The effect of Propionibacterium acnes on maturation of dendritic cells derived from acne patients' peripherial blood mononuclear cells.

Propionibacterium acnes (P. acnes) has been implicated in the pathogenesis of acne vulgaris which is the most common cutaneous disorder. It has a proinflammatory activity and takes part in immune reactions modulating the Th1/Th2 cellular response. The exposure of dendritic cells (DCs) to whole bacteria, their components, cytokines or other inflammatory stimuli and infectious agents induces differentiation from immature DCs into antigen-presenting mature DCs. The aim of the study was to evaluate the capability of P. acnes to induce the maturation of DCs. We stimulated monocyte derived dendritic cells (Mo-DCs) from acne patients with various concetrations of heat-killed P. acnes (10(6)-10(8) bacteria/ml) cultured from acne lesions. The results showed an increase in CD80+/CD86+/DR+ and CD83+/CD1a+/DR+ cells percentage depending on the concetration of P. acnes. The expression of CD83 and CD80 (shown as the mean fluorescence intensity - MFI) increased with higher concetrations of P. acnes. There were also significant correlations between MFI of CD83, CD80, CD86 and concetration of P. acnes. The study showed that P. acnes in the concetration of 10(8) bacteria/ml is most effective in the induction of Mo-DCs maturation. Futher studies concerning the influence on the function of T cells are needed

Using mechanics in the modelling of meristem morphogenesis

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FSMS certification in the agricultural producers group

This paper presents the basic principles that should be applied during the preparation of an agricultural producers group to certify food safety management system. The presented model describes the requirements during the implementation that is preparing the system for certification and the very process of certification. What is more, the analysis of the primary risks associated with the group certification of the food safety management system in the agricultural producers group was also concluded in this paper

STL-based Analysis of TRAIL-induced Apoptosis Challenges the Notion of Type I/Type II Cell Line Classification

Extrinsic apoptosis is a programmed cell death triggered by external ligands, such as the TNF-related apoptosis inducing ligand (TRAIL). Depending on the cell line, the specific molecular mechanisms leading to cell death may significantly differ. Precise characterization of these differences is crucial for understanding and exploiting extrinsic apoptosis. Cells show distinct behaviors on several aspects of apoptosis, including (i) the relative order of caspases activation, (ii) the necessity of mitochondria outer membrane permeabilization (MOMP) for effector caspase activation, and (iii) the survival of cell lines overexpressing Bcl2. These differences are attributed to the activation of one of two pathways, leading to classification of cell lines into two groups: type I and type II. In this work we challenge this type I/type II cell line classification. We encode the three aforementioned distinguishing behaviors in a formal language, called signal temporal logic (STL), and use it to extensively test the validity of a previously-proposed model of TRAIL-induced apoptosis with respect to experimental observations made on different cell lines. After having solved a few inconsistencies using STL-guided parameter search, we show that these three criteria do not define consistent cell line classifications in type I or type II, and suggest mutants that are predicted to exhibit ambivalent behaviors. In particular, this finding sheds light on the role of a feedback loop between caspases, and reconciliates two apparently-conflicting views regarding the importance of either upstream or downstream processes for cell-type determination. More generally, our work suggests that these three distinguishing behaviors should be merely considered as type I/II features rather than cell-type defining criteria. On the methodological side, this work illustrates the biological relevance of STL-diagrams, STL population data, and STL-guided parameter search implemented in the tool Breach. Such tools are well-adapted to the ever-increasing availability of heterogeneous knowledge on complex signal transduction pathways

Probable invasive aspergillosis in adult patient after haematopoietic stem cell transplantation: a case report

Universitatea de Stat de Medicină din Belarus, Minsk, Belarus, Spitalul Clinic Municipal nr. 9, Minsk, BelarusRezumat Introducere. Infecţiile sunt, deocamdată, cauza principală de deces a pacienţilor adulţi, beneficiari de transplant de celule stem hematopoietice (TCSH). Morbiditatea și mortalitatea de aspergiloză pulmonară invazivă rămâne importantă în rândul recipienţilor TCHS. Un diagnostic de aspergiloză invazivă nu este ușor de confirmat, iar comunicările de caz clinic referitoare la acest tip de infecţie la pacienţii adulţi, beneficiari de TCSH, sunt rareori publicate. Prezentare de caz. Este descris cazul clinic al unui pacient cu limfom Hodgkin, care, probabil, a dezvoltat o formă de aspergiloză pulmonară invazivă după un transplant autolog de celule stem hematopoietice. Infecţia fungică a fost tratată sistemic cu antifungice, dar aceasta s-a dovedit a fi rezistentă la voriconazol, totodată a cedat la administrarea caspofunginei. Discuţii. Acest caz prezintă date clinice interesante și imagini referitoare la diagnosticul aspergilozei pulmonare și indică posibilităţile existente de tratament antifungic. Concluzii. Incidenţa înaltă a aspergilozei invazive la pacienţii beneficiari de TCSH trebuie luată în consideraţie de către medicii care se ocupă de pacienţii transplantaţi. Chiar dacă izolarea prin cultură nu este întotdeauna posibilă, alte semne clinice și teste de laborator (galactomannanul, tomografia computerizată, microscopia sputei) pot fi utile pentru stabilirea diagnosticului de aspergiloză. Voriconazolul rămâne tratamentul de primă linie la pacienţii cu aspergiloză invazivă, cu posibilitatea utilizării echinocandinelor, în cazuri refractare. Abstract Introduction. Infections still stay one the leading causes of death in adult patients undergoing HSCT. Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis remains an important cause of morbidity and mortality in HSCT recipients. Diagnosis of invasive aspergillosis is not easy to be proven, and clinical data regarding this infection in adult HSCT recipients are rarely published. Case presentation. In the present case report, we describe a patient with a Hodgkin’s lymphoma, who developed probable invasive pulmonary aspergillosis after tandem autologous HSCT. The fungal infection was treated by systemic antifungal therapy, but the patient was refractory to voriconazole, showing clinical efficacy on caspofungin. Discussion. This case presents interesting clinical data and images concerning aspergillosis diagnosis and shows the possibilities of antifungal treatment in patients with invasive pulmonary aspergillosis. Conclusion. High incidence of invasive aspergillosis in HSCT patients should be kept in mind of practical doctors dealing with transplant patients. Even though the culture isolation is not always possible, other clinical and laboratory tests (galactomannan, CT-scan, sputum microscopy) may be useful for diagnosis of aspergillosis. Voriconazole remains a treatment of choice for patients with invasive aspergillosis, with a possibility of using echinocandins in refractory cases

Lipid Disturbances in Psoriasis: An Update

Psoriasis is a common disease with the population prevalence ranging from 2% to 3%. Its prevalence in the population is affected by genetic, environmental, viral, infectious, immunological, biochemical, endocrinological, and psychological factors, as well as alcohol and drug abuse. In the recent years, psoriasis has been recognised as a systemic disease associated with numerous multiorgan abnormalities and complications. Dyslipidemia is one of comorbidities in psoriatic patients. Lipid metabolism studies in psoriasis have been started at the beginning of the 20th century and are concentrated on skin surface lipids, stratum corneum lipids and epidermal phospholipids, serum lipids, dermal low-density lipoproteins in the psoriatic skin, lipid metabolism, oxidative stress and correlations between inflammatory parameters, lipid parameters and clinical symptoms of the disease. On the basis of the literature data, psoriasis can be described as an immunometabolic disease

Primary central nervous system lymphoma as a neurosurgical problem

Primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) comprises around 3–5% of primary central nervous system (CNS) tumours and around 1% of all non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common histological type. High effectiveness of chemo- and radiotherapy for PCNSL regrettably does not eliminate significant risks of recurrence for CNS tumours. That results in higher interest in other treatment options, including surgical procedures. PCNSL remains in the scope of interest for many specialists and neurosurgeons seem to play a more important role

Flux-Based Transport Enhancement as a Plausible Unifying Mechanism for Auxin Transport in Meristem Development

Plants continuously generate new organs through the activity of populations of stem cells called meristems. The shoot apical meristem initiates leaves, flowers, and lateral meristems in highly ordered, spiralled, or whorled patterns via a process called phyllotaxis. It is commonly accepted that the active transport of the plant hormone auxin plays a major role in this process. Current hypotheses propose that cellular hormone transporters of the PIN family would create local auxin maxima at precise positions, which in turn would lead to organ initiation. To explain how auxin transporters could create hormone fluxes to distinct regions within the plant, different concepts have been proposed. A major hypothesis, canalization, proposes that the auxin transporters act by amplifying and stabilizing existing fluxes, which could be initiated, for example, by local diffusion. This convincingly explains the organised auxin fluxes during vein formation, but for the shoot apical meristem a second hypothesis was proposed, where the hormone would be systematically transported towards the areas with the highest concentrations. This implies the coexistence of two radically different mechanisms for PIN allocation in the membrane, one based on flux sensing and the other on local concentration sensing. Because these patterning processes require the interaction of hundreds of cells, it is impossible to estimate on a purely intuitive basis if a particular scenario is plausible or not. Therefore, computational modelling provides a powerful means to test this type of complex hypothesis. Here, using a dedicated computer simulation tool, we show that a flux-based polarization hypothesis is able to explain auxin transport at the shoot meristem as well, thus providing a unifying concept for the control of auxin distribution in the plant. Further experiments are now required to distinguish between flux-based polarization and other hypotheses

Genes and structure of selected cytokines involved in pathogenesis of psoriasis.

Psoriasis is a common skin disease involving 1-4% of human population worldwide, of strong genetic background. The following cytokines are directly involved in psoriasis: TNF, IL-1, IL-2, IL-6, IL-7, IL-8, IL-15, IL-18, IL-19, IL-20, IL-23 whereas IL-4, IL-10, IL-12 as well as IL-11, IL-17 and IFN-gamma are rather indirectly engaged. This work is a review of some genetic factors and structure of selected cytokines and receptors and their genes location