Climate change and environmental degradation pose a significant threat to the global community. Soil management is one of the critical factors for achieving climate neutrality, as plants and soils together currently absorb approximately 30% of the CO emitted by human activities each year. This study focused on delineating soil management zones in olive groves to maintain soil health in complex environmental conditions and minimize adverse effects on the biological systems supported.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HCT) represents a curative treatment for various blood-related disorders, including hematological malignancies and genetic disorders. The success of this procedure hinges on the efficacy of the conditioning regimen and the graft's ability to engraft and function properly. Microparticles (MPs), small vesicles produced from stimulated, apoptotic, or activated cells, are involved in both physiological and pathological processes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: In syncopal patients without underlying structural disease, we sought to investigate the association of Adenosine Plasma Levels (ADP) with the clinical presentation of neurally mediated syncope (NMS) and the outcomes of Head-Up Tilt Table Test (HUTT) and Adenosine test (ADT).
Methods: We studied 124 patients with different clinical types of NMS, i.e.
Introduction: The Weil and triple Weil osteotomies are two widely used procedures in the surgical treatment of metatarsalgia. The aim of this comparative retrospective study was to evaluate the functional results and determine the complications of the two types of osteotomies in a series of patients who underwent surgery due to third rocker metatarsalgia.
Material And Methods: In this paper, 71 patients were included between September 2015 and October 2020.
Background The aim of the present biomechanical study on cadavers was to determine both the center of rotation of the metatarsophalangeal joints and the position of the tendons of the interosseous muscles after the Weil and triple Weil osteotomies, and to compare these parameters in order to clarify the pathogenesis of dorsal stiffness and floating toe. Materials and methods Seven fresh-frozen cadaveric feet were utilized. After completing the preparation of both the plantar and the dorsal surface, we performed the dissection of the entire second, third and fourth rays, and each ray was fixed to a wooden wall mounted on a movable frame.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Surg Case Rep
September 2020
Aggressive angiomyxoma is a rare mesenchymal tumor occurring usually in women of reproductive age in pelvic-perineum region. These myofibroblastic tumors rarely affect men and non-pelvic-perineum anatomical sites. There are few literature references for aggressive angiomyxoma in men.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUmbilical cord blood CD34+ (UCB-CD34+) stem cells are clinically used in hematopoietic cell transplantation. However, there are limitations in the use of umbilical cord blood transplants because of the small number of cells and delayed engraftment. To gain a better understanding of functional components of UCB, we have detected and characterized CD34+ microparticles (CD34+MPs) from cord blood units.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: Crushed extremity is an infrequent injury in children and represents a major challenge for the orthopaedic surgeon. Sometimes the decision making process, whether to amputate or save a limb, is very difficult. Several scoring systems have been developed in order to determine the fate of crushed extremities, but they are not always predictive when patients are children.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Phagocytosis is regarded to be impaired in HIV-1 infected adults, leading to high frequency and severity of several infections in this population. Data is contradictory with regards to individual facets in HIV infection.
Objective: Aim of this study was to assess the phagocytic activity during the natural course of HIV infection.
Aim: To evaluate alterations of memory B cell subpopulations during a 48-wk period in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) patients.
Methods: Forty-one antiretroviral naïve and 41 treated HIV-1 patients matched for age and duration of HIV infection were recruited. All clinical, epidemiological and laboratory data were recorded or measured.
Background: Invariant Natural Killer T (iNKT) cells belong to innate immunity and combine T-cell receptor specificity with Natural Killer surface markers. They can produce cytokines immediately after stimulation and direct immunity to either Th1 or Th2 cytokine production. iNKT cells participate in a variety of immune responses, such as microbial infections, autoimmunity, and cancer.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLiposomal amphotericin B, voriconazole, and caspofungin are currently used for systemic and severe fungal infections. Patients with malignant diseases are treated with granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) for the recovery of granulocytes after chemotherapy or hematopoietic cell (HC) transplantation. Since they have a high incidence of fungal infections, they inevitably receive antifungal drugs for treatment and prophylaxis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Somatostatin is a peptide with a potent and broad antisecretory action, which makes it an invaluable drug target for the pharmacological management of pituitary adenomas and neuroendocrine tumors. Furthermore, somatostatin (SST) receptors (SSTR1, 2A and B, 3, 4 and 5) belong to the G protein coupled receptor family and are overexpressed in tumors. Since, human small-cell lung cancer overexpresses somatostatin receptors (STTR), they could be legitimate targets for treating SCLC.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn pulmonary sarcoidosis, differential cytokine production in the lungs could be related to variable prognosis of patients at different stages of disease. Twenty patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis (10 at radiographic stage I and 10 at stages II-IV), as well as 10 age-matched healthy volunteers participated in the study. A 4-colour flow cytometric technique was used to measure interferon-γ (IFN-γ), interleukin (IL)-2, tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), IL-4, and IL-13 production in phorbol myristate acetate (PMA)/ionomycin-stimulated CD4+ and CD8+ T cells from bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and peripheral blood (PB) of patients, and PB of control subjects.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe aim of this study was to investigate the role of Mesenchymal Stem Cell (MSC) conditioned medium (CM(MSC)) on apoptosis of cultured mouse primary hepatocytes after in vivo carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced acute liver injury. The acute liver injury was induced by injecting CCl4 intraperitoneally in C57/BL6 mice. Hepatocytes were isolated by liver perfusion, cultured in a defined medium to maintain their differentiation and characterized by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) using the hepatic cell specific genes albumin, hepatocyte nuclear factor 4 (HNF4) and cytokeratin 18 (CK18).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe present study was designed in order to evaluate the effects of five homoeopathic complex preparations on functional activity natural killer cells (NKCs) in advanced cancer patients. We examined the effects of Coenzyme Compositum®, Ubichinon Compositum®, Glyoxal Compositum®, Katalysatoren® and Traumeel® on the functional activity of NKCs. Experimental procedures included in vitro and in vivo trials.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA 7-week-old male Saker falcon died with a history of severe refractory dyspnoea and respiratory signs. Microscopical lesions included moderate to severe lymphoplasmacytic inflammation of the middle ears, conjunctivae, third eyelids, choanae, salivary glands of the tongue, turbinates, larynx, trachea, syrinx and bronchi. The lesions were associated with variable numbers of Cryptosporidium spp.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAsexual organisms are confronted with substantial drawbacks, both immediate and delayed, threatening their evolutionary persistence. Yet, genetic associations with asexuality may refresh the gene pool promoting adaptation of clonal lineages; polyploidy is one of them. Parthenogenesis itself and/or polyploidy are responsible for the maintenance and spread of clones in Artemia, a sexual-asexual genus of halophilic anostracans.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To explore the effect of bortezomib in splenocytes and fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS) and its in vivo potency in a rat model of adjuvant-induced arthritis (AIA), which resembles human rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
Methods: AIA was induced with Freund's complete adjuvant. Splenocyte and FLS proliferation and apoptosis were measured by radioactivity incorporation and flow cytometry, respectively.
A 43 year old female patient presented for recurrent bacterial lower respiratory infections. A research for immunodeficiency status revealed total hypogammaglobulinemia, reduced IgG1, IgG2, IgG3 subclass levels, and low number of B lymphocytes (CD19+). Common Variable Immunodeficiency (CVID) 11.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this study, chicken infectious anemia virus (CIAV) DNA was detected from 12-day-old broilers. Clinical history showed that the clinical features were diarrhea, blue wing disease, depression, and death. Necropsy findings were pale liver, severe atrophy of bursa of Fabricius and thymus, and discoloration of the bone marrow as well as hemorrhages subcutaneously and a few in skeletal muscles.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPigeon breeder's lung (PBL) or Bird fancier's lung (BFL) is one of the most common extrinsic allergic alveolitis or hypersensitivity pneumonitis. It is caused after prolonged inhalation of avian antigens and provokes a hypersensitivity reaction in the lungs of sensitised people. Although the pathogenic mechanism is unclear, the epidemiology of BFL shows that it occurs worldwide, and has been described in adults keeping birds and also in their children.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWild birds are referred to as 'vectors' of an exogenous causative agent of MS, in particular the Marek's disease virus, but this has yet to be confirmed. The epidemiology of MS shows that it occurs worldwide but that there is a high incidence of MS clusters within specific geographical distributions such as in cooler, temperate, zones in a North/South gradient from the equator. Furthermore, these regions are well known as preferred zones for wintering/breeding/feeding purposes and for having a high density of wild birds.
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