Medical University of South Carolina

About: Medical University of South Carolina is a education organization based out in Charleston, South Carolina, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 23436 authors who have published 45440 publications receiving 1769397 citations. The organization is also known as: MUSC & Medical College of the State of South Carolina.

Efficacy of Methylprednisolone in Acute Spinal Cord Injury

Abstract: A multicenter double-blind randomized trial was conducted to examine the efficacy of a high dose of methylprednisolone (1,000-mg bolus and daily thereafter for ten days) compared with a standard dose (100-mg bolus and daily thereafter for ten days) in 330 patients with acute spinal cord injury. No difference in neurological recovery of motor function or pinprick and light touch sensation was observed between the two treatment groups six weeks and six months after injury. The lack of a treatment effect was independent of the severity of the initial lesion or the time from injury to starting treatment. Although not statistically significant, early case fatality was greater in the high-dose protocol (relative risk of 3.1 and 1.9, ≤ 14 and 15 to 28 days after injury, respectively) but not from 29 to 210 days after injury. Wound infections of both trauma and operative sites were more prevalent in the high-dose regimen (relative risk of 3.6). (JAMA1984;251:45-52)

Biochemical identification of apoptosis (programmed cell death) in granulosa cells: evidence for a potential mechanism underlying follicular atresia.

Abstract: In the present study, we examined the possibility that granulosa cell death during ovarian follicular atresia occurs by apoptosis (programmed cell death). To investigate this possibility, atresia was induced in immature female rats by injecting 15 IU PMSG. Controls received either vehicle or no treatment. PMSG-treated animals were killed on days 1-5 post-injection while controls were killed on days 1 or 5. The onset of atresia was assessed histologically by light microscopic inspection of 5 microns tissue sections and functionally by quantification of serum progesterone and estrogen levels. Apoptosis is characterized by the cleavage of genomic DNA into oligonucleosomal length fragments by a Ca2+/Mg(2+)-dependent endogenous endonuclease. Such fragments form a distinctive ladder pattern when separated electrophoretically. Accordingly, the occurrence of apoptosis in granulosa cells was assessed by examining the pattern of fragmented DNA in cell lysates after agarose gel electrophoresis. Gels were stained with ethidium bromide and DNA visualized by UV transillumination. The earliest morphological signs of atresia were detected 4 days after PMSG injection as evidenced by degeneration and detachment of granulosa cells from the basal lamina. Serum estrogen increased from basal to levels 7-fold over controls by day 3 after PMSG treatment, falling to control values by day 4 and thereafter. In contrast, progesterone remained basal for the first 3 days, rising to levels 3-fold and 8-fold above controls 4 and 5 days after PMSG treatment, respectively. Such shifts in the ratio of estrogen to progesterone production are known to be characteristic of follicular atresia. Finally, electrophoretic analysis of low mol wt DNA in granulosa cell lysates revealed a definitive ladder pattern of oligonucleosomal length DNA fragments (characteristic of apoptosis) on days 4 and 5 after PMSG injection. This pattern was not detectable on days 1 and 2 after treatment. Lysates obtained 3 days after PMSG treatment showed a faint apoptotic-like pattern of DNA fragments; a result consistent with other systems in which DNA cleavage begins before any morphological signs of death. Interestingly, a ladder pattern of DNA fragments was present in control lysates suggesting that granulosa cell death under normal (vs. induced) conditions of atresia in immature rats occurs by apoptosis. These data demonstrate an intimate association between apoptotic-like events and dying granulosa cells and thus support the possibility that apoptosis is involved in the induction of follicular atresia.

Classification, diagnosis, and approach to treatment for angioedema: consensus report from the Hereditary Angioedema International Working Group

Abstract: Angioedema is defined as localized and self-limiting edema of the subcutaneous and submucosal tissue, due to a temporary increase in vascular permeability caused by the release of vasoactive mediator(s). When angioedema recurs without significant wheals, the patient should be diagnosed to have angioedema as a distinct disease. In the absence of accepted classification, different types of angioedema are not uniquely identified. For this reason, the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology gave its patronage to a consensus conference aimed at classifying angioedema. Four types of acquired and three types of hereditary angioedema were identified as separate forms from the analysis of the literature and were presented in detail at the meeting. Here, we summarize the analysis of the data and the resulting classification of angioedema.