Cholesterol granuloma presenting as a mass obstructing the external ear canal

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cholesterol granuloma (CG) may involve the middle ear, the mastoid bone and the petrous apex. However, CG presenting as a mass obstructing the external ear canal (EEC) is relatively rare and it can be a diagnostic challenge.</p> <p>Case Presentation</p> <p>We report a case of a CG occupying the mastoid antrum and presenting as a mass into the EEC. Temporal bone computerized tomography showed a soft tissue mass which eroded the posterior-superior bony wall of the EEC. On magnetic resonance imaging, the mass revealed a high signal on both T1 and T2-weighted images. The CG was removed by a mastoidectomy procedure and the histopathologic report confirmed the diagnosis of CG. A type III tympanoplasty was performed.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The postoperative course was uneventful.</p

The expression of thymidine phosphorylase correlates with angiogenesis and the efficacy of chemotherapy using fluorouracil derivatives in advanced gastric carcinoma

The expression of thymidine phosphorylase (TP) and the density of microvessel in advanced gastric carcinoma were examined by immunohistochemistry to evaluate the significance of TP. The expression of TP was negative in 72 cases, positive in 54. The microvessel density correlated with the expression of TP. In total cases, patients with TP-positive tumours survived longer than those with TP-negative tumours. In patients treated with fluorouracil derivatives (FUs), the expression of TP significantly correlated with favourable prognosis and with unfavourable prognosis in those not treated with FUs. The patients with TP-positive tumours, the prognosis of patients treated with FUs was significantly better than that of those not treated with FUs. In patients with TP-positive tumours, treatment with FUs and lymph node metastasis were independent prognostic factors according to the Cox proportional hazards model. Depth of invasion and lymph node metastasis were independent prognostic factors in patients with TP-negative tumours. The determination of the expression of TP might be useful for predicting the efficacy of post-operative chemotherapy using FUs to prevent recurrence in advanced gastric carcinoma patients who undergo curative gastrectomy. © 1999 Cancer Research Campaig

Total Aortic Arch Replacement: Superior Ventriculo-Arterial Coupling with Decellularized Allografts Compared with Conventional Prostheses.

BACKGROUND: To date, no experimental or clinical study provides detailed analysis of vascular impedance changes after total aortic arch replacement. This study investigated ventriculoarterial coupling and vascular impedance after replacement of the aortic arch with conventional prostheses vs. decellularized allografts. METHODS: After preparing decellularized aortic arch allografts, their mechanical, histological and biochemical properties were evaluated and compared to native aortic arches and conventional prostheses in vitro. In open-chest dogs, total aortic arch replacement was performed with conventional prostheses and compared to decellularized allografts (n = 5/group). Aortic flow and pressure were recorded continuously, left ventricular pressure-volume relations were measured by using a pressure-conductance catheter. From the hemodynamic variables end-systolic elastance (Ees), arterial elastance (Ea) and ventriculoarterial coupling were calculated. Characteristic impedance (Z) was assessed by Fourier analysis. RESULTS: While Ees did not differ between the groups and over time (4.1+/-1.19 vs. 4.58+/-1.39 mmHg/mL and 3.21+/-0.97 vs. 3.96+/-1.16 mmHg/mL), Ea showed a higher increase in the prosthesis group (4.01+/-0.67 vs. 6.18+/-0.20 mmHg/mL, P<0.05) in comparison to decellularized allografts (5.03+/-0.35 vs. 5.99+/-1.09 mmHg/mL). This led to impaired ventriculoarterial coupling in the prosthesis group, while it remained unchanged in the allograft group (62.5+/-50.9 vs. 3.9+/-23.4%). Z showed a strong increasing tendency in the prosthesis group and it was markedly higher after replacement when compared to decellularized allografts (44.6+/-8.3dyn.sec.cm-5 vs. 32.4+/-2.0dyn.sec.cm-5, P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Total aortic arch replacement leads to contractility-afterload mismatch by means of increased impedance and invert ventriculoarterial coupling ratio after implantation of conventional prostheses. Implantation of decellularized allografts preserves vascular impedance thereby improving ventriculoarterial mechanoenergetics after aortic arch replacement

Ask yeast how to burn your fats: lessons learned from the metabolic adaptation to salt stress

[EN] Here, we review and update the recent advances in the metabolic control during the adaptive response of budding yeast to hyperosmotic and salt stress, which is one of the best understood signaling events at the molecular level. This environmental stress can be easily applied and hence has been exploited in the past to generate an impressively detailed and comprehensive model of cellular adaptation. It is clear now that this stress modulates a great number of different physiological functions of the cell, which altogether contribute to cellular survival and adaptation. Primary defense mechanisms are the massive induction of stress tolerance genes in the nucleus, the activation of cation transport at the plasma membrane, or the production and intracellular accumulation of osmolytes. At the same time and in a coordinated manner, the cell shuts down the expression of housekeeping genes, delays the progression of the cell cycle, inhibits genomic replication, and modulates translation efficiency to optimize the response and to avoid cellular damage. To this fascinating interplay of cellular functions directly regulated by the stress, we have to add yet another layer of control, which is physiologically relevant for stress tolerance. Salt stress induces an immediate metabolic readjustment, which includes the up-regulation of peroxisomal biomass and activity in a coordinated manner with the reinforcement of mitochondrial respiratory metabolism. Our recent findings are consistent with a model, where salt stress triggers a metabolic shift from fermentation to respiration fueled by the enhanced peroxisomal oxidation of fatty acids. We discuss here the regulatory details of this stress-induced metabolic shift and its possible roles in the context of the previously known adaptive functions.The work of the authors was supported by grants from Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (BFU2011- 23326 and BFU2016-75792-R).Pascual-Ahuir Giner, MD.; Manzanares-Estreder, S.; Timón Gómez, A.; Proft ., MH. (2017). Ask yeast how to burn your fats: lessons learned from the metabolic adaptation to salt stress. Current Genetics. 64(1):63-69. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00294-017-0724-5S6369641Aguilera J, Prieto JA (2001) The Saccharomyces cerevisiae aldose reductase is implied in the metabolism of methylglyoxal in response to stress conditions. Curr Genet 39:273–283Albertyn J, Hohmann S, Thevelein JM, Prior BA (1994) GPD1, which encodes glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, is essential for growth under osmotic stress in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and its expression is regulated by the high-osmolarity glycerol response pathway. 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Cyr61/CCN1 Is Regulated by Wnt/β-Catenin Signaling and Plays an Important Role in the Progression of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Abnormal activation of the canonical Wnt signaling pathway has been implicated in carcinogenesis. Transcription of Wnt target genes is regulated by nuclear β-catenin, whose over-expression is observed in Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) tissue. Cyr61, a member of the CCN complex family of multifunctional proteins, is also found over-expressed in many types of tumor and plays dramatically different roles in tumorigenesis. In this study, we investigated the relationship between Cyr61 and β-catenin in HCC. We found that while Cyr61 protein was not expressed at a detectable level in the liver tissue of healthy individuals, its expression level was elevated in the HCC and HCC adjacent tissues and was markedly increased in cancer-adjacent hepatic cirrhosis tissue. Over-expression of Cyr61 was positively correlated with increased levels of β-catenin in human HCC samples. Activation of β-catenin signaling elevated the mRNA level of Cyr61 in HepG2 cells, while inhibition of β-catenin signaling reduced both mRNA and protein levels of Cyr61. We identified two TCF4-binding elements in the promoter region of human Cyr61 gene and demonstrated that β-catenin/TCF4 complex specifically bound to the Cyr61 promoter in vivo and directly regulated its promoter activity. Furthermore, we found that over-expression of Cyr61 in HepG2 cells promoted the progression of HCC xenografts in SCID mice. These findings indicate that Cyr61 is a direct target of β-catenin signaling in HCC and may play an important role in the progression of HCC

Molecular and physiological basis of Saccharomyces cerevisiae tolerance to adverse lignocellulose-based process conditions

Lignocellulose-based biorefineries have been gaining increasing attention to substitute current petroleum-based refineries. Biomass processing requires a pretreatment step to break lignocellulosic biomass recalcitrant structure, which results in the release of a broad range of microbial inhibitors, mainly weak acids, furans, and phenolic compounds. Saccharomyces cerevisiae is the most commonly used organism for ethanol production; however, it can be severely distressed by these lignocellulose-derived inhibitors, in addition to other challenging conditions, such as pentose sugar utilization and the high temperatures required for an efficient simultaneous saccharification and fermentation step. Therefore, a better understanding of the yeast response and adaptation towards the presence of these multiple stresses is of crucial importance to design strategies to improve yeast robustness and bioconversion capacity from lignocellulosic biomass. This review includes an overview of the main inhibitors derived from diverse raw material resultants from different biomass pretreatments, and describes the main mechanisms of yeast response to their presence, as well as to the presence of stresses imposed by xylose utilization and high-temperature conditions, with a special emphasis on the synergistic effect of multiple inhibitors/stressors. Furthermore, successful cases of tolerance improvement of S. cerevisiae are highlighted, in particular those associated with other process-related physiologically relevant conditions. Decoding the overall yeast response mechanisms will pave the way for the integrated development of sustainable yeast cell--based biorefineries.This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) by the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit, MIT Portugal Program (Ph.D. grant PD/BD/128247/ 2016 to Joana T. Cunha), Ph.D. grant SFRH/BD/130739/2017 to Carlos E. Costa, COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006684), BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004), YeasTempTation (ERA-IB-2-6/0001/2014), and MultiBiorefinery project (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016403). Funding by the Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences (IBB) from FCT (UID/BIO/04565/2013) and from Programa Operacional Regional de Lisboa 2020 (Project N. 007317) was also receiveinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio