Hemorrhagic Bullous Dermatosis

Introduction The patient is a 64 year old man with active primary central nervous system B-cell lymphoma who was hospitalized for management of a right lower extremity traumatic injury complicated by a calf hematoma. During the hospital stay, the patient was diagnosed with a provoked left lower extremity deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and treated initially with therapeutic dosing of enoxaparin. Five days after low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) initiation, gradual development of tense, well-circumscribed bullae were noted to appear on his arms and hands bilaterally, ranging from 0.5 cm to 1.5 cm in diameter. These lesions were both nonpruritic and nontender with no significant surrounding erythema (Figure 1). Bullae were located distal to the site of enoxaparin injections. Aside from a normocytic normochromic anemia related to chronic medical conditions, results of platelet counts, creatinine levels, and coagulation profiles remained unremarkable. A shave biopsy of one of the lesions revealed an intraepidermal collection of red blood cells without evidence of thrombotic or vasculitic changes (Figures 2 & 3). enoxaparin dose was reduced several days after lesion onset due to increasing calf hematoma size, in an effort to balance anticoagulation benefit for the DVT with risk of continued bleeding into the hematoma. The bullae started to regress approximately two weeks after onset, eventually crusting over. The patient was eventually discharged home

Analysis of antenal sensilla patterns of Rhodnius prolixus from Colombia and Venezuela

Antennal sensilla patterns were used to analyze population variation of domestic Rhodnius prolixus from six departments and states representing three biogeographical regions of Colombia and Venezuela. Discriminant analysis of the patterns of mechanoreceptors and of three types of chemoreceptors on the pedicel and flagellar segments showed clear differentiation between R. prolixus populations east and west of the Andean Cordillera. The distribution of thick and thin-walled trichoids on the second flagellar segment also showed correlation with latitude, but this was not seen in the patterns of other sensilla. The results of the sensilla patterns appear to be reflecting biogeographic features or population isolation rather than characters associated with different habitats and lend support to the idea that domestic R. prolixus originated in the eastern region of the Andes.Fil: Esteban, Lyda. Universidad Industrial de Santander; ColombiaFil: Angulo, Víctor Manuel. Universidad Industrial de Santander; ColombiaFil: Dora Feliciangeli, M.. Universidad de Carabobo; VenezuelaFil: Catala, Silvia Susana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja. - Universidad Nacional de La Rioja. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja. - Universidad Nacional de Catamarca. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja. - Secretaría de Industria y Minería. Servicio Geológico Minero Argentino. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja. - Provincia de La Rioja. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja; Argentin

CD98hc facilitates B cell proliferation and adaptive humoral immunity.

The proliferation of antigen-specific lymphocytes and resulting clonal expansion are essential for adaptive immunity. We report here that B cell-specific deletion of the heavy chain of CD98 (CD98hc) resulted in lower antibody responses due to total suppression of B cell proliferation and subsequent plasma cell formation. Deletion of CD98hc did not impair early B cell activation but did inhibit later activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase Erk1/2 and downregulation of the cell cycle inhibitor p27. Reconstitution of CD98hc-deficient B cells with CD98hc mutants showed that the integrin-binding domain of CD98hc was required for B cell proliferation but that the amino acid-transport function of CD98hc was dispensable for this. Thus, CD98hc supports integrin-dependent rapid proliferation of B cells. We propose that the advantage of adaptive immunity favored the appearance of CD98hc in vertebrates

DNA multigene characterization of Fasciola hepatica and Lymnaea neotropica and its fascioliasis transmission capacity in Uruguay, with historical correlation, human report review and infection risk analysis

Fascioliasis is a highly pathogenic zoonotic disease emerging in recent decades, in part due to the effects of climate and global changes. South America is the continent presenting more numerous human fascioliasis endemic areas and the highest Fasciola hepatica infection prevalences and intensities known in humans. These serious public health scenarios appear mainly linked to altitude areas in Andean countries, whereas lowland areas of non-Andean countries, such as Uruguay, only show sporadic human cases or outbreaks. To understand this difference, we characterized F. hepatica from cattle and horses and lymnaeids of Uruguay by sequencing of ribosomal DNA ITS-2 and ITS-1 spacers and mitochondrial DNA cox1, nad1 and 16S genes. Results indicate that vectors belong to Lymnaea neotropica instead of to Lymnaea viator, as always reported from Uruguay. Our correlation of fasciolid and lymnaeid haplotypes with historical data on the introduction and spread of livestock species into Uruguay allow to understand the molecular diversity detected. We study the life cycle and transmission features of F. hepatica by L. neotropica of Uruguay under standardized experimental conditions to enable a comparison with the transmission capacity of F. hepatica by Galba truncatula at very high altitude in Bolivia. Results demonstrate that although L. neotropica is a highly efficient vector in the lowlands, its transmission capacity is markedly lower than that of G. truncatula in the highlands. On this baseline, we review the human fascioliasis cases reported in Uruguay and analyze the present and future risk of human infection in front of future climate change estimations

Prolonged acute mechanical ventilation and hospital bed utilization in 2020 in the United States: implications for budgets, plant and personnel planning

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Adult patients on prolonged acute mechanical ventilation (PAMV) comprise 1/3 of all adult MV patients, consume 2/3 of hospital resources allocated to MV population, and are nearly twice as likely to require a discharge to a skilled nursing facility (SNF). Their numbers are projected to double by year 2020. To aid in planning for this growth, we projected their annualized days and costs of hospital use and SNF discharges in year 2020 in the US.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We constructed a model estimating the relevant components of hospital utilization. We computed the total days and costs for each component; we also applied the risk for SNF discharge to the total 2020 PAMV population. The underlying assumption was that process of care does not change over the time horizon. We performed Monte Carlo simulations to establish 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the point estimates.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Given 2020 projected PAMV volume of 605,898 cases, they will require 3.6 (95% CI 2.7–4.8) million MV, 5.5 (95% CI 4.3–7.0) million ICU and 10.3 (95% CI 8.1–13.0) million hospital days, representing an absolute increase of 2.1 million MV, 3.2 million ICU and 6.5 million hospital days over year 2000, at a total inflation-adjusted cost of over $64 billion. Expected discharges to SNF are 218,123 (95% CI 177,268–266,739), compared to 90,928 in 2000.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our model suggest that the projected growth in the US in PAMV population by 2020 will result in annualized increases of more than 2, 3, and 6 million MV, ICU and hospital days, respectively, over year 2000. Such growth requires careful planning efforts and attention to efficiency of healthcare delivery.</p

CO2-brine injectivity tests in high co2 content carbonate field, sarawak basin, offshore east Malaysia

We conducted relatively long duration core-flooding tests on three representative core samples under reservoir conditions to quantify the potential impact of flow rates on fines production/permeability change. Supercritical CO2 was injected cyclically with incremental increases in flow rate (2─14 ml/min) with live brine until a total of 7 cycles were completed. To avoid unwanted fluid-rock reaction when live brine was injected into the sample, and to mimic the in-situ geochemical conditions of the reservoir, a packed column was installed on the inflow accumulator line to pre-equilibrate the fluid before entering the core sample. The change in the gas porosity and permeability of the tested plug samples due to different mechanisms (dissolution and/or precipitation) that may occur during scCO2/live brine injection was investigated. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) T2 determination, X-ray CT scans and chemical analyses of the produced brine were also conducted. Results of pre- and post-test analyses (poroperm, NMR, X-ray CT) showed no clear evidence of formation damage even after long testing cycles and only minor or no dissolution (after large injected pore volumes (PVs) ~ 200). The critical flow rates (if there is one) were higher than the maximum rates applied. Chemical analyses of the core effluent showed that the rock samples for which a pre-column was installed do not experience carbonate dissolution

Automatic reconstruction of a bacterial regulatory network using Natural Language Processing

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Manual curation of biological databases, an expensive and labor-intensive process, is essential for high quality integrated data. In this paper we report the implementation of a state-of-the-art Natural Language Processing system that creates computer-readable networks of regulatory interactions directly from different collections of abstracts and full-text papers. Our major aim is to understand how automatic annotation using Text-Mining techniques can complement manual curation of biological databases. We implemented a rule-based system to generate networks from different sets of documents dealing with regulation in <it>Escherichia coli </it>K-12.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Performance evaluation is based on the most comprehensive transcriptional regulation database for any organism, the manually-curated RegulonDB, 45% of which we were able to recreate automatically. From our automated analysis we were also able to find some new interactions from papers not already curated, or that were missed in the manual filtering and review of the literature. We also put forward a novel Regulatory Interaction Markup Language better suited than SBML for simultaneously representing data of interest for biologists and text miners.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Manual curation of the output of automatic processing of text is a good way to complement a more detailed review of the literature, either for validating the results of what has been already annotated, or for discovering facts and information that might have been overlooked at the triage or curation stages.</p

Bioinspired aryldiazonium carbohydrate coatings: reduced adhesion of foulants at polymer and stainless steel surfaces in a marine environment

Surface treatments that minimize biofouling in marine environments are of interest for a variety of applications such as environmental monitoring and aquaculture. We report on the effect of saccharide coatings on biomass accumulation at the surface of three materials that find applications in marine settings: stainless steel 316 (SS316), Nylon-6 (N-6), and poly(ether sulfone) (PES). Saccharides were immobilized via aryldiazonium chemistry; SS316 and N-6 samples were subjected to oxidative surface pretreatments prior to saccharide immobilization, whereas PES was modified via direct reaction of pristine surfaces with the aryldiazonium cations. Functionalization was confirmed by a combination of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, contact angle experiments, and fluorescence imaging of lectin–saccharide binding. Saccharide immobilization was found to increase surface hydrophilicity of all materials tested, while laboratory tests demonstrate that the saccharide coating results in reduced protein adsorption in the absence of specific protein–saccharide interactions. The performance of all three materials after modification with aryldiazonium saccharide films was tested in the field via immersion of modified coupons in coastal waters over a 20 day time period. Results from combined infrared spectroscopy, light microscopy, scanning electron and He-ion microscopy, and adenosine-triphosphate content assays show that the density of retained biomass at surfaces is significantly lower on carbohydrate modified samples with respect to unmodified controls. Therefore, functionalization and field test results suggest that carbohydrate aryldiazonium layers could find applications as fouling resistant coatings in marine environments