Vasculitis manifested with multiple mass lesions in kidneys, lungs and soft tissue, mimicking malignant tumors

We report a case of granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) (Wegner's granulomatosis) who presented with multiple mass lesions in kidneys and lung lobes, as well as neck soft tissue, mimicking malignancies. This 71-year-old woman initially presented with sudden right foot drop, left calf pain and right eye vision loss. She was treated with corticosteroid for the diagnosis of possible temporal arteritis. Months after steroid was tapered to 2 mg per day, she developed increasing fatigue, weight loss, and shortness of breath. CT scan showed lung mass lesions in left upper lobe (3.8 × 2.4 cm), right mid lung with pleural extension (3.4 × 3.3 cm), and right lower lobe (1.1 × 1.0 cm); right neck (3.3 × 2.6 cm), right kidney (2.3 × 1.8 cm) and left kidney (2.0 × 1.6 cm). Right quadriceps muscle biopsy shows focal granulomatous inflammation. Lung biopsy showed necrotizing and poorly formed granulomatous inflammation. Biopsies of kidney mass lesions showed necrotizing and non-necrotizing granulomatous inflammation. No crescentic or necrotizing glomerular lesions were observed in the total 40 sampled glomeruli. No malignancy was identified in any of the biopsies. Her c-ANCA was found to be positive and PR3-ANCA antibody was 6.88 U/ml (normal 0–0.90 U/ml). She was diagnosed with granulomatosis with polyangiitis and treated with high dose corticosteroid and rituximab. Eight months later, follow-up showed resolved mass lesions by chest X-ray and CT and stable renal function. The case highlights the atypical clinical presentation of vasculitis and the significance of considering this possibility in differential diagnosis when confronting mass lesions present in multiple organ systems. Biopsy is critical for the correct diagnosis to initiate timely and appropriate treatment, and also important to avoid unnecessary surgical resection

Welcome Home Ramsey: Creating Housing Opportunities for All

Report completed by students enrolled in PA 5211: Land Use Planning, taught by Fernando Burga in fall 2017.This project was completed as part of the 2017-2018 Resilient Communities Project (rcp.umn.edu) partnership with the City of Ramsey. Ramsey's housing plan was last updated in 2008. The plan identified numerous strategies for achieving the City’s housing goals, including increased housing density, redeveloping underutilized land, and engaging underserved populations. Since then, the City has made good progress in terms of achieving its workforce and senior housing goals, but public support for some of the City’s other housing goals is not as strong. The City sought assistance developing a communication/outreach strategy to make the case for various housing types and the value they add to the community. Students in Dr. Fernando Burga’s Land Use Planning class analyzed housing needs in the community, identified three locations accessible to transit or jobs as potential locations for additional workforce and affordable housing, presented case studies of policy strategies to increase affordable housing, and made policy recommendations for the City going forward. The students’ final report is available.This project was supported by the Resilient Communities Project (RCP), a program at the University of Minnesota whose mission is to connect communities in Minnesota with U of MN faculty and students to advance community resilience through collaborative, course-based projects. RCP is a program of the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA). More information at http://www.rcp.umn.edu

Effects of dietary L-Citrulline supplementation on growth performance, meat quality, and fecal microbial composition in finishing pigs

Gut microbiota play an important role in the gut ecology and development of pigs, which is always regulated by nutrients. This study investigated the effect of L-Citrulline on growth performance, carcass characteristics, and its potential regulatory mechanism. The results showed that 1% dietary L-Citrulline supplementation for 52 days significantly increased final weight, liveweight gain, carcass weight, and average backfat and markedly decreased drip loss (p < 0.05) of finishing pigs compared with the control group. Microbial analysis of fecal samples revealed a marked increase in α-diversity and significantly altered composition of gut microbiota in finishing pigs in response to L-Citrulline. In particular, these altered gut microbiota at the phylum and genus level may be mainly involved in the metabolic process of carbohydrate, energy, and amino acid, and exhibited a significant association with final weight, carcass weight, and backfat thickness. Taken together, our data revealed the potential role of L-Citrulline in the modulation of growth performance, carcass characteristics, and the meat quality of finishing pigs, which is most likely associated with gut microbiota

Strain-restricted transfer of ferromagnetic electrodes for constructing reproducibly superior-quality spintronic devices

Spintronic device is the fundamental platform for spin-related academic and practical studies. However, conventional techniques with energetic deposition or boorish transfer of ferromagnetic metal inevitably introduce uncontrollable damage and undesired contamination in various spin-transport-channel materials, leading to partially attenuated and widely distributed spintronic device performances. These issues will eventually confuse the conclusions of academic studies and limit the practical applications of spintronics. Here we propose a polymer-assistant strain-restricted transfer technique that allows perfectly transferring the pre-patterned ferromagnetic electrodes onto channel materials without any damage and change on the properties of magnetism, interface, and channel. This technique is found productive for pursuing superior-quality spintronic devices with high controllability and reproducibility. It can also apply to various-kind (organic, inorganic, organic-inorganic hybrid, or carbon-based) and diverse-morphology (smooth, rough, even discontinuous) channel materials. This technique can be very useful for reliable device construction and will facilitate the technological transition of spintronic study

Mapping the Spatiotemporal Patterns of COVID-19 Risk in the United States

You are viewing a past publication from the Good Systems Network Digest in July 2020.Office of the VP for Researc

Carcinosarcoma, a Rare Malignant Neoplasm of the Pancreas

Carcinosarcoma of the pancreas is a rare entity with poor prognosis. Here, we report a case of pancreatic carcinosarcoma in a 68-year-old male patient who underwent a pancreatoduodenectomy for a unilocular cystic mass in the head of the pancreas. Histologically, the lesion showed a biphasic tumor with a carcinoma component and a spindle cell sarcomatous component, which were intimately intermingled. Most of the carcinoma components are well-differentiated ductal adenocarcinoma with small areas of moderately to poorly differentiated ductal adenocarcinoma. The sarcomatous component is a high-grade highly cellular spindle cell tumor with frequent mitosis and apoptosis. Immunohistochemical studies demonstrated that the carcinomatous component was positive for epithelial markers and cyclin D1, and the sarcomatous component was negative for these markers while positive for vimentin, p16, and DOG1 with patchy positivity for S100. Other markers, including SOX10, CD117, Melan A, HMB45, actin, desmin, myogenin, beta-catenin, TLE1, and p53, were negative in both components. Molecular studies demonstrated that the tumor was microsatellite stable. Whole exome next generation sequencing analysis was performed and no pathogenic alterations in the genes were identified

ALECT2 amyloidosis with concurrent IgG4-related interstitial nephritis, membranous nephropathy and diabetic kidney disease: A case report and literature review

Leukocyte chemotactic factor-2 amyloidosis (ALECT2) is a recently described subtype of amyloidosis. IgG4-related disease is a rare fibroinflammatory condition characterized by dense interstitial lymphoplasmacytic infiltrates and fibrosis. Membranous nephropathy and diabetic nephropathy are common causes of nephrotic syndrome. Here we report a 49-year-old Hispanic male patient with diabetes mellitus who presented with jaundice and pruritus. IgG4-related autoimmune pancreatitis was diagnosed through laboratory workup and ampulla biopsy. He subsequently presented with marked lower extremity edema and nephrotic syndrome. Kidney biopsy showed severe interstitial IgG4-positive plasma cell-rich inflammatory infiltrates and interstitial storiform fibrosis. Immunofluorescence microscopy revealed diffuse and finely granular glomerular capillary wall staining for IgG and the glomeruli were negative for anti-phospholipase A2 receptor. Congo red stain was positive for birefringent deposits in the interstitium, arteriolar walls, and glomeruli. Electron microscopy demonstrated subepithelial immune complex-type electron-dense deposits, thickening of glomerular basement membranes (GBM), and randomly oriented fibrils in the mesangium, GBM, and interstitium. Mass spectrometry identified a peptide profile consistent with ALECT2 amyloidosis. This is the first report of a case with concurrence of ALECT2 amyloidosis, IgG4-related disease involving the kidney, membranous nephropathy, and early diabetic kidney injury

Investigation of the Axial Force Compensation and Deformation Control Effect of Servo Steel Struts in a Deep Foundation Pit Excavation in Soft Clay

This study presents a comparative analysis of the deformation control effect of the hydraulic servo steel struts and ordinary steel struts of a foundation pit based on the measured axial force of the steel struts, lateral wall deflection, and ground surface settlement due to pit excavation. The results indicate that ordinary steel struts installed via axial preloading exhibit a disadvantageous axial force loss with a maximum value equal to 86.7% of the axial preloading force. When compared with ordinary steel struts, the hydraulic servo steel strut exhibits a superior supporting effect. The hydraulic servo steel strut adjusts the axial force in real time based on the deformation of the retaining structure and the axial force of the struts. Thus, the ratio of maximum lateral deflection to the excavation depth of a deep foundation pit in soft soil is less than 0.3%. Concrete struts undergo unsupported exposure during the excavation process, leading to sharply increasing deformation of the retaining structure. Therefore, regarding a foundation pit with strict requirements for deformation control, the use of hydraulic servo steel struts rather than concrete struts is recommended