The perceived severity of the disorder, general quality of life, the subscales of the SF-36, current health and Mdivi1 functional impairment measured at baseline were not predictors of sickness absence after 3, 6 and 12 months. Discussion In a sample of cases of work-related upper extremity disorders registered as occupational diseases in the registry of the Netherlands Centre for Occupational Diseases (NCvB), perceived severity and functional impairment declined substantially during 1 year of follow-up

after notification. Except for ‘Mental health’, all quality of life subscales improved during the follow-up period. The most pronounced improvement in perceived severity of the disease, functional impairment and quality of life was observed in the first 3 months after notification, whereas the

decrease in sickness absence was slower. One see more year after notification, most values were close to the reference values in the general population, which suggests an almost complete recovery. Workers above the age of 45 had worse outcomes at the end of follow-up on perceived severity of the disease, functional impairment and quality of life than did younger employees. This study shows how a national registry can be used to gather information that is useful for find more prevention and management. A strength of this study is that it covered a specific sample of work-related upper extremity disorders. Our respondents were employees whose occupational diseases had been diagnosed and reported by occupational physicians to the registry of the NCvB. We conjecture Etomidate that the sample represents the most severe cases in terms of suffering, occupational disability and economic costs. A further strength of the study is that

we could make use of the existing infrastructure of the Dutch national registry, which implies that the approach is efficient and that follow-up studies can be linked to other national registries. At the same time, the focus on patients with severe complaints is a limitation of the study, as such might lead to an overestimation of severity, duration and consequences when interpreted for policy reasons without considering the selection of cases. A further limitation is that we analysed all cases of work-related upper extremity disorders, including various disorders with diverse clinical characteristics. The limited number of cases did not allow analysis on the level of the various diseases. The response rate at the end of the follow-up was quite low. A possible explanation is that the participants lost interest because their disorders were improving. A limitation might be that we used self-report as a method to study sick leave instead of registered data.

But even the tumors are resected, long term survival still remains poor [2, 3]. Pancreatic carcinoma survival rates have shown little improvement over the this website past 30 years. Despite the introduction of new therapeutic techniques combined with aggressive modalities, such as external beam radiotherapy (EBRT), intraoperative radiotherapy (IORT) and chemotherapy, the prognosis for patients with pancreatic carcinoma remains unsatisfactory, with a 5-year survival rate less than 6% [1]. At present, National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines recommend treatments including gemcitabine- and capecitabine-based chemotherapy or concurrent selleck inhibitor chemoradiation for patients with good performance status, resulting in a median survival

of only 9.2-11.0 months [4]. Once, IORT was expected to improve the long-term survival of pancreatic cancer patients, while clinical results were not satisfactory [5, 6]. Currently, there is no consensus regarding the best therapeutic modality for unresectable pancreatic carcinoma. It is necessary to investigate novel techniques that may improve patient outcome. Wang et al. were the

first group to investigate the use of intraoperative ultrasound-guided 125I seed implantation as a new technique for managing unresectable pancreatic carcinoma, and demonstrated that the technique was selleck compound feasible and safe [7]. In this study, we confirmed the efficacy of 125I seed implantation, and analyzed the possible factors associated with favorable clinical outcomes. Methods Characteristics of patients Between October 2003 and August 2012, twenty eight patients with a Karnofsky performance status (KPS) score of 70 or above were identified. Of these twenty eight Urease patients, 39% (10/28) had jaundice, 60% (17/28) suffered pain, 11% (3/28) had intestinal obstruction and 93% (26/28) experienced weight loss. These patients were diagnosed with unresectable pancreatic carcinoma by surgeons carrying out a laparotomy, and received 125I seed implantation guided by intraoperative

ultrasound. The criteria of unresectable disease included vascular invasion, or vascular invasion combined with metastasis to the local regional lymph nodes. Of the twenty eight pancreatic carcinoma patients, nine were diagnosed with stage II disease, and nineteen patients had stage III disease. Summaries of the patients’ characteristics are listed in Table 1, Additional file 1: Table S1 and Additional file 2; Table S2. Five of the patients with jaundice received a biliary stent one month before 125I seed implantation. All patients were evaluated for the extent of disease progression by physical examination, complete blood panel, chest X-ray, abdominal CT scans and ultrasound prior to seed implantation. This study was approved by the institutional review board and informed consent was obtained from all patients. Institutional Review Board: Peking University Third Hospital Medical Science Research Ethics Committee.

Figure 3 GSK458 in vivo Identification of putative mucin binding proteins click here by blot overlay

assay. SDS-extracted putative surface proteins were separated by a 7% SDS-PAGE and Western blotted onto nitrocellulose and incubated with purified MUC7 preparation (50 μg/ml). Binding of MUC7 to putative surface proteins determined by immunological procedures probing the membrane with AM-3 antibody and ECL detection (B). Molecular masses of the MUC7-binding proteins were calculated in Bio-rad model GS-700 imaging densitometer and it’s PC compatible software. A control Western blot, which had been incubated with PBS instead of MUC7 preparation was probed with AM-3 antibody and subjected to ECL detection (C). The efficiency of the Western transfer of the separated SDS-extracted proteins was assessed by amido black staining of the membranes (A). Positions of the molecular weight markers are indicated (kDa). Results are shown as one representative experiment of multiple independent preparations. Further characterization of the MUC7-binding proteins required their preparative separation and purification; hence, the SDS-extracted proteins from intact S. gordonii

were fractionated by preparative SDS-PAGE and the resulting fractions were analyzed by analytical SDS-PAGE (Figure 4). The electrophoretic analysis of the selected fractions indicated that putative MUC7-binding bands could selleck be separated from other streptococcal proteins (Figure

4A). This separation of the adhesin bands from the nearest contaminant allowed a cleaner sample for in-gel digestion and subsequent protein identification. In order to determine the fractions that contained MUC7 binding proteins, aliquots of the fractions from the preparative until electrophoresis were transferred to the nitrocellulose membranes by slot blotting and probed with 50 μg/ml MUC7 in PBS (Figure 4B). Antibody reactivity was detected around the fractions 12–13 (62 kDa), 20–21 (74 kDa), 24–25 (84 kDa) and 44–45 (133 kDa), confirming the result obtained from Western transfer and following overlay assay as described above. Figure 4 Preparative SDS-PAGE of SDS-extract from Streptococcus gordonii PK488 and identification of MUC7 binding proteins. Twenty milligrams of the surface extract from S. gordonii was electrophoresed on a 7.5% preparative electrophoresis in a Bio-Rad mini-prep cell and (A) selected fractions were electrophoresed on 7.5% SDS-PAGE gels, proteins visualized with silver stain. (B) Selected fractions were transferred onto nitrocellulose membranes by slot blotting and probed with MUC7 preparation. MUC7 binding was determined by immunoblotting as described in Material and Methods. Positions of molecular weight markers are indicated (kDa). Putative adhesin bands were subjected to in-gel digestion and the resultant peptides were analyzed by LC-MS/MS.

An incident morphometric vertebral fracture was diagnosed by lateral and posterior–anterior chest and spinal X-rays using the semi-quantitative assessment [12], in which a decrease of at least 20% in height of any vertebral body from initial reading to the end of the study was defined as a morphometric vertebral fracture. Since the incidence of clinical vertebral fracture was not known in Japan, the ratio of clinical fracture to morphometric fracture incidence was assumed to be the same

in Japan as it was for Sweden when the Japanese version of FRAX® was developed, i.e. 30% of morphometric vertebral fractures were assumed as clinical fractures [24, 27]. Sweden The incidence rates of hip and clinical vertebral fractures for Swedish Caucasians were also obtained from a previously published study by Kanis et al., in which all incident fractures, including hip fractures (1991) and clinical vertebral fractures (1993 and 1994) were identified from files Selleck PS341 at the Department of Diagnostic Radiology in Malmo, Sweden, for the relevant year. Only vertebral fractures that came to clinical attention were captured, and subjects who previously sustained a fracture of the same type were excluded from analysis. The annual incidences of hip and clinical vertebral fractures were calculated for men and women by age [28]. Statistical analyses Baseline characteristics of the Chinese subjects are expressed in means ± SD for continuous

variables and in percentage for categorical variables. Time to incident hip or vertebral fractures was calculated according to the date of X-ray reports or physician’s consultations when the diagnosis KU-60019 concentration was made. The average follow-up period for all subjects was 4.0 ± 2.8 (range, 1 to 14) years, with a total follow-up of 14,733 patient-years. Subjects who had received anti-osteoporosis medication after sustaining a fracture during the follow-up period or those who deceased at the time of analysis were analysed up to their time of treatment initiation or last contact Aldol condensation time point. Incidence rates were reported as rate per 100,000 person-years. The incidence rates of vertebral and hip fractures were compared to the published data from

Japan and Sweden. Vertebral-to-hip fracture ratios were used to demonstrate the proportion of vertebral fractures in relation to hip fractures in different populations. Results A total of 4,116 Southern Chinese subjects (2,302 women and 1,810 men) aged 50 or above were included in the analysis. The mean age at baseline was 62 ± 8.2 years for women and 68 ± 10.3 years for men. Of the women, 37.2% and 63.4% of men were above the age of 65 years. Baseline R406 in vivo demographic information and characteristics are shown in Table 1. Of the men, 55.5% and 72.1% of women reported having difficulty bending forward, kyphosis, low back pain and/or height loss >2 cm since the age of 25. However, only 2.7% of men and 5.5% of women reported a history of past clinical vertebral fracture.

Moreover, the mechanism of rgg 0182 expression seemed to be more complex

than that of rgg 1358 since not only influenced by the culture medium but also by the temperature. Further experiments will be done (i) to determine whether the QS mechanism involving the SHP1358 and the Rgg1358 can be generalized to other SHP/Rgg pairs, including SHP0182/Rgg0182 pair and (ii) to understand the mechanism by which temperature could influence the rgg 0182 expression. On the other hands, induction of the rgg 0182 expression at 30°C suggests that this gene might participate in the physiological adaptation of S. thermophilus to this temperature. When cells were cultivated in CDM at 30°C, the inactivation of rgg 0182 was associated with a reduce Lazertinib solubility dmso expression of genes encoding chaperone and protease proteins. In Bacillus subtilis, the DnaKJ complex facilitates substrates folding to the native state and the GroESL complex provides an isolated environment for the proper folding of small protein substrates [32]. The degradation of unfolded proteins and small peptides is ensured by a protease complex composed of the protease subunit ClpP and several ATPases of the Clp family

[32]. Thus, the Rgg0182 is a transcriptional regulator whose biological roles would be to control the homeostasis of chaperone and protease proteins in cells grown at 30°C in CDM. This is in concordance with data obtained in S. pyogenes where Rgg is found (at the protein selleckchem level) to control the expression of ClpL, ClpP, GroEL and DnaK in stationary phase (4). Furthermore, it was shown that ClpL protein of S. thermophilus Sfi39 is necessary for correct response to both heat and cold stresses [4]. Results of qPCR experiments also showed an effect of Rgg0182 on hrcA expression. However, preliminary EMSA results (data not shown) indicated that

the Rgg0182 protein did not bind to the hrcA promoter region. This suggests that the transcription of hrcA obviously is stimulated by Rgg0182 indirectly, perhaps by influencing the expression of another regulatory protein. Such indirect regulation has already been reported for other Rgg proteins Telomerase [12, 13, 21] and, in the present study, might be extended to, at least, some of the rgg 0182 distal target genes. Finally, to assess the significance of Rgg-associated changes in the expression of genes involved in the heat shock response, we checked whether the deletion of rgg 0182 had an impact on the survival of the strains under heat stress selleck compound conditions (shift from 30°C to 52°C for 15 min to 60 min). Interestingly, an impaired survival of the mutant was observed but only when the cells were cultivated in the CDM medium, i.e. in conditions where the difference in the level of rgg 0182 transcripts was maximal between both strains. In the mutant cultivated in CDM, the percent of survival decreased with the duration of the heat exposure.

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Versage JL, Severin DDM, Chu MC, Petersen JM: Development of a multitarget real-time TaqMan PCR assay for enhanced detection of Francisella tularensis in complex specimens. J Clin Microbiol 2003, 41:5492–5499.PubMedCrossRef 17. Mitchell JL, Chatwell N, Christensen D, Diaper H, Minogue TD, Parsons TM, Walker B, Weller SA: Development of real-time PCR assays for the specific detection of Francisella tularensis ssp. tularensis, holarctica and mediaasiatica. Mol Cell Probe 2010, 24:72–76.CrossRef 18. Svensson K, Larsson P, Johansson D, Byström M, Forsman M, Johansson A: Evolution of subspecies of Francisella tularensis. J Bact 2005, 187:3903–3908.PubMedCrossRef 19. Nübel U, Reissbrodt R, Weller A, Grunow R, Porsch-Ozcürümez M, Tomaso H, Hofer E, Splettstoesser W, Finke E-J, Tschäpe H, Witte W: Population structure of Francisella tularensis. J Bact 2006, 188:5319–5324.PubMedCrossRef 20. Singh P, Foley SL, Nayak R, Kwon

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“Introduction This Special

Issue of Biodiversity and Conservation presents a series of 11 papers that document studies on the Indian subcontinent through experiments, measurements, and modelling, with or without geoinformatics technology, to enhance our understanding of the effects of climate change that may have on biodiversity of the region. The papers included here have been selected from those presented at the International Workshop on biodiversity and climate change held in the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur, India, on 19–22 December 2010. Overview Biodiversity, the term given to the variety of life on the earth from the genomic to the landscape level, provides, through its expression as ecosystems, goods and services, the environment that sustains all our lives.

However, even at a cutoff level of 0.05 kU/l, we found distinctly positive reactions in immunoblotting in a few cases. In summary,

we propose an optimized cutoff level of 0.2 kU/l for both commercial test kits to optimize the diagnostic efficiency without losing specificity. The prevalence of atopic sensitization against ubiquitous allergens in farmers has been assessed before in only a small number of studies: high atopy rates up to 35 and 49%, respectively, have been previously described in Polish and Austrian farming students (Prior et al. 1996; Spiewak et al. 2001). During the last few years, several studies have pointed to protection from childhood allergy in children who lived on farms (overview in: von Mutius 2007). However, in contrast, the results of our study with a rather high sensitization rate of 38% against ubiquitous allergens approve this website the findings of an atopic sensitization in association with an agricultural occupation in adulthood. Whether intensity and continuity of farming exposure or other factors might be decisive for these discrepant check details findings in adults and children on farms remain to be clarified. Epidemiological studies on cattle allergy in dairy farming are rare and difficult to compare because of methodological differences. However, their results underline the elevated risk of animal farmers for occupation-related respiratory allergy (Danuser

et al. 2001; Heutelbeck et al. 2007; Omland 2002; Piipari and Keskinen 2005; Terho 1985). In dairy-related workplaces, one of the occupations with the closest AZD3965 ic50 contact to cattle in everyday work is claw trimming. It is unclear why cattle-related sensitization in a high percentage of claw trimmers with work-related symptoms remains undetected. Possibly, economic aspects outweigh the need to initiate medical intervention at an earlier stage. Additionally, some workers may not interpret initial Guanylate cyclase 2C symptoms as an early sign of a chronic allergic disease. Our results underline the need for prevention strategies, in particular measures to identify populations at risk of allergy. One suitable measure in this

context could be screening for sensitizations against ubiquitous allergens, which were found in the samples of nearly all cattle-sensitized claw trimmers. Since more than 90% of cattle-allergic farmers, regardless of their age, showed a sensitization to least one ubiquitous allergen, atopic predisposition seems to be a relevant and suitable screening factor (Heutelbeck et al. 2007). After identifying at-risk populations based on such criteria, individuals should be screened in a second step for work-related sensitizations with effective diagnostic methods. In selected groups, e.g., when screening for sensitizations at an early stage, we propose to choose a lower cutoff level of 0.2 kU/l when using commercially available allergen extracts.

Given that CtrA is a global regulatory protein for both essential (e.g. cell division) and non-essential (e.g. polar development) genes, and that the drastic CtrA reduction in YB3558 leads to polar developmental defects but the strain is still viable, we hypothesized that transcription of

CtrA-regulated genes essential for cell survival will be less affected by CtrA reduction in YB3558 than those that are essential for less important cellular functions. Thus we investigated the transcription level of several CtrA-regulated genes in CB15 and YB3558. Plasmids bearing transcriptional lacZ fusions were introduced into both wild type and YB3558 strains. The promoters for the reporter constructs were ctrA (pctrA290, [9]), ctrA P1 (pctrA-P1, [9]) ctrA P2 (pctrA-P2, [9]), ftsZ (plac290/HB2.0BP, [18]), ftsQA (pMSP8LC, [19]), ccrM (pCS148, [20]), fliQ (pWZ162, [21]) and pilA (pJS70, click here [22]) buy GSK1210151A as well as lacZ under the control of a xylose

inducible see more promoter to serve as a negative control (pCS225, [23]). Exponential phase cultures were assayed for β-galactosidase activity (Figure 7). Total transcriptional activity from the ctrA promoter was unaffected, though there was a reduction of activity from the weak P1 promoter, but not the stronger P2. Activity from these promoters is dependent upon many factors, one of them being CtrA protein abundance. It is possible that even though CtrA abundance in YB3558 is severely reduced, it is more than enough to activate the P2 promoter. Figure 7 Expression of CtrA-dependent promoters in wild-type and YB3558 strains. β-galactosidase assays were performed on exponentially growing cultures as described in the Methods. CtrA-dependent promoters of essential cell process genes show little-to-no change between wild-type and YB3558, while the pilA promoter shows a drastic difference in expression between the strains. ftsZ

and ftsQA promoters Ribonucleotide reductase had a moderate reduction in activity, and the ccrM promoter had a slight reduction in activity. These genes are essential for viability. The moderate reduction in transcription for these genes agrees with the hypothesis that genes involved in essential cell cycle processes would not be severely affected by the reduction in CtrA in YB3558. In contrast, the pilA promoter exhibited a drastic decrease in activity, as would be expected given the selection by which this mutant was obtained. However, activity from the fliQ promoter (fliQ is a flagellar biosynthesis gene and not essential) was largely unaffected. It is not clear why this promoter is unaffected while the pilA promoter shows such a difference in activity. It could be that the pilA promoter is much more sensitive to CtrA levels. Regulation of pilA is controlled not only by CtrA, but by SciP.

(D, E, F): Early germinating conidia were observed in the inflammatory S63845 infiltrates either free or in the cytoplasm of alveolar macrophages (arrowheads). Note that the conidia and hyphae were less mature than under cortisone acetate treatment (Figure.

6). A, C: HE staining; B, D, E, F: GMS staining. The late stage (three days post infection) of IA induced by transient neutrophil depletion (Figure 11) was characterised by a multifocal inflammatory lesion, centered on bronchi and bronchioles but extending to alveoli and blood vessels as well (Figure 11A). The lesions were extensive, with large areas of necrosis and vascular involvement that was more pronounced than in cortisone acetate-treated mice (Table 1). Mature septated fungal hyphae PCI-34051 price were observed infiltrating bronchiolar and alveolar spaces as well as interstitial tissue (Figure 11B, D). Hyphae were more numerous than in cortisone acetate-treated mice and infiltrated the pulmonary parenchyma more readily (Figure 11A, B). The inflammatory infiltrate was predominately composed of mononuclear cells (monocytes/macrophages and lymphocytes and plasma cells) (Figure 10C). Individual lesions measured up to 500 μm2 in area and accounted 18.9 ± 2.8% of the

total lung section surface (Table 1), which is even higher than the area affected under cortisone acetate treatment. Figure 11 In the late stage after RB6-8C5 treatment, macrophages and recruited monocytes were unable to prevent fungal lung colonisation. (A): Multifocal large inflammatory infiltrates centred on bronchioles but GSK2118436 research buy PRKD3 extending to alveoli and blood vessels (arrowheads). (B): Fungi displayed a high infiltrative potential with a marked extension to alveoli (arrowheads). (C): Inflammatory infiltrates were composed of mononucleated cells; mainly macrophages (inlay). (D): Hyphae were mature and displayed a high invasive potential. A, C: HE staining; B, D: GMS staining.

Taken together, these data indicate that the recruitment of mononuclear cells, in the absence of neutrophils, is insufficient to prevent conidial germination, hyphal outgrowth and tissue infiltration. It is likely that the severe vascular and parenchymal lesions observed in RB6-8C5-treated mice prevented the development of high bioluminescent signals in vivo. This is most likely due to hypoxia resulting from the pulmonary parenchyma destruction, which was even more severe than under cortisone acetate treatment. Cyclophosphamide treatment Treatment with cyclophosphamide was expected to cause severe neutropenia accompanied by a reduction of monocytes. However, resident alveolar macrophages were not expected to be affected by this treatment. Bioluminescence imaging revealed that cyclophosphamide treatment resulted in a delayed (apparent at day 2 to day 3 post-infection), but steadily increasing bioluminescence signal until mice succumbed to progressive disease (Figure 1C and Figure 2 inlet).