Surgical treatment of an aseptic fistulized acromioclavicular joint cyst: a case report and review of the literature.

An acromioclavicular joint cyst is an uncommonly reported condition, which seems to result from a massive rotator cuff tear and degenerative osteoarthritis of the acromioclavicular joint. We present the case of an 81-year-old man affected by an acromioclavicular joint cyst, associated to a massive rotator cuff tear, proximal migration of the humeral head and osteoarthritis of the gleno-humeral joint. The mass was 7 x 2.5 cm in size and the overlying skin presented a fistula that drained clear synovial-like fluid. Plain X-ray examination of the left shoulder showed proximal migration of the humeral head migration and osteoarthritis of the gleno-humeral joint, and further MRI evaluation confirmed the clinical diagnosis of a complete rotator cuff tear and observed a large subcutaneous cyst in communication with the degenerative acromioclavicular joint. The patient underwent surgical excision of the cyst and lateral resection of the clavicle to prevent disease recurrence. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported case of an acromioclavicular joint cyst complicated by an aseptic fistula resulting from multiple aspirations

Treatment of Severe Post-traumatic Bone Defects With Autologous Stem Cells Loaded on Allogeneic Scaffolds.

Mesenchymal stem cells may differentiate into angiogenic and osteoprogenitor cells. The effectiveness of autologous pluripotent mesenchymal cells for treating bone defects has not been investigated in humans. We present a case series to evaluate the rationale of using nucleated cells from autologous bone marrow aspirates in the treatment of severe bone defects that failed to respond to traditional treatments. Ten adult patients (mean age, 49.6-years-old) with severe bone defects were included in this study. Lower limb bone defects were >or=5 cm3 in size, and upper limb defects .or=2 cm3. Before surgery, patients were tested for antibodies to common pathogens. Treatment consisted of bone allogeneic scaffold enriched with bone marrow nucleated cells harvested from the iliac crest and concentrated using an FDA-approved device. Postsurgery clinical and radiographic follow-up was performed at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months. To assess viability, morphology, and immunophenotype, bone marrow nucleated cells were cultured in vitro, tested for sterility, and assayed for the possible replication of adventitious (contaminating) viruses. In 9 of 10 patients, both clinical and radiographic healing of the bone defect along with bone graft integration were observed (mean time, 5.6 months); one patient failed to respond. No post-operative complications were observed. Bone marrow nucleated cells were enriched 4.49-fold by a single concentration step, and these enriched cells were free of microbial contamination. The immunophenotype of adherent cells was compatible with that of mesenchymal stem cells. We detected the replication of Epstein-Barr virus in 2/10 bone marrow cell cultures tested. Hepatitis B virus, cytomegalovirus, parvovirus B19, and endogenous retrovirus HERV-K replication were not detected. Overall, 470 to 1,150 million nucleated cells were grafted into each patient. This case series, with a mean follow-up of almost 2 years, demonstrates that an allogeneic bone scaffold enriched with concentrated autologous bone marrow cells obtained from the iliac crest provides orthopedic surgeons a novel option for treating important bone defects that are unresponsive to traditional therapies

Aspergillus section fumigati pneumonia and oxalate nephrosis in a foal

Equine pulmonary aspergillosis is a rare deep mycosis often due to the hematogenous spread of hyphae after gastrointestinal tract disease. We describe herein the main clinic-pathological findings observed in a foal, which spontaneously died after showing diarrhea and respiratory distress. Necropsy and histopathological investigations allowed to diagnose pulmonary aspergillosis, which likely developed after necrotic typhlitis-colitis. Biomolecular studies identified Aspergillus section Fumigati strain as the causative agent. Notably, severe oxalate nephrosis was concurrently observed. Occasionally, oxalate nephropathy can be a sequela of pulmonary aspergillosis in humans. The present case report suggests that the renal precipitation of oxalates can occur also in horses affected by pulmonary aspergillosis and could likely contribute to the fatal outcome of the disease

Cell type-specific anti-cancer properties of valproic acid: independent effects on HDAC activity and Erk1/2 phosphorylation

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The anti-epileptic drug valproic acid (VPA) has attracted attention as an anti-cancer agent.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The present study investigated effects of VPA exposure on histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibition, cell growth, cell speed, and the degree of Erk1/2 phosphorylation in 10 cell lines (BT4C, BT4Cn, U87MG, N2a, PC12-E2, CSML0, CSML100, HeLa, L929, Swiss 3T3).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>VPA induced significant histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibition in most of the cell lines, but the degree of inhibition was highly cell type-specific. Moreover, cell growth, motility and the degree of Erk1/2 phosphorylation were inhibited, activated, or unaffected by VPA in a cell type-specific manner. Importantly, no relationship was found between the effects of VPA on HDAC inhibition and changes in the degree of Erk1/2 phosphorylation, cell growth, or motility. In contrast, VPA-induced modulation of the MAPK pathway downstream of Ras but upstream of MEK (i.e., at the level of Raf) was important for changes in cell speed.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These results suggest that VPA can modulate the degree of Erk1/2 phosphorylation in a manner unrelated to HDAC inhibition and emphasize that changes in the degree of Erk1/2 phosphorylation are also important for the anti-cancer properties of VPA.</p

Radiographic closure time of appendicular growth plates in the Icelandic horse

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The Icelandic horse is a pristine breed of horse which has a pure gene pool established more than a thousand years ago, and is approximately the same size as living and extinct wild breeds of horses. This study was performed to compare the length of the skeletal growth period of the "primitive" Icelandic horse relative to that reported for large horse breeds developed over the recent centuries. This information would provide practical guidance to owners and veterinarians as to when the skeleton is mature enough to commence training, and would be potentially interesting to those scientists investigating the pathogenesis of osteochondrosis. Interestingly, osteochondrosis has not been documented in the Icelandic horse.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The radiographic closure time of the appendicular growth plates was studied in 64 young Icelandic horses. The results were compared with previously published closure times reported for other, larger horse breeds. The radiographs were also examined for any signs of developmental orthopaedic diseases. In order to describe further the growth pattern of the Icelandic horse, the total serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity was determined and the height at the withers was measured.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Most of the examined growth plates were fully closed at the age of approximately three years. The horses reached adult height at this age; however ALP activity was still mildly increased over baseline values. The growth plates in the digits were the first to close at 8.1 to 8.5 months of age, and those in the regions of the distal radius (27.4 to 32.0 months), tuber olecrani (31.5 to 32.2 months), and the stifle (27.0 to 40.1 months) were the last to close. No horse was found to have osteochondrosis type lesions in the neighbouring joints of the evaluated growth plates.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The Icelandic horse appears to have similar radiographic closure times for most of the growth plates of its limbs as reported for large new breeds of horses developed during the past few centuries. It thus appears that different breeding goals and the intensity of breeding have not altered the length of the growth period in horses. Instead, it can be assumed that the pristine and relatively small Icelandic horse has a slower rate of growth. The appendicular skeleton of Icelandic horses has completed its bone growth in length at approximately 3 years of age, and therefore may be able to enter training at this time.</p

Survey radiography and computerized tomography imaging of the thorax in female dogs with mammary tumors

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Accurate early diagnosis of lung metastases is important for establishing therapeutic measures. Therefore, the present study aimed to compare survey thoracic radiographs and computerized tomography (CT) scans to specifically identify lung metastases in female dogs with mammary tumors.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Twenty-one female dogs, weighing 3 to 34 kg and aged from 5 years to 14 years and 10 months, with mammary tumors were studied. In all dogs before the imaging examinations, fine-needle aspiration cytology of the mammary tumors was performed to confirm the diagnosis. Three-view thoracic radiographs were accomplished: right lateral, left lateral and ventrodorsal views. Sequential transverse images of the thorax were acquired on a spiral Scanner, before and after intravenous bolus injection of nonionic iodine contrast. Soft-tissue and lung windows were applied. All the mammary tumors were surgically removed and examined histologically.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The correlation between the cytological and histological results regarding presence of malignancy was observed in only 17 cases. In radiographic examinations, no dog displayed signs of lung metastases or thorax chest lesions. CT detected lung metastasis in two cases, while small areas of lung atelectasis located peripherally were found in 28.57% of the dogs.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In this study population, spiral CT showed higher sensitivity than chest radiographies to detect lung metastasis; this indicates that CT should be performed on all female dogs with malignant mammary tumors.</p

Variants of C-C Motif Chemokine 22 (CCL22) Are Associated with Susceptibility to Atopic Dermatitis: Case-Control Studies

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common inflammatory skin disease caused by multiple genetic and environmental factors. AD is characterized by the local infiltration of T helper type 2 (Th2) cells. Recent clinical studies have shown important roles of the Th2 chemokines, CCL22 and CCL17 in the pathogenesis of AD. To investigate whether polymorphisms of the CCL22 gene affect the susceptibility to AD, we conducted association studies and functional studies of the related variants. We first resequenced the CCL22 gene and found a total of 39 SNPs. We selected seven tag SNPs in the CCL22 gene, and conducted association studies using two independent Japanese populations (1st population, 916 cases and 1,032 controls; 2nd population 1,034 cases and 1,004 controls). After the association results were combined by inverse variance method, we observed a significant association at rs4359426 (meta-analysis, combined P = 9.6×10−6; OR, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.65–0.85). Functional analysis revealed that the risk allele of rs4359426 contributed to higher expression levels of CCL22 mRNA. We further examined the allelic differences in the binding of nuclear proteins by electrophoretic mobility shift assay. The signal intensity of the DNA-protein complex derived from the G allele of rs223821, which was in absolute LD with rs4359426, was higher than that from the A allele. Although further functional analyses are needed, it is likely that related variants play a role in susceptibility to AD in a gain-of-function manner. Our findings provide a new insight into the etiology and pathogenesis of AD

TLR 9 Activation in Dendritic Cells Enhances Salmonella Killing and Antigen Presentation via Involvement of the Reactive Oxygen Species

Synthetic CpG containing oligodeoxynucleotide Toll like receptor-9 agonist (CpG DNA) activates innate immunity and can stimulate antigen presentation against numerous intracellular pathogens. It was observed that Salmonella Typhimurium growth can be inhibited by the CpG DNA treatment in the murine dendritic cells. This inhibitory effect was mediated by an increased reactive oxygen species production. In addition, it was noted that CpG DNA treatment of dendritic cells during Salmonella infection leads to an increased antigen presentation. Further this increased antigen presentation was dependent on the enhanced reactive oxygen species production elicited by Toll like receptor-9 activation. With the help of an exogenous antigen it was shown that Salmonella antigen could also be cross-presented in a better way by CpG induction. These data collectively indicate that CpG DNA enhance the ability of murine dendritic cells to contain the growth of virulent Salmonella through reactive oxygen species dependent killing