An Unusual Melanocytic Nevus of Conjunctiva : Balloon Cell Nevus

Melanocytic nevi are one of the most common benign tumors of the conjunctiva. The balloon cell nevus is a rare and unusual variant of nevus of melanocytic origin, in which more than 50% of the tumor is composed of large polygonal cells with small nucleus and a clear to vacuolated cytoplasm. We describe a case of balloon cell nevus in a 6-year-old child who presented with pigmented lesion of the right eye since birth. The melanocytic nature of these cells was confirmed by immunohistochemical study. Excision of the tumor results in cure. This report describes a rare balloon cell nevus of conjunctiva which to the best of our knowledge is not documented in Indian literature

Molecular and functional insights into gonadotropin hormone receptor dimerization and oligomerization

The gonadotrophin hormones, follicle stimulating hormone and luteinising hormone, are essential for reproduction. They work in concert to control multiple aspects of gonadal function to ultimately produce meiotically competent and fertilisable gametes, provide the optimal endometrial environment and support for implantation and maintain pregnancy via progesterone production throughout the first trimester of pregnancy. These complex and multidimensional functions are mediated via the gonadotrophin hormone receptors, luteinising hormone receptor (LHR) and follicle stimulating hormone receptor (FSHR), Class A G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR), which couple to multiple G protein-dependent and independent signal pathways to control these physiological processes. Over the last two decades, a plethora of experimental evidence has shown that GPCRs can associate to form dimers and oligomers. This association provides a means of mediating the diverse functional requirements of a single receptor subtype and for the gonadotrophin hormone receptors, has been shown to alter the pharmacology and signal activation profile of these receptors. This review will detail the historical and current evidence detailing the formation of gonadotrophin hormone receptor homomers and heteromers. We will discuss the functional insight gained from in vitro and in vivo studies, and the potential impact in modulating reproductive health and disease

Bioinformatic analysis of dihydrofolate reductase predicted in the genome sequence of Lactobacillus pentosus KCA1

 Physiologic studies of Lactobacillus species show that some species cannot synthesize folate de novo, which is required for growth. Folate plays a critical role in regulating the amount of tetrahydrofolate in the cell that is utilized for DNA replication, and proliferation of the erythropoietic system. We recently sequenced the genome of Lactobacillus pentosus KCA1, isolated from a Nigerian subject. The genome has open reading frames coding for the complete genes required for folate biosynthesis. Our previous study shows that rats fed with L. pentosus KCA1 led to enhancement of haematological parameters. Bioinformatic tool such as ClustalW algorithm was used to analyze dihydrofolate reductase (folA/dfrA) encoded in the genome sequence of L. pentosus KCA1 for comparative multiple sequence alignments. I-TASSER was used to predict the 3-D model structure of the protein and potential active binding site residues. Result show that two unique amino acid substitutions were found in KCA1_1610 sequence at position 85 with alanine (A-Ala85), while other strains have aspartic acid (D-Asp) for other L. pentosus and threonine (T-Thr) for L. plantarum strains at the same position. The result suggests that dihydrofolate reductase can be used as a distinguishing marker between L. pentosus KCA1 and other pentosus including L. plantarum strains. The secondary structure prediction with I-TASSER revealed 5 alpha helices and 8 beta-strands. Twelve binding site residues were predicted in KCA1_1610 relative to the template protein 2zzaA in protein database (PDB). The predicted structure of KCA1_1610 dihydrofolate reductase can serve as a new template as an addition to structural genomics and generation of models for use in drug screening and physiological function inference.Keywords: Lactobacillus pentosus, folate biosynthesis, dihydrofolate reductase, probiotic

Child Well-being in the Pacific Rim

This study extends previous efforts to compare the well-being of children using multi-dimensional indicators derived from sample survey and administrative series to thirteen countries in the Pacific Rim. The framework for the analysis of child well-being is to organise 46 indicators into 21 components and organise the components into 6 domains: material situation, health, education, subjective well-being, living environment, as well as risk and safety. Overall, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan have the highest child well-being and Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines the lowest. However, there are substantial variations between the domains. Japan and Korea perform best on the material well-being of children and also do well on health and education but they have the lowest subjective well-being among their children by some margin. There is a relationship between child well-being and GDP per capita but children in China have higher well-being than you would expect given their GDP and children in Australia have lower well-being. The analysis is constrained by missing data particularly that the Health Behaviour of School-Aged Children Survey is not undertaken in any of these countries

Analysis of forest product trade relationships between Turkey and European Union member states

The countries have needed to strengthen their trade relationships in the face of increasing competition conditions with globalization and a lot of unions emerged all over the world. The European Union, remaining in the foreground as an economical, commercial and political factor in these unions, possesses considerable influence, which a lot of countries want to be involved in. Turkey, being in the European integration process, looks for a place in European Union (EU) with its own resources and production power. Production and foreign trade data of the forest products industry, being among Turkey’s important sectors, were compared with 25 different EU countries by using hierarchical cluster analysis, and Turkey’s trade relationship was determined. The production amounts, import and exportamounts and the values, between 2002 and 2006, belonging to the EU member countries and Turkey were used. It has been found that all countries could be divided into nine different groups according tocountries’ forest products industry structures. Competition advantage is experienced in the board sector but not in the paper and lumber sectors. The forest products industry sectors of Turkey have the capacity to compete with EU countries

Predicting Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) Classification of Drugs by Integrating Chemical-Chemical Interactions and Similarities

The Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification system, recommended by the World Health Organization, categories drugs into different classes according to their therapeutic and chemical characteristics. For a set of query compounds, how can we identify which ATC-class (or classes) they belong to? It is an important and challenging problem because the information thus obtained would be quite useful for drug development and utilization. By hybridizing the informations of chemical-chemical interactions and chemical-chemical similarities, a novel method was developed for such purpose. It was observed by the jackknife test on a benchmark dataset of 3,883 drug compounds that the overall success rate achieved by the prediction method was about 73% in identifying the drugs among the following 14 main ATC-classes: (1) alimentary tract and metabolism; (2) blood and blood forming organs; (3) cardiovascular system; (4) dermatologicals; (5) genitourinary system and sex hormones; (6) systemic hormonal preparations, excluding sex hormones and insulins; (7) anti-infectives for systemic use; (8) antineoplastic and immunomodulating agents; (9) musculoskeletal system; (10) nervous system; (11) antiparasitic products, insecticides and repellents; (12) respiratory system; (13) sensory organs; (14) various. Such a success rate is substantially higher than 7% by the random guess. It has not escaped our notice that the current method can be straightforwardly extended to identify the drugs for their 2nd-level, 3rd-level, 4th-level, and 5th-level ATC-classifications once the statistically significant benchmark data are available for these lower levels

Hospitalised patients with suspected 2009 H1N1 Influenza A in a hospital in Norway, July - December 2009

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The main objective of this study was to describe the patients who were hospitalised at Oslo University Hospital Aker during the first wave of pandemic Influenza A (H1N1) in Norway.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Clinical data on all patients hospitalised with influenza-like illness from July to the end of November 2009 were collected prospectively. Patients with confirmed H1N1 Influenza A were compared to patients with negative H1N1 tests.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>182 patients were hospitalised with suspected H1N1 Influenza A and 64 (35%) tested positive. Seventeen patients with positive tests (27%) were admitted to an intensive care unit and four patients died (6%). The H1N1 positive patients were younger, consisted of a higher proportion of non-ethnic Norwegians, had a higher heart rate on admission, and fewer had pre-existing hypertension, compared to the H1N1 negative patients. However, hypertension was the only medical condition that was significantly associated with a more serious outcome defined as ICU admission or death, with a univariate odds ratio of the composite endpoint in H1N1 positive and negative patients of 6.1 (95% CI 1.3-29.3) and 3.2 (95% CI 1.2-8.7), respectively. Chest radiography revealed pneumonia in 24/59 H1N1 positive patients. 63 of 64 H1N1 positive patients received oseltamivir.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The extra burden of hospitalisations was relatively small and we managed to admit all the patients with suspected H1N1 influenza without opening new pandemic isolation wards. The morbidity and mortality were similar to reports from comparable countries. Established hypertension was associated with more severe morbidity and patients with hypertension should be considered candidates for vaccination programs in future pandemics.</p

A surrogate model for rapidly assessing the size of a wildfire over time

Rapid estimates of the risk from potential wildfires are necessary for operational management and mitigation efforts. Computational models can provide risk metrics, but are typically deterministic and may neglect uncertainties inherent in factors driving the fire. Modeling these uncertainties can more accurately predict risks associated with a particular wildfire, but requires a large number of simulations with a corresponding increase in required computational time. Surrogate models provide a means to rapidly estimate the outcome of a particular model based on implicit uncertainties within the model and are very computationally efficient. In this paper, we detail the development of a surrogate model for the growth of a wildfire based on initial meteorological conditions: temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed. Multiple simulated fires under different conditions are used to develop the surrogate model based on the relationship between the area burnt by the fire and each meteorological variable. The results from nine bio-regions in Tasmania show that the surrogate model can closely represent the change in the size of a wildfire over time. The model could be used for a rapid initial estimate of likely fire risk for operational wildfire management

Nucleosomes in serum of patients with early cerebral stroke

Background: Nucleosomes are cell death products that are elevated in serum of patients with diseases that are associated with massive cell destruction. We investigated the kinetics of circulating nucleosomes after cerebral stroke and their correlation with the clinical status. Methods: In total, we analyzed nucleosomes by ELISA in sera of 63 patients with early stroke daily during the first week after onset. For correlation with the clinical pathology, patients were grouped into those with medium to slight functional impairment (Barthel Index BI >= 50) and those with severe functional impairment (BI = 50 showed a continuous increase in nucleosomes until day 5 (median: 523 arbitrary units, AU) followed by a slow decline. In contrast, patients with BI = 50 (497 AU; p = 0.031). Concerning the infarction volume, nucleosomes showed significant correlations for the concentrations on day 3 (r = 0.43; p = 0.001) and for the area under the curve (r = 0.34; p = 0.016). Conclusion: Even if nucleosomes are nonspecific cell death markers, their release into serum after cerebral stroke correlates with the gross functional status as well as with the infarction volume and can be considered as biochemical correlative to the severity of stroke. Copyright (c) 2006 S. Karger AG, Basel