Association of circulating endothelial cells with flow mediated vasodilation and disease activity in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

The aim of this study was to determine the correlation between CEC count and endothelial function, disease activity, and organ involvement in patients with SLE. Background: Premature atherosclerosis in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is not explained by traditional risk factors. Circulating endothelial cells (CEC) have been identified as a surrogate marker of endothelial dysfunction Methods: The present study included 30 premenopausal women with SLE and 20 age and sex matched healthy controls (HC). Endothelial function was studied by flow mediated vasodilation (FMD%) in the brachial artery. Serum levels of VCAM-1, ICAM-1 were measured. Results: FMD% was lower in patients with SLE than HC (3.5 ± 0.4 vs 9.7 ± 3.2, p < 0.001). CEC count was significantly elevated in patients with SLE compared to HC (38 ± 18 vs 7 ± 3, p < 0.001). CEC count correlated positively with systemic lupus activity score (r = 0.97), and negatively with FMD% (r = −0.94). Serum levels of VCAM-1 and ICAM-1 were significantly elevated in patients with SLE compared to HC (p < 0.001). There was a significant correlation between CEC count and vasculitic skin lesions (p < 0.01), renal involvement (p < 0.01), and VCAM-1 levels (p < 0.001). Conclusion: CEC is associated with endothelial dysfunction, disease activity and increased VCAM-1 levels in patients with SLE. These findings suggest a potential role of CEC in the pathophysiology of cardiovascular disease in these patients

Use of molecular biology tools for rapid identification and characterization of Pasteurella spp.

Aim: This study aimed to create rapid characterization and genotyping of Pasteurella multocida (PM) protocol using modern molecular biology techniques. Materials and Methods: Thirty bacterial isolates were characterized by capsular and somatic identification using conventional procedure followed by multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR), restriction endonucleases analysis (REA), and finally confirmed by sequence analysis. Two local vaccine strains and two field isolates were identified as PM Type A and B. Results: A total of 30 isolates were found positive for PM either morphologically and biochemically; however, multiplex PCR technique identified only 22 isolates as Pasteurella species using universal primers while 8 isolates were found negative for PM. 12 of 22 isolates (54%) were characterized at the same reaction into PM Type A, five isolates (23%) were Type B and the rest five isolates (23%) of tested isolates were negative for Types A, B, and D. Hemorrhagic septicemia Type B: 2 or B: 5 could be identified somatically within PM capsular serogroup B using PCR technique. Somatic characterization of PM was done using REA that could identify all PM Type A into A:1 and all PM Type B into B: 2. These protocols were verified for its accuracy and reliability by sequence analysis of two vaccine strains of PM Type A and B that were characterized previously by biochemical and serological methods as well as two selected isolates from the 22 positive isolates representing PM Type A and B. Conclusion: PCR and REA could confirm the identity of PM and provide a rapid and reliable characterization in comparison with biochemical analysis and conventional serotyping that may take up to 2 weeks. Hence, they can reduce the time needed for polyvalent vaccine production and when the reference antisera are unavailable. Moreover, the identity of Omp-H for vaccine and field strains may provide better data to control Pasteurellosis in Egypt

The Prognostic Value of International Prognostic Index and MIB-1 Immunostaining of Peripheral Lymphoid Tissues and Bone Marrow in Patients with High-Grade Non-Hodgkin&apos;s Lymphoma

ling index and with the known clinical variables included within the IPI. Patients with high intermediate or high IPI who expressed high Ki-67 labelling index had a worse overall survival compared with patients with low or low intermediate IPI and low Ki-67 index (p &lt; 0.001). BM infiltration as detected by MIB-1 was correlated in univariate analysis (p = 0.04), although not confirmed in multivariate analysis, with poor survival. Conclusion: In conclusion, the MIB-1 monoclonal antibody immunostaining appears to be a simple and reproducible method of determining tumour proliferative index and provides useful prognostic information in patients with high-grade NHL. We recommend using apoptotic markers in addition for proper assessment of the impact of detecting MIB-1 positive cells in BM on disease outcome. INTRODUCTION Non-Hodgkin&apos;s lymphomas (NHL) represent a spectrum of haematological malignancies characterized by a highly diverse clinical behaviour in terms of clinical presentation, histology, immunophenotype, genetic alternation, prognosis and response to therapy. Although the International Prognostic Factor Project was developed to provide a model system for predicting the outcome of patients with aggressive NHL depending on some clinical parameters (age, stage, performance status, number of extranodal sites and serum lactic dehyrogenase level) The identification of proliferating cells in ABSTRACT Background: Cell kinetic data are important indicator of the aggressiveness of tumour and clinical response. The Ki-67 antigen plays a pivotal role in maintaining cell proliferation and the expression of this antigen was found to be a valuable indicator for aggressive disease in a variety of neoplastic disorders. Aim of the study: This study aimed to assess the prognostic significance of the expression of Ki-67 antigen in peripheral lymphoid tissues and bone marrow, using the monoclonal antibody MIB-1 that is applicable in formaline-fixed paraffin embedded samples in cases with high-grade non-Hodgkin&apos;s lymphomas. Material and methods: The MIB-1 immunostaining was performed on 96 samples from 48 patients with high-grade non-Hodgkin&apos;s lymphomas. The study was performed on tissue sections, nodal or extranodal, as well as on BM smears or BM paraffin embedded sections of same patients. Ki-67 index was determined using image analyzer. Results: Forty-five out of the studied 48 cases (93.8%) were positive with a median labelling index of 20.425% (Range, 0-58%). We were able to detect bone marrow involvement by detecting MIB-1 positive cells in BM samples of 29 patients who were not morphologically diagnosed to have BM infiltration. There was a strong correlation between BM positivity for Ki-67 and Ki-67 labelling index (p &lt; 0.001). Twenty-eight (58.3%) out of the studied 48 cases achieved complete remission (CR). The median duration of CR was 35 months (range, 8-42 months) and the overall survival at 48 months was 35.4% (median 22 months, 95% CI, 13-31 months). The median Ki-67 index (20.425%) was chosen as a cut-off level for statistical analysis of the variables that influence clinical outcome. The probability of inducing CR was associated with low and low intermediate International Prognostic Index (IPI) whereas a low growth fraction was associated, although not significant, with a trend toward a higher probability of inducing a CR. In univariate analysis, high MIB-1 labelling index and increased IPI were associated with shorter duration of complete remission and overall survival time. Multivariate analysis showed that an extended overall survival time was associated with low MIB-1 label

Performance of GACC and GACP to treat institutional wastewater: a sustainable technique

Experiments were carried out using granular activated carbon (GAC) adsorption techniques to treat wastewater contaminated with organic compounds caused by diverse human activities. Two techniques were assessed: adsorbent GAC prepared from coconut shell (GACC) and adsorbent GAC from palm shell (GACP). A comparison of these two techniques was undertaken to identify ways to improve the efficiency of the treatment process. Analysis of the processed wastewater showed that with GACC the removal efficiency of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), turbidity, total suspended solids (TSS) and total dissolved solids (TDS) was 65, 60, 82, 82 and 8.7%, respectively, while in the case of GACP, the removal efficiency was 55, 60, 81, 91 and 22%, respectively. It can therefore be concluded that GACC is more effective than GACP for BOD removal, while GACP is better than GACC for TSS and TDS removal. It was also found that for COD and turbidity almost the same results were achieved by the two techniques. In addition, it was observed that both GACC and GACP reduced pH value to 7.9 after 24 hrs. Moreover, the optimal time period for removal of BOD and TDS was 1 hr and 3 hrs, respectively, for both techniques