Activation of the beta-catenin signaling pathway and its impact on RPE cell cycle.

Purpose: To investigate the effect of EGF, IGF-1, and VEGF on ARPE19 cell proliferation and differentiation.

Methods: The gene expression of RPE-specific differentiation and proliferation markers and the transcriptional and translational activity of beta-catenin signaling markers were measured by flow cytometry and RT-PCR.

Results: The data showed a significant decrease in RPE65, CRALBP, and cytokeratin 18 in ARPE-19 cells stimulated with EGF and IGF-1.

[Prevention of infections and thromboses after splenectomy or because of functional loss of the spleen].

Overwhelming Post-Splenectomy Infection (OPSI or PSS), most frequently caused by encapsulated Gram-positive pathogens, is a complication after splenectomy. Reasons for splenectomy include trauma, or malignant and non-malignant hematologic diseases. OPSI-inducing bacteria are mainly Streptococcus pneumoniae and less frequently Haemophilus influenzae, Neisseria meningitides and Gram-negative bacilli.

Comparison of four culture systems for Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the Zambian National Reference Laboratory.

Setting: National TB Reference Laboratory, Zambia.

Objective: To compare four TB culture systems when used in a resource-limited setting.

Design: Comparison of four culture systems: automated Mycobacterium Growth Indicator Tube (AMGIT) 960, manual MGIT (MMGIT) and two Löwenstein-Jensen (LJ) culture media-commercial (CLJ) and homemade (HLJ).

Mycobacterium noviomagense sp. nov.; clinical relevance evaluated in 17 patients.

Eighteen isolates of a nonchromogenic, slowly growing, non-tuberculous species of the genus Mycobacterium were cultured from respiratory specimens obtained over the last eight years from 17 patients in the Netherlands. These isolates were grouped because they revealed a unique 16S rRNA gene sequence and were related to Mycobacterium xenopi. None of the 17 patients met the American Thoracic Society diagnostic criteria for non-tuberculous mycobacterial disease, which distinguishes the novel isolates from the related species, M.

Advantages of using a ray-traced, three-dimensional rendering system for spectral domain Cirrus HD-OCT to visualize subtle structures of the vitreoretinal interface.

Background And Objective: To create a ray-traced, three-dimensional display system for Cirrus high-definition optical coherence tomography (Carl Zeiss Meditec, Inc., Dublin, CA) that improves the visualization of subtle structures of the vitreoretinal interface.

Patients And Methods: High-definition optical coherence tomography (HD-OCT) data for epiretinal membranes (17 eyes), macular holes (11 eyes), and posterior vitreal detachments (17 eyes) were collected.

Effectiveness of whole grain consumption in the prevention of colorectal cancer: meta-analysis of cohort studies.

The present work aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of whole grain consumption in preventing colorectal cancer. A systematic review with meta-analysis of 11 cohort studies was carried out. The age group of the population studied (1,719,590 participants) was between 25 and 76 years of age.

Identification of conformational epitopes for human IgG on Chemotaxis inhibitory protein of Staphylococcus aureus.

Background: The Chemotaxis inhibitory protein of Staphylococcus aureus (CHIPS) blocks the Complement fragment C5a receptor (C5aR) and formylated peptide receptor (FPR) and is thereby a potent inhibitor of neutrophil chemotaxis and activation of inflammatory responses. The majority of the healthy human population has antibodies against CHIPS that have been shown to interfere with its function in vitro. The aim of this study was to define potential epitopes for human antibodies on the CHIPS surface.

Complement factor H gene polymorphisms and Chlamydia pneumoniae infection in age-related macular degeneration.

Purpose: To investigate the association of the complement factor H gene (CFH)Y402H polymorphism and age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in the Austrian population (Caucasoid descent), and to determine whether there is an association between exposure to Chlamydia pneumoniae-responsible for up to 20% of community-acquired pneumoniae-and the AMD-associated CFHrisk polymorphism.

Methods: Genotypes were determined by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis in 75 unrelated AMD patients and compared with 75 healthy, age-matched control subjects. C.

Oxidative stress mediates a reduced expression of the activating receptor NKG2D in NK cells from end-stage renal disease patients.

To characterize the immune defect of patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD), we performed NK cell subset analysis in 66 patients with ESRD treated by hemodialysis (n = 59) or peritoneal dialysis (n = 7). Compared with healthy blood donors, patients undergoing chronic dialysis showed a profound decrease in NKG2D(+) cells within both the CD8(+) T cell (58% vs 67%, p = 0.03) and NK cell (39% vs 56%, p = 0.

The role of X-inactivation in the gender bias of patients with acquired alpha-thalassaemia and myelodysplastic syndrome (ATMDS).

Alpha thalassaemia myelodysplastic syndrome (ATMDS) is an unusual complication of chronic myeloid malignancy that is associated with a striking red cell phenotype. It represents an acquired form of alpha-thalassaemia that most commonly arises in the context of myelodysplasia. It has recently been shown that this condition occurs in association with somatic mutations of a known X-encoded trans-acting regulator of alpha globin gene (HBA) expression, ATRX.

Quality of the threshold algorithm in age-related macular degeneration: Stratus versus Cirrus OCT.

Purpose: Automatically generated measurements of the retinal volume or the central retinal thickness are based on correctly set threshold lines on the retinal surface and the retinal pigment epithelium. The purpose of this study was to compare the accuracy of threshold algorithm lines of Stratus optical coherence tomography (OCT) with those of Cirrus OCT.

Methods: A consecutive series of patients at least 50 years of age with exudative age-related macular degeneration was included.

Studies on travel-related thrombosis.

Due to increased long-distance travelling, travel-related thrombosis and its prevention are frequently discussed between patients and their doctors. There is now well accepted evidence that thromboembolic events can occur during or after long journeys, but despite a plethora of studies on the subject, still very little is known about the height of the absolute risk, the underlying triggering factors and, especially, about the efficacy of specific prophylactic methods. Therefore the recommendations for the prevention of travel-related thrombosis, developed and published by experts in this field, are necessarily based on the risk assessment of the individual traveller and the methods of prevention supported by the experience in medical patients.

An unusual CD56(bright) CD16(low) NK cell subset dominates the early posttransplant period following HLA-matched hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

The expansion of the cytokine-producing CD56(bright) NK cell subset is a main feature of lymphocyte reconstitution after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). We investigated phenotypes and functions of CD56(bright) and CD56(dim) NK subsets from 43 HLA-matched non-T cell-depleted HSCT donor-recipient pairs. The early expansion of CD56(bright) NK cells gradually declined in the posttransplant period but still persisted for at least 1 year and was characterized by the emergence of an unusual CD56(bright)CD16(low) subset with an intermediate maturation profile.

Optical coherence tomography: limits of the retinal-mapping program in age-related macular degeneration.

Aim: The retinal-mapping program of Stratus optical coherence tomography (Carl Zeiss Meditec, Dublin, CA, USA) calculates the retinal volume of the central region between the retinal surface and the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). This study evaluates the retinal-mapping program for studies dealing with AMD.

Methods: The scans of both eyes of patients examined from August to October 2006 because of macular degeneration were evaluated retrospectively.

The effects of HIV on the sensitivity of a whole blood IFN-gamma release assay in Zambian adults with active tuberculosis.

Background: Interferon gamma release assays (IGRA) are replacing the tuberculin skin test (TST) as a diagnostic tool for Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. However research into the test's performance in the high HIV-TB burden setting is scarce. This study aimed to define the sensitivity of an IGRA, QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube (QGIT), in adult Zambian patients with active smear-positive tuberculosis.

Anecortave acetate for fibrotic lesions with presence of residual peripheral activity in age-related macular degeneration.

We retrospectively examined the efficacy of a single juxtascleral anecortave acetate depot injection for the treatment of fibrotic choroidal neovascular lesions with presence of residual peripheral activity in age related macular degeneration in 20 consecutive patients who rejected intravitreal treatment. As a second line-therapy of classic and occult fibrotic lesions with active peripheral zones, anecortave seems to be a vision conserving therapeutic option.

Peripheral but not central leptin treatment increases numbers of circulating NK cells, granulocytes and specific monocyte subpopulations in non-endotoxaemic lean and obese LEW-rats.

Leptin, a hormone mainly generated by adipocytes, acts centrally in the hypothalamus to regulate body weight and energy expenditure. However, there is strong evidence that leptin is also involved in cell-mediated immunity and cytokine crosstalk. In the present study the effects of diet-induced obesity and central and peripheral leptin treatment on leukocyte subsets and cytokine production was investigated.

Fructose-induced hypertension: essential role of chloride and fructose absorbing transporters PAT1 and Glut5.

Increased dietary fructose in rodents recapitulates many aspects of the Metabolic Syndrome with hypertension, insulin resistance and dyslipidemia. Here we show that fructose increased jejunal NaCl and water absorption which was significantly decreased in mice whose apical chloride/base exchanger Slc26a6 (PAT1, CFEX) was knocked out. Increased dietary fructose intake enhanced expression of this transporter as well as the fructose-absorbing transporter Slc2a5 (Glut5) in the small intestine of wild type mice.

Clinical relevance of Mycobacterium szulgai in The Netherlands.

Background: The clinical relevance of Mycobacterium szulgai isolates is unknown, and available literature focuses on case reports of M. szulgai disease. We assessed the clinical relevance of M.

Tuberculosis outbreaks predicted by characteristics of first patients in a DNA fingerprint cluster.

Rationale: Some clusters of patients who have Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates with identical DNA fingerprint patterns grow faster than others. It is unclear what predictors determine cluster growth.

Objectives: To assess whether the development of a tuberculosis (TB) outbreak can be predicted by the characteristics of its first two patients.

Lymphadenitis in children is caused by Mycobacterium avium hominissuis and not related to 'bird tuberculosis'.

Mycobacterium avium is the most commonly encountered mycobacterium species among non-Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (nontuberculous mycobacteria) isolates worldwide and frequently causes lymphadenitis in children. During a multi-centre study in The Netherlands that was performed to determine the optimal treatment for mycobacterial lymphadenitis, concern was expressed in the media about the possible role of birds as sources of these M. avium infections, referred to as 'bird tuberculosis.

Mycobacterium avium in a shower linked to pulmonary disease.

Mycobacterium avium was isolated from hot and cold water samples and from sediment (biofilm) collected from the showerhead in the home of a woman with M. avium pulmonary disease lacking known M. avium risk factors.

Mapping of IS6110 insertion sites in Mycobacterium bovis isolates in relation to adaptation from the animal to human host.

The physiological role and impact of IS6110 insertions on the biology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex is not well understood. Insertion of IS6110 in coding regions can cause loss of gene activity, while homologous recombination between two copies of IS6110 can result in the deletion of genes or in rearrangement of genomic regions involved. In addition to these genomic changes, IS6110 can also activate flanking genes through acting as a mobile promoter.

Thalidomide in consecutive multiple myeloma patients: single-center analysis on practical aspects, efficacy, side effects and prognostic factors with lower thalidomide doses.

Purpose: In this single-center analysis, we assessed whether lower thalidomide doses are feasible and result in favourable treatment response in multiple myeloma (MM) patients.

Results: Between May 2001 and October 2006, 38 consecutive MM patients received thalidomide. Their median age was 62.