Primary angiitis of the central nervous system presenting with subacute and fatal course of disease: a case report

BACKGROUND: Primary angiitis of the central nervous system is an idiopathic disorder characterized by vasculitis within the dural confines. The clinical presentation shows a wide variation and the course and the duration of disease are heterogeneous. This rare but treatable disease provides a diagnostic challenge owing to the lack of pathognomonic tests and the necessity of a histological confirmation. CASE PRESENTATION: A 28-year-old patient presenting with headache and fluctuating signs of encephalopathy was treated on the assumption of viral meningoencephalitis. The course of the disease led to his death 10 days after hospital admission. Postmortem examination revealed primary angiitis of the central nervous system. CONCLUSION: Primary angiitis of the central nervous system should always be taken into consideration when suspected infectious inflammation of the central nervous system does not respond to treatment adequately. In order to confirm the diagnosis with the consequence of a modified therapy angiography and combined leptomeningeal and brain biopsy should be considered immediately

Malaria Infections Do Not Compromise Vaccine-Induced Immunity against Tuberculosis in Mice

BACKGROUND: Given the considerable geographic overlap in the endemic regions for malaria and tuberculosis, it is probable that co-infections with Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Plasmodium species are prevalent. Thus, it is quite likely that both malaria and TB vaccines may be used in the same populations in endemic areas. While novel vaccines are currently being developed and tested individually against each of these pathogens, the efficacy of these vaccines has not been evaluated in co-infection models. To further assess the effectiveness of these new immunization strategies, we investigated whether co-infection with malaria would impact the anti-tuberculosis protection induced by four different types of TB vaccines in a mouse model of pulmonary tuberculosis. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here we show that the anti-tuberculosis protective immunity induced by four different tuberculosis vaccines was not impacted by a concurrent infection with Plasmodium yoelii NL, a nonlethal form of murine malaria. After an aerogenic challenge with virulent M. tuberculosis, the lung bacterial burdens of vaccinated animals were not statistically different in malaria infected and malaria naïve mice. Multi-parameter flow cytometric analysis showed that the frequency and the median fluorescence intensities (MFI) for specific multifunctional T (MFT) cells expressing IFN-γ, TNF-α, and/or IL-2 were suppressed by the presence of malaria parasites at 2 weeks following the malaria infection but was not affected after parasite clearance at 7 and 10 weeks post-challenge with P. yoelii NL. CONCLUSIONS: Our data indicate that the effectiveness of novel TB vaccines in protecting against tuberculosis was unaffected by a primary malaria co-infection in a mouse model of pulmonary tuberculosis. While the activities of specific MFT cell subsets were reduced at elevated levels of malaria parasitemia, the T cell suppression was short-lived. Our findings have important relevance in developing strategies for the deployment of new TB vaccines in malaria endemic areas

[en] PHOTOPLASTICITY BEHAVIOR OF POLYESTER RESINS UNDER AND AFTER LOADING

The Mesoarchean Nuasahi chromite deposits of the Singhbhum Craton in eastern India consist of a lower chromite-bearing ultramafic unit and an upper magnetite-bearing gabbroic unit. The ultramafic unit is a ~5 km long and ~400 m wide linear belt trending NNW-SSE with a general north-easterly dip. The chromitite ore bodies are hosted in the dunite that is flanked by the orthopyroxenite. The rocks of the ultramafic unit including the chromitite crystallized from a primitive boninitic magma, whereas the gabbro unit formed from an evolved boninitic magma. A shear zone (10-75 m wide) is present at the upper contact of the ultramafic unit. This shear zone consists of a breccia comprising millimeter- to meter-sized fragments of chromitite and serpentinized rocks of the ultramafic unit enclosed in a pegmatitic and hybridized gabbroic matrix. The shear zone was formed late synkinematically with respect to the main gabbroic intrusion and intruded by a hydrous mafic magma comagmatic with the evolved boninitic magma that formed the gabbro unit. Both sulfide-free and sulfide-bearing zones with platinum group element (PGE) enrichment are present in the breccia zone. The PGE mineralogy in sulfide-rich assemblages is dominated by minerals containing Pd, Pt, Sb, Bi, Te, S, and/or As. Samples from the gabbro unit and the breccia zone have total PGE concentrations ranging from 3 to 116 ppb and 258 to 24,100 ppb, respectively. The sulfide-rich assemblages of the breccia zone are Pd-rich and have Pd/Ir ratios of 13-1,750 and Pd/Pt ratios of 1-73. The PGE-enriched sulfide-bearing assemblages of the breccia zone are characterized by (1) extensive development of secondary hydrous minerals in the altered parts of fragments and in the matrix of the breccia, (2) coarsening of grain size in the altered parts of the chromitite fragments, and (3) extensive alteration of primary chromite to more Fe-rich chromite with inclusions of chlorite, rutile, ilmenite, magnetite, chalcopyrite, and PGE-bearing chalcogenides. Unaltered parts of the massive chromitite fragments from the breccia zone show PGE ratios (Pd/Ir = 2.5) similar to massive chromitite (Pd/Ir = 0.4-6.6) of the ultramafic unit. The Ir-group PGE (IPGE: Ir, Os, Ru) of the sulfide-rich breccia assemblages were contributed from the ultramafic-chromitite breccia. Samples of the gabbro unit have fractionated primitive mantle-normalized patterns, IPGE depletion (Pd/Ir = 24-1,227) and Ni-depletion due to early removal of olivine and chromite from the primitive boninitic magma that formed the ultramafic unit. Samples of the gabbro and the breccia zone have negative Nb, Th, Zr, and Hf anomalies, indicating derivation from a depleted mantle source. The Cu/Pd ratios of the PGE-mineralized samples of the breccia zone (2.0 × 103-3.2 × 103) are lower than mantle (6.2 × 103) suggesting that the parental boninitic magma (Archean high-Mg lava: Cu/Pd ratio ~1.3 × 103; komatiite: Cu/Pd ratio ~8 × 103) was sulfur-undersaturated. Samples of the ultramafic unit, gabbro and the mineralized breccia zone, have a narrow range of incompatible trace element ratios indicating a cogenetic relationship. The ultramafic rocks and the gabbros have relatively constant subchondritic Nb/Ta ratios (ultramafic rocks: Nb/Ta = 4.1-8.8; gabbro unit: Nb/Ta = 11.5-13.2), whereas samples of the breccia zone are characterized by highly variable Nb/Ta ratios (Nb/Ta = 2.5-16.6) and show evidence of metasomatism. The enrichment of light rare earth element and mobile incompatible elements in the mineralized samples provides supporting evidence for metasomatism. The interaction of the ultramafic fragments with the evolved fluid-rich mafic magma was key to the formation of the PGE mineralization in the Nuasahi massif. © Springer-Verlag 2009.link_to_subscribed_fulltex