Use of an Intravascular Warming Catheter during Off-Pump Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery in a Patient with Severe Cold Hemagglutinin Disease.

Cold hemagglutinin disease with broad thermal amplitude and high titers presents challenges in treating cardiac-surgery patients. Careful planning is needed to prevent the activation of cold agglutinins and the agglutination of red blood cells as the patient's temperature drops during surgery. We describe our approach to mitigating cold agglutinin formation in a 77-year-old man with severe cold hemagglutinin disease who underwent off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery without the use of preoperative plasmapheresis. This experience shows that the use of an intravascular warming catheter can maintain normothermia and prevent the activation and subsequent formation of cold agglutinins. To our knowledge, this is the first reported use of this technique in a patient with cold hemagglutinin disease. The chief feature in this approach is the use of optimal thermal maintenance-rather than the more usual decrease in cold-agglutinin content by means of therapeutic plasma exchange.

Immunomodulatory activity of aqueous extract of Achillea wilhelmsii C. Koch in mice.

Immunomodulatory activity of aqueous extract of Achillea wilhelmsii (25, 50 and 100 mg/kg body weight for 5 days) was evaluated on body weight, relative organ weight, delayed type of hypersensitivity (DTH) response and haemagglutination titre (HT) in female Swiss albino mice. No significant body weight gain differences were recorded in various groups of animals. Significant increase in relative organ weight of spleen at 100 mg/kg was observed. No elevation in the levels of liver function test (LFT) enzymes and kidney relative weight was observed in tested doses of the plant. The extract of A. wilhelmsii elicited a significant increase in the DTH response at the dose of 100 mg/kg. In the HT test, plant extract showed stimulatory effect in all doses, however this changes were significant at 50 mg/kg. No mortality was occurred in tested doses. Overall, A. wilhelmsii showed a stimulatory effect on both humoral and cellular immune functions in mice.

Chinese herbal ingredients are effective immune stimulators for chickens infected with the Newcastle disease virus.

This study was conducted to determine the efficacy of 4 Chinese herbal ingredients (CHI) as immune stimulators for an active vaccine in chickens using both in vitro and in vivo assays. The CHI used were Astragalus polysaccharide (APS), Isatis root polysaccharide (IRPS), Propolis polysaccharide, and Epimedium flavone at various concentrations. Two hundred 14-d-old male White Roman chickens were randomly divided into 10 groups. Chickens in groups 1 to 9 were inoculated with the New-castle disease virus (NDV) strain IV vaccine by intranasal and intraocular administration. Chickens in groups 1 to 8 were also administered subcutaneously on the dorsal region of the neck with 0.5 mL of the corresponding CHI at 2 doses: 29 and 58 mg/kg of BW for APS and IRPS and 7.25 and 14.5 mg/kg of BW for the others, once daily for 3 successive days. In group 9 (CHI-free control) and group 10 (both vaccine- and CHI-free control), chickens were injected with 0.5 mL of physiological saline. New-castle disease virus-specific serum hemagglutination inhibition antibody (Ab) production in immunized chickens was quantified using established methods. The results indicate that a majority of the CHI used at appropriate concentrations were effective in enhancing in vitro proliferation of chick embryo fibroblasts in response to the NDV infection. In vivo administration of CHI to vaccinated chickens (7.25 to 58 mg/kg of BW, depending on type) increased serum anti-NDV hemagglutination inhibition Ab titer concentrations, compared with the administration the NDV alone. For all CHI, a beneficial effect on the Ab production was observed on d 21 after the initiation of the vaccination. On the basis of the in vivo doses used, Propolis polysaccharide and Epimedium flavone were more potent than APS and IRPS in promoting the humoral immune response in the young birds (P < 0.05). Collectively, these findings suggest that appropriate doses of CHI can be used as novel, effective immune stimulators for chickens.

Effect of a mixture of conjugated linoleic acid isomers on growth performance and antibody production in broiler chicks.

The effect of dietary conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) isomers mixture on antibody titres against sheep blood erythrocytes (SRBC) and immunoglobulin (Ig) G concentration in plasma was studied in broiler chickens. In experiment 1, male and female broiler chicks (11 d of age, Cobb strain) were fed a diet supplemented with 10 g CLA or 10 g safflower-seed oil/kg diet for 2 weeks. An SRBC suspension (5:100, v/v) in a phosphate buffer was intravenously injected at 18 d of age and a blood sample was taken from the wing vein at 25 d of age. Chicks fed the CLA-supplemented diet had enhanced first antibody titres in plasma to SRBC as compared with those fed the safflower-seed oil-supplemented diet, irrespective of sex differences. In experiment 2, male broiler chicks (8 d of age, Ross strain) were fed a basal diet or a diet containing 10 g CLA/kg diet for 3 weeks. CLA in the CLA diet partially replaced the soyabean oil in the basal diet. The SRBC suspension was intravenously injected at 15 and 25 d of age and a blood sample was obtained at 21 and 29 d of age. The first antibody titres against SRBC were higher in chicks fed the CLA diet than those in chicks fed the basal diet, but the second titres were not. Plasma IgG concentrations in chicks fed the CLA diet were higher than those in chicks fed the basal diet on both sampling days. The results showed that dietary CLA enhanced antibody production in broiler chickens.

The dose-dependent effect of Tolpa Peat Preparation on the humoral response of mice immunized with sheep erythrocytes.

The Balb/c strain mice were immunized by single intraperitoneal administration of 0.2 cm3 of 10% sheep erythrocyte suspension (SRBC). Tolpa Peat Preparation (TPP) used in the study was a peat-derived substance obtained in prof. St. Tolpa's laboratory. It was given to mice intraperitoneally, 4 times at 24-hour intervals. The first dose was administered 2 hours before immunization. Testing was performed with the following doses: 0.5, 2.5, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100 and 250 mg/kg. The determinations comprised the number of spleen cells producing anti-SRBC haemolysins, the level of serum haemagglutinins to SRBC (19S+7S and 7S types) and the percentage of splenocytes forming spontaneous E-rosettes. It was found that the effect of TPP on these immunologic parameters of the mice immunized with SRBC was dose-dependent. The effect potentiating the humoral response occurred for the doses of 0.5-10 mg/kg. The doses of 25 and 50 mg/kg did not affect the immunologic response to SRBC, while the doses of 100 and 250 mg/kg had a suppressive effect. The impact of TPP on the percentage of splenocytes forming E-rosettes was also dose-dependent, but in this case stimulating activity was observed for the doses of 2.5-25 mg/kg.