Late cytomegalovirus infection in children: High incidence of allograft rejection and hepatitis in donor negative and seropositive liver transplant recipients

The complications and outcome associated with late CMV infection and disease on the graft are poorly characterized in PLT recipients. We studied the overall incidence, risk factors, and outcome of late CMV infection and disease (infection 6 months after transplant) in 180 PLT recipients admitted between 2008 and 2011 at the King's College Hospital. Antiviral prophylaxis of intravenous ganciclovir was given only to the D+R- group starting at day 7 post-transplant. The remaining groups (D-R+, D+R+, and D-R-) received pre-emptive therapy when they have CMV viremia above cut-off value and treatment for symptomatic CMV infection. The overall incidence of late CMV infection and disease was 9.4% (19/180) and 14.5% (19/130) in D+R-, D-R+, D+R- groups. The D-R+ group had the highest incidence of hepatitis (37.5%) and significantly increased incidence of CMV disease, and single and multiple acute rejection episodes when compared to the D+R- group, which received prophylaxis. The late CMV infection and disease in pediatric LT recipients was comparable to adult LT recipients despite variable duration of antiviral prophylaxis. Our results show that D-R+ group had highest rate of hepatitis and rejection episodes, associated with high morbidity, and should be considered for antiviral prophylaxis.

Physiological functioning of Lagerstroemia speciosa L. under heavy roadside traffic: an approach to screen potential species for abatement of urban air pollution

The mitigation potential of avenue tree species needs a sound understanding, especially for landscape planning or planting tree species on roadside, especially in city limits where there is huge traffic due to more number of vehicles. A preliminary study was conducted to investigate the impact of heavy traffic movement and pollution thereof on physiological functioning of Lagerstroemia speciosa trees planted on roadside in terms of carbon absorption, mitigation potential and adaptive behavior. Trees on roadside exhibited reduced carbon assimilation (36.7 ± 2.4%) and transpiration rate (42.14 ± 2.9%), decreased stomatal conductance (66.85 ± 3.87%), increased stomatal resistance (212.2 ± 11.25%), more leaf thickness (40.54 ± 3.25) and water use efficiency (9.4 ± 0.87%), and changes in lead (179.31 ± 10.24%) and proline (15.61 ± 1.92%) concentration in leaf tissues when compared to less traffic area (FRI campus). The impacts were also witnessed in the form of enhanced vapour pressure deficit of air (63.18 ± 4.94%) and leaf (45.72 ± 3.25%), and air temperature (3.2 ± 0.16%) and leaf temperature (9.0 ± 0.82%) along roadside trees. It was inferred that heavy traffic movements interrupt the physiological functioning of trees due to alteration in the surrounding environment as compared to non-traffic areas. The present study provides baseline information to further explore and identify the potential avenue tree species having significant mitigation potential and adaptive efficiency to heavy traffic movements for improving urban environment.

A pre-neoplastic epigenetic field defect in HCV-infected liver at transcription factor binding sites and polycomb targets

The predisposition of patients with Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) involves components of viral infection, inflammation and time. The development of multifocal, genetically distinct tumours is suggestive of a field defect affecting the entire liver. The molecular susceptibility mediating such a field defect is not understood. One potential mediator of long-term cellular reprogramming is heritable (epigenetic) regulation of transcription, exemplified by DNA methylation. We studied epigenetic and transcriptional changes in HCV-infected livers in comparison with control, uninfected livers and HCC, allowing us to identify pre-neoplastic epigenetic and transcriptional events. We find the HCV-infected liver to have a pattern of acquisition of DNA methylation targeted to candidate enhancers active in liver cells, enriched for the binding sites of the FOXA1, FOXA2 and HNF4A transcription factors. These enhancers can be subdivided into those proximal to genes implicated in liver cancer or to genes involved in stem cell development, the latter distinguished by increased CG dinucleotide density and polycomb-mediated repression, manifested by the additional acquisition of histone H3 lysine 27 trimethylation (H3K27me3). Transcriptional studies on our samples showed that the increased DNA methylation at enhancers was associated with decreased local gene expression, results validated in independent samples from The Cancer Genome Atlas. Pharmacological depletion of H3K27me3 using the EZH2 inhibitor GSK343 in HepG2 cells suppressed cell growth and also revealed that local acquired DNA methylation was not dependent upon the presence of polycomb-mediated repression. The results support a model of HCV infection influencing the binding of transcription factors to cognate sites in the genome, with consequent local acquisition of DNA methylation, and the added repressive influence of polycomb at a subset of CG-dense cis-regulatory sequences. These epigenetic events occur before neoplastic transformation, resulting in what may be a pharmacologically reversible epigenetic field defect in HCV-infected liver.

Pulmonary miliary papillary/micropapillary adenocarcinoma manifesting as carcinomatous encephalitis

The histological pattern and the associated molecular aberrations have an important bearing in the prognosis of pulmonary adenocarcinomas. Papillary and micropapillary growth patterns with mutations in epidermal growth factor receptor and anaplastic large-cell lymphoma kinase rearrangements have an aggressive clinical course. We report one such cancer in a 49-year-old woman, where it assumed a miliary pattern in the lungs, and the patient presented with neurological symptoms related to carcinomatous encephalitis, an infrequent metastatic manifestation.

Stability and durability studies of TiO2 coated immobilized system for the degradation of imidacloprid

The present article demonstrates the use of supported TiO₂ for studying the degradation of an insecticide, imidacloprid (IMI), along with durability studies of the catalyst.

Quantifying Beta-Galactosylceramide Kinetics in Cerebrospinal Fluid of Healthy Subjects Using Deuterium Labeling

Therapeutics promoting myelin synthesis may enhance recovery in demyelinating diseases, such as multiple sclerosis. However, no suitable method exists to quantify myelination. The turnover of galactosylceramide (myelin component) is indicative of myelination in mice, but its turnover has not been determined in humans. Here, six healthy subjects consumed 120 mL 70% D₂O daily for 70 days to label galactosylceramide. We then used mass spectrometry and compartmental modeling to quantify the turnover rate of galactosylceramide in cerebrospinal fluid. Maximum deuterium enrichment of body water ranged from 1.5–3.9%, whereas that of galactosylceramide was much lower: 0.05–0.14%. This suggests a slow turnover rate, which was confirmed by the model‐estimated galactosylceramide turnover rate of 0.00168 day⁻¹, which corresponds to a half‐life of 413 days. Additional studies in patients with multiple sclerosis are needed to investigate whether galactosylceramide turnover could be used as an outcome measure in clinical trials with remyelination therapies.