Spontaneous Penile (Cavernosal) Abscess: Case Report with Discussion of Aetiology, Diagnosis, and Management with Review of Literature

The rare presentation of spontaneous, corpus cavernosal abscess with evident pus discharge is reported. The 19-year-old English man was successfully treated with surgical drainage and antibiotics with long-term sequelae in form of mild, left-sided penile deviation, but normal erectile function. Though he did not require any further surgical intervention for correction of chordee at that time, there remains a possibility of it getting worse over time, which may ultimately need surgery for correction. The possible aetiology, diagnosis, and treatment of this rare condition are briefly discussed

Role of stem cells in cancer therapy and cancer stem cells: a review

For over 30 years, stem cells have been used in the replenishment of blood and immune systems damaged by the cancer cells or during treatment of cancer by chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Apart from their use in the immuno-reconstitution, the stem cells have been reported to contribute in the tissue regeneration and as delivery vehicles in the cancer treatments. The recent concept of 'cancer stem cells' has directed scientific communities towards a different wide new area of research field and possible potential future treatment modalities for the cancer. Aim of this review is primarily focus on the recent developments in the use of the stem cells in the cancer treatments, then to discuss the cancer stem cells, now considered as backbone in the development of the cancer; and their role in carcinogenesis and their implications in the development of possible new cancer treatment options in future

Lowering the apoptotic threshold in colorectal cancer cells by targeting mitochondria

Background: Colorectal cancer is the third most-common cancer and the second most-common cause of cancer related death in UK. Although chemotherapy plays significant role in the treatment of colorectal cancer, morbidity and mortality due to drug resistance and cancer metastasis are yet to be eliminated. Recently, doxycycline has been reported to have cytotoxic and anti-proliferating properties in various cancer cells. In this study, whether doxycycline was apoptosis threshold lowering agent in colorectal cancer cells by targeting mitochondria was answered.Results: This study showed dose-dependent cytotoxic effects of cisplatin, oxaliplatin and doxycycline in HT29 colorectal cancer cells. Doxycycline showed inhibition of cytochrome-c-oxidase activity in these cells over a time period. The pre-treatment of doxycycline reported statistically significant increased cytotoxicity of cisplatin and oxaliplatin compared to cisplatin and oxaliplatin alone. The caspase studies revealed significantly less expression and activity of caspase 3 in HT29 cells pre-treated with doxycycline compared to the cells treated with cisplatin and oxaliplatin alone.Conclusions: It was concluded that doxycycline lowered the apoptotic threshold in HT 29 cells by targeting mitochondria. This also raised possible caspase-independent mechanisms of apoptosis in HT29 cells when pre-treated with doxycycline however this needs further research work

A Survey on Fog Computing: Services, Data and Security

Cloud computing can be used as a delivery platform which is a promising way for storing user data and provides a secure access to personal and business information. It involves prevention form risks like data theft and various other attacks. Cyber criminals can access the documents which can results in misuse of data and also interpretation of highly confidential data for illegal purposes. For securing user data from cyber attacks a new paradigm called fog computing can be used. This technique can monitor the user activity to identify the legitimacy and prevent from any unauthorised user access. Fog computing is a computing technique that extends cloud computing to the edge by providing Security in the cloud environment.. In fog computing , new security and privacy challenges are to be faced that are inherited from cloud computing. Mainly fog computing is used to reduce the burden on cloud by gathering workloads, services, applications and huge data to near network edge. In this paper we have discussed this paradigm for preventing misuse of user data and securing information, challenges and corresponding solutions in a brief manner

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: in a search of its own identity

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a genetic disorder characterized by left ventricular hypertrophy not explained by secondary causes, and a non-dilated left ventricle with preserved or increased ejection fraction. It is commonly asymmetric with most severe hypertrophy involving the basal interventricular septum.. The histologic features of HCM are myocyte hypertrophy and disarray, as well as interstitial fibrosis. The hypertrophy is associated with left ventricular diastolic dysfunction. Left ventricular outflow tract obstruction is present at rest in about one third of the patients, and can be provoked in another third. HCM is also an important cause of sudden cardiac death, particularly in adolescents and young adults. Nonsustained ventricular tachycardia, syncope, a family history of sudden cardiac death, and severe cardiac hypertrophy are major risk factors for sudden cardiac death.incidence being 30 % and the cause of cardiac death is LVOT obstruction,increased oxygen of thick myocardium with compromised coronary circulation and intractable ventricular tachycardia. Mutations in over a dozen genes encoding sarcomere-associated proteins cause HCM. MYH7 and MYBPC3, encoding β-myosin heavy chain and myosin binding protein C, respectively, are the two most common genes involved, together accounting for about 50% of the HCM families. Mutations in genes responsible for storage diseases cause a phenotype like HCM (genocopy or phenocopy). The routine applications of genetic testing and preclinical identification of family members represents an important advance. In genetic study HCM is associated with HLA DRW4

Rare Case of Isolated Right Sided Dilated Cardiomyopathy

In dilated cardiomyopathies biventricular involvement is the usual case though left ventricular dysfunction is more apparent. In RVDCM, as the name suggests right ventricle is solely involved and left ventricular function is normal. The other causes of right heart failure are tricuspid valve disease (infective endocarditis, rheumatic, Ebsteins anomaly), right ventricular infarction and rarely pulmonary regurgitation without pulmonary hypertension. The diagnosis was made on echocardiography which revealed dilated, hypokinetic right ventricle, with normal left ventricular dimensions and ejection fraction and no evidence of pulmonary artery hypertension with normal pulmonary artery size and normal pulmonary valve with dilated right ventricle outflow trac

Does Doxycycline work in synergy with cisplatin and oxaliplatin in colorectal cancer?

Background: In recent years, apart from antibacterial properties, doxycycline is reported to have cytotoxic and anti-proliferative actions in various cancers including colorectal cancer. Colorectal cancer constitutes one of the most common cancers in the western population. Apart from surgery, chemotherapy plays crucial role in the treatment of colorectal cancer. Cisplatin and oxaliplatin are most commonly used platinum compounds for the cancer chemotherapy. This study has looked for any impact of doxycycline on the cytotoxic effects of platinum compounds in colorectal cancer including its mechanisms of actions.Methods: HT 29 colorectal cancer cells were used for this study. These cells were treated with cisplatin and oxaliplatin with or without doxycycline treatment. The caspase 3 gene expression was quantitated by gel electrophoresis and qualitated by real time polymerase chain reactions. The caspase 3 activity was assessed in HT 29 cells with fluorescence kit.Results: The results revealed increased caspase 3 gene expressions and activities in HT 29 cells treated with cisplatin, oxaliplatin and doxycycline; however the combination of doxycycline with cisplatin and oxaliplatin did not report increased caspase 3 gene expressions and activity compared to cisplatin and oxaliplatin alone.Conclusion: We concluded that doxycycline has role in apoptosis induction in the colorectal cancer. However, it did not show any synergy with platinum compounds in the colorectal cancer cells. This study also pointed towards possible caspase-independent actions of doxycycline with cisplatin and oxaliplatin. However, further work is required to underpin the mechanisms of actions of doxycycline

A Meta-analysis of Multiple Myeloma Risk Regions in African and European Ancestry Populations Identifies Putatively Functional Loci

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in European populations have identified genetic risk variants associated with multiple myeloma (MM)