Loss of mitochondrial SDHB expression: what is its role in diffuse thyroid lipomatosis?

Diffuse lipomatosis of the thyroid gland is a very rare disease, characterized by extensive infiltration of thyroid parenchyma by mature adipose tissue, usually not accompanied by amyloid fibrils deposition. The pathophysiology of adipose tissue infiltration in the thyroid gland remains unknown. We report a clinical case of a diffuse thyroid lipomatosis, whose immunohistochemical study of succinate dehydrogenase - subunit B (SDHB) revealed loss of expression of this protein in the follicular or adipose cells. We detected the presence of a recently described SDHB gene large deletion. Loss of mitochondrial SDHB expression may have a key role in understanding the pathophysiology of thyrolipomatosis, by regulating status of lipid metabolism.

Radial profile measurements of plasma pressure-like fluctuations with the heavy ion beam diagnostic on the tokamak ISTTOK

The Heavy Ion Beam Diagnostic (HIBD) on the tokamak ISTTOK (Instituto Superior Técnico TOKamak) has been modified, in terms of signal conditioning, to measure the local fluctuations of the neσ1,2(Te) product (plasma density times the effective ionization cross-section) along the tokamak minor diameter, in 12 sample volumes in the range of -0.7a < r < 0.7a, with a maximum delay time of 1 μs. The corresponding signals show high correlation with the magnetic Mirnov coils in the characteristic MHD frequency range of ISTTOK plasmas and enable the identification of tearing modes. This paper describes the HIBD signal conditioning system and presents a preliminary analysis of the radial profile measurements of local neσ1,2(Te) fluctuations.

A prognostic model for survival after urinary diversion for malignant ureteral obstruction: A prospective study of 208 patients

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Background: To determine prognostic factors and create a model for risk stratification in patients with malignant obstructive uropathy. Methods: We prospectively collected clinical and laboratory variables of 208 patients who underwent palliative urinary diversion by ureteral stenting or percutaneous nephrostomy between January 2009 and November 2011 in two tertiary care university hospitals, with minimum 6 months follow-up. Inclusion criteria were age>18yr and malignant urinary obstruction confirmed by computed tomography, ultrasound or magnetic resonance imaging. Results: Median survival after urinary diversion was 144 days. At the end of the study 164 patients died, 44 (21.2%) during the urinary diversion hospitalization. There was no difference in overall survival between the 2 types of diversion (p=0.216). The number of events related to malignant dissemination (≥4) and ECOG index≥2 were associated with shorter survival in multivariable analysis. Using these 2 risk factors (RF), patients were divided into 3 groups: favorable(no RF), intermediate(1RF) and unfavorable(2RF). The median survival at 1, 6, and 12 months was 94.4%, 57.3% and 44.9% in the favorable group, 78.0%, 36.3%, and 15.5% in the intermediate, and 46.4%, 14.3%, and 7.1% in the unfavorable. There were differences in survival profiles of the 3 groups (p<0.001). Conclusions: Our stratification model may be useful tool to determine whether urinary diversion procedures are indicated in patients with malignant urinary obstruction.

Infliximab therapy increases the frequency of circulating CD16(+) monocytes and modifies macrophage cytokine response to bacterial infection

Crohn's disease (CD) has been correlated with altered macrophage response to microorganisms. Considering the efficacy of infliximab treatment on CD remission, we investigated infliximab effects on circulating monocyte subsets and on macrophage cytokine response to bacteria. Human peripheral blood monocyte-derived macrophages were obtained from CD patients, treated or not with infliximab. Macrophages were infected with Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis, Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) or M. avium subsp avium, and cytokine levels [tumour necrosis factor (TNF) and interleukin (IL)-10] were evaluated at different time-points. To evaluate infliximab-dependent effects on monocyte subsets, we studied CD14 and CD16 expression by peripheral blood monocytes before and after different infliximab administrations. We also investigated TNF secretion by macrophages obtained from CD16(+) and CD16(-) monocytes and the frequency of TNF(+) cells among CD16(+) and CD16(-) monocyte-derived macrophages from CD patients. Infliximab treatment resulted in elevated TNF and IL-10 macrophage response to bacteria. An infliximab-dependent increase in the frequency of circulating CD16(+) monocytes (particularly the CD14(++) CD16(+) subset) was also observed (before infliximab: 4·65 ± 0·58%; after three administrations: 10·68 ± 2·23%). In response to MAP infection, macrophages obtained from CD16(+) monocytes were higher TNF producers and CD16(+) macrophages from infliximab-treated CD patients showed increased frequency of TNF(+) cells. In conclusion, infliximab treatment increased the TNF production of CD macrophages in response to bacteria, which seemed to depend upon enrichment of CD16(+) circulating monocytes, particularly of the CD14(++) CD16(+) subset. Infliximab treatment of CD patients also resulted in increased macrophage IL-10 production in response to bacteria, suggesting an infliximab-induced shift to M2 macrophages.

Childhood maltreatment and inflammatory markers: a systematic review

OBJECTIVE

Childhood maltreatment (CM) has been associated with several diseases in adult life, including diabetes, obesity and mental disorders. Inflammatory conditions have been postulated as possible mediators of this relationship. The aim was to conduct a systematic review regarding the association between CM and inflammatory markers in adulthood.

METHOD

A literature search of the PubMed, ISI, EMBASE and PsychINFO databases was conducted. The key terms used were as follows: 'Child Maltreatment', 'Childhood Trauma', 'Early Life Stress', 'Psychological Stress', 'Emotional Stress', 'Child Abuse' and 'Child Neglect'. They were cross-referenced separately with the terms: 'C-reactive Protein (CRP)', 'Tumor Necrosis Factor', 'Cytokine', 'Interleukin', 'Inflammatory' and 'Inflammation'.

RESULTS

Twenty articles remained in the review after exclusion criteria were applied. Studies showed that a history of CM was associated with increased levels of CRP, fibrinogen and proinflammatory cytokines. Increased levels of circulating CRP in individuals with a history of CM were the most robust finding among the studies. Data about anti-inflammatory mediators are still few and inconsistent.

CONCLUSION

Childhood maltreatment is associated with a chronic inflammatory state independent of clinical comorbidities. However, studies are heterogeneous regarding CM assessment and definition. Important methodological improvements are needed to better understand the potential impact of CM on inflammatory response.

A real-time algorithm for the harmonic estimation and frequency tracking of dominant components in fusion plasma magnetic diagnostics

The real-time tracking of instantaneous quantities such as frequency, amplitude, and phase of components immerse in noisy signals has been a common problem in many scientific and engineering fields such as power systems and delivery, telecommunications, and acoustics for the past decades. In magnetically confined fusion research, extracting this sort of information from magnetic signals can be of valuable assistance in, for instance, feedback control of detrimental magnetohydrodynamic modes and disruption avoidance mechanisms by monitoring instability growth or anticipating mode-locking events. This work is focused on nonlinear Kalman filter based methods for tackling this problem. Similar methods have already proven their merits and have been successfully employed in this scientific domain in applications such as amplitude demodulation for the motional Stark effect diagnostic. In the course of this work, three approaches are described, compared, and discussed using magnetic signals from the Joint European Torus tokamak plasma discharges for benchmarking purposes.

Crystallization and preliminary crystallographic studies of FoxE from Rhodobacter ferrooxidans SW2, an Fe(II) oxidoreductase involved in photoferrotrophy

FoxE is a protein encoded by the foxEYZ operon of Rhodobacter ferrooxidans SW2 that is involved in Fe(II)-based anoxygenic photosynthesis (`photoferrotrophy'). It is thought to reside in the periplasm, where it stimulates light-dependent Fe(II) oxidation. It contains 259 residues, including two haem c-binding motifs. As no three-dimensional model is available and there is no structure with a similar sequence, crystals of FoxE were produced. They diffracted to 2.44 Å resolution using synchrotron radiation at the Fe edge. The phase problem was solved by SAD using SHELXC/D/E and the experimental maps confirmed the presence of two haems per molecule.

PSA mass screening: is there enough evidence?

Prostate cancer plays an important role in widely understood aspects of men's health, and is becoming a growing problem in terms of public life. Prostate cancer is one of the most common neoplasms among men. Male patients can live with prostate cancer for a long time so it is important to offer appropriate males adequate diagnostic tools and treatments. Prostate cancer and PSA potentially represent a “pair” of a disease and an appropriate indicator to be used in mass screening, but regardless of that there is still active debate about it. Extensive use of PSA screening has modified epidemiology of the diseases. Randomized controlled studies provided sufficient results regarding a reduction in mortality through PSA mass screening, while all agreed on risks of overdiagnosis and overtreatment. New and accurate screening tools are necessary, along with adequate counseling and risk stratification.