Background JIA is the common chronic rheumatic disease in children that may continue to be active in adulthood. The new laboratory markers are needed to adjust therapy of JIA to the actual disease ...activity and to define group of patients with a risk of developing exacerbation. NPT (a product of guanosine triphosphate pathway) is produced by human monocytes/macrophages upon stimulation by Th1 derived INF-γ. Activated T cells release a soluble form of IL-2, considered to be en early marker for immune activation. Objectives To assess whether serum levels of NPT and sIL-2R are reliable parameters for monitoring JIA activity in the clinical practice. Methods 83 patients with active JIA (median 10.3y, 37 oligoarticular OLIGO, 30 polyarticular POLY, 6 systemic soJIA, and 10 enthesitis-related–arthritis ERAonset) were evaluated. Of these, 38 consecutive patients were followed-up with an evaluation in remission.ACR-Pediatric variables: physician global assessment of disease activity; parent/patient assessment of overall well-being; CHAQ; number of joints with active arthritis; number of joints with limited range of motion; ESR/C-reactive protein; and additionally: duration of morning stiffness, WBC, and Hgb were collected. 25 ages- and sex- matched healthy subjects acted as controls. Serum levels of NPT and sIL-2R were measured by ELISA. Results Serum levels of NPT were significantly higher in active JIA patients (10.7±21.7 nmol/l) than in the control group (4.98±2.01nmol/l; p<0,05). In remission, serum levels of NPT decreased significantly (4.34±2.3 nmol/l; p<0,001). In soJIA the levels of NPT was significantly higher than in patients with ERA onset (28.2 nmol/l vs 4.5 nmol/l; p<0,05). The levels of NPT showed no relationship with clinical and laboratory variables neither in active disease nor in remission. Serum levels of sIL-2R were significantly higher in active JIA patients (8.9±12.8 ng/ml) than in the control group (1.8±1.6 ng/ml; p<0,001). In remission, the serum levels of sIL-2R decreased significantly (4.1±4.0 ng/ml; p=0,001). We found higher levels of sIL-2R in patients with clinically inactive disease (remission) in comparison to controls (p<0,001). In soJIA the levels of sIL-2R was significantly higher than in patients with POLY (31.4 vs 6.6; p<0,05). Serum levels of sIL-2R of patients with active disease correlated with WBC and with parent/patient assessment of overall well-being. Serum levels of sIL-2R in remission correlated with ESR and negatively with Hgb. Conclusions Serum levels of NPT and sIL-2R might be helpful markers for monitoring inflammation in JIA. To our knowledge, estimation of NPT in JIA, has not been published. NPT seems to be a useful parameter of cell-mediated immunity activation in JIA. The analysis showed serum NPT and sIL-2R concentrations differences between soJIA compared to the others. The elevated levels of sIL-2R in sera of patients in clinically remission suggest persistent activation of immune system and might be an indicator in adjusting the therapy. Longitudinal follow-up is required. This work was funded by the Polish National Science Centre (Grant N N407 0382 37). Disclosure of Interest None Declared
The morphological and histological features of the gut of juvenile racer goby Neogobius gymnotrachelus range of body mass 0·2–0·9 g and standard length (LS) 20·0–38·8 mm were examined in fish ...collected from the Włocławek Reservoir on the Vistula River, Poland. Evidence is provided of the stomachless nature of the gut of the racer goby. The intestine of the juveniles lacks the intestinal bulb. A particular feature of the racer goby gut is the secretory oesogaster (the transitional region where the secretory oesophagus merges into the intestine) with multicellular alveolar glands that secrete via a common duct to the surface between the mucosal folds. The cells in the secretory oesogaster alveolar glands are periodic‐acid‐Schiff (PAS) positive indicating the presence of neutral mucopolysaccharides. It is hypothesized that the secretory oesogaster is evidence of the loss of the functional stomach in this species. There are two sphincters: the oesogaster–intestinal and the intestinal–rectal in the racer goby gut. It can be concluded that the oesogaster–intestinal sphincter is functionally related to the gastro‐intestinal sphincter described in many fish species having a stomach. Enterocytes with a distinct brush border and only a few goblet cells are observed in the epithelium along the whole intestine. The existence of vacuoles in the supranuclear region of the rectal enterocytes is also confirmed.
Background Th17 cells have recently been identified as important in pathogenesis of chronic arthritis including juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). Th17 are highly proinflammatory subset of T cells, ...characterised by production of interleukin 17 (IL-17/IL-17A). Among members of the IL-17 family designated IL-17A–F, IL-17F is most closely related to IL-17A. IL-17A enhances inflammatory reactions, promotes expansion and recruitment of innate immune cells such as neutrophils. IL-17F induces non-immune cells such as epithelial cells or stromal cells to act proinflammatory. Th17 cells also secrete interleukin-21 (IL-21) and 22 (IL-22). Objectives The aim of our study was to investigate the profile of Th17 cells producing IL-17A, IL-17F, IL-21, IL-22 in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). Methods We examined peripheral blood (PB) of 22 patients with JIA (12- female, 9-male) mean age 11±0,7y. Patients were diagnosed according to the ILAR criteria. The type of onset was: oligoarticular – 8, polyarticular – 8, enthesitis related – 6. 8 children submitted to orthopedic surgery acted as a control. The proportion of Th17 cells producing IL-17A, IL-17F, IL-21, IL-22 was performed with multiparameter flow cytometry at two time points, before treatment and in remission. Results In remission a significant decrease of Th17 compared to the acute phase was found. Analysis IL-17 isoforms of Th17 showed a significant decrease in lymphocytes producing IL-17F (IL-17A-/IL-17F +). There was also a decrease in lymphocytes IL-17A+/IL-17F+, but this result did not reach the level of significance (p = 0.08). The proportion of cells producing only IL-17A remained unchanged. It is interesting that we found a significant decrease in the proportion of lymphocytes IL-17A+/IL-17F-/IL-21-/IL-22 +. Conclusions The study shows that in JIA in remission the proportion of Th17 producing IL-17F significantly decreases. The proportion of cells producing only IL-17A remained unchanged, but with the exception of cells producing IL-22 which deceased in remission. In summary, our results would support the hypothesis that activity of Th17 pathway could correlate with proinflammatory activity of non-immune cells. References Nistala K et al. Arthritis & Rheumatism 2008;58:875-887 Omoyinmi E, et al. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2012;51(10):1881-1886 Nistala K, et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010;107:14751–14756 Disclosure of Interest None Declared
This paper concerns experimental and theoretical studies of freeze-drying process at microwave heating. Two kinds of random solids were dried: material which are assumed to have no internal porosity ...(ground glass), as well as one containing internal porosity (Sorbonorit 4 activated carbon). Formulated one-dimensional two-region model of freeze-drying process at microwave heating takes into account unknown a priori sublimation temperature Ts(t) and mass concentration of water vapor Cs(t) at moving ice front. Steady capacity of internal heat source is correlated with electric field strength E and dissipation coefficient K(T) in both regions of the material to be dried. Linear temperature dependency of dissipation coefficient is assumed and described by two regression parameters: μ1i and μ2i for dry (i=I) and frozen (i=II) bed, respectively. A correlation between both measured and calculated temperatures of the sample and actual electric field strength was observed. Fairly good agreement between experimental and simulated results was stated.
Atmospheric scattering of light emitted by an air shower not only attenuates direct fluorescence light from the shower, but also contributes to the observed shower light. So far only direct and ...singly scattered Cherenkov photons have been taken into account in routine analyses of the observed optical image of air showers. In this paper a Monte Carlo method of evaluating the contribution of multiply scattered light to the optical air shower image is presented, as well as results of simulations and a parameterization of scattered light contribution to measured shower signal.
Abstract Aims The phenomenon of immunosuppression induced by surgery is widely described as the adverse impact of surgical interventions on leukocytes' populations and secretion of several cytokines. ...Best of our knowledge, we present the first report evaluating the effect of surgical treatment on the specific anti-cancer immune response against tumour antigens. Methods The study included 30 patients operated on for lung cancer. Specific secretion of IFN-γ, Granzyme B, perforines, IL-4, IL-5, IL-10, IL-17a was assessed by ELISPOT (Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Spot Assay). Results Number of cells secreting IFN-γ, Granzyme B and perforines under the influence of autologous tumour antigens or mitogens was significantly decreased on the first day after surgery. During the postoperative recovery we observed an increase in the number of cells secreting IFN-γ, but on the 7th day it still remained lower than before the operation. On the 28th postoperative day it reached a level which was not significantly higher than before the surgery. On the 1st and 7th postoperative day we discovered a significant increase in IL-10 secretion, in response to autologous tumour antigens. Conclusions Our results suggest an immunosuppressive effect of surgery on the specific and nonspecific immune stimulation. This effect is particularly expressed in relation to Th1-type immunological response which is associated with direct elimination of cancer cells. Another unfavourable observation is elevated secretion of immunosuppressive IL-10 in response to cancer antigens. These phenomena are associated with shorter survival of the patients.
The identification of primary photons or specifying stringent limits on the photon flux is of major importance for understanding the origin of ultra-high energy (UHE) cosmic rays. UHE photons can ...initiate particle cascades in the geomagnetic field, which leads to significant changes in the subsequent atmospheric shower development. We present a Monte Carlo program allowing detailed studies of conversion and cascading of UHE photons in the geomagnetic field. The program named PRESHOWER can be used both as an independent tool or together with a shower simulation code. With the stand-alone version of the code it is possible to investigate various properties of the particle cascade induced by UHE photons interacting in the Earth's magnetic field before entering the Earth's atmosphere. Combining this program with an extensive air shower simulation code such as CORSIKA offers the possibility of investigating signatures of photon-initiated showers. In particular, features can be studied that help to discern such showers from the ones induced by hadrons. As an illustration, calculations for the conditions of the southern part of the Pierre Auger Observatory are presented.
Title of program:PRESHOWER 1.0
Catalogue identifier:ADWG
Program summary URL:
http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/ADWG
Program obtainable: CPC Program Library, Quen's University of Belfast, N. Ireland
Computer on which the program has been thoroughly tested:Intel-Pentium based PC
Operating system:Linux, DEC-Unix
Programming language used:C, FORTRAN 77
Memory required to execute with typical data:<100 kB
No. of bits in a word:32
Has the code been vectorized?:no
Number of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.:2567
Number of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.:25 690
Distribution format:tar.gz
Other procedures used in PRESHOWER
:IGRF N.A. Tsyganenko, National Space Science Data Center, NASA GSFC, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA,
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/space/model/magnetos/data-based/geopack.html, bessik, ran2 Numerical Recipes,
http://www.nr.com.
Nature of the physical problem:Simulation of a cascade of particles initiated by UHE photon passing through the geomagnetic field above the Earth's atmosphere.
Method of solution: The primary photon is tracked until its conversion into
e
+
e
−
pair or until it reaches the upper atmosphere. If conversion occurred each individual particle in the resultant preshower is checked for either bremsstrahlung radiation (electrons) or secondary gamma conversion (photons). The procedure ends at the top of atmosphere and the shower particle data are saved.
Restrictions on the complexity of the problem: Gamma conversion into particles other than electron pair has not been taken into account.
Typical running time: 100 preshower events with primary energy
10
20
eV
require a 800 MHz CPU time of about 50 min, with
10
21
eV
the simulation time for 100 events grows up to 500 min.
The objective of this study was to investigate the size of the small and large intestine in postnatal development of Mus musculus mice. The gut was obtained from 2-, 4-, 6-, and 12-week-old animals. ...The morphometric analysis was performed at microscopic level. Measurements and calculations included dimensions of villi (height, diameter) and their number per 1 mm(2) surface area in the proximal, middle, and distal section of the small intestine, as well as the length and surface area (external and internal) of the small and large intestines. To find the allometric relationship between the size of the small and large intestines and body mass, reduced major axis regression was applied. The length and surface area of both intestinal segments gradually increased with age. The increase in the internal surface area of the small intestine was the result of lengthening of the intestine and increasing diameter of the villi in its proximal and middle sections. No increase in villus height during the studied period was detected. A marked increase in the size of the intestinal segments was observed between the 2(nd) and 4(th) weeks of life, when the length doubled and the surface area tripled in size. Allometric analysis revealed that the increase in length and internal surface area of the small and large intestines was more rapid than the body mass increase during the weaning period, while it was not different from isometry after the weaning. In conclusion, the greatest changes in the structure and size of the small and large intestines of mice occurred in the weaning period. During this period these two segments of intestine grew faster than the rest of the body and reached adult proportions.
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