Hantavirus infection in children in Argentina.

Clinical hantavirus infection was diagnosed in five Argentine children ages 5 to 11 years by immunoglobulin M (IgM)- capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay using Sin Nombre virus (SNV) antigens. Death in three of the children was associated with absence of detectable IgG to SNV antigens. An additional two cases in healthy children were studied: one, a breast-fed 15-month-old whose mother died of suspected hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) 8 months previously, had hantavirus IgG (> 1:6400); a second, whose mother survived HPS during month three of pregnancy, apparently had maternal antibodies no longer detectable 1 year after birth

Biorefinery of rice husk to obtain functionalized bioactive compounds

The biomass industrialization valorisation of grains and cereals is considered an opportunity for the countries where agro-industrial activity is one of its main economic activities, rendering new higher-value products with a concomitant solution to waste accumulation issues. To that end, in this work we describe and characterise bioactive compounds generation from rice husk by semisolid fermentation, obtained from 500 g of the material at room temperature and 60% humidity with mixed cultures of Phanerochaete chrysosporium and Gloeophyllum trabeum. The extract was evaluated in different situations: murine mammary tumour cells (4T1), normal cells (NIH 3T3) and in Lactobacillus acidophilus, and Trichoderma harzianum. The results exhibited that the extract inhibited 4T1 cells at concentrations higher than 20μg/mL, but did not inhibit normal cells, and displayed germicide activity after 3 days incubations. We propose that these functionalized compounds have a potential application in industry/agriculture/medicine obtained from rice husk waste

Polymerase-chain-reaction-based semi-quantification of hepatitis D viraemia in patients treated with high doses of alpha 2b interferon

To study the antiviral efficacy of high doses of alpha 2b interferon (alpha 2b-IFN) for chronic hepatitis D treatment, we used polymerase-chain-reaction(PCR)-based semi-quantitative detection of HDV RNA. The semi-quantification method used was based on the appearance of a positive amplification signal as a function of the number of PCR cycles. By amplifying dilutions (10(-1)-10(-8)) of an HDV-positive woodchuck liver RNA, we confirmed that exponential amplification efficacy occurred at between 20 and 30 cycles. Positive signals were observed from dilution 10(-2) (gel electrophoresis after 20 cycles of PCR) to dilution 10(-7) (hybridization after 30 cycles of PCR). To characterize the HDV RNA level in sera of 8 patients treated with alpha 2b-IFN (10 MU/3 times a week) for 1 year, we extracted RNA from serum samples taken every 6 months. All samples were amplified in parallel for 20 and 30 PCR cycles. Analysis of HDV cDNA after ethidium bromide/agarose gel electrophoresis and after molecular hybridization (100 times more sensitive than gel analysis), enabled us to grade the signals observed from negative to positive as 1+, 2+, 3+ and 4+, with all results being positive. Three types of evolution of HDV viraemia were evidenced among the 8 treated patients. HDV replication continued to occur at a high level at the 6th and 12th month in 2 patient sera. For 2 other patients, an HDV RNA decrease or disappearance was evidenced in the serum at the 6th month; however, viral replication recurred at a higher level at the 12th month.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS

Gradient Art: Creation and Vectorization

There are two different categories of methods for producing vector gradients. One is mainly interested in converting existing photographs into dense vector representations. By vector it is meant that one can zoom infinitely inside images, and that control values do not have to lie onto a grid but must represent subtle color gradients found in input images. The other category is tailored to the creation of images from scratch, using a sparse set of vector primitives. In this case, we still have the infinite zoom property, but also an advanced model of how space should be filled in-between primitives, since there is no input photograph to rely on. These two categories are actually extreme cases, and seem to exclude each other: a dense representation is difficult to manipulate, especially when one wants to modify topology; a sparse representation is hardly adapted to photo vectorization, especially in the presence of texture. Very few methods lie in the middle, and the ones that do require user assistance. The challenge is worth the effort though: it would make converting an image into vector primitives easily amenable to stylization

High CD8⁺ tumour-infiltrating lymphocyte density associates with unfavourable prognosis in oesophageal adenocarcinoma following poor response to neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy

Aims: Determining prognosis following poor response to neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) in oesophageal adenocarcinoma (OAC) remains challenging. An immunosuppressive tumour microenvironment (TME) as well as immune infiltrate density and composition are considered to play a critical role in the immune interaction between host and tumour and can predict therapy response and survival in many cancers, including gastrointestinal malignancies. The aim of this study was to establish the TME characteristics associated with survival following a poor response to nCRT. Methods and results: The prognostic significance of OAC-associated CD3+, CD4+, CD8+, forkhead box protein 3 (FoxP3+) and programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression was studied by immunohistochemistry and quantified by automated image analysis in 123 patients who underwent nCRT and curative resection. Results from good and poor responders were contrasted and immune infiltration was related to disease course in both groups. Subsequently a cohort of 57 patients with a moderate response to nCRT was analysed in a similar fashion. Tumour cell percentage positively correlated to immune infiltration markers. In good and moderate responders, none of the immune infiltrate parameters was associated with survival; in poor responders CD8+ was an independent negative predictor of OS in univariate analysis (P = 0.03) and high CD8+ infiltration was associated with worse OS (15 versus 32 months, P = 0.042). Conclusion: A high CD8+ density is an independent biomarker of poor OS in poor responders to nCRT, but not in good and moderate responders. Our results suggest that patients with a poor response to nCRT but concomitant high CD8+ counts in the resection specimen require adjuvant therapy.</p