Acute Cocaine Intoxication: An Approach to Severe Hepatic and Renal Dysfunctions.

Cocaine is a highly addictive substance. Its poisoning can lead to potentially fatal multi-organ dysfunction. We report a case of cocaine overdose with severe multi-organ dysfunction.

Multifocal cryptococcal disease in an HIV-infected patient: from diagnostic pursuit to management peculiarities.

Cryptococcosis is a life-threatening fungal infection that affects immunocompromised patients, causing predominantly meningoencephalitis and pneumonia. Lymph node involvement is rare and its identification may not be obvious. We report the case of a patient recently diagnosed with AIDS and previously treated for cryptococcal meningitis who developed multifocal cryptococcal disease despite antifungal treatment, expressed as cervical and mediastinal lymphadenitis and constitutional symptoms.

Insights into the Structures of Superoxide Reductases from the Symbionts Ignicoccus hospitalis and Nanoarchaeum equitans.

Superoxide reductases (SORs) are enzymes that detoxify the superoxide anion through its reduction to hydrogen peroxide and exist in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. The substrate is transformed at an iron catalytic center, pentacoordinated in the ferrous state by four histidines and one cysteine. SORs have a highly conserved motif, (E)(K)HxP-, in which the glutamate is associated with a redox-driven structural change, completing the octahedral coordination of the iron in the ferric state, whereas the lysine may be responsible for stabilization and donation of a proton to catalytic intermediates.

Antimicrobial therapy in palliative care: an overview.

In the advanced stages of illness, patients often face challenging decisions regarding their treatment and overall medical care. Terminal ill patients are commonly affected by infections. However, in palliative care, the use of antimicrobials can be an ethical dilemma.

Bone Metastases: An Overview.

Bone is a frequent site of metastases and typically indicates a short-term prognosis in cancer patients. Once cancer has spread to the bones it can rarely be cured, but often it can still be treated to slow its growth. The majority of skeletal metastases are due to breast and prostate cancer.

miR-515-5p controls cancer cell migration through MARK4 regulation.

Here, we show that miR-515-5p inhibits cancer cell migration and metastasis. RNA-seq analyses of both oestrogen receptor receptor-positive and receptor-negative breast cancer cells overexpressing miR-515-5p reveal down-regulation of NRAS, FZD4, CDC42BPA, PIK3C2B and MARK4 mRNAs. We demonstrate that miR-515-5p inhibits MARK4 directly 3' UTR interaction and that MARK4 knock-down mimics the effect of miR-515-5p on breast and lung cancer cell migration.

Superoxide reductase from Giardia intestinalis: structural characterization of the first SOR from a eukaryotic organism shows an iron centre that is highly sensitive to photoreduction.

Superoxide reductase (SOR), which is commonly found in prokaryotic organisms, affords protection from oxidative stress by reducing the superoxide anion to hydrogen peroxide. The reaction is catalyzed at the iron centre, which is highly conserved among the prokaryotic SORs structurally characterized to date. Reported here is the first structure of an SOR from a eukaryotic organism, the protozoan parasite Giardia intestinalis (GiSOR), which was solved at 2.

MicroRNAs cooperatively inhibit a network of tumor suppressor genes to promote pancreatic tumor growth and progression.

Background & Aims: There has not been a broad analysis of the combined effects of altered activities of microRNAs (miRNAs) in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) cells, and it is unclear how these might affect tumor progression or patient outcomes.

Methods: We combined data from miRNA and messenger RNA (mRNA) expression profiles and bioinformatic analyses to identify an miRNA-mRNA regulatory network in PDAC cell lines (PANC-1 and MIA PaCa-2) and in PDAC samples from patients. We used this information to identify miRNAs that contribute most to tumorigenesis.

Downregulation of microRNA-515-5p by the estrogen receptor modulates sphingosine kinase 1 and breast cancer cell proliferation.

Sphingosine kinase 1 (SK1) plays an important role in estrogen-dependent breast tumorigenesis, but its regulation is poorly understood. A subset of microRNAs (miRNA, miR) is regulated by estrogen and contributes to cellular proliferation and cancer progression. Here, we describe that miR-515-5p is transcriptionally repressed by estrogen receptor α (ERα) and functions as a tumor suppressor in breast cancer.

Immunization against active ghrelin using virus-like particles for obesity treatment.

Ghrelin is a gut hormone that stimulates food intake. In physiological conditions, ghrelin plasma levels rise with fasting and decrease after meals. Obese individuals have low fasting ghrelin levels that rise after food restriction, which is pointed out as a reason for the difficulty in maintaining weight loss.

Structural and functional insights into a dodecameric molecular machine - the RuvBL1/RuvBL2 complex.

RuvBL1 (RuvB-like 1) and its homolog RuvBL2 are evolutionarily highly conserved AAA(+) ATPases essential for many cellular activities. They play an important role in chromatin remodeling, transcriptional regulation and DNA damage repair. RuvBL1 and RuvBL2 are overexpressed in different types of cancer and interact with major oncogenic factors, such as β-catenin and c-Myc regulating their function.

Superoxide reductase from Nanoarchaeum equitans: expression, purification, crystallization and preliminary X-ray crystallographic analysis.

Superoxide reductases (SORs) are the most recent oxygen-detoxification system to be identified in anaerobic and microaerobic bacteria and archaea. SORs are metalloproteins that are characterized by their possession of a catalytic nonhaem iron centre in the ferrous form coordinated by four histidine ligands and one cysteine ligand. Ignicoccus hospitalis, a hyperthermophilic crenarchaeon, is the only organism known to date to serve as a host for Nanoarchaeum equitans, a nanosized hyperthermophilic archaeon isolated from a submarine hot vent which completely depends on the presence of and contact with I.

Prostate cancer cell proliferation and angiogenesis in different obese mice models.

Obesity has been associated with increased incidence and aggressiveness of prostate cancer. Although controversial, several studies suggest that leptin could influence tumour cell growth and proliferation. The main goal of this study was to assess cellular growth of prostate adenocarcinoma cells in obese mice with different endogenous hormonal environments in what relates to leptin circulating levels and sensitivity.

Cloning, purification, crystallization and X-ray crystallographic analysis of Ignicoccus hospitalis neelaredoxin.

Superoxide reductases (SORs) are metalloproteins which constitute the most recently identified oxygen-detoxification system in anaerobic and microaerobic bacteria and archaea. SORs are involved in scavenging superoxide radicals from the cell by catalyzing the reduction of superoxide ({\rm O}_{2};{\bullet -}) to hydrogen peroxide and are characterized by a catalytic nonhaem iron centre coordinated by four histidine ligands and one cysteine ligand. Ignicoccus hospitalis, a hyperthermophilic crenarchaeon, is known to have a neelaredoxin-type SOR that keeps toxic oxygen species levels under control.