Mixed neuroendocrine-non-neuroendocrine neoplasms of the right colon: a case report

Mixed neuroendocrine-non neuroendocrine neoplasm (MiNENs) is a rare gastrointestinal neoplasm that has been redefined by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2017 as the association of two types of components, neuroendocrine and non-neuroendocrine, each of them present in at least 30% of the tumour mass. Small case reports and case series have demonstrated the occurrence of this neoplasm in the colon. We here report the case of a 47-year-old man undergoing colonscopy for anemia. This showed impassable polypoidal tumor budding in the right colic flexure. Computerized tomography (CT) scan and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed the presence of liver metastases. As the tumor was hemorrhagic, right hemicolectomy with lymph node dissection was performed. The histological examination showed MiNEN of the ascending colon. The patient received adjuvant chemotherapy

Les ruptures diaphragmatiques Sur traumatismes fermes à propos de 7 cas.

Objectifs de l'étude: Le but de cette étude rétrospective est d'attirer l'attention des praticiens sur la sévérité des ruptures diaphragmatiques et leur difficulté diagnostique ainsi que de citer les différentes modalités thérapeutiques. Matériels et méthodes: Sept cas de rupture diaphragmatique secondaires à des traumatismes fermés ont été diagnostiqués, entre l'an 2007 et 2009, au sein du service de chirurgie générale de l'Hôpital militaire Avicenne de Marrakech. Cette étude a été faite sur des dossiers cliniques, comptes rendus opératoires et les données de la radiologie. Résultats: L'âge moyen des patients est de 39 ans (extrêmes de 17 à 70ans). Il existe une nette prédominance masculine estimée à 85%. La rupture a intéressé la coupole diaphragmatique gauche dans 4 cas, la coupole droite dans deux cas et elle a été bilatérale chez un seul patient. Le diagnostic a été confirmé en pré-opératoire par les différentes techniques d'imagerie, en particulier la tomodensitométrie et dans un seul cas par l'IRM. Essentiellement par la voie médiane, le traitement a consisté en une fermeture de la brèche diaphragmatique par des sutures simples et chez certains patients, l'utilisation d'un matériel prothétique a été essentielle. Conclusion: Une rupture diaphragmatique est souvent intégrée dans un polytraumatisme, dont elle est un critère de gravité. Un traumatisé victime d’un choc latéral a trois fois plus de risque d’avoir une rupture diaphragmatique que celui victime d’un choc frontal. Une rupture du diaphragme peut être difficile à mettre en évidence en phase aigue, car ses signes sont peu spécifiques et l’imagerie, qui visualise les organes ascensionnés mais plus difficilement la rupture elle-même, peut être prise en défaut. Ainsi, elle est souvent méconnue à la phase aigue, et peut se révéler tardivement. Une fois diagnostiquée, le traitement chirurgical est la suture par voie abdominale, souvent préférée à la voie thoracique qui a des indications limitées. La voie cœlioscopie est une nouvelle voie d’abord, légitime chez un traumatisé stable

Place de la splénectomie dans la prise en charge de l’hypertension portale non cirrhotique: à propos de 3 cas

L’hypertension portale non cirrhotique est une affection décrite pour la première fois par Guido BANTI en 1898 comme une affection associant une hypertension portale avec splénomégalie et anémie sur foie sain. Le diagnostic repose sur l’échographie abdominale, la splénoportographie et la biopsie hépatique. Le but de notre travail est d’évaluer la place de la splénectomie dans l’hypertension portale non cirrhotique à travers une étude rétrospective portant sur 3 malades dont 2 femmes et un homme pris en charge dans notre formation entre Janvier 2010 et Septembre 2016. Le diagnostic de l’hypertension portale idiopathique a été basé sur les critères suivants : une hypertension portale, la présence des varices oesophagiènnes avec une splénomégalie, l’absence de cirrhose ou d’autres affections hépatiques responsables de l’hypertension portale. La splénectomie a été réalisée chez les 3 malades. L’évolution après la splénectomie était marquée par la normalisation des signes cliniques, radiologiques et biologiques de cette affection, avec absence de récidive des varices oesophagiennes. La splénectomie associée à la ligature des varices oesophagiennes pourraient être suffisantes pour traiter ce syndrome et surtout ses conséquences sans avoir recours à une dérivation spléno-rénale

A Comparative Study between Conventional and Advanced Extraction Techniques: Pharmaceutical and Cosmetic Properties of Plant Extracts

This study aimed to compare the influence of extraction methods on the pharmaceutical and cosmetic properties of medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs). For this purpose, the dried plant materials were extracted using advanced (microwave (MAE), ultrasonic (UAE), and homogenizer (HAE) assisted extractions) and conventional techniques (maceration, percolation, decoction, infusion, and Soxhlet). The tyrosinase, elastase, α-amylase, butyryl, and acetylcholinesterase inhibition were tested by using L-3,4 dihydroxy-phenylalanine, N-Succinyl-Ala-Ala-p-nitroanilide, butyryl, and acetylcholine as respective substrates. Antioxidant activities were studied by ABTS, DPPH, and FRAP. In terms of extraction yield, advanced extraction techniques showed the highest values (MAE > UAE > HAE). Chemical profiles were dependent on the phenolic compounds tested, whereas the antioxidant activities were always higher, mainly in infusion and decoction as a conventional technique. In relation to the pharmaceutical and cosmetic properties, the highest inhibitory activities against α-amylase and acetylcholinesterase were observed for Soxhlet and macerated extracts, whereas the highest activity against tyrosinase was obtained with MAE > maceration > Soxhlet. Elastase and butyrylcholinesterase inhibitory activities were in the order of Soxhlet > maceration > percolation, with no activities recorded for the other tested methods. In conclusion, advanced methods afford an extract with high yield, while conventional methods might be an adequate approach for minimal changes in the biological properties of the extract

Down Regulation and Loss of Auxin Response Factor 4 Function Using CRISPR/Cas9 Alters Plant Growth, Stomatal Function and Improves Tomato Tolerance to Salinity and Osmotic Stress

Auxin controls multiple aspects of plant growth and development. However, its role in stress responses remains poorly understood. Auxin acts on the transcriptional regulation of target genes, mainly through Auxin Response Factors (ARF). This study focuses on the involvement of SlARF4 in tomato tolerance to salinity and osmotic stress. Using a reverse genetic approach, we found that the antisense down-regulation of SlARF4 promotes root development and density, increases soluble sugars content and maintains chlorophyll content at high levels under stress conditions. Furthermore, ARF4-as displayed higher tolerance to salt and osmotic stress through reduced stomatal conductance coupled with increased leaf relative water content and Abscisic acid (ABA) content under normal and stressful conditions. This increase in ABA content was correlated with the activation of ABA biosynthesis genes and the repression of ABA catabolism genes. Cu/ZnSOD and mdhar genes were up-regulated in ARF4-as plants which can result in a better tolerance to salt and osmotic stress. A CRISPR/Cas9 induced SlARF4 mutant showed similar growth and stomatal responses as ARF4-as plants, which suggest that arf4-cr can tolerate salt and osmotic stresses. Our data support the involvement of ARF4 as a key factor in tomato tolerance to salt and osmotic stresses and confirm the use of CRISPR technology as an efficient tool for functional reverse genetics studies

Auxin Response Factors (ARFs) are potential mediators of auxin action in tomato response to biotic and abiotic stress (<i>Solanum lycopersicum</i>)

<div><p>Survival biomass production and crop yield are heavily constrained by a wide range of environmental stresses. Several phytohormones among which abscisic acid (ABA), ethylene and salicylic acid (SA) are known to mediate plant responses to these stresses. By contrast, the role of the plant hormone auxin in stress responses remains so far poorly studied. Auxin controls many aspects of plant growth and development, and Auxin Response Factors play a key role in the transcriptional activation or repression of auxin-responsive genes through direct binding to their promoters. As a mean to gain more insight on auxin involvement in a set of biotic and abiotic stress responses in tomato, the present study uncovers the expression pattern of <i>SlARF</i> genes in tomato plants subjected to biotic and abiotic stresses. <i>In silico</i> mining of the RNAseq data available through the public TomExpress web platform, identified several <i>SlARF</i>s as responsive to various pathogen infections induced by bacteria and viruses. Accordingly, sequence analysis revealed that 5’ regulatory regions of these SlARFs are enriched in biotic and abiotic stress-responsive cis-elements. Moreover, quantitative qPCR expression analysis revealed that many SlARFs were differentially expressed in tomato leaves and roots under salt, drought and flooding stress conditions. Further pointing to the putative role of SlARFs in stress responses, quantitative qPCR expression studies identified some miRNA precursors as potentially involved in the regulation of their SlARF target genes in roots exposed to salt and drought stresses. These data suggest an active regulation of SlARFs at the post-transcriptional level under stress conditions. Based on the substantial change in the transcript accumulation of several SlARF genes, the data presented in this work strongly support the involvement of auxin in stress responses thus enabling to identify a set of candidate SlARFs as potential mediators of biotic and abiotic stress responses.</p></div

GUS activity in pARF8A::GUS tomato lines in salt or drought stress conditions.

<p>Salt and drought stresses were performed on three week-old tomato plants by adding 250 mM of NaCl or 15% PEG 20000 to the nutrient solution. Black arrows show the location of the GUS activity in the different tissues analyzed.</p

<i>SlARF</i>s gene expression in tomato plant leaves exposed to various biotic stresses: Flagellin, <i>Pseudomonas putida</i>, <i>Pseudomonas syringae</i>, <i>Pseudomonas fluorescens</i>, <i>Agrobacterium tumefaciens</i> and <i>Yellow curl virus</i>.

<p>All the data presented here were extracted from TOMPEXPRESS database (<a href="http://gbf.toulouse.inra.fr/tomexpress" target="_blank">http://gbf.toulouse.inra.fr/tomexpress</a>).</p

<i>SlARF8A</i> and <i>miR167s</i> (<i>miR167a</i>, <i>miR167b</i>, <i>miR167c</i>, <i>miR167d</i>) expression under salt and drought stress conditions.

<p>Values are mean ± SD of three biological replicates. Stars (*) indicate the statistical significance (p<0,05) using Student’s t-test.</p

<i>SlARF10A</i> and <i>miR160</i> expression under salt and drought stress conditions.

<p>Values are mean ± SD of three biological replicates. Stars (*) indicate the statistical significance (p<0,05) using Student’s t-test.</p