ∼ 50–60%, roughly that which is observed for the extended A haplotype. The notable exception is within East Asian populations,110,111,126 where the frequency of the Smad inhibitor centromeric B haplotype loci KIR2DL2 and KIR2DS2 is generally very low and Cen-A is observed at frequencies greater than 80%; the frequency of the extended (centromeric and telomeric) A haplotype also tends to be highest in these populations. It is interesting to note, however, that these exceptionally high Cen-A frequencies are generally not observed in Amerindian populations,112 suggesting that this shift occurred within East Asia subsequent to the differentiation PF-02341066 research buy of the Amerindians from these populations. Although the loci associated with the full-length motif Cen-B1 (i.e. characterized by the presence of KIR2DL2, KIR2DS2, KIR2DL5, KIR2DS3/S5, KIR2DP1 and KIR2DL1) are very common within Africa,110,112,127 the much shorter

Cen-B2 (i.e. characterized by the presence of the framework genes in addition to KIR2DL2 and KIR2DS2) is observed primarily outside Africa, and this motif largely replaces Cen-B1 in some populations outside Africa (J. Hollenbach, unpublished results). However, there is no clear pattern or gradient associated with this motif, which appears

to be distributed somewhat sporadically across several world regions. African populations in general exhibit substantially greater haplotypic diversity within the centromeric KIR region relative to other world regions. The telomeric portion of the KIR is characterized by a Immune system pattern of variation more closely related to population demographics. As previously noted, the stimulatory KIR3DS1 is found at much lower frequencies in African populations relative to most other world populations;112,128 its frequency increases with geographic distance from Africa.110 Although the African populations exhibit some of the highest frequencies for the centromeric B haplotype loci, the frequency of all telomeric B haplotype activating loci is in general very low in African populations. However, whereas the overall frequency of the extended B haplotype is comparatively low among the Asian populations, extended B haplotype frequencies are relatively high in the African populations. Other world populations generally range between these extremes. It is striking, however, that despite this variation, the worldwide frequency of A and B haplotype heterozygosity is generally stable, with an average frequency of 44%, suggesting that there is a population-level advantage in maintaining these balanced frequencies.

Cryosections are useful for difficult antigen–antibody combinations because antigenicity is maintained better than in paraffin. This comes at the cost of reduced structural detail, but cilia are still preserved (Fig. 3b). Frozen sections are thawed and dried at room temperature then rehydrated in PBS and labelled without antigen retrieval. Further fixing in formaldehyde prior to labelling may help preserve details of cilia and associated structures in delicate or lightly fixed sections. Treating sections with 0.1% Triton X-100 or other detergents can improve staining by increasing antibody access. For immunostaining primary cilia in culture (Fig. 3c–f), cells are

typically grown as a monolayer on a coverslip and starved of serum for 24 h R788 purchase to induce cell cycle exit and ciliogenesis. Cultures click here are fixed for 5 min with 2–4% formaldehyde and permeablized with 0.1% Triton X-100 in PBS for 5–15 min. If this approach does not give good immunolabelling for a particular antigen an alternative is to fix and permeablize/extract with ice cold methanol, dry for 5 min at room

temp, then rehydrate with PBS. Table 1 details commercially available antibodies that label the renal primary cilium and relevant references including published examples of their use. Standard indirect immunostaining protocols are used with primary antibodies against ciliary components being detected by fluorochrome conjugated secondary antibodies. Primary cilia are small and it is important that immunostaining protocols are optimized to allow their detection. Non-specific antibody binding is blocked using bovine

serum albumin, compatible serum, or commercially available blocking solutions. If a mouse antibody is used on mouse kidney, immunoglobulin blocking steps (e.g. Vector laboratories MOM kit) are used to prevent the secondary antibody recognizing endogenous mouse Atazanavir immunoglobulins in the sample. Optimal antibody dilutions should be obtained from previous publications or determined empirically to give the best signal to noise ratio. Including 0.05% Tween-20 detergent in antibody dilutions and washes may reduce nonspecific background. Isotype and single antibody (in the case of double labelling) control experiments should be performed to confirm the specificity of primary cilium labelling, and to verify that filter sets and fluorochromes used give an unambiguous signal in the expected channel. For labelling the axoneme of the primary cilium, mouse monoclonal anti-acetylated alpha-tubulin is a reliable and widely used option. This antibody was raised against acetylated alpha-tubulin from the sea urchin sperm axoneme, and specifically recognizes this modified form of tubulin in a diverse range of species.[45] The tubulin in more stable microtubules becomes acetylated meaning that the microtubular cytoskeleton of the cilium is preferentially labelled compared with microtubules of a more transient nature in the cytoplasm (Fig. 3a–c,e).

Supernatants were harvested and counted on an automated gamma counter. Percent specific lysis was calculated as [(sample 51Cr releasespontaneous

51Cr release)/(maximum 51Cr releasespontaneous 51Cr release)]×100. In vivo cytotoxicity experiments were performed as described with modifications 35. Naïve splenocytes (target cells) were pulsed with 1, 0.1 or 0.01 μg/mL of JEV NS4b S9, WNV NS4b S9 peptide or control influenza NP 366–374 peptide (1 μg/mL) for 45 min at 37°C. Cells were stained with 1 μM Cell Trace Far Red 7-hydroxy-9H- (1,3-dichloro-9,9-dimethylacridin-2-one)-SE (DDAO-SE; Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA, USA) and serial dilutions of CFSE (5 μM, 1.5 μM, 0.4 μM, 0.1 μM; Invitrogen). Target Natural Product Library mw cells in PBS (2×107 cell/mL) were injected i.v. into JEV-immunized or naïve mice 8 days post immunization. Splenocytes were harvested 2 h later

and analyzed using a FACSAria. Percent specific lysis was calculated by the formula 1(Ratio immune/Ratio naïve)×100, where Ratio=(♯ events of JEV or WNV peptide/♯ events of control influenza peptide). Recombinant H-2Db:Ig fusion protein (4 μg; BD Biosciences) was loaded with variant peptides (>90% purity) at 640 molar excess peptide in PBS (pH=7.2) at 37°C overnight according to manufacturers guidelines. Peptide-loaded dimer was incubated with 2.4 μg APC-anti-mouse IgG (BD Biosciences, mAb A85-1) followed by incubation with purified mouse IgG isotype control (4 μg; BD Biosciences; mAb A111-3). Splenocytes were resuspended in PBS, stained with Live/Dead Aqua and incubated with anti-CD16/32 (2.4G2; BD Bioscience), followed by staining with 4 μg of peptide-loaded dimer. Cells R428 price were surface stained with anti-CD44, anti-CD62L, anti-KLRG1 and anti-CD127 conjugated with FITC, PE-Cy7 and PerCP-Cy5.5, washed and resuspended in BD stabilizing buffer. Peptide-loaded dimer staining levels in naïve mice were subtracted from experimental Selleckchem Hydroxychloroquine values in infected mice. The gating strategy is shown in Supporting Information Fig. 3A and B. On days 3 and 7 post JEV or WNV infection, spleen, brain and serum were obtained

and flash frozen at −70°C. Tissues were homogenized to give a 10% (spleen) or 20% (brain) homogenate based on tissue weight using a Qiagen mixer mill. Serial dilutions were made in MEM and titers were determined on Vero cells as described 36. Plates were incubated for 2 (WNV) or 4 days (JEV Beijing and SA14-14-2) prior to second agar overlay. The limit of detection was 50 pfu/mL for serum, 250 pfu/g for brain and 500 pfu/g for spleen. Means, medians and standard errors were calculated using GraphPad Prism (GraphPad Software, LaJolla, CA, USA). Comparisons of variables between JEV and WNV infection groups were performed with log transformed data using the Mann–Whitney U test on STATA software (StataCorp, College Station, TX, USA). p<0.05 was considered significant. This work was supported by contract N01-AI25490 and grants U19 AI057319, P30 DK032520 and T32 AI007349 (D.W.

Cass and colleagues also looked at the association between social disadvantage and late referral in 3334 patients from the ANZDATA Registry.7 The patient’s postcode at the start of treatment was used as an indicator of place of residence. The analysis was restricted to capital cities to

exclude remote area patients who would have moved home to more easily access dialysis. Australian Bureau of Epigenetic Reader Domain inhibitor Statistics data allowed correlation between the postcode and an index of socioeconomic disadvantage. A total of 889 patients (26.7%) were referred late with a range from 13.6% to 43.7% between geographical areas. The areas with the higher percentage of late referrals were those of relative disadvantage – the highest being Darwin, with a large indigenous community. Disadvantaged areas

also had a higher burden of ESKD. Curtis et al. studied 288 patients who commenced dialysis following more than 3 months’ exposure to nephrology care.8 Patients seen in multidisciplinary clinics had significantly increased survival at 14 months compared with standard nephrological care, with the hazard ratio for mortality for standard versus multidisciplinary care being 2.17 (95% CI: 1.11–4.28). Frimat et al. reviewed 148 patients with type 2 diabetes who commenced dialysis in the EPIREL study.9 Mortality within 3 months of renal replacement therapy was associated with physical impairment in ambulation and commencing dialysis in life-threatening circumstances. Commencement of dialysis in an emergency was associated with late referral (<3 months), worse biochemistry and increased hospitalization. After 3 months, survival see more at 1 year was 16.4% better in those with regular nephrological care versus late referral. Fujimaki and Kasuya studied 119 patients older than 60 years of age

(mean age = 74 years) and showed increased need for urgent initiation of dialysis in late referred patients.10 Urgent dialysis was associated with increased mortality. In a study of 101 Brazilian patients commencing haemodialysis, Gonçalves et al. showed increased mortality and hospitalization in late referred patients (<3 months prior to initiation of dialysis) and in patients with temporary venous access.11 By univariate analysis, late referral (HR 10.77, 95% CI: 1.41–82.45) and albumin (HR 0.23, 95%CI: 0.11–0.47) were associated with reduced Nitroxoline survival. By multivariate analysis, only late referral was associated with increased hospitalization (HR 3.51). Late referral was associated with increased mortality and hospitalization, independently of temporary venous access. John et al. identified 3822 patients with CKD (median calculated GFR 28 mL/min per 1.73 m2) from biochemical samples processed at two laboratories in Kent, UK, who were unknown to the renal service.12 At 31.3 months, 8.1% of these patients had been referred. Unreferred patients had a median survival of 28.1 months. The majority had stable renal function but 27.

Here, we present the case of a patient who had a left hand skin avulsion of the whole palm and P1 of index, long, ring and small fingers. The left index finger had a complete amputation at the P2 level, the long, ring and small fingers

all had complete amputations at the P1 level. This injury was dealt with by a left foot second and third toe transplant, a sensory free flap from the left big toe and a fourth toe microvascular free transfer to the left hand. The remainder of the defect was managed with a 10 × 14 cm reversed radial forearm flap and a combination check details of full and split thickness skin grafts. The procedure was performed in a single operation, obviating the need for a second surgery. This procedure optimized the patient’s outcome during a single setting, making it an ideal choice in an emergency setting. © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc. Microsurgery, 2011. “
“Muscle-in-vein conduits are a good alternative solution to nerve autografts for bridging peripheral nerve defects since enough graft material is available and no loss of sensation at the harvesting area is expected. The purpose of this study was to compare regeneration results after digital nerve reconstruction with muscle-in-vein conduits, nerve autografts, or direct suture. 46 patients with 53 Caspase-dependent apoptosis digital nerve injuries of the hand subjected to direct suture (n = 22) or

reconstruction of 1-6cm long defects with either nerve autografts (n = 14) or muscle-in-vein conduits (n = 17) between 2008 and 2012, were examined using the two-point discrimination and Semmes-Weinstein Monofilaments. The follow-up examinations took place 12 to 58 months after surgery. A median reduction of sensibility Phospholipase D1 of 2 Semmes-Weinstein monofilaments compared with intact digits was observed after direct suture (DS) and of 2.5 and 2 Semmes-Weinstein monofilaments

after reconstruction with autologous nerve grafts (ANG) and muscle-in-vein conduits (MVC), respectively. No statistically significant differences between all three groups could be found with a significance level set by a P < 0.006 (PDS-ANG = 0.24, PDS-MVC = 0.03, PANG-MVC = 0.52). After harvesting a nerve graft, reduction of sensibility at the donor site occurred in 10 of 14 cases but only in one case after harvesting a muscle-in-vein conduit. Muscle-in-vein conduits may be a good alternative solution to autografts for the reconstruction of digital nerves, since no significant differences could be demonstrated between the two methods. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microsurgery 34:608–615, 2014. "
“Isometric tetanic muscle force has been described in a rat model to evaluate motor recovery in a segmental sciatic nerve defect reconstructions. However, to test longer nerve defects, an alternative and larger animal model is necessary. The purpose of this study is to describe and validate a technique for isometric force measurement of the tibialis anterior (TA) muscle in New Zealand rabbits.