Serum Concentrations of Eosinophil Cationic Protein and Eosinophils of Patients with Kimura's Disease

ABSTRACTBackground: To clarify the role of eosinophils in the pathogenesis of Kimura's disease and the values of measuring serum levels of eosinophil cationic protein (ECP) for monitoring disease activity might be very important, but there are few reports about this matter.Methods: A total 14 serum and 7 tissue samples from patients with Kimura's disease were studied. The concentrations of ECP and cytokines (interleukin-4 (IL-4), granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), and interleukin 5 (IL-5)) in sera from patients with Kimura's disease were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The density of eosinophils and the degree of activation of eosinophils in the tissue were also studied immunohistochemically.Results: The concentration of ECP in sera from patients with Kimura's disease was significantly higher than that in the control group (p<0.05). At the time of the remission, a significant decrease of ECP was observed. In interfollicular areas, most infiltrated eosinophils were positive for EG2 antibody (64.0-94.0%) and the mean percentage of EG2-positive eosinophils was 75.7%. The concentrations of IL-4, gM-CSF, and IL-5 in sera from patients with Kimura's disease were within normal ranges or below the detectable level in all sera examined.Conclusions: Our findings suggest that eosinophils play an important role in the pathogenesis of Kimura's disease and ECP may be used as an additional parameter of disease activity

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements

Regulation of microRNA expression in humans following ingestion of the whole food FFC® Pairogen – A preliminary, pilot study

Background: Some natural substances may affect the expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) in humans. However, it is unclear whether this effect can be induced by the ingestion of whole foods containing these natural substances. Objective: We investigated whether ingestion of the whole food FFC® Pairogen affects the expression of miRNAs in humans. Design: This was a pilot study and part of a randomized controlled trial. Four subjects ingested the test material daily for 8 weeks (three times 180 ml bottles a day, morning, noon and evening; a total of 540 ml per day). The study did not include control subjects. Results: Several miRNAs showed differential expression. The expression of two miRNAs, hsa-let-7c and hsa-miR-92a-2-5p, changed in three of the four subjects, who had lower concentration of serum total antioxidant status. The expression of hsa-let-7c increased and that of hsa-miR-92a-2-5p decreased. Conclusions: The expression of hsa-let-7c and hsa-miR-92a-2-5p has been linked with lung cancer manifestation. The increased expression of hsa-let-7c and the decreased expression of hsa-miR-92a-2-5p suggest possible oncogene suppressive functions of these miRNAs. The ingestion of FFC® Pairogen may have a positive effect on cancer prevention