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The physical effects of small sugars on membranes have been studied for decades, primarily because of their membrane stabilization in cold or dehydrated environments. We studied the effects of up to 20 mol% glucose in bilayers made of 1,2-dimyristoyl- sn -glycero-3-phosphocholine (DMPC) at low hydration by combining X-ray diffraction and Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations. In agreement with previous studies, we observe membrane thinning at low and membrane thickening at high sugar concentrations. Glucose was found to preferentially localize to the outer head region of phospholipid bilayers at all concentrations, and partitioning of sugar in the membranes was found to monotonically increase with increasing sugar concentration. While the number of gauche defects in the lipid acyl tails and the lipid packing in the presence of sugar resembled values of a fluid lipid bilayer, tail dynamics, as assessed by autocorrelation of the carbon atoms in the phospholipid tails, were slowed down significantly with increasing glucose content. Thus, our findings suggest that sugar leads to a a disordered, glassy state of the hydrophobic membrane core. The non-monotonic effect of glucose on membrane thickness was found to be an effect of fluidification at low concentrations and decreased interdigitation in the higher sugar concentration regime., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Objective: To set an international benchmark for monitoring morbidity after hysterectomy., Methods: In a retrospective, observational study, data were assessed from women who underwent abdominal, vaginal, or laparoscopic hysterectomy in three countries (Australia, England, and the USA) between 2008 and 2012. The main outcome measures were length of stay (LOS), readmission, hemorrhage, and intraoperative conversion., Results: Overall, 32 181 procedures were included. The intraoperative conversion rate from vaginal and laparoscopic to abdominal hysterectomy was 1.5%. The LOS was significantly higher after abdominal surgery (3 days) than after vaginal (2 days; P<0.001) or laparoscopic (1 day; P<0.001) surgery. LOS was also higher after conversion (3 days) than after vaginal and laparoscopic hysterectomy (P<0.001 for both). Conversion cases had the highest rate of hemorrhage (7.5% vs 2.4% for abdominal, 1.8% vaginal, and 1.2% laparoscopic) and readmission (5.0% vs 4.2% for abdominal, 3.1% vaginal, and 2.8% laparoscopic). The odds of readmission were higher after abdominal than after laparoscopic hysterectomy (odds ratio 1.41, 95% confidence interval 1.19-1.67; P<0.001)., Conclusion: The morbidity associated with different surgical approaches to hysterectomy, including after intraoperative conversion, should be used as a benchmark. There is a need to measure and publish morbidity data after hysterectomy., (Copyright © 2015 International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Paramagnetic alginate beads with a 10-100 microns size range have been developed. These beads, when activated with chloroacetic anhydride and covalently coupled to avidin (30 micrograms/mg beads), were able to bind biotinylated goat anti-mouse (B-GAM) antibody (Ab). The beads with immobilized antibody were then used as a model system for the capture and non-enzymatic release of CD34+ (KG1a) cells. A maximum of 82% KG1a (average = 65 +/- 16.1%) cell capture, and 57% (average = 51 +/- 5.9%) cell release has been attained using this model system. Optimization of the system in terms of further bead size reduction, and in terms of developing a system to recover released cells with high purity, will make an excellent system for cell capture and nonenzymatic release.