Toxoplasma antibodies amongst HIV/AIDS patients attending the University Teaching Hospital Yaounde in Cameroon

Toxoplasmosis is caused by an obligatory intracellular protozoon. It causes a wide range of diseases with toxoplasma encephalitis commonly encountered in HIV/AIDS patients. This work was carried out to determine the seroprevalence of toxoplasma antibodies (IgM and IgG) in HIV/AIDS patients attending the Yaoundé University Teaching Hospital (UTH) in Cameroon. Sera were collected from 133 HIV/AIDS patients at the out-patient department and the ELISA technique was employed serologically to determine toxoplasma antibodies. Of the 133 patients 83 (62.4%) were females and 59 (37.6%) were males; ninety three (69.9%) were positive for toxoplasma antibodies. Fourteen (10.8%) of the 93 of seropositive patients presented with both IgG and IgM-antibodies in their sera while fifty six (42.1%) and 8 (6.0%) were only sero-positive for toxoplasma IgG or IgM-antibody respectively This rate of infection was not dependent on the patient’s sex or age (X2=11.49, P>0.05). The data provides enough evidence to conclude that 64.7% of the positive cases were due to reactivated infection.Key words: Toxoplasmosis, HIV/AIDS, Pregnancy, Risk factors, Prevalence, Yaounde, Cameroon.doi: 10.4314/ajcem.v12i3.

Heterogenous expression of beta-catenin, p16, e-cadherin, and c-myc in multi-stage colorectal carcinogenesis detected by tissue microarray

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Oncogenic role of clusterin overexpression in multistage colorectal tumorigenesis and progression

Aim: To investigate the expression pattern of clusterin in colorectal adenoma-carcinoma-metastasis series, and to explore the potential role of clustelin in multistage colorectal tumorigenesis and progression. Methods: A colorectal carcinoma (CRC)-tissue microarray (TMA), which contained 85 advanced CRCs including 43 cases of Dukes B, 21 of Dukes C and 21 of Dukes D tumors, were used for assessing the expression of clusterin (clone 41D) and tumor cell apoptotic index (AI) by immunohistochemistry and TUNEL assay, respectively. Moreover the potential correlation of clusterin expression with the patient's clinical-pathological features were also examined. Results: The positive staining of clusterin in different colorectal tissues was primarily a cytoplasmic pattern. Cytoplasmic overexpression of clusterin was detected in none of the normal colorectal mucosa, 17% of the adenomas, 46% of the primary CRCs, and 57% of the CRC metastatic lesions. In addition, a significant positive correlation between overexpression of clusterin and advanced clinical (Dukes) stage was observed (P<0.01). Overexpression of cytoplasmic clusterin in CRCs was inversely correlated with tumor apoptotic index (P<0.01), indicating the anti-apoptotic function of cytoplasmic clusterin in CRCs. Conclusion: These data suggests that overexpression of cytoplasmic clusterin might be involved in the tumorigenesis and/or progression of CRCs. The anti-apoptotic function of cytoplasmic clusterin may be responsible, at least in part, for the development and biologically aggressive behavior of CRC. © 2005 The WJG Press and Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.published_or_final_versio

Use of the SAW sensor electronic nose for detecting the adulteration of virgin coconut oil with RBD palm kernel olein.

An electronic nose (zNose™) was applied to the detection of adulteration of virgin coconut oil. The system, which is based on a surface acoustic wave sensor was used to generate a pattern of volatile compounds present in the samples. Virgin coconut oil was mixed with refined, bleached and deodorized palm kernel olein at a level of adulteration from 1 to 20% (wt/wt). Adulterant peaks were identified from the chromatogram profile and fitted to a curve using linear regression. The best relationship (R 2 = 0.91) was obtained between the peak tentatively identified as methyl dodecanoate and the percentage of palm kernel olein added. Pearson’s correlation coefficients (r) of 0.92 and 0.89 were obtained between adulterant peak methyl dodecanoate and of the iodine and peroxide values, respectively. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to differentiate between pure and adulterated samples. The PCA provided good differentiation of samples with 74% of the variation accounted for by PC 1 and 17% accounted for by PC 2. Pure samples formed a separate cluster from all of the adulterated samples

Therapeutic DNA vaccine induces broad T cell responses in the gut and sustained protection from viral rebound and AIDS in SIV-infected rhesus macaques.

Immunotherapies that induce durable immune control of chronic HIV infection may eliminate the need for life-long dependence on drugs. We investigated a DNA vaccine formulated with a novel genetic adjuvant that stimulates immune responses in the blood and gut for the ability to improve therapy in rhesus macaques chronically infected with SIV. Using the SIV-macaque model for AIDS, we show that epidermal co-delivery of plasmids expressing SIV Gag, RT, Nef and Env, and the mucosal adjuvant, heat-labile E. coli enterotoxin (LT), during antiretroviral therapy (ART) induced a substantial 2-4-log fold reduction in mean virus burden in both the gut and blood when compared to unvaccinated controls and provided durable protection from viral rebound and disease progression after the drug was discontinued. This effect was associated with significant increases in IFN-γ T cell responses in both the blood and gut and SIV-specific CD8+ T cells with dual TNF-α and cytolytic effector functions in the blood. Importantly, a broader specificity in the T cell response seen in the gut, but not the blood, significantly correlated with a reduction in virus production in mucosal tissues and a lower virus burden in plasma. We conclude that immunizing with vaccines that induce immune responses in mucosal gut tissue could reduce residual viral reservoirs during drug therapy and improve long-term treatment of HIV infection in humans

Molecular Cloning of a New Immunomodulatory Protein from Anoectochilus formosanus which Induces B Cell IgM Secretion through a T-Independent Mechanism

An immunomodulatory protein (IPAF) was purified and cloned from Anoectochilus formosanus, an Orchidaceae herbal plant in Asia. The major targeting immune cells of IPAF and its modulating effects toward B lymphocytes were investigated. Rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) was conducted to clone the IPAF gene, and the obtained sequence was BLAST compared on the NCBI database. MACS-purified mouse T and B lymphocytes were stimulated with IPAF and the cell proliferation, activation, and Igs production were examined. IPAF comprised a 25 amino acids signal peptide and a 138 amino acids protein which was homologous to the lectins from Orchidaceae plant. IPAF selectively induced the cell proliferation in mouse splenic B lymphocytes but not T lymphocytes. The IPAF-induced B cells exhibited increased CD69 and MHC class II expression, and a dose- and time-dependent enhancement in IgM production. These results suggested potential benefits of IPAF to strengthen the humoral immunity

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente

Phyllanthus spp. Induces Selective Growth Inhibition of PC-3 and MeWo Human Cancer Cells through Modulation of Cell Cycle and Induction of Apoptosis

BACKGROUND: Phyllanthus is a traditional medicinal plant that has been used in the treatment of many diseases including hepatitis and diabetes. The main aim of the present work was to investigate the potential cytotoxic effects of aqueous and methanolic extracts of four Phyllanthus species (P.amarus, P.niruri, P.urinaria and P.watsonii) against skin melanoma and prostate cancer cells. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Phyllanthus plant appears to possess cytotoxic properties with half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC(50)) values of 150-300 µg/ml for aqueous extract and 50-150 µg/ml for methanolic extract that were determined using the MTS reduction assay. In comparison, the plant extracts did not show any significant cytotoxicity on normal human skin (CCD-1127Sk) and prostate (RWPE-1) cells. The extracts appeared to act by causing the formation of a clear "ladder" fragmentation of apoptotic DNA on agarose gel, displayed TUNEL-positive cells with an elevation of caspase-3 and -7 activities. The Lactate Dehydrogenase (LDH) level was lower than 15% in Phyllanthus treated-cancer cells. These indicate that Phyllanthus extracts have the ability to induce apoptosis with minimal necrotic effects. Furthermore, cell cycle analysis revealed that Phyllanthus induced a Go/G1-phase arrest on PC-3 cells and a S-phase arrest on MeWo cells and these were accompanied by accumulation of cells in the Sub-G1 (apoptosis) phase. The cytotoxic properties may be due to the presence of polyphenol compounds such as ellagitannins, gallotannins, flavonoids and phenolic acids found both in the water and methanol extract of the plants. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Phyllanthus plant exerts its growth inhibition effect in a selective manner towards cancer cells through the modulation of cell cycle and induction of apoptosis via caspases activation in melanoma and prostate cancer cells. Hence, Phyllanthus may be sourced for the development of a potent apoptosis-inducing anticancer agent

Corneal Epithelium Expresses a Variant of P2X7 Receptor in Health and Disease

Improper wound repair of the corneal epithelium can alter refraction of light resulting in impaired vision. We have shown that ATP is released after injury, activates purinergic receptor signaling pathways and plays a major role in wound closure. In many cells or tissues, ATP activates P2X7 receptors leading to cation fluxes and cytotoxicity. The corneal epithelium is an excellent model to study the expression of both the full-length P2X7 form (defined as the canonical receptor) and its truncated forms. When Ca2+ mobilization is induced by BzATP, a P2X7 agonist, it is attenuated in the presence of extracellular Mg2+ or Zn2+, negligible in the absence of extracellular Ca2+, and inhibited by the competitive P2X7 receptor inhibitor, A438079. BzATP enhanced phosphorylation of ERK. Together these responses indicate the presence of a canonical or full-length P2X7 receptor. In addition BzATP enhanced epithelial cell migration, and transfection with siRNA to the P2X7 receptor reduced cell migration. Furthermore, sustained activation did not induce dye uptake indicating the presence of truncated or variant forms that lack the ability to form large pores. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and Northern blot analysis revealed a P2X7 splice variant. Western blots identified a full-length and truncated form, and the expression pattern changed as cultures progressed from monolayer to stratified. Cross-linking gels demonstrated the presence of homo- and heterotrimers. We examined epithelium from age matched diabetic and non-diabetic corneas patients and detected a 4-fold increase in P2X7 mRNA from diabetic corneal epithelium compared to non-diabetic controls and an increased trend in expression of P2X7variant mRNA. Taken together, these data indicate that corneal epithelial cells express full-length and truncated forms of P2X7, which ultimately allows P2X7 to function as a multifaceted receptor that can mediate cell proliferation and migration or cell death

Changing Domesticity of Aedes aegypti in Northern Peninsular Malaysia: Reproductive Consequences and Potential Epidemiological Implications

BACKGROUND: The domestic dengue vector Aedes aegypti mosquitoes breed in indoor containers. However, in northern peninsular Malaysia, they show equal preference for breeding in both indoor and outdoor habitats. To evaluate the epidemiological implications of this peridomestic adaptation, we examined whether Ae. aegypti exhibits decreased survival, gonotrophic activity, and fecundity due to lack of host availability and the changing breeding behavior. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: This yearlong field surveillance identified Ae. aegypti breeding in outdoor containers on an enormous scale. Through a sequence of experiments incorporating outdoors and indoors adapting as well as adapted populations, we observed that indoors provided better environment for the survival of Ae. aegypti and the observed death patterns could be explained on the basis of a difference in body size. The duration of gonotrophic period was much shorter in large-bodied females. Fecundity tended to be greater in indoor acclimated females. We also found increased tendency to multiple feeding in outdoors adapted females, which were smaller in size compared to their outdoors breeding counterparts. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: The data presented here suggest that acclimatization of Ae. aegypti to the outdoor environment may not decrease its lifespan or gonotrophic activity but rather increase breeding opportunities (increased number of discarded containers outdoors), the rate of larval development, but small body sizes at emergence. Size is likely to be correlated with disease transmission. In general, small size in Aedes females will favor increased blood-feeding frequency resulting in higher population sizes and disease occurrence