Soluble inflammatory markers as predictors of liver histological changes in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection.

Host immune response seems to be mainly responsible for the progression of liver disease among patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Immune activation involves the release of cytokines and their receptors that can be measured in plasma samples. The study aimed to evaluate the association between plasma levels of chemokines and soluble tumor necrosis factor receptors (sTNFR) and liver histological changes among patients with chronic HCV infection.

Coordinate and time-dependent diffusion dynamics in protein folding.

We developed both analytical and simulation methods to explore the diffusion dynamics in protein folding. We found the diffusion as a quantitative measure of escape from local traps along the protein folding funnel with chosen reaction coordinates has two remarkable effects on kinetics. At a fixed coordinate, local escape time depends on the distribution of barriers around it, therefore the diffusion is often time distributed.

[Study on the transmission of American cutaneous leishmaniasis in the Federal District].

The objectives of this study were to characterize cutaneous leishmaniasis in patients from the Federal District, investigate subclinical infection in people living in the same localities as patients and identify the species of Phlebotomus and Leishmania. Patients attended at the University Hospital of Brasília between August 2006 and June 2007 were selected. Relatives and neighbors of the patients underwent the Montenegro intradermal test and indirect immunofluorescence.

Calcium transport and homeostasis in gill cells of a freshwater crab Dilocarcinus pagei.

Crustaceans present a very interesting model system to study the process of calcification and calcium (Ca(2+)) transport because of molting-related events and the deposition of CaCO(3) in the new exoskeleton. Dilocarcinus pagei, a freshwater crab endemic to Brazil, was studied to understand Ca(2+) transport in whole gill cells using a fluorescent probe. Cells were dissociated, all of the gill cell types were loaded with fluo-3 and intracellular Ca(2+) change was monitored by adding Ca as CaCl(2) (0, 0.

A comparison between pulse pressure variation and right end diastolic volume index as guides to resuscitation in a model of hemorrhagic shock in pigs.

Background: Different hemodynamic parameters including static indicators of cardiac preload as right ventricular end-diastolic volume index (RVEDVI) and dynamic parameters as pulse pressure variation (PPV) have been used in the decision-making process regarding volume expansion in critically ill patients. The objective of this study was to compare fluid resuscitation guided by either PPV or RVEDVI after experimentally induced hemorrhagic shock.

Methods: Twenty-six anesthetized and mechanically ventilated pigs were allocated into control (group I), PPV (group II), or RVEDVI (group III) group.

Lymphadenopathy and expression of nodal mast cells and eosinophils in the myiasis by human bot fly.

Wistar rats (Rattus norvegicus) infested with Dermatobia hominis (L. Jr., 1781) had their axillary lymph nodes removed and histopathologically processed.

Clinical implications of molecular markers in follicular cell-derived thyroid cancer.

The increasing use/applications of molecular biology techniques have provided new insights on the genetic changes that underlie carcinogenesis and tumor progression in thyroid cancer. Molecular analysis may improve the histopathologic evaluation of follicular cell-derived thyroid carcinoma, not only elucidating some unresolved problems related to the diagnosis and disease prognosis, but also by improving patient management. Besides increasing our comprehension of cancer biology, either genetic alterations or gene expression profiles implicated in thyroid carcinogenesis shed new light on innovative diagnostic procedures as well as on targeted therapies.

Gene expression profiling associated with the progression to poorly differentiated thyroid carcinomas.

Background: Poorly differentiated thyroid carcinomas (PDTC) represent a heterogeneous, aggressive entity, presenting features that suggest a progression from well-differentiated carcinomas. To elucidate the mechanisms underlying such progression and identify novel therapeutic targets, we assessed the genome-wide expression in normal and tumour thyroid tissues.

Methods: Microarray analyses of 24 thyroid carcinomas - 7 classic papillary, 8 follicular variants of papillary (fvPTC), 4 follicular (FTC) and 5 PDTC - were performed and correlated with RAS, BRAF, RET/PTC and PAX8-PPARG alterations.

Acute and subacute toxicity of Schinus terebinthifolius bark extract.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Schinus terebinthifolius Raddi (Anacardiaceae) has long been used in traditional Brazilian medicine, especially to treat inflammatory and haemostatic diseases.

Aim Of The Study: The objective of this study was to evaluate the acute and subacute toxicity (45 days) of Schinus terebinthifolius via the oral route in Wistar rats of both sexes.

Materials And Methods: For the acute toxicity test, the dried extract of Schinus terebinthifolius bark was administered in doses from 0.

Underexpression of PPARgamma is associated with aneuploidy and lower differentiation of thyroid tumours of follicular origin.

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARgamma) gene is a nuclear receptor that is involved in thyroid tumourigenesis. Recently, our group has shown that follicular carcinomas underexpressing PPARgamma protein are more prone to develop distant metastases, to invade locally, to present poorly differentiated areas and to persist after surgery. Aneuploidy is also observed in some thyroid tumours, particularly in the more advanced cases.

Correlation of RET somatic mutations with clinicopathological features in sporadic medullary thyroid carcinomas.

Screening of REarranged during Transfection (RET) gene mutations has been carried out in different series of sporadic medullary thyroid carcinomas (MTC). RET-positive tumours seem to be associated to a worse clinical outcome. However, the correlation between the type of RET mutation and the patients' clinicopathological data has not been evaluated yet.

Statistics and kinetics of single-molecule electron transfer dynamics in complex environments: a simulation model study.

Dynamics of the environments of complex systems such as biomolecules, polar solvents, and glass plays an important role in controlling electron transfer reactions. The kinetics is determined by the nature of a complex multidimensional landscape. By quantifying the mean and high-order statistics of the first-passage time and the associated ratios, the dynamics in electron transfer reactions controlled by the environments can be revealed.

Aneuploidy and high S-phase as biomarkers of poor clinical outcome in poorly differentiated and anaplastic thyroid carcinoma.

This study aimed to investigate the prognostic influence of DNA flow cytometry and RAS gene mutations in patients with poorly differentiated (PDTC) and anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC). The series consisted of 26 patients with PDTC and ATC, and a median follow-up of 10 months (range 1-138). DNA ploidy and S-phase fraction (SPF) were assessed by flow cytometry on frozen samples.

Synthesis, characterization, absolute structural determination and antifungal activity of a new chlorinated aromatic avenaciolide analogue.

Background: Avenaciolide, a natural product isolated from Aspergillus avenaceus H. Smith, possesses several interesting biological properties, such as antifungal and antibacterial activities and inhibition of glutamate transport in mitochondria. In a study aiming to discover new compounds with antifungal activity, a bis-gamma-lactone analogous to avenaciolide was prepared and characterized by elemental analysis, mass spectrometry, and infrared and NMR spectroscopy.

Mapping a new familial thyroid epithelial neoplasia susceptibility locus to chromosome 8p23.1-p22 by high-density single-nucleotide polymorphism genome-wide linkage analysis.

Context: Familial nonmedullary thyroid carcinoma (FNMTC) accounts for approximately 5% of all thyroid tumors. Genetic mapping studies have identified four different chromosomal regions predisposing to FNMTC: fPTC/PRN (1p13.2-1q22), NMTC1 (2q21), MNG1 (14q32), and TCO (19p13.

Development of hepatorenal syndrome in bile duct ligated rats.

Aim: To evaluate in bile duct ligated rats whether there were progressive alterations of renal function without changes in histopathology.

Methods: Male Wistar rats were submitted to sham-surgery or bile duct ligation (BDL) and divided according to the post-procedure time (2, 4 and 6-wk). To determine renal function parameters, rats were placed in metabolic cages and, at the end of the experiment, blood and urine samples were obtained.

Familial non-medullary thyroid carcinoma (FNMTC): analysis of fPTC/PRN, NMTC1, MNG1 and TCO susceptibility loci and identification of somatic BRAF and RAS mutations.

Linkage analysis has identified four familial non-medullary thyroid carcinoma (FNMTC) susceptibility loci: fPTC/PRN (1p13.2-1q22), NMTC1 (2q21), MNG1 (14q32) and TCO (19p13.2).

Bone marrow cells are able to increase vessels number during repair of sciatic nerve lesion.

The aim of this study was to compare the outcomes of nerve autografts (GRF) and venous grafts containing mononuclear bone marrow cells (BMCs) in sciatic nerve-lesioned rats. Control animals underwent sham operations (SHAM), received empty venous grafts (EPV), or received venous grafts containing BMC vehicle (AGR). Outcome was evaluated through sciatic functional index (SFI), morphometric and morphologic analyses of the nerve distal to the lesion, and the number of spinal cord motor neurons positive for the retrograde tracer, Fluoro-Gold.

[Cutaneous non-Langerhans cells histiocytoses as cause of central diabetes insipidus].

The histiocytoses are rare diseases caused by alterations in the monocyte-histiocytic series with several clinical findings. Among the cutaneous syndromes of non-Langerhans cells, xanthoma disseminatum is the only disease of this group that has been classically associated to the central diabetes insipidus (CDI). The case reported describes a 30-year-old man that two years after presenting with CDI developed non confluent disseminated cutaneous brown papular lesions throughout the body.

Configuration-dependent diffusion can shift the kinetic transition state and barrier height of protein folding.

We show that diffusion can play an important role in protein-folding kinetics. We explicitly calculate the diffusion coefficient of protein folding in a lattice model. We found that diffusion typically is configuration- or reaction coordinate-dependent.

Comparative genomic hybridization, BRAF, RAS, RET, and oligo-array analysis in aneuploid papillary thyroid carcinomas.

Aneuploidy in papillary thyroid carcinomas (PTCs) is considered a marker of worse prognosis. Multiple genetic surveys have been performed in PTCs, however, we are not aware of any such studies in aneuploid PTCs. In order to contribute to a better comprehension of the genetic basis of this neoplasm's more aggressive behaviour in 17 aneuploid PTCs we performed a comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) analysis, studied the BRAF and RAS mutational status, searched for RET/PTC1 and RET/PTC3 rearrangements and determined their expression profile.

Aneuploidy and RAS mutations are mutually exclusive events in the development of well-differentiated thyroid follicular tumours.

Objective: Follicular thyroid tumours present several genetic alterations such as aneuploidy, RAS mutations and PAX8/PPARgammarearrangements. The molecular basis of aneuploidy remains undefined in the majority of human cancers. It has been proposed that mutations in RAS oncogenes could be related to chromosomal instability, although this issue remains controversial.

PAX8PPARgamma stimulates cell viability and modulates expression of thyroid-specific genes in a human thyroid cell line.

Objective: Paired box gene 8/peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PAX8PPARgamma) translocation is a molecular event associated with follicular thyroid tumorigenesis and is generated by a chromosomal rearrangement between PAX8 and PPARgamma genes. In this study, we investigated the effects of PAX8PPARgamma fusion protein on cell growth and on thyroid-specific gene expression in immortalized human thyroid cells (Nthy-ori 3-1).

Methods: PAX8PPARgamma-, PAX8-, and thyroid transcription factor-1 (TTF-1)-transfected cell culture models; count of live and dead cells; mRNA analysis by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and quantitative RT-PCR; and protein analysis by western blotting and gel shift assays.

Poorly differentiated and anaplastic thyroid carcinomas: chromosomal and oligo-array profile of five new cell lines.

Information on gene alterations associated to poorly differentiated (PDTC) and anaplastic thyroid carcinomas (ATC) is scarce. Using human cancer cell lines as a tool for gene discovery, we performed a cytogenetic and oligo-array analysis in five new cell lines derived from two PDTC and three ATC. In PDTC we evidenced, as important, the involvement of the MAPK/ERK kinase pathway, and downregulation of a group of suppressor genes that include E-cadherin.

Hepatitis C, HCV genotypes and hepatic siderosis in patients with chronic renal failure on haemodialysis in Brazil.

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the HCV genotypes, hepatic siderosis, inflammatory activity and fibrosis of the liver in patients with chronic renal failure (CRF) on haemodialysis in Brazil.

Methods: A cohort of 72 CRF patients was compared with a group of 65 candidates for blood donation (CBD). For the subjects selected, who tested positive for anti-HCV antibodies and were HCV-PCR positive, a protocol with epidemiological, clinical and laboratory information was completed.