Stem Cell Treatment for you in 2015. Areference for physicians, patients and Review of International Stem Cell Treatment centers

Stem cell reserves diminish with aging and we no longer effectively heal, with chronic illness being the result. With adequate numbers of stem cells the body is expected to heal naturally. Here we provide information and reference to both patients and doctors on therapeutic use of stem cells, treatment centers around the world, addresses, contact persons, treatment cost, and sources of stem cells used, type of conditions being treated and the protocols used. The treatment centers were directly contacted through email, phone call or through their web page. 11 treatment centers responded from 8 different countries with 4 in the USA alone, 4 treatment centers recommended by the Repair Stem Cell Institute which is the biggest patient advocate. Most treatment centers are outside the USA because of strict stem cell treatment regulatory laws within the USA. All the 11 Treatment Centers that responded were able to provide their contact details, source of Stem Cells being used and medical conditions being treated. Such information will provide good guidance to both Physicians and patients who want to consider Stem Cell Treatment. It is hoped that more stem cell treatment centers will be reported about in the next publication as therapeutic stem cell regulatory laws become less strict especially in the USA

Sobrevivência tardia (cinco anos) após tratamento cirúrgico radical e quimioterápico adjuvante (FAM) em câncer gástrico avançado: estudo controlado

Várias são as drogas e associações propostas tanto para a quimioterapia adjuvante como complementar visando melhorar os resultados do tratamento do câncer gástrico. Com o objetivo de se analisar o impacto sobre o estado nutricional e o índice de sobrevivência no tratamento de 53 doentes com câncer gástrico do estádio III da classificação TNM, comparou-se um grupo controle composto de 28 doentes submetidos apenas a ressecção radical com outro grupo tratado com a mesma conduta operatória seguida de poliquimioterapia adjuvante pelo regime FAM (5-fluorouracil, adriamicina e mitomicina C) e composto de 25 doentes. Nestes últimos averiguou-se também a toxicidade das drogas antineoplásicas quanto à função hepática, renal, cardiológica, neurológica, hematológica, gastrointestinal e dermatológica. Por meio de análise estatística afastou-se desigualdade entre os dois grupos de estudo quanto ao sexo, raça, tipo tumoral macroscópico da classificação de Borrmann, localização da neoplasia no estômago, extensão da ressecção gástrica e resposta às provas cutâneas de sensibilidade retardada na admissão. O tratamento quimioterápico foi iniciado em média 2,3 meses após o tratamento cirúrgico. Os doentes foram acompanhados clínica e laboratorialmente pelo período de 5 anos tendo se chegado às seguintes conclusões: 1) Foram semelhantes em ambos os grupos de estudo a evolução nutricional e a incidência de manifestações gastrintestinais; 2) não ocorreu toxicidade cardíaca, renal, neurológica ou hepática e tampouco óbito em decorrência do método quimioterápico em si; 3) alterações dermatológicas e mielotoxicidade ocorreram exclusivamente nos doentes que se submeteram à poliquimioterapia; 4) não houve diferença significante entre o índice e a sede da recidiva tumoral, o tempo livre de doença e os índices de sobrevivência dos dois grupos de estudo após cinco anos de seguimento portanto, a quimioterapia pelo esquema FAM não incrementa o referido índice.Several drugs and their associations are being used for adjuvant or complementary chemotherapy with the aim of improving results of gastric cancer treatment. The objective of this study was to verify the impact of these drugs on nutrition and on survival rate after radical treatment of 53 patients with gastric cancer in stage III of the TNM classification. A control group including 28 patients who had only undergone radical resection was compared to a group of 25 patients who underwent the same operative technique followed by adjuvant polychemotherapy with FAM (5-fluorouracil, Adriamycin, and mitomycin C). In this latter group, chemotherapy toxicity in relation to hepatic, renal, cardiologic, neurological, hematologic, gastrointestinal, and dermatological functions was also studied. There was no significant difference on admission between both groups in relation to gender, race, macroscopic tumoral type of tumor according to the Borrmann classification, location of the tumor in the stomach, length of the gastric resection, or response to cutaneous tests on delayed sensitivity. Chemotherapy was started on average, 2.3 months following surgical treatment. Clinical and laboratory follow-up of all patients continued for 5 years. The following conclusions were reached: 1) The nutritional status and incidence of gastrointestinal manifestation were similar in both groups; 2) There was no occurrence of cardiac, renal, neurological, or hepatic toxicity or death due to the chemotherapeutic method per se; 3) Dermatological alterations and hematological toxicity occurred exclusively in patients who underwent polychemotherapy; 4) There was no significant difference between the rate and site of tumoral recurrence, the disease-free interval, or the survival rate of both study groups; 5) Therefore, we concluded, after a 5-year follow-up, chemotherapy with the FAM regimen did not increase the survival rate

Doenças inflamatórias intestinais: princípios da terapia nutricional

Inflammatory Bowel Diseases - ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease- are chronic gastrointestinal inflammatory diseases of unknown etiology. Decreased oral intake, malabsorption, accelerated nutrient losses, increased requirements, and drug-nutrient interactions cause nutritional and functional deficiencies that require proper correction by nutritional therapy. The goals of the different forms of nutritional therapy are to correct nutritional disturbances and to modulate inflammatory response, thus influencing disease activity. Total parenteral nutrition has been used to correct and to prevent nutritional disturbances and to promote bowel rest during active disease, mainly in cases of digestive fistulae with high output. Its use should be reserved for patients who cannot tolerate enteral nutrition. Enteral nutrition is effective in inducing clinical remission in adults and promoting growth in children. Due to its low complication rate and lower costs, enteral nutrition should be preferred over total parenteral nutrition whenever possible. Both present equal effectiveness in primary therapy for remission of active Crohn's disease. Nutritional intervention may improve outcome in certain individuals; however, because of the costs and complications of such therapy, careful selection is warranted, especially in patients presumed to need total parenteral nutrition. Recent research has focused on the use of nutrients as primary treatment agents. Immunonutrition is an important therapeutic alternative in the management of inflammatory bowel diseases, modulating the inflammation and changing the eicosanoid synthesis profile. However, beneficial reported effects have yet to be translated into the clinical practice. The real efficacy of these and other nutrients (glutamine, short-chain fatty acids, antioxidants) still need further evaluation through prospective and randomized trials.As doenças inflamatórias intestinais - retocolite ulcerativa inespecífica e doença de Crohn - são afecções inflamatórias gastrointestinais crônicas de causa ainda desconhecida. Caracterizam-se por diarréia crônica, malabsorção, síndrome do intestino curto, disfunção da barreira mucosa e processo inflamatório intestinal, fatores que determinam deficiências nutricionais e funcionais que ressaltam a importância da terapia nutricional em seu tratamento. As diversas formas de terapia nutricional visam corrigir os distúrbios nutricionais e modular à resposta inflamatória, podendo, desta forma, influir na atividade da doença. A nutrição parenteral total tem sido usada para corrigir os distúrbios nutricionais e proporcionar repouso intestinal na doença ativa. Seu uso deve ser reservado a pacientes que não podem tolerar a nutrição enteral. A nutrição enteral é efetiva em induzir remissão clínica da doença em adultos e promover crescimento em crianças. Devido à baixa incidência de complicações e menor custo, a nutrição enteral deve ser opção preferencial à nutrição parenteral total quando possível. Ambas apresentam igual efetividade na terapia primária na remissão da Doença de Crohn ativa. Embora a terapia nutricional possa melhorar a evolução de muitos pacientes, é necessária uma seleção criteriosa devido a seus custos e complicações, especialmente naqueles que requerem nutrição parenteral total. Recentes pesquisas têm se dedicado ao uso de nutrientes como agentes terapêuticos primários. A imunonutrição com ácidos graxos ômega-3 se constitui numa importante alternativa terapêutica no manuseio das doenças inflamatórias intestinais, modulando o processo inflamatório e modificando o perfil de produção de eicosanóides. Entretanto, a real eficácia deste e outros nutrientes (glutamina, ácidos graxos de cadeia curta) ainda necessitam de novas avaliações por estudos prospectivos, controlados e randomizados

Biocompatibility evaluation of bacterial cellulose as a scaffold material for tissue-engineered corneal stroma

In this work, biocompatibility of bacterial cellulose (BC) was assessed as the scaffold for corneal stroma replacement. Biocompatibility was evaluated by examining rabbit corneal epithelial and stromal cells cultured on the BC scaffold. The growth of primary cells was assessed by optical microscope, scanning electron microscope (SEM), and transmission electron microscope (TEM). Live/dead viability/cytotoxicity assay and CCK-8 assay were used to evaluate cell survival. BC was surgically implanted in vivo into a stromal pocket. During a 3-month follow-up, the biocompatibility of BC was assessed. We found that epithelial and stromal cells grew well on BC and showed a survival rate of nearly 100\\%. The SEM examination for both kinds of cell showed abundant leafy protrusions, spherical projections, filopodia, cytoskeletons, and cellular interconnections. The stromal cells cultured on BC arranged regularly. TEM observation revealed normal cellular microstructure and a tight adhesion to the BC membrane. In vivo observation confirmed the optical transparency of BC during 3-month follow-up. The results demonstrated that BC had good biocompatibility for the tissue engineering of corneal stroma.This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 81200663, 51572187, 51973058, and 31870963), Tianjin Clinical Key Discipline Project (Grant No. TJLCZDXKM014), and Key Research and Development Program of Jiangxi Province (No. 20192ACB80008, 20171BBG70112).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Continuous recycling of enzymes during production of lignocellulosic bioethanol in demonstration scale

Recycling of enzymes in production of lignocellulosic bioethanol has been tried for more than 30 years. So far, the successes have been few and the experiments have been carried out at conditions far from those in an industrially feasible process. Here we have tested continuous enzyme recycling at demonstration scale using industrial process conditions (high dry matter content and low enzyme dosage) for a period of eight days. The experiment was performed at the Inbicon demonstration plant (Kalundborg, Denmark) capable of converting four tonnes of wheat straw per hour. 20% of the fermentation broth was recycled to the hydrolysis reactor while enzyme dosage was reduced by 5%. The results demonstrate that recycling enzymes by this method can reduce overall enzyme consumption and may also increase the ethanol concentrations in the fermentation broth. Our results further show that recycling fermentation broth also opens up the possibility of lowering the dry matter content in hydrolysis and fermentation while still maintaining high ethanol concentrations.M.O. Haven wishes to thank the Danish Agency for Science, Technology, and Innovation, grant no. 09-053694 for financial support. The other authors wish to thank the European Seventh Framework Program, grant no. 239379 (the KACELLE project) for financial support

Experiência preliminar com o uso do cateter em veia central de silicone para quimioterapia antineoplásica

The preliminary use of silastic catheters, inserted in internai jugular vein and tunnelled through the subcutaneous tissue in order to provide venous access to antineoplasic chemoterapy was analised in six patients.The authors present the catheter insertion technique and asseptic care that grant the catheter's use for three months in average (6 to 66weeks). Infection and obstruction ocurred in one case each. Both were treated without catheter's removal.The long term use of implantable catheters for venous access in chemotherapy is a valid procedure, since asseptic care and sepsys profilaxy be carefully persued.O uso preliminar de cateteres de silicone, implantados em veia jugular interna e exteriorizados por túnel subcutâneo, para finalidade de favorecer o acesso a quimioterapia antineoplásica foi analisado em seis pacientes.Salientam-se a técnica de inserção, os cuidados de assepsia e heparinização necessárias que permitiram a manutenção dos cateteres por três meses em média, variando sua duração de 6 a 66 semanas. Ocorreram duas complicações em média: infecção e obstrução do cateter. Ambas foram tratadas sem implicar na remoção do mesmo.O uso de cateteres implantáveis de longa permanência, para acesso venoso central para quimioterapia, constitui alternativa válida, desde que sejam seguidos cuidadosamente os cuidados na profilaxia de eventuais complicações

Avaliação imunohistoquímica do perfil citocínico da mucosa colônica em colite experimental induzida por ácido acético

Experimental colitis induced by acetic acid has been used extensively as a model for intestinal inflammatory disease. Colonic tissue lesions of intestinal inflammatory disease patients seem to be related to the increased local production of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1, IL-6, TNF-alpha, and IFN-gamma). PURPOSE: To assess the cytokine expression pattern identified through immunohistochemistry in colonic mucosa after experimental colitis induced by acetic acid and establish the relationship between this pattern and the presence of macroscopic lesions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Adult male Wistar rats (n = 39) were divided at random into 4 groups: NC45 and NC24 (control without colitis; sacrificed at 45 minutes and 24 hours, respectively); and WC45 and WC24 (with experimental colitis induced by acetic acid; sacrificed at 45 minutes and 24 hours, respectively). Macroscopic and microscopic alterations in colonic tissue were evaluated, and cytokine expression was assessed through immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: After 24 hours, IL-1 expression was greater in the groups with colitis when compared to the groups without colitis. IL-4 expression was higher in the WC45 group. There was an increase in both INF-gamma and IL-6 related to the presence of necrosis of the colonic mucosa in the groups with colitis for both periods evaluated. CONCLUSION: The immunohistochemical technique was efficient for the analysis of various cytokine expressions in the colonic tissue. There was an increase in the IL-1 pro-inflammatory cytokines as well as in IL-6 and IFN-gamma associated with the presence of colonic necrosis. Experimental colitis induced by acetic acid is a useful model for the development of studies assessing the role of cytokines in the inflammation of mucosa as well as anti-cytokine therapies.O modelo de colite experimental induzida por ácido acético (CEAA) vem sendo extensamente utilizado em estudos sobre doenças inflamatórias intestinais (DII). Lesões no tecido colônico em portadores de DII parecem estar relacionados à produção local aumentada de citocinas pró-inflamatórias (IL-1, IL-6, TNF-alfa e IFN-gama). OBJETIVO: Avaliar o padrão de expressão de citocinas identificadas por imunohistoquímica em tecido colônico após CEAA e relacioná-lo à presença de lesões macroscópicas. MATERIAL E MÉTODOS: Ratos machos Wistar adultos (n=39) foram submetidos ou não à CEAA e sacrificados para retirada do tecido colônico em dois períodos distintos, perfazendo 4 grupos aleatórios: SC45 e SC24 (sem colite; sacrifício 45 minutos e 24 horas, respectivamente); CC45 e CC24 (com colite; sacrifício 45 minutos e 24 horas, respectivamente). Avaliaram-se alterações macro e microscópicas do cólon e sua expressão de citocinas foi avaliada por imunohistoquímica. RESULTADOS: Após 24 horas, a expressão de IL-1 foi maior no grupo com colite, em relação ao sem colite. IL-4 foi mais expressa no grupo CC45. Houve aumento de INF-gama e IL-6, relacionados à presença de necrose da mucosa colônica, nos grupos com colite, em ambos os períodos avaliados. CONCLUSÃO: A técnica de imunohistoquímica foi eficiente para a análise da expressão de citocinas na mucosa colônica. Houve aumento da expressão das citocinas pró-inflamatórias IL-1 e de IL-6 e IFN-gama associado à presença de necrose colônica. A CEAA é um bom modelo para o desenvolvimento de estudos destinados a avaliar o papel das citocinas na inflamação da mucosa e terapias anti-citocinas

Controle de plantas daninhas em sistemas de cultivo consorciados

One of the most important aspects that include intercropping systems with respect of interspecific competitive ability of crops grown, however, while taking into account the integrated weed control. Because of this complexity, the adoption farming systems Crop-Livestock Integration is small, but with great capacity for expansion. Focusing on the factors that limit adoption of this system seems to be strategic point for further studies. Thus, the aim of this work was to compile a set of information related to weed management and forages concomitantly aiming to identify the main alternative for the proper management of integrate system.Um dos aspectos mais importantes que contemplam os sistemas consorciados diz respeito à redução da capacidade competitiva interespecífica das espécies cultivadas, no entanto, sem deixar de levar em consideração o controle integrado de plantas daninhas. Em virtude desta complexidade, considera-se pequena a adoção de sistemas de cultivo de Integração Lavoura‑Pecuária, porém com grande capacidade de expansão. Concentrar os esforços nos fatores que limitam a adoção desse sistema parece ser um ponto estratégico para novos estudos. Assim, objetivou-se com este trabalho compilar um conjunto de informações referentes ao manejo de plantas daninhas e, concomitantemente de forrageiras visando apontar as principais alternativas para o adequado manejo dos sistemas integrados

Country-level gender inequality is associated with structural differences in the brains of women and men

男女間の不平等と脳の性差 --男女間の不平等は脳構造の性差と関連する--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2023-05-10.Gender inequality across the world has been associated with a higher risk to mental health problems and lower academic achievement in women compared to men. We also know that the brain is shaped by nurturing and adverse socio-environmental experiences. Therefore, unequal exposure to harsher conditions for women compared to men in gender-unequal countries might be reflected in differences in their brain structure, and this could be the neural mechanism partly explaining women’s worse outcomes in gender-unequal countries. We examined this through a random-effects meta-analysis on cortical thickness and surface area differences between adult healthy men and women, including a meta-regression in which country-level gender inequality acted as an explanatory variable for the observed differences. A total of 139 samples from 29 different countries, totaling 7, 876 MRI scans, were included. Thickness of the right hemisphere, and particularly the right caudal anterior cingulate, right medial orbitofrontal, and left lateral occipital cortex, presented no differences or even thicker regional cortices in women compared to men in gender-equal countries, reversing to thinner cortices in countries with greater gender inequality. These results point to the potentially hazardous effect of gender inequality on women’s brains and provide initial evidence for neuroscience-informed policies for gender equality