Surgical treatment of a giant tibial high-grade mixofibrosarcoma with preservation of limb function: a case report

Myxofibrosarcoma is one of the most common sarcomas in elderly patients showing a slight male prevalence. The tumor is mainly located in lower and upper extremities and rarely in trunk, neck and feet. We present a case of a 84-year-old man referred to our tumour center with a giant and neglected high-grade tibial myxofibrosarcoma in the anteromedial side of tibial mid-diaphysis. Large size lesions in association with older age may jeopardise the maintenance of limb vitality, vascularity and stability

VISTA Variables in the <i>Vía Láctea</i> (VVV): Halfway Status and Results

The VISTA Variables in the Vía Láctea (VVV) survey is one of six near-infrared ESO public surveys, and is now in its fourth year of observing. Although far from being complete, the VVV survey has already delivered many results, some directly connected to the intended science goals (detection of variable stars, microlensing events, new star clusters), others concerning more exotic objects, e.g., novae. Now, at the end of the fourth observing period, and comprising roughly 50% of the proposed observations, the status of the survey, as well some of results based on the VVV data, are presented.Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísica

Design of a Hydraulic Systems for Liquid Packaging

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Purine Metabolism Dysfunctions: Experimental Methods of Detection and Diagnostic Potential

Purines, such as adenine and guanine, perform several important functions in the cell. They are found in nucleic acids; are structural components of some coenzymes, including NADH and coenzyme A; and have a crucial role in the modulation of energy metabolism and signal transduction. Moreover, purines have been shown to play an important role in the physiology of platelets, muscles, and neurotransmission. All cells require a balanced number of purines for growth, proliferation, and survival. Under physiological conditions, enzymes involved in purines metabolism maintain a balanced ratio between their synthesis and degradation in the cell. In humans, the final product of purine catabolism is uric acid, while most other mammals possess the enzyme uricase that converts uric acid to allantoin, which can be easily eliminated with urine. During the last decades, hyperuricemia has been associated with a number of human extra-articular diseases (in particular, the cardiovascular ones) and their clinical severity. In this review, we go through the methods of investigation of purine metabolism dysfunctions, looking at the functionality of xanthine oxidoreductase and the formation of catabolites in urine and saliva. Finally, we discuss how these molecules can be used as markers of oxidative stress

Contribution of right hemisphere to visual imagery: A visual working memory impairment?

Visual Imagery is the ability to generate mental images in the absence of perception, that is, "seeing with the mind's eye." We describe a patient, IM, who suffered from an acute ischemic stroke in the right anterior choroidal artery who appeared to demonstrate relatively isolated impairment in visual imagery. Her cognitive function, including her performance on tests of semantic function, was at ceiling, apart from a deficit in visual memory. IM failed in tasks involving degraded stimuli, object decision involving reality judgments on normal animals. and drawings from memory. By contrast, site was able to match objects seen from an unfamiliar viewpoint and to perform tasks of semantic and visual association. We hypothesize that IM has a visual working memory deficit that impairs her ability to generate full visual representations of objects given their names, individual feature, or partial representations. The deficit appears to be the result of damage to connections between the right thalamus and the right temporal lobe. Our findings may help to clarify the role of the thalamus in the cortical selective engagement processes that underlie working memory

Complete genome sequencing of a genotype 3 hepatitis E virus strain identified in a swine farm in Italy

In this study, we investigated hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection in piglets sampled in two farms in southern Italy. The virus was detected in 11 out of 15 animals tested. Based on sequence analysis, the 6 Italian strains examined belonged to two clusters containing both swine and human strains of either genotype 3 subtype e or f from Europe and Japan. The two Italian strain clusters shared nucleotide identity of 81.8% and 87.5% in the ORF2 (capsid protein) and ORF1 (RdRp) diagnostic fragments, respectively, confirming the heterogeneity of genotype 3 viruses circulating in pigs in Italy. The complete genome of one genotype 3 subtype e strain and the full ORF2 and ORF3 coding regions of one of the genotype 3f strains, obtained in this study, were compared to other HEV sequences available on line (NCBI database). The results of analysis showed that porcine strains clustered together with human and swine strains detected in Europe. Most changes in the coding region corresponded to synonymous mutations, and only the ORF3 showed a positive selection. Further analyses are needed to understand the clinical significance of HEV genotypes and subtypes

Cell cycle arrest induced by sulforaphane in human colon carcinoma cells HT29 is associated with the hyperacetylation of histone H4.

Introduction. Sulforaphane (SFN), a dietary isothiocyanate isolated from Brassicaceae, has been shown to prevent different cancers in laboratory animals [1]. In particular, SFN protects against colon carcinogenesis in vivo and causes a G0/G1 growth arrest and apoptosis in human colon cancer cells, by inducing p21Cip1/Waf1[2]. SFN also acts as an inhibitor of histone deacetylases (HDACs) in human embryonic kidney 293 cells and HCT116 colon cancer cells [3]. The objective of this study is to evaluate the ability of the HDAC inhibitor SFN to induce cytotoxic and cytostatic effects in HT29 colon cancer cell line. Materials and methods. Cell viability was evaluated by measuring MTT reduction. The cells were plated in 6-well dishes at equal density, grown for 24 hours, and then treated with 5 M SFN. 3H-thymidine (1 μCi/mL) was added for the last 6 hours of the incubation. The cells were washed in ice-cold PBS and 5 % trichloroacetic acid was added for 30 minutes at 4 °C, and then incubated with 0.5 N NaOH for 1 hour at 50 °C. Cell lysates were assayed for protein content by Bio Rad assay kit and measured for incorporated radioactivity. Counts were normalized for total cellular protein. To test SFN effects on HDAC activity, the total histone acetylation level was measured by pulse labelling experiments with 3H-acetate and the acetylation status of the histone classes were assayed by Western Blot and HPLC/MS. Results. SFN negatively affects HT29 growth in a dose- and time-dependent manner with a 24h IC50 equal to 22.3 M 2.4. At concentrations as low as 5 M, a significant inhibition of cell proliferation is observed, accompanied by a 47% decrease of the mitotic index, with respect to the control. Histones extracted from SFN treated HT29 cells show a 63% increase in the acetylation status; in particular SFN markedly prolonges the half- life of the acetyl groups on histone H4