Evaluating the impact of early vs delayed ofatumumab initiation and estimating the long-term outcomes of ofatumumab vs teriflunomide in relapsing multiple sclerosis patients in Spain.

Objectives: To evaluate the impact of early (at first-line) vs delayed (3-year delay) ofatumumab initiation and long-term clinical, societal, and economic outcomes of ofatumumab vs teriflunomide in relapsing multiple sclerosis (RMS) patients from a Spanish societal perspective.

Methods: A cost-consequence analysis was conducted using an Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS)-based Markov model. Inputs were sourced from ASCLEPIOS I and II trials and published literature.

Cost-utility analysis of an integrated care program for children with asthma in a medium-income country.

Objective: To evaluate the cost-utility of an integrated care program (ASMAIRE Infantil Program [PAI]) for children with asthma compared with standard of care.

Methods: A decision-analytic model was used to compare an integrated care program compared to the standard of care in children with asthma in Bogota, Colombia. Baseline characteristics of the patients were established according to the distribution of patients in the PAI database.

Proteomic Analysis of Vocal Fold Fibroblasts Exposed to Cigarette Smoke Extract: Exploring the Pathophysiology of Reinke's Edema.

Reinke's edema is a smoking-associated, benign, mostly bilateral lesion of the vocal folds leading to difficulties in breathing and voice problems. Pronounced histological changes such as damaged microvessels or immune cell infiltration have been described in the vocal fold connective tissue, the Thus, vocal fold fibroblasts, the main cell type of the , have been postulated to play a critical role in disease mediation. Yet information about the pathophysiology is still scarce and treatment is only surgical, symptomatic.

Endothelial indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase-1 regulates the placental vascular tone and is deficient in intrauterine growth restriction and pre-eclampsia.

Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase-1 (IDO1) mediates the degradation of L-tryptophan (L-Trp) and is constitutively expressed in the chorionic vascular endothelium of the human placenta with highest levels in the microvasculature. Given that endothelial expression of IDO1 has been shown to regulate vascular tone and blood pressure in mice under the condition of systemic inflammation, we asked whether IDO1 is also involved in the regulation of placental blood flow and if yes, whether this function is potentially impaired in intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) and pre-eclampsia (PE). In the large arteries of the chorionic plate L-Trp induced relaxation only after upregulation of IDO1 using interferon gamma and tumor necrosis factor alpha.

Perinatal complications and long-term neurodevelopmental outcome of infants with intrauterine growth restriction.

Objective: The objective of the study was to evaluate perinatal and long-term complications of fetuses with intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) compared with constitutionally small for gestational age (SGA) ones.

Study Design: The outcome of infants with IUGR and SGA born at the Medical University Graz (Austria) between 2003 and 2009 was retrospectively analyzed. Group assignment was based on birthweight, Doppler ultrasound, and placental morphology.

Vascular endothelial expression of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 forms a positive gradient towards the feto-maternal interface.

We describe the distribution of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1) in vascular endothelium of human first-trimester and term placenta. Expression of IDO1 protein on the fetal side of the interface extended from almost exclusively sub-trophoblastic capillaries in first-trimester placenta to a nearly general presence on villous vascular endothelia at term, including also most bigger vessels such as villous arteries and veins of stem villi and vessels of the chorionic plate. Umbilical cord vessels were generally negative for IDO1 protein.

Neuroendocrine circuitry and endometriosis: progesterone derivative dampens corticotropin-releasing hormone-induced inflammation by peritoneal cells in vitro.

Clinical symptoms of endometriosis, such as pain and infertility, can be described as persistent stressors. Such continuous exposure to stress may severely affect the equilibrium and bidirectional communication of the endocrine and immune system, hereby further aggravating the progression of endometriosis. In the present study, we aimed to tease apart mediators that are involved in the stress response as well as in the progression of endometriosis.

Spontaneous intrauterine umbilical artery thrombosis leading to severe fetal growth restriction.

Intrauterine thrombosis of umbilical cord vessels is a rare event (2.5-4.5/10,000) and usually followed by poor fetal outcome.

Endometrial stromal nodule embedded into term placenta.

A 28-year-old patient presented with a 5 cm endometrial stromal tumor situated at the uteroplacental interface, which was diagnosed ultrasonographically at the 28th week of pregnancy. The tumor was asymptomatic and closely attached to the decidua; after a normal term delivery, it was revealed to be embedded within the placenta. Microscopically, the neoplasm had a high mitotic rate and characteristic features of endometrial stromal tumor, such as CD10, progesterone receptor positivity, and an expansile linear, non-infiltrative pushing border.

Extraosseous schwannoma of the mental nerve clinically simulating intraosseous.

We report a case of a benign neurilemmoma arising from the right mental nerve. Schwannomas are rare neurogenic tumours that originate from Schwann cells of the peripheral nervous system. Frequent locations are the head and neck region.

Expression of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase in carcinoma of human endometrium and uterine cervix.

Expression of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) in epithelium of the endometrium and the cervix is not restricted to normal but also present in carcinomatous tissue. The enzyme was found in the majority of cases studied, pioneer cells at the invasion front of the tumors being especially strongly reactive in immunohistology. In addition, also cells in the peritumoral infiltrate of the stroma expressed IDO.

Association of antibodies to chlamydial lipopolysaccharide with the endovascular presence of Chlamydophila pneumoniae in carotid artery disease.

Atherosclerotic lesions often harbor Chlamydophila pneumoniae (C. pneumoniae). The objective of the present study was to examine whether serological tests are able to predict individual endovascular infection.

Culture conditions affect the ability of ex vivo expanded peripheral blood progenitor cells to accelerate hematopoietic recovery.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of various ex vivo expansion conditions on the cell products and their ability to accelerate hematopoietic recovery in patients undergoing stem cell transplantation.

Patients And Methods: Unselected peripheral blood progenitor cells (PBPCs) from 43 breast cancer patients were seeded into gas-permeable bags containing serum-free media, granulocyte colony-stimulating factor, stem cell factor, and pegylated megakaryocyte growth and development factor. Between 2 and 24 x 10(9) PBPCs were cultured at 1, 2, or 3 x 10(6) cells/mL for 9 to 14 days.

Ex vivo expanded unselected peripheral blood: progenitor cells reduce posttransplantation neutropenia, thrombocytopenia, and anemia in patients with breast cancer.

The safety and efficacy of administering ex vivo expanded peripheral blood progenitor cells (PBPC) to patients with breast cancer who undergo high-dose chemotherapy and PBPC transplantation was investigated. Unselected PBPC were cultured in gas-permeable bags containing 1-L serum-free media, granulocyte colony-stimulating factor, stem cell factor, and pegylated megakaryocyte growth and development factor for 9 days. Cell dose cohorts were assigned to have between 2 and 24 x 10(9) PBPC cultured at 1, 2, or 3 x 10(6) cells/mL.

[Accessory mitral valve tissue as a rare cause of subaortic stenosis and valvular aortic insufficiency].

An unusual case of subaortic stenosis and aortic regurgitation caused by accessory mitral valve tissue in a 10 year old boy is reported. Two-dimensional and Doppler echocardiography revealed the characteristic feature of a mobile, parachute-like mass in the left ventricular outflow tract pro-lapsing into the aortic valve during systole and, thus, producing a systolic pressure gradient of 70 mm Hg between the left ventricle and aorta and causing mild aortic regurgitation. The accessory valve tissue was completely excised via an aortotomy without injury to the normal mitral and aortic valves.

Age dependency of selenium and cadmium content in human liver, kidney, and thyroid.

Selenium and cadmium concentrations were investigated in 60 autopsy tissue samples obtained from fetal life up to adulthood (defined in this study as 25-87 y of age) in Styria, a moderately industrialized region in Austria that has a low selenium supply. During the first 2 y after birth, median liver selenium concentrations were slightly lower (i.e.

[Spontaneous splenic rupture during portal triad clamping].

A 45-year-old woman underwent a resection for a hepatic metastasis of the liver caused by a carcinoma of the colon. Shortly after the Pringle maneuver severe hemorrhage from the upper left quadrant of the abdomen was observed. Exploration revealed a spontaneous parenchymal laceration of the spleen.

Symmetric hypoplasia of the temporal cerebral lobes in an infant with glutaric aciduria type II (multiple acyl-coenzyme A dehydrogenase deficiency).

Symmetric hypoplasia of the temporal cerebral lobes was demonstrated by magnetic resonance imaging of the brain in a macrocephalic male patient with glutaric aciduria type II within the first week of life. Psychomotor development was normal until the age of 11 months, when the patient died of sudden cardiac arrest. Autopsy revealed symmetric hypoplasia of the temporal cerebral lobes with loss of axons and hypomyelination in the temporal medullary layers.