Mast cells beyond allergy: their role in fibrotic conditions

Mast cells play a central role not only in type I hypersensitivity reactions, but also in chronic inflammatory processes resulting in fibrosis. Fibrosis is a process characterized by fibroblast proliferation and/or by excessive production and deposition of collagen and other extracellular matrix components. The close proximity of mast cells and fibroblasts in the connective tissue enables the interaction between these two cell types. Fibroblasts have been shown to provide the microenvironment for connective tissue mast cell differentiation and survival. On the other hand, mast cells can affect fibroblasts through the release of various mediators with either fibrogenic or fibrolytic activities. Mast cells were shown to be present in active form in various fibrotic conditions such as scleroderma, chronic graft-versus-host disease, eosinophilic fasciitis, wound healing, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, and ocular cicatricial pemphigoid. This review presents the current data about mast cell and these fibrotic disorders.Biomedical Reviews 1996; 6: 69-74

Unidirectional hopping transport of interacting particles on a finite chain

Particle transport through an open, discrete 1-D channel against a mechanical or chemical bias is analyzed within a master equation approach. The channel, externally driven by time dependent site energies, allows multiple occupation due to the coupling to reservoirs. Performance criteria and optimization of active transport in a two-site channel are discussed as a function of reservoir chemical potentials, the load potential, interparticle interaction strength, driving mode and driving period. Our results, derived from exact rate equations, are used in addition to test a previously developed time-dependent density functional theory, suggesting a wider applicability of that method in investigations of many particle systems far from equilibrium.Comment: 33 pages, 8 figure

A CRITICAL APPRAISAL OF RELIGION AS A TOOL FOR VIOLENCE BY STATE AND NON-STATE ACTORS

There's no gainsaying that the negative dimensions and the influence of various religions on humanity today is worrisome because most religions if not all, preaches peace, Justice and Equality, yet, same religions are used to fan embers of disunity amongst the people of our world. As seen in the various extremist attacks going on in our contemporary societies. Looking at the rise of various religious sects against one another and the society in general, some disturbing questions come to mind; ''What is the very essence of religion? If religion preaches peace, what then, is the interplay between religion and violence? In an attempt to answer these questions, hence the birth of this research. The research uncovered that the very foundations in which most religions for example Islam and Christianity was built have been perverted over time due to human selfish desires. The research however recommends that there's a need for all State and Non-state Actors to properly trace back to the very essence and foundations on which each religion was built to enhance the culture of religious tolerance amongst various religious sects

EFFECT OF ACESS TO ANTIRETROVIRAL THERAPY ON STIGMA, JIMMA UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL, SOUTHWEST ETHIOPIA

No abstract - Available on PD

A technique for the anatomical study of root parasitism

This article does not have an abstract

Effect of sacubitril/valsartan on recurrent events in the prospective comparison of ARNI with ACEI to determine impact on global mortality and morbidity in heart failure trial (PARADIGM-HF)

Aims: Recurrent hospitalizations are a major part of the disease burden in heart failure (HF), but conventional analyses consider only the first event. We compared the effect of sacubitril/valsartan vs. enalapril on recurrent events, incorporating all HF hospitalizations and cardiovascular (CV) deaths in PARADIGM-HF, using a variety of statistical approaches advocated for this type of analysis. Methods and results: In PARADIGM-HF, a total of 8399 patients were randomized and followed for a median of 27 months. We applied various recurrent event analyses, including a negative binomial model, the Wei, Lin and Weissfeld (WLW), and Lin, Wei, Ying and Yang (LWYY) methods, and a joint frailty model, all adjusted for treatment and region. Among a total of 3181 primary endpoint events (including 1251 CV deaths) during the trial, only 2031 (63.8%) were first events (836 CV deaths). Among a total of 1195 patients with at least one HF hospitalization, 410 (34%) had at least one further HF hospitalization. Sacubitril/valsartan compared with enalapril reduced the risk of recurrent HF hospitalization using the negative binomial model [rate ratio (RR) 0.77, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.67–0.89], the WLW method [hazard ratio (HR) 0.79, 95% CI 0.71–0.89], the LWYY method (RR 0.78, 95% CI 0.68–0.90), and the joint frailty model (HR 0.75, 95% CI 0.66–0.86) (all P < 0.001). The effect of sacubitril/valsartan vs. enalapril on recurrent HF hospitalizations/CV death was similar. Conclusions: In PARADIGM-HF, approximately one third of patients with a primary endpoint (time-to-first) experienced a further event. Compared with enalapril, sacubitril/valsartan reduced both first and recurrent events. The treatment effect size was similar, regardless of the statistical approach applied

The Antecedents Of Process Innovation And Smes Growth: Empirical Evidence From Shoe Manufacturing Sector In The Ashanti Region Of Ghana

This article contributes to the study of process innovation as a growth strategy for SMEs, enriching and complementing the widely held view that innovation in general impacts positively on SMEs productivity and growth. In furtherance, this study looks at the process innovation from three main angles as proposed by the Oslo Manuel, which are new process, improved process, and new and improved distribution. Firm level data were purposively collected from shoes manufacturing companies located in the Ashanti Region of Ghana, where Structural Equation Model were employed in coming out with the path estimates in determining the relationship between the variables. The results indicated that, adoption of new and improved distribution strategy impact positively on the growth of the SMEs, by way of reducing the cost of operations and increases customers’ satisfaction. This was followed by the adoption of improved process strategy, where the productivity saw a massive improvement in the areas of quality and quantity, but there was no significance in the reduction of cost of production, whereas the adoption of new process strategy saw an increase in production, but its associated high cost of production negated the growth, to impact negatively on the growth of the SMEs. Base on the results from the study, our results suggest that adoption of process innovation have significant effect on the performance of the shoes manufacturing, the positive impact is not a wholesale, therefore entrepreneurs should not adopt all process innovation blanketly

Topically applied Tetrapleura tetraptera stem bark extract promotes healing of excision and incision wounds in rats

Objective. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the in vivo wound healing effect of water extract of Tetrapleura tetraptera in stem-bark. Method: The healing activity was studied in 40 male rats using excision and incision wounds on normal and dexamethasone-suppressed wound healing. For each model, rats were divided in 4 groups as follows: control, dexamethasone, T. tetraptera and dexamethasone combined with T. tetraptera. Results: Data recorded exhibited a significant effect by the extract in the epithelialization time within 14 and 18 days of the normal and dexamethasone-induced healing delay rats respectively (p<0.05). The extract also significantly increased the wound tensile strength in dexamethasone treated rats. Histological examination of incision wounds of extract-treated group showed many fibroblasts and the same rats presented significant cutaneous tensile strength, suggesting important collagen crosslinkage. Conclusion: This study illustrated an excellent potential of the bark of T. tetraptera therapy on dermal wound healing with a possible mechanism of action related to epithelialization, contraction and tensile strength improvement

The impact of ozone depleting substances on the circulation, temperature, and salinity of the Southern Ocean: An attribution study with CESM1(WACCM)

Observations show robust changes in the circulation, temperature, and salinity of the Southern Ocean in recent decades. To what extent these changes are related to the formation of the ozone hole in the late twentieth century is an open question. Using a comprehensive chemistry-climate Earth system model, we contrast model runs with varying and with fixed surface concentrations of ozone depleting substances (ODS) from 1955 to 2005. In our model, ODS cause the majority of the summertime changes in surface wind stress which, in turn, induce a clear poleward shift of the ocean's meridional overturning circulation. In addition, more than 30% of the model changes in the temperature and salinity of the Southern Ocean are caused by ODS. These findings offer unambiguous evidence that increased concentrations of ODS in the late twentieth century are likely to have been been an important driver of changes in the Southern Ocean