Pseudoappendicitis: abdominal pain arising from thoracic spine dysfunction—a forgotten entity and a reminder of an important clinical lesson

Acute or chronic abdominal pain can be mimicked by thoracic spine dysfunction. However, it is comparatively rare and there is frequently a delay in its diagnosis that may lead to unnecessary surgery, or the patient's symptoms being undiagnosed or labelled psychosomatic. The failure to associate thoracic spine dysfunction with abdominal pain persists, despite it being first recognised over 80 years ago. 2 recent such cases are presented. The clinical presentation and diagnostic tests are described, with clear explanation of the treatment and outcome. The case for including the thoracic spine examination in the assessment of patients presenting with acute abdominal or postappendectomy pain that is of unexplained origin is made

Elemental concentrations in the seed of mutants and natural variants of Arabidopsis thaliana grown under varying soil conditions

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

IL-26 Is Overexpressed in Rheumatoid Arthritis and Induces Proinflammatory Cytokine Production and Th17 Cell Generation

Interleukin-26 (IL-26), a member of the IL-10 cytokine family, induces the production of proinflammatory cytokines by epithelial cells. IL-26 has been also reported overexpressed in Crohn\u27s disease, suggesting that it may be involved in the physiopathology of chronic inflammatory disorders. Here, we have analyzed the expression and role of IL-26 in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a chronic inflammatory disorder characterized by joint synovial inflammation. We report that the concentrations of IL-26 are higher in the serums of RA patients than of healthy subjects and dramatically elevated in RA synovial fluids compared to RA serums. Immunohistochemistry reveals that synoviolin+ fibroblast-like synoviocytes and CD68+ macrophage-like synoviocytes are the main IL-26-producing cells in RA joints. Fibroblast-like synoviocytes from RA patients constitutively produce IL-26 and this production is upregulated by IL-1-beta and IL-17A. We have therefore investigated the role of IL-26 in the inflammatory process. Results show that IL-26 induces the production of the proinflammatory cytokines IL-1-beta, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha by human monocytes and also upregulates the expression of numerous chemokines (mainly CCL20). Interestingly, IL-26-stimulated monocytes selectively promote the generation of RORgamma t+ Th17 cells, through IL-1-beta secretion by monocytes. More precisely, IL-26-stimulated monocytes switch non-Th17 committed (IL-23R− or CCR6− CD161−) CD4+ memory T cells into Th17 cells. Finally, synovial fluids from RA patients also induce Th17 cell generation and this effect is reduced after IL-26 depletion. These findings show that IL-26 is constitutively produced by RA synoviocytes, induces proinflammatory cytokine secretion by myeloid cells, and favors Th17 cell generation. IL-26 thereby appears as a novel proinflammatory cytokine, located upstream of the proinflammatory cascade, that may constitute a promising target to treat RA and chronic inflammatory disorders

Izolacija bioaktivnih flavonoida iz biljke Jacaranda obtusifolia H. B. K. ssp. rhombifolia (G. F. W. Meijer) Gentry

The paper describes the bioassay-guided isolation, structure elucidation and anticancer evaluation of five flavonoids ()-liquiritigenin (1), ()-neoliquiritin (2), isoliquiritigenin (3), isoliquiritin (4) and formononetin (5) from the twigs of Jacaranda obtusifolia H. B. K. ssp. rhombifolia (G. F. W. Meijer) Gentry. The structures were elucidated based on 1H, 13C NMR, comprehensive 2D NMR, MS analyses and comparison with previously reported spectral data. Compounds 1 and 3 were demonstrated to be inhibitory in vitro against NCI-H187 (small cell lung cancer) with IC50 values of 30.1 and 16.6 µg mL1, respectively. The isolates were non-cytotoxic to Vero cells (African green monkey kidney).U radu je opisana izolacija, određivanje strukture i antitumorsko djelovanje pet flavonoida: ()-likviritigenina (1), ()-neolikviritina (2), izolikviritigenina (3), izolikviritina (4) i formononetina (5) iz plodova biljke Jacaranda obtusifolia H. B. K. ssp. rhombifolia (G. F. W. Meijer) Gentry. Strukture su određene na temelju 1H, 13C NMR, 2D NMR, MS i usporedbom s ranije objavljenim spektroskopskim podacima. Spojevi 1 i 3 imaju inhibitorni učinak in vitro na tumorsku staničnu liniju raka pluća NCI-H187 (IC50 vrijednost 30,1, odnosno 16,6 µg mL1). Izolirani flavonoidi nisu citotoksični za Vero stanice (bubrežne stanice afričkog zelenog majmuna)

On the characterization of the heterogeneous mechanical response of human brain tissue

The mechanical characterization of brain tissue is a complex task that scientists have tried to accomplish for over 50 years. The results in the literature often differ by orders of magnitude because of the lack of a standard testing protocol. Different testing conditions (including humidity, temperature, strain rate), the methodology adopted, and the variety of the species analysed are all potential sources of discrepancies in the measurements. In this work, we present a rigorous experimental investigation on the mechanical properties of human brain, covering both grey and white matter. The influence of testing conditions is also shown and thoroughly discussed. The material characterization performed is finally adopted to provide inputs to a mathematical formulation suitable for numerical simulations of brain deformation during surgical procedures.</p

AN EXPERT SYSIEM FOR INDICATIONS &amp; WARNING ANALYSIS

An expert system was constructed to aid the military intelligence analyst in performing the Indications &amp; Warning task: assimilating hundreds of incoming reports, and predicting where and when an armed conflict might erupt next The system currently contains 60 condition/action rules and 170 other frames that deal with the sorts of objects and processes that are being reported on. It employs a two-dimensional Blackboard to accomodate reports from very different sources, to efficiently trigger relevant rules, and to keep the human analyst abreast of the situation. In the process of building this system, and testing it with professional analysts, * we were led to some nonstandard design decisions which may be of general Al interest

Sentencia Numero 80 de Junio 25 de 1934

Dirtada por la sala de lo civil y de lo contencioso-Administrativo del Tribunal Supremo en relacion con los bonos del mercado unico y la ley de moratoria hipoterariahttps://ecollections.law.fiu.edu/diaz-cruz-pamphlets/1319/thumbnail.jp