Journal of visualized experiments : JoVE
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Experimental human pneumococcal carriage (EHPC) is scientifically important because nasopharyngeal carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae is both the major source of transmission and the prerequisite of invasive disease. A model of carriage will allow accurate determination of the immunological correlates of protection, the immunizing effect of carriage and the effect of host pressure on the pathogen in the nasopharyngeal niche. Further, methods of carriage detection useful in epidemiologic studies, including vaccine studies, can be compared. ⋯ Our current protocol has been safe in over 100 volunteers at a range of doses using two different bacterial serotypes. A dose ranging study using S. pneumoniae 6B and 23F is currently being conducted to determine the optimal inoculation dose for 50% carriage. A predicted 50% rate of carriage will allow the EHPC model to have high sensitivity for vaccine efficacy with small study numbers.
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Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths. Squamous cell and small cell cancers typically arise in association with the conducting airways, whereas adenocarcinomas are typically more peripheral in location. Lung malignancy detection early in the disease process may be difficult due to several limitations: radiological resolution, bronchoscopic limitations in evaluating tissue underlying the airway mucosa and identifying early pathologic changes, and small sample size and/or incomplete sampling in histology biopsies. ⋯ Careful orientation procedures were used to precisely correlate imaging and histological sampling locations. The techniques outlined in this manuscript were used to conduct the first demonstration of volumetric OFDI with precise correlation to tissue-based diagnosis for evaluating pulmonary pathology. This straightforward, effective technique may be extended to other tissue types to provide precise imaging to histology correlation needed to determine fine imaging features of both normal and diseased tissues.
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We describe experimental and statistical steps for creating dopamine movies of the brain from dynamic PET data. The movies represent minute-to-minute fluctuations of dopamine induced by smoking a cigarette. The smoker is imaged during a natural smoking experience while other possible confounding effects (such as head motion, expectation, novelty, or aversion to smoking repeatedly) are minimized. ⋯ Masking restricts treatment to those voxels best described by the new model. Visualization maps the dopamine function at each voxel to a color scale and produces a dopamine movie. Interim results and sample dopamine movies of cigarette smoking are presented.
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A simple procedure to intubate mice for pulmonary function measurements would have several advantages in longitudinal studies with limited numbers or expensive animal. One of the reasons that this is not done more routinely is that it is relatively difficult, despite there being several published studies that describe ways to achieve it. In this paper we demonstrate a procedure that eliminates one of the major hurdles associated with this intubation, that of visualizing the trachea during the entire time of intubation. ⋯ We show that it is possible to use this procedure to measure lung mechanics in individual mice over a time course of at least several weeks. The technique can be set up with relatively little expense and expertise, and it can be routinely accomplished with relatively little training. This should make it possible for any laboratory to routinely carry out this intubation, thereby allowing longitudinal studies in individual mice, thereby minimizing the number of mice needed and increasing the statistical power by using each mouse as its own control.
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The treatment of osteochondral articular defects has been challenging physicians for many years. The better understanding of interactions of articular cartilage and subchondral bone in recent years led to increased attention to restoration of the entire osteochondral unit. In comparison to chondral lesions the regeneration of osteochondral defects is much more complex and a far greater surgical and therapeutic challenge. ⋯ Furthermore, fibrin glue as a cell carrier became one of the preferred techniques in experimental cartilage repair and has already successfully been used in several animal studies (19-21) and even first human trials (22). The following protocol will demonstrate an experimental technique for isolating mesenchymal stem cells from a rabbit's bone marrow, for subsequent proliferation in cell culture and for preparing a standardized in vitro-model for fibrin-cell-clots. Finally, a technique for the implantation of pre-established fibrin-cell-clots into artificial osteochondral defects of the rabbit's knee joint will be described.