Reply to editorial and commentaries on Steele, Al-Mufti, Augustyn, Chandrajith, Coghlan, Coulson et al. (2018) "Cause of Cambrian explosion - Terrestrial or cosmic?"

No abstract availabl

Reply to commentary by R Duggleby (2019)

Duggleby (2018) has made a numerical analysis of some aspects of the wide range of phenomena we reviewed in Steele et al. (2018) and asserted " .that panspermia as proposed by Steele et al. (2018) is extremely implausible.” It seems to us that Duggleby has based his viewpoint on a quite narrow and specific model of Panspermia which he supposes to be active in the cosmos. Here we address both his conclusions and his numerical analysis. Our response therefore will be at two levels, his specific analysis and his general conclusions. In the specific section below we show that while Duggleby's numerical analysis appears in part correct it is, in the final analysis, quite irrelevant to Cosmic Panspermia. In the general response which follows we address his unsupported conclusion throughout his critique, namely that … " none of the examples mentioned by Steele et al. (2018) is decisive enough to allow no other explanation.

IL-8, IL-10, TGF-ß, and GCSF levels were increased in severe persistent allergic asthma patients with the anti-IgE treatment

PubMedID: 23316107Background. Allergic asthma is showed an increase in Th2-cytokine and IgE levels and an accumulation activation of Th2 cells, eosinophils and mast cells. However, recent studies focused on cell-based mechanisms for the pathogenesis of allergic asthma. Objectives. In this study, we compare the anti-IgE treatment modality in the dynamics of immune system cytokine levels in severe persistent asthma (SPA) patients who had no other any allergic disease, newly diagnosed allergic asthma patients and healthy volunteers. Study Design. The study population consisted of 14 SPA patients, 14 newly diagnosed allergic asthma patients and 14 healthy volunteers included as controls. Cytokine levels were measured. Total and specific IgE levels of anti-IgE monoclonal antibody treated patients, serum high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) levels, FEV1/FVC rates and asthma control test (ACT) were measured for the clinical follow-up. Results. We observed that SPA patients presented increasing levels of IL-8, IL-10, TGF-ß and GCSF during the anti-IgE treatment in period of sampling times at 4 months and 18 months. However this increase was not correlated neither with serum hsCRP levels nor FEV1/FVC rates. Conclusions. Our study gives a different perspective for the SPA and anti-IgE immunotherapy efficacy at the cell cytokine-linked step. © 2012 Arzu D. Yalcin et al

A case of toxic epidermal necrolysis with diverse etiologies: Successful treatment with intravenous immunoglobulin and pulse prednisolone and effects on sTRAIL and sCD200 levels

PubMedID: 23865370Background: Here, we report the first case of patient with intracranial tumors (ICT) who developed a cutaneous adverse drug reaction during lansoprazole and prophylactic anticonvulsant treatment. SCORTEN is a scoring system used to predict mortality in TEN patients. If SCORTEN index is 5 or more, mortality rate is more than 90%. SCORTEN of our patient was calculated as 5. Methods: Our patient is a 64 year-old white female, who had glioma and had been on post-op prophylactic anticonvulsant therapy. On the 3rd day post operation, lansoprazole was added to the therapy. After the first lansoprazole dose, erythematous dusky red macules occurred on extremities and trunk and on the following day confluent purpuric lesions tended to run together in 95% of the whole body including scalp, oral and genital mucosa. Nikolsky's Sign was positive on the skin. Physical examination; body temperature was 38.4°C with a heart rate of 146 beats/minute and 80/50 mm Hg arterial blood pressure, Glascow Coma Scale was E1 M1e, pupillary light reflex was 2/2 +/+ and she was confused. Her biopsy resulted as toxic epidermal necrolysis. Moreover, sTRAIL and sCD200 levels of serum and blister fluid were investigated as an apoptotic marker and a negative marker for inflammation. Results and Conclusions: sTRAIL and sCD200 were evaluated both in the sera and blister fluid. sTRAIL level was lower than for healthy individuals with high levels in blister fluid; and sCD200 level was depressed by up to 10% of the normal values of healthy individuals but with high levels in the blister fluid during the active phase of the disease. After our successful treatment with human albumin, prednisolone pulse therapy, and IVIG at a dose of 400 mg/kg, she was discharged from the hospital on the 23rd day and followed up after 2 months. The increase in sTRAIL (up to two-fold) and sCD200 (up to six-fold) levels may provide useful information in understanding disease pathogenesis and monitoring treatment efficacy