Real world experience with antiphospholipid antibody tests: how stable are results over time?

Objective: To determine the stability and the degree of variation of antiphospholipid antibody (aPL) results over time in a large cohort of well evaluated aPL positive patients; and to analyse factors contributing to aPL variation and the validity of aPL in a real world setting in which aPL tests are done in multiple laboratories

Alemtuzumab pre-conditioning with tacrolimus monotherapy in pediatric renal transplantation

We employed antibody pre-conditioning with alemtuzumab and posttransplant immunosuppression with low-dose tacrolimus monotherapy in 26 consecutive pediatric kidney transplant recipients between January 2004 and December 2005. Mean recipient age was 10.7 ± 5.8 years, 7.7% were undergoing retransplantation, and 3.8% were sensitized, with a PRA >20%. Mean donor age was 32.8 ± 9.2 years. Living donors were utilized in 65% of the transplants. Mean cold ischemia time was 27.6 ± 6.4 h. The mean number of HLA mismatches was 3.3 ± 1.3. Mean follow-up was 25 ± 8 months. One and 2 year patient survival was 100% and 96%. One and 2 year graft survival was 96% and 88%. Mean serum creatinine was 1.1 ± 0.6 mg/dL, and calculated creatinine clearance was 82.3 ± 29.4 mL/min/1.73 m 2. The incidence of pre-weaning acute rejection was 11.5%; the incidence of delayed graft function was 7.7%. Eighteen (69%) of the children were tapered to spaced tacrolimus monotherapy, 10.5 ± 2.2 months after transplantation. The incidence of CMV, PTLD and BK virus was 0%; the incidence of posttransplant diabetes was 7.7%. Although more follow-up is clearly needed, antibody pre-conditioning with alemtuzumab and tacrolimus monotherapy may be a safe and effective regimen in pediatric renal transplantation. © 2007 The Authors

Massive hemoptysis and deep venous thrombosis presenting in a woman with Hughes-Stovin syndrome: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Hughes-Stovin syndrome is a very rare disease with fewer than 30 cases reported in the literature. The disease is thought to be a variant of Behcet's disease and is defined by the presence of pulmonary artery aneurysm in association with peripheral venous thrombosis.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A previously healthy 23-year-old Saudi woman presented with massive hemoptysis a day prior to her admission to our hospital. She had a six-month history of recurrent fever, cough, dyspnea, and recurrent oral ulceration. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography scan of her chest and pulmonary angiogram demonstrated a single right-lower lobe pulmonary artery aneurysm. She underwent thoracotomy and right lower lobe resection. Her postoperative course was complicated by deep vein thrombosis. She also developed headache and papilledema, while a magnetic resonance imaging of her brain suggested vasculitis. Based on these clinical presentations, she was diagnosed and treated with Hughes-Stovin syndrome.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The majority of cases of Hughes-Stovin syndrome are reported among men, with only two cases occurring in women. A case of Hughes-Stovin syndrome occurring in a woman is presented in this report. She was treated successfully with multimodality treatment that includes surgery, steroids and cytotoxic agents.</p

Cystic colon duplication causing intussusception in a 25-year-old man: report of a case and review of the literature

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Colonic intussusception is a rare congenital abnormality, mostly manifesting before the age of two with abdominal pain and acute intestinal obstruction with or without bleeding. In adults it may occur idiopathically or due to an intraluminal tumor mass.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 25-year-old man presented with an acute abdomen and severe crampy abdominal pain. The clinical picture mimicked acute appendicitis. Transabdominal ultrasound examination revealed a 5 cm circular mass in the right upper abdomen. The ensuing computed tomography suggested an intussusception in the ascending colon. Intraoperatively, no full thickness invagination was detected. Due to a hard, intraluminal tumor a standard right hemicolectomy with ileotransversostomy was performed. The histopathological analysis revealed a cystic colon duplication leading to mucosal invagination and obstruction.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In adults, colon intussusception is a rare event causing approximately 1% of all acute intestinal obstructions. Unlike its preferentially nonsurgical management in children, a bowel intussusception in adults should be operated because an organic, often malignant lesion is present in most cases.</p

Characterization of DAG binding to TRPC channels by target-dependent cis–trans isomerization of OptoDArG

Azobenzene-based photochromic lipids are valuable probes for the analysis of ion channel–lipid interactions. Rapid photoisomerization of these molecules enables the analysis of lipid gating kinetics and provides information on lipid sensing. Thermal relaxation of the metastable cis conformation to the trans conformation of azobenzene photolipids is rather slow in the dark and may be modified by ligand–protein interactions. Cis photolipid-induced changes in pure lipid membranes as visualized from the morphological response of giant unilamellar vesicles indicated that thermal cis–trans isomerization of both PhoDAG-1 and OptoDArG is essentially slow in the lipid bilayer environment. While the currents activated by cis PhoDAG remained stable upon termination of UV light exposure (dark, UV-OFF), cis OptoDArG-induced TRPC3/6/7 activity displayed a striking isoform-dependent exponential decay. The deactivation kinetics of cis OptoDArG-induced currents in the dark was sensitive to mutations in the L2 lipid coordination site of TRPC channels. We conclude that the binding of cis OptoDArG to TRPC channels promotes transition of cis OptoDArG to the trans conformation. This process is suggested to provide valuable information on DAG–ion channel interactions and may enable highly selective photopharmacological interventions

A Novel Clustering Algorithm Based on Quantum Games

Enormous successes have been made by quantum algorithms during the last decade. In this paper, we combine the quantum game with the problem of data clustering, and then develop a quantum-game-based clustering algorithm, in which data points in a dataset are considered as players who can make decisions and implement quantum strategies in quantum games. After each round of a quantum game, each player's expected payoff is calculated. Later, he uses a link-removing-and-rewiring (LRR) function to change his neighbors and adjust the strength of links connecting to them in order to maximize his payoff. Further, algorithms are discussed and analyzed in two cases of strategies, two payoff matrixes and two LRR functions. Consequently, the simulation results have demonstrated that data points in datasets are clustered reasonably and efficiently, and the clustering algorithms have fast rates of convergence. Moreover, the comparison with other algorithms also provides an indication of the effectiveness of the proposed approach.Comment: 19 pages, 5 figures, 5 table

Bioengineered 3D models of human pancreatic cancer recapitulate in vivo tumour biology

Patient-derived in vivo models of human cancer have become a reality, yet their turnaround time is inadequate for clinical applications. Therefore, tailored ex vivo models that faithfully recapitulate in vivo tumour biology are urgently needed. These may especially benefit the management of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), where therapy failure has been ascribed to its high cancer stem cell (CSC) content and high density of stromal cells and extracellular matrix (ECM). To date, these features are only partially reproduced ex vivo using organoid and sphere cultures. We have now developed a more comprehensive and highly tuneable ex vivo model of PDAC based on the 3D co-assembly of peptide amphiphiles (PAs) with custom ECM components (PA-ECM). These cultures maintain patient-specific transcriptional profiles and exhibit CSC functionality, including strong in vivo tumourigenicity. User-defined modification of the system enables control over niche-dependent phenotypes such as epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and matrix deposition. Indeed, proteomic analysis of these cultures reveals improved matrisome recapitulation compared to organoids. Most importantly, patient-specific in vivo drug responses are better reproduced in self-assembled cultures than in other models. These findings support the use of tuneable self-assembling platforms in cancer research and pave the way for future precision medicine approaches