Multicentric Castleman's Disease in a Hepatitis C-Positive Intravenous Drug User: A Case Report

Introduction. We report a rare presentation of Castleman's disease in a hepatitis C-positive patient and present a short review of treatments described in other similar case reports and studies. Case Presentation. A 46-year-old male with untreated hepatitis C and a 16-year history of intravenous drug use presented with pleuritic chest pain and bony pain in the knee, hip, and lower back, on a background of unexplained weight loss of 40 kilograms, fevers, night sweats, and repeated infections over the last two years. Examination discovered tender hepatomegaly, a warm right knee effusion, and painless lymphadenopathy. The patient was reactive to Epstein Barr virus and cytomegalovirus; however, HIV and HHV-8 viral testing was negative. Osteomyelitis of vertebrae T8–T11 and septic arthritis of the knee were found on investigation. A lymph node biopsy revealed histology suggestive of plasmacytic Castleman's disease. The patient is to commence rituximab treatment. Conclusion. Castleman's disease continues to present in novel ways, which may lead to difficulties in clinicopathologic diagnosis. A growing body of evidence suggests larger studies are required to determine the best treatment for multicentric Castleman's disease, particularly in patients with a concomitant disease, including hepatitis C

Expression of Hb β-T and Hb β-E genes in Eastern India - Family studies

The distribution patterns of different haemoglobins were observed amongst the family members of β-thalassaemia homozygous and HbE-β-thalassaemia patients with the aid of gel electrophoretic and alkali denaturation techniques. Of the 18 families studied, four belonged to β-thalassaemia homozygous and 14 to HbE-β-thalassaemia patients. Interaction of HbE and β-thalassaemia genes resulted in major clinical abnormalities with increase in the percentages of haemoglobins F and E. The percentages of HbA2 in homozygous β-thalassaemia were within the normal range. Although in Southeast Asia the β° type of HbE-thalassaemia is more prevalent, only one individual with this type of thalassaemia was observed during this survey. In the rest of the patients examined the percentages of adult haemoglobin ranged from 5.2 to 42.5 indicating the presence of a β+ type gene

Natural organic matter in sedimentary basins and its relation to arsenic in anoxic ground water: the example of West Bengal and its worldwide implications

In order to investigate the mechanism of As release to anoxic ground water in alluvial aquifers, the authors sampled ground waters from 3 piezometer nests, 79 shallow (80 m) wells, in an area 750 m by 450 m, just north of Barasat, near Kolkata (Calcutta), in southern West Bengal. High concentrations of As (200-1180 mug L-1) are accompanied by high concentrations of Fe (3-13.7 mgL(-1)) and PO4 (1-6.5 mg L-1). Ground water that is rich in Mn (1-5.3 mg L-1) contains <50 mug L-1 of As. The composition of shallow ground water varies at the 100-m scale laterally and the metre-scale vertically, with vertical gradients in As concentration reaching 200 mug L-1 m(-1). The As is supplied by reductive dissolution of FeOOH and release of the sorbed As to solution. The process is driven by natural organic matter in peaty strata both within the aquifer sands and in the overlying confining unit. In well waters, thermotolerant coliforms, a proxy for faecal contamination, are not present in high numbers (<10 cfu/100 ml in 85% of wells) showing that faecally-derived organic matter does not enter the aquifer, does not drive reduction of FeOOH, and so does not release As to ground water.Arsenic concentrations are high (much greater than50 mug L-1) where reduction of FeOOH is complete and its entire load of sorbed As is released to solution, at which point the aquifer sediments become grey in colour as FeOOH vanishes. Where reduction is incomplete, the sediments are brown in colour and resorption of As to residual FeOOH keeps As concentrations below 10 mug L-1 in the presence of dissolved Fe. Sorbed As released by reduction of Mn oxides does not increase As in ground water because the As resorbs to FeOOH. High concentrations of As are common in alluvial aquifers of the Bengal Basin arise because Himalayan erosion supplies immature sediments, with low surface-loadings of FeOOH on mineral grains, to a depositional environment that is rich in organic mater so that complete reduction of FeOOH is common. (C) 2004 Published by Elsevier Ltd

Preferential Trade among the SAARC Countries: Prospects and Challenges of Regional Integration

Abstract The prospects and challenges of preferential trade liberalisation and regional integration in South Asia are analysed by analysing regional and international trade structures of South Asian countries through conventional trade measures such as commodity composition and direction of trade, and bilateral trade shares. Findings indicate that, with the existing low level of bilateral and intra-original trade shares and low trade with South Asian countries, the gains from free trade arrangements in this region are likely to be minimal. The region accounts for a very insignificant share of world trade but persistent high levels of tariff barriers. Thus, preferential trade liberalisation is more likely to bring about trade diversion than trade creation leading to more gains for large countries and more losses for small countries. Further, trade policies of individual countries are shaped more by political considerations than economic factors. Therefore, implementation of a free trade area and deriving benefits from it will be challenging

Spatio-temporal variation of surface soil hydraulic properties under different tillage and maize-based crop sequences in a Mediterranean area

Aims: The surface crust formed by the drop impact of rainfall and/or irrigation is a prevalent characteristic in many Mediterranean soils. However, the temporal variation of soil hydraulic properties induced by surface crust during the high-frequency irrigation has rarely been investigated. Methods: Beerkan infiltration tests in conjunction with the BEST method were used to investigate the effects of surface crusting on the spatio-temporal variation of saturated soil hydraulic conductivity (Ks, mm s−1), sorptivity (S, mm s−0.5), mean pore size (r, mm), number of effective pores per unit area (N, m−2) in Agramunt, NE Spain. Results: In response to autumn tillage, intensive tillage (IT) increased Ks and S due to higher r and N, but both declined after 60&nbsp;days. Reduced tillage (RT), maintained comparable Ks and S values, despite having a lower N value. After the spring tillage, both IT and RT developed crusted layers, resulting in decreased Ks, S and N. Long-term no-tillage (NT) showed an increasing trend of Ks and S over time, except for the last sampling. Spatial variation (i.e., between the rows, B-row vs. within the row of crops, W-row) of Ks and S was found, and non-crusted soils (W-row) had consistently higher Ks and S than crusted soils (B-row). Conclusions: Conservation tillage i.e., RT and NT improve the surface soil structure and reduce the risk of crust development. Surface cover by crops may help to prevent crust formation within the row of crops, improving soil hydraulic conductivity

Shigella flexneri serotype 1c derived from serotype 1a by acquisition of gtrIC gene cluster via a bacteriophage

BACKGROUND: Shigella spp. are the primary causative agents of bacillary dysentery. Since its emergence in the late 1980s, the S. flexneri serotype 1c remains poorly understood, particularly with regard to its origin and genetic evolution. This article provides a molecular insight into this novel serotype and the gtrIC gene cluster that determines its unique immune recognition. RESULTS: A PCR of the gtrIC cluster showed that serotype 1c isolates from different geographical origins were genetically conserved. An analysis of sequences flanking the gtrIC cluster revealed remnants of a prophage genome, in particular integrase and tRNAPro genes. Meanwhile, Southern blot analyses on serotype 1c, 1a and 1b strains indicated that all the tested serotype 1c strains may have had a common origin that has since remained distinct from the closely related 1a and 1b serotypes. The identification of prophage genes upstream of the gtrIC cluster is consistent with the notion of bacteriophage-mediated integration of the gtrIC cluster into a pre-existing serotype. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to show that serotype 1c isolates from different geographical origins share an identical pattern of genetic arrangement, suggesting that serotype 1c strains may have originated from a single parental strain. Analysis of the sequence around the gtrIC cluster revealed a new site for the integration of the serotype converting phages of S. flexneri. Understanding the origin of new pathogenic serotypes and the molecular basis of serotype conversion in S. flexneri would provide information for developing cross-reactive Shigella vaccines

A blind hierarchical coherent search for gravitational-wave signals from coalescing compact binaries in a network of interferometric detectors

We describe a hierarchical data analysis pipeline for coherently searching for gravitational wave (GW) signals from non-spinning compact binary coalescences (CBCs) in the data of multiple earth-based detectors. It assumes no prior information on the sky position of the source or the time of occurrence of its transient signals and, hence, is termed "blind". The pipeline computes the coherent network search statistic that is optimal in stationary, Gaussian noise, and allows for the computation of a suite of alternative statistics and signal-based discriminators that can improve its performance in real data. Unlike the coincident multi-detector search statistics employed so far, the coherent statistics are different in the sense that they check for the consistency of the signal amplitudes and phases in the different detectors with their different orientations and with the signal arrival times in them. The first stage of the hierarchical pipeline constructs coincidences of triggers from the multiple interferometers, by requiring their proximity in time and component masses. The second stage follows up on these coincident triggers by computing the coherent statistics. The performance of the hierarchical coherent pipeline on Gaussian data is shown to be better than the pipeline with just the first (coincidence) stage.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Classical and Quantum Gravit

Towards privacy protection in pervasive healthcare

Proliferation of small handheld devices and wireless technologies has kindled the phenomenon of pervasive computing. Healthcare, being a prime concern for every society, has been considered as an ideal setting for deployment of this technology. Pervasive healthcare aims to improve patient independent living and quality of life and pay special attention to issues of security, privacy, transparency and ease of use. From its very nature of being open and dynamic, the pervasive environment has been challenged with security and privacy related issues with regards to collaborative information sharing. In this paper, we present some of the privacy challenges that arise when designing pervasive healthcare environments and discuss addressing some of these issues in a home based patient monitoring system. Specifically, we cover privacy violation through individual healthcare information availability and information leakage through context-aware services. Keywords-Privacy violation; Information leakage; Healthcare; Pervasive Computing

A Multicentre Study of Shigella Diarrhoea in Six Asian Countries: Disease Burden, Clinical Manifestations, and Microbiology

BACKGROUND: The burden of shigellosis is greatest in resource-poor countries. Although this diarrheal disease has been thought to cause considerable morbidity and mortality in excess of 1,000,000 deaths globally per year, little recent data are available to guide intervention strategies in Asia. We conducted a prospective, population-based study in six Asian countries to gain a better understanding of the current disease burden, clinical manifestations, and microbiology of shigellosis in Asia. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Over 600,000 persons of all ages residing in Bangladesh, China, Pakistan, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand were included in the surveillance. Shigella was isolated from 2,927 (5%) of 56,958 diarrhoea episodes detected between 2000 and 2004. The overall incidence of treated shigellosis was 2.1 episodes per 1,000 residents per year in all ages and 13.2/1,000/y in children under 60 months old. Shigellosis incidence increased after age 40 years. S. flexneri was the most frequently isolated Shigella species (1,976/2,927 [68%]) in all sites except in Thailand, where S. sonnei was most frequently detected (124/146 [85%]). S. flexneri serotypes were highly heterogeneous in their distribution from site to site, and even from year to year. PCR detected ipaH, the gene encoding invasion plasmid antigen H in 33% of a sample of culture-negative stool specimens. The majority of S. flexneri isolates in each site were resistant to amoxicillin and cotrimoxazole. Ciprofloxacin-resistant S. flexneri isolates were identified in China (18/305 [6%]), Pakistan (8/242 [3%]), and Vietnam (5/282 [2%]). CONCLUSIONS: Shigella appears to be more ubiquitous in Asian impoverished populations than previously thought, and antibiotic-resistant strains of different species and serotypes have emerged. Focusing on prevention of shigellosis could exert an immediate benefit first by substantially reducing the overall diarrhoea burden in the region and second by preventing the spread of panresistant Shigella strains. The heterogeneous distribution of Shigella species and serotypes suggest that multivalent or cross-protective Shigella vaccines will be needed to prevent shigellosis in Asia

A Knob for Changing Light Propagation from Subluminal to Superluminal

We show how the application of a coupling field connecting the two lower metastable states of a lambda-system can produce a variety of new results on the propagation of a weak electromagnetic pulse. In principle the light propagation can be changed from subluminal to superluminal. The negative group index results from the regions of anomalous dispersion and gain in susceptibility.Comment: 6 pages,5 figures, typed in RevTeX, accepted in Phys. Rev.