Community standards for open cell migration data

Cell migration research has become a high-content field. However, the quantitative information encapsulated in these complex and high-dimensional datasets is not fully exploited owing to the diversity of experimental protocols and non-standardized output formats. In addition, typically the datasets are not open for reuse. Making the data open and Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) will enable meta-analysis, data integration, and data mining. Standardized data formats and controlled vocabularies are essential for building a suitable infrastructure for that purpose but are not available in the cell migration domain. We here present standardization efforts by the Cell Migration Standardisation Organisation (CMSO), an open community-driven organization to facilitate the development of standards for cell migration data. This work will foster the development of improved algorithms and tools and enable secondary analysis of public datasets, ultimately unlocking new knowledge of the complex biological process of cell migration

Prevention of tracheal cartilage injury with modified Griggs technique during percutaneous tracheostomy - Randomized controlled cadaver study

Introduction: Tracheal stenosis is the most common severe late complication of percutaneous tracheostomy causing significant decrease in quality of life. Applying modified Griggs technique reduced the number of late tracheal stenoses observed in our clinical study. The aim of this study was to investigate the mechanism of this relationship. Materials and methods: Forty-six cadavers were randomized into two groups according to the mode of intervention during 2006-2008. Traditional versus modified Griggs technique was applied in the two groups consequently. Wider incision, surgical preparation, and bidirectional forceps dilation of tracheal wall were applied in modified technique. Injured cartilages were inspected by sight and touch consequently. Age, gender, level of intervention, and number of injured tracheal cartilages were registered. Results: Significantly less frequent tracheal cartilage injury was observed after modified (9%) than original (91%) Griggs technique (p<0.001). A moderate association between cartilage injury and increasing age was observed, whereas the level of intervention (p=0.445) and to gender (p=0.35) was not related to injury. Risk of cartilage injury decreased significantly (OR: 0.0264, 95%, CI: 0.005-0.153) with modified Griggs technique as determined in adjusted logistic regression model. Discussion: Modified Griggs technique decreased the risk of tracheal cartilage injury significantly in our cadaver study. This observation may explain the decreased number of late tracheal stenosis after application of the modified Griggs method. © 2012 Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapes

Successful medical management of emphysematous gastritis with concomitant portal venous air: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>The causes of diffuse abdominal pain following pelvic surgery are numerous. We present a rare case of acute abdominal pain in a woman in the post-partum period.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 25-year-old Caucasian woman with neurofibromatosis type 1 presented to our hospital with diffuse abdominal pain immediately after a cesarean section. The patient was acutely ill and toxic with a fever of 38.8°C, a pulse of 120 beats per minute and a distended abdomen with absent bowel sounds. A computed tomography scan showed air in the wall of the stomach and portal venous system. The patient was successfully treated with intravenous antibiotics, bowel rest and total parenteral nutrition.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>It is rare for a case of emphysematous gastritis associated with portal venous air to be treated successfully without surgery. To the best of our knowledge, to date there has been no reported association of emphysematous gastritis with neurofibromatosis.</p

Co-ordinated regulation of flowering time, plant architecture and growth by FASCICULATE: the pepper orthologue of SELF PRUNING

Wild peppers (Capsicum spp.) are either annual or perennial in their native habitat and their shoot architecture is dictated by their sympodial growth habit. To study shoot architecture in pepper, sympodial development is described in wild type and in the classical recessive fasciculate (fa) mutation. The basic sympodial unit in wild-type pepper comprises two leaves and a single terminal flower. fasciculate plants are characterized by the formation of floral clusters separated by short internodes and miniature leaves and by early flowering. Developmental analysis of these clusters revealed shorter sympodial units and, often, precocious termination prior to sympodial leaf formation. fa was mapped to pepper chromosome 6, in a region corresponding to the tomato SELF-PRUNING (SP) locus, the homologue of TFL1 of Arabidopsis. Sequence comparison between wild-type and fa plants revealed a duplication of the second exon in the mutants' orthologue of SP, leading to the formation of a premature stop codon. Ectopic expression of FASCICULATE complemented the Arabidopsis tfl1 mutant plants and as expected, stimulated late flowering. In agreement with the major effect of FASCICULATE imposed on sympodial development, the gene transcripts were localized to the centre of sympodial shoots but could not be detected in the primary shoot. The wide range of pleiotropic effects on plant architecture mediated by a single ‘flowering’ gene, suggests that it is used to co-ordinate many developmental events, and thus may underlie some of the widespread variation in the Solanaceae shoot architecture

High APACHE II score and long length of bowel resection impair the outcomes in patients with necrotic bowel induced hepatic portal venous gas

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Hepatic portal venous gas (HPVG) is a rare but potentially lethal condition, especially when it results from intestinal ischemia. Since the literatures regarding the prognostic factors of HPVG are still scarce, we aimed to investigate the risk factor of perioperative mortality in this study.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We analyzed data for patients with intestinal ischemia induced HPVG by chart review in our hospital between 2000 and 2007. Factors associated with perioperative mortality were specifically analyzed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There were 22 consecutive patients receiving definite bowel resection. 13 cases (59.1%) died after surgical intervention. When analyzing the mortality in patients after bowel resections, high Acute Physiology And Chronic health Evaluation (APACHE) II score (<it>p < 0.01</it>) and longer length of bowel resection (<it>p </it>= 0.047) were significantly associated with mortality in univariate analyses. The complication rate was 66.7% in alive patients after definite bowel resection.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Bowel resection was the only potential life-saving therapy for patients with mesenteric ischemia induced HPVG. High APACHE II score and severity of underlying necrotic bowel determined the results in patients after bowel resection.</p

Reversible Pulmonary Hypertension and Isolated Right-sided Heart Failure Associated with Hyperthyroidism

Hyperthyroidism may present with signs and symptoms related to dysfunction of a variety of organs. Cardiovascular pathology in hyperthyroidism is common. A few case reports describe isolated right heart failure, tricuspid regurgitation, and pulmonary hypertension as the prominent cardiovascular manifestations of hyperthyroidism. Although most textbooks do not mention hyperthyroidism as a cause of pulmonary hypertension and isolated right heart failure, the literature suggests that some hyperthyroid patients may develop reversible pulmonary hypertension and isolated right heart failure. We report a case of hyperthyroidism presenting with signs and symptoms of isolated right heart failure, tricuspid regurgitation, and pulmonary hypertension, which resolved with treatment of hyperthyroidism

Continuous Regional Arterial Infusion with Fluorouracil and Octreotide Attenuates Severe Acute Pancreatitis in a Canine Model

Aim: To investigate the therapeutic effects of fluorouracil (5-Fu) and octreotide (Oct) continuous regional arterial infusion (CRAI,) alone or in combination, was administered in a canine model of severe acute pancreatitis (SAP). Materials and Methods: The animals were divided into five groups; group A (Sham), group B (SAP), group C (SAP and 5-Fu), group D (SAP and Oct), and group E (SAP and 5-Fu + Oct). Levels of amylase, alpha-tumor necrosis factor (TNF-alpha), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine, thromboxane B2 and 6-keto-prostaglandin F1 alpha were measured both before and after the induction of SAP. Pathologic examination of the pancreas and kidneys was performed after termination of the study. Results: Pathologic changes noted in the pancreas in SAP significantly improved following CRAI with either single or combined administration of 5-Fu and Oct, where combination therapy demonstrated the lowest injury score. All treatment groups had significantly lower levels of serum TNF-alpha and amylase activity (P<0.05), though only groups D and E had a lower BUN level as compared to group B. The plasma thromboxane B-2 level increased in SAP, but the ratio of thromboxane B-2/6-keto-prostaglandin F-1 alpha decreased in the treatment groups, with the combination therapy (group E) demonstrating the lowest ratio as compared to the other 3 experimental groups (P<0.05). Conclusions: The findings in the present study demonstrate an attenuation of SAP in a canine model following CRAI administration with 5-Fu or Oct, alone or in combination

Drosophila S2 Cells Are Non-Permissive for Vaccinia Virus DNA Replication Following Entry via Low pH-Dependent Endocytosis and Early Transcription

Vaccinia virus (VACV), a member of the chordopox subfamily of the Poxviridae, abortively infects insect cells. We have investigated VACV infection of Drosophila S2 cells, which are useful for protein expression and genome-wide RNAi screening. Biochemical and electron microscopic analyses indicated that VACV entry into Drosophila S2 cells depended on the VACV multiprotein entry-fusion complex but appeared to occur exclusively by a low pH-dependent endocytic mechanism, in contrast to both neutral and low pH entry pathways used in mammalian cells. Deep RNA sequencing revealed that the entire VACV early transcriptome, comprising 118 open reading frames, was robustly expressed but neither intermediate nor late mRNAs were made. Nor was viral late protein synthesis or inhibition of host protein synthesis detected by pulse-labeling with radioactive amino acids. Some reduction in viral early proteins was noted by Western blotting. Nevertheless, synthesis of the multitude of early proteins needed for intermediate gene expression was demonstrated by transfection of a plasmid containing a reporter gene regulated by an intermediate promoter. In addition, expression of a reporter gene with a late promoter was achieved by cotransfection of intermediate genes encoding the late transcription factors. The requirement for transfection of DNA templates for intermediate and late gene expression indicated a defect in viral genome replication in VACV-infected S2 cells, which was confirmed by direct analysis. Furthermore, VACV-infected S2 cells did not support the replication of a transfected plasmid, which occurs in mammalian cells and is dependent on all known viral replication proteins, indicating a primary restriction of DNA synthesis