The authors used a liquid-phase radiobinding assay to measure serum anti-myelin oligodendrocyte protein (MOG) immunoglobulin (Ig) G in 87 patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), in 12 patients with ...encephalomyelitis, and in 47 healthy subjects. Anti-MOG IgM was determined in samples obtained at onset from 40 of 87 patients with MS and in control subjects. The frequency of positive samples with low titers of anti-MOG IgG (< or =5.7%) and IgM (< or =8.3%) was similar in all the groups and subgroups. Binding competition experiments showed that these antibodies had low affinity. Anti-MOG antibodies are not disease specific.
•Croton is a large genus of Euphorbiaceae used medicinally in many tropical countries of the new and old worlds.•Chemical analyses and antiproliferative activity of extracts of Croton sphaerogynus ...were investigated.•Important diterpenes, previously recognized as possessing antitumor activity, were detected.•The results suggest promising use of extracts and substances of C. sphaerogynus in the control of malignant processes.
Several Croton species have been used in traditional medicine and contain substances active against cancer, such as diterpenoids and alkaloids. Croton sphaerogynus is a shrub from the Atlantic Rain Forest in southeastern Brazil. The main goal of this study was to characterize the main constituents of the leaf extracts of C. sphaerogynus and evaluate their in vitro antiproliferative activity against tumor cell lines. Hexane, dichloromethane and methanol extracts of leaves were analyzed by GC/MS and evaluated for their in vitro antiproliferative activity on the cell lines 786-0 (kidney), HT-29 (colon), K562 (leukemia), NCI-ADR/RES (drug resistant ovary), NCI-H460 (lung), MCF-7 (mammary), PC-3 (prostate), OVCAR-3 (ovary), U251 (glioma) and UACC-62 (melanoma). Relevant constituents in dichloromethane and hexane extracts were abietane, podocarpane and clerodane type furano diterpenes. Dicloromethane and hexane extracts exhibited activity against NCI-H460 (GI50 0.26μg/mL and 0.33μg/mL, respectively) and K562 (GI50 0.60μg/mL and <0.25μg/mL, respectively). Taking into account all cell lines tested, the dichloromethane extract was shown to have higher activity (mean log GI50 0.86) than hexane and methanol extracts (mean log GI50 1.26 and 1.49, respectively). The antiproliferative activity observed in the present work is probably accounted for by the abietane and/or podocarpane diterpenes.
We carried out this investigation with the purpose of verifying whether insulin treatment prevents changes in the density of myoenteric neurons of the duodenum of Wistar rats with streptozotocin ...short-term diabetes. The animals from the diabetic group (D) lost more weight than the controls (group C), while the insulin treatment (group T) prevented weight loss in three animals and increased visceral fat in all of the animals of this group. Insulin treatment did not prevent the early loss of HuC/HuD myoenteric neurons. The density of nNOS-positive neurons did not change significantly in groups D and T. The density of NADHd-positive neurons in these groups was greater than in group C, indicating that short-term diabetes increases the activity of respiratory chain enzymes.
Glycosylation pattern in cosmomycins is a distinctive feature among anthracyclines. These antitumor compounds possess two trisaccharide chains attached at C-7 and C-10, each of them with structural ...variability, mainly at the distal deoxysugar moieties. We have characterized a 14-kb chromosomal region from Streptomyces olindensis containing 13 genes involved in cosmomycin biosynthesis. Two of the genes, cosG and cosK, coding for glycosyltransferase were inactivated with the generation of five new derivatives. Structural elucidation of these compounds showed altered glycosylation patterns indicating the capability of both glycosyltransferases of transferring deoxysugars to both sides of the aglycone and the flexibility of CosK with respect to the deoxysugar donor. A model is proposed for the glycosylation steps during cosmomycins biosynthesis.
Neural correlates of finger gnosis Rusconi, Elena; Tamè, Luigi; Furlan, Michele ...
The Journal of neuroscience,
07/2014, Letnik:
34, Številka:
27
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Neuropsychological studies have described patients with a selective impairment of finger identification in association with posterior parietal lesions. However, evidence of the role of these areas in ...finger gnosis from studies of the healthy human brain is still scarce. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to identify the brain network engaged in a novel finger gnosis task, the intermanual in-between task (IIBT), in healthy participants. Several brain regions exhibited a stronger blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) response in IIBT than in a control task that did not explicitly rely on finger gnosis but used identical stimuli and motor responses as the IIBT. The IIBT involved stronger signal in the left inferior parietal lobule (IPL), bilateral precuneus (PCN), bilateral premotor cortex, and left inferior frontal gyrus. In all regions, stimulation of nonhomologous fingers of the two hands elicited higher BOLD signal than stimulation of homologous fingers. Only in the left anteromedial IPL (a-mIPL) and left PCN did signal strength decrease parametrically from nonhomology, through partial homology, to total homology with stimulation delivered synchronously to the two hands. With asynchronous stimulation, the signal was stronger in the left a-mIPL than in any other region, possibly indicating retention of task-relevant information. We suggest that the left PCN may contribute a supporting visuospatial representation via its functional connection to the right PCN. The a-mIPL may instead provide the core substrate of an explicit bilateral body structure representation for the fingers that when disrupted can produce the typical symptoms of finger agnosia.
Background: Antibodies against aquaporin-4 (AQP4), a water channel particularly expressed on perivascular astrocytic podocytes, are proposed as a marker for the diagnosis of neuromyelitis optica ...(NMO). However, a consensus on seroprevalence and optimal detection method has not yet been reached.
Objectives: To investigate the performance of different assays to detect anti-AQP4 antibodies.
Methods: We set up five different assays. Two of them were capable to detect perivascular IgG reactivity on brain tissue by immunofluorescence (NMO-IgG). Other three assays have been set to detect anti-AQP4 antibodies: immunofluorescence and flow cytometry on AQP4-expressing cells, and a radioimmunoprecipitation assay. We assessed sensitivity and specificity of these assays by interrogating sera of 33 NMO patients, 13 patients at high risk to develop NMO (hrNMO), 6 patients affected by acute partial transverse myelitis (APTM), 20 patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), and 67 age- and sex-matched healthy controls.
Results: We found that the presence of serum NMO-IgG and anti-AQP4 reactivity is almost exclusively restricted to patients with NMO and hrNMO. Seroprevalence and sensitivity ranged from 30 to 47%, depending on the assay. Specificity ranged from 95 to 100%. Comparing results obtained in the five assays, we noticed lack of concordance in some samples.
Conclusions: Detection of NMO-IgG or anti-AQP4 antibodies may represent a valuable tool to assist neurologists in the differential diagnosis between patients with NMO, hrNMO, APTM, or MS. The current lack of a gold standard to detect anti-AQP4 antibodies implies the necessity to standardize the detection of these antibodies.
Triterpenes are interesting compounds because they play an important role in cell homeostasis and a wide variety exhibiting defense functions is produced by plant secondary metabolism. Those same ...plant secondary metabolites also exhibit biological properties with promising therapeutic potential as anti-inflammatory and antitumor agents. Friedelin is a triterpene ketone with anti-inflammatory and gastroprotective activities and it is a precursor of relevant antitumor quinonemethides. Although many triterpene synthases have been described, only two friedelin synthases were characterized and there is no information about their genomic features and alleles. In the present work, we aimed to identify the gene and new isoforms of friedelin synthase in
leaves to be functionally characterized in
. The gene sequence analysis elucidated the exon/intron structure and confirmed the presence of single nucleotide polymorphisms with four non-synonymous mutations outside the active site of the enzyme. Therefore, two new isoforms were observed and the heterologous production of the enzymes in yeast showed similar production of friedelin. This first description of different alleles of the gene of friedelin synthase in
can guide their validation as markers for friedelin-producer specimens.
The role of endovascular thrombectomy is uncertain for patients presenting beyond 24 hours of the time they were last known well.
To evaluate functional and safety outcomes for endovascular ...thrombectomy (EVT) vs medical management in patients with large-vessel occlusion beyond 24 hours of last known well.
This retrospective observational cohort study enrolled patients between July 2012 and December 2021 at 17 centers across the United States, Spain, Australia, and New Zealand. Eligible patients had occlusions in the internal carotid artery or middle cerebral artery (M1 or M2 segment) and were treated with EVT or medical management beyond 24 hours of last known well.
Endovascular thrombectomy or medical management (control).
Primary outcome was functional independence (modified Rankin Scale score 0-2). Mortality and symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (sICH) were safety outcomes. Propensity score (PS)-weighted multivariable logistic regression analyses were adjusted for prespecified clinical characteristics, perfusion parameters, and/or Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score (ASPECTS) and were repeated in subsequent 1:1 PS-matched cohorts.
Of 301 patients (median IQR age, 69 years 59-81; 149 female), 185 patients (61%) received EVT and 116 (39%) received medical management. In adjusted analyses, EVT was associated with better functional independence (38% vs control, 10%; inverse probability treatment weighting adjusted odds ratio IPTW aOR, 4.56; 95% CI, 2.28-9.09; P < .001) despite increased odds of sICH (10.1% for EVT vs 1.7% for control; IPTW aOR, 10.65; 95% CI, 2.19-51.69; P = .003). This association persisted after PS-based matching on (1) clinical characteristics and ASPECTS (EVT, 35%, vs control, 19%; aOR, 3.14; 95% CI, 1.02-9.72; P = .047); (2) clinical characteristics and perfusion parameters (EVT, 35%, vs control, 17%; aOR, 4.17; 95% CI, 1.15-15.17; P = .03); and (3) clinical characteristics, ASPECTS, and perfusion parameters (EVT, 45%, vs control, 21%; aOR, 4.39; 95% CI, 1.04-18.53; P = .04). Patients receiving EVT had lower odds of mortality (26%) compared with those in the control group (41%; IPTW aOR, 0.49; 95% CI, 0.27-0.89; P = .02).
In this study of treatment beyond 24 hours of last known well, EVT was associated with higher odds of functional independence compared with medical management, with consistent results obtained in PS-matched subpopulations and patients with presence of mismatch, despite increased odds of sICH. Our findings support EVT feasibility in selected patients beyond 24 hours. Prospective studies are warranted for confirmation.
Image-enhanced endoscopy enables real-time differential diagnosis of colorectal lesions through the observation of microvascular architecture.
To evaluate the efficacy of using blue laser imaging ...(BLI) for capillary pattern analysis in the differential diagnosis of neoplastic and non-neoplastic lesions.
This prospective study included 920 consecutive superficial lesions diagnosed in 457 patients. The capillary pattern was analysed using BLI-bright magnification on the basis of the Teixeira classification. Histopathology was used as the reference standard.
The adenoma detection rate was 42.3%, with a mean of 0.95 adenomas per patient. Neoplastic lesions were predominant (70.3%), of which 33 (5.1%) had advanced histology. Neoplastic progression was significantly increased in patients aged at least 50 years, in lesions at least 10 mm and in lesions located in the right colon (P<0.01). BLI-based capillary pattern analysis showed 95.5% accuracy, 95.7% sensitivity, 95.2% specificity, 97.9% positive predictive value and 90.3% negative predictive value in the diagnosis of neoplastic lesions. For 672 diminutive lesions (≤5 mm), BLI-based capillary pattern analysis showed 95.7% accuracy, 96.6% sensitivity, 93.6% specificity, 97.2% positive predictive value and 92.2% negative predictive value. Analysing only lesions up to 5 mm in the rectum and sigmoid colon, the values were 95.2, 93.9, 96.5, 95.8 and 94.8%, respectively.
BLI associated with magnification yielded excellent results for the real-time predictive histological diagnosis of colorectal lesions.
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