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    Effect of pulmonary emphysema on diaphragm capillary geometry

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    Poole, David C., and Odile Mathieu-Costello. Effect of pulmonary emphysema on diaphragm capillary geometry. J. Appl. Physiol. 82(2): 599–606, 1997.—In emphysema, the diaphragm shortens by losing sarcomeres. We hypothesized that unless capillaries undergo a similar shortening, capillary geometry must be altered. Without quantifying this geometry, capillary length and surface area per fiber volume, which are critical measurements of the structural potential for blood-tissue exchange, cannot be resolved. Five months after intratracheal elastase (E) or saline (control; C) instillation, diaphragms from male Syrian golden hamsters were glutaraldehyde perfusion fixed in situ at reference lung positions (residual volume, functional residual capacity, total lung capacity) to provide diaphragms fixed over a range of sarcomere lengths. Subsequently, diaphragms were processed for electron microscopy and analyzed morphometrically. Emphysema increased lung volume changes from −20 to 25 cmH2O airway pressure (i.e., passive vital capacity) and excised lung volume (both P &lt; 0.001). In each region of the costal diaphragm (i.e., ventral, medial, dorsal), sarcomere number was reduced (all P &lt; 0.05). Capillary-to-fiber ratio increased (C = 2.2 ± 0.1, E = 2.8 ± 0.1; P &lt; 0.01) and fibers hypertrophied (C = 815 ± 35, E = 987 ± 67 μm2; P &lt; 0.05; both values at 2.5 μm sarcomere length). Capillary geometry was markedly altered by the loss of sarcomeres in series. Specifically, the additional capillary length derived from capillary tortuosity and branching was increased by 183% at 2.5 μm sarcomere length compared with C values (C, 359 ± 43; E, 1,020 ± 158 mm−2, P &lt; 0.01). This significantly increased total capillary length (C, 3,115 ± 173; E, 3,851 ± 219 mm−2 at 2.5 μm, P &lt; 0.05) and surface area (C, 456 ± 13; E, 519 ± 24 cm−1, P &lt; 0.05) per fiber volume. Thus emphysema substantially alters diaphragm capillary geometry and augments the capillary length and surface area available for blood-tissue exchange. </jats:p

    Very high pressures are required to cause stress failure of pulmonary capillaries in Thoroughbred racehorses

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    Birks, Eric K., Odile Mathieu-Costello, Zhenxing Fu, Walter S. Tyler, and John B. West. Very high pressures are required to cause stress failure of pulmonary capillaries in Thoroughbred racehorses. J. Appl. Physiol. 82(5): 1584–1592, 1997.—Thoroughbred horses develop extremely high pulmonary vascular pressures during galloping, all horses in training develop exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage, and we have shown that this is caused by stress failure of pulmonary capillaries. It is known that the capillary transmural pressure (Ptm) necessary for stress failure is higher in dogs than in rabbits. The present study was designed to determine this value in horses. The lungs from 15 Thoroughbred horses were perfused with autologous blood at Ptm values (midlung) of 25, 50, 75, 100 and 150 mmHg, and then perfusion fixed, and samples (dorsal and ventral, from caudal region) were examined by electron microscopy. Few disruptions of capillary endothelium were observed at Ptm ≤ 75 mmHg, and 5.3 ± 2.2 and 4.3 ± 0.7 breaks/mm endothelium were found at 100 and 150 mmHg Ptm, respectively. Blood-gas barrier thickness did not change with Ptm. At low Ptm, interstitial thickness was greater than previously found in rabbits but not in dogs. We conclude that the Ptm required to cause stress failure of pulmonary capillaries is between 75 and 100 mmHg and is greater in Thoroughbred horses than in both rabbits and dogs. </jats:p

    High lung inflation increases mRNA levels of ECM components and growth factors in lung parenchyma

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    Berg, John T., Zhenxing Fu, Ellen C. Breen, Hung-Cuong Tran, Odile Mathieu-Costello, and John B. West. High lung inflation increases mRNA levels of ECM components and growth factors in lung parenchyma. J. Appl. Physiol. 83(1): 120–128, 1997.—Remodeling of pulmonary capillaries occurs after chronic increases in capillary pressure (e.g., mitral stenosis). Also, remodeling of pulmonary arteries begins within 4 h of increased wall stress and is endothelium dependent. We have previously shown that high lung inflation increases wall stress in pulmonary capillaries. This study was designed to determine whether high lung inflation induces remodeling of the extracellular matrix (ECM) in lung parenchyma. Open-chest rabbits were ventilated for 4 h with 9-cmH2O positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) on one lung and 1-cmH2O PEEP on the other (High-PEEP group), or with 2-cmH2O PEEP on both lungs (Low-PEEP group). An additional untreated control group was also included. We found increased levels of mRNA in both lungs of High-PEEP rabbits (compared with both the Low-PEEP and untreated groups) for α1(III) and α2(IV) procollagen, fibronectin, basic fibroblast growth factor, and transforming growth factor-β1. In contrast, α2(I) procollagen and vascular endothelial growth factor mRNA levels were not changed. We conclude that high lung inflation for 4 h increases mRNA levels of ECM components and growth factors in lung parenchyma.</jats:p

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

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    The present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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