Invasive mechanical ventilation in cancer patients: prior non-invasive ventilation is a poor prognostic factor

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Swelling of acetylated wood in organic liquids

To investigate the affinity of acetylated wood for organic liquids, Yezo spruce wood specimens were acetylated with acetic anhydride, and their swelling in various liquids were compared to those of untreated specimens. The acetylated wood was rapidly and remarkably swollen in aprotic organic liquids such as benzene and toluene in which the untreated wood was swollen only slightly and/or very slowly. On the other hand, the swelling of wood in water, ethylene glycol and alcohols remained unchanged or decreased by the acetylation. Consequently the maximum volume of wood swollen in organic liquids was always larger than that in water. The effect of acetylation on the maximum swollen volume of wood was greater in liquids having smaller solubility parameters. The easier penetration of aprotic organic liquids into the acetylated wood was considered to be due to the scission of hydrogen bonds among the amorphous wood constituents by the substitution of hydroxyl groups with hydrophobic acetyl groups.Comment: to be published in J Wood Science (Japanese wood research society

Local administration of regulatory T cells promotes tissue healing

\ua9 The Author(s) 2024.Regulatory T cells (Tregs) are crucial immune cells for tissue repair and regeneration. However, their potential as a cell-based regenerative therapy is not yet fully understood. Here, we show that local delivery of exogenous Tregs into injured mouse bone, muscle, and skin greatly enhances tissue healing. Mechanistically, exogenous Tregs rapidly adopt an injury-specific phenotype in response to the damaged tissue microenvironment, upregulating genes involved in immunomodulation and tissue healing. We demonstrate that exogenous Tregs exert their regenerative effect by directly and indirectly modulating monocytes/macrophages (Mo/MΦ) in injured tissues, promoting their switch to an anti-inflammatory and pro-healing state via factors such as interleukin (IL)-10. Validating the key role of IL-10 in exogenous Treg-mediated repair and regeneration, the pro-healing capacity of these cells is lost when Il10 is knocked out. Additionally, exogenous Tregs reduce neutrophil and cytotoxic T cell accumulation and IFN-γ production in damaged tissues, further dampening the pro-inflammatory Mo/MΦ phenotype. Highlighting the potential of this approach, we demonstrate that allogeneic and human Tregs also promote tissue healing. Together, this study establishes exogenous Tregs as a possible universal cell-based therapy for regenerative medicine and provides key mechanistic insights that could be harnessed to develop immune cell-based therapies to enhance tissue healing

Evaluation of diarrhea in Iranian children under five years of age

Abstract Background: Diarrhea is still one of the leading causes of death among children. Purpose: The descriptive study was conducted to evaluate epidemiologic and clinical factors in diarrheal children under five living in Tehran from April 2005 for one year. Methods: Totally 617 subjects including 551 (89%) children with acute diarrhea and 66 (11%) with chronic diarrhea were enrolled in the study.  Results: Watery elimination was the most common manifestation of diarrhea (62.5% of subjects). The highest frequency of watery and bloody diarrhea was detected in autumn and of mucoid diarrhea in winter. Nausea, vomiting and fever were significantly higher at watery form of diarrhea (P= 0.0001, P=0.0001, and P= 0.03 respectively) but there was no correlation between these symptoms and mucoid or bloody form of diarrhea.  Significant increase of anorexia was detected during the autumn, mainly at the ages of 5, 1.5 and 2 respectively (P=0.001). Fever and dehydration were significantly higher in those with more severe diarrhea over 1 day (P= 0.03 and P= 0.0001 respectively).  Conclusion: Although many new findings about clinical characteristics of community-acquired diarrhea among young children in Tehran were revealed, our lack of understanding regarding the etiology of most episodes in this common pediatric disease was evident. Further studies to assess other environmental determinants, feeding patterns, immunization status of children and gastrointestinal pathogens in pediatric diarrhea are also recommended. Key words: Diarrhea, Child, Incidence

Anti-GBM disease and ANCA during dengue infection

Anti-glomerular basement membrane (GBM) disease is a severe inflammatory renal disorder due to pathogenic autoantibodies directed mainly against the α3 chain of type IV collagen. In ~1/4 of patients with anti-GBM disease, antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA) predominantly with myeloperoxidase (MPO) specificity can be detected. Although the inciting stimuli leading to the development of an immune response against the type IV collagen and neutrophils are unknown, evidence indicates that both genetic and environmental factors play a role. Of note, molecular mimicry between self-antigens and nonself-antigens such as antigenic determinants of microorganisms has been implicated in the pathogenesis of anti-GBM disease and ANCA-associated vasculitis. A mosquito-borne viral illness highly prevalent in the tropics and subtropics, dengue can be complicated by acute renal failure, proteinuria, hematuria and glomerulonephritis. We present a 66-year-old woman who was diagnosed with dengue infection and rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis during an outbreak of dengue in Honduras in the summer of 2013. Renal biopsy revealed severe crescentic glomerulonephritis. Immunofluorescence examination demonstrated strong linear IgG deposition along glomerular capillary walls. Serologic tests demonstrated antibodies against GBM, MPO and platelet glycoproteins. The patient was diagnosed with anti-GBM disease associated with p-ANCA with MPO specificity. Despite heavy immunosuppression and plasmapheresis, IgG titers against dengue virus continued to rise confirming the diagnosis of acute dengue infection. We present the first reported case of anti-GBM disease associated with p-ANCA with MPO specificity during dengue infection. This report calls for a heightened awareness of autoimmunity leading to crescentic glomerulonephritis in patients with dengue infection