Regulatory Role of B Cells and Its Subsets in Hepatitis E Virus Infection.

Antibodies as well as memory B cells are the potential correlates of a protective immune response against hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection. Literature on the role of B regulatory cells (Bregs) in acute viral infections is limited. We have evaluated the role of IL-10 expressing Bregs in HEV infection.

The role of imaging in pulmonary hypertension.

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a debilitating and potentially life threatening condition in which increased pressure in the pulmonary arteries may result from a variety of pathological processes. These can include disease primarily involving the pulmonary vasculature, but more commonly PH may result from left-sided heart disease, including valvular heart disease. Chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) is an important disease to identify because it may be amenable to surgical pulmonary artery endarterectomy or balloon pulmonary angioplasty.

An outbreak of hepatitis E in Yavatmal, India, 2019.

Hepatitis E, a public health concern in developing countries, frequently presents in epidemic, as well as in sporadic forms. This study investigated an outbreak of viral hepatitis at Yavatmal, Maharashtra, India in March 2019. Blood samples from 10 patients were received at Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Virology, Pune to test for the presence of enterically transmitted hepatitis viruses.

The impact of routine frozen section analysis during partial cystectomy for bladder cancer on surgical margin status and long-term oncologic outcome.

Objectives: The utility of frozen section analysis (FSA) during partial cystectomy has not been established. We assessed the impact of intraoperative FSA in partial cystectomy cases on surgical margin (SM) status and patient outcome.

Subjects And Methods: A retrospective review identified 76 consecutive patients who underwent partial cystectomy for bladder carcinoma with (n = 66; 87%) or without (n = 10; 13%) FSA for SMs at our institution from 2004 to 2018.

Loss of DNA mismatch repair proteins in prostate cancer.

Recent studies have suggested an increased risk of prostate cancer in men with Lynch syndrome driven by germline mutations in mismatch repair (MMR) genes. However, the incidence and clinical implication of MMR deficiency in sporadic prostate cancers remain poorly understood. We immunohistochemically stained for MLH1, MSH2, MSH6, and PMS2 in a set of tissue microarray consisting of 220 radical prostatectomy specimens and evaluated the relationship between loss of their expression and available clinicopathological features.

Study of a hepatitis E virus outbreak involving drinking water and sewage contamination in Shimla, India, 2015-2016.

Background: Hepatitis E, caused by hepatitis E virus (HEV), accounts for 50% of acute hepatitis cases in India. We report an outbreak of hepatitis E in Shimla, India, in 2015-2016.

Methods: ICMR-National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, received two batches of water samples from Shimla in January 2016 to test for the presence of enterically transmitted hepatitis viruses.

Immunohistochemistry of immune checkpoint markers PD-1 and PD-L1 in prostate cancer.

Recent availability of immune checkpoint inhibitors has facilitated research involving programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) and its ligand, programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1). However, the incidence and clinical implication of PD-1 and PD-L1 expression in prostate cancer remain poorly understood. The current study aimed to determine the status of PD-1/PD-L1 expression in prostate cancer specimens and its prognostic significance.

The impact of perivesical lymph node metastasis on clinical outcomes of bladder cancer patients undergoing radical cystectomy.

Background: Perivesical lymph nodes (PVLNs) are occasionally isolated during grossing of cystectomy specimens. However, the prognostic implications of the involvement of PVLNs in bladder cancer patients, especially those with comparisons to pN0 disease, remain poorly understood.

Methods: A retrospective review identified 115 radical cystectomy cases where PVLNs had been histologically assessed.

Pneumatosis intestinalis: cost paid for rheumatoid arthritis treatment.

A 75-year-old woman with rheumatoid arthritis on rituximab presented with a 1-week history of constipation and abdominal distension. Subsequent workup showed presence of air in the bowel wall without perforation initially. Due to positive blood cultures, worsening leucocytosis and high suspicion for perforation, an exploratory laparotomy was performed revealing necrotic bowel, walled off perforation and abscess.

Effects of subspecialty signout and group consensus on the diagnosis of microscopic colitis.

Microscopic colitis (MC) includes lymphocytic colitis (LC) and collagenous colitis (CC). Microscopic changes are required to establish these diagnoses. While criteria exist, interobserver variability has been reported previously.

Study on Diagnostic Values of Astrocyte Elevated Gene 1 (AEG-1) and Glypican 3 (GPC-3) in Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Objectives: To investigate the diagnostic potential of AEG-1 and GPC-3 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Methods: AEG-1 and GPC-3 immunohistochemistry were performed on HCC, adjacent nontumor tissue (ANT), and dysplastic nodules (DN).

Results: H score of AEG-1 or GPC-3 in HCC was significantly higher than in ANT or DN.

Antibody and Memory B Cell Responses in Hepatitis E Recovered Individuals, 1-30 Years Post Hepatitis E Virus Infection.

Generation and persistence of anti-hepatitis E virus (HEV) antibodies are synonymous with the development of immunity and considered as correlates of protection against HEV infection. However, issues like longevity of immunological memory following recovery from hepatitis E still remains a puzzle. It is critical to understand whether anamnestic response exists for protection from HEV re-infection.

Life-Saving Combined Heart-Kidney Transplantation in a Previous Sequential Heart and Kidney Transplant Recipient.

Purpose: Solid organ re-transplantation in the context of allograft failure is a challenging clinical and ethical problem. Ideally, solid organ re-transplantation after initial allograft failure should be performed in all recipients, but this is often not clinically or logistically feasible.

Methods: This report details what we believe is the first combined heart-kidney transplant in a recipient of a previous sequential heart and kidney transplant.

Percent Gleason pattern 4 in stratifying the prognosis of patients with intermediate-risk prostate cancer.

The Gleason score remains the most reliable prognosticator in men with prostate cancer. One of the recent important modifications in the Gleason grading system recommended from the International Society of Urological Pathology consensus conference is recording the percentage of Gleason pattern 4 in the pathology reports of prostate needle biopsy and radical prostatectomy cases with Gleason score 7 prostatic adenocarcinoma. Limited data have indeed suggested that the percent Gleason pattern 4 contributes to stratifying the prognosis of patients who undergo radical prostatectomy.

Impaired NK cell functionality and increased TNF-α production as biomarkers of chronic chikungunya arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.

The chronic chikungunya arthritis symptoms closely mimic the rheumatoid arthritis (RA) symptoms, thus making it difficult to distinguish between these two clinical entities. The current comparative study characterizes NK (CD3CD56) and NK-like T (CD3CD56) cell responses in patients with chronic chikungunya arthritis and RA. Phenotype and functions of NK and NK-like T cells repertoire were assessed in 56 chronic chikungunya arthritis, 26 RA patients and 82 controls using flow cytometry.

Increased Dead Space Ventilation Mediates Reduced Exercise Capacity in Systolic Heart Failure.

Rationale: Patients with chronic heart failure have limited exercise capacity, which cannot be completely explained by markers of cardiac dysfunction. Reduced pulmonary diffusing capacity at rest and excessively high ventilation during exercise are common in heart failure. We hypothesized that the reduced pulmonary diffusing capacity in patients with heart failure would predict greater dead space ventilation during exercise and that this would lead to impairment in exercise capacity.

Macrophage subtype predicts lymph node metastasis in oesophageal adenocarcinoma and promotes cancer cell invasion in vitro.

Background: Currently, there is a lack of ideal biomarkers for predicting nodal status in preoperative stage of oesophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) to aid optimising therapeutic options. We studied the potential of applying subtype macrophages to predict lymph node metastasis and prognosis in EAC.

Material And Methods: Fifty-three EAC resection specimens were immunostained with CD68, CD40 (M1), and CD163 (M2).

Atrial structure and function and its implications for current and emerging treatments for atrial fibrillation.

Left atrial (LA) structure and function are intimately related to the clinical phenotypes of atrial fibrillation (AF), and have direct implications for the success or otherwise of various therapeutic strategies. In conjunction with intrinsic structural characteristics of the LA, pathological remodelling to a large extent dictates the clinical course of AF. Remodelling is a product of the physiological and structural plasticity of the LA in disease states (including AF itself), and manifests as electrical, physical and structural changes that promote the substrate necessary for AF maintenance.