Liver Involvement with Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Liver involvement with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is rarely reported. The majority of published cases suggest a cholestatic picture and obstructive jaundice at presentation. On the contrary, our patient presented with transaminitis without cholestasis. Elevated liver function tests persisted in our patient despite cholecystectomy; however, they normalized with chemotherapy administration, suggesting that AML was the causative effect of the hepatitis-like picture. Our review of the literature revealed that most reported cases of AML with liver involvement had short-lived remissions and an overall ominous prognosis. In our opinion, patients who have liver involvement with AML should be offered alternative investigational therapies with a low hepatic toxicity profile

Fowler-Nordheim-like local injection of photoelectrons from a silicon tip

Tunneling between a photo-excited p-type silicon tip and a gold surface is studied as a function of tip bias, tip/sample distance and light intensity. In order to extend the range of application of future spin injection experiments, the measurements are carried out under nitrogen gas at room temperature. It is found that while tunneling of valence band electrons is described by a standard process between the semiconductor valence band and the metal, the tunneling of photoelectrons obeys a Fowler-Nordheim-like process directly from the conduction band. In the latter case, the bias dependence of the photocurrent as a function of distance is in agreement with theoretical predictions which include image charge effects. Quantitative analysis of the bias dependence of the dark and photocurrent spectra gives reasonable values for the distance, and for the tip and metal work functions. For small distances image charge effects induce a vanishing of the barrier and the bias dependence of the photocurrent is exponential. In common with many works on field emission, fluctuations in the tunneling currents are observed. These are mainly attributed to changes in the prefactor for the tunneling photocurrent, which we suggest is caused by an electric-field-induced modification of the thickness of the natural oxide layer covering the tip apex.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev.

A growing disconnection from nature is evident in cultural products

Human connection with nature is widely believed to be in decline, even though empirical evidence on the magnitude and temporal pattern of the change is scarce. Studying works of popular culture in English throughout the 20th century and later, we document a cultural shift away from nature, beginning in the 1950s. Since then, references to nature have been decreasing steadily in fiction, song lyrics, and film storylines. No parallel decline is observed in references to the human-made environment. These findings are cause for concern, not only because they imply foregone benefits from engagement with nature, but also because cultural products are agents of socialization that can evoke curiosity, respect, and concern for the natural world

Assessing population diversity in phase III trials of cancer drugs supporting Food and Drug Administration approval in solid tumors

Our study aimed to assess inequities in the clinical trial participation for the selected patient groups. We searched the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) database and extracted phase-III clinical trial data from MEDLINE for each approved drug by the FDA between January 1, 2006, and June 30, 2020. We analyzed the inclusion/exclusion criteria, participation according to gender, ethnic group, performance score, the positivity of HBV and HCV, and HIV, having comorbidities and brain metastasis. We compared the findings with that of the general population by retrieving data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database. We identified 142 phase III pivotal oncology trials that enrolled 105 397 patients. The proportion of female patients in trials was lower than their relative prevalence in the general population from SEER region (36% vs 49.6%, P < .001). The rates of black patients included were lower than their relative prevalence from SEER region (2.1% vs 9.8%, P < .001). 1.3% and 0.8% of patients had HBV and HCV infections, respectively. The patients' numbers with organ dysfunction were not established due to insufficient data from clinical trials. 1.6% of all patients had controlled brain metastasis. Black patients, women and patients with brain metastasis or with HBV and HCV were underrepresented. Our study underscores the importance of expanding the inclusion/exclusion criteria of pivotal oncology trials to be more representative of patients seen in clinical practice

Generation of Functional CLL-Specific Cord Blood CTL Using CD40-Ligated CLL APC

PMCID: PMC3526610This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

Feeding the rural tourism strategy? Food and notions of place and identity

The humble rural cuisine has now been thrust at the forefront of economic development strategies. This conceptual paper is a contribution to a growing critical awareness of the operations of the food industry and helps to foster a critical understanding of how, if at all, local food and its associated culture can help sustain rural tourism particularly and rural communities generally. It is inspired by literature about the international political economy of food and the many experiences of local food development, and is aware of the contrast between the structure of the industry and the hopes associated with its practice on the ground. The paper thus argues that, beyond the glamour and hype, there are those who gain, as well as those who lose, from the current food fad. While it explains the causes of the contemporary craze with food, the paper also interrogates the naı¨ve expectations often placed in food as a motor of rural development, and as the panacea for struggling rural communities. The empirical data on which this chapter is based are drawn from 18 short chapters explaining the history of various “traditional dishes” from the islands of the broad North Atlantic that feature in a recent food publication.peer-reviewe

DNA barcoding of Brazilian sea turtles (Testudines)

Five out of the seven recognized species of sea turtles (Testudines) occur on the Brazilian coast. The Barcode Initiative is an effort to undertake a molecular inventory of Earth biodiversity. Cytochrome Oxidase c subunit I (COI) molecular tags for sea turtle species have not yet been described. In this study, COI sequences for the five species of sea turtles that occur in Brazil were generated. These presented widely divergent haplotypes. All observed values were on the same range as those already described for other animal groups: the overall mean distance was 8.2%, the mean distance between families (Dermochelyidae and Cheloniidae) 11.7%, the mean intraspecific divergence 0.34%, and the mean distance within Cheloniidae 6.4%, this being 19-fold higher than the mean divergence observed within species. We obtained species-specific COI barcode tags that can be used for identifying each of the marine turtle species studied

Lethal effect of high concentrations of Parecoxib and Flunixin meglumine on the in vitro culture of bovine embryos

Abstract Since cyclooxygenase (COX) inhibitors have been pointed out as potential treatments to increase pregnancy rates after embryo transfer, the present experiment aimed to evaluate the effects of flunixin meglumine (FM) and parecoxib (P), a COX-1 and 2 or COX-2 specific inhibitor, respectively, on the development of bovine embryos until the hatched blastocyst stage. In vitro produced bovine embryos were cultured in media with different concentrations of FM (0.14; 1.4; 14; 140 or 1400 µg/ml) or P (0.09; 0.9; 9; 90 or 900 µg/ml) and the production rates were evaluated. Concentrations of FM ≤14 µg/ml and P ≤90 µg/ml did not impair embryo development, although compiled data from non-lethal FM concentrations (≤14 µg/ml) indicated a toxic effect enough to decrease the hatching rate of blastocysts. Concentrations of FM at 140 and 1400 µg/ml and P at 900 µg/ml were lethal as no cleavage was detected on presumptive zygotes

Extracellular vesicles from pluripotent stem cell-derived mesenchymal stem cells acquire a stromal modulatory proteomic pattern during differentiation

Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) obtained from pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) constitute an interesting alternative to classical MSCs in regenerative medicine. Among their many mechanisms of action, MSC extracellular vesicles (EVs) are a potential suitable substitute for MSCs in future cell-free-based therapeutic approaches. Unlike cells, EVs do not elicit acute immune rejection, and they can be produced in large quantities and stored until ready to use. Although the therapeutic potential of MSC EVs has already been proven, a thorough characterization of MSC EVs is lacking. In this work, we used a label-free liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry proteomic approach to identify the most abundant proteins in EVs that are secreted from MSCs derived from PSCs (PD-MSCs) and from their parental induced PSCs (iPSCs). Next, we compared both datasets and found that while iPSC EVs enclose proteins that modulate RNA and microRNA stability and protein sorting, PD-MSC EVs are rich in proteins that organize extracellular matrix, regulate locomotion, and influence cell–substrate adhesion. Moreover, compared to their respective cells, iPSCs and iPSC EVs share a greater proportion of proteins, while the PD-MSC proteome appears to be more specific. Correlation and principal component analysis consistently aggregate iPSCs and iPSC EVs but segregate PD-MSC and their EVs. Altogether, these findings suggest that during differentiation, compared with their parental iPSC EVs, PD-MSC EVs acquire a more specific set of proteins; arguably, this difference might confer their therapeutic properties.Fil: la Greca, Alejandro Damián. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Solari, Claudia María. Ministerio de Ciencia. Tecnología e Innovación Productiva. Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Furmento, Verónica Alejandra. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Lombardi, Antonella. Universidad de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Biani, María Celeste. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Aban, Cyntia Estefania. Ministerio de Ciencia. Tecnología e Innovación Productiva. Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica; ArgentinaFil: Moro, Lucía Natalia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: García, Marcela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Guberman, Alejandra Sonia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Sevlever, Gustavo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Miriuka, Santiago Gabriel. Universidad Nacional de La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Luzzani, Carlos Daniel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin