Renal involvement and acute kidney injury (AKI) are common clinical manifestations seen in scrub typhus, a vector-borne tropical disease. There are no data on renal manifestation in scrub typhus in ...Nepal. We conducted a prospective study to analyze the incidence, urinary abnormalities, course, severity, outcome, and the predictors of AKI in patients with scrub typhus during a major outbreak in Central Nepal. Total 1398 patients admitted with acute febrile illness were subjected for Scrub Typhus Detect™ Immunoglobulin M (IgM) enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test, of which 502 (35.90%) patients tested positive and were included in the study. Mean age of the patients was 30.37 ± 18.81 years (range, 1-79 years) with 26.29% in the pediatric age group. Female-to-male ratio was 1.26:1. Mean duration of fever was 6.8 ± 3.1 days. Mean IgM ELISA value for scrub typhus was 2.17 ± 1.70 without difference in AKI and non-AKI groups (2.17 ± 1.76 vs. 2.16 ± 1.62;
= 0.94). Urinary abnormalities were seen in 42.3% of patients. Mean serum creatinine was 1.37 ± 0.69 mg/dl with significant difference in two groups (1.85 ± 0.87 vs. 1.03 ± 0.17;
= 0.003). AKI was seen in 35.8% of patients with majority having Stage 1 AKI (68.3%) followed by Stage 2 (34.1%) and Stage 3 (1.2%). Hemodialysis was required for 3.94% of patients. In 54% of patients, AKI occurred in fifth and sixth day of fever. ICU admission was required for 18.73% of patients and 8.57% required ventilator support. Mortality rate was 1.79%, which was higher among patients with AKI (2.96% vs. 1.0%;
= 0.106). Multivariate analysis revealed that the presence of pneumonia, shock, and acute respiratory distress syndrome predicted the development of AKI.
Eastern filbert blight (EFB), caused by the pyrenomycete
Anisogramma anomala
, is a serious threat to the hazelnut industry in the Pacific Northwest. EFB is endemic in eastern North America where it ...occasionally produces small cankers on the wild American hazelnut (
Corylus americana
). In contrast, most cultivars of European hazelnut (
Corylus avellana
) are susceptible. Genetic resistance is the most promising disease control method and is an objective of the Oregon State University hazelnut breeding program. ‘Gasaway’ resistance, which is governed by a dominant allele at a single locus, has been extensively used in the program. However, ‘Gasaway’ and some of its offspring have been infected by EFB isolates from New Jersey, Minnesota, and Michigan. Efforts to create new cultivars with durable EFB resistance include identifying and studying new resistance sources. In this study, resistant accessions
C. americana
‘Rush’ and interspecific hybrid selection ‘Yoder #5’ were crossed with susceptible
C. avellana
selections and the resulting segregating seedling populations were inoculated by either exposure of potted trees under a structure topped with diseased branches or field exposure supplemented by tying diseased branches to each tree. Disease response was scored when cankers were visible 20 months after inoculation. Resistance from both sources segregated in a 1:1 ratio, indicating control by a single locus and a dominant allele for resistance. DNA extracted from the seedlings was amplified with previously mapped microsatellite markers. Resistance from both
C. americana
‘Rush’ and ‘Yoder #5’ was placed on linkage group 7 in the same position as resistance from
C. avellana
‘Ratoli.’ Linked microsatellite markers B753, GB372, and B509 will be useful for marker-assisted selection and the pyramiding of genes for durable EFB resistance. Assessing response to EFB is challenging, whether the plants are inoculated under a structure topped with diseased wood or in a humidity chamber in the greenhouse, or by exposure in the field. The pathogen has a 2-year life cycle, and there is a 15-month wait between inoculation and symptom expression. A small number of escapes is commonly encountered, and resistant plants occasionally develop small cankers. Our approach of studying segregation ratios and then mapping with microsatellite markers should be a useful approach for disease resistance studies in many tree crops.
Objectives
Heme oxygenase‐1 (HO‐1) is contributed to odontoblast differentiation in human dental pulp cells (HDPCs). In this study, pachymic acid from mushroom Formitopsis niagra is examined to ...determine whether it affects pulpal inflammation and promotes odontogenesis via HO‐1 gene expression.
Materials and Methods
The HDPCs were given H2O2 for inflammation. The anti‐inflammatory character and odontoblast differentiation by pachymic acid were analyzed by Western blotting, alkaline phosphatase activity, and alizarin red S staining. To understand the mechanism of pachymic acid via HO‐1 induction, the cells were treated with zinc protoporphyrin IX (ZnPP: HO‐1 inhibitor).
Results
H2O2 induced pulp inflammation and disturbed odontoblast differentiation. However, the HDPCs treated with pachymic acid affected anti‐inflammatory effect and induction of odontoblast differentiation through increasing HO‐1 expression. In addition, pachymic acid has potent cytoprotection and mineralization under H2O2 treatment. Furthermore, pachymic acid significantly suppressed nuclear factor‐kappa B (NF‐κB) translocation into nucleus and induced NE‐E2‐related factor‐2 (Nrf2) translocation into nucleus. Overall, NF‐κB and Nrf2 translocation were regulated by the HO‐1 pathway.
Conclusions
The pachymic acid showed anti‐inflammatory function and odontoblast differentiation via HO‐1 pathway. These results suggested that pachymic acid may be applicable for prevention of oral inflammation or to improve dentin mineralization against several stresses.
Background & AimThe health benefits of polyphenols (p-coumaric acid) due to its antioxidant effects are well known. In other hands, recombinant COMP-Ang1 a chimera of angiopoietin-1 (Ang1) and a ...short coiled-coil domain of cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP), is under consideration as a therapeutic agent for tissue regeneration with increased angiogenics capacity. However, their combined functional roles as a processing cofactor in tissue engineering applications are less widely known. Polyphenols have been used to stabilize collagen and to improve its resistance to degradation in biological systems. Generation of harmful reactive oxygen species is one of the current problems in tissue engineering. Therefore, several studies to fabricate tissue replacement with the antioxidant capability to protect the replaced organ from free radicals have been reported. Further, multifunctional bone grafting biomaterials with both antioxidants and angiogenic properties have earned increasing interest in regenerative medicine. This study focuses on the functionality of antioxidant and angiogenic efficacy of p-CA and COMP-Ang1 to promote bone and vascular growth into biomaterials.Methods, Results & ConclusionCollagen scaffold were synthesized and loaded with p-CA and COMP-Ang1. Scaffold were divided into four groups-only scaffold, scaffold with p-CA, scaffold with COMP-Ang1 and scaffold with p-CA + COMP-Ang1.To evaluate the potential of each scaffold in bone regeneration, a critical-sized defect was made at the mandible of Sprague-Dawley rats. The defects were filled with scaffold accordingly groups as mentioned above. At 2, 6 and 10 weeks post-implantation, bone growth around the defect was examined by histology and µCT. Results revealed that implanting a COMP-Ang1 plus p-CA impregnated scaffold into a bone defects synergistically enhanced the amount of new bone. Furthermore, osteoinductivity of the COMP-Ang1+ p-CA scaffold result in striking upregulation of osteogenesis-related molecules, including osterix, osteocalcin and osteopontin with increased expression of angiogenic molecules, like- fibroblast growth factor-2 and vascular endothelial growth factor compared with only COMP-Ang1 and p-CA activated scaffold. These findings demonstrate that combined grafting of COMP-Ang1 with p-CA promotes bone formation in mandible defects, which is coupled with enhanced osteogenesis and angiogenesis and provides new insights for developing bone substitutes for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.
This work aims to study the effect of milk powder incorporation on the nutritional and sensory quality of our traditional indigenous food,
. Different samples were prepared replacing the rice flour ...by milk powder at different ratios (2.5:97.5, 5:95, 7.5:92.5, 10:90).
prepared from 100% rice flour was considered as control. Sensory-related results showed that 7.5% milk powder and 92.5% rice flour can be mixed to prepare an acceptable quality. The proximate analysis showed protein content of 5.18% in rice flour
and 6.7% in milk-powder-incorporated
. The milk-powder-incorporated
had a fat content of 1.51%, crude fibre content of 0.18%, crude protein content of 6.70%, total ash content of 0.44%, and carbohydrate content of 62.3%, which was higher than that of rice flour
. The product prepared can help in combating protein–energy malnutrition, adds a new taste as well as value to our traditional indigenous food.
Osteoblasts (OBs) are indispensable for the maintenance of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) in the bone marrow microenvironment. Here we investigated how Smad4 modulates HSC fate at distinct stages of ...OB development. For this, we conditionally knocked out Smad4 in cells expressing type I collagen (Col1a1) and osteocalcin (OC), respectively. Col1a1-expressing OBs were widely present in both the trabecular and cortical compartment, whereas OC-expressing OBs were predominantly located in the cortical compartment. HSCs from Col1a1 mutants displayed senescence-associated phenotypes. OC mutants did not exhibit HSC senescence-related phenotypes, but instead showed preferential HSC death. Of note, stromal cell-derived factor 1 expression was lower in Col1a1 mutants than control littermates, suggesting potential impairment of CXCR4-CXCL12-mediated HSC retention. Disruption of the CXCR4-CXCL12 axis by AMD3100 administration led to an increase in the senescence-associated β-galactosidase activity and low competitive potential. Collectively, our findings indicate that deletion of Smad4 in OBs differentially modulates HSC fate in a stage-dependent manner.
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