Delayed Presentation of Renocolic Fistula at 4 Months after Blunt Abdominal Trauma

Causes of previously reported reno-colic fistulas included primary renal and colonic pathologic states involving infectious, malignant or other inflammatory processes. However, reno-colic fistula after renal injury is extremely uncommon. We report an unusual delayed presentation of reno-colic fistula that occurred at 4 months later after blunt abdominal trauma

MicroRNA-150 regulates the cytotoxicity of natural killers by targeting perforin-1

Background: Perforin-1 (Prf1) is the predominant cytolytic protein secreted by natural killer (NK) cells. For a rapid immune response, resting NK cells contain high Prf1 mRNA concentrations while exhibiting minimal cytotoxicity caused by a blockage of Prf1 protein synthesis, implying that an unknown posttranscriptional regulatory mechanism exists. Objective: We sought to determine whether microRNA-150 (miR-150) posttranscriptionally regulates Prf1 translation in both mouse and human NK cells at rest and at various time points after activation. Methods: Mouse NK cells with a targeted deletion of miR-150 (miR-150(-/-) NK cells), primary human NK cells, and NK92 MI cells were used to investigate the role of miR-150 in NK cells. NK cell cytotoxicity assays and Western blotting proved that activated miR-150(-/-) NK cells expressed upregulated Prf1, augmenting NK cell cytotoxicity. When immunodeficient mice were injected with miR-150(-/-) NK cells, there was a significant reduction in tumor growth and metastasis of B16F10 melanoma. Results: We report that miR-150 binds to 39 untranslated regions of mouse and human Prf1, posttranscriptionally downregulating its expression. Mouse wild-type NK cells displayed downregulated miR-150 expression in response to IL-15, which led to corresponding repression and induction of Prf1 during rest and after IL-15 activation, respectively. Conclusion: Our results indicate that miR-150 is a common posttranscriptional regulator for Prf1 in mouse and human NK cells that represses NK cell lytic activity. Thus the therapeutic control of miR-150 in NK cells could enhance NK cell-based immunotherapy against cancer, providing a better clinical outcome.X112523Ysciescopu

Wearable Multi-Biosignal Analysis Integrated Interface with Direct Sleep-Stage Classification

This paper presents a wearable multi-biosignal wireless interface for sleep analysis. It enables comfortable sleep monitoring with direct sleep-stage classification capability while conventional analytic interfaces including the Polysomnography (PSG) require complex post-processing analyses based on heavy raw data, need expert supervision for measurements, or do not provide comfortable fit for long-time wearing. The proposed multi-biosignal interface consists of electroencephalography (EEG), electromyography (EMG), and electrooculography (EOG). A readout integrated circuit (ROIC) is designed to collect three kinds of bio-potential signals through four internal readout channels, where their analog feature extraction circuits are included together to provide sleep-stage classification directly. The designed multi-biosignal sensing ROIC is fabricated in a 180-nm complementary metal & x2013;oxide & x2013;semiconductor (CMOS) process. For system-level verification, its low-power headband-style analytic device is implemented for wearable sleep monitoring, where the direct sleep-stage classification is performed based on a decision tree algorithm. It is functionally verified by comparison experiments with post-processing analysis results from the OpenBCI module, whose sleep-stage detection shows reasonable correlation of 74% for four sleep stages

Customized Energy Down-Shift using Iridium Complexes for Enhanced Performance of Polymer Solar Cells

School of Molecular Sciences(Chemistry)For the higher performance of polymer solar cells (PSCs), many researchers tried to develop new polymers that can absorb broader range of spectrum. However, there are some limits to absorb broader range with single donor. Therefore, multi donor systems and energy transfer systems have been researched. With two different donors it is easier to enhance absorption range. As a result, multi donor and energy transfer was successful to increase performance. However, the existing systems are applying polymer-polymer systems. When two different polymers are mixed, the compatibility between two polymers is critical to morphology of blend film. Also, in polymer-polymer energy transfer, the boundary between charge transfer and energy transfer is unclear. Therefore, for the first time, we developed customized iridium (Ir(III)) complexes, with Ir(III) complex incorporated into the active materials poly(thieno[3,4-b]-thiophene/benzodithiophene) (PTB7, amorphous) or poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT, high crystalline) as energy donor additives. The Ir(III) complex with the 2-phenyl quinolone ligand energy donor increased the power conversion efficiency of the corresponding devices by approximately 20%. The enhancements are attributed to the improved molecular compatibility and energy level between the Ir(III) complex and the active materials, long F??rster resonance energy transfer radius, and high energy down-shift efficiency. Overall, we reveal Ir(III) complex additives for amorphous and highly crystalline polymer active materialsthese additives would enable efficient energy transfer in polymer solar cells, while retaining the desirable active layer morphology, thereby resulting in improved light absorption and conversion.ope

Immunogenicity of influenza vaccination in patients with cancer receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors

Among prospectively enrolled adult patients with cancer receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs; n = 46) or cytotoxic agents (n = 90), seroprotection and seroconversion rates after seasonal quadrivalent influenza vaccinations were higher with ICI than with cytotoxic chemotherapy. These results support annual influenza vaccinations for cancer patients receiving ICIs.

Acral Metastasis in a Patient with Ampullary Carcinoma

Although Skin Metastasis From A Malignant Tumor Of An Internal Organ Usually Occurs At An Advanced Disease Stage, There Has Been No Prior Report Of A Cutaneous Acral Metastasis From Ampullary Carcinoma To Date. We Report A 71-year Old Male Patient With Cutaneous Metastasis From An Ampullary Adenocarcinoma. The Patient Had A History Of Pylorus Preserving Pancreaticoduodenectomy For Carcinoma Of The Ampulla Of Vater Two Years Prior To Presentation. Physical Examination Revealed Ill-defined, Painful And Hard Erythematous Nodules At The Left Thumb And Distal Phalanx Of The Right Middle Finger. The Computed Tomography Scan Showed Low Density Masses In The Retroperitoneum; The Histological Examination Of A Nodule From The Right Middle Finger Showed A Metastatic Adenocarcinoma. This Case Illustrates That Cutaneous Metastasis From Ampullary Carcinoma Has A Poor Prognosis

Impacts of Comorbidities on the Association between Arterial Stiffness and Obstructive Sleep Apnea in the Elderly

BACKGROUND: Although the impact of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) on cardiovascular risk is reasonably well established in middle-aged patients, debate persists whether OSA also increases this risk in the elderly. Arterial stiffness has been used as an early independent predictor of cardiovascular risk. STUDY OBJECTIVES: We sought to determine whether OSA had significant effects on the arterial stiffness in the elderly population and evaluate the impacts of comorbidities on the association between arterial stiffness and OSA. METHODS: We performed a cross-sectional study in a university hospital. Elderly participants (≥60 yr) were invited to participate in our study between November 2010 and January 2013. OSA was diagnosed using gold standard polysomnography and arterial stiffness was assessed by brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) and cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) as well as by central systolic and diastolic blood pressure (cSBP and cDBP). High-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) level was also measured. RESULTS: We found no significant association between the severity of OSA and arterial stiffness-related parameters such as cSBP, cDBP, baPWV, CAVI, and hs-CRP. However, in patients without comorbid medical conditions or use of medications (n=101), we showed a modest association between OSA and arterial stiffness-related parameters and hs-CRP. CONCLUSION: We conclude that OSA is associated with increased arterial stiffness in otherwise healthy elderly population, although the association was obviated by comorbidities and medications perhaps due to ceiling effects

Electrocardiogram-based deep learning algorithm for the screening of obstructive coronary artery disease

Background Information on electrocardiogram (ECG) has not been quantified in obstructive coronary artery disease (ObCAD), despite the deep learning (DL) algorithm being proposed as an effective diagnostic tool for acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Therefore, this study adopted a DL algorithm to suggest the screening of ObCAD from ECG. Methods ECG voltage-time traces within a week from coronary angiography (CAG) were extracted for the patients who received CAG for suspected CAD in a single tertiary hospital from 2008 to 2020. After separating the AMI group, those were classified into ObCAD and non-ObCAD groups based on the CAG results. A DL-based model adopting ResNet was built to extract information from ECG data in the patients with ObCAD relative to those with non-ObCAD, and compared the performance with AMI. Moreover, subgroup analysis was conducted using ECG patterns of computer-assisted ECG interpretation. Results The DL model demonstrated modest performance in suggesting the probability of ObCAD but excellent performance in detecting AMI. The AUC of the ObCAD model adopting 1D ResNet was 0.693 and 0.923 in detecting AMI. The accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and F1 score of the DL model for screening ObCAD were 0.638, 0.639, 0.636, and 0.634, respectively, while the figures were up to 0.885, 0.769, 0.921, and 0.758 for detecting AMI, respectively. Subgroup analysis showed that the difference between normal and abnormal/borderline ECG groups was not notable. Conclusions ECG-based DL model showed fair performance for assessing ObCAD and it may serve as an adjunct to the pre-test probability in patients with suspected ObCAD during the initial evaluation. With further refinement and evaluation, ECG coupled with the DL algorithm may provide potential front-line screening support in the resource-intensive diagnostic pathways.The current study was supported by the Bio & Medical Technology Development Program of the National Research Foundation (NRF) funded by the Korean government (MSIT) (2019M3E5D1A0206962012), the NRF funded by MIST (NRF-2022R1F1A1071574), (2022H1D8A3037396), INHA UNIVERSITY Research Grant, and Institute of Information & communications Technology Planning & Evaluation (IITP) funded by MSIT (RS-2022-00155915, Artificial Intelligence Convergence Innovation Human Resources Development (Inha University)). The funders had no role in study design, data collection, analysis, decision to publish, or manuscript preparation

MicroRNA-150 modulates intracellular Ca2+ levels in naïve CD8+ T cells by targeting TMEM20

Regulation of intracellular Ca2+ signaling is a major determinant of CD8+ T cell responsiveness, but the mechanisms underlying this regulation of Ca2+ levels, especially in naïve CD8+ T cells, are not fully defined. Here, we showed that microRNA-150 (miR-150) controls intracellular Ca2+ levels in naïve CD8+ T cells required for activation by suppressing TMEM20, a negative regulator of Ca2+ extrusion. miR-150 deficiency increased TMEM20 expression, which resulted in increased intracellular Ca2+ levels in naïve CD8+ T cells. The subsequent increase in Ca2+ levels induced expression of anergy-inducing genes, such as Cbl-b, Egr2, and p27, through activation of NFAT1, as well as reduced cell proliferation, cytokine production, and the antitumor activity of CD8+ T cells upon antigenic stimulation. The anergy-promoting molecular milieu and function induced by miR-150 deficiency were rescued by reinstatement of miR-150. Additionally, knockdown of TMEM20 in miR-150-deficient naïve CD8+ T cells reduced intracellular Ca2+ levels. Our findings revealed that miR-150 play essential roles in controlling intracellular Ca2+ level and activation in naïve CD8+ T cells, which suggest a mechanism to overcome anergy induction by the regulation of intracellular Ca2+ levels115Ysciescopu