Anti-Interleukin-6 Receptor Antibody Therapy-Induced Retinopathy in a Patient with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Tocilizumab, a humanized anti-human interleukin-6 (IL-6) receptor monoclonal antibody, is beneficial for treating autoimmune conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The most common adverse event is upper respiratory tract infection; ocular side effects are rare. We describe a case of skin ulceration and bilateral retinopathy with multifocal cotton-wool spots and retinal hemorrhages in a patient with RA treated with tocilizumab. Tocilizumab administration increased the serum level of IL-6 without affecting the IL-8 levels. We could not exclude the possibility of blood coagulation or retinal vascular changes caused by tocilizumab. The current case highlights the need to consider that ocular adverse effects can develop in patients treated with tocilizumab

アメリカ文学史へのアプローチ : 作品100選

第1章　植民地時代と清教徒の社会……………………1第2章　アメリカの独立と建国の父祖たち……………7第3章　国民文学の成立…………………………………15第4章　アメリカン・ルネッサンス……………………21第5章　4人の代表的詩人たち…………………………29第6章　南北戦争と文学…………………………………39第7章　リアリズム………………………………………45第8章　自然主義…………………………………………53第9章　中西部の作家たち………………………………61第10章　失われた世代の作家たちとモダニズム……67第11章　南部の作家たち………………………………75第12章　1930年代の小説………………………………81第13章　第二次世界大戦後の文学……………………87第14章　ポストモダニズム……………………………95第15章　ユダヤ系作家たち……………………………105第16章　アフロ・アメリカン文学……………………113第17章　女性作家たち…………………………………123第18章　ネイテイヴ・アメリカン文学………………139第19章　アメリカ演劇…………………………………143第20章　現代アメリカ詩………………………………15

Chemopreventive effects and anti-tumorigenic mechanisms of Actinidia arguta, known as sarunashi in Japan toward 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK)- induced lung tumorigenesis in a/J mouse

Background Previously, we reported the inhibitory effect of Actinidia arguta juice, known as sarunashi juice (sar-j) in Japan, on mutagenesis, inflammation, and mouse skin tumorigenesis. The components of A. arguta responsible for the anti-mutagenic effects were identified to be water-soluble, heat-labile phenolic compounds. We proposed isoquercetin (isoQ) as a candidate anticarcinogenic component. In this study, we sought to investigate the chemopreventive effects of A. arguta juice and isoQ on 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK)-induced lung tumorigenesis in A/J mice, and identify the possible mechanisms underlying the anti-tumorigenic effects of A. arguta. Results The number of tumor nodules per mouse lung in the group injected with NNK and administered A. arguta juice orally was significantly lower than that in the group injected with NNK only. Oral administration of isoQ also reduced the number of nodules in the mouse lungs. As expected, the mutagenicity of NNK and 1-methyl-3-nitro-1-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) detected using S. typhimurium TA1535 decreased in the presence of sar-j. However, NNK and MNNG mutagenicity detected using S. typhimurium YG7108, a strain lacking the O6-methylguanine DNA methyltransferases (ogtST and adaST) did not decrease in the presence of sar-j suggesting that sar-j may mediate its antimutagenic effect by enhancing the DNA damage repair by ogtST and adaST. Phosphorylation of Akt, with or without epidermal growth factor stimulation, in A549 cells was significantly decreased following sar-j and isoQ treatment, indicating that components in sar-j including isoQ suppressed the PI3K/AKT signaling pathways. Conclusions Sar-j and isoQ reduced NNK-induced lung tumorigenesis. Sar-j targets both the initiation and growth/progression steps during carcinogenesis, specifically via anti-mutagenesis, stimulation of alkyl DNA adduct repair, and suppression of Akt-mediated growth signaling. IsoQ might contribute in part to the biological effects of sar-j via suppression of Akt phosphorylation, but it may not be the main active ingredient

Studies of Raman scattering in novel disubstituted acetylene polymers

We have studied resonant and non-resonant Raman scattering spectra in thin films of novel disubstituted acetylene polymers such as poly(1-ethyl-2-phenylacetylene) (PEtPA), poly(1-n-hexyl-2-phenylacetylene) (PHxPA) and poly(1-phenyl- 2-p-n-butylphenylacetylene) (PDPA-nBu), which possess high photoluminescence (PL) quantum efficiency. We found that the Raman scattering frequency dispersion is smaller in disubstituted acetylene polymers than in other acetylene polymers, in agreement with many other strongly luminescent polymers. Assuming the model of short polyene conjugation length in these acetylene polymers, we can obtain the conjugation length (N) for each polymer from the respective phonon frequency of the carbon-carbon double bond; we obtained N equals 7 for PDPA-nBu, and N equals 5 or 6 for PHxPA and PEtPA. The related energies of 11Bu and 21Ag can be estimated from these N and are in good agreement with the respective absorption and PL spectra of the various disubstituted polymers.Optical Science, Engineering and Instrumentation '97, 1997, San Diego, CA, United StatesAkihiko Fujii, Maxim N. Shkunov, Z. Valy Vardeny, Kazuya Tada, Katsumi Yoshino, Masahiro Teraguchi, and Toshio Masuda "Studies of Raman scattering in novel disubstituted acetylene polymers", Proc. SPIE 3145, Optical Probes of Conjugated Polymers, (1 December 1997). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1117/12.29554

Optical properties of di-substituted acetylene polymers

Optical Science, Engineering and Instrumentation '97, 1997, San Diego, CA, United StatesKazuya Tada, Rahmat Hidayat, Masaharu Hirohata, Hirotake Kajii, Satoshi Tatsuhara, Akihiko Fujii, Masanori Ozaki, Masahiro Teraguchi, Toshio Masuda, and Katsumi Yoshino "Optical properties of disubstituted acetylene polymers", Proc. SPIE 3145, Optical Probes of Conjugated Polymers, (1 December 1997). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1117/12.28414

Increase in serum triglyceride was associated with coronary plaque vulnerability in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis

AbstractRates of morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular disease are high in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA); however, the mechanisms and biomarkers that reflect coronary plaque vulnerability have not yet been established. We present a case of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) presumably caused by exacerbation of chronic inflammation of RA, in which an abrupt increase in serum triglyceride was seen on the day of onset of ACS but not during effort angina. This case suggests that RA patients with an abrupt increase in triglyceride need intensive care including anti-platelet and statin therapy for the prevention of coronary plaque rupture.<Learning objective: Triglyceride might be a sensitive biomarker of activated macrophages and plaque vulnerability in patients with RA. RA patients with an abrupt increase in triglyceride might need intensive care including anti-platelet and statin therapy for the prevention of coronary plaque rupture.

Phenotypic profiling of CD8+ T cells during Plasmodium vivax blood-stage infection

Submitted by Repositório Arca ([email protected]) on 2019-04-24T17:38:50Z No. of bitstreams: 1 license.txt: 1748 bytes, checksum: 8a4605be74aa9ea9d79846c1fba20a33 (MD5)Approved for entry into archive by Janaína Nascimento ([email protected]) on 2019-08-13T14:21:37Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 ve_ Hojo-Souza_Natália_etal_INI_2015.pdf: 1172050 bytes, checksum: b1948378bfee8669ad90694b3aa2cb60 (MD5) license.txt: 1748 bytes, checksum: 8a4605be74aa9ea9d79846c1fba20a33 (MD5)Made available in DSpace on 2019-08-13T14:21:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 ve_ Hojo-Souza_Natália_etal_INI_2015.pdf: 1172050 bytes, checksum: b1948378bfee8669ad90694b3aa2cb60 (MD5) license.txt: 1748 bytes, checksum: 8a4605be74aa9ea9d79846c1fba20a33 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas. Departamento de Parasitologia. Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil.Centro de Pesquisa em Medicina Tropical. Porto Velho, RO, Brasil.Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas. Departamento de Parasitologia. Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil.Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas. Departamento de Parasitologia. Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil.Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas. Departamento de Parasitologia. Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil.Centro de Pesquisa em Medicina Tropical. Porto Velho, RO, Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto de Pesquisa Clínica Evandro Chagas. Rio de Janeiro. RJ, Brasil.Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas. Departamento de Parasitologia. Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil.Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas. Departamento de Parasitologia. Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil.Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas. Departamento de Parasitologia. Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil.Background: For a long time, the role of CD8+ T cells in blood-stage malaria was not considered important because erythrocytes do not express major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I proteins. While recent evidences suggest that CD8+ T cells may play an important role during the erythrocytic phase of infection by eliminating parasites, CD8+ T cells might also contribute to modulate the host response through production of regulatory cytokines. Thus, the role of CD8+ T cells during blood-stage malaria is unclear. Here, we report the phenotypic profiling of CD8+ T cells subsets from patients with uncomplicated symptomatic P. vivax malaria. Methods: Blood samples were collected from 20 Plasmodium vivax-infected individuals and 12 healthy individuals. Immunophenotyping was conducted by flow cytometry. Plasma levels of IFN-γ, TNF-α and IL-10 were determined by ELISA/CBA. Unpaired t-test or Mann–Whitney test was used depending on the data distribution. Results: P. vivax-infected subjects had lower percentages and absolute numbers of CD8+ CD45RA+ and CD8+ CD45RO+ T cells when compared to uninfected individuals (p ≤ 0.0002). A significantly lower absolute number of circulating CD8+ CD45+ CCR7+ cells (p = 0.002) was observed in P. vivax-infected individuals indicating that infection reduces the number of central memory T cells. Cytokine expression was significantly reduced in the naïve T cells from infected individuals compared with negative controls, as shown by lower numbers of IFN-γ + (p = 0.001), TNF-α+ (p < 0.0001) and IL-10+ (p < 0.0001) CD8+ T cells. Despite the reduction in the number of CD8+ memory T cells producing IFN-γ (p < 0.0001), P. vivax-infected individuals demonstrated a significant increase in memory CD8+ TNF-α+ (p = 0.016) and CD8+ IL-10+ (p = 0.004) cells. Positive correlations were observed between absolute numbers of CD8+ IL-10+ and numbers of CD8+ IFN-γ + (p < 0.001) and CD8+ TNF-α+ T cells (p ≤ 0.0001). Finally, an increase in the plasma levels of TNF-α (p = 0.017) and IL-10 (p = 0.006) and a decrease in the IFN-γ plasma level (p <0.0001) were observed in the P. vivax-infected individuals. Conclusions: P. vivax infection reduces the numbers of different subsets of CD8+ T cells, particularly the memory cells, during blood-stage of infection and enhances the number of CD8+ memory T cells expressing IL-10, which positively correlates with the number of cells expressing TNF-α and IFN-γ