Anastrozole-related acute hepatitis with autoimmune features: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Two cases of acute hepatitis occurring during treatment with anastrozole have previously been reported, but the underlying mechanisms of liver injury are still uncertain. We report the case of anastrozole-related acute hepatitis with some autoimmune features.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 70-year-old woman developed acute hepatitis associated with serum antinuclear antibodies during anastrozole treatment; after drug withdrawal, liver function parameters rapidly improved and serum auto-antibodies were no longer detectable.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Anastrozole-induced hepatotoxicity is a very rare event. Drug-drug interactions or metabolically-mediated damage might be involved, with a possible role of individual susceptibility. Our report suggests that an immune-mediated mechanism may also be considered in anastrozole-related liver injury.</p

Characterization of the L-Lactate Dehydrogenase from Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans

Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans is a Gram-negative opportunistic pathogen and the proposed causative agent of localized aggressive periodontitis. A. actinomycetemcomitans is found exclusively in the mammalian oral cavity in the space between the gums and the teeth known as the gingival crevice. Many bacterial species reside in this environment where competition for carbon is high. A. actinomycetemcomitans utilizes a unique carbon resource partitioning system whereby the presence of L-lactate inhibits uptake of glucose, thus allowing preferential catabolism of L-lactate. Although the mechanism for this process is not fully elucidated, we previously demonstrated that high levels of intracellular pyruvate are critical for L-lactate preference. As the first step in L-lactate catabolism is conversion of L-lactate to pyruvate by lactate dehydrogenase, we proposed a model in which the A. actinomycetemcomitans L-lactate dehydrogenase, unlike homologous enzymes, is not feedback inhibited by pyruvate. This lack of feedback inhibition allows intracellular pyruvate to rise to levels sufficient to inhibit glucose uptake in other bacteria. In the present study, the A. actinomycetemcomitans L-lactate dehydrogenase was purified and shown to convert L-lactate, but not D-lactate, to pyruvate with a Km of approximately 150 µM. Inhibition studies reveal that pyruvate is a poor inhibitor of L-lactate dehydrogenase activity, providing mechanistic insight into L-lactate preference in A. actinomycetemcomitans

Numerical study of unsteady airflow phenomena in a ventilated room

Numerical simulation of airflow in an indoor environment has been carried out for forced, natural, and mixed convection modes, respectively, by using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach of solving the Reynolds-averaged Navier−Stokes equations. Three empty model rooms in two-dimensional configuration were studied first; focusing on the effects of grid refinement, mesh topology, and turbulence model. It was found that structured mesh results were in better agreement with available experimental measurements for all three convection scenarios, while the renormalized group (RNG) к − ε turbulence model produced better results for both forced and mixed convections and the shear stress transport (SST) turbulence model for the natural convection prediction. Further studies of air velocity and temperature distributions in a three-dimensional cubic model room with and without an obstacle have shown reasonably good agreement with available test data at the measuring points. CFD results exhibited some unsteady flow phenomena that have not yet been observed or reported in previous experimental studies for the same problem. After analyzing the time history of velocity and temperature data using fast Fourier transformation (FFT), it was found that both air velocity and temperature field oscillated at low frequencies up to 0.4 Hz and the most significant velocity oscillations occurred at a vertical height of an ankle level (0.1 m) from the floor, where temperature oscillation was insignificant. The reasons for this flow unsteadiness were possibly a higher Grashof number, estimated at 0.5 × 106 based inflow conditions, and thus strong buoyancy driven effects caused the oscillations in the flow field. The appearance of an obstacle in the room induced flow separation at its sharp edges and this would further enhance the oscillations due to the unsteady nature of detached shear-layer flow

Numerical study of unsteady airflow phenomena in a ventilated room

Numerical simulation of airflow in an indoor environment has been carried out for forced, natural, and mixed convection modes, respectively, by using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach of solving the Reynolds-averaged Navier?Stokes equations. Three empty model rooms in two-dimensional configuration were studied first; focusing on the effects of grid refinement, mesh topology, and turbulence model. It was found that structured mesh results were in better agreement with available experimental measurements for all three convection scenarios, while the renormalized group (RNG) ? ? ? turbulence model produced better results for both forced and mixed convections and the shear stress transport (SST) turbulence model for the natural convection prediction. Further studies of air velocity and temperature distributions in a three-dimensional cubic model room with and without an obstacle have shown reasonably good agreement with available test data at the measuring points. CFD results exhibited some unsteady flow phenomena that have not yet been observed or reported in previous experimental studies for the same problem. After analyzing the time history of velocity and temperature data using fast Fourier transformation (FFT), it was found that both air velocity and temperature field oscillated at low frequencies up to 0.4 Hz and the most significant velocity oscillations occurred at a vertical height of an ankle level (0.1 m) from the floor, where temperature oscillation was insignificant. The reasons for this flow unsteadiness were possibly a higher Grashof number, estimated at 0.5 × 106 based inflow conditions, and thus strong buoyancy driven effects caused the oscillations in the flow field. The appearance of an obstacle in the room induced flow separation at its sharp edges and this would further enhance the oscillations due to the unsteady nature of detached shear-layer flow.</p