Team Approach: Treatment of Traumatic Dislocations of the Knee.

¼: Traumatic knee dislocations are complex injuries that can be associated with compromise of the neurovascular structures about the knee. ¼: Various classification systems for knee dislocations exist in the literature but should be used with caution as a prognostic tool because many knee dislocations fit into more than 1 category. ¼: Special populations of knee dislocations, such as obese patients and high-velocity mechanism injuries, require additional caution during the initial evaluation for possible vascular injuries.

ß-Glucans inhibit intracellular growth of Mycobacterium bovis BCG but not virulent Mycobacterium tuberculosis in human macrophages.

The yeast polysaccharide, ß-glucan, has been shown to promote both anti-microbial and anti-tumor activities through its interaction with macrophages. Here we analyzed the effects of an insoluble whole glucan particle (WGP), a 1,3/1,6-ß-glucan from Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and a soluble poly-1-6-ß-d-glucopyranosyl-1-3-ß-d-glucopyranose (PGG), a hydrolytic product of WGP, on the anti-microbial response of human macrophages against mycobacterial infection. Treatment of macrophages with WGP and PGG significantly decreased cell association and intracellular growth of Mycobacterium bovis BCG, but not Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb) when compared to untreated controls. We characterized the influence of ß-glucans on the generation of macrophage oxidative products and pro-inflammatory cytokines, two important anti-microbial defense mechanisms. WGP but not PGG treatment enhanced the oxidative response of macrophages as determined by the 2',7'-dichlorofluorescin (DCF) assay. WGP treatment also induced macrophages to produce pro-inflammatory cytokines. The ß-glucan receptor, Dectin-1, was found to be involved in the WGP-induced macrophage oxidative burst and intracellular growth inhibition of M. bovis BCG. This report indicates that although some forms of ß-glucan are able to stimulate the respiratory burst and cytokine production in human macrophages, and exhibit anti-microbial properties against M. bovis BCG, the ß-glucans tested here did not inhibit growth of M.tb within human macrophages.