With the continuous miniaturization in device dimension to reach the expectation raised by semiconductor users, the shape and size of the MOSFET are changing periodically. The journey started in the year 1960, reached the milestone, and still going on to create history. Due to continuous downscaling, the device dimensions have already reached the critical limit and further miniaturization is a challenge.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHemorrhagic stroke is leading cause of death in Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) population. Uremic patients are susceptible to hemorrhagic complications due to multiple reasons i.e platelet dysfunction, low platelet number, use of heparin during hemodialysis, use of anticoagulants for thromboembolic risk etc.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Aims: AVX-470 is an orally administered, bovine-derived, anti-tumour necrosis factor (TNF) antibody with local activity in the gastrointestinal tract. In the first-in-human clinical trial of AVX-470 in active ulcerative colitis, we evaluated inflammatory biomarkers in colon tissue as measures of disease activity and early response to treatment.
Methods: Thirty-six patients received active drug (AVX-470 at 0.
Background: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the gastrointestinal tract, which is currently treated with injected monoclonal antibodies specific for tumor necrosis factor (TNF). We developed and characterized AVX-470, a novel polyclonal antibody specific for human TNF. We evaluated the oral activity of AVX-470m, a surrogate antibody specific for murine TNF, in several well-accepted mouse models of IBD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNanocrystalline silver (NPI 32101) has been demonstrated to have antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of NPI 32101 in a rat model of ulcerative colitis and the possible mechanisms of action of the effects observed. NPI 32101, 4 mg/kg intracolonically or 40 mg/kg orally, significantly reduced colonic inflammation compared to the placebo and no-treatment groups.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To describe a nonconventional diagnostic technique used to diagnose a case of cicatrizing conjunctivitis associated with epidermolysis bullosa acquisita.
Methods: Direct immunofluorescence of a biopsy specimen of the patient's conjunctiva was performed using fluorescein-conjugated rabbit antihuman antibodies against IgA, IgG, and IgM; complement C3; and fibrinogen. Immunoblot assay using healthy human skin as substrate was performed to investigate for the presence of antibodies in the patient's serum.
Pemphigus vulgaris (PV) is a potentially fatal autoimmune mucocutaneous disease associated with production of IgG autoantibodies to desmoglein 3 (Dsg3), a 130-kDa epidermal cadherin protein. The binding of pathogenic antibody to Dsg3 on epidermal keratinocytes leads to loss of intercellular adhesion and results in intraepithelial blister formation. Here, we describe a human monoclonal antibody, PVMAB786, a Dsg3-specific IgG4 antibody, from an untreated patient with active PV.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Nanocrystalline silver has both antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties. However, the exact mechanisms underlying these activities are not known.
Objectives: The objectives of this study were to assess the anti-inflammatory effects of nanocrystalline silver using a murine model of allergic contact dermatitis, compare the effects with those of tacrolimus and a high potency steroid, and to relate the effects to modulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines and apoptosis of inflammatory cells.
The anti-inflammatory activity of topical nanocrystalline silver cream was assessed and compared with the effects of topical steroids and currently available immunosuppressants using a guinea pig model of allergic contact dermatitis. Dermatitis was induced with dinitrochlorobenzene and treated with different concentrations of nanocrystalline silver, medium and high potency steroids, tacrolimus and pimecrolimus, or appropriate vehicles once daily for 5 days. Erythema was evaluated daily (on a score of 0 to 4, from absent to very severe) and histopathology of the skin biopsies was evaluated after 5 days of treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol
November 2003
Background: Bullous pemphigoid (BP) is a subepidermal autoimmune blistering disease, which is characterized by blisters on the skin. Autoantibodies to components of the basement membrane zone are usually observed in the sera of patients with BP. Autoantibodies to the bullous pemphigoid antigens (BP Ag1, 230-kDa desmoplakin protein, and BP Ag2, 180-kDa hemidesmosomal protein) are present in the sera of BP patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPemphigus vulgaris (PV) is an autoimmune mucocutaneous blistering disease. Recently, patients with mucosal involvement have been described to have autoantibodies to desmoglein 3 (dsg), while patients with mucocutaneous disease have autoantibodies to dsg 1 and dsg 3. The objective of this study was to prospectively analyze, over a 24-month period, the influence of intravenous immunoglobulin (i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPemphigus foliaceus (PF) is an autoimmune skin disease characterized by the presence of a pathogenic autoantibody to desmoglein 1, an epidermal cadherin molecule. Antibody titers to the desmoglein 1 protein can be used to monitor disease activity and severity in patients with PF. The purpose of this study is to report the influence of IVIg therapy on anti-desmoglein 1 antibody titers, in eight patients with severe PF, over a period of 18 consecutive months on each patient.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOral pemphigoid (OP) is a chronic autoimmune disease, involving the oral cavity, characterized by a homogenous linear deposition of immunoglobulins, complement, or both along the basement membrane zone (BMZ) and a subepithelial blister formation. The alpha6/beta4 heterodimer is an integrin family of adhesion receptors, which mediates basal cell to matrix interactions. Recent evidence suggests a pathophysiologic role for antibodies against human alpha6 integrin in blister formation in OP, in organ culture studies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGraefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol
July 2002
Background: Ocular cicatricial pemphigoid (OCP) is an autoimmune disease characterized by the presence of autoantibodies, T-cell dysregulation, and abnormal serum levels of cytokines such as interleukin-6, interleukin-1, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha. The purpose of the present study was to investigate levels of interleukin-5 (IL-5) in the sera, eosinophil counts in the peripheral blood, and eosinophil and mast cell counts in the inflamed conjunctivae of patients with active OCP.
Methods: Seven patients diagnosed in the active phase of OCP presenting with chronic cicatrizing conjunctivitis were studied.
Pemphigus vulgaris is a potentially fatal autoimmune mucocutaneous disease associated with production of IgG autoantibodies to desmoglein 3, a 130 kDa epidermal protein. To further characterize the epitope(s) of pemphigus vulgaris antigen we established two human-human hybridoma by fusion of the peripheral blood mononuclear cells with a human and mouse heterohybridoma. These hybridomas designated as MAb Dsg-3: 06 and MAb Dsg-3: 10 and stable in culture and demonstrated yield of monoclonal antibodies specific for pemphigus vulgaris.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The simultaneous presence of features of pemphigus vulgaris (PV) in patients with bullous pemphigoid (BP) has previously been reported in the literature.
Objective: The purpose of this retrospective study is to present 13 patients with an initial diagnosis of BP, who subsequently demonstrated coexistent serological features of both BP and PV.
Methods: The following information on each patient was documented, at the time of initial diagnosis: clinical profile on presentation, histology, direct immunofluorescence, indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) using monkey esophagus as substrate, salt-split skin (SSS) and an immunoblot assay.
Cicatricial pemphigoid is a heterogeneous group of autoimmune subepidermal blistering diseases associated most commonly with autoantibodies to bullous pemphigoid (BP)180 and less frequently with those to laminin 5 or type VII collagen. In addition, a few cases have been described with autoantibodies to the beta4 subunit of alpha6beta4 integrin. We describe a patient with extensive disease of ocular, oral, pharyngeal, laryngeal and genital mucous membranes that healed with scarring of conjunctivae.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMucous membrane pemphigoid or cicatricial pemphigoid is a mucocutaneous blistering disease characterized by autoantibodies to different molecules in the basement membrane zone. Our objectives were to identify the target antigen recognized by sera from 20 untreated patients with pemphigoid disease limited to the oral cavity, and to determine the pathogenicity of autoantibodies in oral pemphigoid, with an organ culture model. We conducted indirect immunofluorescence, immunoblot, and immunoprecipitation assays, with accompanying absorption experiments, using normal human skin, conjunctiva and gingiva, bovine gingiva and a tumor cell line, which were reacted with sera from patients with oral pemphigoid, anti-alpha6 antibody, and control sera.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThere are several studies that describe the simultaneous presence and conversion of pemphigus foliaceus into pemphigus vulgaris and vice versa. We describe eight patients with clinical, histological and immunopathological features of pemphigus foliaceus, at the time of the initial diagnosis. After a mean period of 2.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThere are several reports in the literature describing the coexistence of features of pemphigus vulgaris and pemphigoid in the same patient. We describe 15 patients with clinical, histological, and immunopathological features of mucous membrane (cicatricial) pemphigoid at the time of initial diagnosis. All 15 patients failed to respond clinically to conventional systemic agents over a mean period of 7.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) is increasingly being used for the treatment of autoimmune diseases. In the present report, the role of IVIG on in vivo and in vitro production of IL-1 and IL-1 receptor antagonist (Ra) was studied in patients with pemphigus vulgaris (PV). Serum samples from 20 untreated patients with active PV prior to initiation of systemic therapy, 20 patients receiving IVIG treatment, 20 patients in clinical remission after conventional therapy, and 20 normal human controls were studied to determine the serum levels of IL-1alpha, IL-1beta, and IL-1Ra.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInterleukin (IL-)1 is an important mediator of inflammatory responses and plays an important role in the pathogenesis of various autoimmune diseases. Cicatricial pemphigoid (CP) is a multisystem autoimmune inflammatory disease. We have studied the role of IL-1 in its pathogenesis.
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