Multi-modal imaging of adhesive capsulitis of the shoulder

Adhesive capsulitis of the shoulder is a clinical condition characterized by progressive limitation of active and passive mobility of the glenohumeral joint, generally associated with high levels of pain. Although the diagnosis of adhesive capsulitis is based mainly on clinical examination, different imaging modalities including arthrography, ultrasound, magnetic resonance, and magnetic resonance arthrography may help to confirm the diagnosis, detecting a number of findings such as capsular and coracohumeral ligament thickening, poor capsular distension, extracapsular contrast leakage, and synovial hypertrophy and scar tissue formation at the rotator interval. Ultrasound can also be used to guide intra- and periarticular procedures for treating patients with adhesive capsulitis

Analysis of a nanoparticle‑enriched fraction of plasma reveals miRNA candidates for down syndrome pathogenesis

Down syndrome (DS) is caused by the presence of part or all of a third copy of chromosome 21. DS is associated with several phenotypes, including intellectual disability, congenital heart disease, childhood leukemia and immune defects. Specific microRNAs (miRNAs/miR) have been described to be associated with DS, although none of them so far have been unequivocally linked to the pathology. The present study focuses to the best of our knowledge for the first time on the miRNAs contained in nanosized RNA carriers circulating in the blood. Fractions enriched in nanosized RNA-carriers were separated from the plasma of young participants with DS and their non-trisomic siblings and miRNAs were extracted. A microarray-based analysis on a small cohort of samples led to the identification of the three most abundant miRNAs, namely miR-16-5p, miR-99b-5p and miR-144-3p. These miRNAs were then profiled for 15 pairs of DS and non‑trisomic sibling couples by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). Results identified a clear differential expression trend of these miRNAs in DS with respect to their non-trisomic siblings and gene ontology analysis pointed to their potential role in a number of typical DS features, including ‘nervous system development’, ‘neuronal cell body’ and certain forms of ‘leukemia’. Finally, these expression levels were associated with certain typical quantitative and qualitative clinical features of DS. These results contribute to the efforts in defining the DS‑associated pathogenic mechanisms and emphasize the importance of properly stratifying the miRNA fluid vehicles in order to probe biomolecules that are otherwise hidden and/or not accessible to (standard) analysis

The Theoretical Description for a Sucralose Electrochemical Cathodical Determination over a 9-9´-Diacridyl-modified Electrode

A novel electroanalytical process for sucralose determination has been theoretically suggested. Sucralose is immobilized over an acridine derivative 9-9´-diacridyl, yielding a quaternary salt, which is thereby gradually electrochemically reduced to an N-N´-disubstituted acridone derivative. The correspondent mathematical model has been developed and analyzed by means of linear stability theory and bifurcation analysis, and this analysis has shown the high probability of the oscillatory and monotonic instabilities, due to the double electric layer structure changes during all of the stages of the process. Nevertheless, it also confirms the efficiency of 9-9´-diacridyl-modified electrode for sucralose determination in an electroanalytical system, which may be coupled with a fluorescent indicator. DOI:  http://dx.doi.org/10.17807/orbital.v13i3.158

Regolith Depth, Mobility, and Variability on Vesta from Dawn's Low Altitude Mapping Orbit

Regolith, the fragmental debris layer formed from impact events of all sizes, covers the surface of all asteroids imaged by spacecraft to date. Here we use Framing Camera (FC) images [1] acquired by the Dawn spacecraft [2] from its low-altitude mapping orbit (LAMO) of 210 km (pixel scales of ~20 m) to characterize regolith depth, variability, and mobility on Vesta, and to locate areas of especially thin regolith and exposures of competent material. These results will help to evaluate how the surface of this differentiated asteroid has evolved over time, and provide key contextual information for understanding the origin and degree of mixing of the surficial materials for which compositions are estimated [3,4] and the causes of the relative spectral immaturity of the surface [5]. Vestan regolith samples, in the form of howardite meteorites, can be studied in the laboratory to provide complementary constraints on the regolith process [6]

The Theoretical Description for Chlorantraniliprole Electrochemical Determination, Assisted by Squaraine Dye – Nano-CuS Composite

The theoretical description for the chlorantraniliprole electrochemical determination, assisted by the hybrid composite of squaraine dye with CuS nanoparticles has been described. The correspondent reaction mechanism has been proposed, and the correspondent mathematical model has been developed and analyzed by means of linear stability theory and bifurcation analysis. It has been shown that the chlorantraniprole electrochemical anodical determination on high potential may be efficiently provided by cupper sulfide nanoparticles, stabilized by the squaraine dye. On the other hand, the oscillatory and monotonic instability is also possible, being caused by DEL influences of the electrochemical stage. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17807/orbital.v13i3.151

1989 as a mimetic revolution: Russia and the challenge of post-communism

Various terms have been used to describe the momentous events of 1989, including Jürgen Habermas’s ‘rectifying revolution,’ and my own notion of 1989 as a type of ‘anti-revolution’: repudiating not only what had come before, but also denying the political logic of communist power, as well as the emancipatory potential of revolutionary socialism in its entirety. In the event, while the negative agenda of 1989 has been fulfilled, it failed in the end to transcend the political logic of the systems that collapsed at that time. This paper explores the unfulfilled potential of 1989. Finally, 1989 became more of a counter- rather than an anti-revolution, replicating in an inverted form the practices of the mature state socialist regimes. The paucity of institutional and intellectual innovation arising from 1989 is striking. The dominant motif was ‘returnism,’ the attempt to join an established enterprise rather than transforming it. Thus, 1989 can be seen as mimetic revolution, in the sense that it emulated systems that were not organically developed in the societies in which they were implanted. For Eastern Europe ‘returning’ to Europe appeared natural, but for Russia the civilizational challenge of post-communism was of an entirely different order. There could be no return, and instead of a linear transition outlined by the classic transitological literature, Russia’s post-communism demonstrated that the history of others could not be mechanically transplanted from one society to another

T. brucei Infection Reduces B Lymphopoiesis in Bone Marrow and Truncates Compensatory Splenic Lymphopoiesis through Transitional B-Cell Apoptosis

African trypanosomes of the Trypanosoma brucei species are extracellular protozoan parasites that cause the deadly disease African trypanosomiasis in humans and contribute to the animal counterpart, Nagana. Trypanosome clearance from the bloodstream is mediated by antibodies specific for their Variant Surface Glycoprotein (VSG) coat antigens. However, T. brucei infection induces polyclonal B cell activation, B cell clonal exhaustion, sustained depletion of mature splenic Marginal Zone B (MZB) and Follicular B (FoB) cells, and destruction of the B-cell memory compartment. To determine how trypanosome infection compromises the humoral immune defense system we used a C57BL/6 T. brucei AnTat 1.1 mouse model and multicolor flow cytometry to document B cell development and maturation during infection. Our results show a more than 95% reduction in B cell precursor numbers from the CLP, pre-pro-B, pro-B, pre-B and immature B cell stages in the bone marrow. In the spleen, T. brucei induces extramedullary B lymphopoiesis as evidenced by significant increases in HSC-LMPP, CLP, pre-pro-B, pro-B and pre-B cell populations. However, final B cell maturation is abrogated by infection-induced apoptosis of transitional B cells of both the T1 and T2 populations which is not uniquely dependent on TNF-, Fas-, or prostaglandin-dependent death pathways. Results obtained from ex vivo co-cultures of living bloodstream form trypanosomes and splenocytes demonstrate that trypanosome surface coat-dependent contact with T1/2 B cells triggers their deletion. We conclude that infection-induced and possibly parasite-contact dependent deletion of transitional B cells prevents replenishment of mature B cell compartments during infection thus contributing to a loss of the host's capacity to sustain antibody responses against recurring parasitemic waves