Flexible Sigmoidoscopy Rather than Colonoscopy Is Adequate for the Diagnosis of Ipilimumab-Associated Colitis.

Objectives: Treatment with ipilimumab, a cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen-4 approved for metastatic melanoma can result in clinically significant immune-mediated drug injury in the form of colitis. Timely diagnosis and response are essential for optimal management. The aims of our study were to determine the percentage of our patients with ipilimumab-associated colitis in which the colitis could be diagnosed by flexible sigmoidoscopy only and to describe the variations in endoscopic and histologic findings as well as the patients' clinical courses.

Bone marrow-derived cPLA2α contributes to renal fibrosis progression.

The group IVA calcium-dependent cytosolic phospholipase A2 (cPLA2α) enzyme directs a complex "eicosanoid storm" that accompanies the tissue response to injury. cPLA2α and its downstream eicosanoid mediators are also implicated in the pathogenesis of fibrosis in many organs, including the kidney. We aimed to determine the role of cPLA2α in bone marrow-derived cells in a murine model of renal fibrosis, unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO).

Anaerobic Mycobacterium tuberculosis Cell Death Stems from Intracellular Acidification Mitigated by the DosR Regulon.

is a strict aerobe capable of prolonged survival in the absence of oxygen. We investigated the ability of anaerobic to counter challenges to internal pH homeostasis in the absence of aerobic respiration, the primary mechanism of proton efflux for aerobic bacilli. Anaerobic populations were markedly impaired for survival under a mildly acidic pH relative to standard culture conditions.

Antibiotic Bactericidal Activity Is Countered by Maintaining pH Homeostasis in Mycobacterium smegmatis.

Antibiotics target specific biosynthetic processes essential for bacterial growth. It is intriguing that several commonalities connect the bactericidal activity of seemingly disparate antibiotics, such as the numerous conditions that confer broad-spectrum antibiotic tolerance. Whether antibiotics kill in a manner unique to their specific targets or by a universal mechanism is a critical and contested subject.

Cytosolic phospholipase Aα increases proliferation and de-differentiation of human renal tubular epithelial cells.

The group IVA calcium-dependent cytosolic phospholipase A (cPLAα) enzyme controls the release of arachidonic acid from membrane bound phospholipids and is the rate-limiting step in production of eicosanoids. A variety of different kidney injuries activate cPLAα, therefore we hypothesized that cPLAα activity would regulate pathologic processes in HK-2 cells, a human renal tubular epithelial cell line, by regulating cell phenotype and proliferation. In two lentiviral cPLAα-silenced knockdowns, we observed decreased proliferation and increased apoptosis compared to control HK-2 cells.