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A Physiological Toolbox to Explore the Relationships Between Seabirds and Their Changing Environments
Published in Jaime A. Ramos, Leonel Pereira, Seabird Biodiversity and Human Activities, 2022
Ana Cláudia Norte, Pedro Miguel M. Araújo, David Costantini
Some physiological biomarkers can act as general indicators of disease presence and infection, which can be considered a direct consequence of such pressure, or that are not simultaneously affected by other environmental stress factors (e.g., food availability). However, many infections affecting wildlife are chronic and show no clinical significance or major impacts on population trends. Some physiological biomarkers usually used to assess disease are those related to immune function, including immunocompetence assessments, bacterial-killing capacity, leucocyte counts, inflammatory proteins and Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR) (Norris and Evans 2000, Johnstone et al. 2015). ESR is an unspecific biomarker of inflammation and infection, as it reflects increased immunoglobulins and acute phase proteins in circulation in blood, which increase the sedimentation velocity of red blood cells in a sample placed vertically in a heparinised capillary tube (Johnstone et al. 2015). Changes in leucocyte profiles are often used as disease biomarkers in clinical practice because: (a) the number of white blood cells increases (leucocytosis) with inflammatory processes caused by bacterial, fungal or protozoan infections, (b) bacterial infections are usually characterised by heterophilia and, occasionally, a lymphocytic response, (c) fungal infections also cause marked heterophilia, frequently lymphopenia and, when chronic, monocytosis, and (d) protozoan infections, such as avian malaria, result in marked lymphocytosis (Stoskopf and Kennedy-Stoskopf 1986, Campbell 1995, Woods et al. 2009).
Luminescent Thermometry for Sensing Rapid Thermal Profiles in Fires and Explosions
Published in Krzysztof Iniewski, Optical, Acoustic, Magnetic, and Mechanical Sensor Technologies, 2017
Joseph J. Talghader, Merlin L. Mah
ESR is another technique that can be used to probe trap characteristics, where a magnetic field is applied across a system and the microwave absorption between magnetic sublevels of unpaired electrons is measured. ESR requires highly specialized equipment for analysis and is therefore less suitable for a rapid diagnostic, so it is not treated further in this review.
Risk factors, diagnosis and management of prosthetic joint infection after total hip arthroplasty
Published in Expert Review of Medical Devices, 2019
Syed S. Ahmed, Fahima Begum, Babar Kayani, Fares S. Haddad
ESR and CRP have been shown to be superior to other serum biomarkers for diagnosing PJI, thus placing them as the first-line screening test. CRP is an acute-phase protein synthesized by the liver, released into bloodstream few hours after tissue injury and inflammation. A review conducted showed CRP to have a 74% to 95% sensitivity, and 20% to 100% specificity. ESR indirectly measures the degree of inflammation by measuring the rate of sedimentation of erythrocytes. A rise in inflammatory proteins will cause erythrocytes to fall more rapidly, increasing the ESR. Sensitivity and specificity of ESR ranges from 42% to 94%, and 33% to 87%, respectively. In general, these biomarkers have high sensitivity but low specificity. For this reason, one cannot rely solely on them to diagnose PJI or to proceed to a second stage; instead, they should be used as an adjunct to clinical signs and symptoms of PJI [16]. It has also been shown that we cannot solely rely on CRP as a screening tool for PJI. This is especially the case in organisms that have low virulence as it may give you high false-negative rates [14].
The macroscopic and microscopic effects of imidazolium ionic liquids on blood and their interactions with serum albumins
Published in Green Chemistry Letters and Reviews, 2022
Qing He, Xu Peng, Wanhang Jiang, Sara Toufouki, Shun Yao
In order to observe related phenomena and support the above findings from macrosystem level, the microscopic morphology and classic erythrocyte sedimentation were considered in the following experiments. As shown in Figure 3(a), normal red blood cells are double-sided concave cakes with a regular shape. However, when they contact with the IL (contact time: 10 min), their shape changes, and the cells shrink, wrinkled walls make their edge look thicker and darker, and some irregular cells appear. In Figure 3(b), some erythrocytes in contact with [Bmim]PF6 shrivel, and their membranes are destroyed to different degrees. Furthermore, as can be seen from Figure 3(c), [Omim]PF6 is relatively more highly toxic to red blood cells, which affects their morphology more obviously. Therefore, it can be concluded that these ILs destroy the phospholipid bilayer of erythrocytes to a certain degree (17). Then, erythrocytes shrink, even rupture, and hemoglobin is released from red blood cells, which is manifested as the increase of hemoglobin concentration in plasma. Thus, the selected ILs show definite hemolytic properties. Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) is an important index in routine blood testing, which is associated with many kinds of diseases (e.g. inflammation, (25)). In addition, it represents the suspension stability and aggregation rate of erythrocytes (26). As shown in Figure 3(d), the ESR of blank control is very near to 1 mm/h, which is regarded as the normal level. After mixed with the 10 mg/mL ILs and sedimented for 1 h, ESR decreased with the increase of alkyl chain length on IL cations, which indicates a certain number of the red blood cells are broken and their specific gravity decreases. It is obvious that this result accords with the above findings. Especially, the erythrocyte sedimentation resulting from [Omim]PF6 cannot be observed, owing to its severe destructiveness for blood cells and lowered density of the whole system. Moreover, Figure S2 indicates PF6− has the most obvious effect than other tested anions when the cation is [Bmim]+, which accords with the aforementioned finding. This method does not rely on any special instruments, which can provide a simple and intuitive way to observe the blood change from a macro perspective and then guide further explorations.