Radiobiology Behind Dose Fractionation in Ewing Sarcoma

https://openworks.mdanderson.org/sumexp21/1149/thumbnail.jp

Composição química e avaliação da atividade antimicrobiana do óleo essencial das folhas de Piper malacophyllum (C. Presl.) C. DC.

This work reports the chemical composition as well as the antibacterial, antifungal and antiparasitic activities of the leaf essential oil from Piper malacophyllum. The oil was extracted by hydrodistillation and analyzed by GC-FID, GC-MS and polarimetry. Among the 28 compounds identified, (+)-camphor was the major constituent. The essential oil showed activity against most of the microorganisms tested, especially antifungal action, with a MIC of 500 µg mL-1 against Trichophyton mentagrophytes and Cryptococcus neoformans. This is the first study reporting the composition and biological properties of leaf essential oil from P. malacophyllum

Host Alternation Is Necessary to Maintain the Genome Stability of Rift Valley Fever Virus

Arthropod-borne viruses are transmitted among vertebrate hosts by insect vectors. Unusually, Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) can also be transmitted by direct contacts of animals/humans with infectious tissues. What are the molecular mechanisms and evolutionary events leading to adopt one mode of transmission rather than the other? Viral replication is implied to be different in a vertebrate host and an invertebrate host. The alternating host cycle tends to limit virus evolution by adopting a compromise fitness level for replication in both hosts. To test this hypothesis, we used a cell culture model system to study the evolution of RVFV. We found that freeing RVFV from alternating replication in mammalian and mosquito cells led to large deletions in the NSs gene carrying the virulence factor. Resulting NSs-truncated viruses were able to protect mice from a challenge with a virulent RVFV. Thus, in nature, virulence is likely maintained by continuous alternating passages between vertebrates and insects. Thereby, depending on the mode of transmission adopted, the evolution of RVFV will be of major importance to predict the outcome of outbreaks

Cutis laxa adquirido asociado a gammapatía monoclonal y enfermedad por depósito de cadenas ligeras lambda

Cutis laxa is a rare entity characterized clinically by redundant skin that gives an appearance of premature aging. The appearance relates to a loss of elasticity because of the destruction of elastic fibers that affects the skin and other organs. It may be associated with inflammatory conditions or diseases, such as plasma cell dyscrasias. We report the case of a 54-year-old man with acquired cutis laxa, which preceded the development of IgG-lambda monoclonal gammopathy with lambda light chain deposits in the kidney. The patient had a fatal outcome owing to severe and rapidly progressive renal failure. We emphasize the importance of recognizing a plasma cell dyscrasia in a patient with cutis laxa, although this association is rare

Cutis laxa adquirido asociado a gammapatía monoclonal y enfermedad por depósito de cadenas ligeras lambda

Cutis laxa is a rare entity characterized clinically by redundant skin that gives an appearance of premature aging. The appearance relates to a loss of elasticity because of the destruction of elastic fibers that affects the skin and other organs. It may be associated with inflammatory conditions or diseases, such as plasma cell dyscrasias. We report the case of a 54-year-old man with acquired cutis laxa, which preceded the development of IgG-lambda monoclonal gammopathy with lambda light chain deposits in the kidney. The patient had a fatal outcome owing to severe and rapidly progressive renal failure. We emphasize the importance of recognizing a plasma cell dyscrasia in a patient with cutis laxa, although this association is rare

Polymorphism analyses and protein modelling inform on functional specialization of Piwi clade genes in the arboviral vector Aedes albopictus

none15siCurrent knowledge of the piRNA pathway is based mainly on studies on Drosophila melanogaster where three proteins of the Piwi subclade of the Argonaute family interact with PIWI-interacting RNAs to silence transposable elements in gonadal tissues. In mosquito species that transmit epidemic arboviruses such as dengue and chikungunya viruses, Piwi clade genes underwent expansion, are also expressed in the soma and cross-talk with proteins of recognized antiviral function cannot be excluded for some Piwi proteins. These observations underscore the importance of expanding our knowledge of the piRNA pathway beyond the model organism D. melanogaster. Here we focus on the emerging arboviral vector Aedes albopictus and we couple traditional approaches of expression and adaptive evolution analyses with most current computational predictions of protein structure to study evolutionary divergence among Piwi clade proteins. Superposition of protein homology models indicate possible high structure similarity among all Piwi proteins, with high levels of amino acid conservation in the inner regions devoted to RNA binding. On the contrary, solvent-exposed surfaces showed low conservation, with several sites under positive selection. Analysis of the expression profiles of Piwi transcripts during mosquito development and following infection with dengue serotype 1 or chikungunya viruses showed a concerted elicitation of all Piwi transcripts during viral dissemination of dengue viruses while maintenance of infection relied on expression of primarily Piwi5. Opposite, establishment of persistent infection by chikungunya virus is accompanied by increased expression of all Piwi genes, particularly Piwi4 and, again, Piwi5. Overall these results are consistent with functional specialization and a general antiviral role for Piwi5. Experimental evidences of sites under positive selection in Piwi1/3, Piwi4 and Piwi6, that have complex expression profiles, provide useful knowledge to design tailored functional experiments.openMarconcini M.; Hernandez L.; Iovino G.; Houe V.; Valerio F.; Palatini U.; Pischedda E.; Crawford J.E.; White B.J.; Lin T.; Carballar-Lejarazu R.; Ometto L.; Forneris F.; Failloux A.-B.; Bonizzoni M.Marconcini, Michele; HERNANDEZ PELEGRIN, Luis; Iovino, Giuseppe; Houe, V.; Valerio, F.; Palatini, Umberto; Pischedda, E.; Crawford, J. E.; White, B. J.; Lin, T.; Carballar-Lejarazu, R.; Ometto, L.; Forneris, F.; Failloux, A. -B.; Bonizzoni, M