Parasitic copepods from Egyptian Red Sea fishes: Bomolochidae Claus, 1875

© The Author(s) 2015 Open Access - This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The attached file is the published version of the article

Rare parasitic copepods (Siphonostomatoida: Lernanthropidae) from Egyptian Red Sea fishes

© The Author(s) 2016. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The attached file is the published version of the article

How do general practitioners experience providing care to refugees with mental health problems? A qualitative study from Denmark

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

Metastatic melanoma in an esophagus demonstrating Barrett esophagus with high grade dysplasia

BACKGROUND: Metastatic melanoma involving the esophagus is rare; the occurrence of metastatic melanoma in a background of Barrett esophagus is rarer still. We report a case of an 80 year-old male who presented to our institution for workup of Barrett esophagus with high-grade dysplasia and who proved to have metastatic melanoma occurring in the background of Barrett esophagus, the first report of this kind, to our knowledge, in the English literature. CASE PRESENTATION: An 80 year-old Caucasian male was diagnosed at an outside institution with Barrett’s esophagus with high grade dysplasia and presented to our institution for therapy. The patient underwent endoscopic mucosal resection using a band ligation technique of an area of nodularity within the Barrett esophagus. Microscopic examination demonstrated extensive Barrett esophagus with high-grade dysplasia as well as a second tumor which was morphologically different from the surrounding high-grade dysplasia and which was positive for S-100, HMB 45 and Melan-A on immunohistochemistry, consistent with melanoma. Further workup of the patient demonstrated multiple radiologic lesions consistent with metastases. Molecular studies demonstrated that the melanoma was positive for the 1799T>A (V600E) mutation in the BRAF gene. The overall features of the tumor were most consistent with metastatic melanoma occurring in a background of Barrett esophagus with high-grade dysplasia. CONCLUSION: This case demonstrates a unique intersection between a premalignant condition (Barrett esophagus with high grade dysplasia) and a separate malignancy (melanoma). This report also shows the utility of molecular testing to support the hypothesis of primary versus metastatic disease in melanoma

How Friendship Network Characteristics Influence Subjective Well-Being

This article explores how friendship network characteristics influence subjective well-being (SWB). Using data from the 2003 General Social Survey of Canada, three components of the friendship network are differentiated: number of friends, frequency of contact, and heterogeneity of friends. We argue that these characteristics shape SWB through the benefits they bring. Benefits considered are more social trust, less stress, better health, and more social support. Results confirm that higher frequency of contacts and higher number of friends, as well as lower heterogeneity of the friendship network are related to more social trust, less stress, and a better health. Frequency of contact and number of friends, as well as more heterogeneity of the friendship network increase the chance of receiving help from friends. With the exception of receiving help from friends, these benefits are in turn related to higher levels of SWB. Only the frequency of meeting friends face-to-face has a remaining positive direct influence on SWB

Direct Regulation of Striated Muscle Myosins by Nitric Oxide and Endogenous Nitrosothiols

, both through activation of guanylyl cyclase and through modification of cysteines in proteins to yield S-nitrosothiols. While NO affects the contractile apparatus directly, the identities of the target myofibrillar proteins remain unknown. Here we report that nitrogen oxides directly regulate striated muscle myosins..These data show that nitrosylation signaling acts as a molecular “gear shift” for myosin—an altogether novel mechanism by which striated muscle and cellular biomechanics may be regulated

Common Gamma Chain Cytokines Promote Rapid In Vitro Expansion of Allo-Specific Human CD8+ Suppressor T Cells

Human CD8+ regulatory T cells, particularly the CD8+CD28− T suppressor cells, have emerged as an important modulator of alloimmunity. Understanding the conditions under which these cells are induced and/or expanded would greatly facilitate their application in future clinical trials. In the current study, we develop a novel strategy that combines common gamma chain (γc) cytokines IL-2, IL-7 and IL-15 and donor antigen presenting cells (APCs) to stimulate full HLA-mismatched allogeneic human CD8+ T cells which results in significant expansions of donor-specific CD8+CD28− T suppressor cells in vitro. The expanded CD8+CD28− T cells exhibit increased expressions of CTLA-4, FoxP3, and CD25, while down-regulate expressions of CD56, CD57, CD127, and perforin. Furthermore, these cells suppress proliferation of CD4+ T cells in a contact-dependent and cytokine-independent manner. Interestingly, the specificity of suppression is restricted by the donor HLA class I antigens but promiscuous to HLA class II antigens, providing a potential mechanism for linked suppression. Taken together, our results demonstrate a novel role for common γc cytokines in combination with donor APCs in the expansion of donor-specific CD8+CD28− T suppressor cells, and represent a robust strategy for in vitro generation of such cells for adoptive cellular immunotherapy in transplantation

Killer immunoglobulin-like Receptors (KIR) haplogroups A and B track with Natural Killer Cells and Cytokine Profile in Aged Subjects: Observations from Octo/Nonagenarians in the Belfast Elderly Longitudinal Free-living Aging STudy (BELFAST)

BACKGROUND: Natural Killer Cells (NK) play an important role in detection and elimination of virus-infected, damaged or cancer cells. NK cell function is guided by expression of Killer Immunoglobulin-like Receptors (KIRs) and contributed to by the cytokine milieu. KIR molecules are grouped on NK cells into stimulatory and inhibitory KIR haplotypes A and B, through which NKs sense and tolerate HLA self-antigens or up-regulate the NK-cytotoxic response to cells with altered HLA self-antigens, damaged by viruses or tumours. We have previously described increased numbers of NK and NK-related subsets in association with sIL-2R cytokine serum levels in BELFAST octo/nonagenarians. We hypothesised that changes in KIR A and B haplotype gene frequencies could explain the increased cytokine profiles and NK compartments previously described in Belfast Elderly Longitudinal Free-living Aging STudy (BELFAST) octo/nonagenarians, who show evidence of ageing well. RESULTS: In the BELFAST study, 24% of octo/nonagenarians carried the KIR A haplotype and 76% KIR B haplotype with no differences for KIR A haplogroup frequency between male or female subjects (23% v 24%; p=0.88) or for KIR B haplogroup (77% v 76%; p=0.99). Octo/nonagenarian KIR A haplotype carriers showed increased NK numbers and percentage compared to Group B KIR subjects (p=0.003; p=0.016 respectively). There were no KIR A/ B haplogroup-associated changes for related CD57+CD8 ((high or low)) subsets. Using logistic regression, KIR B carriers were predicted to have higher IL-12 cytokine levels compared to KIR A carriers by about 3% (OR 1.03, confidence limits CI 0.99–1.09; p=0.027) and 14% higher levels for TGF-β (active), a cytokine with an anti-inflammatory role, (OR 1.14, confidence limits CI 0.99–1.09; p=0.002). CONCLUSION: In this observational study, BELFAST octo/nonagenarians carrying KIR A haplotype showed higher NK cell numbers and percentage compared to KIR B carriers. Conversely, KIR B haplotype carriers, with genes encoding for activating KIRs, showed a tendency for higher serum pro-inflammatory cytokines compared to KIR A carriers. While the findings in this study should be considered exploratory they may serve to stimulate debate about the immune signatures of those who appear to age slowly and who represent a model for good quality survivor-hood