Hepatobiliary cystadenoma exhibiting morphologic changes from simple hepatic cyst shown by 11-year follow up imagings

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A long-term follow up case of hepatobiliary cystadenoma originating from simple hepatic cyst is rare.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We report a case of progressive morphologic changes from simple hepatic cyst to hepatobiliary cystadenoma by 11 – year follow up imaging. A 25-year-old man visited our hospital in 1993 for a simple hepatic cyst. The cyst was located in the left lobe of the liver, was 6 cm in diameter, and did not exhibit calcification, septa or papillary projections. No surgical treatment was performed, although the cyst was observed to gradually enlarge upon subsequent examination. The patient was admitted to our hospital in 2004 due to epigastralgia. Re-examination of the simple hepatic cyst revealed mounting calcification and septa. Abdominal CT on admission revealed a hepatic cyst over 10 cm in diameter and a high-density area within the thickened wall. MRI revealed a mass of low intensity and partly high intensity on a T1-weighted image. Abdominal angiography revealed hypovascular tumor. The serum levels of AST and ALT were elevated slightly, but tumor markers were within normal ranges. Left lobectomy of the liver was performed with diagnosis of hepatobiliary cystadenoma or hepatobiliary cystadenocarcinoma. The resected specimen had a solid component with papillary projections and the cyst was filled with liquid-like muddy bile. Histologically, the inner layer of the cyst was lined with columnar epithelium showing mild grade dysplasia. On the basis of these findings, hepatobiliary cystadenoma was diagnosed.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We believe this case provides evidence of a simple hepatic cyst gradually changing into hepatobiliary cystadenoma.</p

Characterisation of feline renal cortical fibroblast cultures and their transcriptional response to transforming growth factor beta 1

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is common in geriatric cats, and the most prevalent pathology is chronic tubulointerstitial inflammation and fibrosis. The cell type predominantly responsible for the production of extra-cellular matrix in renal fibrosis is the myofibroblast, and fibroblast to myofibroblast differentiation is probably a crucial event. The cytokine TGF-β1 is reportedly the most important regulator of myofibroblastic differentiation in other species. The aim of this study was to isolate and characterise renal fibroblasts from cadaverous kidney tissue of cats with and without CKD, and to investigate the transcriptional response to TGF-β1

Holographic and Wilsonian Renormalization Groups

We develop parallels between the holographic renormalization group in the bulk and the Wilsonian renormalization group in the dual field theory. Our philosophy differs from most previous work on the holographic RG; the most notable feature is the key role of multi-trace operators. We work out the forms of various single- and double-trace flows. The key question, `what cutoff on the field theory corresponds to a radial cutoff in the bulk?' is left unanswered, but by sharpening the analogy between the two sides we identify possible directions.Comment: 31 pages, 3 figures. v2: Minor clarifications. Added reference

Chemical Defense by the Native Winter Ant (Prenolepis imparis) against the Invasive Argentine Ant (Linepithema humile)

The invasive Argentine ant (Linepithema humile) is established worldwide and displaces native ant species. In northern California, however, the native winter ant (Prenolepis imparis) persists in invaded areas. We found that in aggressive interactions between the two species, P. imparis employs a potent defensive secretion. Field observations were conducted at P. imparis nest sites both in the presence and absence of L. humile. These observations suggested and laboratory assays confirmed that P. imparis workers are more likely to secrete when outnumbered by L. humile. Workers of P. imparis were also more likely to secrete near their nest entrances than when foraging on trees. One-on-one laboratory trials showed that the P. imparis secretion is highly lethal to L. humile, causing 79% mortality. The nonpolar fraction of the secretion was chemically analyzed with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, and found to be composed of long-chain and cyclic hydrocarbons. Chemical analysis of dissected P. imparis workers showed that the nonpolar fraction is derived from the Dufour's gland. Based on these conclusions, we hypothesize that this chemical defense may help P. imparis to resist displacement by L. humile

Genetic variation in FOXO3 is associated with reductions in inflammation and disease activity in inflammatory polyarthritis

OBJECTIVE: Genetic variation in FOXO3 (tagged by rs12212067) has been associated with a milder course of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and shown to limit monocyte-driven inflammation through a transforming growth factor β1–dependent pathway. This genetic association, however, has not been consistently observed in other RA cohorts. We sought to clarify the contribution of FOXO3 to prognosis in RA by combining detailed analysis of nonradiographic disease severity measures with an in vivo model of arthritis. METHODS: Collagen-induced arthritis, the most commonly used mouse model of RA, was used to assess how Foxo3 contributes to arthritis severity. Using clinical, serologic, and biochemical methods, the arthritis that developed in mice carrying a loss-of-function mutation in Foxo3 was compared with that which occurred in littermate controls. The association of rs12212067 with nonradiographic measures of RA severity, including the C-reactive protein level, the swollen joint count, the tender joint count, the Disease Activity Score in 28 joints, and the Health Assessment Questionnaire score, were modeled longitudinally in a large prospective cohort of patients with early RA. RESULTS: Loss of Foxo3 function resulted in more severe arthritis in vivo (both clinically and histologically) and was associated with higher titers of anticollagen antibodies and interleukin-6 in the blood. Similarly, rs12212067 (a single-nucleotide polymorphism that increases FOXO3 transcription) was associated with reduced inflammation, both biochemically and clinically, and with lower RA activity scores. CONCLUSION: Consistent with its known role in restraining inflammatory responses, FOXO3 limits the severity of in vivo arthritis and, through genetic variation that increases its transcription, is associated with reduced inflammation and disease activity in RA patients, effects that result in less radiographic damage

Effect of changes over time in the performance of a customized SAPS-II model on the quality of care assessment

Purpose: The aim of our study was to explore, using an innovative method, the effect of temporal changes in the mortality prediction performance of an existing model on the quality of care assessment. The prognostic model (rSAPS-II) was a recalibrated Simplified Acute Physiology Score-II model developed for very elderly Intensive Care Unit (ICU) patients. Methods: The study population comprised all 12,143 consecutive patients aged 80 years and older admitted between January 2004 and July 2009 to one of the ICUs of 21 Dutch hospitals. The prospective dataset was split into 30 equally sized consecutive subsets. Per subset, we measured the model's discrimination [area under the curve (AUC)], accuracy (Brier score), and standardized mortality ratio (SMR), both without and after repeated recalibration. All performance measures were considered to be stable if 1 without and after repeated recalibration for the year 2009. Results: For all subsets, the AUCs were stable, but the Brier scores and SMRs were not. The SMR was downtrending, achieving levels significantly below 1. Repeated recalibration rendered it stable again. The proportions of hospitals with SMR>1 and SMR <1 changed from 15 versus 85% to 35 versus 65%. Conclusions: Variability over time may markedly vary among different performance measures, and infrequent model recalibration can result in improper assessment of the quality of care in many hospitals. We stress the importance of the timely recalibration and repeated validation of prognostic models over tim

Work-related pesticide poisoning among farmers in two villages of Southern China: a cross-sectional survey

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Pesticide poisoning is an important health problem among Chinese farm workers, but there is a paucity of pesticide poisoning data from China. Using the WHO standard case definition of a possible acute pesticide poisoning, we investigated the prevalence and risk factors of acute work-related pesticide poisoning among farmers in Southern China.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A stratified sample of 910 pesticide applicators from two villages in southern China participated in face-to-face interviews. Respondents who self-reported having two or more of a list of sixty-six symptoms within 24 hours after pesticide application were categorized as having suffered acute pesticide poisoning. The association between the composite behavioral risk score and pesticide poisoning were assessed in a multivariate logistic model.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 80 (8.8%) pesticide applicators reported an acute work-related pesticide poisoning. The most frequent symptoms among applicators were dermal (11.6%) and nervous system (10.7%) symptoms. Poisoning was more common among women, farmers in poor areas, and applicators without safety training (all p < 0.001). After controlling for gender, age, education, geographic area and the behavioral risk score, farmers without safety training had an adjusted odds ratio of 3.22 (95% CI: 1.86-5.60). The likelihood of acute pesticide poisoning was also significantly associated with number of exposure risk behaviors. A significant "dose-response" relationship between composite behavioral risk scores calculated from 9 pesticides exposure risk behaviors and the log odds of pesticide poisoning prevalence was seen among these Chinese farmers (R²= 0.9246).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study found that 8.8% of Chinese pesticide applicators suffered acute pesticide poisoning and suggests that pesticide safety training, safe application methods, and precautionary behavioral measures could be effective in reducing the risk of pesticide poisoning.</p

Evidence, Content and Corroboration and the Tree of Life

We examine three critical aspects of Popper’s formulation of the ‘Logic of Scientific Discovery’—evidence, content and degree of corroboration—and place these concepts in the context of the Tree of Life (ToL) problem with particular reference to molecular systematics. Content, in the sense discussed by Popper, refers to the breadth and scope of existence that a hypothesis purports to explain. Content, in conjunction with the amount of available and relevant evidence, determines the testability, or potential degree of corroboration, of a statement; content distinguishes scientific hypotheses from metaphysical assertions. Degree of corroboration refers to the relative and tentative confidence assigned to one hypothesis over another, based upon the performance of each under critical tests. Here we suggest that systematists attempt to maximize content and evidence to increase the potential degree of corroboration in all phylogenetic endeavors. Discussion of this “total evidence” approach leads to several interesting conclusions about generating ToL hypotheses

Associating Genes and Protein Complexes with Disease via Network Propagation

A fundamental challenge in human health is the identification of disease-causing genes. Recently, several studies have tackled this challenge via a network-based approach, motivated by the observation that genes causing the same or similar diseases tend to lie close to one another in a network of protein-protein or functional interactions. However, most of these approaches use only local network information in the inference process and are restricted to inferring single gene associations. Here, we provide a global, network-based method for prioritizing disease genes and inferring protein complex associations, which we call PRINCE. The method is based on formulating constraints on the prioritization function that relate to its smoothness over the network and usage of prior information. We exploit this function to predict not only genes but also protein complex associations with a disease of interest. We test our method on gene-disease association data, evaluating both the prioritization achieved and the protein complexes inferred. We show that our method outperforms extant approaches in both tasks. Using data on 1,369 diseases from the OMIM knowledgebase, our method is able (in a cross validation setting) to rank the true causal gene first for 34% of the diseases, and infer 139 disease-related complexes that are highly coherent in terms of the function, expression and conservation of their member proteins. Importantly, we apply our method to study three multi-factorial diseases for which some causal genes have been found already: prostate cancer, alzheimer and type 2 diabetes mellitus. PRINCE's predictions for these diseases highly match the known literature, suggesting several novel causal genes and protein complexes for further investigation