Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada Syndrome in a 10 Years Old Child

The Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada (VKH) syndrome is a rare systemic disorder of uveitis, dysacousia, vitiligo, premature graying of the hair, eyebrows and eyelashes, and meningoencephalitis. Although frequently unrecognised,VKH may affect children. We report a case of a 10 year old girl who presented with headache and dimness of vision and was diagnosed as papillitis on the basis of bilateral disc edema. However over the course of time developed skin changes (poliosis, vitiligo over lower back) and depigmented patches in inferior fundus suggesting diagnosis of VKH disease. Thus the diagnosis is difficult in the absence of extraocular manifestations. In such cases the diagnosis is based on clinical evolution of the disease

New Highly-Sensitive Ultra-Performance Liquid Chromatography - Mass Spectrometry Method for Quantification of Telmisartan in Human Plasma

Purpose: To develop and validate a simple, rapid, sensitive and specific ultraperformance liquid chromatography mass spectrometry method for the quantification of the angiotensin II receptor antagonist, telmisartan (TEL), in human plasma.Methods: After simple protein precipitation using acetonitrile and methanol, TEL and internal standard (IS) abiraterone were separated on Acquity UPLC BEHTM C18 column (50 x 2.1 mm, i.d. 1.7 μm, Waters, USA) using a mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile: 8 mM ammonium acetate containing 0.15 % formic acid (v/v) (70:30) pumped at a flow rate of 0.3 mL/min and detected by tandem mass spectrometry with positive ion mode. The ion transitions recorded in multiple reaction monitoring mode were m/z 515.27→276.13 for telmisartan and m/z 350.1 > 156.0 for internal standard, abiraterone.Results: The assay exhibited a linear dynamic range of 1 – 200 ng/mL for telmisartan in human plasma with good correlation coefficient (0.995) and limit of quantitation of 1 ng/mL. The relative standard deviation for the intra- and inter-assay precision was between 0.75-11.50Conclusion: The developed UPLC-MS/MS method is simple, rapid and highly sensitive, and should thus be suitable for pharmacokinetic and toxicokinetic studies in both animals and humans.Keywords: Telmisartan, Ultra-Performance liquid chromatography, Tandem mass spectrometry, Pharmacokinetics, Toxicokinetics, High throughput analysi

Future of DDoS Attacks Mitigation in Software Defined Networks

Traditional networking is being progressively replaced by Software Defined Networking (SDN). It is a new promising approach to designing, building and managing networks. In comparison with traditional routed networks, SDN enables programmable and dynamic networks. Although it promises more flexible network management, one should be aware of current and upcoming security threats accompanied with its deployment. Our goal is to analyze SDN accompanied with OpenFlow protocol from the perspective of Distributed Denial of Service attacks (DDoS). In this paper, we outline our research questions related to an analysis of current and new possibilities of realization, detection and mitigation of DDoS attacks in this environment.Tradiční síťování se postupně mění na programově definované síťování (Software Defined Networking; SDN). Jde o nový slibný koncept pro návrh, stavbu a správu sítí. V porovnání s tradičními směrovanými sítěmi, nabízí SDN programovatelné a dynamické sítě. I když však SDN nabízí flexibilnější správu sítě, měli bychom si být vědomi potenciálních bezpečnostních hrozeb spojených s jejích nasazováním. Naším cílem je analyzovat SDN ve spojení s protokolem OpenFlow z pohledu distribuovaných útoku odepření služby (DDoS). V tomto článku popisujeme výzkumné otázky spojené s analýzou současných a nových možností realizace, odhalováni a zmírnění DDoS útoků v tomto prostředí

Photoemission studies of the near Fermi level spectral weight shifts in FeSe1-xTex superconductor

Our valence band photoelectron spectroscopic studies show a temperature dependent spectral weight transfer near the Fermi level in the Fe-based superconductor FeSe1-xTex. Using theoretical band structure calculations we have shown that the weight transfer is due to the temperature induced changes in the Fe(Se,Te)4 tetrahedra. These structural changes lead to shifts in the electron occupancy from the xz/yz and x2-y2 orbitals to the 3z2-r2 orbitals indicating a temperature induced crossover from a metallic state to an Orbital Selective Mott (OSM) Phase. Our study presents the observation of a temperature induced crossover to a low temperature OSM phase in the family of Fe chalcogenides.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure

Identification of Putative Vero Cell Protein(s) that Bind Specifically to Recombinant Envelope Protein of Dengue Virus Type 2

Purpose: To identify protein targets in host (vero) cell since there is currently no therapy or a licensed tetravalent vaccine to combat all the four virus serotypes of dengue virus.Methods: The domain III of the dengue virus encoded envelope protein was expressed in pET28a expression vector and the purified recombinant protein was labeled with biotin without altering its immunogenicity. Vero cell proteins on nitrocellulose membrane reacted with recombinant envelope protein domain III to identify viral target proteins in vero cells.Results: The 45 KDa, 43 KDa and 30 KDa plasma membrane proteins were identified as viral envelope targets. Competitive binding assay showed these proteins competing with dengue virus binding. MTT assay indicate that viability of vero cells increases in cultures pretreated with 45 KDa, 43 KDa and 30 KDa proteins before dengue infection.Conclusion: These results indicate the possible role of these proteins in viral binding to vero cells. The study provides a preliminary insight that would aid in determining the target epitopes against protein E domain III of dengue virus and hence, formulation of a vaccine for preparing neutralizing antibodies.Keywords: Dengue virus envelope, Biotinylation, Ni-NTA purification, Target epitopes, Plaque assay, Competitive blocking assa

Antibacterial activity of whole plant extract of Marrubium vulgare

The antibacterial activity of the methanolic extract of Marrubium vulgare whole plant was tested by disc diffusion method. Zones of Inhibition produced by methanolic extract in a dose of 50, 100, 200, 400 and600 mg/ml against selected strains was measured and compared with those of standard discs of antibiotic ciprofloxacin (10 ìg/ml)

Concomitant CIS on TURBT does not impact oncological outcomes in patients treated with neoadjuvant or induction chemotherapy followed by radical cystectomy

© Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2018Background: Cisplatin-based neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) for muscle invasive bladder cancer improves all-cause and cancer specific survival. We aimed to evaluate whether the detection of carcinoma in situ (CIS) at the time of initial transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TURBT) has an oncological impact on the response to NAC prior to radical cystectomy. Patients and methods: Patients were identified retrospectively from 19 centers who received at least three cycles of NAC or induction chemotherapy for cT2-T4aN0-3M0 urothelial carcinoma of the bladder followed by radical cystectomy between 2000 and 2013. The primary and secondary outcomes were pathological response and overall survival, respectively. Multivariable analysis was performed to determine the independent predictive value of CIS on these outcomes. Results: Of 1213 patients included in the analysis, 21.8% had concomitant CIS. Baseline clinical and pathologic characteristics of the ‘CIS’ versus ‘no-CIS’ groups were similar. The pathological response did not differ between the two arms when response was defined as pT0N0 (17.9% with CIS vs 21.9% without CIS; p = 0.16) which may indicate that patients with CIS may be less sensitive to NAC or ≤ pT1N0 (42.8% with CIS vs 37.8% without CIS; p = 0.15). On Cox regression model for overall survival for the cN0 cohort, the presence of CIS was not associated with survival (HR 0.86 (95% CI 0.63–1.18; p = 0.35). The presence of LVI (HR 1.41, 95% CI 1.01–1.96; p = 0.04), hydronephrosis (HR 1.63, 95% CI 1.23–2.16; p = 0.001) and use of chemotherapy other than ddMVAC (HR 0.57, 95% CI 0.34–0.94; p = 0.03) were associated with shorter overall survival. For the whole cohort, the presence of CIS was also not associated with survival (HR 1.05 (95% CI 0.82–1.35; p = 0.70). Conclusion: In this multicenter, real-world cohort, CIS status at TURBT did not affect pathologic response to neoadjuvant or induction chemotherapy. This study is limited by its retrospective nature as well as variability in chemotherapy regimens and surveillance regimens.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Imaging of membrane concentration polarization by NaCl using 23Na nuclear magnetic resonance

Forward osmosis (FO) and reverse osmosis (RO) membrane processes differ in their driving forces: osmotic pressure versus hydraulic pressure. Concentration polarization (CP) can adversely affect both performance and lifetime in such membrane systems. In order to mitigate against CP, the extent and severity of it need to be predicted more accurately through advanced online monitoring methodologies. Whilst a variety of monitoring techniques have been used to study the CP mechanism, there is still a pressing need to develop and apply non-invasive, in situ techniques able to produce quantitative, spatially resolved measurements of heterogeneous solute concentration in, and adjacent to, the membrane assembly as caused by the CP mechanism. To this end, 23Na magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is used to image the sodium ion concentration within, and near to, both FO and RO composite membranes for the first time; this is also coupled with 1H MRI mapping of the corresponding water distribution. As such, it is possible to directly image salt accumulation due to CP processes during desalination. This was consistent with literature expectations and serves to confirm the suitability of 23Na MRI as a novel non-invasive technique for CP studies