Wound myiasis caused by Lucilia sericata in an open femoral fracture treated with external fixation

Η μυΐαση είναι η τέταρτη πιο κοινή δερματική ασθένεια στον άνθρωπο που σχετίζεται με ταξίδια ενώ η δερματική μυΐαση είναι η συνηθέστερη κλινική μορφή. Αναφέρεται σε μη-ιατρογενή μόλυνση των ιστών από προνύμφες διπτέρων εντόμων και εμφανίζεται κυρίως σε ασθενείς που έχουν κακή υγιεινή, με συνθήκες κακής στέγασης, διανοητική καθυστέρηση, προχωρημένη ηλικία, διαβήτη, ακινητοποίηση και χαμηλό ανοσοποιητικό σύστημα. Ασθενής 14 ετών, ο οποίος είχε υποβληθεί πριν 6 μήνες σε εξωτερική οστεοσύνθεση μηριαίου λόγω κατάγματος διάφυσης μηριαίου, προσήλθε στα επείγοντα ιατρεία με άλγος στην περιοχή των βελονών. Κατά την εξέταση του τραύματος διαπιστώθηκε ερυθρότητα, οίδημα αλλά και η παρουσία ζωντανών προνυμφών διπτέρων εντόμων. Αφού ελέγχθηκε ακτινολογικά το κάταγμα της διάφυσης αφαιρέθηκε σε πρώτο χρόνο το σώμα της εξωτερικής οστεοσύνθεσης και έγινε σχολαστικότατος καθαρισμός. Με κατάλληλα χειρουργικά εργαλεία, απομονώθηκαν όλες οι προνύμφες από το τραύμα και τοποθετήθηκαν σε κατάλληλο υπόστρωμα για περαιτέρω εξέταση και προσδιορισμό του είδους. Έπειτα από μικροσκοπική εξέταση των προνυμφών και με βάση κατάλληλες μορφολογικές κλείδες προσδιορίστηκαν ως προνύμφες 3ης ηλικίας του είδους Lucilia sericata (Meigen) (Diptera: Calliphoridae). Έπειτα από 7 ημέρες αντιβιοτικής αγωγής ευρέως φάσματος, κλινοστατισμού, σχολαστικής περιποίησης των τραυμάτων και αφού είχαμε σαφή βελτίωση της περιοχής γύρω από τις βελόνες έγινε αφαίρεση αυτών. Κατά τις επανεξετάσεις έως και 6 μήνες μετά, τόσο κλινικά όσο και ακτινολογικά τα αποτελέσματα ήταν πολύ καλά.On examination of the wound of a patient who was treated previously with external fixation for a diaphysial fracture of the femur, we observed the presence of multiple living larvae (maggots) of dipterous flies. Treatment included removal of the maggots and use of antibiotic. The importance of hygiene and sanitation is discussed

Nucleon to Delta Weak Excitation Amplitudes in the Non-relativistic Quark Model

We investigate the nucleon to Delta(1232) vector and axial vector amplitudes in the non-relativistic quark model of the Isgur-Karl variety. A particular interest is to investigate the SU(6) symmetry breaking, due to color hyperfine interaction. We compare the theoretical estimates to recent experimental investigation of the Adler amplitudes by neutrino scattering.Comment: \documentstyle[aps]{revtex}, 21pages; 11 postscript figures. Accepted for publication by Phys. Rev.

Verified and potential pathogens of predatory mites (Acari: Phytoseiidae)

Several species of phytoseiid mites (Acari: Phytoseiidae), including species of the genera Amblyseius, Galendromus, Metaseiulus, Neoseiulus, Phytoseiulus and Typhlodromus, are currently reared for biological control of various crop pests and/or as model organisms for the study of predator¿prey interactions. Pathogen-free phytoseiid mites are important to obtain high efficacy in biological pest control and to get reliable data in mite research, as pathogens may affect the performance of their host or alter their reproduction and behaviour. Potential and verified pathogens have been reported for phytoseiid mites during the past 25 years. The present review provides an overview, including potential pathogens with unknown host effects (17 reports), endosymbiotic Wolbachia (seven reports), other bacteria (including Cardinium and Spiroplasma) (four reports), cases of unidentified diseases (three reports) and cases of verified pathogens (six reports). From the latter group four reports refer to Microsporidia, one to a fungus and one to a bacterium. Only five entities have been studied in detail, including Wolbachia infecting seven predatory mite species, other endosymbiotic bacteria infecting Metaseiulus (Galendromus, Typhlodromus) occidentalis (Nesbitt), the bacterium Acaricomes phytoseiuli infecting Phytoseiulus persimilis Athias-Henriot, the microsporidium Microsporidium phytoseiuli infecting P. persimilis and the microsporidium Oligosproridium occidentalis infecting M. occidentalis. In four cases (Wolbachia, A. phytoseiuli, M. phytoseiuli and O. occidentalis) an infection may be connected with fitness costs of the host. Moreover, infection is not always readily visible as no obvious gross symptoms are present. Monitoring of these entities on a routine and continuous basis should therefore get more attention, especially in commercial mass-production. Special attention should be paid to field-collected mites before introduction into the laboratory or mass rearing, and to mites that are exchanged among rearing facilities. However, at present general pathogen monitoring is not yet practical as effects of many entities are unknown. More research effort is needed concerning verified and potential pathogens of commercially reared arthropods and those used as model organisms in research

Generation of representative primary virus isolates from blood plasma after isolation of HIV-1 with CD44 MicroBeads

Infection of cell cultures with cell-free virus isolated from HIV-infected patients is notoriously difficult and results in a loss of viral variation. Here, we describe viral sequences from PBMC, U87.CD4.CCR5 and U87.CD4.CXCR4 cell cultures and compare them to those from blood plasma from 12 patients from whom virus particles were isolated using CD44 MicroBeads. In both PBMC and U87.CD4.CCR5 cultures, 66% of the plasma viral strains were retrieved after culturing. In addition, coreceptor use was predicted based on the env-V3 sequence and tested in U87.CD4 cells expressing either CCR5 or CXCR4. Recovery was lower for the CXCR4-using viruses. Only 50% of the virus clusters predicted to use CXCR4 could be retrieved from cell cultures, while 71% of CCR5-using strains were found in U87.CCR5 cultures. Therefore, isolation of primary viruses with CD44 MicroBeads results in a good representation in cell culture of the in vivo divergence

Human adipose stem cells cell sheet constructs impact epidermal morphogenesis in full-thickness excisional wounds

Among the wide range of strategies to target skin repair/regeneration, tissue engineering (TE) with stem cells at the forefront, remains as the most promising route. Cell sheet (CS) engineering is herein proposed, taking advantage of particular cell-cell and cell-extracellular matrix (ECM) interactions and subsequent cellular milieu, to create 3D TE constructs to promote full-thickness skin wound regeneration. Human adipose derived stem cells (hASCs) CS were obtained within five days using both thermoresponsive and standard cell culture surfaces. hASCs-based constructs were then built by superimposing three CS and transplanted into full-thickness excisional mice skin wounds with delayed healing. Constructs obtained using thermoresponsive surfaces were more stable than the ones from standard cell culture surfaces due to the natural adhesive character of the respective CS. Both CS-generating strategies lead to prolonged hASCs engraftment, although no transdifferentiation phenomena were observed. Moreover, our findings suggest that the transplanted hASCs might be promoting neotissue vascularization and extensively influencing epidermal morphogenesis, mainly through paracrine actions with the resident cells. The thicker epidermis, with a higher degree of maturation characterized by the presence of rete ridges-like structures, as well as a significant number of hair follicles observed after transplantation of the constructs combining the CS obtained from the thermoresponsive surfaces, reinforced the assumptions of the influence of the transplanted hASCs and the importance of the higher stability of these constructs promoted by cohesive cell-cell and cell-ECM interactions. Overall, this study confirmed the potential of hASCs CS-based constructs to treat full-thickness excisional skin wounds and that their fabrication conditions impact different aspects of skin regeneration, such as neovascularisation, but mainly epidermal morphogenesis.We would like to thank Hospital da Prelada (Porto), in particular, to Dr. Paulo Costa for the lipoaspirates collection and for financial support by Skingineering (PTDC/SAU-OSM/099422/2008), Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) funded project. The research leading to these results has also received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under Grant Agreement No. REGPOT-CT2012-316331-POLARIS

Serum Starvation Induced Cell Cycle Synchronization Facilitates Human Somatic Cells Reprogramming

Human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) provide a valuable model for regenerative medicine and human disease research. To date, however, the reprogramming efficiency of human adult cells is still low. Recent studies have revealed that cell cycle is a key parameter driving epigenetic reprogramming to pluripotency. As is well known, retroviruses such as the Moloney murine leukemia virus (MoMLV) require cell division to integrate into the host genome and replicate, whereas the target primary cells for reprogramming are a mixture of several cell types with different cell cycle rhythms. Whether cell cycle synchronization has potential effect on retrovirus induced reprogramming has not been detailed. In this study, utilizing transient serum starvation induced synchronization, we demonstrated that starvation generated a reversible cell cycle arrest and synchronously progressed through G2/M phase after release, substantially improving retroviral infection efficiency. Interestingly, synchronized human dermal fibroblasts (HDF) and adipose stem cells (ASC) exhibited more homogenous epithelial morphology than normal FBS control after infection, and the expression of epithelial markers such as E-cadherin and Epcam were strongly activated. Futhermore, synchronization treatment ultimately improved Nanog positive clones, achieved a 15–20 fold increase. These results suggested that cell cycle synchronization promotes the mesenchymal to epithelial transition (MET) and facilitates retrovirus mediated reprogramming. Our study, utilization of serum starvation rather than additional chemicals, provide a new insight into cell cycle regulation and induced reprogramming of human cells

Sustainability of Global Golden Inland Waterways

Sustainable inland waterways should meet the needs of navigation without compromising the health of riverine ecosystems. Here we propose a hierarchical model to describe sustainable development of the Golden Inland Waterways (GIWs) which are characterized by great bearing capacity and transport need. Based on datasets from 66 large rivers (basin area > 100,000 km2) worldwide, we identify 34 GIWs, mostly distributed in Asia, Europe, North America, and South America, typically following a three-stage development path from the initial, through to the developing and on to the developed stage. For most GIWs, the exploitation ratio, defined as the ratio of actual to idealized bearing capacity, should be less than 80% due to ecological considerations. Combined with the indices of regional development, GIWs exploitation, and riverine ecosystem, we reveal the global diversity and evolution of GIWs' sustainability from 2015 to 2050, which highlights the importance of river-specific strategies for waterway exploitation worldwide