27 research outputs found
Efficient derivation and inducible differentiation of expandable skeletal myogenic cells from human ES and patient-specific iPS cells.
Skeletal muscle is the most abundant human tissue; therefore, an unlimited availability of myogenic cells has applications in regenerative medicine and drug development. Here we detail a protocol to derive myogenic cells from human embryonic stem (ES) and induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, and we also provide evidence for its extension to human iPS cells cultured without feeder cells. The procedure, which does not require the generation of embryoid bodies or prospective cell isolation, entails four stages with different culture densities, media and surface coating. Pluripotent stem cells are disaggregated to single cells and then differentiated into expandable cells resembling human mesoangioblasts. Subsequently, transient Myod1 induction efficiently drives myogenic differentiation into multinucleated myotubes. Cells derived from patients with muscular dystrophy and differentiated using this protocol have been genetically corrected, and they were proven to have therapeutic potential in dystrophic mice. Thus, this platform has been demonstrated to be amenable to gene and cell therapy, and it could be extended to muscle tissue engineering and disease modeling
Comparison of different starting gonadotropin doses (50, 75 and 100 IU daily) for ovulation induction combined with intrauterine insemination
Clinical spectrum time course in non-Asian patients positive for anti-MDA5 antibodies
Objectives: To define the clinical spectrum time-course and prognosis of non-Asian patients positive for anti-MDA5 antibodies.
Methods: We conducted a multicentre, international, retrospective cohort study.
Results: 149 anti-MDA5 positive patients (median onset age 53 years, median disease duration 18 months), mainly females (100, 67%), were included. Dermatomyositis (64, 43%) and amyopathic dermatomyositis (47, 31%), were the main diagnosis; 15 patients (10%) were classified as interstitial pneumonia with autoimmune features (IPAF) and 7 (5%) as rheumatoid arthritis. The main clinical findings observed were myositis (84, 56%), interstitial lung disease (ILD) (108, 78%), skin lesions (111, 74%), and arthritis (76, 51%). The onset of these manifestations was not concomitant in 74 cases (50%). Of note, 32 (21.5%) patients were admitted to the intensive care unit for rapidly progressive-ILD, which occurred in median 2 months from lung involvement detection, in the majority of cases (28, 19%) despite previous immunosuppressive treatment. One-third of patients (47, 32% each) was ANA and anti-ENA antibodies negative and a similar percentage was anti-Ro52 kDa antibodies positive. Non-specific interstitial pneumonia (65, 60%), organising pneumonia (23, 21%), and usual interstitial pneumonia-like pattern (14, 13%) were the main ILD patterns observed. Twenty-six patients died (17%), 19 (13%) had a rapidly progressive-ILD.
Conclusions: The clinical spectrum of the anti-MDA5 antibodies-related disease is heterogeneous. Rapidly-progressive ILD deeply impacts the prognosis also in non-Asian patients, occurring early during the disease course. Anti-MDA5 antibody positivity should be considered even when baseline autoimmune screening is negative, anti-Ro52 kDa antibodies are positive, and radiology findings show a NSIP pattern
El discurso de los derechos en colombia: un mapa de la cuestión.
En el presente trabajo intentaremos problematizar el carácter emancipatorio que ha querido endilgársele, no sin razones, a la Constitución colombiana de 1991 y a las prácticas jurisprudenciales que de ésta se han desprendido. De esta forma, abordaremos el debate sobre jurisprudencia contrahegemónica y derecho hegemónico
A Simple Repeat Polymorphism in the MITF-M Promoter Is a Key Regulator of White Spotting in Dogs
Assessment of the European classification criteria for Sjogren's syndrome in a series of clinically defined cases: Results of a prospective multicentre study
Objective-To assess the recently proposed preliminary criteria for the
classification of Sjogren’s syndrome (SS) in a multicentre European
study of a new series of clinically defined cases.
Methods-The criteria included six items: I = ocular symptoms; II = oral
symptoms; III = evidence of keratoconjunctivitis sicca; IV = focal
sialoadenitis by minor salivary gland biopsy; V = instrumental evidence
of salivary gland involvement; VI = presence of autoantibodies. Each
centre was asked to provide five patients with primary SS, dive with
secondary SS, five with connective tissue diseases (CTD) but without SS,
and five controls (patients with ocular or oral features that may
simulate SS). The preliminary six item classification criteria set was
applied to both the SS patients and the non-SS controls, and the
performance of the criteria in terms of sensitivity and specificity was
tested.
Results-The criteria set was tested on a total of 278 cases (157 SS
patients and 121 non-SS controls) collected from 16 centres in 10
countries. At least four of the six items in the criteria set (Limiting
item VI to the presence of Ro(SS-A) or La(SS-B) antibodies) were present
in 79 of 81 patients initially classified as having primary SS
(sensitivity 97.5%), but in only seven of 121 non-SS controls
(specificity 94.2%). When the presence of item I or II plus any two of
items III-V of the criteria set was considered as indicative of
secondary SS, 97.3% (71 of 73) of the patients initially defined as
having this disorder and 91.8% (45 of 49) of the control patients with
CTD without SS were correctly classified.
Conclusion-This prospective study confirmed the high validity and
reliability of the classification criteria for SS recently proposed by
the European Community Study Group