A Rare Case of Hip Pain Secondary to Pigmented Villonodular Synovitis

A 19-year-old Asian male presented to our emergency department with atraumatic right hip pain radiating to the right groin associated with pain on ambulation. Magnetic resonance imaging of the right hip with and without contrast revealed the diagnosis. Pigmented villonodular synovitis is a rare, monoarticular benign tumor originating from the synovium of the joint. The treatment is synovectomy of the pathological joint to prevent further disease progression

Učinkovitost biljnih dodataka prehrani na svojstva trupa, masnokiselinski sastav i kvalitetu mesa tovnih pilića

The present investigation was carried out to determine the effect of two herbal formulations, AV/LMP/10 (T1) (garlic, Allium sativum) and AV/HLP/16 (T2) (mixture of gugal, Commiphora mukul and fenugreek, Trigonella foenum-graecum with 50:50%), on the carcass characteristics, proximate composition, lipid profile including fatty acids, and meat quality attributes in Vencobb 400 broiler chickens. Broilers fed with the AV/HLP/16 (T2) formulation had significantly (P<0.05) superior carcass characteristics in terms of pre-slaughter weight, head, neck, shank, skin, stomach, intestine, giblet, and wholesale cut yield than the control and broilers supplemented with AV/LMP/10 (T1). Meat obtained from the broilers fed with the T2 formulation had a significantly (P<0.01) higher dressing percentage and lean percentage than the control broilers and the T1 supplemented broilers. Meat obtained from the broilers fed with the T2 formulation had significantly (P<0.01) higher moisture and protein content, and lower fat content than the control birds. Meat obtained from the broilers fed with the T2 formulations had significantly (P<0.01) lower triglycerides and higher phospholipids and cholesterol content than meat obtained from the control birds. A significant (P<0.01) increase was observed in the myristic, palmitic, oleic, palmitoleic, linoleic and behenic acid percentages, and a decrease in the stearic acid percentage in meat obtained from the broilers fed with the T2 formulation. Addition of the T2 formulation significantly (P<0.01) improved the physico-chemical quality and sensory scores of the chicken meat. The results of this study revealed that addition of herbal formulations had a significant effect on the carcass characteristics, proximate composition, fatty acid profile and meat quality attributes in comparison with the control birds.Ovo je istraživanje provedeno kako bi se ustanovio učinak dviju biljnih formulacija, AV/LMP/10 (skupina T1) (češnjak, Allium sativum) i AV/HLP/16 (skupina T2) (mješavina dobivena od stabla smirne mukul (Commiphora mukul) i piskavice (Trigonella foenum-graecum) u omjeru 50 : 50 %) na svojstva trupa, kemijski sastav - uključujući lipidni status i masnokiselinski sastav te kvalitetu mesa Vencobb 400 tovnih pilića. U odnosu na piliće kontrolne skupine i onih hranjenih formulacijom AV/LMP/10 (T1), pilići hranjeni formulacijom AV/HLP/16 (T2) imali su znakovito (P<0,05) kvalitetnija svojstva trupa s obzirom na tjelesnu masu prije usmrćivanja te dijelove trupa kao što su glava, vrat, bataci, koža, organi trbušne šupljine, crijeva, iznutrice i veleprodajni komadi pilića. Tovni pilići u skupini T2 imali su znakovito veći (P<0,01) postotak mesa od kontrolne skupine i skupine T1. Meso pilića iz skupine T2 imalo je znakovito veći (P<0,01) sadržaj vode i proteina te manji sadržaj masti od pilića u kontrolnoj skupini. Meso tovnih pilića u skupini T2 imalo je znakovito manje vrijednosti (P<0,01) triglicerida i veće vrijednosti fosfolipida i kolesterola nego meso pilića u kontrolnoj skupini. Znakovit je bio porast (P<0,01) postotka miristinske, palmitinske, oleinske, palmitoleinske, linoleinske i behenske kiseline te smanjenje vrijednosti stearinske kiseline u mesu tovnih pilića iz skupine T2. Dodatak biljne formulacije u skupini T2 znakovito je poboljšao (P<0,01) fizikalno-kemijska i senzorička svojstva mesa tovnih pilića. Rezultati ovog istraživanja pokazali su da dodatak biljnih formulacija prehrani tovnih pilića znakovito utječe na svojstva trupa, kemijski - uključujući lipidni i masnokiselinski sastav te kvalitetu mesa pilića u odnosu na kontrolnu skupinu

High monocytic MDSC signature predicts multi-drug resistance and cancer relapse in non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients treated with R-CHOP

IntroductionNon-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL) is a heterogeneous lymphoproliferative malignancy with B cell origin. Combinatorial treatment of rituximab, cyclophsphamide, hydroxydaunorubicin, oncovin, prednisone (R-CHOP) is the standard treatment regimen for NHL, yielding a complete remission (CR) rate of 40-50%. Unfortunately, considerable patients undergo relapse after CR or initial treatment, resulting in poor clinical implications. Patient’s response to chemotherapy varies widely from static disease to cancer recurrence and later is primarily associated with the development of multi-drug resistance (MDR). The immunosuppressive cells within the tumor microenvironment (TME) have become a crucial target for improving the therapy efficacy. However, a better understanding of their involvement is needed for distinctive response of NHL patients after receiving chemotherapy to design more effective front-line treatment algorithms based on reliable predictive biomarkers.MethodsPeripheral blood from 61 CD20+ NHL patients before and after chemotherapy was utilized for immunophenotyping by flow-cytometry at different phases of treatment. In-vivo and in-vitro doxorubicin (Dox) resistance models were developed with murine Dalton’s lymphoma and Jurkat/Raji cell-lines respectively and impact of responsible immune cells on generation of drug resistance was studied by RT-PCR, flow-cytometry and colorimetric assays. Gene silencing, ChIP and western blot were performed to explore the involved signaling pathways.ResultsWe observed a strong positive correlation between elevated level of CD33+CD11b+CD14+CD15- monocytic MDSCs (M-MDSC) and MDR in NHL relapse cohorts. We executed the role of M-MDSCs in fostering drug resistance phenomenon in doxorubicin-resistant cancer cells in both in-vitro, in-vivo models. Moreover, in-vitro supplementation of MDSCs in murine and human lymphoma culture augments early expression of MDR phenotypes than culture without MDSCs, correlated well with in-vitro drug efflux and tumor progression. We found that MDSC secreted cytokines IL-6, IL-10, IL-1β are the dominant factors elevating MDR expression in cancer cells, neutralization of MDSC secreted IL-6, IL-10, IL-1β reversed the MDR trait. Moreover, we identified MDSC secreted IL-6/IL-10/IL-1β induced STAT1/STAT3/NF-κβ signaling axis as a targeted cascade to promote early drug resistance in cancer cells.ConclusionOur data suggests that screening patients for high titre of M-MDSCs might be considered as a new potential biomarker and treatment modality in overcoming chemo-resistance in NHL patients

Search for gravitational-lensing signatures in the full third observing run of the LIGO-Virgo network

Gravitational lensing by massive objects along the line of sight to the source causes distortions of gravitational wave-signals; such distortions may reveal information about fundamental physics, cosmology and astrophysics. In this work, we have extended the search for lensing signatures to all binary black hole events from the third observing run of the LIGO--Virgo network. We search for repeated signals from strong lensing by 1) performing targeted searches for subthreshold signals, 2) calculating the degree of overlap amongst the intrinsic parameters and sky location of pairs of signals, 3) comparing the similarities of the spectrograms amongst pairs of signals, and 4) performing dual-signal Bayesian analysis that takes into account selection effects and astrophysical knowledge. We also search for distortions to the gravitational waveform caused by 1) frequency-independent phase shifts in strongly lensed images, and 2) frequency-dependent modulation of the amplitude and phase due to point masses. None of these searches yields significant evidence for lensing. Finally, we use the non-detection of gravitational-wave lensing to constrain the lensing rate based on the latest merger-rate estimates and the fraction of dark matter composed of compact objects

Homology modeling and functional annotation of bubaline pregnancy associated glycoprotein 2

Abstract Background Pregnancy associated glycoproteins form a diverse family of glycoproteins that are variably expressed at different stages of gestation. They are probably involved in immunosuppression of the dam against the feto-maternal placentome. The presence of the products of binucleate cells in maternal circulation has also been correlated with placentogenesis and placental re-modeling. The exact structure and function of the gene product is unknown due to limitations on obtaining purified pregnancy associated glycoprotein preparations. Results Our study describes an in silico derived 3D model for bubaline pregnancy associated glycoprotein 2. Structure-activity features of the protein were characterized, and functional studies predict bubaline pregnancy associated glycoprotein 2 as an inducible, extra-cellular, non-essential, N-glycosylated, aspartic pro-endopeptidase that is involved in down-regulation of complement pathway and immunity during pregnancy. The protein is also predicted to be involved in nutritional processes, and apoptotic processes underlying fetal morphogenesis and re-modeling of feto-maternal tissues. Conclusion The structural and functional annotation of buPAG2 shall allow the designing of mutants and inhibitors for dissection of the exact physiological role of the protein.</p

A Rare Case of Hip Pain Secondary to Pigmented Villonodular Synovitis

A 19-year-old Asian male presented to our emergency department with atraumatic right hip pain radiating to the right groin associated with pain on ambulation. Magnetic resonance imaging of the right hip with and without contrast revealed the diagnosis. Pigmented villonodular synovitis is a rare, monoarticular benign tumor originating from the synovium of the joint. The treatment is synovectomy of the pathological joint to prevent further disease progression

Macrophage - T cell interaction in experimental mycobacterial infection. Selective regulation of co-stimulatory molecules on Mycobacterium- infected macrophages and its implication in the suppression of cell-mediated immune response

The most important immunopathological consequence of experimental mycobacterial infection is the suppression of T cell-mediated immune response to both mitogens and mycobacterial antigens. We registered that there was decreased concanavalin A-induced spleen cell proliferation in infected susceptible BALB/c mice as compared to normal mice. In resistant (C3H/HeJ) mice, infection with the bacteria did not induce any suppression in the mitogen-induced lymphoproliferation. Likewise, delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) responses, to keyhole limpet hemocyanin and mycobacterial crude soluble antigen were suppressed in infected BALB/c mice but not in C3H/HeJ mice. This depressed T helper cell function may either be due to defective T cell-receptor occupancy by antigen-Ia complex or altered co-stimulatory signals provided by antigen-presenting cells. In the present study, we have investigated the status of certain co-stimulatory molecules on the infected macrophages from both susceptible and resistant mice. Our results demonstrate that upon mycobacterial infection, the macrophages are rendered incapable of delivering the co-stimulatory signals to T helper cells, possibly due to the involvement of prostaglandin, as inhibition of its biosynthesis by indomethacin reversed the defect. Furthermore, the selective regulation was bacteria-induced as killing of the bacteria by rifampicin abrogated the derangements in the expression of co-stimulatory molecules on the Mycobacterium-infected macrophages. Our observations revealed that upon infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, B7 was down-regulated while ICAM-1 was increased only in BALB/c but not in C3H/HeJ mice. Expression of VCAM-1 did not change during the infection in either strain of mice. We found that these changes in ICAM-1 and B7 expression on the surface of infected macrophages resulted in inhibition of DTH-mediating functions of T helper cells from BALB/c mice. The results obtained in this study describe not only a novel immune evasion strategy adopted by Mycobacterium, but also open up the possibility of immunotherapy of mycobacterial infection by selective manipulation of co-stimulatory molecules