Cocaine Abuse That Presents With Acute Scrotal Pain And Mimics Testicular Torsion

Report case (s) relevant aspects: Man, 27 years old, complaining of acute testicular pain by 2 hours in the remaining left testicle. Denies fever, lower urinary tract symptoms such as dysuria, urinary frequency, concommitant or prior urethral discharge to the painful condition. He underwent right orchiectomy 13 years ago by testicular torsion. He is a chronic user of cocaine for 15 years and during the last three days the drug use was continuous and intense. Proposed premise substantiating case (s) description: Initial diagnostic hypothesis: Syndromic: Acute Scrotum Syndrome (SEA) Main Etiologic (testicular torsion) Secondary Etiologic (acute orchiepididymitis) Briefly delineates what might it add? Lines of research That Could be Addressed: In this challenging clinical case we presented an alternative and new etiologic diangosis for the acute scrotum which the main etiologic factor remains testicular torsion. This new diangosis is acute testicular ischemia as a complication of cocaine abuse.4251028103

Cocaine abuse that presents with acute scrotal pain and mimics testicular torsion

Report case (s) relevant aspects: Man, 27 years old, complaining of acute testicular pain by 2 hours in the remaining left testicle. Denies fever, lower urinary tract symptoms such as dysuria, urinary frequency, concommitant or prior urethral discharge to the painful condition. He underwent right orchiectomy 13 years ago by testicular torsion. He is a chronic user of cocaine for 15 years and during the last three days the drug use was continuous and intense. Proposed premise substantiating case (s) description: Initial diagnostic hypothesis: Syndromic: Acute Scrotum Syndrome (SEA) Main Etiologic (testicular torsion) Secondary Etiologic (acute orchiepididymitis) Briefly delineates what might it add? Lines of research That Could be Addressed: In this challenging clinical case we presented an alternative and new etiologic diangosis for the acute scrotum which the main etiologic factor remains testicular torsion. This new diangosis is acute testicular ischemia as a complication of cocaine abuse4251028103

Vitamin D Modulates Hematological Parameters and Cell Migration into Peritoneal and Pulmonary Cavities in Alloxan-Diabetic Mice

Background/Aims. The effects of cholecalciferol supplementation on the course of diabetes in humans and animals need to be better understood. Therefore, this study investigated the effect of short-term cholecalciferol supplementation on biochemical and hematological parameters in mice. Methods. Male diabetic (alloxan, 60mg/kg i.v., 10 days) and non diabetic mice were supplemented with cholecalciferol for seven days. The following parameters were determined: serum levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D, phosphorus, calcium, urea, creatinine, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, red blood cell count, white blood cell count (WBC), hematocrit, hemoglobin, differential cell counts of peritoneal lavage (PeL), and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluids and morphological analysis of lung, kidney, and liver tissues. Results. Relative to controls, cholecalciferol supplementation increased serum levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D, calcium, hemoglobin, hematocrit, and red blood cell counts and decreased leukocyte cell counts of PeL and BAL fluids in diabetic mice. Diabetic mice that were not treated with cholecalciferol had lower serum calcium and albumin levels and hemoglobin, WBC, and mononuclear blood cell counts and higher serum creatinine and urea levels than controls. Conclusion. Our results suggest that cholecalciferol supplementation improves the hematological parameters and reduces leukocyte migration into the PeL and BAL lavage of diabetic mice.Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Pro-reitoria de Pesquisa da Universidade de Sao Paulo (PRP/USP, Projeto I and Novos Docentes)Univ Sao Paulo, Fac Pharmaceut Sci, Dept Clin & Toxicol Anal, Lab Immunoendocrinol,FCF, Sao Paulo, SP, BrazilUniv Fed Sao Paulo, Dept Med, Rheumatol Div, Sao Paulo, SP, BrazilDepartment of Medicine, Rheumatology Division, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, BrazilFAPESP: 2010/02272-0FAPESP: 2012/23998-4FAPESP: 2013/20904-1FAPESP: 2014/05214-1FAPESP: 2017/05100-4CNPq: 470523/2013-1CNPq: 301617/2016-3Web of Scienc

Erythropoietin reduces the expression of myostatin in mdx dystrophic mice

Erythropoietin (EPO) has been well characterized as a renal glycoprotein hormone regulating red blood cell production by inhibiting apoptosis of erythrocyte progenitors in hematopoietic tissues. EPO exerts regulatory effects in cardiac and skeletal muscles. Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a lethal degenerative disorder of skeletal and cardiac muscle. in this study, we tested the possible therapeutic beneficial effect of recombinant EPO (rhEPO) in dystrophic muscles in mdx mice. Total strength was measured using a force transducer coupled to a computer. Gene expression for myostatin, transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-beta 1), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) was determined by quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction. Myostatin expression was significantly decreased in quadriceps from mdx mice treated with rhEPO (rhEPO = 0.60 +/- 0.11, control= 1.07 +/- 0.11). On the other hand, rhEPO had no significant effect on the expression of TGF-beta 1 (rhEPO = 0.95 +/- 0.14, control= 1.05 +/- 0.16) and TNF-alpha (rhEPO = 0.73 +/- 0.20, control= 1.01 +/- 0.09). These results may help to clarify some of the direct actions of EPO on skeletal muscle.Fac Med ABC, BR-09060650 Santo Andre, SP, BrazilUniv São Paulo, Inst Ciencias Biomed, BR-05508 São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Inst Ciencias Quim Ambientais & Farmaceut, Diadema, SP, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Inst Ciencias Quim Ambientais & Farmaceut, Diadema, SP, BrazilWeb of Scienc

ENIGMA and global neuroscience: A decade of large-scale studies of the brain in health and disease across more than 40 countries.

This review summarizes the last decade of work by the ENIGMA (Enhancing NeuroImaging Genetics through Meta Analysis) Consortium, a global alliance of over 1400 scientists across 43 countries, studying the human brain in health and disease. Building on large-scale genetic studies that discovered the first robustly replicated genetic loci associated with brain metrics, ENIGMA has diversified into over 50 working groups (WGs), pooling worldwide data and expertise to answer fundamental questions in neuroscience, psychiatry, neurology, and genetics. Most ENIGMA WGs focus on specific psychiatric and neurological conditions, other WGs study normal variation due to sex and gender differences, or development and aging; still other WGs develop methodological pipelines and tools to facilitate harmonized analyses of "big data" (i.e., genetic and epigenetic data, multimodal MRI, and electroencephalography data). These international efforts have yielded the largest neuroimaging studies to date in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance use disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorders, epilepsy, and 22q11.2 deletion syndrome. More recent ENIGMA WGs have formed to study anxiety disorders, suicidal thoughts and behavior, sleep and insomnia, eating disorders, irritability, brain injury, antisocial personality and conduct disorder, and dissociative identity disorder. Here, we summarize the first decade of ENIGMA's activities and ongoing projects, and describe the successes and challenges encountered along the way. We highlight the advantages of collaborative large-scale coordinated data analyses for testing reproducibility and robustness of findings, offering the opportunity to identify brain systems involved in clinical syndromes across diverse samples and associated genetic, environmental, demographic, cognitive, and psychosocial factors

Chloroplast genome assembly of Serjania erecta Raldk: comparative analysis reveals gene number variation and selection in protein-coding plastid genes of Sapindaceae

Serjania erecta Raldk is an essential genetic resource due to its anti-inflammatory, gastric protection, and anti-Alzheimer properties. However, the genetic and evolutionary aspects of the species remain poorly known. Here, we sequenced and assembled the complete chloroplast genome of S. erecta and used it in a comparative analysis within the Sapindaceae family. S. erecta has a chloroplast genome (cpDNA) of 159,297 bp, divided into a Large Single Copy region (LSC) of 84,556 bp and a Small Single Copy region (SSC) of 18,057 bp that are surrounded by two Inverted Repeat regions (IRa and IRb) of 28,342 bp. Among the 12 species used in the comparative analysis, S. erecta has the fewest long and microsatellite repeats. The genome structure of Sapindaceae species is relatively conserved; the number of genes varies from 128 to 132 genes, and this variation is associated with three main factors: (1) Expansion and retraction events in the size of the IRs, resulting in variations in the number of rpl22, rps19, and rps3 genes; (2) Pseudogenization of the rps2 gene; and (3) Loss or duplication of genes encoding tRNAs, associated with the duplication of trnH-GUG in X. sorbifolium and the absence of trnT-CGU in the Dodonaeoideae subfamily. We identified 10 and 11 mutational hotspots for Sapindaceae and Sapindoideae, respectively, and identified six highly diverse regions (tRNA-Lys — rps16, ndhC – tRNA-Val, petA – psbJ, ndhF, rpl32 – ccsA, and ycf1) are found in both groups, which show potential for the development of DNA barcode markers for molecular taxonomic identification of Serjania. We identified that the psaI gene evolves under neutrality in Sapindaceae, while all other chloroplast genes are under strong negative selection. However, local positive selection exists in the ndhF, rpoC2, ycf1, and ycf2 genes. The genes ndhF and ycf1 also present high nucleotide diversity and local positive selection, demonstrating significant potential as markers. Our findings include providing the first chloroplast genome of a member of the Paullinieae tribe. Furthermore, we identified patterns in variations in the number of genes and selection in genes possibly associated with the family’s evolutionary history