Patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS): a systematic review of anatomy and potential risk factors

Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome (PFPS), a common cause of anterior knee pain, is successfully treated in over 2/3 of patients through rehabilitation protocols designed to reduce pain and return function to the individual. Applying preventive medicine strategies, the majority of cases of PFPS may be avoided if a pre-diagnosis can be made by clinician or certified athletic trainer testing the current researched potential risk factors during a Preparticipation Screening Evaluation (PPSE). We provide a detailed and comprehensive review of the soft tissue, arterial system, and innervation to the patellofemoral joint in order to supply the clinician with the knowledge required to assess the anatomy and make recommendations to patients identified as potentially at risk. The purpose of this article is to review knee anatomy and the literature regarding potential risk factors associated with patellofemoral pain syndrome and prehabilitation strategies. A comprehensive review of knee anatomy will present the relationships of arterial collateralization, innervations, and soft tissue alignment to the possible multifactoral mechanism involved in PFPS, while attempting to advocate future use of different treatments aimed at non-soft tissue causes of PFPS

The Functions of Mediator in Candida albicans Support a Role in Shaping Species-Specific Gene Expression

The Mediator complex is an essential co-regulator of RNA polymerase II that is conserved throughout eukaryotes. Here we present the first study of Mediator in the pathogenic fungus Candida albicans. We focused on the Middle domain subunit Med31, the Head domain subunit Med20, and Srb9/Med13 from the Kinase domain. The C. albicans Mediator shares some roles with model yeasts Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Schizosaccharomyces pombe, such as functions in the response to certain stresses and the role of Med31 in the expression of genes regulated by the activator Ace2. The C. albicans Mediator also has additional roles in the transcription of genes associated with virulence, for example genes related to morphogenesis and gene families enriched in pathogens, such as the ALS adhesins. Consistently, Med31, Med20, and Srb9/Med13 contribute to key virulence attributes of C. albicans, filamentation, and biofilm formation; and ALS1 is a biologically relevant target of Med31 for development of biofilms. Furthermore, Med31 affects virulence of C. albicans in the worm infection model. We present evidence that the roles of Med31 and Srb9/Med13 in the expression of the genes encoding cell wall adhesins are different between S. cerevisiae and C. albicans: they are repressors of the FLO genes in S. cerevisiae and are activators of the ALS genes in C. albicans. This suggests that Mediator subunits regulate adhesion in a distinct manner between these two distantly related fungal species

Transmission-Blocking Vaccines: Focus on Anti-Vector Vaccines against Tick-Borne Diseases

Tick-borne diseases are a potential threat that account for significant morbidity and mortality in human population worldwide. Vaccines are not available to treat several of the tick-borne diseases. With the emergence and resurgence of several tick-borne diseases, emphasis on the development of transmission-blocking vaccines remains increasing. In this review, we provide a snap shot on some of the potential candidates for the development of anti-vector vaccines (a form of transmission-blocking vaccines) against wide range of hard and soft ticks that include Ixodes, Haemaphysalis, Dermacentor, Amblyomma, Rhipicephalus and Ornithodoros species

Enrichment, isolation and characterisation of ruminal bacteria that degrade non-protein amino acids from the tropical legume Acacia angustissima

Acacia angustissima has been proposed as a protein supplement in countries where low quality forages predominate. A number of non-protein amino acids have been identified in the leaves of A. angustissima and these have been linked to toxicity in ruminants. The non-protein amino acid 4-n-acetyl-2,4-diaminobutyric acid (ADAB) has been shown to be the major amino acid in the leaves of A. angustissima. The current study aimed to identify micro-organisms from the rumen environment capable of degrading ADAB by using a defined rumen-simulating media with an amino acid extract from A. angustissima. A mixed enrichment culture was obtained that exhibited substantial ADAB-degrading ability. Attempts to isolate an ADAB-degrading micro-organism were carried out, however no isolates were able to degrade ADAB in pure culture. This enrichment culture was also able to degrade the non-protein amino acids diaminobutyric acid (DABA) and diaminopropionic acid (DAPA) which have structural similarities to ADAB. Two isolates were obtained which could degrade DAPA. One isolate is a novel Grain-positive rod (strain LPLR3) which belongs to the Firmicutes and is not closely related to any previously isolated bacterium. The other isolate is strain LPSR1 which belongs to the Gammaproteobacteria and is closely related (99.93% similar) to Klebsiella pneumoniae subsp. ozaenae. The studies demonstrate that the rumen is a potential rich source of undiscovered micro-organisms which have novel capacities to degrade plant secondary compounds. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

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Not AvailableTwo metabolism trials (experiments 1 and 2) were conducted to examine the effect of the organic S compound, sodium 3-mercapto-1-propane sulfonic acid (MPS) on feed intake, fiber digestibility, rumen fermentation and abundance of cellulolytic rumen microorganisms in cattle fed low S (<0.11%) roughages. Urea was provided in all treatments to compensate for the N deficiency (<0.6%) in the roughages. In experiment 1, steers (333 ± 9.5 kg liveweight) were fed Angleton grass (Dicanthium aristatum) supplemented with S in equivalent amounts as either MPS (6.0 g/day) or sodium sulfate (9.56 g/day). Supplementation of Angelton grass with either sulfate or MPS resulted in an apparent increase in flow of rumen microbial protein from the rumen. Sulfur supplementation did not significantly change whole tract dry matter digestibility or intake, even though sulfate and MPS supplementation was associated with an increase in the relative abundance of the fibrolytic bacteria Fibrobacter succinogenes and anaerobic rumen fungi. Ruminal sulfide levels were significantly higher in the sulfate treatment, which indicated that the bioavailability of the two S atoms in the MPS molecule may be low in the rumen. Based on this observation, experiment 2 was conducted in which twice the amount of S was provided in the form of MPS (8.0 g/day) compared with sodium sulfate (6.6 g/day) to heifers (275 ± 9 kg liveweight) fed rice straw. Supplementation with MPS compared with sulfate in experiment 2 resulted in an increase in concentration of total volatile fatty acids, and ammonia utilization without a change in feed intake or whole tract fiber digestibility even though S and N were above requirement for growing cattle in both these treatment groups. In conclusion, supplementation of an S deficient low-quality roughage diet with either MPS or sodium sulfate, in conjunction with urea N, improved rumen fermentation, which was reflected in an increase in urinary purine excretion. However, MPS appeared to have a greater effect on stimulating short-chain fatty acid production and ammonia utilization when provided at higher concentrations than sulfate. Thus, the metabolism of MPS in the rumen needs to be investigated further in comparison with inorganic forms of S as it may prove to be more effective in stimulating fermentation of roughage diets.Not Availabl

Soft bottom species richness and diversity as a function of depth and iceberg scour in Arctic glacial Kongsfjorden (Svalbard)

Macrozoobenthic soft-sediment communities inhabiting six depth zones of central Arctic Kongsfjorden were analysed comparatively using SCUBA-diving. 63 taxa were found, 30 of which had not been reported for Kongsfjorden and seven for Svalbard. Suspensivorous or surface and sub-surface detritivorous polychaetes and deposit-feeding amphipods were dominant. Only eleven taxa of 45 species and additional 18 families identified inhabited the complete depth range. Biomass ranged from 3.5 to 25.0 g ash free dry mass m-2 and mean Shannon diversity (Log e) was 2.06. Similarity clustering from abun-dance and biomass data showed a significant difference between the shal-low station (5m) and the rest. The latter formed two subgroups (10-20m, 25-30m). These differences together with information on ice-scouring support the intermediate disturbance hypothesis indicating that habitats impacted by moderate iceberg scouring enable higher diversity. In contrast, biotopes frequently affected only host pioneer communities, while mature, less diverse assemblages dominate depths of low impact

Interleukin-6 is essential for primary resistance to Francisella tularensis live vaccine strain infection.

We employed Francisella tularensis live vaccine strain (LVS) to study mechanisms of protective immunity against intracellular pathogens and, specifically, to understand protective correlates. One potential molecular correlate identified previously was interleukin-6 (IL-6), a cytokine with pleotropic roles in immunity, including influences on T and B cell functions. Given its role as an immune modulator and the correlation with successful anti-LVS vaccination, we examined the role IL-6 plays in the host response to LVS. IL-6-deficient (IL-6 knockout [KO]) mice infected with LVS intradermally or intranasally or anti-IL-6-treated mice, showed greatly reduced 50% lethal doses compared to wild-type (WT) mice. Increased susceptibility was not due to altered splenic immune cell populations during infection or decreased serum antibody production, as IL-6 KO mice had similar compositions of each compared to WT mice. Although LVS-infected IL-6 KO mice produced much less serum amyloid A and haptoglobin (two acute-phase proteins) than WT mice, there were no other obvious pathophysiological differences between LVS-infected WT and IL-6 KO mice. IL-6 KO or WT mice that survived primary LVS infection also survived a high-dose LVS secondary challenge. Using an in vitro overlay assay that measured T cell activation, cytokine production, and abilities of primed splenocytes to control intracellular LVS growth, we found that IL-6 KO total splenocytes or purified T cells were slightly defective in controlling intracellular LVS growth but were equivalent in cytokine production. Taken together, IL-6 is an integral part of a successful immune response to primary LVS infection, but its exact role in precipitating adaptive immunity remains elusive. Infect Immun 2013 Feb; 81(2):585-97

Intranasal inoculation of Chlamydia trachomatis mouse pneumonitis agent induces significant neutrophil infiltration which is not efficient in controlling the infection in mice

Previous studies have shown that chlamydial infection is accompanied by significant infiltration of neutrophils at the site of infection. However, the role of neutrophils in host defence against chlamydial infection is not clearly understood. Using genetically different inbred mouse strains and CXCR-2 gene knockout (KO) mice, we examined the mechanism for neutrophil recruitment and the role of neutrophils during chlamydial lung infection. Our data showed that C3H mice exhibited significantly higher and more persistent neutrophil infiltration in the lung than did C57BL/6 mice following Chlamydia trachomatis mouse pneumonitis infection. The massive neutrophil infiltration in C3H mice was paralleled by high-level expression of CXCR-2 and its ligands, CXC chemokines (macrophage inflammatory protein 2, cytokine-induced neutrophil attractant (KC) and lipopolysaccharide-induced CXC chemokine), and proinflammatory cytokines (tumour necrosis factor-α, interleukin-1 and interleukin-6) in the lung. Although much greater infiltration of neutrophils was observed in C3H mice than in C57BL/6 mice, the former mice had more severe disease and higher in vivo chlamydial growth than the latter. Moreover, CXCR-2 KO mice, which revealed a dramatic reduction in neutrophil activity, showed comparable chlamydial infection to wild-type mice. These results suggest that neutrophils are not efficient for controlling chlamydial lung infection