Tumor pardo en la sínfisis mandibular como primera manifestación clínica de hiperparatiroidismo: diagnóstico y tratamiento

El tumor pardo es una de las lesiones óseas que pueden encontrarse en pacientes con hiperparatiroidismo. Pueden localizarse en cualquier hueso, afectando ocasionalmente al territorio craneo- maxilofacial. Si bien en la mayoría de los casos el diagnóstico de tumor pardo se realiza en pacientes en los que se ha diagnosticado previamente el hiperparatiroidismo, en ocasiones éste puede ser el primer signo de la enfermedad. Presentamos un caso de tumor pardo localizado en la sínfisis mandibular que fue el primer signo clínico de hiperaparatiroidismo secundario a un adenoma paratiroideo hiperfuncionante. Se revisan el diagnóstico diferencial de este tipo de lesiones y sus posibles tratamientos.Brown tumor is one of the lesions that develop in patients with hyperparathyroidism. Any of the squeletal bones can be affected including the cranio-maxillofacial ones. Most of the times the brown tumor appears after a final diagnosis of hyperparathyroidism is made. However brown tumor can be the first clinical sign of the disease. A clinical case in which a brown tumor located in the anterior part of the mandible appears as the first sign of primary hyperparathyroidism is presented. The possible differential clinical diagnosis and the recommended treatments are revised

Laboratory characterization of brick walls rendered with a pervious lime-cement mortar

A laboratory study investigating important thermal retrofitting solutions for simple and double (cavity) brick walls is presented. Test walls were modified using materials of current interest including an external pervious lime-cement mortar render and insulation board prior to evaluation. Laboratory simulations of steady-state winter and summer scenarios were performed using apparatus comprising two opposing climate chambers. Temperature, relative humidity and heat flux rate were monitored with surface sensors every 10?min until stabilization on each wall type, retrofitting solution and climate scenario. The temperature and relative humidity profiles, heat flux, surface temperature difference, thermal conductance, condensation risk and stabilization times were assessed. Comparisons between simple and double (cavity) brick walls showed significant differences and a high condensation risk in the non-ventilated air cavity of the double wall. The pervious lime-cement mortar render enhanced substantially the thermal performance of the single wall although increased the condensation risk of the double (cavity) wall. As expected, the insulation layerreduced the thermal conductance of the wall, although the improvement in a summer scenario was considerably lower than in winter. The different performance observed between winter and summer steady-state conditions emphasized the importance of the heat and mass transfer coupling effect. Therefore, this work proves that effective retrofitting depends on materials, wall layouts and climate conditions. These experimental results provide essential knowledge about assessing the effects of common retrofitting solutions especially under hot-dry summer scenarios.Financial support for this research was provided by the Trainee Research Personnel Mobility Grant (Movilidad PIF-UAH 2015) and Grant for training of Lecturers (FPU-UAH 2013), funded by the University of Alcala

MTBVAC vaccine is safe, immunogenic and confers protective efficacy against Mycobacterium tuberculosis in newborn mice

Development of novel more efficient preventive vaccines against tuberculosis (TB) is crucial to achieve TB eradication by 2050, one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) for the current century. MTBVAC is the first and only live attenuated vaccine based on a human isolate of Mycobacterium tuberculosis developed as BCG-replacement strategy in newborns that has entered first-in-human adult clinical trials. In this work, we characterize the safety, immunogenicity and protective efficacy of MTBVAC in a model of newborn C57/BL6 mice. Our data clearly indicate that MTBVAC is safe for newborn mice, and does not affect animal growth or organ development. In addition, MTBVAC-vaccinated mice at birth showed enhanced immunogenicity and better protection against M. tuberculosis challenge in comparison with BCG

Gene expression profiling en association with prion-related lesions in the medulla oblongata of symptomatic natural scrapie animals.

The pathogenesis of natural scrapie and other prion diseases remains unclear. Examining transcriptome variations in infected versus control animals may highlight new genes potentially involved in some of the molecular mechanisms of prion-induced pathology. The aim of this work was to identify disease-associated alterations in the gene expression profiles of the caudal medulla oblongata (MO) in sheep presenting the symptomatic phase of natural scrapie. The gene expression patterns in the MO from 7 sheep that had been naturally infected with scrapie were compared with 6 controls using a Central Veterinary Institute (CVI) custom designed 4×44K microarray. The microarray consisted of a probe set on the previously sequenced ovine tissue library by CVI and was supplemented with all of the Ovis aries transcripts that are currently publicly available. Over 350 probe sets displayed greater than 2-fold changes in expression. We identified 148 genes from these probes, many of which encode proteins that are involved in the immune response, ion transport, cell adhesion, and transcription. Our results confirm previously published gene expression changes that were observed in murine models with induced scrapie. Moreover, we have identified new genes that exhibit differential expression in scrapie and could be involved in prion neuropathology. Finally, we have investigated the relationship between gene expression profiles and the appearance of the main scrapie-related lesions, including prion protein deposition, gliosis and spongiosis. In this context, the potential impacts of these gene expression changes in the MO on scrapie development are discussed

Endoplasmic reticulum stress and ubiquitin-proteasome system impairment in natural scrapie

Chronic accumulation of misfolded proteins such as PrPSc can alter the endoplasmic reticulum homeostasis triggering the unfolded protein response (UPR). In this pathogenic event, the molecular chaperones play an important role. Several reports in humans and animals have suggested that neurodegeneration is related to endoplasmic reticulum stress in diseases caused by the accumulation of misfolded proteins. In this study, we investigated the expression of three endoplasmic reticulum stress markers: PERK (protein kinase R-like endoplasmic reticulum kinase), BiP (binding immunoglobulin protein), and PDI (Protein Disulfide Isomerase). In addition, we evaluated the accumulation of ubiquitin as a marker for protein degradation mediated by the proteasome. These proteins were studied in brain tissues of sheep affected by scrapie in clinical and preclinical stages of the disease. Results were compared with those observed in healthy controls. Scrapie-infected sheep showed significant higher levels of PERK, BiP/Grp78 and PDI than healthy animals. As we observed before in models of spontaneous prion disease, PDI was the most altered ER stress marker between scrapie-infected and healthy sheep. Significantly increased intraneuronal and neuropil ubiquitinated deposits were observed in certain brain areas in scrapie-affected animals compared to controls. Our results suggest that the neuropathological and neuroinflammatory phenomena that develop in prion diseases cause endoplasmic reticulum stress in brain cells triggering the UPR. In addition, the significantly higher accumulation of ubiquitin aggregates in scrapie-affected animals suggests an impairment of the ubiquitin-proteasome system in natural scrapie. Therefore, these proteins may contribute as biomarkers and/or therapeutic targets for prion diseases

Study of urgent visits to commercial rabbit farms in Spain and Portugal during 1997-2007

[EN] This is a report on work carried out on 4307 visits to 868 commercial farms with domestic rabbits in Spain and Portugal from January 1997 to December 2007. Of the total visits, 2237 (52%) were emergencies on 660 farms. The median size of the farms ranged between 450 does in 1997 and 750 in 2007. This retrospective study measures the clinical disease occurrence using the Monthly Risk of urgent visits (MR), i.e. the percentage of visits made as a result of each clinical disease in comparison with the total number of urgent visits made each month. The main reasons for the emergencies were mucoid enteropathy (similar to Epizootic Rabbit Enteropathy), with a MR: 25.0%, enteritis-diarrhoea (24.1%), myxomatosis, (11.1%), reproductive troubles (8.6%), respiratory diseases (7.2%) and staphylococcosis (4.2%). Fifty-four percent of the urgent visits were due to diseases of the digestive system. Mucoid enteropathy was still one of the main diseases faced by the commercial rabbit industry during the study period. No significant yearly or monthly variations were observed in the analysis of the MR. A seasonal effect was only found in respiratory diseases during the summer (MR: 11.06±0.01) and myxomatosis in autumn (MR: 14.60±0.02), in comparison with spring (MR: 7.44±0.02). It is therefore concluded that farms should be permanently protected as they might be affected by any of these diseases at any time during the year.Rosell, J.; Fuente, LDL.; Badiola, J.; Fernández De Luco, D.; Casal, J.; Saco, M. (2009). Study of urgent visits to commercial rabbit farms in Spain and Portugal during 1997-2007. World Rabbit Science. 17(3):127-136. doi:10.4995/wrs.2009.65212713617

Recruited macrophages that colonize the post-inflammatory peritoneal niche convert into functionally divergent resident cells

Inflammation generally leads to recruitment of monocyte-derived macrophages. What regulates the fate of these cells and to what extent they can assume the identity and function of resident macrophages is unclear. Here, we show that macrophages elicited into the peritoneal cavity during mild inflammation persist long-term but are retained in an immature transitory state of differentiation due to the presence of enduring resident macrophages. By contrast, severe inflammation results in ablation of resident macrophages and a protracted phase wherein the cavity is incapable of sustaining a resident phenotype, yet ultimately elicited cells acquire a mature resident identity. These macrophages also have transcriptionally and functionally divergent features that result from inflammation-driven alterations to the peritoneal cavity micro-environment and, to a lesser extent, effects of origin and time-of-residency. Hence, rather than being predetermined, the fate of inflammation-elicited peritoneal macrophages seems to be regulated by the environment