An Association of Multiple Well Differentiated Liposarcomas, Lipomatous Tissue and Hereditary Retinoblastoma

Well differentiated liposarcoma (atypical lipomatous tumour) is a low grade tumour, with no metastatic potential unless dedifferentiation supervenes. When superficial, it recurs locally only occasionally after marginal excision. We present a patient in whom bilateral childhood retinoblastoma was followed by later development of massive confluent areas of low grade liposarcoma and lipomatous tissue affecting the upper extremities and trunk. We discuss the role of mutations in the retinoblastoma gene (RB1) in linking these conditions and demonstrate the surgical management of an extremely unusual and challenging case

Criteria for effective zero-deforestation commitments

Zero-deforestation commitments are a type of voluntary sustainability initiative that companies adopt to signal their intention to reduce or eliminate deforestation associated with commodities that they produce, trade, and/or sell. Because each company defines its own zero-deforestation commitment goals and implementation mechanisms, commitment content varies widely. This creates challenges for the assessment of commitment implementation or effectiveness. Here, we develop criteria to assess the potential effectiveness of zero-deforestation commitments at reducing deforestation within a company supply chain, regionally, and globally. We apply these criteria to evaluate 52 zero-deforestation commitments made by companies identified by Forest 500 as having high deforestation risk. While our assessment indicates that existing commitments converge with several criteria for effectiveness, they fall short in a few key ways. First, they cover just a small share of the global market for deforestation-risk commodities, which means that their global impact is likely to be small. Second, biome-wide implementation is only achieved in the Brazilian Amazon. Outside this region, implementation occurs mainly through certification programs, which are not adopted by all producers and lack third-party near-real time deforestation monitoring. Additionally, around half of all commitments include zero-net deforestation targets and future implementation deadlines, both of which are design elements that may reduce effectiveness. Zero-net targets allow promises of future reforestation to compensate for current forest loss, while future implementation deadlines allow for preemptive clearing. To increase the likelihood that commitments will lead to reduced deforestation across all scales, more companies should adopt zero-gross deforestation targets with immediate implementation deadlines and clear sanction-based implementation mechanisms in biomes with high risk of forest to commodity conversion.ISSN:0959-3780ISSN:1872-949

Enhanced M1 Macrophage Polarization in Human Helicobacter pylori-Associated Atrophic Gastritis and in Vaccinated Mice

Background: Infection with Helicobacter pylori triggers a chronic gastric inflammation that can progress to atrophy and gastric adenocarcinoma. Polarization of macrophages is a characteristic of both cancer and infection, and may promote progression or resolution of disease. However, the role of macrophages and their polarization during H. pylori infection has not been well defined. Methodology/Principal Findings: By using a mouse model of infection and gastric biopsies from 29 individuals, we have analyzed macrophage recruitment and polarization during H. pylori infection by flow cytometry and real-time PCR. We found a sequential recruitment of neutrophils, eosinophils and macrophages to the gastric mucosa of infected mice. Gene expression analysis of stomach tissue and sorted macrophages revealed that gastric macrophages were polarized to M1 after H. pylori infection, and this process was substantially accelerated by prior vaccination. Human H. pylori infection was characterized by a mixed M1/M2 polarization of macrophages. However, in H. pylori-associated atrophic gastritis, the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase was markedly increased compared to uncomplicated gastritis, indicative of an enhanced M1 macrophage polarization in this pre-malignant lesion. Conclusions/Significance: These results show that vaccination of mice against H. pylori amplifies M1 polarization of gastric macrophages, and that a similar enhanced M1 polarization is present in human H. pylori-induced atrophic gastritis

Control of Oxo-Group Functionalization and Reduction of the Uranyl Ion

yesUranyl complexes of a large, compartmental N8-macrocycle adopt a rigid, “Pacman” geometry that stabilizes the UV oxidation state and promotes chemistry at a single uranyl oxo-group. We present here new and straightforward routes to singly reduced and oxo-silylated uranyl Pacman complexes and propose mechanisms that account for the product formation, and the byproduct distributions that are formed using alternative reagents. Uranyl(VI) Pacman complexes in which one oxo-group is functionalized by a single metal cation are activated toward single-electron reduction. As such, the addition of a second equivalent of a Lewis acidic metal complex such as MgN″2 (N″ = N(SiMe3)2) forms a uranyl(V) complex in which both oxo-groups are Mg functionalized as a result of Mg−N bond homolysis. In contrast, reactions with the less Lewis acidic complex [Zn(N″)Cl] favor the formation of weaker U−O−Zn dative interactions, leading to reductive silylation of the uranyl oxo-group in preference to metalation. Spectroscopic, crystallographic, and computational analysis of these reactions and of oxo-metalated products isolated by other routes have allowed us to propose mechanisms that account for pathways to metalation or silylation of the exo-oxogroup