A paradigm for the evaluation and management of spinal coccidioidomycosis

Background: Coccidioidomycosis is a fungal infection that is endemic to parts of the Southwestern United States. When infection involves the spine, the treatment strategies can be challenging. We have devised a management protocol for spinal coccidioidomycosis based on a review of the literature and our experience. Methods: The electronic literature search of National Library of Medicine for publications from 1964 to 2014 was performed using the following keywords: Coccidioidomycosis and spine. The search yielded 24 papers. Treatment strategies were summarized into a treatment protocol. Results: A total of 164 cases of spinal coccidioidomycosis were identified, ranging in age from <10 to >80 years. Males (n = 131) and African-Americans (n = 79) were strikingly over-represented. Medical therapy: Once a diagnosis of spinal coccidioidomycosis is established, antifungal therapy should always be started. Antifungal therapy with amphotericin B or azoles like fluconazole. Medical therapy needs to be continued for many years and sometimes indefinitely to reduce disease recurrence or progression. Surgical management is indicated in cases with mechanical instability, neurologic deficit, medically intractable pain, or progression of infection despite antifungal therapy. Conclusions: This work provides a working protocol involving assessment and reassessment for the management of spinal coccidioidomycosis. Medical management with antifungal agents in some cases can provide satisfactory disease control. However, in patients with mechanical instability, neurologic deficit, medically intractable pain or disease progression disease control may only be achieved with surgical debridement and stabilization

Tuning the Reactivity of Nanoenergetic Gas Generators Based on Bismuth and Iodine oxidizers

There is a growing interest on novel energetic materials called Nanoenergetic Gas- Generators (NGGs) which are potential alternatives to traditional energetic materials including pyrotechnics, propellants, primers and solid rocket fuels. NGGs are formulations that utilize metal powders as a fuel and oxides or hydroxides as oxidizers that can rapidly release large amount of heat and gaseous products to generate shock waves. The heat and pressure discharge, impact sensitivity, long term stability and other critical properties depend on the particle size and shape, as well as assembling procedure and intermixing degree between the components. The extremely high energy density and the ability to tune the dynamic properties of the energetic system makes NGGs ideal candidates to dilute or replace traditional energetic materials for emerging applications. In terms of energy density, performance and controllability of dynamic properties, the energetic materials based on bismuth and iodine compounds are exceptional among the NGGs. The thermodynamic calculations and experimental study confirm that NGGs based on iodine and bismuth compounds mixed with aluminum nanoparticles are the most powerful formulations to date and can be used potentially in microthrusters technology with high thrust-to-weight ratio with controlled combustion and exhaust velocity for space applications. The resulting nano thermites generated significant value of pressure discharge up to 14.8 kPa m3/g. They can also be integrated with carbon nanotubes to form laminar composite yarns with high power actuation of up to 4700 W/kg, or be used in other emerging applications such as biocidal agents to effectively destroy harmful bacteria in seconds, with 22 mg/m2 minimal content over infected area

Vorinostat Induces Reactive Oxygen Species and DNA Damage in Acute Myeloid Leukemia Cells

Histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi) are promising anti-cancer agents, however, their mechanisms of action remain unclear. In acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells, HDACi have been reported to arrest growth and induce apoptosis. In this study, we elucidate details of the DNA damage induced by the HDACi vorinostat in AML cells. At clinically relevant concentrations, vorinostat induces double-strand breaks and oxidative DNA damage in AML cell lines. Additionally, AML patient blasts treated with vorinostat display increased DNA damage, followed by an increase in caspase-3/7 activity and a reduction in cell viability. Vorinostat-induced DNA damage is followed by a G2-M arrest and eventually apoptosis. We found that pre-treatment with the antioxidant N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) reduces vorinostat-induced DNA double strand breaks, G2-M arrest and apoptosis. These data implicate DNA damage as an important mechanism in vorinostat-induced growth arrest and apoptosis in both AML cell lines and patient-derived blasts. This supports the continued study and development of vorinostat in AMLs that may be sensitive to DNA-damaging agents and as a combination therapy with ionizing radiation and/or other DNA damaging agents

Large-scale mapping of bioactive peptides in structural and sequence space

Health-enhancing potential bioactive peptide (BP) has driven an interest in food proteins as well as in the development of predictive methods. Research in this area has been especially active to use them as components in functional foods. Apparently, BPs do not have a given biological function in the containing proteins and they do not evolve under independent evolutionary constraints. In this work we performed a large-scale mapping of BPs in sequence and structural space. Using well curated BP deposited in BIOPEP database, we searched for exact matches in non-redundant sequences databases. Proteins containing BPs, were used in fold-recognition methods to predict the corresponding folds and BPs occurrences were mapped. We found that fold distribution of BP occurrences possibly reflects sequence relative abundance in databases. However, we also found that proteins with 5 or more than 5 BP in their sequences correspond to well populated protein folds, called superfolds. Also, we found that in well populated superfamilies, BPs tend to adopt similar locations in the protein fold, suggesting the existence of hotspots. We think that our results could contribute to the development of new bioinformatics pipeline to improve BP detection.Fil: Nardo, Agustina Estefania. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos; ArgentinaFil: Añon, Maria Cristina. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos; ArgentinaFil: Parisi, Gustavo Daniel. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

The surgical anatomy of the lumbosacroiliac triangle: a cadaveric study

Objective The anatomic area delineated medially by the lateral part of the L4-L5 vertebral bodies, distally by the anterior-superior surface of the sacral wing, and laterally by an imaginary line joining the base of the L4 transverse process to the proximal part of the sacroiliac joint, is of particular interest to spine surgeons. We are referring to this area as the lumbo-sacro-iliac triangle (LSIT). Knowledge of LSIT anatomy is necessary during approaches for L5 vertebral and sacral fractures, sacral and iliac tumors, and extraforaminal decompression of the L5 nerve roots. Methods We performed an anatomic dissection of the LSIT in 3 embalmed cadavers (6 triangles), using an anterior and posterior approach. Results We identified 3 key tissue planes: the neurological plexus plane, constituted by L4 and L5 nerve roots; an intermediate level constituted by the ileosacral tunnel; and posteriorly, by the lumbosacral ligament, and the posterior muscular plane. Conclusions Improving anatomic knowledge of the LSIT may help surgeons decrease the risk of possible complications. When LSIT pathology is present, a lateral approach corresponding to the tip of the L4 transverse process, medially, is suggested to decrease the risk of vessel and nerve root damage. OBJECTIVE: The anatomic area delineated medially by the lateral part of the L4-L5 vertebral bodies, distally by the anterior-superior surface of the sacral wing, and laterally by an imaginary line joining the base of the L4 transverse process to the proximal part of the sacroiliac joint, is of particular interest to spine surgeons. We are referring to this area as the lumbo-sacro-iliac triangle (LSIT). Knowledge of LSIT anatomy is necessary during approaches for L5 vertebral and sacral fractures, sacral and iliac tumors, and extraforaminal decompression of the L5 nerve roots. METHODS: We performed an anatomic dissection of the LSIT in 3 embalmed cadavers (6 triangles), using an anterior and posterior approach. RESULTS: We identified 3 key tissue planes: the neurological plexus plane, constituted by L4 and L5 nerve roots; an intermediate level constituted by the ileosacral tunnel; and posteriorly, by the lumbosacral ligament, and the posterior muscular plane. CONCLUSIONS: Improving anatomic knowledge of the LSIT may help surgeons decrease the risk of possible complications. When LSIT pathology is present, a lateral approach corresponding to the tip of the L4 transverse process, medially, is suggested to decrease the risk of vessel and nerve root damage