The Role of Computed Tomography in the Diagnosis of Congenital Sensorineural Hearing Loss.

 One of the paths in the investigation of congenital sensorineural hearing loss (CSNHL) is to try to characterize its etiology through the inner ear evaluation using high resolution computer tomography (CT) scans. With minor malformation, it is not always possible for a simple visual inspection to recognize if the structure in the inner ear is normal or not.  To verify if measurements of the inner ear are predictive of sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) and suggest cutoff points of size limits.

High-resolution computed tomography and pure-tone audiometry in patients with otosclerosis in the spongiotic phase.

Objective: There is no consensus in the literature regarding the relationship between high-resolution computed tomography findings and hearing thresholds in pure-tone audiometry in otosclerosis. This study evaluated the association between high-resolution computed tomography findings and pure-tone audiometry in otosclerosis in the spongiotic phase.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted of 57 ears with surgically confirmed stapes fixation and tomographic findings.

Comparison of fibrin adhesives prepared by 3 different methods.

Introduction:  Fibrin tissue adhesive, which has applications in several areas of medicine, can be prepared by different methods.

Aim:  To compare fibrin tissue adhesives prepared by 3 different methods.

Method:  In this prospective experimental laboratory study, fibrin tissue adhesives prepared by the use of plasma fibrinogen (group 1), cryoprecipitation (group 2), and precipitation by ammonium sulfate (group 3) were tested on 15 rabbits and 10 fragments of dura mater.

Cochlear implant in the treatment of incapacitating unilateral tinnitus: case report.

Several studies have shown that cochlear implants may reduce or even eliminate tinnitus in patients with bilateral profound hearing loss. However, there are not consistent references regarding ipsilateral tinnitus compared to unilateral profound hearing loss. The aim of this paper is to describe audiological results of a patient with asymmetrical hearing loss with incapacitating ipsilateral tinnitus in the ear subjected to cochlear implant surgery.

Bilateral narrow duplication of the internal auditory canal.

Aim: To demonstrate diagnostic imaging of an extremely rare presentation of bilateral narrow duplication of the internal auditory canal.

Case Report: An adolescent boy with profound sensorineural hearing loss presented for hearing rehabilitation. Imaging studies (i.

Analysis of the human cytomegalovirus pp65-directed T-cell response in healthy HLA-A2-positive individuals.

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is contained by T-lymphocyte responses focused towards the major tegument protein pp65. To systematically identify T-cell epitopes, we applied the following strategy: 441 overlapping 15mer peptides spanning the entire HCMV pp65 antigen in 1-aa steps were screened in enzyme-linked immunospot (ELispot) assays for interferon gamma (IFN-gamma) secretion by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from nine healthy HCMV-seropositive subjects expressing human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-A2. This analysis confirmed a number of previously known epitopes and revealed several new ones.

Therapeutic vaccination of chronic hepatitis C nonresponder patients with the peptide vaccine IC41.

Background & Aims: IC41 is a synthetic peptide vaccine containing 7 relevant hepatitis C virus (HCV) T-cell epitopes and the T helper cell (Th)1/Tc1 adjuvant poly-L-arginine. IC41 has been shown to be safe and to induce HCV-specific interferon (IFN)-gamma-secreting CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in healthy volunteers. We aimed to investigate whether IC41 is able to induce HCV-specific T-cell responses also in chronic hepatitis C patients.

Stapes surgery in residency: the UFPR clinical hospital experience.

Unlabelled: Surgery of the stapedius remains the established treatment for otosclerosis. Recent publications have showed that success in surgeries done by residents have decreased and hearing results are worse than those obtained by experienced otologic surgeons.

Aim: To evaluate the experience of the otorhinolaryngology unit, Parana University, relative to stapes surgery done in the residency training program.

IC31, a novel adjuvant signaling via TLR9, induces potent cellular and humoral immune responses.

IC31, the combination of a novel immunostimulatory oligodeoxynucleotide containing deoxy-Inosine/deoxy-Cytosine (ODN1a) and the antimicrobial peptide KLKL(5)KLK, represents a promising novel adjuvant signaling via the TLR9/MyD88-dependent pathway of the innate immune system. In mice, IC31 induces potent peptide-specific type 1 cellular immune responses, as well as mainly type 1 dominated protein-specific cellular and humoral immune responses. In addition, cytotoxic T lymphocytes were induced, able to kill efficiently target cells in vivo.

Immunogenicity and safety of a novel therapeutic hepatitis C virus (HCV) peptide vaccine: a randomized, placebo controlled trial for dose optimization in 128 healthy subjects.

As interferon/ribavirin-based standard therapy is curative in only about half of HCV patients, there remains an important need for alternatives including vaccines. The novel peptide vaccine IC41 consists of five synthetic peptides harboring HCV T cell epitopes and poly-L-arginine as synthetic adjuvant. In this randomized, placebo-controlled trial, 128 HLA-A2 positive healthy volunteers received four s.

The artificial antimicrobial peptide KLKLLLLLKLK induces predominantly a TH2-type immune response to co-injected antigens.

Cationic antimicrobial peptides (CAMPs) are active defence components of the innate immune system. Several artificial CAMPs have been designed as antibiotic peptide therapeutics, but none have been reported to exert adjuvant activity in animal models. Here we show for the first time that an artificial CAMP, KLKLLLLLKLK (KLKL5KLK), is a potent inducer of adaptive immunity to co-injected antigens in vivo.

PIBF (progesterone induced blocking factor) is overexpressed in highly proliferating cells and associated with the centrosome.

PIBF was previously identified as a 34 kDa immunomodulatory molecule secreted by pregnancy lymphocytes and is thought to play a crucial role in preventing rejection of the embryo by the maternal immune response. Recent data suggested that PIBF protein was also expressed by the progesterone receptor (PR) positive MCF-7 breast tumor cell line. Therefore our study was designed to analyze the expression of PIBF in malignant cell lines and primary tumors both at the mRNA and protein levels.

Small-fragment genomic libraries for the display of putative epitopes from clinically significant pathogens.

Taking advantage of whole genome sequences of bacterial pathogens in many thriving diseases with global impact, we developed a comprehensive screening procedure for the identification of putative vaccine candidate antigens. Importantly, this procedure relies on highly representative small-fragment genomic libraries that are expressed to display frame-selected epitope-size peptides on a bacterial cell surface and to interact directly with carefully selected disease-relevant high-titer sera. Here we describe the generation of small-fragment genomic libraries of Gram-positive and Gram-negative clinically significant pathogens, including Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis, Streptococcus pyogenes, Streptococcus agalactiae, and Streptococcus pneumoniae, Enterococcus faecalis, Helicobacter pylori, Chlamydia pneumoniae, the enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli, and Campylobacter jejuni.

The dendritic cell-specific chemokine, dendritic cell-derived CC chemokine 1, enhances protective cell-mediated immunity to murine malaria.

Cell-mediated immunity plays a crucial role in the control of many infectious diseases, necessitating the need for adjuvants that can augment cellular immune responses elicited by vaccines. It is well established that protection against one such disease, malaria, requires strong CD8(+) T cell responses targeted against the liver stages of the causative agent, Plasmodium spp. In this report we show that the dendritic cell-specific chemokine, dendritic cell-derived CC chemokine 1 (DC-CK1), which is produced in humans and acts on naive lymphocytes, can enhance Ag-specific CD8(+) T cell responses when coadministered with either irradiated Plasmodium yoelii sporozoites or a recombinant adenovirus expressing the P.

Retrovirus-mediated IL-7 expression in leukemic dendritic cells generated from primary acute myelogenous leukemias enhances their functional properties.

Myeloid lineage-derived dendritic cells (DCs) are considered the professional antigen-presenting cell type responsible for eliciting T-cell-mediated immune responses. Acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) is a disease in which tumor antigens are expressed by the malignant clone that also has the potential to differentiate into DC-like cells (leukemic DCs) with antigen-presenting capacity. This study investigated whether the constitutive expression of the cytokine interleukin-7 (IL-7) in primary AML cells during their differentiation toward leukemic DCs results in superior antigen-presenting cells.

Induction of specific immune responses by polycation-based vaccines.

The s.c injection of tumor Ag-derived, MHC class I-binding peptides together with cationic poly-amino acids (e.g.

Improvement of the enzymatic stability of a cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-epitope model peptide for its oral administration.

Oral administration of peptide antigens, to provide proper mucosal and/or systemic immunity, is largely ineffective. This is mainly due to the very small quantity of antigen that survives degradation in the intestine and that crosses the intestinal absorption membrane. The present study focuses on the improvement of the enzymatic stability of a 13 amino acid long peptide containing a cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTL)-epitope.

Poly-L-arginine synergizes with oligodeoxynucleotides containing CpG-motifs (CpG-ODN) for enhanced and prolonged immune responses and prevents the CpG-ODN-induced systemic release of pro-inflammatory cytokines.

This study describes an entirely synthetic vaccine composed of antigenic peptides (T cell epitopes), oligodeoxynucleotides containing CpG-motifs (CpG-ODN) and poly-L-arginine (pR). CpG-ODN are known to be potent inducers of predominantly type 1-like immune responses, while polycationic amino acids, like pR, facilitate the uptake of antigens into antigen presenting cells (APCs). We demonstrate that the application of peptides and pR/CpG-ODN results in strongly enhanced peptide-specific immune responses as compared to the application of peptides with either of the immunomodulators alone.

Binding immune-stimulating oligonucleotides to cationic peptides from viral core antigen enhances their potency as adjuvants.

Priming specific Th1 immunity by recombinant hepatitis B core antigen (HBcAg) depends on its arginine (Arg)-rich, 34-36-residue-long C terminus, and nucleotides bound to it. This adjuvant activity intrinsic to HBcAg facilitates priming of Th1 immunity to co-delivered, unrelated antigens, such as hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), or ovalbumin (OVA) that prime specific Th2 immunity when injected without adjuvants. We loaded immune-stimulating, CpG-containing oligodeoxynucleotides (ODN) to the HBcAg-derived Arg-rich peptides C-1 (HBcAg(150-157), RRRDRGRS) or C-2 (HBcAg(164-179), SPRRRRSQSPRRRRSQ).

Identification of in vivo expressed vaccine candidate antigens from Staphylococcus aureus.

For the design of potent subunit vaccines, it is of paramount importance to identify all antigens immunologically recognized by a patient population infected with a pathogen. We have developed a rapid and efficient procedure to identify such commonly recognized antigens, and here we provide a comprehensive in vivo antigenic profile of Staphylococcus aureus, an important human pathogen. S.

Vaccination with poly-L-arginine as immunostimulant for peptide vaccines: induction of potent and long-lasting T-cell responses against cancer antigens.

Vaccines that induce high numbers of sustained T cell responses are urgently needed for the treatment of numerous diseases including cancer. Antigen-presenting cells (APCs), the most important of which are dendritic cells, orchestrate antigen-dependent T cell responses in that they present antigens to T cells in an appropriate environment. Here we present evidence that after vaccination with a simple mixture of the cationic poly-amino acid poly-L-arginine and tumor antigen-derived peptide antigens, large numbers of antigen-specific T cells are induced and APCs mediate the generation of T lymphocytes.

Defined synthetic vaccines.

Although vaccines have proven very successful in preventing certain infectious diseases, progress in the field has been slowed by the tediousness of developing classical vaccines consisting of whole pathogens. Thus, there is great need for improvement in several areas: firstly, the range of diseases which can be treated has to be expanded. Secondly, antigens have to be defined to make the use of whole pathogens as antigen obsolete.

Differential behaviour of lipid based and polycation based gene transfer systems in transfecting primary human fibroblasts: a potential role of polylysine in nuclear transport.

DNA delivery systems for gene therapy applications have to be able to trigger the uptake of plasmid DNA into the nucleus. We have tested two types of non-viral vector systems, lipofection (cationic lipid-based, using Lipofectamine) and polyfection (cationic polymer-based, using glycerol enhanced transferrinfection), for their ability to transfect confluent, contact inhibited primary human fibroblasts. While both systems worked well with growing fibroblasts, polyfection was superior with confluent cells.