Cancer morbidity in rheumatoid arthritis: role of estrogen metabolites

Estrogen metabolites have been implicated in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and cancer, although the mechanism remains unestablished. Some estrogen metabolites, which are used for the assessment of cancer risk, play an important role in RA. The pathways by which malignancies associated with RA remain elusive. Possible mechanism involves enzymatic or nonenzymatic oxidation of estrogen into catecholestrogen metabolites through semiquinone and quinone redox cycle to produce free radicals that can cause DNA modifications. Modifications of DNA alter its immunogenicity and trigger various immune responses leading to elevated levels of cancer and RA antibodies. However, the role of different estrogen metabolites as a mediator of immune response cannot be ruled out in various immune-related diseases

Multiplierless DCT Algorithm for Image Compression Applications

This paper presents a novel error-free (infinite-precision) architecture for the fast implementation of 8x8 2-D Discrete Cosine Transform. The architecture uses a new algebraic integer encoding of a 1-D radix-8 DCT that allows the separable computation of a 2-D 8x8 DCT without any intermediate number representation conversions. This is a considerable improvement on previously introduced algebraic integer encoding techniques to compute both DCT and IDCT which eliminates the requirements to approximate the transformation matrix ele- ments by obtaining their exact representations and hence mapping the transcendental functions without any errors. Apart from the multiplication-free nature, this new mapping scheme fits to this algorithm, eliminating any computational or quantization errors and resulting short-word-length and high-speed-design

On the Error-Free Computation of Fast Cosine Transform

We extend our previous work into error-free representations of transform basis functions by presenting a novel error-free encoding scheme for the fast implementation of a Linzer-Feig Fast Cosine Transform (FCT) and its inverse. We discuss an 8x8 L-F scaled Discrete Cosine Transform where the architecture uses a new algebraic integer quantization of the 1-D radix-8 DCT that allows the separable computation of a 2-D DCT without any intermediate number representation conversions. The resulting architecture is very regular and reduces latency by 50% compared to a previous error-free design, with virtually the same hardware cost

Autoantibodies and Cytokines in Pathogenesis of Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disorder in which increased autoantibody production and enhanced secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines are the hallmark of the disease. A strictly controlled balance of antibody production and proinflammatory cytokines is the key to the healthy state. A slight tilt in this balance causes proinflammatory diseases. In RA there is an increased production of autoantibodies such as rheumatoid factor (RF) and anti-citrullinated protein antibody (ACPA), anti-cartilage type II antibodies, and etc., which have a prominent clinical significance. Furthermore, there is increased secretion of proinflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-α (TNFα), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-1 (IL-1) which have an impact of great magnitude on the RA disease progression and severity. A better understanding of the mechanism of autoantibody production and secretion of cytokines together with crosstalk between immune cells and cytokines can provide us a better insight into the disease pathogenesis as well disease prognosis and management

Aggressive angiomyxoma in the ischiorectal fossa

Aggressive Angiomyxoma (AA) is a soft tissue tumour that principally affects women of the reproductive age, primarily involving the pelvis and the perineum. Despite being slow growing, it is classified as aggressive due to its locally infiltrative nature and high recurrence. It is rare, often asymptomatic and is misdiagnosed. However, it has characteristic features on radiographic imaging. Complete surgical resection is the ideal approach to treat AA. We report a case of an aggressive angiomyxoma in a 17 year old female, located in the ischiorectal fossa and diagnosed incidentally on a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The lesion was excised without complication