Epidural Abscess Related to Brucellar Spondylodiscitis Diagnosis by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)

The localized forms of brucellosis, particularly osteoarticular, by their symptomatology usually nonspecific, still continue to be a diagnosis challenge, being fundamental to raise a high degree of suspicion based on a careful epidemiological history. The authors describe the case of a 69 year old farmer that was admitted due to an insidious lower back pain with irradiation to the left lower limb accompanied by nocturnal sweating, anorexia and weight loss. The imaging studies revealed a spondylodiscitis in L3-L4 with an associated epidural abscess. The diagnosis of brucellosis was brought on by the occupational exposure to sheep and was confirmed by a positive PCR to Brucella in the product gathered by aspiration from the epidural abscess and also by the serology (ELISA and Rose Bengal). Despite the initial therapy with doxycycline, rifampicin and gentamycin (the last one for 1 week), the patient had a clinical and imagiologic worsening, determining surgical decompression. After the surgery, antiobiotherapy with doxycyline and rifampicin was maintained and a cycle of gentamicin was started, this time for a month, with a favorable clinical evolution.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Case Report: Pure Red Cell Aplasia due to Angioimmunoblastic T-Cell Lymphoma.

Pure red cell aplasia (PRCA) is a rare bone marrow failure characterized by a progressive normocytic anemia and reticulocytopenia without leukopenia and thrombocytopenia. It can be associated with various hematological disorders but exceedingly rarely with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL). We report the case of a 72-year-old woman with PRCA associated with AITL. The patient presented with severe anemia (hemoglobin 2.6 g/dL) and a low reticulocyte count 0.7%. Direct and indirect Coombs tests were positive. A CT scan of the chest, abdomen, and pelvis revealed multiple lymphadenopathies. A cervical lymph node biopsy was compatible with AITL. A bone marrow biopsy showed medullary involvement by AITL and a severe erythroid hypoplasia with a myeloid:erythroid ratio of 19.70. The patient was started on CHOP and after 6 cycles the PET scan confirmed complete remissioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Campañas Científicas Españolas en NAFO

Versión del edito

Terapêuticas Inovadoras na Drepanocitose

N/

Ghrelin requires p53 to stimulate lipid storage in fat and liver

Ghrelin, a stomach-derived peptide, stimulates feeding behavior and adiposity. For its orexigenic action, ghrelin triggers a central SIRT1/p53/AMPK pathway. The tumor suppressor p53 also plays an important role in white adipose tissue (WAT), where it is up-regulated in the adipocytes of obese mice. It is not known, however, whether p53 has any role in mediating the peripheral action of ghrelin. In the present study, chronic peripheral ghrelin treatment resulted in increased body weight and fat-mass gain in wild-type mice. Correspondingly, mRNA levels of several adipogenic and fat-storage-promoting enzymes were up-regulated in WAT, whereas hepatic triglyceride content and lipogenic enzymes were also increased in wild-type mice following ghrelin treatment. In contrast, mice lacking p53 failed to respond to ghrelin treatment, with their body weight, fat mass, and adipocyte and hepatic metabolism remaining unchanged. Thus, our results show that p53 is necessary for the actions of ghrelin on WAT and liver, leading to changes in expression levels of lipogenic and adipogenic genes, and modifying body weight

The Bathypelagic Biome of the Atlantic Ocean: Character and Ecological Discreteness of the Fish Fauna

Recent global synthetic analyses have revealed that marine taxonomic inventories are far from complete, nowhere more so than in the deep-pelagic ocean. At over a billion km3, it is the largest biome on Earth, yet only a tiny fraction of the biogeographic records include the bathypelagic fauna. This data gap served as the impetus for recent deepwater surveys, many of which have altered our perceptions of pelagic ecosystems. Here we examine data from four deep-pelagic (0-5000+ m) sampling programs in the Atlantic (60°N-25°S) in order to assess the character of bathypelagic fish communities with respect to faunal distinctiveness and ecological connectivity. Regions studied include the Gulf of Mexico, Sargasso 702 Sea, eastern North/South Atlantic, and mid-North Atlantic. Quantitative analyses give contrasting pictures with respect to faunal composition and ecosystem operation. The discreteness of the bathypelagic zone is exhibited faunistically by the suite of ―holobathypelagic‖ species found only below 1000 m, most of which are highly modified morphologically. Geometric abundance class analyses reveal that the character of relative species abundance distributions between the meso- and bathypelagic zones is fundamentally dissimilar; the former exhibit a much higher proportion of common species, while the latter exhibit a much higher percentage of rarer species. From a community energetics perspective, however, the bathy- and mesopelagic zones are highly interconnected. Approximately 70% of fish species collected below 1000 m are also found in the mesopelagic zone, and in the far North Atlantic, are also found in the epipelagial. These species comprised 66 to \u3e90% of individuals collected below 1000 m in the regions sampled. In the mid-North Atlantic, these species contribute to the unexpected water-column biomass maximum observed between 1500-2300 m. Thus, the ―transient‖ taxa (primarily mesopelagic migrators and spanner taxa) add considerably to the ichthyofaunal diversity of the world ocean below 1000 m, and appear to be the vectors that support the diverse array of holobathypelagic fishes whose taxonomic composition is dominated by piscivores. Data from the four regions studied suggests that classic pelagic biogeographic boundaries do not apply to bathypelagic realm, as shared species are the rule rather than the exception. Last, cumulative species curves suggest we are far from understanding the true complexity of the bathypelagic zone

Fuel cell technology for domestic built environment applications: state of-the-art review

Fuel cells produce heat when generating electricity, thus they are of particular interest for combined heat and power (CHP) and combined cooling heat and power (CCHP) applications, also known as tri-generation systems. CHP and tri-generation systems offer high energy conversion efficiency and hence the potential to reduce fuel costs and CO2 emissions. This article serves to provide a state-of-the-art review of fuel cell technology operating in the domestic built environment in CHP and tri-generation system applications. The review aims to carry out an assessment of the following topics: (1) the operational advantages fuel cells offer in CHP and tri-generation system configurations, specifically, compared to conventional combustion-based technologies such as Stirling engines, (2) how decarbonisation, running cost and energy security in the domestic built environment may be addressed through the use of fuel cell technology, and (3) what has been done to date and what needs to be done in the future. The article commences with a review of fuel cell technology, then moves on to examine fuel cell CHP systems operating in the domestic built environment, and finally explores fuel cell tri-generation systems in domestic built environment applications. The article concludes with an assessment of the present development of, and future challenges for, domestic fuel cells operating in CHP and tri-generation systems. As fuel cells are an emergent technology the article draws on a breadth of literature, data and experience, mostly from the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, America and Australia. Fuel cells are a technology of the future here today, providing a change in the way heat and power are supplied to end users. Fuel cells operating in CHP and tri-generation systems in domestic built environment applications could finally provide the means by which energy generation can transfer from centralised to decentralised locales in a sustainable and effective manner

Notes on age determination, size and age structure, longevity, and growth of co-occurring macrourid fishes

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We are grateful to crew and colleagues who sampled and processed macrourids on the MARECO and ECOMAR cruise, to Ms Hege Ø Hansen for assistance in the otolith laboratory, and to home institutions and the Alfred P Sloan Foundation for financial support. An early version of the results was submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the MSc degree of R.H. Fundings: Data for this paper were collected on cruises funded by Norway and the United Kingdom (Natural Environment Research Council). In addition to institutional funding, the work benefitted from a grant to the ecosystems of the mid-atlantic ridge (MAR-ECO) Programme from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, New York, USA.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

SerpinA3N is a novel hypothalamic gene upregulated by a high-fat diet and leptin in mice

Background: Energy homeostasis is regulated by the hypothalamus but fails when animals are fed a high-fat diet (HFD), and leptin insensitivity and obesity develops. To elucidate the possible mechanisms underlying these effects, a microarray-based transcriptomics approach was used to identify novel genes regulated by HFD and leptin in the mouse hypothalamus. Results: Mouse global array data identified serpinA3N as a novel gene highly upregulated by both a HFD and leptin challenge. In situ hybridisation showed serpinA3N expression upregulation by HFD and leptin in all major hypothalamic nuclei in agreement with transcriptomic gene expression data. Immunohistochemistry and studies in the hypothalamic clonal neuronal cell line, mHypoE-N42 (N42), confirmed that alpha 1-antichymotrypsin (α1AC), the protein encoded by serpinA3, is localised to neurons and revealed that it is secreted into the media. SerpinA3N expression in N42 neurons is upregulated by palmitic acid and by leptin, together with IL-6 and TNFα, and all three genes are downregulated by the anti-inflammatory monounsaturated fat, oleic acid. Additionally, palmitate upregulation of serpinA3 in N42 neurons is blocked by the NFκB inhibitor, BAY11, and the upregulation of serpinA3N expression in the hypothalamus by HFD is blunted in IL-1 receptor 1 knockout (IL-1R1−/−) mice. Conclusions: These data demonstrate that serpinA3 expression is implicated in nutritionally mediated hypothalamic inflammation