Analgesic Efficacy of Pfannenstiel Incision Infiltration with Ropivacaine 7.5 mg/mL for Caesarean Section

Background. Pain after Caesarean delivery is partly related to Pfannenstiel incision, which can be infiltrated with local anaesthetic solutions. Methods. A double- blind randomized control trial was designed to assess the analgesic efficacy of 7.5 mg/mL ropivacaine solution compared to control group, in two groups of one hundred and forty four parturients for each group, who underwent Caesarean section under spinal anaesthesia: group R (ropivacaine group) and group C (control group). All parturients also received spinal sufentanil (2.5 μg). Results. Ropivacaine infiltration in the Pfannenstiel incision for Caesarean delivery before wound closure leads to a reduction of 30% in the overall consumption of analgesics (348 550 mg for group R versus 504 426 mg for group C with P < .05), especially opioids in the first 24 hours, but also significantly increases the time interval until the first request for an analgesic (4 h 20 min ± 2 h 26 for group R versus 2 h 42 ± 1 h 30 for group C). The P values for the two groups were: P < .0001 for paracetamol, P < .0001 for ketoprofen and P for nalbuphine which was the most significant. There is no significant difference in the threshold of VAS in the two series. Conclusion. This technique can contribute towards a programme of early rehabilitation in sectioned mothers, with earlier discharge from the post-labour suite

Removal of AU Bias from Microarray mRNA Expression Data Enhances Computational Identification of Active MicroRNAs

Elucidation of regulatory roles played by microRNAs (miRs) in various biological networks is one of the greatest challenges of present molecular and computational biology. The integrated analysis of gene expression data and 3′-UTR sequences holds great promise for being an effective means to systematically delineate active miRs in different biological processes. Applying such an integrated analysis, we uncovered a striking relationship between 3′-UTR AU content and gene response in numerous microarray datasets. We show that this relationship is secondary to a general bias that links gene response and probe AU content and reflects the fact that in the majority of current arrays probes are selected from target transcript 3′-UTRs. Therefore, removal of this bias, which is in order in any analysis of microarray datasets, is of crucial importance when integrating expression data and 3′-UTR sequences to identify regulatory elements embedded in this region. We developed visualization and normalization schemes for the detection and removal of such AU biases and demonstrate that their application to microarray data significantly enhances the computational identification of active miRs. Our results substantiate that, after removal of AU biases, mRNA expression profiles contain ample information which allows in silico detection of miRs that are active in physiological conditions

Pathways for scale and discipline reconciliation: current socio-ecological modelling methodologies to explore and reconstitute human prehistoric dynamics

International audienceThis communication elaborates a plea for the necessity of a specific modelling methodology which does not sacrifice two modelling principles: explanation Micro and correlation Macro. Three goals are assigned to modelling strategies: describe, understand and predict. One tendency in historical and spatial modelling is to develop models at a micro level in order to describe and by that way, understand the connection between local ecological contexts, acquired through local ecological data, and local social practices, acquired through archaeology. However, such a method faces difficulties for expanding its validity: It is validated by its adequacy with local data, but the prediction step is unreachable and quite nothing can be said for places out where. On the other hand, building models at a far larger scale, for instance at the continent and even the world level, enhances the connection between ecology and its temporal variability. Such connections are based on well-founded theories but lower the " small causes, big effects " emergence corresponding to agent-based approaches and the related inherent variability of socio-ecological dynamics that one can notice at a lower scale. We then propose a plea for combining both elements for building large-scale modelling tools, which aims are to describe and provide predictions on long-term past evolutions, that include the test of explaining socio-anthropological hypotheses, i.e. the emergence and the spread of local social innovations

A Ten-microRNA Expression Signature Predicts Survival in Glioblastoma

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common and aggressive primary brain tumor with very poor patient median survival. To identify a microRNA (miRNA) expression signature that can predict GBM patient survival, we analyzed the miRNA expression data of GBM patients (n = 222) derived from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset. We divided the patients randomly into training and testing sets with equal number in each group. We identified 10 significant miRNAs using Cox regression analysis on the training set and formulated a risk score based on the expression signature of these miRNAs that segregated the patients into high and low risk groups with significantly different survival times (hazard ratio [HR] = 2.4; 95% CI = 1.4–3.8; p<0.0001). Of these 10 miRNAs, 7 were found to be risky miRNAs and 3 were found to be protective. This signature was independently validated in the testing set (HR = 1.7; 95% CI = 1.1–2.8; p = 0.002). GBM patients with high risk scores had overall poor survival compared to the patients with low risk scores. Overall survival among the entire patient set was 35.0% at 2 years, 21.5% at 3 years, 18.5% at 4 years and 11.8% at 5 years in the low risk group, versus 11.0%, 5.5%, 0.0 and 0.0% respectively in the high risk group (HR = 2.0; 95% CI = 1.4–2.8; p<0.0001). Cox multivariate analysis with patient age as a covariate on the entire patient set identified risk score based on the 10 miRNA expression signature to be an independent predictor of patient survival (HR = 1.120; 95% CI = 1.04–1.20; p = 0.003). Thus we have identified a miRNA expression signature that can predict GBM patient survival. These findings may have implications in the understanding of gliomagenesis, development of targeted therapy and selection of high risk cancer patients for adjuvant therapy

miR-17–92 cluster: ups and downs in cancer and aging

The miR-17–92 cluster encoding 6 single mature miRNAs was identified a couple of years ago to contain the first oncogenic miRNAs. Now, one of these 6 miRNAs, miR-19 has been identified as the key responsible for this oncogenic activity. This in turn reduces PTEN levels and in consequence activates the AKT/mTOR pathway that is also prominently involved in modulation of organismal life spans. In contrast, miR-19 and other members of the miR-17–92 cluster are found to be commonly downregulated in several human replicative and organismal aging models. Taken together, these findings suggest that miR-19 and the other members of the miR-17–92 cluster might be important regulators on the cross-roads between aging and cancer. Therefore, we here briefly summarize how this cluster is transcriptionally regulated, which target mRNAs have been confirmed so far and how this might be linked to modulation of organismal life-spans

Cross-Reactivity of Herpesvirus-Specific CD8 T Cell Lines Toward Allogeneic Class I MHC Molecules

Although association between persistent viral infection and allograft rejection is well characterized, few examples of T-cell cross-reactivity between self-MHC/viral and allogeneic HLA molecules have been documented so far. We appraised in this study the alloreactivity of CD8 T cell lines specific for immunodominant epitopes from human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). CD8 T cell lines were generated after sorting with immunomagnetic beads coated with either pp65495–503/A*0201, BMLF1259–267/A*0201, or BZLF154–64/B*3501 multimeric complexes. Alloreactivity of the CD8 T cell lines against allogeneic class I MHC alleles was assessed by screening of (i) TNF-α production against COS-7 cells transfected with as many as 39 individual HLA class I-encoding cDNA, and (ii) cytotoxicity activity toward a large panel of HLA-typed EBV-transformed B lymphoblastoid cell lines. We identified several cross-reactive pp65/A*0201-specific T cell lines toward allogeneic HLA-A*3001, A*3101, or A*3201. Moreover, we described here cross-recognition of HLA-Cw*0602 by BZLF1/B*3501-specific T cells. It is noteworthy that these alloreactive CD8 T cell lines showed efficient recognition of endothelial cells expressing the relevant HLA class I allele, with high level TNF-α production and cytotoxicity activity. Taken together, our data support the notion that herpes virus-specific T cells recognizing allo-HLA alleles may promote solid organ rejection

The worldwide NORM production and a fully automated gamma-ray spectrometer for their characterization

Materials containing radionuclides of natural origin, which is modified by human made processes and being subject to regulation because of their radioactivity are known as NORM. We present a brief review of the main categories of non-nuclear industries together with the levels of activity concentration in feed raw materials, products and waste, including mechanisms of radioisotope enrichments. The global management of NORM shows a high level of complexity, mainly due to different degrees of radioactivity enhancement and the huge amount of worldwide waste production. The future tendency of guidelines concerning environmental protection will require both a systematic monitoring based on the ever-increasing sampling and high performance of gamma ray spectroscopy. On the ground of these requirements a new low background fully automated high-resolution gamma-ray spectrometer MCA_Rad has been developed. The design of Pb and Cu shielding allowed to reach a background reduction of two order of magnitude with respect to laboratory radioactivity. A severe lowering of manpower cost is obtained through a fully automation system, which enables up to 24 samples to be measured without any human attendance. Two coupled HPGe detectors increase the detection efficiency, performing accurate measurements on sample volume (180 cc) with a reduction of sample transport cost of material. Details of the instrument calibration method are presented. MCA_Rad system can measure in less than one hour a typical NORM sample enriched in U and Th with some hundreds of Bq/kg, with an overall uncertainty less than 5%. Quality control of this method has been tested. Measurements of certified reference materials RGK-1, RGU-2 and RGTh-1 containing concentrations of K, U and Th comparable to NORM have been performed, resulting an overall relative discrepancy of 5% among central values within the reported uncertainty.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figures, 6 table